Chapter 39
“I didn’t know Renee would have a hard time.”
Soon Edwin spoke in a sullen voice.
“What?”
“I didn’t know it would be this hard….”
“Young master Edwin, I’m a little tired, but it’s not hard.”
“Then I’m glad….”
Contrary to his words, his face was filled with disbelief. As a result, I had to stay in his bedroom for the rest of the day.
Edwin was adamant that I rest in his room, where people couldn’t easily get in, because if I went outside, I would suffer unnecessarily.
Apparently, I had accumulated enough fatigue that Edwin was worried.
I spent the rest of the day resting, but I fell asleep while Edwin read me a bedtime story.
Maybe I fell asleep before he did.
*****
When I woke up, it was already morning. It seemed like I woke up around the same time as I usually do.
After looking around and realizing that he had fallen asleep just like last night, I carefully tried to get out of bed.
Just watch Edwin’s sleeping face for a little while.
But contrary to my expectations, Edwin seemed to have woken up before me.
When I turned my head, I saw Edwin’s face flinch.
There is no way that you would know that if you close your eyes tightly like that, it actually tells you that he’s awake.
As I watched his eyes moving busily beneath his tightly closed eyelids, my thoughts of quietly slipping away were quickly forgotten.
Was he curious about the situation when I didn’t move? Edwin carefully opened his narrowed eyes and looked around, and then our eyes met.
Seeing him quickly close his eyes again, laughter finally burst out of my mouth.
“Good morning?”
“Yes. Did you sleep well too, Renee?”
Edwin smiled awkwardly and opened his eyes.
After hearing my morning greeting, Edwin snuggled into my arms.
“I was so happy when I opened my eyes and saw Renee sleeping next to me.”
Sunlight came through the window and hit his wavy orange hair.
As I was stroking his hair, which was shining in the morning sunlight, I felt Edwin’s hand tightening around me.
“But isn’t it a bit noisy outside today?”
“It was like that even before Renee woke up.”
Edwin responded to my words by lifting his head and looking at me.
“What happened?”
Even though it was a quiet time, I could feel the presence of several people outside.
Although he lowered his voice, I could tell that he was talking about something seriously.
But Edwin seemed completely uninterested in the situation outside.
Since I liked being like this, I also postponed finding out what was happening and patted him a little more.
Then quietly Chase entered the bedroom.
Even when he saw me in Edwin’s bed, he greeted Edwin without any signs of surprise.
“Are you awake?”
“Yes, good morning.”
Edwin got out of my arms as Chase entered.
“You came early today.”
“Yes.”
“Is something wrong? It’s a bit… outside….”
When I asked while looking outside, Chase readily gave me an answer.
What he said in his usual blunt voice was quite surprising.
“It looks like someone broke into the mansion last night.”
“Break-in?”
Unlike me, who was surprised, Chase answered calmly.
“They say so, but nothing is certain yet. I may have heard it wrong, or someone may have been playing a prank.”
“Really? That’s a good thing, but don’t you think it’s still not normal to be this loud?”
“I have to check first.”
“Hmm… Who saw what? Or did something happen?”
“I heard that a stranger was wandering around young master Edwin’s bedroom in the early morning, so I’m still looking for him.”
“At dawn? Besides, around young master Edwin’s bedroom?”
My voice rose in surprise. Then I realized Edwin was next to me and quickly covered my mouth with my hand.
It was already too late to react. Edwin seemed to have heard everything, but he smiled and snuggled into my arms again.
“Don’t worry. I don’t think he came into the bedroom.”
“I’m glad if that’s the case, but still…”
Belatedly, I was so concerned about Edwin that I swallowed the question of whether he might be in danger.
But Chase seemed to have guessed the question he couldn’t ask, and gave an answer.
“That won’t happen. Besides, it’s really strange that I’ve been looking for him for so long and can’t even find him.”
As I listened to the story, Chase seemed to be suspicious of the fact that someone had broken in in the first place.
“Are you okay?”
“I guess so. No matter what, it makes no sense to come in and leave without leaving any trace.”
Maybe it was no big deal, but I felt a little embarrassed that I had slept soundly without realizing the commotion.
“It must have been noisy since early morning, but I went to sleep without any idea.”
When I spoke embarrassedly, Chase stared at me for a moment without saying anything.
“I know. There were quite a few people who were surprised that you weren’t in the room, but you were sleeping really well.”
“What? Did you do that? But it wasn’t just one or two?”
I was grateful that they made sure I was safe too. But it’s not just one or two.
I paused for a moment as I questioned Chase’s words. The way he looked elsewhere made him look like he wanted to avoid answering.
“Who was surprised?”
I asked, wondering who on earth was worried about me again, but Chase just cleared his throat.
As I was contemplating whether to press for an answer again, Edwin, who was still in my arms, stirred.
“Young master Edwin?”
Edwin dug deeper into my arms without answering.
I found the curly hair so cute that I unconsciously lifted my hand and stroked Edwin.
“It seems young master Edwin was very happy to sleep with you.”
It wasn’t visible to me, but Edwin’s expression seemed to be visible from where Chase was.
Chase said with a happier smile than ever.
“Yes. It was great.”
Edwin replied, his voice filled with excitement. I was both pleased and a little sad that he liked it so much.
Even when he was younger, Therese would never have slept with Edwin.
Here, the child was put to sleep alone from an early age. In addition, the nanny stayed by his side rather than sleeping in his bed.
It was obvious that Edwin, who lost his mother when he was very young, would have no memory of falling asleep in someone’s arms.
He’s still young now.
Still, I was grateful that he had grown up so well, so I petted Edwin with a little more heart.
But Edwin couldn’t stay in bed for as long as he wanted.
Because now it’s time to start the day.
“Young master Edwin, I’m going to go to my room for a while.”
“Yes.”
Even after giving me an answer, Edwin did not loosen his hold on me. He hugged me even harder.
“I might accidentally fall asleep next to you again, young master Edwin, so don’t be too hard on yourself.”
“Really?”
Edwin lifted his head at my words and asked back with an expectant look on his face.
“Yes. Since you like it so much, I guess I’ll just pretend not to notice and fall asleep on days when I’m too tired.”
I deliberately spoke in a whisper so that only Edwin could hear.
Edwin seemed to like what I said and jumped off the bed with a bright smile.
“Then I’ll prepare too.”
Chase and I shared similar smiles as we looked at Edwin’s excited back.
“Thank god. You came as Edwin’s babysitter.”
“Pardon?”
“First of all, neither Edwin nor you have classes today. If possible, don’t wander around.”
“Okay.”
When I left the bedroom, the situation outside was more chaotic than I expected.
When I saw people moving around busily with serious faces, my face also hardened.
It felt like a pretty big deal compared to what Chase had said casually.
After looking around, swept up in their atmosphere, I came to my senses and entered the room.
I definitely felt fortunate that Edwin didn’t have class today.
I didn’t know if my anxiety would transfer to Edwin as I wandered around in this noisy environment.
“Huh?”
After changing my clothes and leaving the room, I felt a strange sense of discomfort.
“What?”
It was a small room, so it didn’t take long to look around. However, it took some time to realize the identity of the discomfort.
“What is this?”
There was a small vase by the window, and there was a single flower in it.
“Why didn’t I recognize it? It’s my room.”
Is it because there are so many flowers in Edwin’s bedroom that my eyes have become accustomed to them?
I turned around to go outside and approached the window.
The flowers in full bloom seemed to be at their prettiest now. The sunlight reflected on the water hanging from the petals made them sparkle.
I was looking at the flowers as if I was fascinated without realizing it, but then I realized that I had spent more time than I thought and quickly left the room.
Thanks to Edwin waking up, his bedroom was now bustling with people coming and going.
Fortunately, Edwin didn’t seem to take this commotion seriously. Looking at his innocent face as usual, It calmed my mind.
“Today’s class is canceled, so what should I do?”
“Hmm… Do you want to go to the garden together? Rene was so busy that she didn’t see how pretty the flowers I grew had grown.”
“Yes, but…”
“It would be better not to go out and about today, young master Edwin.”
Chase was the one who helped me when I was in trouble. He looked a little disappointed, but Edwin nodded politely.
“Then shall we draw a picture with Chase today? Young master Edwin, you were busy for a while, so you weren’t able to draw much.”
“Is that so?”
“I have a lot of time today, so why don’t we do origami for the first time in a while?”
“Yes. Chase, are you good at origami?”
Chase looked down at his rough hands and answered Edwin’s question in a low voice.
“If young master Edwin teaches me, I will try my best.”
Chase slouched his large shoulders and walked over to gather art supplies and origami supplies.
“Before that, have breakfast first…”
“I’m glad you’re both okay.”
That’s when I heard a familiar voice.
Unlike his usual flawless appearance, today’s Raynan was dressed a little more comfortably.
“Young master Edwin, would you like to have breakfast with me today?”
Roman, who came in with Raynan, held out his hand to Edwin.
“What about father and Renee?”
Edwin asked, looking back and forth between me and Raynan while trying to hold Roman’s hand.
“Duke has already finished eating. But I’m sure he’ll take care of Renee’s breakfast, right?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, just eat breakfast first.”
After hearing Raynan’s answer, Edwin left the bedroom, waving his hand as if relieved.
“Okay. I’ll be back.”
Raynan, who was watching Edwin’s lively back, looked at me and asked a question as the bedroom door closed.
“Has anything strange happened around Edwin or you?”
“I don’t think anything strange happened. If I were to be specific, I fell asleep here yesterday, but that was because I was too tired and made a mistake.”
“Even if it’s something small, think about it carefully. Something has changed.”
“Ah.”
As a short exclamation came out at the scene that suddenly came to my mind, Raynan and Chase took a step closer.
“Is there something?”
“Well, it’s… weird and it’s kind of trivial, but it’s so trivial that I don’t want to…”
“It’s okay, just tell me.”
