I Possessed As A Childcare Extra Chapter 34

“Show me how much you’ve grown.”

Freda slowly stroked my cheek.

Narkis’s face twisted. The dam he had barely been holding back collapsed, and his emotions spilled out.

“Young master!”

I shouted, without even knowing what I should say.

“I—I’m fine!”

The words that burst out were utterly meaningless.

What did it matter if I was fine? To him, I was nothing.

Narkis looked straight at me.

For the first time since he appeared here today.

Maybe for the first time in all the time we had ever faced each other.

“I said I’m fine!”

Even as I thought how stupid it sounded, I repeated it.

Narkis’s gaze didn’t waver.

“……I will file a formal protest about this.”

Releasing Freda’s wrist, Narkis declared it coldly.

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

“……Ha!”

As Narkis turned away, Freda let out a mocking laugh toward his back, clutching his stomach as he cackled.

Once Narkis left the drawing room, the knights rushed in.

Still laughing as if he might lose his breath, Freda shook them off and walked out on his own.

“See you again.”

Leaving those words behind.

 

 

*****

 

 

 

See you again, my foot. I’m never seeing him again.

He’s an early-stage villain, so this should be the end.

The protagonist’s older brother stepped in, but there were no signs of an episode starting. Freda was kicked out, and the young lady was safe.

Very safe. Extremely so. Just very, very gloomy.

Lying flat on my bed, I couldn’t even turn my body. The cloth soaked in ice water and placed on my left cheek had already grown lukewarm.

“I should bring more ice.”

Cecil said as she replaced it with a fresh cloth. Since I couldn’t speak, I replied with my eyes.

Creak. Click.

After Cecil closed the door and left, only silence remained.

“…….”

“…….”

The young lady, sitting on the chair by my bed, hadn’t said a single word this whole time.

What should I do?

Because of the cloth, I had to turn my head to look at her. Her green eyes stayed lowered the entire time.

Was she angry?

Kyle had stopped her when she tried to step in. She must have seen me shaking my head too.

If she got mad and asked why I stopped her…… I’d honestly say I wanted to prevent what was coming.

But somehow, it felt like she already knew.

She knew enough romance fantasy to realize she’d reincarnated into The Contractor of the Spirit King. She would understand better than anyone why I’d done it.

Was she disappointed because the affection-building failed?

It was unexpected for a technique with a 100% success rate in childcare stories to fail, but it was also perfectly normal. Life never goes the way you want.

Maybe it failed because I interfered. The young lady didn’t know I’d met Freda separately, or that it had been on Narkis’s orders.

Had she noticed there was something between Freda and me?

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

“It’s my fauwt.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s cuz I di’ nuffin.”

But the young lady blamed herself.

“What are you saying! You tried so hard—”

“I said sum stoopid stuff ‘bout building affection.”

I was left speechless.

“You got hit by Freda.”

The young lady stubbornly finished her sentence.

“I cudda stopped it. If I did it proply, you wudn’t ‘ave gotten hit.”

Affection-building relied entirely on the fact that she was the protagonist of a childcare story. If she weren’t, she wouldn’t even have tried.

“It’s all my fauwt…….”

I stated firmly to the shrinking young lady,

“Absolutely not.”

She slowly lifted her gaze. Her dull, sunken green eyes looked powerless.

One thing was certain.

“How could you stop someone who hates you blindly?”

There was no way to turn someone who had decided to hate you into an ally.

No matter what she did, Freda would have dragged me in. There was no more useful piece for tormenting her than me.

“In the first place, bullying a child is wrong. That man is a child abuser.”

And not a first-time offender either. When I imagined that today, someone else could have been in my place……

I rubbed my arm as a chill ran through me. The young lady murmured,

“But I’m not…… a child…….”

“You have a child’s body.”

Who was inside didn’t matter.

Unless she unlocked the hidden power sealed by reincarnation buffs, a child’s body had limits.

“Next time, it’d be better to ask the young mas— anyone—for help.”

If she’d used those childcare-story brothers earlier, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up dealing with both vomiting and diarrhea at the same time. They were young too, but it would have been better than her enduring it alone.

 

 

 

****

 

Life hadn’t been smooth to begin with. I wanted to use everything I could use.

“No, th-that’s not okay.”

The young lady shook her head.

“That kind of atti—”

She stopped mid-sentence and frowned.

“That way, nothing changes.”

She stumbled a little, but spoke clearly.

“I understand that you can’t… can’t trust me.”

Something surged up in my throat, and I missed the timing to argue back.

“I’ll try.”

The young lady said it carefully.

“I’ll change, Jueun.”

Ah, so this is…… a growth sacrifice?

Tears threatened to spill. I pretended to sniff and wiped at my eyes so she wouldn’t notice.

“To become the young lady’s growth sacrifice is an honor…….”

“What nonsense. Dummy!”

When she got flustered, her original way of speaking came back.

Before I could feel touched, her cotton-ball-like fist slammed into my shoulder. Thump!

“Ow!”

For a cotton ball, it hurt. Guess you can’t fool the bloodline of the Northern Grand Duke?

“Dummy! Jueun is a dummy!”

“Ow! Ow! I’m sorry!”

Because I was being sentenced to the cotton-ball punishment, I couldn’t ask.

Whether she knew Freda had abused Narkis.

Was it in the original story?

A character who was supposed to appear after the story began had shown up five years early.

Five years later, Narkis would be twenty. Very different from fifteen. His standing in the family, and even how he dealt with people he disliked. Freda wouldn’t have been able to act like she did now.

Narkis being abused.

Setting aside their relationship as heir and stepmother, and Freda’s known behavior…… child abuse was one of those tragic backstories that showed up far too easily.

I couldn’t just brush it off with, “Well, if he’s a childcare-story older brother, he needs some childhood trauma.” It felt the same as when I watched the young lady trying so hard to be loved.

I hated stories where children suffered.

When I was young, it felt like I was looking at myself. When I grew up, it felt like my own past. And even now, so many children are suffering that I didn’t want to see it even in fiction.

You can’t quit reality, you know, author.

For the first time, I looked for the author instead of God. I didn’t know whether it was the author of The Contractor of the Spirit King or the childcare story author.

Out of all the tragic backstories, did it really have to be child abuse?

Tragic backstories were like maids getting slapped. The protagonist or people around them didn’t just become unhappy for no reason.

The young lady would save Narkis. Strong sibling bonds were a required condition for a childcare story’s happy ending.

Narkis’s trauma was just a tool for that.

Misery used as a tool.

Feeling it on my own skin made everything feel empty.

The world that ran on a fixed flow. My life that couldn’t escape that world.

I didn’t want to interfere anymore.

Whether the original story covered Narkis’s tragedy or not, whether Leonie and Aeon were saved one by one or not, that was the young lady’s job.

Just as the young lady had the destiny of a protagonist, I had the rights of an extra.

I should exit quickly. This was never my stage to begin with.

I couldn’t run away right away since I was a maid, but five years would be enough.

By the time the original story started, the young lady would have fully taken her place as the protagonist.

At least I’d be able to tell whether she’d survive. That was enough to call it loyalty.

By then, I’d be twenty-four. A good age to start a new life. If I didn’t want another dark period like my past life, I had to prepare thoroughly.

Five years was a bit long…… but since I’d become a maid, it couldn’t be helped. Better to prepare longer, right?

For now, I decided to be faithful to my role.

The young lady, who had stopped the cotton-ball punishment, slumped her shoulders. Her small body looked like it needed care just to exist.

“Lady Edel. I always trust you.”

I didn’t say it just out of duty. I couldn’t just let ‘I understand that you can’t trust me’ pass by. If I didn’t trust her, who would I trust?

“Hngh…….”

Her pretty brows knit together.

“Huh?”

“Hwaaaah!”

“N-no, you can’t!”

If I made her cry again, Aeon would erase me!

“Please don’t cry, my lady!”

“Hic, then…….”

As I hurriedly tried to stop her, the young lady—who had been sobbing into her hands—made a request.

“Say you love me…….”

“Huh?”

Did I hear that wrong?

As if mocking me, she added,

—In Korean.

“Ah…….”

—You don’t want to?

“N-no. I’ll say it.”

Was it just my imagination, or was she starting to resemble Narkis?

Anyway…… love. I lowered my head solemnly.

……Love. I clasped my hands and made up my mind.

—I…… Lady Edel—

—No.

She shook her head firmly before I could finish. If not Lady Edel…….

Was it that?

After taking a deep breath,

—I love you, Park Miri.

“…….”

I finally said it, but her expression turned gloomy. That wasn’t it either?

Then the only thing left was—

—I love you, Miri……?

Her lovely heart-shaped lips spread into a wide smile.

—I love you too, Jueun!

Aah, it’s dazzling…….

And embarrassing! I want to disappear like this! I desperately need Aeon’s icy breath!