Childcare Diaries

There were people visiting the Charant family, taking advantage of the darkness. As the crowd increased, Marie’s expression changed to relief. All of them had come with a letter promising to be with Kentrail.

She trusted him, but apart from that, it was inevitable that she would be worried.

Marie sat by the window and looked at the person who came today. She could see the man’s face in the distance through the lights on. His eyes, nose and mouth were not clearly visible, but she couldn’t help but be surprised.

She jumped up from her seat.

‘…That person!’

She was the one she saw in the original story. A man with long silver hair… She knew right away, as silver hair is not a common color.

‘When the Count pointed his sword at the Palace…”

While she was thinking of the original story, Marie suddenly realized.

‘The future of attacking the Palace has not changed.’

However, in the original work, he did not care about the common people and rushed only for revenge, but now, he took revenge in a way that the common people would not be harmed.

She flopped down by the window.

‘…Won’t the Count get hurt?’

Marie was restless with her worries. Suddenly, a drop of tears ran down her cheeks.

‘It’s fine… It’ll be fine…’

Nevertheless, Marie was still afraid. Fear seemed to engulf her, worrying that she might lose a loved one.

“Marie, what’s wrong?”

Did he hear her sob? Brielle woke up. She hurriedly wiped her face but to no avail. The child got up and walked over to Marie. Then, he glanced at her face with a surprised look before hugging her tightly.

“Marie, are you crying? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head.

“Shall I call the doctor?”

“No…”

A hoarse voice leaked out.

“Then, uncle…”

The child tried to turn around as if he was about to leave. At that, Marie hugged Brielle tighter.

“Can you stay like this for a while, Young Master? Then, I’ll be fine.”

Brielle straightened his body and hugged her. As she felt the child’s warmth, Marie’s body found stability.

‘…Yes, the Young Master is still alive. The Count will be well, too. Siege is also on our side.’

Brielle, who was holding her, patted her back.

“Please, let all the things that bother Marie go away.”

In prayer, the boy whispered. He started to sing the lullaby that Marie used to sing. Seeing him like that, her heart warmed. The heavy thoughts that came to her gradually flew away at the same time.

* * *

Kentrail looked intently at the man with the letter.

“I didn’t know that the eldest son would come in person like this.”

Long silver hair shimmered in the moonlight.

“Because it’s important.”

The man stood upright as their eyes met.

“I’ll receive the letter.”

“Before that, I want to ask you something.”

“What?”

“The reason why the Count, who was on the King’s side, suddenly changed his mind. What was that?”

“King’s side…”

Kentrail pushed the chair back and crossed his legs. He then took his hand over his leg and clasped it together.

“Since when have I been on the King’s side?”

“You probably didn’t know that the King called you his best friend.”

“I’ve never been involved in that. I’ve only been with the King for as long as necessary as the chancellor.”

The man stared intently into Kentrail’s face as if he was trying to guess if that was true.

“The fate of our family is at stake. If this is a trap, I will not leave you alone, even at the cost of my life.”

“It’s a good resolution. I hope that you will fight in the Royal Palace with that determination.”

When Kentrail responded with that and stretched out his arm as if to receive the letter, the man handed the letter to him with a sigh.

“You had quite a number of knights. It’s different from what you reported to the Royal Palace.”

At that, the man turned his head away from Kentrai before he coughed. He cursed Kentrail inside, saying he didn’t know when he had investigated all of that.

‘Well, that means father must have accepted the Count’s offer.’

He could see the eyes reading the letter. It was definitely because of those eyes that gave a deep and straight impression.

“I think my face will be pierced.”

By the way, perhaps this man also had eyes on his head, he noticed that the man was looking at him while also looking at the letter.

“I think it’s going to take some time to read. Can I walk around the garden?”

“No. If your leg hurts, sit on the sofa over there.”

The man, who thought he and the Count would never get close to each other, sat on the sofa farthest from Kentrail.

* * *

“Uncle!”

In the morning, Brielle visited Kentrail as the bedroom was right next door. The child hugged him.

“Brielle…”

Kentrail, who fell asleep late, barely woke up and hugged his nephew.

“Will you give uncle a morning kiss?”

When he hugged the child tightly and asked, Brielle only nodded his head.

“Really?”

At the reply, Kentrail grabbed his face and gave him a kiss. As Brielle wiped his face, he burst into laughter.

“I don’t think you did that when Marie did it?”

“Uncle is not Marie.”

Marie must have had the upper hand over Brielle, but Kentrail was fine with it. He pulled Brielle away from him and hugged him once more. However, Brielle became quiet in an instant. It was strange. Thinking so, he bent his waist to match the child’s eye level.

The boy’s worried eyes entered Kentrail’s eyes.

“Brielle, what’s going on?”

Worried, he became concerned that the child might have been ill.

“Marie, Marie…”

“Yes?”

Kentrail’s stomach burned because of Brielle.

“She was strange last night. She was not in pain, but she kept crying.”

As Brielle spoke, it seemed like his heart ached, too, and he cried as well. Kentrail’s heart pounded hearing that Marie wept last night.

“Uncle will ask what happened. So, it’s okay… It’s okay…Brielle.”

Hugging his nephew again, he thought he would go to Marie when Brielle calmed down.

* * *

A knock echoed through Brielle’s bedroom. Marie, who was cleaning the bed sheets, opened the door.

“Count.”

She called Kentrail, who was always in the office at this time, curiously.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes…”

Kentrail noticed that Marie was lying. Not only that her eyes were more swollen than usual, but her face was also as if she had not slept.

“Can I go inside?”

With his question, she took a step aside.

“You haven’t gone to work today.”

She said, looking back at him. The next moment, Kentrail hugged Marie.

“What happened?”

When he asked with almost certainty, she hesitated.

“What’s the matter? Are you really not hurt?”

Marie sighed, wondering what he had heard from Brielle. Meanwhile, worried by the sound of her sigh, Kentrail carefully raised his head.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“…Who did you meet last night?”

“Yesterday…”

Kentrail reflected on the people he had met. He met a lot of people, but few seemed to agitate her like this.

“A man with long silver hair.”

Marie spoke up when he didn’t seem to know whom she was referring to.

“The eldest son of the Brune family.”

“He was… the person in the novel I read.”

“Ah… will he betray our family?”

Marie shook her head.

“Then…”

“It’s just… I just got nervous.”

Marie didn’t tell him to the end, but Kentrail noticed why she was being like this. It seemed that she was worried something might be wrong.

He kissed her forehead.

“It’ll be fine. It’s a lot different now from the novel you read. So, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Yes…”

Marie tried to smile as much as she could, thinking it wouldn’t do him any good for her to be so anxious.

He gazed at her and kissed the corner of her lips.

“More families than expected are saying that they will join us. Our combined forces are comparable to the royal army. We will take care of everything before the royal army guarding the outskirts arrives.”

“Then, I will keep the Young Master and the children safe in the mansion.”

“Yes. Please.”

The day Kentrail had set up was fast approaching.

* * *

Kentrail and Taylor were having an operational meeting.

They obtained the layout of the Royal Palace and figured out the route they would invade and the King’s escape route. Soon after, he received a letter saying that Derek had arrived and that his family would also be involved in this.

Having the family with the most troops made him feel reassured. Kentrail was preoccupied with how the day would be going. He had so much work to do.

“I’ll go in and rest.”

“Yes. Master, you should sleep today as well.”

With Taylor’s suggestion, he agreed. As he left the room with a tired face, Kentrail began to organize the papers on the desk.

“Count.”

Then, the butler called with a knock.

“What’s going on?”

“You have a guest.”

“Guest?”

There was no one scheduled to come today, so Kentrail looked at the butler with a puzzled face.

“They… came from the Palace.”

With the palace mentioned, his expression frowned.

“I’ve taken them to the parlor.”

Kentrail, who wondered if the king had come, clasped his hands tightly.

“…They’re here.”

Hearing the butler’s words, his fists did not come loose.

“It seems that they left without anyone knowing about it, so all the maids were left as well.”

Kentrail nodded his head.

“I’ll go now.”

“Yes.”

The butler went to the kitchen, saying he would bring the tea himself. On the way to the parlor. Kentrail stood by the window and glanced up at the sky once before hurrying his steps again.