[Rutus! Look at this! The baby is laughing!]
Ellie recalled the first time she met those eyes.
As soon as he was born, he cried and wet himself, as if begging to be taken out of this world.
Except for the fact that he spent most of his days sleeping, like most newborns, the baby was generally full of laughter.
He would burst into laughter if she just showed him her face when he woke up crying.
He would burst into laughter if their eyes met while he was eating.
He would burst into laughter again if she gave him a kiss on the cheek when he was sleeping soundly.
They say babies cry at the slightest thing, but Ellie and Rutus’s baby seemed to laugh at the slightest thing.
[Waah!]
[Our baby, you like seeing Mommy?]
[…Ugh! Kyeek, kulk!]
[…What? Why are you doing this? Marie! Marie…! Help me!]
No wonder he choked on her milk when he laughed because their eyes met while she was feeding him.
As a result, Ellie had to cover her face with a cloth every time she breastfed the baby.
[…What am I going to do with him laughing so much?]
[Why? Isn’t it good to laugh a lot?]
[If you don’t cover your face much, it could be dangerous when he’s older.]
[…That’s true. Rutus, what should we do?]
[Are you asking me for the answer?]
Gripping a finger from each of his mother and father’s hands.
Ellie and Rutus would put their heads together and worry when the baby would laugh, his cheeks bulging like a baby’s.
As she wiped the drool from the baby’s mouth with her free hand, their eyes would inevitably meet.
His violet eyes, which shone so brightly when he laughed, seemed to resemble Rutus’s.
Borrowing Marie’s words, those eyes, like a flower made of amethyst, were a scene that Ellie would never forget, even among all the moments she cherished with the child she loved with all her heart.
So she knew at a glance.
-Oh, that’s true? …it’s true?
With no answer, she half-emerged into the room, holding the doorknob as if to urge him.
She had been so eager to find the baby since she opened her eyes.
-…….
However, Ellie hesitated and stepped back, staring straight at him.
Ellie took a few steps back and pursed her lips.
‘…Baby.’
Black hair like hers and eyes that reminded her of Rutus.
In Ellie’s memory, it was the newborn she had seen just yesterday.
…But why is he so big?
At a glance, it was definitely not the level of growth possible in just two seasons, or about six months.
‘My child is a new human being, I see.’
Ellie, who was having a ridiculous thought, belatedly opened her eyes wide.
The gloomy atmosphere of the mansion she had confirmed earlier in her true form, and the faces that strangely looked older.
She thought it was because they were suffering from the sudden absence of the hostess.
Could it be that it was just a long time since I thought it was?
Ellie’s eyes rolled around and went towards the child.
Their gazes met.
Thump-
-……?
As she took a small step to the side, the child’s eyes rolled around and followed her.
The fact that she had just spoken, and the fact that he is looking at her with such clear eyes now.
Could it be… that he can see me?
-…How old are you?
“Um… uh…”
The child, who seemed to not know how to open his mouth, shrugged his shoulders and stammered.
You can hear me too.
No one noticed me, but my son knows I exist. Should I laugh or cry?
Ellie was trying to hide her confusion.
Small, stubby fingers were carefully stretched out.
Four fingers.
Ellie blinked her eyes quickly and asked again.
-Four years old?
“Well, yes, but next month I’ll be five!”
The answer came back in a slightly raised voice, as if he was annoyed that only his age was questioned.
The hand that had been holding the doorknob, not knowing when it was released, was clenched into a fist.
A dimple was dug into one cheek of the child who had his mouth shut tight.
‘…I have that dimple too.’
The face of the child looking up at me from in front of my eyes, the face that always looked like he was about to burst into laughter when I met his eyes, was overlaid on the face in my memory.
Not knowing whether she smiled or not, the child made a blank expression for a while and then opened his mouth again.
“Um… Mommy?”
Ellie, embarrassed by the sparkling eyes, blurted out anything.
-No, tha, that can’t be, right?
Negatively.
The child’s shoulders slumped.
“But we have the same hair…”
-Uh, well, that’s…
Ellie’s gaze, following the child’s head that was gradually drooping lower, finally landed on the tray the maid had left behind.
“First, let’s eat! Let’s eat our meal first and then talk.”
I’m sure it was dinner.
It had been a while since they had confronted each other at the door, and it was a snowy winter outside.
When she stared at the child urgently, thinking the food would get cold, the child’s head, which seemed to be pondering, nodded slowly up and down.
“But you have to tell me after I finish my meal.”
-O, Okay.
After awkwardly agreeing, Ellie hurried into the room.
Since she couldn’t catch either object or person, the child had to drag the tray in himself.
Ellie made a faint impression on the child, who closed the door familiarly and sat on the bed, opening the lid of the tray.
‘Usually, the maids do this kind of thing.’
The meal menu was well-stocked in its own way, but it was quite plain for dinner.
And this attic…
Ellie turned her head and looked around the room.
A small bed of a size that maids would use and a small closet. Finally, an old desk that looked like it could be used to write a simple letter.
It was a small room that felt cramped even with the two of them, with only three pieces of furniture.
‘Isn’t this the perfect age to use a room that was prepared by now?’
I heard some parents in aristocratic families, who were struggling financially and cherishing their children, would give them their own adjacent rooms.
It was a place that had been worked on for a long time, with walls being knocked down and extensions being added, and it was filled with all sorts of good things.
But why keep him here?
– …
I wonder why, instead of the other rooms in the main house, the child is living in this small, shabby attic…
Ellie approached the child and asked softly.
-Baby, how long have you been living here?
“I’m not a baby…”
-…Oh, right. Then what’s your name?
Ellie didn’t know the child’s name.
It was a kind of custom that children’s names were not given until after at least six months, but since she had died before then, it was only natural.
Still, she had been diligently searching through ancient dictionaries with Rutus before the child was born, so she was sure she had given him a beautiful name-
“…Young Master?”
-That’s a title, not a name.
“Well…”
-Yes?
“Well… It’s Young Master…”
-……
Ellie swallowed her saliva audibly.
At around four years old, shouldn’t he be able to hold a basic conversation?
‘He seemed to be talking well just now, so why do I feel like he’s babbling?’
Ellie felt a sense of unease as her heart, which was not beating, pounded like a drum.
-… Could it be that you don’t have a name?
The child nodded.
-Oh my God…
Ellie, who stumbled over her feet, barely managed to stand up straight.
He really didn’t have a name?
…He’s four years old?
‘Did f*cking Rutus lose his mind?’
Born as Countess and raised nobly in her own right, Ellie uttered a curse for the first time in her life.
Fortunately, the child beside her instinctively prevented the words from popping out of her throat.
‘My beloved child, who I would give my life for, doesn’t have a name until he’s four years old.’
In fact, he will be five years old next month.
Ellie’s arms trembled with anger at the outrageous treatment that the only heir of a duke was receiving.
Come to think of it, the clothes he was wearing were made of good material, but they were short and the fabric was too thin for winter use.
I had been wondering about this ever since I was in the attic of the annex.
-… Could your daddy have possibly remarried? Is your new stepmother mistreating-
“Ah, no! That’s not it!”
The child, who had been half-emptying the plates, frantically waved his hands and denied Ellie’s words.
-…Then?
“It’s not daddy’s fault! There’s no new stepmother, he’s just too busy….”
-……
“And, and I’m not good at expressing myself. So Marie says that’s why…”
-…No matter what!
Ellie tightly shut her mouth, which had been slightly open. It was because a familiar name rang in her ears.
– …Marie?
As she muttered to herself without realizing it, the child nodded his head calmly and added that she was his mother’s maid. At the same time, a familiar face flashed across her mind.
Curly crimson bobbed hair and hazel eyes. A gentle face with freckles dotted across the bridge of the nose.
She was the daughter of the nanny and a close aide who had come from her family home when she got married.
She thought she would have gone back to the Mason family since she was dead, but the baby, who was not even a year old, couldn’t remember that time, so Marie must have been taking care of him all along.
‘But if that’s the case, I haven’t seen her since I came to my senses. Has she gone back now?’
Why of all times at this point?
Ellie, who had been squinting her eyes while thinking about this for a while, shook her head. Anyway, there was something more important right now.
According to Marie’s words spoken through the child’s mouth, there were cases where the name was delayed due to circumstances.
However, no matter what the circumstances, there are no parents who leave their child unnamed until this age. The fact that I was reminded of this made me so angry that I could explode.
I’m sure I did.
“But… that’s really what she said….”
-……
Looking at the child fiddling with his fingers, trying to read my expression, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth right away.
Ellie, who wanted to somehow defend Rutus, looked at the child with his beautiful violet eyes sparkling.
‘…Let’s not let the child know the details. I’ll find out on my own, and then it won’t be too late to think about it.’
Ellie tried hard to suppress the rising anger and disappointment and let out a deep sigh.
The child, as if thinking it was my fault, added.
“Also, I wanted to go to the top room on my own! It wasn’t Marie or her older siblings (other maids) who asked for it!”
-Here? It’s difficult to go up and down. The rooms downstairs would be much nicer, wouldn’t they?
“That’s true, but….”
-Look. The fireplace is removed, and it’s so cold that frost has formed on the windows. This could make you cold and catch a cold.
“…But, still, I can’t see that far from there, and I can hardly see the stars very well. I can’t go out and play freely….”
-…What?
Ellie’s eyes widened at the child’s words.
-Who confined you?
Ellie gritted her teeth and muttered to herself.
‘It’s been a while since he got home from work, and he should have been here by now, but I haven’t even seen his nose until now.’
You didn’t even give him a name, you didn’t take care of his clothes and room properly, and you even wouldn’t let him go outside?
‘The world calls that abuse.’
…Indeed, Rutus was treating parenting like garbage.
If I could, I wanted to feed him a spicy stew with a lot of Eastern spices, just like I did as a child.
Now that he’s not a child like that, I wanted to feed it to him through his nostrils instead of his mouth.
That bastard was rotten, after all.
Ellie raised her hand and ruffled her nape. She had the illusion that the inside of her throat was tightly blocked.
“No… that’s not it…”
-You shouldn’t cover it up, baby. It’s your daddy’s fault.
“No, it’s not like that! Daddy went to war because of this! He told me not to go out because it’s dangerous!”
-…What?
Ellie’s body, which had been constantly massaging her nape, stiffened.
Who went where for what?
-When?
“……”
-…When?
“I was just a little over a year old…”
-……
…Huh?
Ellie’s expression twisted strangely.
What the heck happened after coming back as a ghost four years after death?
The house was a complete mess, literally.
* * * *
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