I Possessed As A Childcare Extra Chapter 4

Returning the long way through the forest instead of the garden shortcut, I asked myself:

Had I gone somewhere I wasn’t supposed to?

No, it was a path mainly used by servants.

Some nobles restricted servants from entering their gardens, but the Tricens didn’t.

Was it such a big sin to sigh where the masters could hear, or fail to notice them passing by?

In this world, yes, it was a sin.

But the Tricens didn’t care about anything servants did. As long as they didn’t touch Lady Edel.

……Right, Lady Edel. The childcare-story protagonist.

By the usual formula, the childcare timeline should have started when the young lady was still a newborn.

Incidents never stopped happening around her.

When she was about a year old, a noble who tried to use her to win Aeon’s favor was ruined.

When she was about four, the Tricen branch children who bullied her were also ruined.

“Ruined” was putting it mildly.

I, too, might’ve become a casualty of the world revolving around the young lady.

But I didn’t want to blame her. This was all because Narkis Tricen was a psychopathic brat.

For a while, I had nightmares. Washing blankets, Narkis flipping the basket, washing the blankets again, running into Narkis again.

I was sixteen, he was only twelve. Four years younger, yet already a sprouting psycho. I developed a habit of watching a 30-meter radius just to avoid him.

And I hadn’t run into him since then.

Now, after three years, Narkis claimed he remembered me as we met alone in his private lounge.

A maid like me—nothing but a fly he brushed away once.

“Are you waiting for me to call your name or something?”

After a long silence, he added nonsense on top.

What was wrong with him?

Was it because I hadn’t answered?

What was I supposed to say to a young master who remembered a ‘careless, foolish maid’?

It’s an honor you remember me?

Are you insane, young master?

I held back a snort and fixed my gaze on the glossy toe of his shoe.

“No, young master. I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For making the young lady cry……”

“Mmm. And?”

His power trip made the café owner I had worked for in my past life look like a saint.

I weakly said the one thing that seemed to apply.

“For… not responding earlier…?”

His low, clean voice echoed slowly.

“Well. It’s good to listen carefully when your master speaks.”

“……Yes.”

“Even if you don’t answer every word, you should know when you must answer.”

“……I’ll keep that in mind.”

This way of bullying someone until he felt like stopping—exactly like that café owner.

Aeon had spared me. Narkis wouldn’t be able to do anything too extreme.

Surely, he’d let me go now.

“I sometimes play tag with Edel.”

Guess not.

“It’s quite fun when she chases me or when I chase her.”

The tapping of Narkis’s shoes stopped.

“But I don’t enjoy it when someone else tries to run or hide in front of me.”

A bad feeling crept up my spine.

“Like a sewer rat.”

Even without Aeon involved, Narkis wasn’t going to leave me alone.

“You shouldn’t have been caught, Annie.”

A gloved hand touched my chin.

Only a few seconds later did I realize—

I was staring straight into those red eyes.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

 

“Narkis wanted to check your face, it seems.”

When I relayed the sentiment of ‘What kind of lunatic does that?’ Kyle answered far too casually. I tore at some innocent grass and objected.

“Check my face? If he checked it twice, I’d die of a heart attack.”

I was being sincere, but I still heard a stifled chuckle. His laughter was so fresh I couldn’t even get mad.

We were sitting by the Larque River, which cut across Tricen territory.

The shallow water shimmered like a mermaid’s fin. Smooth pebbles lay at our feet, and lush greenery hung above us.

Three years ago, on that very day, I had come here to wash the blankets again—and met Kyle.

 

‘Are you okay? Why are you crying?’

I hadn’t even realized I was crying until he said that.

The boy, whose voice was starting to deepen, had soft brown curls and obedient blue eyes.

I stared at his annoyingly gentle face before replying.

‘I’m not okay, but… can you help me with the laundry?’

‘Uh… yeah, sure.’

‘Thanks. But who are you anyway? You didn’t sneak in, did you?’

‘No, no. I’m… um… Lord Aeon’s squire.’

‘How old are you? I’m sixteen.’

‘Seventeen.’

‘Wow, I thought I’d be the older one!’

 

After that, we became secret-sharing friends at the washing place. Kyle’s shockingly youthful look was still going strong.

Whenever I “softened” how monstrous the Tricens were—turning it into “how difficult they were to serve”—Kyle just quietly listened.

His reactions, though, were never satisfying. How could he be so laid-back? I decided to emphasize just how serious things were.

“Listen carefully, Kyle. The young master touched my face, okay?”

The heir of the grand duchy!

With his own hand!

Checking a maid’s face!

Did he even understand how terrifying that was?

Even days later, it still felt vivid.

From where Narkis’s fingers touched, it felt like the blood slowly dried up.

His face, so colorless it hardly looked human.

Those brilliant red eyes.

My terrified reflection mirrored back at me.

And that gentle smile.

He must have smiled even on the day he knocked over my laundry. Staring down at me scrambling on the ground, so satisfied.

Just like when he touched me—his fingers withdrew before I even registered the moment.

The luxurious carpet never echoed his footsteps. Narkis drifted away like a ghost without substance.

Just remembering it still suffocated me.

I buried my face in my arms, and Kyle’s innocent question reached me.

“……Was it really that scary?”

He knew nothing, but he tried his best to understand. I explained calmly.

“Why else would the young master personally check a maid’s face?”

After I’d already offended him, and made his precious sister cry, and annoyed him like a sewer rat.

“It’s a warning. If I show up in front of him again, then…….”

I couldn’t finish the sentence. I just sighed deeply.

“Maybe… he was showing concern in his own way?”

“Con-cern?”

Was that even a real word right now? I glared with all my strength, but Kyle continued innocently.

“Sounds like he was telling you not to avoid him. If you keep running away, it’ll just make work harder.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

Holding someone’s chin and saying ‘You shouldn’t have been caught’—how was that concern? If anything, it meant:

“‘How dare you avoid me? You’ve got some nerve. Better be careful.’ That’s what he meant.”

Saying it out loud made me even more resentful. Maids are supposed to avoid the young masters! And now what—avoid him properly? I wasn’t a sword master!

“Well… maybe……”

While Kyle waffled, I reached a conclusion. He just didn’t like me. That was it.

I might as well leave a will.

“If I suddenly disappear one day, pray for my soul.”

“Haha. Annie, really.”

“I’m not joking. Someone like me would evaporate if the young master so much as blew on me.”

“You’re very imaginative.”

“I’m serious! He’s supposedly reached the height of swordsmanship. They said he’ll become like his father soon!”

“Ah… well……”

“They say sword masters can stab people with just their gaze.”

I’d personally experienced Aeon earlier. I really thought he’d skewer me from the top of my skull. As a living witness, I swear—

“One breath and I’ll vaporize.”

Kyle, who’d been smiling soullessly, mumbled.

“If a breath could vaporize someone, shouldn’t I be gone already?”

“Gasp—what?!”

I slapped a hand over my mouth. How could he say that so calmly?!

“You—you-you—did you get breathed on by the master?”

“U-uhm, sometimes… when I’m serving him.”

“What? How?!”

Why was he breathing on this poor kid?! I grabbed Kyle’s cheeks and tilted his face left and right.

“Your outside looks fine!”

“I-I’m okay.”

“You’re not hurting inside, are you?”

“My insides are fine too.”

“Whew, thank goodness. Must’ve been breath without sword aura.”

Relieved, I let go. Kyle rubbed his cheeks a few times, then asked seriously:

“Annie… don’t you read too many novels?”

“Do you wanna say that again? I’m being serious.”

“Ahaha.”

While I wallowed in despair, Kyle simply laughed and added:

“If young master Narkis doesn’t like someone, he wouldn’t keep them around. If he hated you, he would’ve fired you.”

“And how would you know that?”

A squire was basically a knight-order errand boy. He didn’t know the family well, same as maid 82.

“Well… you can kind of tell when serving him.”

He was lying so blatantly just to comfort me. I lost the will to argue and only nodded.

“Sure. He must be that kind. Thank goodness I wasn’t fired. Truly, thank you, young master.”

“It’s true… you really don’t believe me?”

“I believe you, I believe you. Who else would I trust but you?”

Kyle blushed. Adorable. Maybe serving someone made you blind to how psycho they were.

In truth, the reason Narkis let me go was obvious.

Because the young lady had stood up for me. As long as I had her favor, I’d be safe.

So does that mean I have to follow her around now?

“No way……”

I didn’t want to get dragged any deeper into this childcare story!

“Ugh… I’m doomed!”

I shoved my face into my knees again, and Kyle nervously asked,

“Annie? Are you okay?”

“With work experience as a Tricen household maid… shouldn’t I be able to go anywhere?”

“Huh? Are you trying to leave?”

“Ines might write me a good recommendation. I’ll just beg her to leave out the part where I made the young lady cry……”

“……Didn’t you say just a few days ago that there’s no master easier to serve than Lord Aeon?”

That was true. As long as it wasn’t about the young lady, he couldn’t care less about the servants. But—

“That was before I got summoned. Things are different now. I need to…”

Run! Escape!

I was about to declare it when I met his droopy blue eyes.

“Don’t go, Annie.”