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Chapter 9
The words came out bluntly, but there was a tremor in the child’s eyes.
“It’s already past lunchtime. Are you perhaps hungry?”
While Isabella flustered at Claire’s response, Claire simply waited quietly for the child to speak.
Isabella avoided her gaze and mumbled.
“I don’t eat lunch. I eat breakfast and dinner, so if I ate lunch too I’d get fat like a pig.”
At those words, Claire’s calm expression cracked.
“Two meals… only two meals a day?”
This was clearly raccoon cub abuse.
Isn’t five meals a day the standard for growing children?
During her own growth period, Claire—who had an enormous appetite befitting a brown bear beastkin—ate voraciously.
Even the mountain of food Angela brought every month wasn’t enough, so she hunted and gathered herself to make sure every meal was abundant.
To her, hearing that Isabella—already so small and frail—only ate two meals was a huge shock.
Noticing Claire’s disbelief, Isabella added a few more words.
“That’s enough. If I eat more, I’ll get fat.”
“Excuse me? Fat? Did you just say fat?”
Claire’s face twisted further, as if she had heard something absurd. Without much concern for manners, she scanned Isabella’s arms and legs.
Where was there even enough flesh to call it “fat”?
From what she was hearing, her breakfast and dinner were likely just as inadequate.
“Who told you that?”
“I know what I need to know.”
Isabella shut her mouth tightly, as if she didn’t want to say more.
She turned and headed back into her room. Through the open doorway, the room was neat, but far too bleak for a young noble lady.
As Isabella tried to close the door behind her, Claire looked at her with lowered eyes.
If she left like this, the girl would spend the night alone, drained and exhausted.
Just like Claire herself once did in that cabin when she was younger.
“Lady Isabella.”
Claire gently held the door before it closed.
“May I prepare your lunch for you?”
At those words, Isabella pouted and pushed against Claire to force her out.
“No need! Go away!”
Of course, Claire didn’t budge at all. She ignored the small hands pushing her and continued.
“I can bring it secretly. I’ll even clean up afterward. It will definitely be delicious.”
“I’m not some food addict!”
“Food addict?”
For a moment, Claire’s expression turned cold.
Isabella quickly clamped her mouth shut, realizing her mistake.
“Who said that? That woman from earlier?”
Isabella went pale. Her fierce expression vanished, replaced with nervousness under Claire’s gaze.
Claire immediately understood she had guessed correctly.
She decided to step back slightly so as not to scare the child further.
“Lady Isabella, I’m not angry.”
She softened her voice as much as possible.
“I simply wanted to bring you lunch. The young master has been eating well and becoming much healthier. Does that seem strange to you?”
Isabella shook her head vigorously.
“No!”
“Exactly. I just want you to be healthy and happy.”
At those words, Isabella recalled Claire wrapping cloth around her injured foot.
The only person who didn’t shout at her, the only one who met her eyes.
For a moment, hope flickered in Isabella’s eyes—then faded again.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Pardon?”
“You’ll just end up like the other nannies. Everyone did. Everyone did…”
Tears welled up. Each blink dropped a tear to the floor.
Isabella pushed Claire out of the room.
This time, Claire allowed herself to be pushed.
She couldn’t honestly say things would never change—she herself would leave once she saved enough money.
But—
“Lady. If you’re ever hungry or need help, tie a cloth to the window frame. I will check every day.”
Maybe she could at least give the child a small escape hatch from that suffocating place.
Am I being selfish?
Even Claire found herself unfamiliar with her own feelings.
She had simply spoken without thinking, unable to leave the child alone in that room—and somehow it had come this far. Perhaps it was overlapping memories from her own past.
The door slowly closed, pushing Claire out.
Just before it shut completely, a small voice slipped through the crack.
“…Start bringing lunch from tomorrow.”
Click.
The door closed.
* * *
The sky was overcast.
Claire sniffed outside the window and closed it.
“It’s going to pour. It will rain through the night and stop around noon tomorrow.”
“You can tell that just by smell…?”
“Usually, yes.”
“Hah…”
Ordinary people might predict rain from smell, but not its duration.
Theodore blinked, too exhausted to argue further. His body was completely drained after another episode of his madness.
“It’s a shame we can’t go to the garden.”
Claire looked at the cloudy sky with dissatisfaction.
A walk under sunlight after a proper meal was the ideal recovery routine.
If it clears tomorrow, it’ll be chilly. Then walks should start the day after. I’ll keep delivering the young lady’s meals during the young master’s nap.
She naturally added Isabella’s meals to her schedule.
It had been two weeks since Claire first snuck into the annex to meet Isabella.
Since then, she had delivered lunch every day during Theodore’s nap time without fail.
She’s becoming less wary… kind of cute.
At first, Isabella had been terrified of Claire climbing up the tree to the third floor. Now she peeked out the window at lunchtime like a little shadow.
Good thing I “recruited” the cook.
It was more like coercion than recruitment.
After what happened in the food storage room, getting an extra portion for a child was easy.
Pleased with herself, Claire brought out a chessboard.
“Shall we play today as well?”
“Yes.”
Another small change had entered their routine.
Surprisingly, it had been Theodore’s suggestion.
“Want to play chess? Staying in the room all day is dull.”
Claire didn’t know the rules at first, but seeing her awkwardly present the chessboard like a raccoon had made him learn quickly.
It had only been four days, and she still couldn’t beat him, but she was enjoying it.
“Take back your move.”
“Victories must be respected.”
“You flipped the board last time.”
“That was due to my episode!”
“You still have to respect the result.”
Theodore grumbled but relented.
Three months had passed since Claire arrived at the Voltaire estate. As time went on, their conversations became more casual.
“Checkmate.”
“Ah.”
Claire lost again.
She accepted it and reset the pieces.
“Another round?”
“Yes. I’ll play black this time.”
Just as they were about to restart—
Tap. Tap.
A light sound came from the window, followed by sudden heavy rain.
“It’s really coming down.”
“Should we collect the water?”
“Rainwater?”
Theodore turned to her.
“Yes. Where I grew up, water was scarce during dry seasons. So on rainy days, we placed buckets everywhere to store water.”
Claire looked at the rain with slight regret.
That amount could’ve covered two weeks of water.
Ah… I guess it doesn’t matter here.
Still, it felt wasteful.
As she indulged in quiet nostalgia, Theodore’s expression darkened.
Come to think of it… I know almost nothing about Claire.
