WCMP 03

“…Why was he no longer allowed to receive lessons?”

“I was told that since he had grown enough to no longer need a nanny’s help, she left.”

…What kind of ridiculous nonsense was that?

Wasn’t three years old still the age where children toddled around while holding their parents’ hands?

And yet they said a baby that young no longer needed a nanny, so they sent her away. It was honestly insane.

“How can anyone neglect a three-year-old child like that…?”

Grinding my teeth, I muttered under my breath without realizing it.

Up until now, living here, I had thought I liked both my surroundings and this new body.

But…

‘This is seriously not okay.’

He was a younger brother who had suddenly appeared in my life, and honestly, I couldn’t say I would cherish him exactly like my real little brother.

Still, at the very least, I believed it was my duty as a human being to help this child grow up properly.

“My lady, I heard you were looking for me.”

It seemed Amy had moved faster than expected.

When I turned around, I saw a middle-aged woman with neatly pinned-up hair bowing politely to me. It was Mira, the head maid.

Mira was one of the characters who appeared in the original story, remaining head maid even after Amon inherited this estate later on.

At first, it had felt awkward speaking casually to someone older than me, but after exchanging words with her a few times, it no longer felt impossible.

‘More importantly, if I accidentally spoke politely to her, she’d probably find it the strangest of all.’

So I was always careful not to raise my speech level.

“Yes, Head Maid. I saw something absurd today. I heard Amon’s been staying in a room worse than a storage closet. What’s going on?”

At the moment, I was so agitated that I failed to first consider whether the original Rielli had already known about Amon’s situation.

“Th-that…”

The head maid glanced at Amon standing behind me and trailed off.

I figured it would be best to send him away first.

“Amon, could you head to the dining hall first? I’ll talk for a moment and follow after.”

“Yes, Noona. I’ll see you in the dining hall.”

I remained silent until his small figure disappeared completely from view.

In the original novel, Head Maid Mira and her son, the head butler Phil, were retainers of the Robert Ducal House. Strictly speaking, they weren’t bad people.

The story described them as secretly feeling sympathy for Amon, who had suffered an unhappy childhood.

They also pitied the heroine, Remiel, whom Amon later practically dragged into a forced marriage.

But that was all.

The two were merely passive figures who quietly obeyed their master’s orders.

It was difficult to believe that people like them would voluntarily assign Amon such a room.

If so, there was only one possible culprit.

“Was it Father? Did Father give Amon that room?”

“…The lord ordered that the young master should live quietly, as though he didn’t exist… Those were the words delivered directly by Lord Raymond, the duke’s chief aide.”

“…Ha. So it really was him.”

Honestly, it was the answer I had already expected, but part of me had still clung to a sliver of hope.

The duke had treated me kindly, asking whether there was anything I wanted and paying attention to me. For a moment, I had wondered if perhaps there was some hidden variable not mentioned in the original story.

But now I knew for certain.

The duke was clearly discriminating between Rielli and Amon.

Unlike Amon, who was still young enough to differ from his future self in the novel, the duke remained exactly the same person described in the original work.

‘What exactly was I expecting…?’

I couldn’t even laugh bitterly.

Looking at it now, I really was foolish.

Even after being betrayed so badly in my childhood, I still allowed myself to harbor expectations toward someone called “father”—and not even my real father, but the father of a body I had possessed only a few days ago.

I pulled my sinking thoughts back to the surface.

Right. Forget pointless expectations and face reality.

From now on, I needed to look after Amon myself. There was no way I could entrust a child’s upbringing to someone who neglected him like this.

“We need to move his room immediately. Prepare the biggest and nicest vacant room. I want it ready for him to use right after dinner, as quickly as possible.”

“…The largest empty room is directly across from yours, my lady. Will that be alright?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Oh, and if Father says anything, tell him I gave the order.”

“Understood. Then I shall take my leave.”

I gave the head maid a brief nod and hurried toward the dining hall.

Thinking of the little child waiting for me made me impatient.

Eating with Amon was far more comfortable than dining with the duke.

Meals with the duke had been overwhelmingly burdensome because his attention was solely focused on me, while old memories clawed through my mind so viciously that I could barely tell whether food was going down my throat or my nose.

But now, the two of us simply sat in silence, quietly putting food into our mouths.

Come to think of it, Amon probably had never even been taught proper table manners.

I glanced sideways at him.

Even though he likely didn’t fully know how to use them, the child before me was elegantly eating his appetizer without unnecessary movements.

“Did you learn table manners from books too?”

“Yes, Noona. I acquired most of my knowledge through books.”

As I casually asked the question, I signaled to a maid with my eyes, and she quickly placed the main dish—a lamb steak—on the table.

While cutting my meat, I turned my gaze toward Amon and noticed something bothering me. What was it…? Ah.

It was the fork and knife in his hands.

The utensils used here were all made of silver, making them much heavier and larger than the ones I had used in Korea.

Even I found them somewhat weighty, so they were even more unsuitable for such a small child.

Amon held the fork and knife naturally enough, but unlike earlier, he looked awkward and unstable handling them.

Soup and appetizers probably hadn’t posed much difficulty, but cutting meat with bones attached was an entirely different matter.

Watching him, irritation slipped into my voice automatically.

“Don’t you have smaller forks and knives? They’re way too big for a child.”

At my criticism, the maid waiting nearby answered awkwardly.

“My apologies, my lady. All the forks and knives prepared are the same size as the ones currently in use.”

“Then there should at least be some from when I was younger.”

Hearing the clear disbelief in my voice, the maid lowered her head and replied.

“All forks, knives, and other tableware are periodically replaced, and unused items are immediately discarded. Also, there has never been an occasion for young guests to visit the estate, so none are currently available.”

“…Then prepare some immediately. It’s not like the ducal house lacks money. How can a household with a child… Ha.”

“Yes, my lady. We will prepare them at once.”

Even after hearing her agreement, frustration still rose from deep inside my chest.

When you thought about it, this was all the duke’s fault for neglecting his own child, not the servants’.

I knew that, but I was still angry.

There wasn’t a single thing about Amon’s life that had been handled properly. Not one.

Heat boiled inside me, but I forced myself to suppress it. Then I pulled Amon’s plate toward me and cut the meat for him instead.

I didn’t have the patience to keep watching his clumsy attempts with the knife.

Startled at having his plate taken away, Amon tightly gripped his fork and knife and spoke.

“…Noona, I can do it myself. I’m only lacking because this is my first time using a knife.”

“Then what did you use to eat before?”

Judging from the situation, I doubted they had thoughtfully prepared knife-free meals for him.

“I mostly ate foods that were easy to consume, so I never had occasion to use formal dining knives.”

Ah… Seriously, don’t do this. Please don’t treat food like this.

Praying desperately inside, I asked with the faintest shred of hope.

“…What have you been eating these past few days? Tell me everything.”

“I didn’t eat breakfast. Yesterday for lunch I had steamed potatoes, and for dinner boiled eggs and salad. The day before yesterday for lunch I had tomato soup…”

“No, that’s enough! You can stop. I get it.”

If I heard any more, I felt like I would explode in anger in front of the poor child, so I cut him off.

Fury blazed inside me, but worried that I might frighten him, I forced myself to continue in a gentle tone.

“From now on, let’s eat together. Starting tomorrow, make sure to eat breakfast too. You’ll also be moving rooms, so after dinner we’ll go upstairs together.”

My hands clenched tightly on their own.

What? Eggs and salad for a child so skinny he practically looked malnourished?

What I hated most in the world was dieting, and what I hated even more was forced dieting.

I stuffed steak into my mouth while trying to calm myself, but anger dulled all sense of taste.

I mechanically chewed and swallowed when I noticed Amon carefully poking a piece of meat I had cut for him into his mouth and chewing away.

His face was already round to begin with, but with his cheeks puffed full of food, he looked even rounder.

The sight was so adorable that my anger eased a little.

Instead, I suddenly wanted to poke his cheeks, though I restrained myself.

Even to someone like me, who didn’t particularly like children, he looked this cute. To others, he would probably appear even more lovable.

‘Poor Amon. What’s the point of being born into a wealthy noble family with a diamond spoon in your mouth?’

His actual living conditions were worse than those of the servants in the ducal household.

Though he was a young master, Amon had lived a life completely opposite to Rielli, the duke’s daughter—like black and white.

If I hadn’t entered this body, he probably would have continued living in that storage-room-like space and grown up exactly as he had in the original novel.

But now that I had become Amon’s older sister, there was no way I would sit back and watch that happen.

How could anyone simply watch a child—someone who deserved protection—be neglected like this?

“Is it good?”

“…Yes, it’s delicious.”

Munch, munch.

After finishing the food in his mouth, the child, whose cheeks were slightly flushed, looked up at me and answered.

Eat as much as you want, little one. I’ll make sure you eat plenty from now on to make up for everything you couldn’t have before.

And as for your father… I think he and I need to have a serious talk someday.