Childcare Diaries - Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Their faces separated, and Kentrail began to sing a lullaby.

As his sweet voice filled the room, Marie was startled by his singing ability, which performed much better than she had expected.

‘There’s really nothing he couldn’t do.’

She seemed to understand why the butler was so proud of him.

Singing the lullaby, when their eyes met, he smiled with his eyes bent beautifully because he was happy that she was listening to his voice.

‘…That smiling eyes again.’

Not knowing what swarm was coming to Marie’s heart, he continued to seduce her.

‘As expected, it’s dangerous to see the Count at night.’

With that in mind, she closed her eyes to shake the thoughts that had crept into her own head. Then, she could feel him lying next to her again as the bed shuddered loudly once.

Kentrail stroked Marie’s cheek.

As her eyes trembled, he smiled cheerfully and continued the lullaby again. He sang until the sound of her breathing calmed down, and finally, like a gentleman, he arranged the blankets and left the room.

Derek was adjusting to his unfamiliar life. Fortunately, his long mercenary period made it not difficult for him to live in an unfamiliar place.

Recently, he made friends with the hunters here. As it was in the North, they seemed to be more developed in hunting and livestock than in agriculture. Derek, who was strong and good at hunting, had already become a popular person here.

“Are you going to go hunting again today?”

“Yeah.”

He soon became friends with an old man who was much older than him, and he got acquainted with several other young men.

“Is he coming today?”

“Well, hasn’t it been a while since you haven’t seen him, right?”

As they spoke, it seemed that there was a hunting member that Derek had never seen before.

“Even if he comes anyway, it won’t help.”

They only seemed to dislike the person coming because their share was getting smaller. The gossip grew.

“Forgive me for being late.”

At that moment, a thin voice resounded in the vacant lot. Everyone was embarrassed to see the person appear at the moment they were swearing at him, and they turned their head away. When only Derek turned his head in search of the protagonist of the voice, he saw a dwarf man.

As he entered, some showed blatant dislike. Even though he wasn’t particularly greedy for prey, Derek wouldn’t lose anything if another person got involved.

“Then, let’s catch some big prey today. Something like a bear.”

That was when the man who was the captain spoke up.

“You know that it’s so easy to catch a bear, and you know when they’ll show up.”

There were shouts of anger here and there, but according to the man’s words, they decided to set the first goal as a bear and catch the rest of the animals flexibly.

Derek started moving after them.

‘I haven’t sent a letter to the Master yet.’

Even before the bear hunt, he calmly continued those thoughts.

“Uncle.”

After a long time, Brielle visited his uncle’s office.

“Brielle.”

Kentrail welcomed his nephew, whom he had seen yesterday, with a bright smile on his face.

“Hehe, are you busy?”

“I have time to be with Brielle.”

Saying so, he hugged Brielle, who came near him.

“Then, please help me with this.”

The child held out a piece of paper after saying that. There was a letter written in his curly handwriting.

“What’s this?”

He smiled as he read it with one hand. It was a letter to Marie.

“I’m going to write a letter for Marie’s birthday this time.”

Revealing his intentions, Brielle gazed proudly at the paper on which he had even drawn a picture that showed his skills to the best of his ability without a single typo.

“What can I do to help?”

No matter how he looked at it, he did not seem to be able to do anything because the child made it with all his heart.

“Close it.”

“Ah…”

It looked like he was asking for a seal. It seemed like the child couldn’t do it by himself because of the heat that was why he came to him.

“By the way, did uncle prepare a present for Marie?”

Brielle, wondering what he had prepared, tilted his head. Meanwhile, Kentrail was thrilled to finally show Marie what he had prepared.

“What?”

As he felt competitive, the child urged him.

‘I think I should talk to Brielle about my relationship with Marie…’

It looked like he was sweating in a cold sweat.

Marie stood there with a shocked expression. It was because she had forgotten her own birthday in the midst of days filled with tension.

“This is my gift.”

Brielle first sent out a letter full of sincerity.

“Young Master…”

This one letter, full of the child’s love, was more than anything material and moved her heart.

“This is mine.”

Then, Ellie handed her a handkerchief she embroidered, saying that she had learned it from time to time among the maids. She followed the maids for a while, and it seemed like there was a reason. Following her, Berry was embarrassed and handed her a gift. It was a dagger for self-defense.

Marie hugged the children once in a while. It was a pity that she could only express this happy feeling like this.

“Shall we read the Young Master’s letter now?”

“No! Marie should read when you’re alone.”

Brielle objected so strongly that she kept the letter in a safe place.

Seeing that, she turned and met Kentrail’s eyes. He gestured to see her later with a sign only the two of them knew.

Apparently, he looked like he had something to give her. At that, Marie said yes with the shape of her mouth. When she glanced away, the two children except Brielle had expressions as if they could not look at it.

Marie, who was embarrassed for nothing, coughed in vain.

“Marie, do you have a sore throat?”

Sweating, she managed to comfort Brielle, who was worried she might have caught a cold.

Kentrail, who was smiling at her look, couldn’t be more mean.

During the night when the children were sleeping, Marie found him. The two met in the attic, where they could see the stars.

“I have a place to go with you for a while.”

He took her hand and came out of the attic before continuing to walk past the office. Finally, Marie reached the hallway she had walked passed before.

“Here…”

“It’s a place for the Head.”

She could tell how deeply he cared about their relationship as she looked at him casually bringing her to such a place.

“It’s here.”

Stopping in front of a large door, she glanced around with a puzzled face.

The door finally opened, and the smell of paint rushed into Marie’s nose. When she gazed inside, there were paints scattered all over the place that were not properly organized, and several canvases were lying there.

It looked like a place where the maids didn’t come in and clean it.

“It’s a little messy.”

He hastily picked up the paint and began to collect it in one place. Taking the time, Marie started watching it. She didn’t know much about painting, yet she was drawn from the paintings which looked good enough to her, from still lifes to Brielle’s smiling face.

“Is this the one the Count drew?”

When she asked with her eyes wide open, Kentrail replied with a smile instead.

Again, holding her little hand with his big hand, he led it in front of a large cloth-covered canvas. As she was waiting, she just stared into his eyes.

Marie was a little nervous.

“Count…”

“You were supposed to call me Kentrail. Why are you calling me that again?”

He smiled softly and glanced outside.

At that moment, the bell began to ring. It was an hourly signal.

“Happy birthday.”

Marie’s eyes grew so big that she couldn’t even compare it to before. She told him about her birthday as she explained where she lived, and he remembered those passing words.

Tears began to fall in her eyes.

He took her in his arms and began to comfort her.

“Our Marie is a crybaby.”

At his attitude, as though to treat Brielle, she raised her hand and lightly tapped his chest, furious. It was like the first time in her life that she was complaining. It was because her parents couldn’t. They were busy in her childhood.

“I don’t know how it sounds to you, but thank you for coming to us.”

It was Kentrail’s heart. What would have happened to them if she hadn’t come…? He was heartbroken just by that assumption.

“You know I love you more than life, right?”

Marie nodded her head.

“Oh, I was going to show you this.”

Uttering so, he pulled her away from his arms for a moment. He then stretched out one of his arms and pulled off the white cloth. There was another woman, who was the same as Marie, smiling.

“This…”

“I originally wanted to draw a picture of you, but I only know who you are now…”

She was busy raising her hands and wiping her tears away to take a closer look at the painting.

“How?”

“It’s too…huff…”

A cry finally broke out again.

“Why did you paint me too prettily?”

She, who was portrayed as the most beautiful woman in the Kingdom, was smiling in her picture.

“Brielle says that when you look at a painting, you can see what the artist thinks of the subject.”

Marie had read the book Brielle had read, so she knew what he was talking about.

“In my eyes, you are the most beautiful woman here. No matter what you look like, that’s what it is.”

Whatever you look like.

She knew that the word meant when she was Jin Hae-rin. The next moment, she lifted her head and looked into a picture of herself in the form of Marie, who was now more accustomed to that of Jin Hae-rin.

“Thank you. Really…”

Now, she felt more like herself. She would grow old with this look, and she would be with him by his side.

Jaz found Count Bent.

“What’s going on?”

He showed the knight standing in front of him that the client had sent him. Moments later, he could someone inside the knight telling him to wait, so he hurriedly ran and looked at Jaz.

Jaz, who had been anxious in his heart for fear that he might not be able to get inside, gained momentum.

“I’m here to see Count Bent.”

Then, he proudly spoke to the butler who came to greet him.

“The Count is on his way. I’ll make a room for you for a while.”

Nodding his head, he was anticipating the luxurious room he was given. As he followed the butler and was busy looking around the splendidly decorated mansion, it was an incomparable wealth to the Keylor family.

“Why do we keep going down?”

“Follow me and you’ll know.”

Jaz, who followed the butler without any doubt, was perplexed.

There came a room made of stone.

“What is this… you know who I am—”

Before he could finish speaking, the butler closed the door and left. He was trapped by his negligence.