I Became The Stepmother Of An Irrevocable Dark Family

Chapter 10

“It’s not my fault!”

Rebecca, who seemed to have been reflecting on herself with trembling eyes until a while ago, glared at me again and gritted her teeth.

What did I do so wrong?

One might think that I’m the perpetrator. So I just sighed.

“Haa.”
“It’s all done. It wasn’t a serious wound, but it was torn, so please be careful for the time being.”

Perhaps because of the heavy atmosphere, the doctor hurriedly packed his luggage.

As if to prove that he wanted to avoid this situation so desperately, he left the room with a loud thump sound, which made the room become even more gloomy afterward.

It was the Duke who broke the silence first.

“I’ve sent money as an apology for Rere’s behavior.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“To your house.”
“…Are you saying that if you sent settlement money, it will solve the matter? Moreover, it was sent to my house, not to me?”

Duke Ian Petri’s eyebrows moved in discomfort.

“Then what should I do?”
“I’ll be fine as long as Rebecca apologizes.”

The eyes of the two turned at Rebecca at the same time.

The child, who dropped her gaze on the rabbit doll in her arms, turned her head in annoyance.

“Why should I apologize? I’ve done nothing wrong!”

Normal parents would have admitted their child’s fault at this point and apologized, but the Duke was different.

“That’s right. I’ve already expressed an apology to your house.”
“So you’re going to leave it at that?”
“I don’t want to force my child. Moreover, an apology is supposed to come from the heart, don’t you think? The child hasn’t fully recovered yet as well.”
“I’ve been watching the child’s behavior. Since you keep saying that the child hasn’t recovered, as a result, she became thinner and her personality got worse. You can’t just leave it like this.”

Although she was tall and a little chubby, Rebecca’s body was like a dry tree branch.

“You don’t have to be concerned about that. Because from now on, I’ll be the one to manage the child’s personality and how to treat her myself.”

I knew this would happen.

The Duke only defended the child.

I knew she had been living with a terminal illness without the care of a mother, but this is too much.

What’s more, even after the incident with the nanny, his tendency to defend his child became even worse.

During that incident, he actually showed a subtle change and took proper action regarding the child, but now I could not find that side of him anymore.

I knew it was because of Rebecca, and currently, that child was blaming and hating me for what happened, but that alone won’t stop me from speaking up.

“It’s not good to just defend her like that.”
“It’s none of your business. I’ll take care of my child. From now on, I won’t listen to your advice.”

He was adamant about ignoring me.

In the meantime, Rebecca giggled and moved past me, who was sitting on the sofa.

“Hmph. Rere wants to go out and play!”
“I see. You take a rest as well. If you have something to say, do it through the servants.”
“Pardon? Excuse me?!”

Only my voice echoed in the room.

I heard a thud once again, and there was more silence than before.

Yeah, what can I expect?

From a black-curtain father and villainess daughter?

(T/N: Black Curtain is a term for a powerful figure in politics who exercises his power behind the scenes. It’s a power behind the throne or you could say a king-maker.)

They look very alike. Rather, Rebecca was a carbon copy of her father. Dirty and cheap humans, I’m out of here.

‘I was thinking about getting out anyway. Why do I even have such thoughts about changing her? I’m excited, too! Now that I lost to his will….I think this is a good result.’

I felt sad for no reason.

The child has become like that, but the Duke certainly didn’t want to listen.

That his own daughter was being abused.

Nevertheless, he treated me as coldly as his gaze towards me.

In the end, I clenched my fist as I was agonizing.

‘I’m going to be the palace maid. I’m out of here.’

My goal was to participate in the palace maid’s recruitment that would be held in 15 days.

‘There’s a slight danger, but if I become the palace maid, I’ll live without starving myself.’

With that in mind, I rose from my seat.

“Let’s at least try to get along with them during the rest of my stay here. It’ll be safer to be here than to be sent back to my house.”

It was obvious that my family would just send me back if I ever return.

So, for the time being, I decided to pretend to get along well with the child and headed to the kitchen.

***

A few days later.

“What is that, Ms. Leona?”

May, who had come to pick me up, looked down at the box in my arms.

“I’m trying to seduce the child.”
“Seduce?”
“You’ll see later. It’s not Rebecca’s dinner time yet, right?”
“Yes. But even if it is, she won’t eat…”

As if she was worried, May sighed deeply and nodded. I patted her shoulder and headed to Rebecca’s room.

Her reaction was just like what I expected.

I walked into Rebecca’s room with a tray full of meals, but the child pretended not to see me.

“You have to eat.”
“No. I’m not going to eat. I’m going to eat if you get out.”
“…If you eat properly, I’ll give you a wonderful snack.”
“No! If you don’t want to get hit by me again, don’t force me!”

Rere, with her puffed cheeks, buried herself among the dolls.

A sigh came out of my mouth as I was watching the scene.

The room was full of dolls.

Somehow, I felt it was a lot more than last time. Maybe I was right.

Previously, I could see the child among the piled-up dolls, but I couldn’t do that anymore.

The rabbit dolls, which were piled-up like a mountain, made the room feel stuffy.

It was too much.

I’m going to have a nightmare watching those dolls.

Perhaps he bought a lot of dolls because Rere liked them, but 200 rabbit dolls are too much. There might even be more than 200.

After watching the scene for a while, I sighed deeply and began to eat alone.

No matter how delicious the food smelled, Rebecca didn’t move.

She used to flinch, but she lost her appetite after the incident with the nanny.

“Bring the dessert.”

As soon as the order was given, May brought in the dessert.

“The hammer, too.”

“Wo-Wouldn’t it be dangerous? With that hand…”
“No, it’s okay.”

The hesitant May carefully handed over the wooden hammer to me.

Only then did Rebecca’s gaze turn to me.

“You’re trying to hit me!”
“With this?”
“Are you taking…revenge on me now?”

Rebecca, who was sensitive to the word ‘hammer’, flared her nostrils.

“This one?”
“Yes! You’re trying to hit me…! I’ll tell my daddy right away!”
“Go ahead.”

The grumpy Rebecca stood up from her seat. But as if she was bewildered, she stepped on her skirt and almost fell down.

The door was behind me anyway.

The child had to pass me to get out. The child, who staggered as she walked, walked towards the door as far away as she could from me.

Perhaps because she was feeling anxious, she started to threaten me.

“Don’t you dare move….! If so, I’m going to throw it again!”

As if I had finished waiting, I swung the hammer.

To the plate in front of me, and the big cookie cracked.

“It’s hard to break.”

At my words, Rere stopped walking.

“Wh-What….. Aren’t you trying to hit me?”
“Yeah.”
“Really? Th-Then what was that?!”

As I put the broken pieces of the big cookie one by one in my mouth, Rebecca came closer to me.

Rere’s interest, which I couldn’t have even if I wanted to, was easier to get than I thought.

No, actually, Rebecca had been quite interested in me before. She just didn’t want to admit it.

As if she knew that the nanny couldn’t return no matter how hard she begged, Rebecca kept her eyes on me the whole time.

It was only after I got hurt that I actually felt a subtle change in Rebecca’s behavior, perhaps because she felt sorry.

And when I ate the cookies, Rebecca’s eyes widened.

I gently pushed Rebecca, who was approaching me.

“Why? Didn’t you say you weren’t going to eat?”
“What is that! Why are you eating it with a hammer? The snack will be hurt if you break it with a hammer!”
“I was hurt, too.”

As if I had been waiting, I pointed at the small band-aid on my head.

“That’s…not my fault… that’s why…give me that cookie.”
“Do you want it?”
“Unng!”

As expected, the appearance of a snack that she never saw in her life was perfect to seduce Rebecca.

“No.”
“Why!”
“You haven’t eaten.”
“…Darn it…”
“If you eat…maybe I’ll give it to you?”

I grinned as I chewed the snack on my hand.

Rebecca, who smelled the strong sweet scent from the chocolate schneeballen, shook her head while looking at the table.

“Forget it! Nanny. Make me one of those, too.”
“…Aigoo, miss. We can’t make things like that.”
“Why! Why can’t you make it!”

Because I made it.

The snack was schneeballen, which is something that didn’t exist in this world. There’s no way they would know how much time I spent to make it.

(T/N: Schneeballen is a traditional German pastry that you need to smash with a hammer before consuming.)

“That’s made by Ms. Leona. Maybe she’s the only one who can make it.”

The nanny, who glanced at me, shook her head and acted more exaggeratedly.

It was a well-known fact that Rebecca was so crazy about snacks that she doesn’t eat anything except snacks all day long.

So I tried this method, but it was easier than I thought.

“….Darn it…give me my meal.”

Finally, her words brightened the faces of the people in the room.

Of course, it was a bonus that they looked at me with respect.

Soon after, Rebecca, who had emptied one bowl of soup, slammed the bowl to the floor.

“I ate it all! Give it to me.”

Her cute little hands tried to snatch my bowl in a rude manner.

“I didn’t say I’d give it to you.”

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I relaxedly pulled the bowl towards me.

“What?”
“I said, maybe I’ll give it to you.”

Rere’s mouth pouted like a bird.

“You cheated me!”
“I didn’t.”
“Darn it… you’ll regret it if you do this to me!”

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