Episode 5
From the top of the stairs, I could see a crowd of employees gathered below.
As I got closer, the floor was a mess with sharp shards from a broken vase, spilled water, and crushed flowers.
I felt like I’d seen a similar scene just a few days ago.
As expected, the culprit seemed to be Dietrich. Among the maids busily cleaning up the shards, he stood awkwardly with a sheepish expression.
“What’s going on here?”
“Oh, you’re here, Nanny? Well… the young master was sliding down the stair railing and bumped into Laura. She was carrying the vase at the time.”
Uh-oh, the nanny was mad.
The nanny, who had pressed her lips tightly together, stared at Dietrich, who was clumsily standing with his hands behind his back.
“Young master Dietrich Callenberg.”
Calling him by his full name was a clear sign that the nanny was truly angry.
Even Dietrich, who had been pretending to act carefree, flinched and reflexively checked the nanny’s mood.
Then, noticing me in the nanny’s arms, he glared at me.
‘…What?’
He supposedly worried about me, but is this how someone who’s worried acts?
Of course, seeing him glare at his younger sibling only made the nanny’s face grow sterner. She carefully set me down to avoid startling me further with her loud voice.
Dietrich, you’re done for now.
“Explain this commotion properly.”
“Well, um…”
“Didn’t you see Laura carrying the vase below?”
“I did. I mean, I did, but!”
“Then are you saying you deliberately slid down the railing to hurt Laura?”
“No, that’s not it!”
Dietrich hesitated, mumbling under the nanny’s sharp questioning, before finally raising his voice in panic.
“I just… thought Laura was moving the vase too intently, so I slid down the railing to go tada! and surprise her.”
“What are you saying?”
“You know, like in fairy tales, when knights appear dramatically with a tada! I wanted to try that…”
“Laura was simply focused on doing her job. And yet, you disrupted her for such an unreasonable reason?”
“It wasn’t to bother her! I just thought Laura seemed uninterested in me, always, always paying attention to that… that brat Mariela instead…”
Dietrich’s voice grew smaller and smaller, almost like a whispering ant.
“Because of your prank, Laura could have been seriously hurt. And so could you.”
“I never meant to hurt Laura! Look—look! I’m the one who got hurt more!”
Perhaps feeling wronged, Dietrich, who had been hiding his hands behind his back, revealed his palm.
It seemed he had fallen on the shards of the vase, as his palm was scratched and faintly bleeding along the creases of his hand.
The nanny, startled by the sight, knelt down and carefully examined Dietrich’s hand to make sure no pieces of the vase were embedded.
The maids nearby gathered around, murmuring in concern.
“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like anything is stuck, but you should still see the physician first.”
Her voice trembled slightly, as though she was upset.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t a deep injury, young master.”
“Next time, if you see me, call my name. I’ll finish whatever task I’m working on quickly so we can play together.”
“Right. Sliding down the stair railing like that is far too dangerous.”
“Not to mention, that stair railing was just repaired recently. It could have led to a big accident.”
As people chimed in from all sides, Dietrich’s expression turned a bit strange—almost like he was happy?
“Hah, this is nothing! I’m young master Callenberg, after all!”
Dietrich, still puffing up his chest in pride, caught my gaze from where I stood behind him.
Then, he stuck out his tongue at me with a mischievous grin.
…What is this?
Why does he keep acting this way toward me lately?
When he caused an incident in the kitchen, he suddenly yelled ‘idiot’ at me and stormed off.
The nanny glanced at me, standing frozen in disbelief.
“The young miss is…”
“Ugh, Nanny, my hand hurts!”
The moment the nanny’s eyes turned to me, Dietrich hurriedly waved his injured hand to reclaim her attention.
Ah, now I see.
Finally, I began to understand Dietrich’s intentions.
‘He must want more attention than me.’
I’m somewhat familiar with stories about older siblings being jealous of their younger siblings.
‘When a new baby is born, even older siblings who eat fine on their own start asking for a bottle again, don’t they?’
Or they might whine to be carried for no reason.
At the orphanage where I grew up, children often became jealous when younger ones arrived, redirecting the headmistress and teachers’ attention.
If Dietrich feels the same way, wouldn’t he calm down if he just got the attention he wanted?
‘After all, Ditrich grew up separated from his parents too, and he’s only seven years old.’
If the staff paying a little extra attention to me made him feel neglected, I could simply step back and let him receive more care.
After all, I’m used to managing things on my own.
“I’ll go back to my room with Betty. Nanny, take care of Dietrich’s injured hand.”
At that moment, Betty appeared, holding the basin and cloth the nanny had requested.
I clung to Betty’s skirt, and the nanny nodded in agreement.
Dietrich, triumphant, flashed a smug grin as he walked off with the nanny.
***
For the next few days, Dietrich enjoyed unusually cheerful days.
Because of his injured hand, everyone in the household worried about him.
It was a rare occurrence.
Other than the old butler or someone like the nanny, most of the staff usually watched Dietrich with wary eyes, treating him as an incorrigible troublemaker.
‘It’s the first time I’ve seen such concerned looks.’
Even as he shook his head, Dietrich couldn’t stop the smile from creeping onto his face.
For such a minor injury like a scratched palm, no less.
Lately, even during simple tasks like washing his face, the nanny insisted on helping him.
It felt a bit embarrassing to be treated like a baby, but he didn’t mind it.
‘Mariela…’
The only thing he occasionally worried about was his little sister, Mariela.
Is she feeling better now?
She wasn’t scurrying around the mansion like a hamster as much as she used to.
Considering she had been unwell for a while due to the butler’s incident, it was only natural to be concerned about her.
‘But Mariela has other maids to take care of her.’
To shake off the creeping worry for his sister, Dietrich vigorously shook his head.
There were plenty of people in the mansion who adored Mariela.
He’d even heard that the maids had been taking turns looking after her lately.
In that case, couldn’t the nanny be spared for Dietrich?
‘After all, the other staff don’t like me much.’
They may have worried briefly when he injured his palm, but in general, most of them avoided him whenever he asked to play.
After a few failed attempts at asking, Dietrich had decided to stop pestering the staff for attention.
‘That’s why I only have the nanny.’
The one person who truly cared for Dietrich.
Mariela could receive love from others even without the nanny, but Dietrich couldn’t.
As he ran down the hallway, shaking his head, he spotted the nanny talking with the maids.
Planning a surprise entrance, he quieted his footsteps instead of calling out.
“Nanny, it seems like the young miss has a fever again. I think it would be best to call the physician.”
“What? She has a fever again?”
“Last night, she even had nightmares while she slept. She called for the butler and someone named the director… though I don’t know who that is.”
Dietrich quietly listened to their conversation.
Mariela is sick again?
Then what about the nanny?
What about… me?
“This won’t do. From today on, I’ll personally stay by the young miss’s side again. You all will have to take care of the young master in my place.”
Dietrich bit his lower lip.
