The one who had crawled through the thorn bush fence was neither a stalker nor a spy.
He appeared to be just a boy of about 10 years old.
“Who are you?”
“…….”
“Don’t you know you shouldn’t come in here? Didn’t the knights tell you this, huh?”
The boy, wearing an old hunting cap, gave no response.
He simply looked up at me with his limegreen eyes that sparkled almost golden in the sunlight.
Although his eyes were defiant, the boy was as innocent as the angel in Raphael’s famous painting.
His cheeks were tinged with pink, and his eyelashes were long and neat like a doll’s.
Contrary to his princelike appearance, the boy was dressed in the jade jacket and pants that only lowerranked servants would wear.
Could it be handed down from a senior?
There was a messy black ink stain on the loose cuffs of his sleeve.
But what caught my eye more was the boy’s scarred little hand.
A small hand that was reddish and swollen.
‘An apprentice servant? Did he get beaten or bullied?’
Memories of my unhappy childhood, when I couldn’t even say I was happy in words, came flooding back.
「Your mom and dad are philanderers, right? They abandoned you and ran away, didn’t they?」
「My mom says not to play with a kid like you!」
「Don’t act all high and mighty. You’re just an orphan!」
Children have no malice?
They’re just ignorant?
It was all nonsense.
Children were not as naive as adults believed.
They knew well who was rich and who was poor.
Who they could bully, and how to bully them for more fun.
You can believe me; it’s my own experience.
“I’m sorry for scaring you, little one.”
I reached out my hand to the boy, who resembled my younger self.
Seemingly displeased at being called little, the boy’s eyes narrowed.
“Are you some woman?”
“You speak so rudely to an adult without even a greeting.”
“Quit the nonsense and answer.”
“You’ll get in trouble like that?”
Even though I reprimanded him politely, the boy kept his head up high.
His rudeness did not change either.
“Answer me, woman. Where are you from and what does your father do?”
“Little one. I don’t mean to offend you, but this is my lodging, and you are an uninvited guest. Why should I respond to such impolite questions?”
“You look as stupid as you seem. Of course, you must answer. Because I asked.”
“What?”
“Woman, who gave you permission to be in this Canaria room?”
I felt a sudden jolt in my spine.
But there’s nothing more foolish than getting seriously angry at a child.
What’s needed in times like this? Proper education!
I grabbed the cheeky boy’s cheeks with both hands.
“You can’t get away?!”
Though lacking in flesh, they were chewy like rice cakes, and soft to the touch.
Perfect for stretching sideways.
The boy shed a tear as he struggled.
“It hurts!”
“Little one, you must apologize first when you’re like this. Beg for it.”
“Who are you to teach me, you wretched woman!”
Though I had grown up without parents, I seemed to understand where the phrase ‘I want to see my parents’ faces’ came from.
“Little one, you don’t have any friends, do you?”
I squatted in front of the boy and cupped my chin.
The boy, who had been wary of having his cheek pinched again, flinched.
“You’re so mean to people you’ve just met, who will play with you?”
“I have lots of friends!”
“Lie. Stop.”
The boy’s limegreen eyes trembled.
Now he finally looked like a child his age.
“Not everyone you play with is a friend. A real friend is someone who helps you when you’re really in trouble. Someone who stays by your side consistently.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t have friends, so you’re digging holes and picking fights, aren’t you?”
“Who said I was digging holes? This place was originally mine……!”
The boy clamped his mouth shut.
He seemed to have something unspeakable, or no longer wanted to speak.
The boy, whose face had turned pale, lifted his chin.
“I don’t need friends.”
“Me neither. So could you just leave?”
“You’re kicking me out now?”
“I don’t really like kids. Especially rude brats like you.”
I grinned slightly.
The boy’s face was quite shocked.
“I’ve never seen a woman as bluntly honest as you. Even if they dislike kids, they usually pretend to find them cute, right? Just to avoid criticism.”
“You sure know a lot for a little brat. Anyway, can you just leave?”
“I can do whatever I want here. No one can stop me.”
The boy defiantly placed his hands on his hips.
He looked not so much funny as like a young tyrant.
“Huh. You’re just like a man I know.”
“Who?”
“A villain among villains. Badtempered, harshspeaking, loves to torment others.”
“How dare you compare me to him. Unforgivable!”
The boy swung his tiny fist at me.
But his punch was weaker than a cat’s forepaw.
Underneath his hunting cap, I could see sweat forming.
‘The weather is cool, so why is he sweating? His complexion is pale too.’
I reached out and touched the boy’s forehead.
There was no fever, but his body temperature felt unusually cool, and that worried me.
The boy violently shook off my hand.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
