TBMRB 05

Chapter 05

There were several servants gathered at the bottom of the stairs.

When I approached, I saw that the floor was a complete mess, covered with sharp shards from a broken vase, spilled water, and crushed flowers.

I felt like I had seen a scene similar to this just a few days ago.

As expected, Dietrich was the culprit. He stood awkwardly among the maids who were busily cleaning up the broken pieces of the vase.

“What happened here?”

“You’re here, Nanny? Well… the young master was riding down the stair railing on his butt when he bumped into Laura. She happened to be carrying the vase at the time.”

Oh, Nanny’s angry.

With her lips pressed tightly together, Nanny stared at Dietrich, who was standing there with his hands awkwardly clasped behind his back.

“Dietrich Kallenberg, young master.”

Calling him by his full name meant that Nanny was really angry.

Even Dietrich, who had been pretending to look relaxed, flinched and instinctively checked Nanny’s expression.

Even so, the moment he noticed me in Nanny’s arms, he deliberately glared at me.

…What?

He had supposedly been worried about me, but was this how someone who was worried acted?

Of course, seeing Dietrich glare at his younger sister made Nanny’s expression even fiercer, and she carefully set me down on the floor so I wouldn’t be startled by any loud voices.

Dietrich, you’re dead now.

“Please explain exactly what this commotion is about.”

“No, well…”

“Didn’t you see Laura moving the vase downstairs?”

“I did. I saw her, but!”

“Then are you saying you deliberately rode down the stair railing because you wanted to hurt Laura?”

“That’s not it!”

Dietrich, who had been hesitating and answering Nanny’s questions awkwardly, suddenly became startled and raised his voice.

“I just… Laura was working so hard carrying the vase, so I thought I’d ride down the railing in a cool way and surprise her with a ta-da!”

“What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Why? You see stuff like that in fairy tales and things, don’t you? A knight suddenly appears with a cool ta-da! I wanted to try it too…”

“Laura was simply working hard at her job. And yet you tried to bother her for such a ridiculous reason?”

“I wasn’t trying to bother her! I just… I thought Laura wasn’t paying any attention to me, and she’s always worried about that ugly—no, Mariella…”

Dietrich’s voice gradually became as tiny as an ant.

“Because of your prank, Laura could have been seriously injured. And so could you.”

“I never meant to hurt Laura! L-Look! I’m the one who got hurt more!”

Perhaps feeling that it was unfair, Dietrich opened the palm he had been keeping behind his back and held it out.

Perhaps he had put his hand down on a piece of the broken vase when he fell, because there were fine cuts across his palm, and blood had seeped into the creases of his hand.

Nanny was startled when she saw it and immediately bent down.

She lowered herself to Dietrich’s eye level, took his hand, and carefully examined it to make sure no shard of glass had become embedded inside.

The maids nearby also gathered around Dietrich, murmuring among themselves.

“Fortunately, it doesn’t look like anything is stuck inside, but we should still have the physician examine it first.”

Nanny’s voice trembled slightly, perhaps because she was so upset.

“Still, it’s a relief that you weren’t seriously hurt, young master.”

“From now on, whenever you see me, please call my name. Then I’ll finish whatever you’re busy with first and play with you.”

“All right. But riding down the stair railing like that is extremely dangerous.”

“Besides, that stair railing was only just repaired. You could have been seriously hurt.”

As everyone nearby added their own comments, Dietrich’s expression became strangely distorted.

He almost looked… pleased?

“Hah! This much doesn’t even tickle! I may look like this, but I’m a Kallenberg young master.”

Dietrich puffed himself up proudly before his eyes met mine, where I stood alone behind him.

He stuck his tongue out at me.

…What?

No, seriously. Why does he keep doing that to me?

When he caused trouble in the kitchen, he had suddenly yelled that I was ugly before storming off.

While I stood frozen in bewilderment, Nanny glanced back at me.

“The young lady…”

“Ugh, Nanny! My palm huwts!”

The moment Nanny’s gaze turned toward me, Dietrich hurriedly waved his hand and stole her attention back.

Ah.

Only then did I begin to understand what Dietrich was thinking.

He wants to get more attention than me.

I knew a thing or two about older siblings who became jealous of their younger brothers and sisters.

Apparently, when a new baby is born, even an older sibling who used to eat perfectly well suddenly demands a bottle.

Or they might start whining and asking to be carried for no reason.

Even at the orphanage where I had lived, there were occasionally children who became jealous when younger children arrived and the director and teachers focused their attention on them.

If that’s what’s going on with Dietrich, then maybe he’ll calm down if he gets the attention he wants.

After all, Dietrich also grew up separated from his parents, and he’s only seven years old.

If he was upset because the servants were taking more care of me because I was younger, then all I needed to do was step back a little so Dietrich could receive plenty of attention too.

Besides, I’m… used to taking care of things on my own.

“I’ll go to my room with Betty. Nanny, take care of Ditty’s hand. It huwts.”

Just then, Betty appeared with the basin and wet towel that Nanny had asked her to bring.

I grabbed the hem of her skirt, and Nanny nodded.

Dietrich wore a triumphant expression like a victor as he left with Nanny.

For several days, Dietrich had an unusually pleasant time.

That was because every servant in the mansion worried about him after he injured his palm.

Something like that rarely happened.

Aside from the old butler who had been there before and Nanny, who was almost like a mother to him…

The other servants always looked at Dietrich with wary eyes, as though he were an uncontrollable troublemaker whenever they saw him.

I’d never seen them look so worried before.

Dietrich shook his head back and forth, but he could not stop the corners of his mouth from rising.

What’s a little injury to the palm, anyway?

Thanks to it, Nanny had even been personally helping him wash his face these days.

It was embarrassing to be treated like a baby, but he didn’t dislike it.

Mariella…

There was only one thing that occasionally worried him: his little sister, Mariella.

Is she completely better now?

If she was, then why had she suddenly stopped running around the entire mansion like a hamster as much as she used to?

He could not help worrying about her naturally, since she was the little sister who had been shocked by what happened to the butler and had been sick for some time afterward.

But Mariella has other maids.

Dietrich shook his head vigorously, trying to shake away the worry about his sister that was slowly creeping up inside him.

There were many people in the mansion who adored Mariella.

He had heard that these days, the maids were taking turns looking after Mariella.

Then couldn’t she give Nanny up to Dietrich just a little?

The other servants don’t really like me anyway.

They had worried about him for a little while when he injured his palm, but normally, whenever Dietrich came charging at them asking them to play, they would scatter in every direction.

After asking them several times to play with him, Dietrich’s pride had been hurt, so he decided he would no longer cling to the servants.

So Nanny is all I have.

The only person who loved Dietrich.

Mariella could still be loved by other people even without Nanny, but Dietrich couldn’t.

Dietrich ran down the hallway, shaking his head back and forth, until he spotted Nanny talking with several maids.

He was about to call out loudly to Nanny, but he quietly lowered his footsteps so he could make a surprise appearance.

“Young lady seems to have developed a fever again, Nanny. I think it would be best to call the physician and have her examined.”

“What? She has a fever again?”

“She had nightmares all night yesterday, too. She even called for the butler, and there was also someone she called the director. I don’t know who that person is, but…”

Dietrich quietly listened in on their conversation.

Mariella is sick again?

Then what about Nanny?

Then… what about me?

“I don’t think this will do. Starting today, I’ll take care of the young lady by her side again, so you all take good care of the young master in my place.”

Dietrich bit down hard on his lower lip.