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Chapter 5
Ruby, beyond the window, must have felt Melia’s gaze on her because she lifted her head and looked back at her. The child carefully crawled down and stepped onto the balcony.
Clack.
With a noisy sound, the window opened.
“What, what is it?”
Ruby’s eyes widened.
“Who are you? The only person who comes at this hour is Marie…”
Soon, the child muttered to herself.
“Oh, right. She said she went back to her hometown and won’t be coming anymore.”
‘Marie… that was Melia’s younger sister’s name.’
So that was how they explained Marie’s death. Well, death was far too harsh a truth for such a young child to bear.
“Then you must be my new nanny.”
After finishing her thoughts, the child ran toward Melia.
“Umm, your name is…”
“It’s Melia, Young Lady.”
“Hello, Nanny Melia.”
After greeting her, Ruby whispered quietly,
“Um… could you pretend you didn’t see me climbing the tree?”
“Why?”
“If other people find out I climbed trees, they might say bad things.”
It was only a tree, though?
Instead of answering, Melia tilted her head, and Ruby hurriedly added,
“Marie said I have to become a proper young lady so Father will think well of me when he returns.”
“…What does climbing a tree have to do with that?”
“It’s not ladylike.”
Huh?
“What if I become a burden to Father’s reputation?”
Something felt strange.
Just moments ago, the child had been laughing brightly atop the tree, yet now she already understood the weight of her family name and was restraining herself because of it.
That would only narrow the child’s world and fill it with prejudice.
“Young Lady, you’re only seven years old.”
At Melia’s rebuttal, the child looked gloomy.
“But… um…”
Ruby hesitated before answering.
“Marie said I’m the Empire’s only princess, so I have to learn better than other children and be perfect…”
‘Forcing a child to carry standards even adults can’t uphold.’
“So she said I shouldn’t act spoiled carelessly.”
From the sound of it, Marie must have taken immense pride in Ruby. She probably never wanted the child to show flaws.
But all that did was pressure her.
“Young Lady, nobody in this world is perfect.”
Melia stepped closer to Ruby.
“Everyone has their own world, and everyone’s standards are different.”
Melia gently held Ruby’s hand.
“In fact, if you spend your life chasing perfection, it becomes easy to lose your true self.”
More than perfection, what the child needed was—
“First, try doing what you want to do, Young Lady.”
—to learn how to decide for herself.
To experience failure and grow from it.
To feel the joy of achieving success.
“Your tastes are what create your own world.”
Ruby hesitated at Melia’s words.
“My own world…”
“Yes. Together with me.”
“Really? Can I trust you…?”
The timid gaze meeting hers was so adorable that Melia was suddenly reminded of the time Ruby had just been born and placed in her arms.
‘When those round little eyes looked at me back then, I wished for only one thing more desperately than anything.’
Ruby, may you become the happiest child in the world.
May you grow into a bright child who never knows loneliness.
Smiling softly at the tiny warmth gripping her hand tightly, Melia answered,
“Of course.”
But before that—
“I want to hear your stories.”
A lot of them.
As many as the years she had been absent.
“Please tell me.”
Melia waited patiently until the child chose to speak on her own.
“…I actually don’t like black tea very much.”
Ruby carefully confessed to Melia.
“I don’t like black shoes either.”
Starting with the things she secretly disliked.
“My feet are small, so when I wear black shoes, they look like… little pill bugs.”
And then even the memories that were special to her.
To someone uninterested, the conversation might have sounded boring, but—
“And then?”
Melia listened to every word attentively.
Ruby had never enjoyed talking this much before.
No one had ever focused on what she liked or disliked. Everyone only told her she had to appear perfect when Royden eventually returned.
“Nanny, you’re really strange.”
Ruby spoke as if enchanted.
“My stories aren’t boring to you?”
“Why would you think they’re boring?”
“Because no one’s ever listened to me all the way through before.”
Soon, she hurriedly added an excuse.
“Of course, it’s probably because I’m not interesting. Everything must have a reason, after all!”
Melia’s mouth tasted bitter.
The child blamed herself for everything.
What could be sadder than that?
“It’s like…”
But then—
“…the reason Father doesn’t love me.”
Those shocking words reached her ears.
“What?”
Royden…?
“That can’t be true. Th— no, His Grace loves you, Young Lady.”
He loved Ruby so much that he had regressed just to kill Vanessa.
He had even divorced “Vanessa” and given her half the duchy’s wealth for Ruby’s sake.
“But he’s never come looking for me.”
Ruby visibly shrank into herself.
“Even after a hundred nights passed, he still didn’t come…”
“He must’ve been busy on the battlefield.”
Despite Melia’s comforting words, Ruby shook her head.
“No! M-Marie said so.”
Not long after Ruby was born, her parents divorced, and days later her father Royden departed for war. Since then, there had barely been any contact for years.
“So it must be because he can’t stand the sight of me…”
In the end, Ruby burst into tears.
“I must not deserve to be loved.”
Thud.
Melia’s heart dropped.
More than anyone, she had wanted this child to be loved, yet Ruby doubted herself and believed she was unloved.
A sharp pain pierced Melia’s chest.
‘No one looked into this child’s heart until her wounds festered and burst open.’
“…Young Lady, what do you mean you don’t deserve love? That isn’t true.”
At that moment, Melia gently patted the child’s back.
“If you stop crying, I’ll tell you a secret.”
“A secret…?”
Yes, a secret.
“This is actually something my mother once told me.”
Long ago, before she had even become an adult, Vanessa had once asked a similar question.
—Mother, why did you fall in love with Father?
It had begun as simple curiosity. Her mother had looked so flustered at the question.
—Is it really necessary to know?
Vanessa had been just as bewildered.
—Of course it is. Can feelings exist without a reason?
Her mother’s answer afterward was something she could still never forget.
—Vanessa, reasons can never become love.
Because love is precisely what strips reasons of their power.
—For example, I’d still love my daughter even if she went bald.
—I won’t go bald!
At her daughter’s irritated response, her mother laughed cheerfully.
—On the other hand, love itself can become the reason.
Because in truth—
“Loving someone is already a reason in itself.”
So—
“The reason you are loved, Young Lady, is standing right in front of you.”
Melia whispered gently.
“Because I love you.”
From the hands they held together came the faint sound of a heartbeat.
“Really…?”
The small heartbeat gradually grew louder, making the child’s voice tremble.
“Nanny… will you really love me?”
At that question, Melia smiled brightly.
“Of course.”
Actually, this wasn’t a secret at all.
“I’ve loved you for a very long time already, Young Lady.”
Ever since you were inside my womb, until the day you were born, and even now.
There has never been a moment when I didn’t love you.
* * *
One week later.
“Hey, did you hear?”
One maid cleaning the hallway slyly approached a shorter maid.
“Hear what?”
“The new nanny! She’s unbelievably pretty.”
They were talking about the new nanny, Melia Harper.
“Ah, not about her looks! Everyone already knows she’s gorgeous.”
But in truth, the topic wasn’t really Melia herself.
“The Young Lady! The Young Lady!”
“Ah… the Young Lady.”
The short maid shook her head.
“No idea.”
“Then can I tell you?”
“Sure. But if it’s boring, you’re cleaning the hall by yourself.”
The questioning maid’s eyes sparkled, finally getting the answer she wanted.
“So, today during lunch I served tea to the Young Lady!”
—H-Hello.
“She greeted me!”
“She always greets people.”
“If that was all, I wouldn’t be this excited.”
The maid spoke with a serious expression.
“She didn’t drink black tea.”
Silence filled the hallway.
To outsiders, that reaction might seem ridiculous…
“…What?”
But the short maid’s eyes widened in shock.
“The Young Lady? Black tea?”
“Yes! She even asked me a question.”
—Um… do you have milk instead of black tea?
“And she even put sugar cubes in the milk!”
The maid held up three fingers.
“Three whole cubes!”
“Wow… that’s amazing.”
In the past, Ruby never put even a single sugar cube in her tea.
“She only drank black tea every day.”
“And no matter how bitter it was, she never complained.”
“When she held her teacup…”
“She always lifted her pinky finger!”
Put kindly, she had seemed mature.
But if one were blunt—
“She looked like a child pretending to be an adult.”
“She finally started wearing clothes appropriate for her age. That’s good.”
“Right? Honestly, I always felt uncomfortable when people praised her for being ‘so mature.’”
The maid’s expression darkened.
“How can ‘mature’ possibly be praise for a seven-year-old child?”
“We’re weird too, making such a fuss just because she ate sugar.”
The short maid shrugged.
“Well, our reactions are still better than some people’s.”
She looked around before whispering,
“Remember that maid Liz from before?”
“Ah, her? She was awful!”
The listening maid looked furious.
“Hey! Stop slacking off over there!”
From the distance, the head maid scolded the chatting servants. Startled, the maids hurriedly resumed sweeping.
The head maid sighed while watching them, then turned toward the head butler standing nearby.
“My apologies. Now then, what were you saying, Head Butler?”
The butler let out an awkward chuckle.
“Well…”
And not long afterward, the head maid’s jaw dropped open in shock.
