TBMRB 07

Chapter 7

“Is anyone there? Someone come here!”

There wasn’t even time to scream.

Clutching my trembling hands in surprise, I immediately moved to help Nanny and Dietrich.

When I shouted for someone to come, several servants who had been working downstairs hurried up.

The moment they saw where I was pointing, their faces filled with shock, and they immediately rushed over to clear away the heavy curtain and debris.

Was Nanny all right?

What about Dietrich?

“Ah, ugh… What about the young master? Young master, are you all right?”

Her neatly pinned-up hair had come loose and was completely disheveled, with pieces of glass scattered across it and glittering faintly.

Even in such a state, the moment Nanny managed to get out from under the debris, the first thing she did was ask about Dietrich.

Who was supposed to be worrying about whom right now?

“I-I’m…”

One of the servants reached out and pulled Dietrich out from Nanny’s arms, where she had been holding him as tightly as though her life depended on it.

Thanks to Nanny throwing her entire body over him to protect him, Dietrich looked perfectly fine to anyone watching.

She had even taken all the shards of glass from the shattered door across her back, leaving Dietrich with only a couple of minor scratches.

“I-I’m fine. What about Nanny? How are you?”

Dietrich, who had been standing there with a dazed expression, belatedly seemed to come to his senses and asked about Nanny.

He had the frightened expression characteristic of a child who had caused an accident.

Even as she wiped the blood trickling down beside her ear, Nanny tried to speak as calmly as possible, as though reassuring Dietrich.

“Fortunately, you weren’t hurt, young master… I’m fine, too.”

How could she possibly be fine when her entire upper body was covered in blood?

Thank goodness we had already called for a physician.

“I came because I heard that the child’s fever wouldn’t go down, but what in the world is going on…?”

“Grandpa, check Nanny and Ditty first. Quickly!”

The physician arrived at just the right moment, and we moved Nanny to a clean bedroom.

Her clothes were soaked through with blood, so they were impossible to remove normally and had to be cut off with scissors.

And what was revealed underneath her clothes…

The maids covered my and Dietrich’s eyes so that we wouldn’t have to see the terrible sight.

“You two should return to your rooms for now. We’ll stay here.”

“No. I’m worried about Nanny. Mariella wants to stay here, too.”

“M-Me too!”

How could we just leave when Nanny was this badly injured?

With Dietrich, me, and several maids present, the physician began carefully removing the tiny pieces of glass embedded in Nanny’s back one by one.

She was bleeding so much that the maids had to bring fresh boiled water and clean cloths several times.

“Is our Nanny going to be okay?”

“All the fragments were embedded only in the surface of her skin. She was very fortunate. She’ll have some scars, but there shouldn’t be any difficulty moving her arms or anything like that.”

Only after hearing the physician’s diagnosis could I finally relax and slump down where I was sitting.

I hadn’t realized how tense I’d been the entire time. Only now did my legs start trembling.

After struggling for quite a while to remove the glass fragments, Nanny’s voice had become slightly hoarse. She turned her gaze toward the physician.

“Please check whether our young master has been injured anywhere, too.”

“I already examined him earlier, but the young master is perfectly fine. He has a slight scrape on his palm, but applying medicine for about three days should heal it quickly.”

“And the young lady’s fever still hasn’t gone down…”

Even in this situation, Nanny was only worried about the two of us.

Something hot rose up in my throat.

It didn’t seem to have anything to do with my recurring fever, because even after receiving all of the physician’s treatment, that sensation refused to settle down.

Only after the maids who had been present left to see the physician off were the three of us finally left alone: Dietrich, Nanny, and me.

“Nanny.”

Dietrich was the first among us to speak.

He cautiously called out to Nanny, who was lying face down with her head turned toward the wall.

His expression looked just like that of a thoroughly dejected puppy.

Nanny didn’t answer him immediately.

The only sound that came from her was a muffled noise, as though she were desperately holding back tears.

“Nanny, are you crying?”

Dietrich jumped to his feet in surprise, but Nanny’s crying did not stop.

Her sobs gradually grew louder.

By the time even Dietrich and I had started sniffling as we listened to her, Nanny finally managed to speak.

“Why do you keep doing such dangerous things, young master?”

“Uuugh… I’m sorry, Nanny. I didn’t mean for it to happen either.”

Dietrich wiped his tear-streaked cheeks several times with the backs of his hands.

“If you get seriously hurt someday, young master, what am I supposed to do? You and the young lady are practically my own children…”

This was the first time I had ever seen Nanny cry.

Normally, she was strict when she needed to be, but she was never someone who would let us see her cry.

She must have been genuinely frightened today.

After the butler had left to recover from his injuries, Nanny had essentially been left to take care of the two of us alone, so the pressure on her must have been considerable.

“I-I was just so bored. Everyone was always too busy to play with me, and everyone only liked Mariella and didn’t like me… So I just wanted everyone to look at me.”

He was crying so hard that I could barely make out the last sentence.

“Why would anyone dislike the young master? Everyone likes you so much.”

“Liar. Whenever I ask them to play with me, they all avoid me.”

“It’s not because they dislike you. They’re simply too busy. Everyone is exhausted, so they can’t keep up with your energy.”

“T-Then do I have to play by myself like this every day? Uuugh… I don’t want that!”

Nanny tried to get up, but she let out a groan and lay back down.

Instead, she reached out and chose to wipe the tears and runny nose from Dietrich’s face.

I think I could understand Dietrich.

‘Because I was like that when I was young, too.’

Dietrich had a father who was still alive, but since he was far away and Dietrich couldn’t see him, in that respect, his situation was hardly different from being an orphan.

Looking at him reminded me of myself in my previous life.

When I was young, I used to deliberately jump dangerously from the stairs just to attract people’s attention.

I even picked fights with the children whom the director or teachers favored.

‘Because if I acted out like that… at least for the moment I was being scolded, I could have everyone’s attention all to myself.’

There were simply too many children at the orphanage.

The director and teachers were good people, but they couldn’t carefully look after every single child when there were so many of us.

No matter how much they cared, it inevitably differed from having a parent’s attention.

‘And Dietrich is unusually big for his age, too…’

For a child overflowing with energy and with nothing to do, causing trouble was practically inevitable.

In this world, there weren’t even proper playgrounds, let alone kindergartens or kids’ cafés.

‘But I can’t exactly play with him when there’s such a huge difference in our size…’

There were no other children his age, and the employees who could barely keep up with Dietrich’s strength were already far too busy because of the chronic shortage of staff.

Being physically well-developed was a good thing.

But it was a problem if that caused Dietrich to keep getting into accidents and Nanny or the other servants to keep getting hurt.

‘Then there’s only one solution.’

I searched through the memories of my previous life and found the best method I could apply to Dietrich now.

Whenever the children at the orphanage were unable to contain their excess energy and boredom and caused trouble to get attention, the director would enthusiastically throw a round ball at us.

Or she would organize little running races and hand out chocolates as prizes.

Then we would race around the small playground attached to the orphanage, exercise until we were exhausted, and afterward, we would miraculously become well-behaved.

‘I’m not a child psychology expert.’

But I knew better than anyone that proper exercise could save a person.

I planted one hand firmly on my hip and stared at Dietrich.

“Ditty.”

After crying for so long, Dietrich’s face was swollen all over.

Looking at his eyes, puffed up until he practically looked like a frog, I solemnly declared:

I’m doing this for the peace of you, me, and our household.

“From today, I’m going to make sure Ditty doesn’t cause any more accidents.”

Nanny looked at me in surprise, her lips half parted, before cautiously speaking.

“Um, young lady.”

“Mm.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, but how could such a young lady possibly…?”

She meant how I was going to correct the habits of Dietrich, who was much taller and larger than me and more than twice my age.

Well, Nanny didn’t know that I had reincarnated, so it was understandable that she would think that way.

I was far too small and young to beat Dietrich into behaving himself. Especially since my fever had been going up and down only moments ago.

But now that I had regained my memories, I knew a much better method than violence.

“Follow me to the yawn, no—the garden, Ditty.”

Dietrich stared at me for a moment before glancing toward Nanny.

Then, slowly, he got to his feet.