“Helmut?”
Teresia bent down to confirm the child’s appearance and called out in a startled voice.
“Helmut, aren’t you cold? Why are you sitting here like this?”
Surprised to see the child outside, Teresia hurried over and knelt down.
Sensing her approach, Helmut finally raised his head.
“Miss….”
The child’s eyes were red, as if he had been crying.
Tear marks stained his cheeks. What on earth had happened?
“Where did you go….”
With a face that seemed on the verge of tears, Helmut took Teresia’s outstretched hand and stood up.
Teresia, unsure of the cause but feeling her heart ache, brushed the dirt off the child’s clothes.
“Why were you out here? Hmm? It’s cold.”
Though she herself felt cold, Teresia wrapped her shawl around the child.
“It’s just… you weren’t at home….”
“Did you cry because you missed me?”
The child didn’t answer, but Teresia didn’t need him to. She could tell that was why Helmut had been crying.
Thinking that she needed to bring him inside to wash his face, Teresia scooped Helmut into her arms.
“My, you’re quite heavy.”
Though he was ten, his development was closer to that of an eight-year-old.
Teresia, stronger than most women, thought she could easily carry him, but it turned out to be more effort than she’d anticipated.
Still, it wasn’t beyond her ability, so with her arm supporting Helmut’s bottom, she carried him into the mansion.
As they headed toward his room, Teresia saw Anna, seemingly scolding another maid.
Hearing Teresia’s approaching footsteps, Anna quickly clasped her hands politely and walked over to her.
“Helmut must have been outside.”
“Yes. What’s going on? Why was the child left out in the cold?”
“Well… apparently, Helmut was running away, according to her.”
Next to Anna stood the youngest maid.
Perhaps afraid of being scolded, Helmut buried his face in Teresia’s shoulder, avoiding the maids entirely.
“Helmut, you shouldn’t trouble the maids like that.”
Teresia lightly scolded him, but the child didn’t budge.
“He kept looking for you, Miss. After confirming you weren’t home, he came to me asking where you were. When I said you’d gone out, he became anxious and started crying.”
“I see…. Well, all right. It’s late, so you can all rest now.”
“Yes, Miss.”
With that, Teresia dismissed them.
Still holding Helmut, she entered the open room. Taking him to the bathroom, she turned on the faucet and set him down.
“Let’s wash your face. Look at you. It’s a mess because you were crying.”
Pointing to the mirror, she let Helmut see his own reflection.
She washed her hands with soap first, then wet her hands again and gently wiped away the tear stains on Helmut’s cheeks and around his eyes.
While they were in the bathroom, she handed him a toothbrush and toothpaste.
As Helmut brushed his teeth, Teresia changed into something more comfortable and returned to the bathroom to wash her face.
She thoroughly cleansed her face, even removing her mascara, and rinsed off the foam with water. When she opened her eyes, the child had already dried his face with a towel.
Helmut seemed to have no trouble brushing his teeth or handling himself, as he had since he first arrived at the mansion. It suggested that the Leppel family hadn’t entirely neglected him.
But why had they left a child behind and chosen to end their life with a gun? Was their situation truly so desperate?
“I’m going to brush my teeth too, so why don’t you wait in the room? Aren’t your legs tired?”
“I’ll just sit here.”
Speaking with a slight lisp characteristic of children, Helmut closed the toilet lid and sat on it.
Taking it as a sign that he didn’t want to leave her side, Teresia smiled faintly and squeezed toothpaste onto her toothbrush.
While she brushed her teeth, the child sat quietly.
Once she had finished everything, including applying lotion, Helmut stood up.
“Ha, you knew I was done, didn’t you?”
Helmut nodded, his cuteness making Teresia pinch his cheeks.
It was something she’d done habitually over the past few days, and Helmut seemed to enjoy it.
When he closed his eyes with a small smile tugging at his lips, Teresia picked him up again and carried him to her bed.
Setting him on the bed, she finally met his eyes with a serious expression and asked the question that had been bothering her.
“So.”
“….”
“Why did you trouble the maids and cry outside? Will you tell me?”
The child avoided her gaze, unlike usual.
When she let out a sharp “Tsk,” giving a small scare, the child slowly met her eyes again before long.
“It’s okay. I won’t say anything.”
“…I’m afraid you’ll abandon me.”
“Abandon you? Why would I do that?”
“Because you disappeared…”
Well, it was true. Ever since she had returned to being seventeen years old, it was the first time she had been away from home for so long.
Even when she was out, she’d seen Helmut every three hours at the most. It must have been shocking for him to go from seeing her so frequently to her sudden disappearance.
He must have only just started to grow attached to this place.
But if she let the fear of being abandoned take root in his heart, it wouldn’t be good for the child’s emotional well-being.
Feeling a pang of sympathy again for Helmut, Teresia stroked his head gently.
“Helmut, I would never abandon you. There may be times when we have to be apart for a while… but that doesn’t mean I’m abandoning you. So don’t worry about that anymore, okay?”
Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t yet applied to become his legal guardian.
Once she did, Helmut would officially become someone she was legally obligated to take care of to a certain extent.
And with that legal responsibility, she definitely couldn’t abandon him. Not that she had any intention to.
“…Okay.”
“Good. Now, time to sleep. Aren’t you tired?”
Satisfied with Helmut’s affirmative response, Teresia thought once again how mature he seemed, answering cheerfully.
But his next reply caught her entirely off guard.
“Can I sleep here?”
“Huh? Here?”
Teresia couldn’t answer immediately, taken aback by the sudden and unexpected question.
Now that I think about it, I’ve never shared a bed with anyone other than Joseph…
But the child in front of her wasn’t exactly another man. He was just a ten-year-old boy.
In that case, what harm could it do?
Thinking it over, she decided it would be fine, and her head nodded readily.
“Sure. Go change into your pajamas.”
Delighted by her permission, the child quickly jumped out of bed, slipped through the side door to his room, and returned dressed in his sleepwear in no time.
Telling him to lie down wherever he found comfortable, Helmut immediately settled in, and after turning off the room’s lights, Teresia slid under the covers.
“Goodnight. Sweet dreams.”
“You too, miss.”
Teresia gave Helmut’s head one last affectionate pat for the day before closing her eyes.
But Helmut seemed restless, turning and tossing as if he couldn’t fall asleep.
Peeking an eye open, she saw Helmut repeatedly opening and closing his eyes.
It seemed she’d have to help him fall asleep properly.
“I’ll read you a poem, Helmut. That should help you sleep better.”
“A poem?”
“Yes, a poem.”
The moonlight streamed in through the window, as the curtains were not drawn.
Using that moonlight as a lamp, Teresia picked up a volume of Rilke’s poetry from the bedside table and flipped it open to a random page.
Every page in that book matched her taste perfectly anyway.
“Winter morning. The waterfall has frozen solid. Crows crouch by the edge of the pond. My beloved’s ears are red. She is scheming some delightful mischief.”
Reading slowly and with rhythm, she recited the poem.
The boy, eyes shut tightly, lay perfectly still.
It seemed Helmut was trying his best to sleep now that Teresia was even reading him a poem.
“The sun caresses us lightly. A monochrome melody, like a dream, drifts among the branches. Yet we march forward. Every pore is filled with the refreshing fragrance of morning vitality.”
Before long, the boy’s breathing became steady, soft snores filling the room as he drifted off to sleep.
***
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed what you have read, do consider tipping me a little through: click here. An advanced chapter will be posted as a thank you once I receive 6$. Don’t forget to mention the series that you’re supporting!
