He Likes Me a Lot More Than I Thought!

Before I continue that child’s story, I must discuss something else first: that I’m in the world of a novel, and that I’ve reincarnated into this world. 

As for the latter, I’ve had nine years living here to adjust, so I was fine. However, I just found out about the former, which startled me greatly.

Judging from how people lived here, I could tell this wasn’t the same world as the one of my first life, but my daily life became so ordinary that the thought that I was in a novel never even occurred to me. 

Of course, until I met this child. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. Thanks to the main character’s unique personality, I was able to remember the story. 

Shuel Sebrirua. Went by Shu. 

Duke Sebrirua’s only son and, as aforementioned, this novel’s male lead. 

Of course, it’s as simple as it gets. I had to take and protect him. 

“Arwen, I said let’s go. Don’t even think about trying to bring one of those dirty things along. Might as well buy a slave instead, tsk.”

My mother told me off with great timing, her voice full of contempt. She was the reason why I couldn’t immediately take and run off with this boy. 

Although I reincarnated, there was no such lovely dream as being born into wealth or to parents who showered me with love. I was born into a destitute viscount’s family, and my parents were shameless people who thought of nothing else but to raise and sell off their pretty daughter for marriage. 

Because my family was penniless and my parents didn’t value me, I didn’t have any money. Could I take and care for Shuel under these conditions?

‘It’d be a relief if my father didn’t beat me to death.’

But that didn’t mean that someone else would take him instead, since I already knew how the original story went. 

Naturally, Shuel’s parents, who ruled over a duchy, soon found their son’s whereabouts. It wasn’t hard, considering the wealth and power of the family of the empire’s only dukedom. But the problem was that they died on their way to reuniting with their son. 

They say that haste makes waste, slow and steady wins the race. That held to be too true in this case. 

In their relentless search for their son, the duke and duchess recklessly embarked on their carriage and rushed over to the news that someone had found him. Shuel was in the countryside, where the landscape was extremely rugged. As night fell, the coachman and horse drawing their carriage tired, and a carriage wheel loosened on the mountain road. 

In the end, the couple died after their carriage fell off a cliff. 

The Sebrirua family had no relatives. The now-alone Shuel was but a child who could only cry at the news of his parents’ death, and that was how the Sebrirua family died out. 

Shuel, who was then left in an orphanage, became a victim of unwarranted abuse, and the female main character Rietta rescued him in the winter of the twelfth year of his life. 

If the director of the orphanage hadn’t lied about Shuel’s age, he would be around seven years old in the present. That’s why if I left Shuel here, he would spend the next five years of his life with nothing but suffering. 

Would I take him for now, regardless of whether I succeeded or failed, or idly stand by and let him face abuse? I had to decide between those two choices. 

‘… Ah, seriously!’ I wailed quietly. 

Although I lived to a ripe age in my past life, I was only nine years old in the present. And it hadn’t even been long since my last birthday!

Wasn’t it too serious of a burden to try to prevent an entire lifetime’s worth of trauma? And even moreso, I shouldn’t have had to shoulder that while trapped in my nine-year-old body. 

I crumpled my face in reluctance, but was ultimately unable to turn blind eye to Shuel and his tears. 

“… Mother.”

“What?! How many times have I said that we’re leaving?! Are you going to act so indecent in front of commoners?”

“I want to take that child.”

At those words, my mother’s face wrinkled in confusion, among other mixed feelings, judging from her furrowed brows.

“What?”

“I want to take that child, Mother.”

“Are you cra– Arwen!” 

She raised, then lowered her voice as she realized we were in public. I seized the opportunity to widen my eyes. 

“But he’s too cute, Mother.”

At my idiotic response, my mother twitched and curled the corners of her mouth. She only continued to glare at me, so I raised my voice and pointed at Shuel. 

“I want that child, Mother. Didn’t you say you would buy me everything I wanted?”

The orphanage director’s eyes shined at my words. He slightly nudged Shuel in my direction, which made my mother’s face darken. 

Yes, Mother, didn’t Viscountess Broschte value dignity and honor above all else? 

She had no choice but to take Shuel in order to save face in front of commoners. 

“We’ll have a talk at home.”

I quietly sighed at the sight of my mother grinding her teeth with resentment. 

Still, taking an inevitable beating was nothing in trade for a person’s life.

***

“You stupid wench, why don’t you ever learn?”

As soon as we arrived at our estate, my mother started shouting at me. Although she was loud enough to tear eardrums, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. 

She smirked at the sight of my self-reflection as I bit my lips and lowered my head. 

“Do you feel relieved after bringing your mother such shame? Hm?”

“No, Mother… Not at all. That’s not what I intended. I just…”

“I said I’d buy everything you needed for your debutante. When did I say I’d buy you anything you wanted, you good-for-nothing brat?”

In the middle of her tantrum, my mother’s face suddenly went pale.

“How will I explain this to him when he comes? How can I tell him that we have another mouth to feed in this dirt-poor hellhole?! When it’s hard even to feed his daughter?!”

This again. 

Although the Broschte family was on the poorer side of the nobles, we weren’t impoverished to the point that even the viscount had to roll up his sleeves and pick up farmwork. We had our humble viscounty, and the taxes imposed on the citizens were enough to afford us some degree of extravagance. 

Yet even still, we were extremely destitute for nobility, so my parents clung on to climbing up the ladder and saving their wealth. 

How lowly of them, when it wasn’t like such a young kid could even eat much. They already controlled my weight and fed me bird-like amounts for meals. 

I let out a small sigh. It seemed like I would have to either starve or secretly slip some food for a while. 

My face contorted with a sniffle at that thought. 

“I-I’m sorry…”

Because I had already attempted this multiple times, I was able to cry at will. A naive and foolish daughter frustrated my parents, but exasperation and fits earned a swing of the fist.

“Fine. It’s nearly time for your father to arrive, so hurry along upstairs. Don’t you dare be late for dinner today!” my mother said, as expected. 

Without a word, I lowered my head and dashed out. I pretended to trip on my skirt and heard a ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’ behind me.

I closed the door to the parlor with a click. 

My expression immediately changed from the tearful and docile face I had worn not too long ago. 

Acting like a child — not only once or twice, but all the time — made me feel like I somewhat became one. But how wonderful to be incompetent and dumb! And to be a weak, useless crybaby daughter, on top of that.

If I corrected my parents for being unreasonable, they would swear me out for being disrespectful, and if I asked to go to school, they’d tell me to focus on becoming a bride instead. 

So I pretended to be their foolish daughter, too embarrassing to marry off. I would have my independence when I became an adult. 

‘… Although I’m a bit worried it might not work.’

I saw myself in the hallway window, which was as clear as a mirror because we couldn’t afford high-quality glass. 

Big eyes with double eyelids. White skin, red lips. Fine silver hair, which was rare even in the capital city. Here in the countryside, I was eye-catchingly beautiful. 

That’s why my parents were raising me as a beautiful doll, always reminding me not to forget my family and older brother when I went to marry into a good family. Well, what they were dealing with was far from a ceramic doll. 

‘If it weren’t for my memories from my past life, I would really have become a fool.’

I let out a sigh and trudged along until I came to my bedroom door. 

Perhaps because of my footsteps, the rustling noise behind the door stopped. 

Although I was planning to open the door without a word, I hesitated, because that meant that Shuel was dead-still inside the room. 

My mother had left Shuel in my hands to do whatever I wanted and didn’t say a word to the other servants. Although that only meant that she didn’t care whether or not he starved to death, I was glad that I could leave Shuel in my room. 

I barely told the child before we boarded on the carriage to go to the third room on the third floor, so until now I hadn’t even gotten the chance to offer him any explanation. He was probably very anxious, to the point that even nearing footsteps would make him nervous. 

After letting out a small sigh, I made sure the area was clear and knocked softly. 

“Shu, it’s me. I’m going in.”

It was a scene that would’ve been enough to make my mother pass out, had she seen it. To the same extent that she wanted to marry me off into a prosperous family, she also believed that nobility should dominate over commoners. If she had witnessed me knocking for permission for the sake of a commoner in my own room, she would have fainted then and there. 

With that in mind, I waited for a moment, and then opened the door as quietly as possible. As soon as it was open, I discovered a shriveled, gray body in a corner of the room. 

“…..”

“…..”

Was that his attempt at hiding? 

I clicked my tongue. Tsk, tsk. 

To be fair, he did find a hiding spot, though it was a poor choice. 

It was evident that he knew he had to hide at once but didn’t know where, so he chose a corner at random and flattened himself against it. While it’s understandable that it was urgent, it wasn’t a very clever decision. 

I could already tell all too well who he was from that platinum blond hair.