TBMRB 08

Chapter 8

Dietrich followed obediently behind me, even though he looked a little hesitant.

He simply had too much energy and didn’t know what to do with it. He wasn’t a bad child by nature.

He must have been feeling terribly guilty about hurting Nanny, too.

‘After all, I’ve grown quite attached to him.’

When the butler was injured last time, hadn’t this seven-year-old child stepped in front of me and tried to protect me?

He had done it so I wouldn’t have to see such a frightening sight.

He had collapsed immediately afterward, so I hadn’t even been able to properly thank him.

After recovering my memories from my previous life, that had been the first help I had received in this world, and the first warmth I had felt.

“I told you to come outside, so you did come out. But, what an ugly little—”

Back then, I really wanted to thank him… Wait, what did I just call him?

“If Ditty is ugly, then Mariella is ugly too!”

“What? Why am I ugly?!”

“Look at your face. You cried and cried earlier, so Ditty’s eyes look completely like a frog’s.”

“W-When did I cry?! I didn’t cry!”

His eyes were still red when he said that…

Anyway, he had quietly followed me because Nanny was there earlier, instead of arguing with me.

But that didn’t mean he actually wanted to obediently do whatever I told him.

I glared at Dietrich, who was standing there with his lips stuck out in a pout.

“Ditty made Nanny get hurt.”

At those words, Dietrich had no choice but to clamp his mouth shut.

“Every time Ditty causes an accident, me, Nanny, and the other servants and maids have to clean up after you.”

The day he broke the flower vase.

Laura had said it was nothing and that she wasn’t hurt, but she had gotten a small scratch on her finger.

I was the one who had apologized on her behalf and even blown on the wound for her.

Was it really reasonable for Nanny, who was already busy taking over the butler’s duties, to have to worry about repairing the cabinet door in the upper part of the kitchen as well?

‘And soon, the employees Grandpa sent from the main family are supposed to arrive.’

The employees who had originally worked at our mansion had watched over me and Dietrich since we were young, so they tended to let most things slide.

They were very fond of us, after all.

But the employees coming from the main family would be different.

Nanny had warned Betty to watch her words so that the new employees wouldn’t find fault with her.

That meant that if Dietrich caused another accident, word would eventually reach Grandpa through the employees from the main family.

And it also meant that those employees from the main family would never overlook his behavior just because he was young.

If Dietrich kept causing accidents like this in front of people who had no affection for us, he would inevitably fall out of their favor.

‘No matter that we’re the masters of this household, Dietrich is only seven, and I’m barely three.’

If he fell out of the servants’ favor, it would obviously become difficult for him to live normally.

In any case, he was my older brother in name and, more importantly, he was still just a child. I couldn’t simply leave him like this when I could clearly see what would happen later.

“If you keep causing accidents, people will start to dislike Ditty.”

“You don’t know anything, so stop acting like you do!”

Apparently, that had hit a nerve, because Dietrich suddenly shouted at me.

“Ditty is tall and strong.”

Instead of backing down, I suddenly began praising Dietrich.

His angry expression froze, and he stared at me.

Physical ability was a talent.

Honestly, I had been surprised earlier when I saw him climb the curtain almost all the way to the ceiling.

It wasn’t easy for an ordinary child to climb that high without any equipment.

If this had been South Korea and I had been an adult when I encountered Dietrich, I would have somehow found his guardian.

Then I would have advised them to raise him into a climbing prodigy.

It would be a waste for someone with Dietrich’s natural athletic ability to grow up doing nothing but causing trouble.

“So Ditty will be good at sports, too. If Ditty is good at sports, even if Ditty doesn’t cause accidents, everyone will say, ‘You’re growing so well,’ and praise you.”

Dietrich needed positive attention.

Rather than receiving negative attention by causing trouble, it was much better for him to receive positive attention by showing off how good he was at sports.

And, as an added benefit, he could burn off some of his excess energy.

“I don’t like Ditty causing accidents all the time. If you get hurt, it hurts, you know.”

A child desperately trying to attract people’s attention, only to end up getting hurt in the process.

Seeing him reminded me of my own childhood, and I felt sorry for Dietrich.

Just as the director had taught me exercise and shown me how to receive positive recognition from others, I wanted to do the same for Dietrich.

Dietrich stood there for quite a while with his head lowered, staring only at his toes.

“Mariella, do you really think I can be good at… that sports thing?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Why? I cause accidents all the time. What are you basing that on…?”

“You climbed up the curtain. Ditty is strong.”

When I gave him a specific example, Dietrich’s face turned bright red.

“T-Then what do I do first? I’ll listen, but if it’s something annoying, I’m not doing it!”

He deliberately added those unnecessary words, pretending to grumble for no reason.

Good.

Whatever he said, the important thing was that Dietrich had become willing to cooperate with exercise.

Before he could change his mind, I quickly blurted out the first exercise that came to mind.

“Squat!”

Of course, if we were talking about bodyweight exercises, we had to start with squats!

It was an exercise that strengthened both the thighs and glutes, and the rules were simple enough for anyone to learn quickly.

“Squ… what? What’s that?”

“Before doing squats, you have to loosen up your hands and feet like this.”

Stretching was essential before starting a proper workout.

I demonstrated some simple full-body stretches for Dietrich, starting with his wrists, ankles, and knees.

Stretching might seem boring at first glance, but it was like a preventive injection that greatly reduced the risk of injury during exercise by loosening up the body beforehand.

Dietrich followed my instructions and stretched both legs straight, thoroughly loosening up the muscles in his lower body.

“Do I just have to follow this? It’s easy.”

Looking at the innocent Dietrich, who knew absolutely nothing about what was coming, I gave him an evil grin.

“Then I’ll teach you something really fun this time.”

If stretching was so easy that it was practically enough to make him yawn, then it was time to move on to anaerobic exercise.

I immediately spread my feet shoulder-width apart.

Squats were an exercise I had practically done every day in my previous life.

All I had to do was lower myself like this…

“Oof!”

“Hey! Why did you suddenly stick your butt out like that? What if you get hurt?!”

That was strange.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

After landing hard on my bottom, I barely managed to get back up with Dietrich’s help and tried the position again.

This time, I carefully made sure not to stick my butt backward as I slowly lowered myself…

“Oof!”

“Are you… an idiot?”

“I’m not an idiot! I was just trying to show you a squat, but my bottom is too heavy. Hiiing…”

My muscles!

Give me back my muscles from my previous life!

The body of a three-year-old, covered in baby fat and weakened after being sick in bed for several days, simply couldn’t handle a squat.

Whenever I tried to bend my short legs even slightly, my entire body toppled backward.

Before I knew it, I felt so miserable that my lips began to stick out in a pout.

Seeing me like that, Dietrich quickly covered his mouth.

“Pfft.”

He was trying so hard not to laugh that even his neck had turned red.

And his shoulders were visibly trembling.

“Don’t laugh!”

When I snapped at him, Dietrich couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.

He bent over for a long time, laughing so hard that I glared at him, but it did absolutely nothing.

“I’m not the only one whose bottom is heavy! Ditty probably can’t do it either!”

“What, lowering yourself like you’re sitting in that chair? Of course I can. I think I can do it.”

“No you can’t! No you can’t! I don’t think Ditty can do it either!”

“No I can! No I can! I’m not an ugly little brat. I’m your older brother, so of course I can do it right away!”

After teasing me to his heart’s content, Dietrich assumed a horse-riding stance and slowly lowered his hips.

Perhaps he really was naturally athletic, because after seeing my clumsy demonstration just once, he managed to get into an excellent squat position.

“See? I’m good, right? Was it called a squat? That’s nothing.”

Watching him boast, I gritted my teeth.

“You’re good. Then let’s keep it simple and do just one hundred.”

“…What?”

“Did you just disobey your instructor? I said one hundred.”

If squats were that easy, then I supposed I should have him do a hundred.

I put my hands on my hips and grinned at Dietrich.

His complexion turned slightly pale.

He slowly began the hundred squats of hell.

“Hold it until I count to ten! Eight, nine, nine and a half!”

“Hey, there’s no such… Hah, thing!”

“Uh-uh. If your knees come forward, I can’t count to ten. Keep your knees back!”

With a tearful expression, Dietrich barely corrected his posture.