I Possessed As A Childcare Extra Chapter 27

“Show me how much you’ve grown.”

Freda slowly stroked my cheek.

Narkis’s face twisted. As if the dam he’d barely been holding back had burst, spilling emotion.

“Young Master!”

I shouted, not even knowing what I was supposed to say.

“I—I’m fine!”

The words that burst out were pathetic.

What good was it that I was fine? I meant nothing to him anyway.

Narkis looked straight at me.

For the first time since he’d appeared today.

Maybe for the first time in all the moments we’d ever faced each other.

“I said I’m fine!”

Even as I wondered why I was doing something so stupid, I repeated it.

Narkis didn’t look away.

“…I will officially file a complaint about this.”

Releasing Freda’s wrist, Narkis declared:

“You are not qualified to attend the council. Leave by today.”

“…Ha!”

Freda scoffed at his back as he turned, then doubled over laughing.

As soon as Narkis stepped out of the parlor, knights rushed in.

Freda, laughing so hard she sounded short of breath, shook off the knights and walked out on her own.

“See you again.”

Leaving only those words behind.

 

 

****

 

 

 

See you again, my foot. I will never see you again.

She’s an early-stage villain. This should be the end.

Even though the protagonist’s brother jumped in, there were no signs the episode would begin. Freda was expelled, and the young lady was safe.

Mostly. Very. Extremely gloomy, but safe.

I lay straight on my bed, unable to turn. The cloth soaked in ice water and laid over my left cheek was already lukewarm.

“I’ll get more ice.”

Cecile said as she replaced it with a fresh cloth. I couldn’t speak, so I answered with my eyes.

Creak, click.

Once Cecile closed the door and left, silence filled the room.

“……”

“……”

The young lady, sitting on the chair beside my bed, hadn’t said a single word since earlier.

What do I do?

Because of the cloth, I had no choice but to turn my head toward her. Her green eyes were cast downward the whole time.

Was she angry?

Kyle had held her back when she tried to step in. She must’ve seen me shaking my head.

If she was angry about why I stopped her… then I’d just have to honestly say I wanted to prevent the coming disaster.

But she already seemed to understand.

She knew enough about romance-fantasy tropes to realize she had reincarnated into <The Spirit King’s Contractor>. She probably knew better than anyone why I’d done what I did.

Maybe she was disappointed that her favor-building failed.

It was surprising that a technique boasting a 100% success rate in childcare stories didn’t work—but also completely normal. Life never goes the way we want.

Maybe I ruined it by stepping in. The young lady didn’t know I’d been meeting Freda separately, or that it was Narkis’s order.

Had she noticed something was going on between Freda and me?

If she scolded me for hiding it, I’d have nothing to say. Even if I didn’t want to burden her, I still hid it.

“It’s because of me.”

“…What?”

“Because I didn’t do anytying.”

But then the young lady blamed herself.

“What do you mean! You tried so hard…”

“I kept talking about building favor. Dumb stuff like that.”

I had no words.

“You got hit because of me.”

The young lady finished firmly.

“I could haf stop’d it. If I acted right, you wouldn’t haf been hit.”

The favor-building method relied entirely on her being the protagonist of a childcare story. If she weren’t that, she couldn’t have tried it at all.

“It’s all my fault…”

As she shrank in on herself, I declared:

“Absolutely not.”

The young lady slowly lifted her gaze. Her dull, lifeless green eyes looked powerless.

But this much was certain:

“You can’t stop someone who blindly hates you.”

There’s no way to turn someone determined to hate me into an ally.

No matter what the young lady did, Freda would have dragged me into it. There was no tool more useful for tormenting the young lady than me.

“Picking on a child is wrong, period. That woman is a child abuser.”

Not even a first-time offender. And thinking of someone else being in my place today…

A chill ran down my arm and I rubbed it.

But the young lady murmured:

“But I’m… not a kid…”

“You’re in a child’s body.”

It didn’t matter who was inside.

Unless she unlocked the power tucked away by her reincarnation buff, her body had limits.

“From now on, you should ask the young master… anyone… for help.”

If she’d used the childcare big brothers earlier, she wouldn’t have had to suffer through vomiting and diarrhea at the same time. They were young too, but better than her enduring it alone.

Her life was already turbulent. I wanted her to use every resource she could.

“No, that won’t work.”

The young lady shook her head firmly.

“That wy… that way….”

Mid-sentence, she frowned.

“That way, nothing changes.”

She stuttered, but her words were clear.

“I get why you… don’t trust me.”

Something surged in my throat, and I missed my chance to refute her.

“I’ll try. I will.”

The young lady spoke each word with care.

“I’ll change, Jieun.”

Ah… so this was…

A growth catalyst?

Tears threatened to spill. I made sniffling noises and wiped at my eyes so she wouldn’t notice.

“It is an honor to become the young lady’s growth catalyst…”

“What are you talking about. Dummy!”

When she got flustered, her original way of speaking slipped out.

Before I could feel moved, the young lady’s fluffy little fist slammed into my shoulder. Thump!

“Ow!”

For a fluffy fist, it hurt. Guess you can’t hide being of the Northern Duke’s bloodline!

“Dummy! Jieun is a dummy!”

“Ow! Ow! I’m sorry!”

Because I was serving my cotton-ball sentence, I couldn’t ask her.

Whether she’d known that Freda abused Narkis.

Did it appear in the original?

An extra character meant to appear five years later had shown up early.

Five years from now, Narkis would be twenty. Quite different from fifteen. His standing in the family, the way he got rid of people who bothered him—Freda wouldn’t have been able to act like she did now.

Narkis, abused?

Leaving aside his position as heir and her being the stepmother, and everything known about Freda’s behavior… child abuse was a common tragic setup.

But I couldn’t brush it off with “Childcare MLs always need some childhood trauma.”

It felt like when I watched the young lady desperately trying to earn affection.

I hated stories where children suffer.

When I was young, it reminded me of myself. After I grew up, it felt like things I’d been through. And even now, with so many children suffering in real life, I didn’t want to encounter it in fiction too.

In reality, you can’t drop the story, author-nim.

For the first time, I blamed the writer instead of a god. I didn’t know if it was the writer of <The Spirit King’s Contractor> or the childcare author.

Of all tragic backstories… did it really have to be child abuse?

Tragic backstories were like the “slapped maid” device. The protagonist and side characters didn’t suffer for no reason.

The young lady would save Narkis. Sibling affection was a must-have for a childcare happy ending.

Narkis’s trauma was just a tool.

Tragedy used as a tool.

Feeling it firsthand made everything feel meaningless.

The world that moved along a fixed storyline. My life stuck inside that world.

I didn’t want to meddle anymore.

Whether Narkis’s tragic past was covered in the original or not, whether the young lady saved Leonie and Aeon next or not—that was for her to handle.

Just as the young lady had the protagonist’s destiny, I had the right to be an extra.

Time to make my exit. I was never meant to be on stage anyway.

I couldn’t run away right now, not as a maid, but five years would be enough.

By the time the original story began, the young lady would be settled as the main character.

At least I’d know whether I’d survive or not. That was loyalty enough.

I’d be twenty-four then. A good age to start a new life. To avoid falling back into the dark times of my previous life, I needed to prepare thoroughly.

Five years was a bit long… but being a maid, I didn’t have a choice. More time to prepare—fine by me.

For now, I would stick to my role.

The young lady stopped her cotton-ball punishment and slumped her shoulders. Her small body looked like it needed only to be cared for.

“Lady Edel. I will always trust you.”

It wasn’t said only out of duty. I couldn’t just ignore her saying, “I understand why you can’t trust me.” If I didn’t trust the young lady, who would I trust?

“Huuu…”

Her delicate brows pinched together.

“Huh?”

“Huuuwaaaah!”

“Ah, no! No, don’t!”

If I made the young lady cry again, Aeon might erase me from existence!

“You can’t cry, my lady!”

“Hic… then…”

When I sprang up and tried to stop her, the young lady—face buried in her palms, sobbing—made a demand.

“Tell me you love me…”

“…What?”

Did I hear wrong?

She added, as if mocking my hesitation—

—in Korean.

“Ah…”

—Do you not want to?

“N-no, I’ll do it.”

It must be my imagination that she was becoming a bit like Narkis… right?

Anyway… love. I solemnly lowered my head.

…Love. I clasped my hands and steeled my heart.

—Uh… Lady Edel.

—No.

She immediately shook her head. If not Lady Edel…

Then it must be that.

After a deep breath.

—I love you, Park Miri-ssi.

“……”

Her face fell. Not that either?

Then the only thing left was—

—I love you, Miri-ya…?

Her lovely heart-shaped lips spread wide.

—I love you too, Jieun!

Ah… she shines…

And I’m mortified! I want to disappear! Aeon, please, your breath, I beg you!