Chapter 22

Back in my room, I lay on the bed, and a painful pang shot through my heart as I remembered my past life.

I, too, was once a child like Adel, desperate for my family’s love and attention.

It happened when I was a child, and we were at the local market.

Just like Adel, I threw a tantrum, asking for a pair of pretty shoes I saw. It wasn’t because I actually wanted the shoes.

It was because I had seen other kids do it. When they did, their parents would show them attention.

But my parents said this: ‘You are being very naughty.’

They called me a bad child and left me there.

I burst into tears as they walked away, but they didn’t look back, as if they were truly going to abandon me.

In the end, I cried and ran after them, afraid of being left behind. Even after I finally got home, my parents gave me no attention.

If I asked for something, I was a bad child. If I cried, I was a nuisance.

From the moment I realized this, I lived in constant fear of being seen as a bad child. I was terrified they would abandon me if I were.

So I always thought: ‘I have to be a good child.’

Would I be a good child if I listened well?

So I would run errands to buy alcohol, even though I knew my father would hit me.

What if I helped with the housework?

So I started helping my mother with the chores she struggled with.

What if I did well in school?

What if I earned money?

What if I did something else…

“…”

I buried my face in the pillow.

My mood plummeted, digging into the ground.

‘I lived that way and eventually died without ever receiving a reward.’

Looking back now, it feels like the standards of the world were set by my parents. But at the time, I couldn’t have known.

Even though it was from a past life, these experiences left deep wounds that would surface from time to time.

‘That’s how it was back then. It hurt.’

The fact that I could shake it off so quickly was all thanks to being transmigrated into Chacha.

More specifically, it was because everyone in the Blueberry County family gave me ten, a a hundred, or even a thousand times more love than I ever received.

Therefore, my decision after shaking off the memories of my past life was simple: ‘I will love Adel.’

Just as I was healed by the love of the Blueberry County family, I would comfort Adel.

I would give him all the immense love I had received.

***

The next day, I went to the office earlier than usual and quickly handled all the urgent administrative tasks.

Since I had talked to Van the day before and decided to fill Adel’s affection deficit, I wanted to focus on him.

‘I need to get this done quickly so I can go see Adel.’

Why didn’t I just go to Adel right away?

Of course, I could have put off some work and gone to see him.

However, neither my former self, Lee Hyun, nor my current self, Chacha, knew much about child psychology.

I couldn’t act carelessly, so I was processing the documents while thinking about how to approach the situation.

‘Child psychology isn’t a developed field in this world, so there are no reference books.’

I stamped the last document and left the office with a light step.

“Alright, let’s go!”

I made a decision.

If I can’t consult an expert or a book, then I’ll just give him the same kind of love I received.

To start, I planned to eat at least one meal a day with Adel.

It would be better for his emotional state, and I wanted to show Adel that food tastes better when you eat it with someone else rather than alone.

In my past life, when I ate plain rice with water alone, the act of eating was nothing more than a way to survive.

But after eating with my parents in the Blueberry family, I started to look forward to every meal.

‘What will I talk to my parents about today?’

‘What’s the main dish today?’

Thinking that mealtime could be fun was something that never happened in my past life.

Besides meals, I also went up the stairs, retracing the memories of my happy seven-year-old self.

“Speaking of which, Annie.”

“Yes, Lady Chacha.”

“Where is Adel’s room?”

“Uh, well…”

“…”

I had left with great determination to see Adel, but I just remembered that I didn’t know where his room was.

I gave a small cough and, pretending to be unfazed, said to Annie, “Could you find out where Adel’s room is?”

I was absolutely not embarrassed.

And so, after some time passed…

I was standing in front of Adel’s room.

‘So this is Adel’s room.’

While most of the direct descendants used rooms on the highest floors, Adel’s room was on the first floor.

‘I went up without thinking, thinking he’d be on a higher floor…’

After asking for his room location, I brought the prepared meal and went straight to his room.

“Adel~! Did you eat yet~?!”

When I showed up so suddenly, Adel and the maid who was serving him couldn’t hide their bewilderment.

“W-what?!”

At my gesture, the servants who followed me started setting up the steaming meal.

“W-what’s with this suddenness?”

“If you haven’t eaten yet, let’s eat together.”

“What? Why would I do that?”

“Because I’m lonely eating alone.”

I playfully added with a wink.

“So, would you help me out?”

Adel was so startled that he looked blank from the moment they started setting up the meal until I sat across from him and picked up my utensils.

He seemed awkward with my sudden closeness.

But the awkwardness would only last at first, and he would get used to it quickly if we kept eating together.

‘That’s what happened to me.’

I carefully watched Adel as I ate.

“Adel, you have something here.”

“I-I know, okay?”

When Adel got food on his face, I would wipe it for him.

“Would you like to try this too?”

“My hands can reach it…!”

I would put food that he couldn’t reach on his plate.

“Gah… Ugh…!”

At first, he would answer with his usual crankiness, but then he just started to blush as I kept taking care of him.

When I saw the happiness he couldn’t hide, I felt good too.

“Adel, ah-.”

I picked up a vegetable from Adel’s plate and fed it to him myself.

Even though it was obvious he didn’t like vegetables, perhaps because I fed it to him, Adel opened his mouth and ate it without a word, unlike what I expected.

“I-I can eat it myself…”

“I know. I just wanted to do it, so I did. Did you not like it?”

“Huh? N-no!”

Our distance was steadily getting closer, but it was too early to talk about picky eating. It would be better to tell him to eat everything after we got a little closer.

Quietly, I observed the food Adel ate and saw that he didn’t seem to like vegetables and preferred sweet things.

‘I should bring some snacks next time.’

If I brought different kinds of desserts every day, I would be able to find out what he liked.

As the meal was ending, Adel started picking at the leftover food. It was clear that he didn’t want the meal to end.

I held back my laughter and, pretending not to notice him glancing at me, I said,

“Adel, after you’re done eating, should we go for a walk?”

At my words, Adel’s eyes widened.

He must have thought that I would leave right after the meal, as he hadn’t had a chance to fully hope yet.

At my words, Adel quickly ate his food, got off his chair, and tightly grabbed the hem of my skirt.

I gently stroked his little nodding head and smiled.

“How about the greenhouse? Or is there somewhere you’d like to go?”

That day was the first day that Adel didn’t play a single prank.

***

Since that day, I made time to be with Adel every day, even if it was short.

We ate at least one meal together every day, and I would make his bed or read a book to him before he slept, and it was clear that he looked forward to those times.

Adel was getting brighter and playing fewer pranks every day.

However, it seemed his personality was truly mischievous, as he didn’t stop playing pranks entirely.

So I also made sure to firmly discipline him when he pulled a prank that was too severe.

“Adel. If you jump out like this, you or someone else could get hurt. It hurts to bump into something or fall down.”

“I’m sorry…”

Adel was a child who understood and reflected when you explained things calmly.

What was sad was that the first time I scolded him, he looked at me carefully.

He looked as if he was worried that I might hate him because of this one mistake.

“Adel.”

“…”

Only after I knelt and met him at eye level did Adel meet my gaze.

“I’m your family. I will always like you, and I won’t hate you for something like this.”

As I gently comforted the anxious child, Adel’s trust in me grew little by little.

I quickly realized that Adel, who was now stable with my love, was a good-hearted child who was just naturally mischievous.

As he spent time with me, his attitude towards the servants and others also changed, and the people around him started treating him differently.

Those who used to avoid Adel were no longer avoiding him, and sometimes they would smile at him as if he were a normal child.

‘I’m so glad.’

The atmosphere of the Eclipse mansion was slowly changing.

“Chacha.”

Adel, who was now completely attached to me, came to my office.

Adel naturally climbed onto my lap and sat down. Sometimes, when I was working, I would put Adel on my lap, and he seemed to like it, as he often sat on my lap in the office.

I looked down at the child’s chubby cheeks.

‘He’s so cute!’

I immediately handed him a chocolate chip cookie that I had prepared.

“We couldn’t eat breakfast together today. But you still ate well, right?”

“Of course. You told me not to skip meals.”

“Then you ate all your vegetables, too, right?”

“…”

The servants, including Van, held back their laughter at the sight of the boy’s tightly sealed lips.

I was slowly getting used to them watching us with such loving eyes.

‘I feel so proud.’

I wanted to throw away the documents and just nibble on those chubby cheeks of his, but I held back to maintain my dignity as the duchess.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to eat them, but the cherry tomatoes were trying to escape my fork. They didn’t want to be eaten by me.”

“Okay, okay. But you’ll eat them all tomorrow, right?”

“Hmph, fine.”

Adel, who had hooked his pinky finger with mine in the way I taught him, suddenly seemed to remember something and grumbled.

“You know what? My brother and sister told me not to play with you!”