How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

“Well…could it be that you resemble your maternal grandfather? Or your biological father.”

“Who was my biological father?”

“I haven’t heard anything about him. I heard that your mother lived alone from the time we first met until the day we separated.…and she said she was being chased by someone.”

“Chased? By whom?”

“She said she couldn’t say. But she said that if they caught her, you’d be in danger too….She said that since she had saved my parents, she had entrusted her daughter to my parents, asking them to save her daughter and to raise her as their own daughter.”

My parents made a promise to my real mother in Howard’s honor. That they would raise me as well as their own daughter.

“She gave birth to you in front of my mother. Your real mother watched you open your eyes, took a bite of her milk, and then, without bothering to clean herself up, stuffed a bunch of cloth into her clothes, pretending she hadn’t given birth yet, and left.”

The fact that a woman who had just given birth ran away in such a hurry, pretending that she hadn’t yet had a child…

I think the reason she was being chased was probably because of me. 

She left like that to save me.

“Am I the illegitimate child of a high-ranking person?” 

“No one can know that. 20 years have passed, right? You won’t have to worry about that.”

I wondered if Howard’s countryside had allowed me to escape my pursuers.

I suddenly had that thought.

The reason why she was happy to see my hair and eyes is not only because I resembled my maternal grandfather.

‘Maybe if I looked like my mother or father…..’

For some reason, I got goosebumps and my body trembled. 

As I rubbed my shoulder nervously, my older brother handed me something else.

“Take it.”

“What is this? A bracelet?”

“It’s a…. for you.”

The reason for my older brother’s momentary hesitation was probably because the word keepsake almost came up first.

Even though all this felt like it was someone else’s business that had nothing to do with me, the tip of my nose was so hot that I wanted to burst into tears.

I fiddled with my bracelet for no reason, trying to shake off those feelings that coiled around me like a snake.

“Hmm, but what kind of bracelet is this? It looks…unusual.”

The bracelet that my older brother gave me looked like a gemstone bracelet, similar to a bead. It’s not a perfect sphere, but it’s a round shape with gently angular magic stones.

No, is it a magic stone? Seeing that it was just white, it looked like it was made of pebbles. As I continued to look at it, I was a little confused. 

“I don’t know exactly what it is, but it’s a family heirloom.”

“An heirloom? Like this?”

“They say it’s like an amulet.” 

“An amulet…”

After hearing that, I think it’s unusual.

I put the bracelet on my wrist.

‘Then a light flashed from the bracelet!’…Nothing like that happened.

After all, it just looks like a stone. I’ll have to ask the wizard later.

“Anyway. Thanks for telling the story, Brother Liv. It made me feel a little better.”

“Yeah. me too, I wonder why I waited so long to tell you.”

With a smile on his face, he added one last word.

“Your name is the name given to you by your mother who gave birth to you.” 

“Really?”

At my question, my older brother nodded. 

I stared at his face in a daze, thinking over and over again what he had said.

My name is the name my mother gave me…

I see. I wasn’t abandoned. My real mother loved me. 

“If she was alive, she would have come looking for you.  You weren’t abandoned by your parents, and we didn’t pick you up on the street.… We received a gift that would never happen again. Thank you so much for being part of our family, Nell.” 

“me too… brother.”

I could feel my bottom lip trembling, and I bit down hard on it, but a tear fell reflexively and heavily from my strained eyes.

It was all because of my older brother who suddenly brought up such a story.

In the end, I couldn’t stand it and ended up crying like a child again in my older brother’s arms.

The only thing that comforted me was that I could hear him holding back his tears as he rubbed my back without saying anything.

This is the last time I cry.

With that thought in mind, I cried my heart out in my older brother’s arms, not knowing when I would be able to hug him again.

* * * 

“She is gone…”

“She is gone…”

“….”

Ajas’s carriage carrying Raenel, several carriages, and the knights on horseback had gone far away and were no longer visible.

A heavy sigh escaped the brother and sister’s mouths simultaneously as they came out to the north gate of the capital and saw them off.

Recognizing the sound, they looked at each other and a wry smile tugged at their lips.

“Our youngest is really gone.”

“how long it’s been since she had the blessed drink and now she just got married.” 

“She came here to find a marriage partner, but… I didn’t expect her to get married.”

Suddenly, Oliver had a thought. 

‘I shouldn’t have come to the capital.’ 

‘A blessing drink, a social debut, or whatever…’

‘If she had stayed in Howard all along, I might have been able to live with her for the rest of my life.’

‘No, it’s not good to block my younger sister’s path just to appease my regrets.’ 

‘Still, she didn’t have to get married so soon.’

It was an unexpected farewell, so the regret was greater. 

Fortunately, Leonhard has a crush on Raenel, and he doesn’t seem to have any intention of hiding it.

‘Although it seems that Raenel hasn’t noticed yet.’ 

when Raenel’s veil was lifted he looked as if he had been hit in the back of the head, the way he’d stared at her even when she’d been engaged in conversation with someone else, served a meal that should have been reserved for servants.

‘Isn’t the heart, like the original face, difficult to see with your own eyes, even though it looks good in the eyes of others?’

If they stay together, one day they will look in the mirror.

“I will treat her as my one and only wife, lover, and Marquess of Ajas.”

Since he insisted on using the word lover, he wouldn’t have a mistress. As long as his heart doesn’t change, Raenel will be fine. 

And Oliver had no doubts that someone as strong as Leonhard could easily change his mind.

“Oh right. I heard that Nell entrusted Helen with a gift for us.”

“gift?”

“Yeah. What gift did our tomboy prepare?” 

They looked at each other, and then, as if on cue, they headed back to the house.

It was none other than the butler and Helen who came out to the front door and welcomed them.

“Are you back, Count?”

“The atmosphere is somewhat noisy. What’s going on?”

“I’m just finishing preparation. Please go in.” 

“preparation? What preparation?”

“The young Lady, before she leaves, she told me something in advance.” 

Helen’s eyes were red at first glance, smiling brightly.

She must have been secretly crying.

Oliver pretends not to know and follows their lead into the first-floor lobby. 

“Look over there!”

“oh my god….”

Helen didn’t have to point, Oliver couldn’t help but look at it.

There was a painting hanging on the wall right in front of them as they entered the lobby on the first floor. Oliver, Brilliana, Alexander, Raenel…and their parents, who have died.

Around their parents sitting side by side, each of the four siblings stood next to the chair or sat on the floor so that the skirt spread out in a circle.

In the portrait, which was painted with warm colors overall, everyone was smiling. 

The simple title hanging under the painting made Oliver smile.

<Portrait of the Howard Family> 

“Seriously, what kind of gift is that? I thought she was going to get me something fancy.”

No one criticized Alexander for saying hateful things for no reason.

Everyone was looking at the painting with the same eyes, just as he was looking at the portrait of his deceased parents with distant eyes.

“By the way, there is another picture of the same. It’s your last errand to take it to Howard mansion and hang it up.”

“Okay….I see.”

‘I was already thinking about how lonely it would be, going back to Howard’s alone.’

‘I was grateful that she had thought of me, and most of all, I was very happy that Raenel included herself in <The Howard Family Portrait> as if it were natural.’

“You chose the place well. I’m sure I’ll be looking at it several times a day as I go back and forth.” 

“This is a place that the young lady hand-picked. By the way, she also arranged a place to hang the portrait in Howard’s mansion.”

Helen looked at Oliver as if she was not sure if she could say this.

For some reason, Oliver laughed a little, feeling that he could understand without hearing it. 

“Did she tell you to hang it in my office?”

“How did you know?”

“Even if she told you to hang it somewhere else, you should hang it there.”

Back in Howard, Oliver was the only Howard there. He should hang it in the place where he spends the most time in the mansion, to appease any loneliness.

There was still a strange feeling of emptiness, like a hole in his chest, but it wasn’t quite empty.

“Count!”

“John? What’s going on?”

Just then, the front door hurriedly opened and John’s voice was heard. 

Oliver, who was in deep emotion, looked back as if he had been doused with cold water. Alexander and Brilliana were surprised too.

“What’s going on?” 

“Something happened to Nell?”

‘Even though I saw her leave safely, seeing John in a hurry brought such bad thoughts to my mind.’

John quickly shook his head, saying that it was not like that.

“That, not that…Hah. Sooner or later, an envoy from the imperial palace will come. I think you should prepare for entering the palace.”

“Preparing to enter the palace? Why?” 

“That is, The second princess.”

The same thought came into everyone’s head, but it was the kind of words that Oliver never imagined came out of John’s mouth, who barely breathed.

“I heard that she manifested the pattern of Estroa!”