Childcare Diaries - Chapter 30

Brielle stood still with a shocked look.

“That’s… is it true…?”

And soon, tears filled the little boy’s eyes. Ellie just nodded her head sadly.

Today, he finally found out about the nanny’s birthday. In fact, today is her birthday.

Brielle had been asking about her birthday, though Marie didn’t tell him since it wasn’t even her real birthday.

He had also discovered that Ellie had already prepared a gift as well. Thus, Brielle was depressed that he hadn’t congratulated her, let alone prepared a gift.

‘Marie took care of my birthday every time…’

“What kind of gift did Ellie prepare?”

At his words, she opened the box and showed what was inside. A pretty hat came to Brielle’s sight.

“I…I…”

“She will love it if you just congratulate her.”

None of Ellie’s comforts helped. Brielle, crying for a moment, ran toward the most reliable person in a hurry.

“Uncle!”

“Brielle?”

Kentrail welcomed his nephew, who hadn’t visited his office after a long time, with great pleasure. However, the boy refused to hug him and sputtered.

“It’s Marie’s birthday!”

It seemed like he already knew why Brielle was running here. Seeing the flustered nephew, he couldn’t just say that he already knew it and that he had a gift ready.

“I want to prepare a gift, too…”

He sighed over his crying nephew. Although Kentrail wanted to refrain from going out at this time, he thought they should at least go out together.

“Then, do you want to go out with uncle?”

“…With uncle?”

“Yes.”

And so, he asked the butler to prepare for Brielle’s outing.

Marie was struck by the situation.

She was always in charge of the preparation for the young master’s outing and she was always with him when he went out, but they prepared it without a word. And when she asked him where he was going, Brielle was embarrassed and ran away.

Ellie was laughing as she watched the situation from the stairway. In a way, her sister’s feelings toward the young master or the Count were never one-way.

‘Are they loving each other more?’

She thought so. Since she had already prepared a gift in advance, Ellie decided to go look for a warm, sunny place to relax in the meantime.

Obviously, Kentrail had a gift ready. Though as they passed the stores, he wanted to buy everything that caught his eyes and give it to the nanny.

“Uncle, that!”

It must have been the same with his nephew, as Brielle shouted, pointing at a certain object. There were pretty glass artifacts laid out.

“Will Marie like it?”

Saying so, he clung to the shelf, tilted his head. It could be seen that his soft cheeks were directly against the shelf glass.

“It may be useful to the nanny.”

“Hey, I picked the right one, didn’t I? Hm, but what shape should we get?”

Taylor was watching Brielle, who was in trouble again. He dropped down the lunch he was eating because of the sudden news of going out. Not only that, the place they both headed for was an unexpected place.

Moreover, the Master standing next to Brielle didn’t match with the scene at all. Looking at him, Taylor secretly laughed as the Count stood amidst the cute glass artifacts with a stiff expression, which he usually makes well.

On the contrary, the young master was really well suited. It was as if an angel looked into the transparent glass one by one.

The store owner knew that they were not common people, and he couldn’t go closer, so he just looked from afar.

At that, Taylor was worried about whether he would be able to do business and once again stood guard to see if there were any suspicious ones.

***
Marie didn’t know what to do with her face stained with emotions. However, it was ambiguous to say that she was completely filled with emotions.

‘What…’

Looking at her face, the butler made an expression that he understood. In front of her eyes, there was a glass candle lid covering each type of scented candle. Which was what the Count had bought for Brielle, who couldn’t choose between the numerous shapes.

“This… When shall I use it all?”

One had a small bird on top of a glass candle cover, and the other was decorated with ribbons. Not only that, but various animals were showing off their cuteness lying next to each other.

Next to her, Ellie was clicking her tongue like she once showed in front of Brielle.

Only then did Kentrail notice that they had gone too far, and his ears blushed.

“…If you use it one by one, someday…?”

Even if he said it like that, it seemed that it would at least take two months.

“Thank you… I’ll use it well.”

Gazing at her, Brielle grabbed Marie’s fingertips and pulled them gently. She bowed her back and kissed the young master’s cheek.

But, is it an illusion that a spark flashed in the Count’s eyes at the moment? Ellie witnessed it and tilted her head at an angle.

“I can do it, too.”

Brielle raised his toes and kissed Marie’s cheek back softly, and said. “Happy birthday, Marie.”

It was the first time she was congratulated by so many people, like today, and she was happy. Still, Marie was bitter as it wasn’t really her own birthday. After quickly realizing that it wasn’t courtesy to those who were congratulating her with that expression, she quickly shed that thought.

However, she didn’t know… The fact that Ellie, of all people, noticed her deceptive gaze.

***
Marie was glancing out the window all alone the night when everyone was fast asleep.

There was a dream catcher gifted by Kentrail hung there next to her. The moonlight reflected and the white dream catcher shone.

As she rose from her place, she reached her hand to graze it softly. There was a small piece of bell attached to the end, so it resonated smoothly. Fortunately, the sound wasn’t so loud that it woke Ellie up.

‘Birthday.’

She received congratulations here that she had never received from her family before.

Her mother and father were those who were forced to marry. It would have been a good thing if they lived well, but in reality, the situation wasn’t easy. Maybe that’s why she was always alone on her birthday…?

Even after receiving texts from her friends saying congratulations, she was never truly happy.

[ Eat something delicious, and have a good birthday party. ]

Eat something delicious. It was definitely a good meaning, yet it was painful to her.

Twenty thousand won* on the table. All she had to do was order chicken to eat by herself.
[ T/N: Roughly $18, only enough to order one chicken dish tho. And, Korean chickens are not like a whole chicken, but small pieces of fried chicken covered in sauce. ]

It was natural for people to have dinner with all of their family members on their birthday. Perhaps that was why there weren’t many people who wanted to have a celebration party in the evening. It was natural that everyone was busy going to the academy.

After graduating from school, because everyone was busy living, there were less people to congratulate her. It was all about giving away gift coupons.

Tears ran down her cheeks.

Her real birthday was now. Today after midnight…

To be honest, she had deliberately forgotten her original birthday so far, so she couldn’t easily recall when Brielle first asked for her birthday. But, it was no longer as painful as before.

Even though it wasn’t really on her birthday, there were people who stayed with her like this.

Marie thought her next birthday would not be bitter.

***
“What do you think? Is it pretty?”

Marie asked the child after she put on the gift hat from Ellie and turned around in front of the mirror.

“Yes, it’s pretty!”

Ellie made a fuss next to her, saying ‘whose sister is so pretty.’

“By the way, Sister, where are you going today?”

She could see that her older sister was wearing lighter makeup than usual, and even pulling out her clothes was definitely unfamiliar.

It was the same as what the neighbor’s older sister did when she was introduced to a man.

‘Well… It’s time for my sister to have a relationship, too.’ No, it could be said that even her younger peers were already out finding boyfriends and girlfriends.

She thought of tutor Eujes, who liked his sister.

Not knowing that Ellie might be mistaken, Marie was just excited about going out after a long time. Though the ban on going out wasn’t completely lifted, she herself, as an adult, was an exception.

When she asked the Count, he was convinced that the person who had watched her at that time was the knight, so she decided to go outside after a long time.

“I’m meeting a good person.”

In addition, what Marie said without thinking just added fuel to Ellie’s imagination…

Not knowing a storm between two men was brewing.

***
“Erin!”

The person Marie met after a long time outside was the nanny, Erin, from the days Young Master Brielle was breastfeeding.

“It’s been a while, Marie.”

And her eldest son was sitting next to her.

“He has a very big physique for being a child who doesn’t eat well.”

Seeing him, Marie joked about what Erin had told her before.

“Oh, don’t say anything. From then on, he’ll see everything he can eat and put it in his mouth. Now, he needs to go on a diet.”

Even now, as she was speaking, he was still drinking a drink with sweet chocolate. Erin looked back at her and smiled gently.

“Is the young master well?”

It had already been a year after she hadn’t seen Brielle.

“Yes. He’s becoming more like the Count.”

“Then, he must grow up to be a pretty handsome man?”

The two continued to exchange regards from the people in the county.

“But you came out so pretty today, just to meet me? Shouldn’t you have a date at a time like this? Are you not seeing anyone these days, Marie?”

“No. It’s a hat that Ellie gave me as a gift, but I wanted to show you how well I wore it, so I even put on makeup.”

“That’s what I usually do, then I have a baby. I can’t do that even if I want to now. I’m totally out of my mind.”

Hearing her words, Marie nodded her head. She knew the difficult circumstances of parenting.

Fortunately, she was lucky because the young master was on the gentle side and the maids around her also helped, but she was exhausted every night and stretched out the same.

“Why didn’t you bring Ellie out, too?”

“I tried to do that, but I guess she has something else to do.”

It was because she couldn’t tell her about the circumstances in the county. Marie knows Erin isn’t a bad guy, but she’s still an outsider. Trying to change the subject, she smiled apologetically and said, “It’s been a while since she had seen you, so I’m sorry.”

The two lost track of time, talking about things as they tried to catch up with each other.

***
“What did you say, Ellie…?”

“Sister went on a blind date.”

Brielle’s face suddenly turned into a person who seemed to have been hit by lightning.

“…What?”

“Ah… You don’t know what a blind date is. It’s when a man and a woman see each other once before dating.”

“I know that! Where is she meeting?”

“I don’t know that.”

As Ellie shrugged her shoulder lightly once and turned her gaze back to the comic book that she was reading, Brielle swung and took it away.

“Uh?”

As soon as the book had disappeared in front of her eyes, she peered at the young master with a wondrous expression. As expected, the culprit was Brielle.

‘Why the hell is he doing that?’

With a puzzled look, Ellie looked at him at an angle.

“How could Ellie be so calm?”

Glancing at the young master, she sighed. His face was as if he had been betrayed by his old friend.

She asked back, “Is it… is it because you don’t want her to go on a blind date?”

“Of course!”

“Young Master, my sister is at the age to date, already. She can’t just watch us forever.”

“No!”

Brielle was disappointed for Ellie, who did not relate to him. The boy pouted his mouth a few times, turned around, and ran out of the room frustratedly.

He ran down the hallway and bumped into Kentrail who left work early today.

“Brielle, why do you look like that?”

“Marie…Heuk… Marie…”

“What? What happened to the nanny?”

“She has to marry me!”

Brielle’s bomb declaration rang in the mansion.