I Possessed As A Childcare Extra Chapter 1

1.It was a childcare story

“Dada!”

A baby with honey-blond hair and fresh green eyes smiled brightly.

A man who didn’t resemble his daughter at all—from his dull black hair to his bright red eyes—lifted one corner of his mouth.

“…She’s smiling. She has no idea what her fate is.”

In that moment, I realized the genre of this rofan.

So this is a childcare story.

I thought it was a northern grand duke male-lead story.

 

 

****

 

 

 

Go Joo-eun, 25 years old.

A full-year, maxed-out job-hunting student after graduating from college got into a car accident.

At a green light. Walking straight. Crossing the street.

It happened the moment a video playing on someone’s phone next to me switched to an ad.

—“I started attending Korea Cyber University, and my golden-road era began!”

The CM song that brought Korean job seekers to tears rang out. I almost hummed along without realizing it.

Should I go back to college? Its addictiveness made its brainwashing power no joke.

It was late February, when icy winds blew. And it happened right after I failed the only final interview I had passed.

Believing the saying “As long as you end up in Seoul, the path doesn’t matter,” I graduated from a mediocre college. But that didn’t apply to humanities majors. The specs I had were what everyone else had, too.

—“I went to Korea Cyber University, and my life blossomed!”

The exam-taker’s forbidden song ended cheerfully. As the cold wind smacked the back of my neck, I thought:

Will it really make my life blossom…?

And then—crash.

I must have died instantly.

Because when I opened my eyes again, I had become a twelve-year-old girl named Annie.

“Oh, Annie! You finally woke up!”

“Aniiieee… huuuuhhh….”

It was a language I’d never heard before, yet I understood everything. Thanks to Annie’s memories.

“I thought I’d lose you like your mother. Oh God, thank you…”

The person hugging me and crying was someone I’d never met before, but I knew who she was.

Beth Carter. Mom’s best friend. Mid-thirties. The person who had raised Annie for twelve years.

“Huuuuhh… I thought we’d never get to play again…”

The girl crying sadly beside me was Holly Carter. Beth’s daughter. Thirteen. She had lived in the same house as Annie since Annie was born, like a sister, and now they were roommates.

Her reddish-brown curls, dark brown eyes, round nose tip, and upward-curved lips made her look exactly like a poodle.

Annie’s mother, Sarah, was a maid of the Tricen Grand Duchy. She had Annie at twenty and died of a fever.

Annie had suffered the same symptoms as Sarah, then woken up after five days. With someone else inside her body. Is this what they call “possession”?

Annie’s biological father was unknown. With no marriage oath left behind, she had no surname.

In this world, it wasn’t strange for commoners to have no last names, but Sarah’s early death was probably that bastard’s fault. Jerk.

Annie was raised to be a maid, like Sarah. Maybe because of family history, it was her natural calling.

It suited me, too. It felt like I had finally discovered a talent I never found in my past life.

Like someone born to be a rickshaw master being born in an era where rickshaws no longer exist, my talent could only be found working as a maid for a medieval-style high noble family.

And the “medieval style” part was important. If I had suddenly seen someone literally tossing waste outside the castle walls like in the Middle Ages, I would’ve been depressed.

A world with a medieval vibe, modern romance, and some contemporary conveniences was manageable to adapt to.

To think I fulfilled the dream of 800,000 job hunters overnight.

Ta-da! I died and woke up with a job.

Perfect for my aptitude!

A lifetime job if I behaved well!

Three meals a day! A uniform! A room with no rent! Is this the possession buff I’d heard about?

The more I scrubbed the grand castle until it shone, the more my unemployed, worn-out mind healed. Repetitive, simple labor was perfect therapy.

But the real factor that boosted my quality of life was something else.

Amazing stamina!

The body of a well-trained twelve-year-old!

Waking up before dawn with my eyes wide open, climbing dozens of stairs without even catching my breath!

Compared to my old, worn-out body—where I needed five alarms just to wake up and groaned whenever there was no escalator in the subway—it was unbelievable!

My past life ended weakly and pointlessly, so in this life I would live long and healthy with solid core muscles. No chance for muscle loss, right? Hahaha!

The class system sucked, but honestly, it wasn’t that different from my past life. Bowing to the person who gave you a regular paycheck, food, and a place to sleep? Sure.

And my master wasn’t even a normal human.

The Tricen territory was in the northern part of the Kartreyan Empire. From some big river to plains and mountain ranges—everything belonged to my master, but I only needed to know it was huge.

The main stronghold was the fortress of Kerun, which hadn’t been breached in a hundred years. The pure-white “Moonmist Castle” housed the Tricen direct line and their staff.

Winter was long and harsh, summer short and cool. Monsters appeared from the snow-covered mountains beyond the walls.

Yes, “monsters.”

This wasn’t Earth.

My master was a Sword Master who went around hunting those monsters. One of those people said to slice boulders cleanly with sword energy.

Poor Annie had run into her blood-soaked master once or twice a year and trembled, thinking he might actually be a monster too.

My thoughts?

“Wow. He’s a northern grand duke male lead.”

In high school, a friend recommended romance fantasies to me. I only read them back then, but I still knew northern grand dukes were classic male leads.

My master was exactly that northern grand duke.

A face blessed by God.

A body forged like steel.

A cold personality.

Black hair, red eyes—perfect attributes.

I’d never heard his name before, but he might as well have been the male lead of some romance fantasy.

But it had nothing to do with me.

Based on age order, Annie ranked around Maid #82. Brown hair, brown eyes, rough hands—a young maid.

Unless I got some special promotion to heroine’s exclusive maid, my name would never appear. Who cared if the northern grand duke fell in love or became obsessed?

I had all of Annie’s memories, so I couldn’t say I just borrowed this body.

I was Annie, and this was my life now.

I was too busy planning how much money I’d save working, what my retirement would look like, eating, sleeping, and doing my job.

The gentle, vague impression that used to be Annie’s complex was actually the best trait for a maid. I wouldn’t catch my master’s eye.

Unless they needed someone for a poisoning order… probably not. If he’s a Sword Master, he’d just chop heads off himself.

Let’s just stick to my role as Maid #82.

At a job with no expenses, avoiding trouble from my superiors, saving my salary steadily, living long and healthy with core muscles, and enjoying a peaceful old age. Hmm, perfect.

…There was a time when I dreamed such dreams.

 

 

****

 

 

“Annie, Annieee! A carriage came to the garden! I think we have a guest!”

A sunny autumn afternoon.

While I was polishing the ornaments in the parlor, Holly glanced out the window and started fussing.

Holly liked making up stories. The first few times, I got excited thinking, “A southern heroine bringing a contract marriage proposal?” but I didn’t fall for it anymore.

“Yeah? What kind of lady came this time?”

“Umm… I can’t really see.”

I shouldn’t have brushed it off thinking she just hadn’t made up the follow-up story yet.

“Please call the Grand Duke.”

Just as a line that meant something big is about to happen was spoken, a beautiful woman with bright golden hair and green eyes entered.

Even if she rolled in doing backflips, anyone could tell she was a southern woman.

“You can’t cause such a commotion here!”

The butler Rupert, who followed her in, was holding a baby.

Maybe about a year old? The baby resembled the beautiful woman so much that no one would think, “Did Rupert have a late baby?”

The baby didn’t cry or fuss even while being held by a stranger.

Its sparkling eyes darted around cautiously. Not that a baby should know how to read the atmosphere, but still.

“I won’t leave until the Grand Duke arrives.”

The beauty sat down firmly on the sofa.

“A beauty who appeared with a baby. Southern.”

My romance-fantasy sensor, which had been quiet for a while, flashed red.

I had to escape. Casually, with my water bucket!

But the only exit was blocked.

A huge, jet-black beast-like man cast a shadow over us.

It was Aeon Tricen, the Northern Grand Duke. Damn it.

Instead of the dignified aura of a high noble, he had the air of a mercenary king. His black mane-like cape was drenched in blood. Must’ve been playing with monsters before this.

The drops of blood hitting the floor—yeah, we’d be the ones cleaning that. At least he didn’t look like he planned to sit on the sofa.

Standing tall with his arms crossed, observing the beauty… yes, that was perfectly northern-grand-duke-like. Fatally charismatic.

“Annieee…”

Holly poked my arm. I’d been admiring my master’s breath-stealing beauty for too long.

I quickly bowed my head and placed my hands over my lower stomach—

“You’re the father of this child.”

An explosive statement was thrown.

There was a reason my romance-fantasy sensor had stayed quiet.

Aeon had been married twice in his early twenties. Now at twenty-eight, he was a divorced man with two children.

Even if he were the most magnificent northern grand duke male lead, no one wanted a romance-fantasy ML who already had to take care of two kids.

And now a third had appeared.

A “#super-virile-man” tag is supposed to come with the “#devoted-man” tag, but this guy was just “#womanizer.” ML disqualified! Not that he wasn’t already!

In the dangerous silence, a laugh that anyone would recognize as belonging to the Northern Grand Duke escaped—“heh.”

“How am I supposed to believe that?”

Was this one of those trashy-male-lead-regret stories?

The beauty responded calmly.

“Because at that time, you were the only man I was with.”

The unrecyclable-trash-man Aeon responded in a deep voice.

“You should know that using that kind of title carelessly could cost you your head.”

A death threat right in front of the cold northern grand duke. If it were me, I’d have had a heart attack.

“It is the Grand Duke’s child. You can check.”

The beauty passed on her words clearly—she really did have nerves of steel. And the fact that she had slept with Aeon at all was impressive.

In this world, where the northern grand duke Sword Master lived, the temple offered paternity tests.

The cost was enormous. A drop in the bucket for the Grand Duke, but for me? About ten years’ salary.

Aeon, who had been silent, let out a low laugh.