IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 15

Eleven days had already passed since Roxana left on her business trip. Even yesterday, Julian came home late at night and left again at dawn. The nanny was worried I might be heartbroken and brought lots of toys to tempt me.

"Miss, what shall we play today?"

I was blankly staring at the clear sky outside the window when the nanny asked her question, so I glanced at her. The nanny was shaking a doll that looked like Ann*belle, and I slightly scrunched my face. Seeing my reaction, the nanny smiled awkwardly.

"Do, do you not like this?"

"Where's the rabbit?"

There had been one more change when I woke up this morning. The rabbit doll I'd definitely placed by my pillow had disappeared.

'Oh, come to think of it, was it time to wash it? While washing it, I should ask them to stuff it more too.'

"The rabbit said it's going to get clean and come back to you, Miss."

"Yeah, tell it to eat some food while it's at it. It hasn't been fluffy lately."

"Yes, yes. The rabbit will get clean and fluffy and come back to you soon, Miss. Today, how about playing with Lilibel instead?"

"Is her name Lilibel?"

"Yes, she's from a popular doll series... I mean, everyone's friend Lilibel."

I looked at Lilibel with a listless expression. For some unknown reason, the "-bel" ending bothered me. Even though I was a horror movie fan, that didn't mean I'd ever wanted to have an Ann*belle doll.

"I don't like her."

"......I see."

The nanny looked dejected, as if she'd prepared this doll with great ambition. I looked at the Lilibel the nanny was holding and then flopped down on the spot.

"Are you going to sleep again? Let's play together."

"Ugh, but it's bothersome."

"If you play with me today, I'll make that brown bread you like."

At those words, I sat up abruptly. The brown bread with nuts that the nanny occasionally made tasted similar to bread I'd loved since my previous life.

Seeing me cave to food, the nanny smiled as if she couldn't help it.

"Without raisins."

"You need to eat everything."

"......It's not that I won't eat them. But I don't like having a lot put in."

"Alright. Today I'll specially make it without raisins."

"What should we play?"

"How about with Lilibel......"

"I said I don't like her."

I snatched Lilibel from the nanny's hands and sealed her at the bottom of the toy box. Thanks to me sealing the cursed Lilibel, the nanny seemed freed from the doll's curse as she cleanly gave up and asked what I wanted to play now.

I thought for a moment, then took out other dolls from the toy box, excluding Lilibel. Most were animal dolls. I handed the deer doll to the nanny and picked up the lion doll.

"Listen carefully. I'm a lion."

"Yes, Miss Lion."

"And Nanny is a deer."

"Are the lion and deer friends?"

"What are you talking about? How can a lion and deer be friends?"

"Then...?"

"Lions eat deer. For the deer to survive, it has to keep the lion full. Then the lion won't bother trying to eat the deer. And the lion likes bread."

In other words, she should bring bread. The nanny laughed helplessly and suggested a different game.

"Okay, then let's play pirates."

"Miss will be the pirate, and I'm probably a good person with bread, right?"

"How did you know?"

"......You weren't planning to play from the start, just eat bread, were you?"

"Of course."

The nanny stared at me, sighed, and got up saying she'd go make bread. I called to her back to make sure she left out the raisins. Left alone in the playroom, I flopped down again and looked at the ceiling.

I knew I was being too mischievous. Normally I would have played along appropriately, but today I didn't feel like it.

I rolled around the playroom and then sat up abruptly at Royna's crying. My playroom and Royna's room were quite far apart, but Royna was a child with particularly loud crying. Moreover, once she started crying, an hour was standard.

'As expected of Roxana's daughter, her vocal cords and stamina are second to none.'

Forgetting my annoyance, I jumped up and headed to the baby room. The maid who was soothing Royna smiled when I entered.

"Miss."

"Why is she crying again?"

"She's fussy about sleeping. Baby, your favorite sister is here. Should we sparkle our eyes and greet sister?"

As if understanding the maid's words, Royna's crying gradually subsided. When the maid laid Royna in the rocking cradle, I went beside it and looked down at Royna, who was sucking her fingers contentedly, while slowly rocking the cradle.

"Tell the nanny I'll be playing with Royna here today. She'll be in the kitchen."

"Pardon?"

"I'll watch Royna, so go quickly. Also check whether she's putting raisins in the bread or not."

After sending the maid away, I poked Royna's cheeks with my finger and shook her around carelessly, playing with her. Though Royna babbled and showed irritation, I found it even more enjoyable the more she did.

"Ah-woo!"

Royna grabbed my hand with both of hers and held on tight as if she wouldn't let go. However, it slipped because of the drool on her hands. Royna desperately tried to grab my hand again, but I pulled my hand away feeling sticky and wiped the drool with a handkerchief.

As the babbling filled with irritation gradually turned to whimpering, I was startled and brought a rattle to shake beside Royna. After walking around the cradle for a while, enthusiastically shaking the rattle to distract her, Royna was smiling again.

"Phew, don't get ugly."

If Royna cried, the maid or nanny would definitely stop what they were doing and come to soothe her. So it was better for me to soothe her, even if I had to dance meaninglessly. Not wanting to make her cry again and have to dance, this time I didn't tease her and just watched Royna.

The warm temperature and formula scent, watching Royna slowly blink her eyes, I just closed my eyes too.

Slap, something small and wet hit my face. It didn't hurt much, just annoying enough that I turned my body to escape from whatever it was.

"Oh my, baby. Sister is a sleepyhead, so you shouldn't wake her up."

The light presence beside me disappeared, and I finally realized what had been hitting my face was Royna.

The drowsy feeling was so good that I tried to keep sleeping, but the dampness remaining on my cheek woke me up.

'Wait, did she just wipe drool on my face?'

Realizing the situation, I sat up abruptly. I wiped my cheek with my sleeve and looked up at the nanny holding Royna.

'When did I fall asleep?'

That was the problem with a young body. Not being able to control sleep. Of course I liked sleeping, but suddenly falling asleep while playing well was hard to adapt to.

Unable to collect myself, I sat there dazed when the nanny brought up a topic that would catch my attention.

"Miss, you asked me to make bread but then fell asleep here."

"......Bread."

"I made it without raisins."

"Give me bread."

"You need to wash your hands first."

"It's bothersome, so feed me."

When I opened my mouth, the nanny pinched my cheek gently and told me to go wash my hands first before taking me out of the cradle.

As if anticipating from the start that she'd put me to sleep with her, Royna's cradle was a super-sized cradle with plenty of room even with me lying in it.

I washed my hands with water the maid brought and put the bread the nanny made in my mouth.

"Miss, do you know? You're going to have a friend to spend time with."

"I have friends already."

"The rabbit?"

"No, Ash."

My pronunciation was muffled because my mouth was full of bread. Thanks to that, Ash's name became cute, and the nanny smiled.

"This time it's a prince."

"Don't tell me it's the neighboring country's rabbit prince?"

At the mention of a prince, I spat out the bread I was half-chewing and asked. The nanny, who didn't know about my hostage drama, tilted her head at the mention of a rabbit prince.

"He is a prince from a neighboring country, but not a rabbit. The prince will be staying at the ducal mansion starting today, so you'll be able to play together from now on."

"Wait, he's coming to our house?"

"Yes, you need to be nice to him, okay?"

At the news that the male lead would be staying at the ducal mansion, I couldn't understand the situation even more.

The male lead was supposed to stay at the imperial palace and become the only equal friend with the sub-male lead, Ash. That's why I'd deliberately matched their ages.

Though loving Royna was the biggest reason, the male lead gives up on destroying the world by joining hands with evil spirits because his only friend Ash never abandons him to the very end.

And he hands over control of the Kingdom of Celis to Ash, Ash becomes the sole ruler of the continent, and the male and female leads become dukes and live happily.

'But why is he coming here?'

I put the bread I'd spat out back in my mouth and chewed while thinking. The engagement with Ash and this - things that could greatly affect the original story kept happening. Why?

"Do you not like it?"

"Mmng."

I couldn't answer properly because I was eating, but the nanny thought I said I didn't like it and looked dejected. I quickly chewed and swallowed the bread in my mouth and gave a positive answer to reassure the nanny.

"I'll see how it goes after meeting him."

The nanny's face brightened at my answer. She said I was so very pretty and kissed my cheeks that were bulging from eating, then poured me milk.

I knew she was satisfying her own desires, but since she kissed me all the time anyway and my throat was dry, I drank the milk without complaint.

"But when is Mom coming back?"

"When you were napping, we got word that she'd be back soon, but she's later than expected."

"When is Dad coming?"

"His Grace will be home on time as usual."

"Only Mom is coming early?"

"Yes."

"With the rabbit prince?"

"The prince isn't a rabbit. Your rabbit will be back tomorrow."

I sighed by taking another piece of bread and putting it in my mouth. The nanny held Royna, who was sucking her fist instead of bread, and Royna was staring at me intently.

"Now, baby needs to eat too. Num num."

It was such a peaceful time. While the nanny was distracted feeding Royna a bottle, I held bread in both hands and put more bread in my mouth.

Normally I would have been scolded for bad manners, but it was the law to cause trouble when the nanny wasn't paying attention to be happy.

Then a maid knocked on the baby room door, entered, and announced Roxana's return to me.

"Miss. The Duchess is... Oh my, Miss!"

At the maid's words, I stuffed the bread in my mouth and slipped out through the open door to start running.

Holding bread in both hands made it harder to balance than usual, but I managed to come down the stairs safely.

Next to Roxana stood a boy with black hair and red eyes.

'It's the male lead.'