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Chapter 5
I Became an Extra in a Childcare Novel
“Even if you cling to me like a second male lead, it won’t work!”
“What? What did you just—”
“Nothing! I was talking nonsense!”
It just slipped out of my mouth! And I even said “second male lead” in Korean!
Kyle, whose gentle, deer-like eyes made my mind go hazy, leaned closer.
“If it was nonsense… then you’re not leaving, right?”
Attacking me with that face?!
“…Not right now.”
I mumbled reluctantly, and the freshly twenty-year-old young man broke into a bright smile. Seriously, this guy!
“I told you not to smile at just anyone!”
I shoved his shoulder hard—but what the heck?! He didn’t budge at all. My hand…!
I thought he was wearing casual clothes—was there armor underneath? He could’ve told me!
“You’re not just anyone, Annie.”
While I clenched my fist and endured the pain, Kyle replied with an expression as innocent as a natural treasure.
Honestly… I wonder which lady is going to capture you someday.
Before that, though, you should probably get out of that squire status. I don’t know how long Aeon plans to keep making a grown man do odd jobs.
“Shouldn’t you be getting promoted soon?”
Kyle blinked as if I were talking about someone else.
“Promotion?”
“When are they giving you your knighthood? You’re twenty now. After working you this hard, shouldn’t they at least give you a position?”
In this world, you’re considered an adult at eighteen. Unless Aeon intends to block Kyle’s future, he should grant him a title sooner rather than later.
“Ah, well… I guess my skills still aren’t good enough.”
So frustrating. What do skills have to do with it? You can even buy a knighthood with money.
Besides, the Trisen Knights guard the harsh northern lands—they’re said to be the strongest in the empire. There’s no reason to keep someone incompetent around for years.
“How long are you going to just wait? It’s time you demanded it proudly!”
“Hmm…”
Kyle lowered his gaze, showing off his long eyelashes, then smiled softly.
“I’m good at waiting.”
“That’s not the point.”
I was about to wag my finger and tell him he needed to secure his own future when—
“Kyle.”
“Gah!”
A deep male voice suddenly sounded right behind us.
I screamed at the top of my lungs and turned around to see a Trisen knight.
“Ah, I’m sorry…”
“No, I apologize for startling you.”
He bowed politely, every movement disciplined like a proper knight.
Wow… an all-black armored knight. He looked like he could chop down a tree with his shoulder and split a rock with his chin.
“Kyle, the commander is looking for you.”
“Yes. I’ll go right away.”
Compared to him, the somewhat unreliable squire stood up and whispered,
“See you next time, Annie.”
I watched his retreating brown curls with a sigh.
As if sensing my gaze, he turned back and even waved.
What am I going to do with that soft-hearted guy? Instead of grinning like that, he should try looking dignified like a knight.
“…Sigh, look at me worrying about others.”
I have my own problems to deal with.
I got up gloomily. It was about time to clean the bathrooms.
“Wow…”
The moment I returned to the castle, I couldn’t help but gasp.
It was thanks to the second young master, who had just expressed his stormy emotions on the second-floor terrace window.
Holly, who had arrived earlier and was staring up in shock, muttered,
“It’s gonna be cold at night…”
The largest window in the castle had been completely shattered. Even if it was summer, you couldn’t underestimate a place where the Grand Duke of the North lived.
“What happened this time?”
“He was with the eldest young master, and then suddenly… you know, the usual.”
“Shh, quiet! Clean it up quickly and get back to your positions!”
At Ines’s sharp command, the whispering maids scattered.
Holly glanced around and whispered like a ventriloquist,
“It was amazing! He went BAM with his fist—then crash!”
“Holly! Go to the far end. Now!”
“Yeees…”
Sharp-eared Ines sent Holly away too. I silently began sweeping up the glass shards.
Leonis Trisen, the Grand Duke’s second son, had a serious anger management problem.
If he were the type who was weak to the strong and strong to the weak, he might’ve been treatable.
But Leonis was strong against both the strong and the weak.
He picked fights not only with Narkis, who was stronger than him, but even with Aeon, who was practically beyond human.
The pattern was simple.
Leonis would attack, Aeon would knock him away without even sparing a glance, and Narkis would send him flying while mocking him.
Even after being thrown, Leonis would jump back up yelling, “Daaamn it!” and smash whatever he could grab—and we would clean it up.
At this point, the problem wasn’t just his anger issues. Was there no family counseling in this medieval world?
With black hair and red eyes, Leonis resembled Aeon the most among the Trisen siblings.
Maybe his tendency to break things when upset came from his mother.
The second Grand Duchess of Trisen, Freda Hillston of a marquis family, was beautiful, elegant—and violent.
Young Annie never encountered the former Grand Duchess directly.
Instead, I saw countless other maids being beaten or dismissed.
Freda filled Aeon’s living quarters with middle-aged maids.
If any maid from another area even lingered nearby, she would have them brutally whipped and driven away.
Even Beth, who had a child, was slapped simply because Aeon’s gaze brushed past her.
After enduring four years of Aeon’s indifference, Freda was eventually divorced.
“Can’t let go? You filthy vermin dare touch me?! Let go—!”
She struggled desperately not to leave the castle, and the knights had to drag her out.
“Aeon! Aeo—on…!”
Even as she was thrown out barefoot into the snowy November, she called only for Aeon.
Her dark blue hair was whipped wildly by the snow.
“Aeon Triseeeen!”
Annie, watching secretly through the window, was terrified—as if she’d heard a curse.
Is it too harsh to say Leonis resembles Freda? At least he only destroys objects.
Still, I can’t forget how he rampaged when left alone.
With his tiny hands, he smashed everything—plates, vases, statues—anything he could grab.
Everyone pitied him, saying he was just trying to get attention.
I just wanted to smack him. I held back because I’d probably be the one who’d get smashed.
Father and son were the same—completely unsocialized. Though, to be fair, they were nobles who didn’t need to be.
What’s funny is they didn’t even socialize with each other. They absolutely hated one another. Was this some kind of familial loathing?
The only one maintaining peace in this hopelessly dysfunctional household was Lady Edel.
When Leonis met his lovely younger sister from the South, he was instantly reformed. His “strong-against-all” nature became utterly powerless in front of her.
At least, until Narkis returned.
Now, it had become a regular event.
“Damn it, Narkis! I’ll kill you!”
“You always say that and never do.”
Leonis fuming, Narkis smiling mockingly.
“Big brothers, don’t fight! If you fight, I’ll be sad!”
And in between them, the young lady throwing herself in to stop them.
“I told you not to put Edel in danger. You are forbidden from approaching her for two weeks. A 50-meter radius.”
Aeon issuing punishment like an order.
Normally, my Korean-daughter DNA would be screaming, ‘If you’re their biological father, discipline them yourself instead of dumping it on your daughter!’
But right now, Lady Edel—who should be secretly reconciling her brothers behind their father’s back—was, incredibly enough…
…peeking at me from behind a pillar in the hallway.
And the reason?
“You don’t have to try so hard to earn my affection!”
I brought this disaster upon myself.
I used a cheat code that made me the center of the young lady’s attention.
Since that day, she had been observing my every move.
The teddy bear she carried around.
The fluttering hem of her dress.
Her chubby cheek peeking out.
I could see everything—but everyone pretended not to notice. Me included.
Ines warned me not to do anything unnecessary and make the young lady cry. The servants’ gazes toward me were growing increasingly hostile.
I didn’t want attention at all. I refused to become “the maid who was poisoned instead of the young lady” or “the maid who died in an attack meant for her.”
Even if I were just a minor character who barely survived, there was no way to confirm it.
I could ask her:
“I know you’re the protagonist of a childcare novel! Please tell me—are you a regressor, a transmigrator, or reincarnated? And am I a character you recognize?”
But what if she was just the Grand Duke’s youngest daughter?
This being a romance-fantasy world was only a suspicion. There was no guarantee she was actually the protagonist. If I got kicked out for being insane, my retirement funds would be gone.
Besides, I had no choice.
What authority does a maid have to speak to the young lady first?
So I had to wait.
For her to speak to me—or lose interest.
My daily life was painfully boring. Fixed tasks at fixed times, the same people every day.
Soon, the young lady would lose interest, and I’d escape the shackles of this childcare novel.
And from Narkis and the Trisen men as well.
So I’ll do my best, my lady!
I let my eyes lose focus and erased my presence completely.
Perfectly.
Too perfectly.
