I Possessed As A Childcare Extra Chapter 2

“Do you expect me to go through all that trouble based only on your words? What does it matter whose child it is?”

Why wouldn’t it matter? Separate from my hatred of womanizer male leads, anger boiled up inside me.

The beauty asked in a trembling voice:

“Did I make the child by myself?”

A cry filled with emotion followed.

“Even after I told you I was pregnant, I didn’t ask you to stay with me! Do you have any idea how brutal it is for a woman to raise a child alone… Of course you wouldn’t understand, Your Grace!”

If Aeon were human, he should’ve at least reacted like he’d pay child support.

“So you’re saying you need money?”

He wasn’t human. Of course you need to give money, you jerk.

“If you’re the child’s father, take responsibility.”

The beauty answered with more dignity than I ever could. Well, if I swore at him, he’d chop my head off.

After a long silence, Aeon opened his mouth.

“Money or the child. Choose one.”

Was he insane?

“If you choose money, I’ll give you an amount you’ll never see again in your lifetime. But the child dies.”

It’s your child, you absolute trash!!

I nearly screamed, forgetting I was just Maid #82.

“You weren’t expecting me to acknowledge it as my child, were you.”

Aeon spouted nonsense about refusing responsibility for a child he made, then turned to walk away.

“If you understand, take your child and go back.”

“…Give me the money.”

Her voice shook, but her words were clear.

The beauty spat each syllable with force.

“I don’t need that kid either.”

Aeon sneered.

“As you wish.”

Don’t smirk like you knew she’d have no choice but to choose money, you rotten jerk!!

While I screamed internally, the beauty was dragged out of the parlor by Rupert.

She never once looked back at her child, but her staggering, exhausted steps showed how crushed she was.

There was no time to feel sorry for her.

Aeon strode toward the baby left alone on the sofa.

Wait. No.

Even if this world was medieval-ish.

A baby who might be his own child.

A baby that tiny.

Was he really…? In front of us?

Being Maid #82 did not include situations like this!

Without orders, I couldn’t do anything. I just had to wait for this moment to pass. Bowing my head deeply, holding my breath. Holly, standing close beside me, was softly whimpering.

Aeon reached out a large hand toward the baby.

No. Don’t do that. Even if you’re a total jerk, you can’t do that, not as the Northern Grand Duke!

I want to opt out! Whether he’s the male lead or not, please let me drop out of this romance-fantasy story!

How do I drop out of reality?? Help me, god of possession!

I desperately waited for a voice to ring in my head.

Nothing.

Why?! You gave me my dream job!

You gave me a twelve-year-old’s stamina and core muscles!

Was that the end of the possession buff?

Yes, I got a lot… but this isn’t right!

I couldn’t run. I didn’t even have the courage to move.

Would closing my eyes help?

Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.

“Dada!”

And then—a miracle happened.

The baby, who had just seen this man for the first time, recognized him perfectly as “Dad” and smiled brightly. Giggle!

“…He’s smiling.”

“Baaabaaa!”

“He has no idea what his fate is.”

Aeon stopped the hand he had stretched toward the baby and lifted one corner of his mouth.

Only then did a genre I never considered pop into my mind.

The kind where a man tries to kill a child—whether it’s his kid or not—but then goes “How amusing,” “Interesting,” or something like that and spares them…

This childcare-story dad’s line was “He’s smiling.”

My legs gave out and I grabbed Holly’s arm. Her trembling hand grabbed mine back.

“I’ve seen enough blood today.”

Using that flimsy excuse, Aeon turned away— and didn’t kill the baby the next day or the day after that.

A month later, he gave the baby a name: Edel.

The staff, all smitten with the youngest lady of the Tricen Grand Duchy, began calling her “Northern Sunlight.”

Blonde hair and green eyes. Sunshine. Warmth. Any southern-sounding nickname fit.

I knew full well this was now a childcare story, but it still had nothing to do with me.

No matter who fell head over heels for the baby in a month, my life was still cleaning and laundry.

Maid #82, too busy surviving, couldn’t get wrapped up in “the first meeting of father and daughter.”

I had to run before more incidents happened. With a letter of recommendation in hand!

I made that resolve for seven years.

And then I dug my own grave.

 

 

****

 

In my past life, I won a speech contest when I was seven years old.

All the kids who participated shouted with big, clear voices.

When I had just graduated from college, my seven-year-old cousin once said:

“Dad said Auntie is dumb, so even though she graduated from a four-year Seoul university, she still can’t get a job.”

No matter how much that stupid older cousin repeated that line like a parrot in front of the kid, by seven years old a child could clearly pronounce words like “dumb” and “Seoul-university.” Even “employment,” broken into syllables, was said perfectly.

But our young lady, now seven years old, said:

“Dada! Yoo came?”

Her pronunciation had a serious problem.

“Edel waaited for Dada!”

And she referred to herself by name.

“Why did you wait for me?”

“Want eat dinnee with Dada!”

“You could’ve eaten first. You must be hungry.”

“Edel is okee! When Edel eat wif Dada, is tastier!”

And apparently, I was the only one who found this concerning.

The young lady smiled brightly as the hopeless dad and the servants watched her lovingly.

“Edel ish not a baby anymore! Edel can wait!”

She was a child, but she wasn’t young enough for such poor pronunciation.

This was the child who had recognized her father before turning one.

The child praised as a genius.

Why had only her pronunciation stopped developing?

I tried hard to distance myself from the childcare story, but as Maid #82, I couldn’t completely avoid a young lady who wandered around the castle.

Every time I heard her babyish speech, my heart twisted.

Not because it annoyed me. If that were the case, Holly, who still talked the way she had as a child, would’ve bothered me too.

But it didn’t feel right to brush it off as “Ah, this is the childcare-genre trope.”

Because it looked like a child trying hard to be loved.

The Carter couple raised Annie with unconditional love and devotion.

But Aeon? He almost killed a baby not even a year old.

He spared her because she was cute.

Because she smiled brightly and clung to him every time she saw him.

Had she ever thrown a tantrum? Every time I saw her being sweet to everyone, everywhere, I remembered my past life.

I was the daughter who got scolded for “being too blunt” or “not cute enough” just for breathing. I tried to be loved, but at some point I gave up.

It was only after experiencing the Carter couple that I realized:

Children deserve to be loved just as they are.

Children are born without choosing anything. They’re weak and it’s hard enough just surviving in a strange world. The burden of effort belongs to adults.

But if the young lady had chosen to be “a lovable child” as a survival tactic…?

No matter how old the soul inside her was, no matter the reason, regardless of whether she was the protagonist of a childcare story—my Korean-daughter DNA surged to the surface.

You made your daughter beg for love? Aeon Tricen, you unfit parent! I hope you go bald before you hit thirty!

I wished it was all my misunderstanding.

If the young lady wasn’t trying to be loved— If she were simply a naturally lovely child, none of what happened afterward would’ve ever happened.

 

 

 

****

 

 

“Hewwo? Yo ceaning?”

The protagonist running around the castle bumping into Maid #82 cleaning a guest room wasn’t the kind of thing that should become an “episode.”

“Yes, my lady.”

I bent my waist and waited. Hoping this moment would pass uneventfully.

The only spring sunlight of the North spoke kindly even to a mere maid.

“What yo name?”

“Annie, my lady.”

“How owd?”

“Nineteen years old, my lady.”

“Ooh, Edel saw yoo while walkin’. Edel wanna tawk to yoo.”

“It is an honor, my lady.”

Please stop saying dangerous things. Maid #82 does not want to get involved with the protagonist.

“Edel hewp yoo? It hawd alone.”

“No, I’m fine.”

If the young lady helped me clean, Aeon would come chop my head off.

“Hmm? Edel clean well…”

“I’m really fine, my lady.”

“Then Edel gibs yoo dis.”

With her tiny hands, she offered a whole pile of chocolates.

Chocolate was a luxury here. Until now, I’d only ever eaten leftovers she didn’t finish. Receiving a whole handful almost made my eyes roll back.

“Thank you, my lady.”

But I accepted politely. Please leave quickly.

“Annie… yoo hates Edel?”

“Excuse me? Me? Hate you lady?”

That was the kind of remark that got you assassinated in your sleep. Feeling my life flash before my eyes, I jerked my head up.

Golden curls kissed with fragrant oil!

Green eyes sparkling like jewels!

Long, thick lashes lowered shyly!

Round, soft cheeks and rosy lips!

A fairy in a fluttering blue dress stood before me!

Oh my god, my eyes! Was she really sunlight? She shone like direct rays!

No way a creature like this came from Aeon.

Just as I realized her mother must’ve done all the work, her features—too perfect for a seven-year-old—crumpled sadly.

Oof, my heart! This was definitely my fault!

Meeting her beauty up close for the first time was overwhelming. Feeling like a hardened criminal, I blurted:

“No? Absolutely not!”

“Bu’ Annie dun wook at Edel…”

(but annie don’t look at Edel..)

“Me? Oh, no! I’m simply not allowed to look directly at you, my lady!”

“Yoo dun want hewp… dun want choco… heeeng…”

(“You don’t want my help… you don’t want my chocolate… hng…”)

“That’s not because I dislike you!”

“Hiiiing… weawy?”

(“Hiiiing… really?”)

What do I do?! If I make the young lady cry, I won’t survive the night!