Chapter: 619
The brave warrior father has fled, and the remaining alliance of my mother and the nursemaid finds itself in a crisis.
The situation was more serious than I had thought, so I hurried to where Teresa was. It seemed my mother was quick to send out an SOS, knowing I was also in the midst of parenting.
“Mother.”
I arrived at Teresa’s room, quickening my pace.
“Did you come?”
There, beside the small crib, I found my mother and the nursemaid, both slumped over.
They looked so pitiful, barely propped up against the bed and unable to maintain even the facade of nobility, sitting helplessly on the floor.
Upon closer inspection, the nursemaid had her eyes closed. It seemed she had briefly managed to catch a nap, but really, she had just about fainted.
“Are you alright?”
I scanned the room quickly and approached my mother cautiously.
Despite their exhaustion, Teresa was sound asleep. I instinctively realized that the nursemaid had collapsed because of the little one’s peaceful slumber, and I couldn’t bring myself to make too much noise.
What if I woke Teresa, and the nursemaid had to rouse from her faint? I wouldn’t be able to face the nursemaid again.
“It’s good that the strong eldest son has come.”
Anyway, at my words, my mother nodded with a faint, very faint smile.
“And Teresa sleeps well, even if it’s noisy around her. That’s a blessing.”
It was such a relief to hear that.
Teresa indeed was a child who could sleep soundly regardless of the environment. It didn’t matter how much chatter surrounded her or how adults poked her cheeks; she would only frown and not waken. She only seemed to react like a ghost to Erich’s voice, and once asleep, she would only wake up when she wanted to.
So, it was perplexing. My memory of Teresa matched the present, and yet, somehow my youngest had turned into a little demon wreaking havoc in Tailglehen.
‘What on earth happened?’
Trusting my mother’s words, I gently patted Teresa’s cheek.
‘Sleep well.’
She scrunched her nose cutely but remained fast asleep.
“If you don’t wake up, you’ll have less to tire you out, right?”
Watching Teresa, I asked my mother casually.
There are numerous challenges in raising a child; the greatest is having a baby wake at the slightest external trigger. So if a baby can sleep soundly, it feels like half the burden disappears.
“Teresa seems to have a lot of energy.”
At my question, my mother, with a bittersweet smile, slowly got to her feet.
“She is an angel when she sleeps, but a warrior when she’s awake.”
The fact that she didn’t call her a demon spoke volumes about my mother’s unwavering reason and affection.
“She cries when she’s hungry, cries when she has to go, and cries when she misses Mom or Dad. Of course, that’s completely understandable, so I gladly accept it.”
I nodded as my mother continued. It was only natural for a baby, unable to move on their own, to cry when hungry or uncomfortable. If you didn’t understand that, you had no business being a parent.
And my father and mother were both qualified and willing parents. If Teresa wanted unicorn breast milk and World Tree leaf diapers, they would fetch them in a heartbeat.
“But… she cried too much…”
My mother paused, shivering slightly, as if recalling all the hardships and disasters she had endured up until now.
It was unfortunate. My mother had given birth three times but was a novice at parenting. What kind of parenting difficulty had been thrust upon her?
“Teresa was born with such a curious nature. Once she grows a bit more, she’ll be a healthy and energetic child, so that’s a good thing, but right now, she can’t move by herself.”
“Yeah, well… that’s just how newborns are.”
Still, the calm my mother summoned allowed her to speak again, and I nodded in agreement.
The fundamental reason babies cry is that they can’t move by themselves. If Teresa was born with a curious nature, this stage, where she can’t crawl, must feel torturous.
“She cries if she hears footsteps in the hallway, cries if the door opens, cries when it snows outside the window, cries if I come in wearing new clothes, cries if Billy grows a little facial hair, and cries when her diaper changes…”
?
“What?”
“If a different maid comes in than the day before, she cries, and even if it’s the same maid but in different clothes, she cries if the scent on me is different, she cries if the cleaning takes too long…”
“What the heck, Mother?!”
“She even cries when Erich arrives with Zenobia after coming with Sara.”
It was enough to make my mind go blank at those words.
What on earth does that mean? Even a fish that’s notorious for its sensitivity wouldn’t react that dramatically. If even half of what Mother said was true, that meant Teresa cried over everything.
‘Is this hell?’
My hands began to tremble.
It couldn’t happen, but I was terrified: would my child cry non-stop except for the few hours she slept? And without having the clear reasons of being hungry or needing to go, how could I even soothe her?
‘It’s hell.’
This was a hell that shouldn’t exist in this world.
Listening to my mother’s lament, which was disguised as an explanation, I worked to sort out the situation.
Teresa was indeed a curious child, just as my mother said. She would touch everything, put it in her mouth as soon as she was distracted, ask what everything was, and if I explained an object, she would ask why it looked like that.
That wasn’t an unusual phenomenon. If there are quiet and shy children, there are also lively and energetic ones. It was just that Teresa, being a Krasius, happened to be the latter.
Yet, the problem was that this tremendous vitality and curiosity weren’t developed over time but were innate from the moment of her birth.
‘She wants to touch but can’t.’
With the things she saw upon waking up and the constant stream of people entering the room, how much must Teresa long to touch and play with them?
However, Teresa couldn’t walk, let alone crawl. The patience and curiosity building up inside her had finally reached a breaking point, resulting in her crying even at the smallest things.
‘If only she could crawl, it’d solve everything.’
The solution truly was simple. If she felt frustrated because she couldn’t move, then allowing her to move about would help her release that pent-up curiosity. If Teresa could crawl on her own, she could explore and express her curiosity freely.
The problem was that it would take a few more months for Teresa to be able to crawl. Even if she was impatient and crawled faster, it would still at least be three or four months.
‘Can she hold out that long?’
I swallowed hard at the sight of my mother, with dark circles under her eyes.
Could she? Was it possible for my mother to endure this turmoil in Tailglehen for three to four months? Would she collapse from exhaustion before then?
“Uuuh…”
“Huh?”
“O-Oh…”
While I was seriously pondering this, a small mutter came from the side.
Sadly, it seemed I wasn’t the only one to hear it, as my mother let out a small sigh steeped in despair.
“Aww…”
Suddenly, Teresa, who had been sleeping soundly, opened her eyes.
Her eyes, a beautiful blue like her mother’s, sparkled clearly… no, they glared sharply.
*
Teresa sleeps for at least two hours once she falls asleep, as confirmed by countless tears and sweat accumulated through experience.
Because of that, even Laura, who had been struggling since morning, closed her eyes as soon as Teresa fell asleep. The maid’s duties were even assigned to more experienced maids, just to highlight how exhausted she must have been. I didn’t even dare to tell her to go rest.
Yet, barely an hour later, Teresa awoke with a start. It was something that shouldn’t have happened; an incomprehensible situation.
I still hadn’t recovered my energy, and yet here was Teresa, freshly awakened, more sensitive and prone to crying than ever.
“Madam, truly, are you okay? While both your affection for Teresa and mine may be equal, there’s no denying a difference in our stamina. If I were to drop out, that would only increase your burden.”
“I’m fine, Billy. You haven’t had proper sleep in days. Just rest well for a few days.”
Suddenly, I regretted what I had said to Billy days ago.
Every time Teresa cried, Billy was the first to rush over and soothe her. I could see him getting wearier, so I let him take a step back, and upon hearing my assurance, he fled without saying a word. Without the rest I gave him, he might have fainted within a few weeks.
So, while I believed my choice was right, Teresa had now disrupted her sleep cycle. That only made Billy’s absence more notable.
“Our little one. Don’t you miss your big brother?”
While I pondered how to address this disaster, Carl scooped up the now-awake Teresa into his arms.
“Why are you awake already? You should’ve slept a bit more.”
He gently patted Teresa’s cheek.
“Ah- Uuu-?”
Teresa, gazing at Carl, tilted her head in curiosity.
“Uuuh…”
It seemed she found Carl unfamiliar after a time apart, and she began to whimper.
“Oh dear. It’s sad to cry in front of your big brother after so long.”
Yet Carl didn’t panic, still smiling. He comforted the whimpering Teresa, exploring the room with her, showing her the furniture and the scenery outside the window.
“Uuuh…?”
Though Teresa’s tears brimmed in her eyes, she sniffled and blinked.
‘Incredible.’
It was amazing. Once Teresa started to whimper, it always led to full-blown crying. No matter how we tried to coax and comfort her, we couldn’t stop her tears.
Moreover, we were also doing our best to divert her attention, just like Carl was. Still, we couldn’t achieve any success like he did.
“Ah, do you want to touch the floor?”
Sitting on the hard floor, Carl carefully placed Teresa down beside him.
“Ah- Oof!”
Teresa, lying on the hard surface instead of a soft bed, should’ve sulked, but instead, she broke into a bright smile.
It was like she was saying this was what she wanted.
‘That’s amazing.’
I felt an overwhelming sense of wonder. Carl had managed to soothe what we couldn’t achieve after months.
Was this the ability of a father raising five children?
*
Watching Teresa laugh while lying on the ground made me smile.
‘This works.’
If my parents and the nursemaid had diligently cared for Teresa but couldn’t soothe her, it meant we needed a different approach. That’s why I was willing to try the unorthodox actions my parents would never have taken.
And that warped idea worked with a bang. Our youngest really had a rough-and-tumble personality, far tougher than I expected.
This big brother was a bit surprised.
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