I was possessed into a story.

Where?

Into a romance horror novel I’d only read once. A terrifying novel where the male lead enjoys killing people – just thinking about it gives me chills.

At least if I were the female protagonist, I wouldn’t die. But I possessed the body of a maid working at the male lead’s estate. An ordinary maid named ‘Roselia.’

‘Of course, the problem is that I die later.’

So the moment I realized I’d been possessed into this world, I went to submit my resignation.

But that didn’t go according to my plans.

“What did you say?”

“You signed a 10-year employment contract. Did you forget?”

“The contract, please show me the contract.”

I went to find the head maid, and she spouted this nonsense. She looked at me with a displeased expression, then rummaged through some documents and handed me a piece of paper.

“Here.”

I practically snatched the contract and read it with my eyes. It was written in squiggly letters different from Korean, but surprisingly, I could read it without difficulty.

“Roselia promises to work at Duke Etraoh’s household for more than 10 years… If this is violated, a penalty fee of 50 million gold will be paid…?”

The insane contract even included a penalty fee.

“I signed this… this unfair contract?”

“Well, who would have forced you? Back then, you said you’d do anything and wanted to sign the contract right away.”

I staggered out of the room.

Then there was only one way left. I couldn’t submit my resignation, and even if I did, I didn’t have money to pay the penalty fee, so all that remained was fleeing in the night.

‘Let me run away. Even if I have to sleep rough, I can’t stay here.’

But there was another problem.

“Hey, did you hear? Edgar the stable keeper tried to run away last night.”

“…And?”

My heart lurched.

Please tell me he escaped safely.

“They cut off his feet and tongue and threw him out.”

The moment I heard those words, cold sweat ran down my back.

Fleeing in the night was out too. The moment I got caught trying to escape, I’d obviously end up the same way as that stable keeper.

How on earth was I supposed to escape from here? Was there no choice but to die at the hands of the male lead?

I was languishing day by day when the head maid gathered all the maids.

“Who wants to become Young Master Russell’s personal maid?”

I, who had been staring blankly, suddenly perked up. Young Master Russell was definitely the male lead.

‘Right, how old is Russell now?’

I was thinking about raising my hand to ask when someone else conveniently asked what I was curious about.

“Exactly how old is Young Master Russell?”

“He’s ten years old.”

My current age is sixteen.

How do I know? I don’t know either. I just had the memory in my head that I was sixteen years old.

Anyway, the important thing wasn’t this, but that Russell was still only ten years old, so if I educated him properly from now on, I might not die. This was long before the main story – before Russell starts killing people and before he even goes through puberty – so if I kept talking to him, it might be effective.

‘If I feed him well, take care of him, and brainwash him that he shouldn’t kill people, wouldn’t that work?’

A sprout of hope budded in a corner of my heart. Everyone was just looking around at each other, so I raised my hand high.

“I’ll do it!”

“Oh my, you will?”

The head maid’s face, which had been looking around with a troubled expression, brightened up. 

Another maid beside me poked my ribs and whispered, “Hey, are you crazy? Don’t you know that if you upset Young Master Russell’s mood, you get fired the next day?”

Well, I’d be grateful for that. That’s exactly the ending I wanted.

“At least I won’t die, right?”

I shrugged my shoulders. Since things had come to this, I wondered whether I’d get fired for not meeting Russell’s expectations well, but I decided to try it anyway.

“Roselia, you know that once you become a personal maid, you can’t take it back, right?”

“Yes.”

“Since you’ve become a personal maid, your salary will increase too.”

The head maid smiled brightly.

“I understand.”

Surprisingly, the personal maid had a separate room. Right next to Russell’s room, no less.

“You have to serve Young Master Russell from the closest position. When Young Master Russell pulls the bell cord in his room, the bell here will ring, so go right away.”

“Yes.”

It’s practically like being a nanny.

I could see why everyone had avoided it. Still, I had some experience with childcare, so I thought I could manage.

Before possessing into this world, I was the oldest at the orphanage I lived in. The damn director would dump all the troublesome work of caring for young children on me whenever they came in. So even though I didn’t want to do childcare, I had to do it since taking care of children was all my responsibility.

From that day, I packed all my belongings from the dormitory and moved to the room next to Russell’s.

Next, I had to inform Russell that I’d become his personal maid.

Since the book started from Russell’s story when he was twenty years old, there was no way to know what his childhood was like.

I took a small deep breath and knocked on the door.

“Young Master, I’m coming in.”

When I carefully opened the door, I saw young Russell standing in the middle of the room, staring straight at me.

Red eyes and jet-black hair. And always an emotionless expression.

Though he looked young, he was exactly like I’d imagined while reading the book.

At least he was holding a bear doll in his arms, so he looked like a child. Without that doll, I might have found him eerie.

I smiled brightly without showing my thoughts.

“It’s my first time meeting you, Young Master. I’m Roselia, and I’ve become your personal maid starting today.”

“…Roselia?”

“Yes.”

His pleasant young voice startled me momentarily, making me flinch. Since he was ten years old, his voice probably hadn’t changed yet. Russell stared at me intently, then walked over slowly.

“How old are you?”

“I’m sixteen years old.”

“What? You’re young.”

You’re young too, you little brat!

It was an absurd situation where a ten-year-old was calling a sixteen-year-old young. But as the subordinate, I could only smile.

“Please take care of me, Young Master.”

I bowed my waist. Only after Russell, who had been standing in front of me for a few seconds, left his spot did I straighten up.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Russell didn’t seem very interested in me.

‘The work might be easy.’

At ten years old, he should be able to do basic things himself. Come to think of it, I remembered about bathing. Do I have to wash him?

I hesitated without leaving the room, and Russell turned his head to look at me sharply.

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

“Um, about bathing…”

“I can do it myself, so don’t come until I call you.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

I answered quickly and left the room. What’s this? This is like a dream job, isn’t it?

But that assumption was entirely wrong.

* * *

Ding-a-ling-

I bolted upright at the sound of the bell shaking.

“Damn it…”

This was already the fifth time. Since I’d gone to bed, Russell had been persistently calling for me. Yet every time I went, it turned out to be nothing important—just trivial matters like a wrinkled blanket or a window that seemed slightly open.

I dragged myself up from my spot and headed to the next room.

“What’s the matter, Young Master?”

“I can’t sleep.”

So what do you want me to do about it?

I almost responded like that for a moment but held back with sheer willpower. Right, he’s still young. I need to be patient.

I dragged a chair over and sat beside the bed.

“Shall I sing you a lullaby?”

“What?”

“I’ll sing for you.”

Listen and sleep. Let me get some sleep too.

I could feel Russell looking at me with a dumbfounded expression as I prepared to sing a lullaby without the master’s permission. But if I didn’t put Russell to sleep now, he’d keep calling me persistently again.

“Young Master, I’m actually good at singing.”

“…”

“Come on, lie down quickly.”

Russell, who had been sitting on the bed, lay back down with a sullen expression. I kindly pulled the blanket up to his neck.

After briefly considering what to sing, I decided on a very typical lullaby.

“Sleep, sleep, our baby—”

“I’m not a baby.”  

“Just listen.”  

I reflexively replied in a cold tone, and Russell clamped his mouth shut.  

I could guarantee that no child who heard my lullaby ever failed to fall asleep. How else would I have ended up in charge of putting children to sleep back at the orphanage before possessing this body?  

I sang the rest of the lullaby softly, my voice low and quiet. As a bonus, I gently patted the chest covered by the blanket.  

After mixing in a few other songs appropriately and finishing the lullaby, I heard the sound of gentle, steady breathing. Sneaking a glance, I slyly opened my closed eyes to check on Russell. He was fast asleep, his eyes shut tight, looking like an absolute angel.  

‘Finally, I can sleep until morning.’