…
Rose was quite surprised when Aunt Mariah decided to bring little Pete with her when she came to have her breakfast in the hall. She was overly protective of her child, almost like a mental disease.
Rose pitied her. Gods were cruel to her. Even the healers, with all their holy magic, were unable to cure the rare disease that took her first child within a week.
Her second child was stillborn. That might have been the final straw.
She did not have children after that for a few years. She could somewhat understand that when at the age of 31 she finally had a third child, why she would be so overprotective of him.
She smiled at the child who was staring at her without blinking while his mother sat down on a chair beside the dinner table.
She noted that he looked almost like a small version of his mother. The same tiny nose, small lovely mouth, and those ocean blue eyes. The only thing he inherited from his father was his ashen brown hair.
He smiled back.
“When did Joseph leave, dear?” Mariah put her child on the table before, ensuring that Little Pete didn't go unnoticed by her eyes for even a second.
“It has been an hour. I served him his breakfast. Eggs, ham, and toast like you have told me to do.” Rose replied while serving her the morning meal. She made sure to put it a bit further from the baby in case he tried to reach out.
“Mhm, did he say anything before leaving?” Mariah smiled after noting that the child made no moves to disturb her breakfast.
“Aren’t you quite understanding, my sweet baby boy?” She said while caressing his head and receiving a giggle in reply.
“He did not,” Rose shook her head.
She had been working for them for almost a year now. Joseph and Mariah had quite a big house for a couple in their early thirties. The second largest in the entire Shimon village, just after the village elder.
Their house was some distance away from the village, closer to the forest in the east. When it became clear that Mariah was pregnant for the third time, everyone in the village was surprised.
That’s when Joseph reached out to their family. He explained that his wife was unable to take care of their house due to pregnancy, and he was unable to be at home all the time owing to his duty at the village garrison.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He was willing to pay good money if Rose, who was sixteen at the time, could help them take care of the house and do chores. Since their house was only around three hundred meters from the village outskirts, she could travel back to her house in the evening every day.
“Mhm, what will you be doing now?” Mariah asked while chewing her breakfast. Rose already had hers. She was allowed to eat whatever she cooked for them. It was a generous thing to do. Spices were plenty expensive.
“First, I will be washing kitchen utensils, then dusting the whole house. I washed all the clothes yesterday, so I only have to clean whatever Peter soiled after yesterday. That only leaves making lunch and dinner.” Something like this was quite an improvement from working in their field with her father or taking care of the animals.
“You can do all those a bit later, then. First, boil some vegetables and make a soft mush out of them. It is about time he starts eating solid food. Also, the grass in the backyard had grown a lot. Cut them smaller once you are done cleaning the house and making lunch. The sickle should be where Joseph keeps his sword.”
...
Peter observed Mariah from where he rested on the table. Once Pete had his first food besides milk, he was scooped up in his mother’s arms and carried to the first floor.
There were only two rooms on that floor and they entered one of them. It looked like a study room. There was a giant, and by giant, he meant a huge bear skin rug used as a carpet for the floor. It was big enough to cover the whole floor. A cabinet full of books and parchments was on one side of the room. Beside it was a window.
It was no glass window. Like the rest of the house, the shutters were made up of wood. The window lock was molded of metal though. From the window, sunrays fell softly on the potted plants.
The study table was large enough for two people to use and two wooden chairs. The room smelled of dried ink and, surprisingly, some sort of flower fragrance.
When Pete was lowered to the right side of the table, he saw the flickering wick of the candle, still burning. It was a purple-coloured thing. Something told him it was not normal.
Then, for the next two hours, he observed his mother from his position.
His diaper needed to be changed once, but that was beside the point.
If he was not wrong, then she was doing something with numbers. Accounting, perhaps.
The day so far had been exceptionally great. Thus, he decided to make full use of it.
...
Mariah tilted her head a bit and looked at her child from the corner of her eyes from her position on the chair, busy meticulously organising the sales records from a book into a parchment.
He was so focused on what she doing, even though surely, he had no idea what she was doing. It made him all the more adorable in her eyes.
He was an oddly obedient child. Never created any problems for her.
Sure, like any other child, he cried his eyes out whenever he felt hungry. Frequently soiled his clothes, but besides that, he was well-behaved.
He would not try to grab anything in reach and put it in his mouth, and he would not suck on his fingers like most children his age. He would just play with his dolls whenever he was awake. Even today, when she decided to feed him mashed vegetables, she thought he would create a mess by repeatedly throwing out whatever she would put in his mouth.
None of that happened.
Joseph found it odd. He would often joke with her.
‘How could you give birth to such an obedient child? The girl who used to be known as the menace of the Brooks Inn among the adventurers. Tell me.’