Chapter 3

This time, it's a bit more serious or rather melancholic.

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It was an accidental, sudden incident caused by carelessness. Amid the sound of the heavy wooden box falling to the floor, I had raised one hand to catch one of them.

"O, Miss..."

Unable to process what had happened, I stood there, frozen in thought, still holding the wooden box, until Tütte's voice brought me back to my senses.

"Ah, this, um..."

In a panic, I hurled the wooden box I was holding across the room, turned to Tütte with anxiety, and then was speechless. The moment I turned around, she had taken a step back, her face etched with fear.

Fear.

This was rejection from others.

In my previous life, I had been pitied and shown sorrow and sadness many times due to my circumstances, but no one who had interacted with me had ever rejected me. After all, such people wouldn't come to my hospital room on purpose. In this life, too, everyone I had interacted with so far had been my family and servants who cared for me deeply.

That's why Tütte's twisted face, which I had never seen before, squeezed my heart like a vice.

"Um, well..."

My thoughts were a mess and couldn't be organized.

While I was in this state, the servants, who had heard the noise, rushed into the shed, assessed the situation, checked if I was hurt, and tried to take me to my room.

Surrounded by adults, I was led to my room without resistance, having given up on thinking.

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Several hours had passed, and it was now the dead of night when everyone was asleep.

I sat on my bed, dazed, alone in my room. I hadn't stepped outside since then and had been holed up.

I didn't want to see anyone, especially Tütte...

The fear of seeing that expression again made me timid.

(You must have thought I was a monster, I'm sure you hate me... I never imagined rejection could be so terrifying.)

I laughed self-deprecatingly while staring at the ceiling.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Um... Miss..."

Hearing Tütte's voice from the other side of the door, my heart clenched painfully.

"Don't come in! Leave me alone!"

I hurriedly got off the bed and locked the door.

I understood what I was doing, but I couldn't stop myself. I was just a child, and I couldn't think of anything else.

"...Miss's... anger... is... justified..."

(Huh? Anger?)

Tütte's unexpected words made me strain to listen at the door.

"I should have protected Miss from danger with my own body in that situation... but I was too scared to move."

(What are you talking about? If you had protected me, you would have been seriously injured, right?)

Still unable to shake my ordinary person's thinking, I hadn't realized the absolute difference between us: I was a noble, and she was a commoner, an employee.

"I!"

Tütte's voice grew louder.

"...When Miss was born, and Mr. told me that it was my duty to take care of this child, I felt, for the first time, that I had a purpose in life. For the past three years... I've tried to be useful to Miss and have studied various things..."

Her voice grew softer and softer.

"But... when it mattered most, my legs froze... No, I was too self-centered to take a step forward..."

A moment of silence enveloped us both.

"Miss... I know it's presumptuous of me to say this, but please, please, give me one more chance. Let me... stay by Miss's side... I beg you..."

The last part was muffled, as if she was holding back tears.

(I'm such an idiot. I was only thinking about myself. In my previous life, I was so focused on my own survival that I never considered others.)

She was also anxious.

That expression was a mix of regret for not being able to do anything and fear of disappointing me and losing her role.

"Miss... please... let me stay by your side..."

The mixture of fear and emotion seemed to have overwhelmed her, and Tütte's voice was muffled by tears.

Three years.

For three years, she had been improving herself solely for my sake.

(Now that I think about it, was she afraid of me? Then why did she come to my room? I didn't reject her! I rejected her out of fear of rejection.)

Thinking about this made me regret my actions. How small my heart had been. Unconsciously, tears welled up in my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Tütte... I'm sorry... I'm sorry for scaring you..."

Before I knew it, I had opened the door and was tearfully apologizing to the girl standing in front of me. She looked down, trying to hold back her tears, and was confused by my pitiful appearance.

That night, my repeated "I'm sorry" and my sobbing echoed through the mansion, leaving the adults bewildered.

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As a side note, about the incident with the wooden box I lifted...

"Oh, that? Mr. had heard a story about lifting a rock larger than himself at the age of five, so he was surprised and said, 'You're just like your father.' But what's the big deal?"

Tütte said this with a smile. Wow, my father is amazing.

(Well, is this genetic? I don't know... I haven't trained at all, you know?)

It would be a while before I found out what this strength of mine was.

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