I Possessed As A Childcare Extra – Chapter 18

Author: Asternkm

“‘Eh’ isn’t the right answer. Miss Annie is a lady’s maid now. You have to study.”

The book on the very top was <Basic Speech: How to Gracefully Stab Someone While Having Tea>. This is literally a guide on how to insult people with a smile!

“You must’ve been tired from attending the Lady alone yesterday, right? I’ll attend her today.”

“M-me too! Please take me with you!”

“Miss Annie needs to sit nicely and study, okay?”

“N-no, but I don’t want to!”

The moment my true feelings slipped out, Professional Madam Cecile tapped the tip of my nose.

“Mm-mm. That won’t do. I’ll check how much you read when I get back. Miss Annie, you can do well, right?”

“N-no, I—!”

Don’t go, Madam!

“Now, Lady Edel. Say bye-bye to Miss Annie.”

“Bye-bye.”

The Lady waved her hand in sync with Cecile, giggled, and left.

On the table were a peacock-feather quill, limited-edition night-sky ink, and even a notebook bound in leather.

Studying. After coming all the way to another world.

I finally became he lady-in waiting, and now I have to study?!

“Arrrrgh!”

I screamed and collapsed over the table.

Tick, tick, tick.

I turned my head toward the sound of the second hand. A desk clock as heavy as a gold bar sat there.

Was I a student again? I was around the same age back then…

Well… I felt like a student until the day I died anyway.

I’d barely escaped a life of endless studying, only to end up doing it again.

If I could get fired for incompetence, I would’ve chosen that route.

A clear, bright voice echoed in my head.

‘I like Annie!’

The Lady chose me, and that was that.

The main character gave me a parachute drop, just like that.

And the parachute for a lady’s maid was on another level compared to a common maid’s. It wasn’t the kind of job where you could compensate for lack of ability by just working harder.

If I failed as a lady’s maid, it would make the Lady look foolish too.

Public opinion was already bad. They just couldn’t complain to the Lady’s face.

Even if the protagonist of a childcare story could win everyone over somehow, it would mean nothing if I were incompetent.

When I became a maid thanks to madam, I didn’t want to be an incompetent parachute hire either.

Even if I never wanted the position, once it was given to me, I had to become someone worthy of it. If you gain a place unfairly, you must at least fulfill the responsibilities fairly.

“Haaaaa…”

I let out a heavy sigh and grabbed the quill.

Just wait, Lady. You’re going to have to study much more than me anyway. You’ll have tutors and go to the academy too.

Tap… Just study until it’s time to run away.

Resolving myself, I opened the book— and the door burst open.

Cynthia walked in, looking very annoyed.

“The Lady has left, so…”

“I know.”

She snapped back and immediately started tidying the room.

Should I help?

Cecile had emphasized over and over that a lady’s maid and a regular maid were different. Even small acts of helping could affect the Lady’s dignity.

“Are you just going to sit there?”

Even when she spoke like that, full of complaints…

“Uh… should I help?”

I really shouldn’t respond like this! I bit my lip too late. Ugh, coward!

Without even looking at me, Cynthia scoffed.

“No thanks. Just do your lady’s maid duties.”

As she turned to leave, I pointed at the basket in front of the bathroom.

“Aren’t you taking this?”

“I’ll handle it. Can’t you see I’m behind on work?”

Cynthia pointed at a cart she’d left outside the door. It was full of things like bedsheets and towels.

I shouldn’t have said anything. Watching someone work while I sat still was making me anxious.

“If you’re going to nitpick that much, why doesn’t the lady’s maid just do it herself?”

Even at her snarky jab, I went quiet. I probably sounded like a boss abusing power, huh? Sorry. I didn’t mean it. I swear…

“You could just take it to the laundry room. Can’t you even do that?”

Grumbling, Cynthia disappeared into the bedroom. She wasn’t wrong.

I basically acted like a jerk. It’s nothing for me to bring it to the laundry room.

Will I get scolded for lowering the Lady’s dignity?

Then I’ll accept it. I’m sorry, Lady. I won’t do it again.

It’s just… sitting still while someone else works makes me itchy… Not because I hate studying… at all…

I’m just a helpless little commoner! I grabbed the laundry basket and escaped.

****

The laundry room door was locked.

They had locked it on purpose.

The laundry maids inside didn’t even try to hide their presence and just kept working.

Well, I expected this much.

I’m a perfectly prepared ordinary citizen, after all. I brought all the washing tools just in case this happened.

After quickly finishing the laundry by the riverside, I stretched my arms. Even I was tired of complaining about washing machines by now.

Can’t someone invent a massage chair here? They’d need it too. I tapped my lower back a few times as I packed the laundry into the basket.

“Annie?”

SPLASH—!

Someone burst out of the water, cutting through the current. A familiar timing and a familiar person.

“What— Why are you coming out from there…?”

Yet I couldn’t finish my sentence and dropped the basket.

Thunk! Thunk-thunk… plop.

The basket rolled across the riverbank pebbles and fell into the river, but I couldn’t move.

Kyle quickly fished out the basket and the laundry, then walked toward me.

“Annie, are you hurt?”

Kyle, you…

“You don’t look well…”

What is wrong with your body…?

Is that really a human body? I blinked several times, but what I saw was real.

Kyle was wearing only pants.

His upper arm muscles flexed as he swept back his wet hair…

His broad and firm chest muscles practically demanded attention…

And the drops of water sliding dangerously down like a valley…

Truly a breathtaking view— Wait! I wiped my mouth after almost quoting a line straight out of an adults-only romance novel.

“Y-you! Why are you swimming in a place like this! Seriously! Trying to freeze to death?!”

I tore my gaze away from his menacingly shiny upper body under the sunlight.

“You’re a grown man! Geez!”

Had he trained his whole life or what?!

“You’re the one who told me I was still a kid.”

Kyle chuckled as he started putting on the clothes he had left on a rock.

“That was when I thought you were a trainee… sir Sword Master.”

I almost forgot. How dare he distract me with that grown man body!

Kyle stayed shameless.

“So you knew that too?”

“You thought I’d never find out?”

“If it were you…”

“Hey!”

I shoved his shoulder out of habit—then gasped.

“My hand!”

This time I couldn’t hold back my scream. So that hardness earlier wasn’t armor, it was HIS BODY! Even Holly wouldn’t call him a twig if she saw this!

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine, so put on your clothes! A grown man shouldn’t be acting so careless!”

“I was sweaty after sparring…”

“Then you should’ve gone to the bath!”

“I thought no one would come…”

“What do you mean no one! This is my personal washing spot!”

“So that means you’re the one who…”

Kyle blinked his bright blue eyes and asked,

“Why are you doing the laundry?”

The heart that had been bouncing after seeing his body dropped like a stone.

“Where do I even start…”

“Are the servants bullying you?”

“No, this is just… my choice…”

Well, I DID come here myself—though the laundry room being locked didn’t help. I wouldn’t even be surprised if dirty water or garbage fell on my head at this point.

As Kyle insisted on carrying my basket for me, I vented everything.

The servants’ reactions.

What Cynthia said.

The locked laundry room.

“Shouldn’t you tell someone about that?”

“Tell who?”

“Anyone.”

Who exactly? The lady who proudly believed no one could bother me? Just imagining her fairy-like face twisting made me sigh.

“It’s nothing to brag about.”

And it wasn’t something she needed to fix anyway.

“I just need to do well, that’s all.”

So competent that they won’t have anything to complain about.

“…But Kyle.”

“Yeah?”

Now that my thoughts had settled, something about Kyle walking beside me felt strangely contradictory.

“Why were you really swimming there? You’re the lady’s guard.”

He was gone since morning, so I thought he might’ve been doing secret guard duty. Shouldn’t he be following the lady’s schedule right now?

“Oh, that…”

Kyle’s expression darkened in an instant.

“Yesterday, before the dinner party, Lord Aaeon came to pick up the lady.”

“He did?”

What even happened back then?

The lady slipped, Kyle caught her. She thanked him. And Aaeon saw that and…

Gasp. No way…

Kyle saw my expression and asked,

“…You remembered?”

“Uh, yeah…”

Aaeon, seeing the lady in Kyle’s arms, looked like he could devour a monster alive.

‘I suppose that means she won’t need a guard while I’m here.’

His voice, spoken one word at a time, was like walking on thin ice.

‘Isn’t that right, Kyle Esteban?’

I had thought, ‘Ugh, that daughter-obsessed guy again,’ but apparently it meant “Get lost until I leave.”

“You must’ve had a hard time.”

“Well… Lord Aaeon is my benefactor.”

He smiled awkwardly, but I could tell he meant it.

Kyle, born into Count Esteban’s house, wasn’t from the main bloodline—he was an illegitimate child. He’d been sent to the monster-hunting corps at a young age, almost like being abandoned, and Aaeon took him in when he recognized his talent.

…Or so the lady told me. So Kyle should be able to tolerate Aaeon’s overprotectiveness.

Since Kyle didn’t tell me himself, I had to be careful not to share too much.

“He said he took you in, right?”

That was the only part I knew.

“So that’s how you became Tricen’s ruthless hound?”

And this part was such a widely spread rumor that everyone knew except me.

“W-what—how do you know about that…!”

Kyle went pale as I teased him.

“The cold-blooded ghoul?”

“Stop…”

“The emotionless blue-eyed demon!”

“Please stop…”