‘I’m going crazy! How did he get up there?!’
The moment she was about to leave the mansion, she noticed something strange and saw it was her son.
Ellie was at a loss for what to do, her legs flailing in the air, as the absurd situation unfolded.
The child, who had been crawling awkwardly on the sloping roof, suddenly slipped and slid down.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ellie rushed towards her child.
-Adi!
Desperately calling out, she barely managed to catch her son’s attention as he hung onto the attic window.
“Li, Liaaa….”
-Why are you doing this here?! No, how did you get up there in the first place!
“Where are you going? Come baaack! Waaah…!”
Ellie fluttered around the child, her face contorted in a scream as their eyes met. The child, still sobbing but clinging to the edge of the roof with his chubby hands, was struggling to hold on.
Ellie’s mouth fell open as she watched in horror as the child’s short legs dangled precariously over the attic window. The child’s arms, which were slowly losing strength, were trembling as they held him up and suspended.
-Where did you come from! Can you go back in?! No, I should call someone…!
But no matter how much she shouted until her throat was raw, it would be useless.
The servants would never notice what she was doing, no matter what she did.
After all, there wasn’t even a separate way to get onto the roof, was there?
‘When they had to do repairs or cleaning, they would designate a few maids to use a ladder to get up to the roof.’
Even if someone did happen to find the child and bring the ladder, she couldn’t be sure if he would last until then.
The child looked like he could fall at any moment, and she couldn’t think of anything to do to help. Ellie’s face turned pale as she realized this.
“I don’t want to! If I go in, you’ll abandon me again, Sobs… You’re going to abandon me! I’m not going in! Waaah…!”
The child, his face buried in his small, trembling arms, sobbed.
Ellie opened her mouth to the child.
-D-do you know a way to get back inside?
“I won’t go! I don’t want to!”
-If you fall, you’re going to get hurt badly!
In fact, the chances were high that it wouldn’t just be a minor injury.
The attic was located above the third floor of a tall building, and the roof was even higher than that. If a four-year-old child fell from that height onto a place that wasn’t even a bush, the outcome was clear as day.
However, Ellie couldn’t bring herself to say that, so instead she pressed herself close behind the child. She knew she couldn’t hold him, but her body moved before she even had the thought.
“If you don’t promise me, I won’t do anything, hmph…! I’m not going in!”
-…Okay! I won’t go! Is that good?!
“T-then… I’ll hold on to the window frame and step back…”
-…! Oh, baby!
Seeing the child’s precarious position, she finally nodded her head in agreement with the child’s words, even though it felt like a dangerous situation.
Upon hearing Ellie’s response, the child, as if to fulfill a promise, raised one trembling arm and then eventually dropped it down.
Ellie let out a new scream and chased after the falling child, but she finally closed her eyes just before he hit the ground. She didn’t have the courage to open her eyes and see.
Then, not long after, she tremblingly lifted her eyelids.
-…?
What is this? She couldn’t find a single strand of black hair like hers, let alone the child.
Confused by the situation, Ellie searched the area thoroughly.
Of course, there was not a single sign of the person she was looking for, not even an ant passing by.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Just then, Ellie looked up at the sound coming from above.
‘…What, what is this? Why is he there?’
At a height that was difficult to see with the naked eye, a tiny finger was tapping on the window from the inside of the attic window where the child had been hanging just a moment ago.
Seemingly unable to see this side clearly, a small forehead and the tip of a nose pressed against the window as the tiny finger tapped.
Ellie almost fainted at the sight of this scene.
She immediately went upstairs and stood in front of the window, not knowing what possessed her to go up there.
With tear-filled eyes, the boy, whose cheeks were puffed up from crying, pushed his finger forward and said,
“Lia, don’t go, pwease! Don’t go. You said you’ll pway wif me…”
Ellie covered her face with both hands and wiped her dry tears, seeing the finger that seemed to be half the size of her own.
A sense of relief and an indescribable emotion filled her throat.
-You really…!
“…”
-How did you get up there?! I told you it was dangerous so many times! Why are you putting your hand out again! Why don’t you…!
Why don’t you listen? Ellie’s mouth, which was about to shout, was shut tight.
Chicken-like tears were streaming down her soft, white cheeks.
“Don’t go…”
-……
“But if Lia goes, who will I be with? Being alone is scary!”
Waaaaah-! The child let out a loud cry after making a choking sound.
Ellie sat on the bed with her legs stretched out, rubbing her eyes roughly with both hands, lost for words.
The tears that fell on the sheet left round marks and became slightly darker.
‘…That’s right.’
Only then did she suddenly remember.
In general, children of nobles would start building relationships by attending social gatherings with their parents once they reached a certain age.
Whether it was attending a party hosted at another mansion or hosting a party at their own mansion, it was done by exchanging visits with the children of their parents’ acquaintances.
And in most cases, these things were naturally the responsibility of the child’s parents.
There were rare cases where children would contact each other directly, but that was it. In one way or another, the starting point for forming relationships was created by the parents.
“Waaaah…”
-……
The delicate skin of a young child turned red and flushed under the rough touch.
Ellie felt a pang of sympathy at the sight.
[Hello?]
[……]
[My name is Ellie Mason. You’re the one who’s going to be staying at our house from today, right?]
[…Go away.]
[Oh, don’t be like that! Your room is right next to mine, so can I show you around? Hm? What do you say?]
Ellie and Rutus were also slightly different from the general case, but the beginning was similar.
After all, they were brought together by the friendship of the older generation.
‘But Adi isn’t.’
But the child couldn’t do that.
To be precise, there were no adults who cared enough to pay attention to him, so he couldn’t even form proper human relationships.
His mother died before he could even speak, and his only remaining father had been out at war for years, not even showing his nose.
In that situation, even the servants wouldn’t have paid much attention, even if he had been kicked out to the annex.
Putting everything else aside, the chaos had started from this morning.
‘Look at them, not even noticing what’s going on, not even thinking about fetching water for him to wash up.’
From what she had directly witnessed yesterday and today, she could easily tell how he had been treated.
It was clear as day that he had always been alone, without a family to love him, friends to play with, or servants to take care of him.
Even an adult would have found it difficult to endure, but the child had lived like this his whole life, since birth.
Realizing that, she couldn’t bring herself to get any more angry.
In a way, it was all Ellie’s, her own fault.
-Adi.
Ellie, who had been staring at the child’s eyes, which were becoming red and puffy, opened her mouth slightly.
Startled by the short call, the child, who seemed to be running out of oxygen from crying, let out a gasp and grabbed Ellie. It seemed even more anxious, as there was no way to physically catch a ghost.
“S-sob! D-don’t go…. If Lia goes, I’ll be a-alone again.”
-Don’t cry.
“Yeah, b-but….”
Ellie bent down, sitting on the edge of the bed.
The gaze that followed Ellie stopped just below the child’s eye level.
Ellie spoke again.
-I’m sorry for getting angry. I was just worried that you might get hurt. I was really surprised.
“….”
-…I won’t go.
“R-really?”
Surprised, the child’s wide eyes met Ellie’s.
Tears shimmered in the swollen, reddened eyes as if they could fall at any moment.
As tears began to well up in the gem-like eyes, Ellie nodded heavily.
-I’ll stay here until you tell me to leave. I won’t go, at least until you’re all grown up.
“Even when I’m all grown up, you still can’t, c-c-can’t go….”
-Then I’ll stay by your side even when you’re all grown up. Will that be okay?
“….Yeah.”
As the child nodded with a sniffle, Ellie gently wiped away the tears with a finger on the child’s cheek.
Of course, it didn’t wipe away the tears, it was just a self-satisfaction.
Ellie thought as she playfully comforted the child, holding a fist tightly on her unseen arm.
‘Even if you resent me when you grow up… I’ll have to bear that.’
Whether it would be in the distant future or in the near future.
It might be a moment she’ll regret, but Ellie had no other choice.
She didn’t want to become a burden in the first place, and it wasn’t because she wanted to see the child suffer like this.
‘If by any chance, Rutus tries to change the successor because of this,’
Well, if what the child wanted was the duchy, then that would be a different story, but if not, then I have enough money for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life in an environment that is more than adequate even without the title.
Emergency funds hidden away in various places throughout the empire, without anyone’s knowledge. It was something that most nobles had.
-Adi, are you asleep?
“….”
Adi, who had cried for a while and then fell asleep, didn’t wake up until lunchtime.
Ellie once again stared at the sleeping child’s face for a long time.
* * *
And so, a month passed.
* * * *
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