"Young Master, from now on, you're not allowed to go out until you've done all your homework."
Madame Carryl threatened Enrique with a soft tone.
This was because she already knew that he could not finish his homework.
The teachers who had been hired according to Madame Carryl's taste moved by following her instructions only.
The famous tutor Duke Seymour had invited for Enrique was Carryl's lie to control Enrique from the beginning.
"It's all for you, Young Master."
She always said something like that.
***
"…"
With a frightened face, Enrique stared at the heavy rain violently tapping the window, and powerlessly dropped the quill he was holding.
Perhaps because he was absent-minded, he couldn't finish his homework.
Enrique fluttered his clothes several times, as the humid heat clung to him.
Enrique really hated that his birthday was approaching. He kept having nightmares and became nervous.
Although he knew it would be over soon, right now, he felt suffocated like he was in a swamp that he couldn't get out of.
"Since the Lady passed away, the Duke has only been digging into work. Since he will never forget her, he will be in a bad mood when he sees the Young Master."
Seems like it was all because of him.
Even more so when his mother's death anniversary was approaching.
‘I'm suffocating.'
Enrique, who had been lying down on his desk while shivering, cast his gaze on the tapestry on the floor for a long time, which featured a viper brandishing its sharp teeth.
"Who is troubling me? Don't say things like that without knowing what's going on."
Suddenly, he remembered the moment when his sister snapped coldly at his nanny.
Some might say that she was like a viper, but at that moment, she somehow felt like a warrior.
Enrique bit his lips so tightly that he started bleeding, then got up from his seat and walked outside.
He feared that if he stayed quiet in this same place all the time, he would fall to the depths of his mind.
"Young Master, where are you going?"
As Enrique struggled to run towards the entrance of the separate building, the nanny hurried after him.
When the nanny snatched his arm, Enrique looked up at her with a pale, frightened face.
"Where are you going in this rain? I know you didn't do all your homework."
"Today is the day I'm meeting with my sister. I must go!"
"Princess Deborah is coming out to meet you on such a bad day? Don't be ridiculous. Let's go. You're going to catch a cold before your birthday! Do you want to worry everyone?"
The nanny grabbed his arm roughly.
Enrique hurriedly tried to shake off her hand because it was so similar to the snakes that had tied his limbs in his dream.
However, he didn't feel any strength coming from his body, strangely.
The child opened his mouth with difficulty.
"I'm not being ridiculous. I'm going to study. Sister accepted me as her disciple. We promised to meet every week."
Enrique, who was barely able to speak with his trembling lips, panted roughly.
Madame Carryl's eyes twisted brutally as the obedient child talked back to her, which was unlike him.
She thought he was going to the library to read books, but in fact, it seemed like he was meeting with Princess Deborah all the time.
‘You've been hiding it like a rat, haven't you? How dare you.'
She clenched her teeth as the child she cherished and cared for didn't move as she intended.
It felt even more unbearable when she remembered Princess Deborah's red eyes, shining like those of an awl.
Deborah Seymour, that vain ruffian must have negatively influenced the perfect Young Master.
"Young Master. Come to your senses!"
Madame Carryl shook Enrique's small shoulders.
"I understand that it must be difficult because you have a lot of homework these days. You wanted to loaf around with the Princess. But Princess Deborah is just going to play with you."
Seeing Enrique shake his head, the nanny glowed her eyes fiercely.
"Then, don't tell me… Do you think that Princess Deborah really cares about you? You know that's ridiculous, right?"
She laughed at him.
"You were born with your mother's life. So how could Princess Deborah, her daughter, like you?"
Enrique's long eyelashes filled with tears, which then fell down.
"No one thinks about Young Master Enrique and worries about your future as much as I do. You know that."
She bent her knees to make eye contact and whispered kindly.
"I want you to be more admired and better than anyone else."
Enrique's silver eyes widened.
"The Lady's death anniversary is coming up so the Lord will be sad; if you don't want him to hate you, you have to be more courteous and study harder… Argh!"
Enrique couldn't help but open his eyes wide as he saw his sister, who appeared like a ghost, pulling her head back without hesitation.
"S-sister?!"
"Didn't I warn you clearly then? Be careful with what you say."
She pouted coldly.
"Ackk!!!"
"Everyone thinks the words of a princess are funny."
Madame Carryl's raised hair got messed up in an instant; but the Princess, who was holding her hair, glistened her red eyes fiercely, and suddenly ground her teeth.
"The more I think about it, the angrier I get! This psycho is just spitting out things with her rotten mouth!"
"P-princess, what kind of ungraceful act— Ahhh!!"
"What the hell are you doing? How dare you say such cruel things to my brother?"
"Please let go of me!"
"There is no child as lovely as Enrique in the whole world!"
Enrique blinked towards his furious sister.
‘She said lovely.'
The rain stopped gradually, but, for some reason, his vision kept getting blurry, as if he was in the middle of heavy rain.
***
The reason I was leery of the nanny and bribed a servant was because Enrique's words kept bothering me.
"I was late, fell asleep, and disappointed you."
‘Disappointment?'
Children usually worry about being scolded when they do something wrong, they don't worry about disappointing others.
A mature child who thinks about other people's feelings before himself.
"Mom, I'm sorry to make you sad. I won't let you down anymore."
That's what I did in my previous life.
Perhaps… Enrique's mature appearance may have overlapped with my childhood from the beginning.
I had no choice but to question the nature of the child's guardian as soon as Enrique said that, because I saw the wounds I had in him.
"If Do-hee gives in to her sister, Mom be happy."
My previous parents often said that they would be disappointed if I didn't behave nicely.
Looking back, I don't think I was able to be honest with my own feelings because I was caring about how my parents felt.
‘Actually, I didn't want to give in. Of course, I wanted a new toy too.'
Since I didn't take care of myself, my self-esteem decreased, and I became more and more frustrated.
‘It's bad to force a caregiver's feelings on a child like that, but generally, they don't recognize it as a bad thing.'
There are people who secretly use other people's empathy in order to handle people as conveniently as they want.
It's called gaslighting.
And this nanny named Carryl was one of the most vicious.
She was subtly controlling Enrique by provoking the child's heart to be loved by his father and, at the same time, his sense of guilt.
It was probably because Madame Carryl was constantly reminding the child of the Duchess' death anniversary that Enrique did not feel well around this time.
Her duality of pretending to be the only one who took care of the wound after scarring the child's heart gave me goosebumps.
"Ahhh!"
Whether this vicious psycho screamed or not, I pulled her hair violently.
I couldn't endure what was boiling inside me.
"P-princess, calm down, please!"
The maids of the separate building ran towards me, petrified, and started to stop me.
Since no one was brave enough to actively touch me, I pulled a handful of the nanny's hair.
"Let's go."
I threw her hair to the floor while grinding my teeth, and then carefully squeezed Enrique's small hand.
"It's class day today."
Enrique, who was looking up at me with tearful eyes, was startled and wiggled his small hand.
I spoke coldly to Enrique's servants.
"This nanny, don't let me put my eyes on her ever again. If I see just a bit of her skirt, I will hold all of you accountable."
"P-princess."
Leaving that chaos behind, I brought Enrique, who was carefully holding my hand, to the separate building.
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