MKOM Chapter 6

Before she even had time to think What did I just hear?, her body moved on its own.

Thwack!

She sprang forward and struck the bastard on the back of the head.

“Urgh!”

Letting out a grunt, Reed collapsed onto the floor, then turned his head with a savage glare — only to pale when he saw Aisha standing there.

“Madam!”

But his frightened expression instantly shifted, and he gave a sly grin.

“Why are you suddenly attacking me like this?”

“I heard exactly what you said, you bastard.”

“Pardon? What did I supposedly say to deserve this?”

So he was going to deny it.

That smirking, slippery face — she had always hated it. She wanted to slap herself for ever being swayed by his brief show of hard work.

“Is it really acceptable for the Duchess to behave this way?”

“What?”

“To treat a mere commoner with such contempt… I am only a doctor doing my best…”

Reed whined, his eyes drooping pitifully as he put on an act.

What gave him the nerve to be so brazen? It was baffling.

The physician could only let out a hollow laugh — that said it all.

“Were you always this kind of man?”

“Me? What did I do?”

Ridiculous. But she would deal with him later. For now, Aisha turned her attention to Jeron.

“Are you all right? Why did you just sit there and take those words?”

Her voice shook with anger as she snapped, but the vacant look in his eyes as he stared back only broke her heart.

Tears spilling, Aisha pulled Jeron tightly into her arms.

“How upsetting.”

‘…Huh?’

For the first time, the boy nestled quietly in her arms responded.

“Why?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t really get what’s upsetting. It’s not wrong, is it?”

“What?!”

“…You’ll go back to the way you were someday, won’t you? I don’t know what kind of whim this is, but if you’re going to change, then just change quickly.”

“…!”

So that’s why he had been keeping a wall up all this time.

Aisha could say nothing — only bite down on her lip.

“Let go…”

As if taking her silence as agreement, Jeron, who had been quietly held in her arms, pushed her away with what little strength he had.

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

“I’m sorry, Jeron.”

All Aisha could do was offer a sincere apology.

She wasn’t sure if he would feel it, though.

“No matter what I say, you won’t believe me. Then all I can do is have you watch me from now on.”

“…”

“If I go back to the way I was before, then you can abandon me.”

“What?”

“It’s fine if you do.”

Usually, once someone possessed a body, they lived in it for life.

Since she knew she wasn’t going anywhere, she could make that promise with confidence.

Well, if she ever did disappear and the real Aisha returned…

Then all she could hope was that Jeron would realize it.

That the person standing here was not her.

                                                                                     ***

When Jeron finally cried himself to exhaustion and fell asleep, Aisha’s anger toward Reed surged up.

‘That bastard. How dare he treat someone’s precious child like that? I’ll tear him apart, limb from limb.’

“Aisha.”

That was when Luzbel came.

From the way he was carefully checking her condition, it seemed the physician had already told him everything.

“Are you all right?”

“What about that man?”

“He’s been thrown into the dungeon.”

“Well done.”

“…Yes. It’s the obvious course of action.”

Receiving praise, Luzbel blushed slightly, as if embarrassed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hm?”

Then Luzbel apologized.

‘So suddenly?’

“Because I was the one who brought the wrong person…”

“Ah.”

But the blame lay more with her — she was the one who had demanded someone be found in such a hurry.

If they’d taken their time, they could have looked into him more carefully.

Aisha shook her head, saying it wasn’t his fault.

On the contrary, she blamed herself.

But Luzbel practically leapt in protest.

“It is absolutely not your fault, Aisha.”

“Then don’t blame yourself either, Luzbel. This isn’t anyone’s fault but Reed’s, that bastard.”

“…Understood.”

“So what will you do?”

“Sorry?”

“You said he’s in the dungeon.”

“Ah. His punishment will be whatever you decide, and I’ll see it carried out.”

“Is that really all right?”

“Yes. It happened within this household, and his guilt is beyond question.”

Matters that happened within a household were handled by the household.

This was common among nobles.

Of course there were nobles who abused this, and in reality some were never punished.

Since it was a class society, it seemed inevitable that things would lean in the nobles’ favor.

Still, that was a good thing in this case.

Aisha stroked the sleeping Jeron’s forehead and fell into thought.

How should she deal with that bastard so people would say she handled it well?

And would he act the same way elsewhere…?

“Huh?”

“Is something the matter?”

“Well, didn’t you say that man was quite famous in his village? Yet he behaved like that?”

“…He was. That’s why we brought him in so hastily.”

That was strange.

Were the villagers all fools who actually trusted that pompous show-off so much?

“I’ll look into it.”

Luzbel answered immediately, as if whatever she thought had already reached his mind.

“Please do.”

It would be fine to investigate the village and handle things properly.

Above all, she wanted to find out what that bastard thought he could rely on to be so arrogant.

                                                                                     ***

“What? He knew about rumors about me?”

“Yes.”

Later she learned that Reed had thought Aisha was the abandoned wife of the Duke.

Luzbel had tightly controlled information about Aisha, but word had apparently leaked — people had heard she was near death.

So commoners like Reed assumed the noblewoman the Duke had cast off was wasting away.

“Sheesh…”

Ridiculous.

So the reason he acted so brazenly was because he thought the Duke’s household was nothing to him.

‘I’ll have to make him pay.’

“And now?”

“He’s locked in the underground prison, crying his eyes out.”

The servant who brought the news snorted.

“Pff…”

He was nothing but a specimen of weak and petty bravado.

Anyway, the fact that he was bawling was good news.

Since Luzbel had left the handling entirely to her, she’d think over how to punish him properly later. For now the important thing was Jeron.

After crying until he passed out, Jeron had been somewhere off in spirit.

Seeing him like that made her want to tear that man limb from limb.

Thinking what he’d done looked like gaslighting — it was lucky they’d found out early.

If they’d delayed even a little longer, the child, already wounded by the nanny’s violence and his parents’ neglect, might have been manipulated by that man’s will.

“Jeron, are you all right?”

“…Yes.”

“…Want to get up? Shall we go out and play?”

“I want to rest.”

“…Oh. All right.”

Saying he only wanted to lie and rest had been his answer for several days now.

They could force him outside, but she didn’t want to push him.

Today, too, Aisha could do nothing but stay by his side.

                                                                                     ***

She decided to devour every child-rearing book she could find.

From the start, when she hired Reed, she never intended to leave everything to him — she planned to study bit by bit and learn — but now she had no choice but to take charge herself.

She worried the longer she waited the worse Jeron might get.

So she bought every book on the market.

She studied while comparing the knowledge she already had with the knowledge of this world.

But childcare books didn’t say much about what to do when a child like Jeron had deep emotional wounds.

“Hmm.”

Even the books written by people who called themselves psychological counselors or psychiatrists read mostly like novels.

They were content made for commercial sale — entertaining rather than practical.

It seemed that here, those called “doctors” only treated external injuries.

Mental-health and psychological matters were entirely separated.

Because they weren’t recognized, nobody sought them out, and the few books that existed were no different from fiction.

There were hardly any people who, like Aisha, decided to study properly.

“This isn’t easy.”

There simply weren’t as many resources as she’d hoped.

For now, the best she could do was try to recall her modern-world memories as clearly as possible.

“Jeron?”

The boy who had been lying quietly turned and stared at Aisha.

At the book she was reading.

“Why are you reading that?”

“Huh?”

Was Jeron actually asking her a question…?!

“I’m not a child.”

Apparently Jeron had stayed close because he was worried, and he’d noticed the books left beside her.

They were books about parenting, how to be a good parent, and so on.

“I’m not reading it because you’re a child.”

“Then why?”

“Because I’m lacking. I’m reading because I’ve done so many things wrong that you treat me like this.”

“…”

He didn’t answer, perhaps because it was true.

It hurt her to say it, but it was the truth.

Of course, it had been the original owner of this body who had been at fault, but she felt responsible for having left the child neglected.

“I’ll study hard so it never happens again.”

“…Why?”

“Because I want us to get along. Truly.”

“…”

Honestly, she couldn’t deny that part of her also wanted to avoid the original story.