I Became The Stepmother Of An Irrevocable Dark Family

Curiosity grew on everyone’s faces upon hearing Rere’s abrupt remark.

“Yes! That!”

“What’s that?”

“Our family portrait!”

“Ah!”

“That’s right. I couldn’t help but put up the portrait first because it was so perfectly done. If there’s a portrait that you like after taking a look, I can hang it anywhere you want.”

The nanny appeared to be more excited than ever before and smiled broadly with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Shall we go see it together then?”

“Yes! I’ll show you the way.”

Ian could only get out of bed after that. Rere was overjoyed and clung to the nanny, taking the lead while I kept up with Ian.

“Portrait~ Portrait~ Our portrait~”
After watching Rere excitedly humming a song, I turned to face Ian.

“At least the situation ended happily.”

“I agree. But I have to be honest with you, Leona.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t wait for the night to come so that I can hug you tightly.”

“…Rere might hear that!”

That immediately made me frown. Ian, on the other hand, looked at Rere with ease and lowered his eyelids.

“Don’t worry.”

“But…Rere is still pretty skeptical of you.”

“The Duke must have been a horrible man.”

“That’s what I thought as well. But I didn’t expect Rere would know him so well.”

“I guess Rere loves her father more than we thought.”

We both looked at Rere after what he said. I’d been her mother for a long time, but this was the first time I’d seen her so happy. She had always been a cheerful child, but that couldn’t even compare to how happy she looked right now.

“She seems to like him a lot. When I saw her cry over her daddy until she fainted…that’s when I knew for sure that Rere loves her father very much.”

“…I’ll have to work harder from now on. Because I haven’t done anything for her at all.”

“That’s all it takes. As long as you treat her better from now onwards.”

Suddenly.

“Oh my gosh, Big Bunny. What are you doing with Daddy?”

Rere abruptly turned around and charged toward us. Moreover, Rere squeezed between us and grabbed our hands.

“How slow. I can’t wait to see it.”

“Sorry, Rere. I’ll speed up a little!”

“I don’t believe you. Let’s hold hands like this and go together!”

Then Rere dragged us along with her. Despite her complaints about how slow we were and how helpless we were without her, she couldn’t keep a smile from spreading across her face.

Meanwhile, we arrived in front of a big door.

“I put all the paintings here.”

The door was opened with a word from the nanny. What I saw were large portraits, so big that I couldn’t see them all at once.

“Wow…it’s huge.”

“Yes! It was classified according to size.”

It must be the reason for the lengthy completion time. We had our portrait painted a long time ago, so I thought it was strange that it was finished so late. What caused it to take so long?

The portrait was so large that five adults could easily cover it, and showed us sitting on a wide sofa, holding each other’s hands warmly. In addition, there were different kinds of paintings.

As the portraits had been drawn by many people, each added their own creativity to the portraits, making them more dynamic even though we were only sitting still.

How strange.

There were a lot of portraits of the three of us sitting with the party hall in the background, but this was my favorite among all of them…

“Do you like it, Leona?”

I was standing in front of a painting that had captured my attention. While Rere seemed to be looking at something else, it was the portrait half the size of the largest one that drew my attention from the moment I walked in.

Without realizing, I stood in front of it, and Ian, who was looking at another painting, joined me a moment later.

“Yes, I like it. What about Ian?”

“I like it, too. It’s a shame that I looked so stiff, but we look comfortable.”

I was hugging Rere, who was sleeping in my arms with her plump cheeks. My heart was warmed by the Duke’s expression as he looked at both of us.

It was a lovely portrait that made me feel as if the three of us had gone on a picnic, something we had never done before. I felt like I was in the middle of a densely wooded forest.

“Wow. This is pretty.”

Rere, who had been looking at other portraits for a long time, came to where we were standing.

“I know, right?”

“Yup, yup! Rere is cute! Big Bunny is pretty! Daddy looks so mean!”

Ian stammered to respond to Rere’s shocking remark and finally nodded as if he had given up.

“By the way, Big Bunny.”

“Yeah?”

“Instead of just a picture, will there come a day when we can really go out and enjoy our time together?”

“Of course.”

“We can play like that…if Rere doesn’t get sick, right? Rere can’t wait to get better. It must be nice to play with Daddy and Big Bunny everyday.”

So I picked up Rere who had leaned against me.

“I’m sure that day will come. The day when Rere won’t be sick anymore.”

“I’ll look forward to it. Everything Big Bunny has said in the past has been right, and you’ll be right again this time. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah.”

I pressed my cheeks against her. Rere smiled widely and hugged me tightly, as if she was overjoyed.

“Then I’ll believe you. Rere will eat a lot. Only then I won’t be sick!”

“You have to eat well, play a lot, and sleep well!”

“Okay! Then let’s go eat. Rere is hungry.”

“Come to think of it, you haven’t eaten anything today.”

The child stroked her belly and pouted.

“Let’s hurry up.”

Some maids understood the assignments right away and rushed out.

“Shall we have a family meal now?”

“Yeah! What do you think, Big Bunny?”

“Sure. Sounds good to me.”

Ian walked ahead of us, afraid of getting another earful from Rere. Rere, who was in my arms at the time, whispered in my ear.

“Big Bunny.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you prefer the current Daddy or the original Daddy?”

“Huh?”

“You like the current Daddy, don’t you?”

My cheeks immediately turned slightly red. As I mumbled by myself and wondered if I was being too obvious, Rere opened her eyes wide and raised the corners of her mouth.

“So I’m right?”

“N-No, you got it wrong. I-I’m just…”

“Big Bunny’s lips would always go up like this every time you saw my Daddy in the past, though?”

She pushed her upper lips up with her fingers, as if grimacing.

“R-Really?”

“Yeah! But you’re like this now…”

Rere lifted the corners of her mouth closer to her cheekbones and squinted her eyes.

“It’s the most beautiful I’ve ever seen you, Big Bunny! But it’s strange how you look at my daddy in such a lovely way! Big Bunny used to despise my daddy, but it seems you’ve suddenly changed your mind.”

“I must’ve gotten weird, too. Unlike before, your daddy looks handsome now.”

“Tch. He’s always been handsome!”
“I-Is that so?”

“Yeah. Honestly, he’s undeniably handsome no matter where he goes. I just know that. As you can see, Rere is so pretty because Rere resembles Daddy and Big Bunny.”

“Right…?”

Rere pursed her lips and looked me in the eyes.

“Is there anything else you like about him? Aside from his looks, of course.”

“Um, what else is there…”

“Think about it thoroughly. Rere will listen and judge. You need an objective judgment, don’t you?”

“Judgment?”

“Uhm, uhm. I’ll judge if you’ve really gotten weird or if you’re just starting to like my daddy.”

The child pointed proudly at Ian.

“His wide back?”

“…So boring.”

“He’s tall.”

“Do you think being tall is all that matters?”

“Uh…and affectionate.”

“…I think you got that one thing about my daddy wrong.”

“Why?”

“That affection will fade quickly. If Big Bunny likes my sweet Daddy, you made a big mistake. A big mistake. I’m telling you it’s just temporary. You won’t have that kind of feeling once Daddy returns to his old self.”

Seeing Rere shaking her head resolutely, I began talking again.

“Then it’s because he’s annoying….?”

“If you like him for that, then I’m not mistaken. You’re madly in love with my daddy.”

“Then, is it okay for Big Bunny to like your daddy?”

Rere smiled brightly with her eyes crinkled and nodded vigorously.

“Yeah! Actually, Rere doesn’t really want a stepfather. I like my daddy. He may be the worst man in the world who often annoys me and has a lot of shortcomings, but…”

“But…?”

“He’s a dad who loves Rere more than anyone else. And he’s also Rere’s beloved Daddy. So Rere prayed every day that Big Bunny would like my daddy.”

“Really?”

“Yup. I prayed before I went to sleep!”

Rere clasped her hands together as if she was praying.

“Even so, I remember Rere sleeping like a log as soon as you lay in the bed?”

“Huh?”

“I wonder when did you ever pray…?”

“I-I prayed in my dream! When did I ever say it was before I went to sleep…?”

Rere was wary of my reaction and pouted again.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah! I’m doing it in my dreams. I guess that’s how my wish came true! I can’t believe that Big Bunny finally likes my daddy. By the way, Big Bunny.”

“Yeah?”

“You must never tell Daddy, okay?”

“Why?”

Rere put her finger on my lips.

“Daddy will be full of himself and will definitely show off! It’s so obvious. So never, ever say you like him, okay?”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah! I know my daddy very well. So you have to listen to me, okay? Nothing will go wrong if you listen to Rere.”

In response to Rere’s resolute statement, I nodded.

“I understand.”

“This is a secret between the two of us. You must never tell anyone, okay?”

“I got it. A secret between us!”

Then Rere kissed me on the cheek.

“Our Big Bunny listens so well.”

“Then, when should I confess to Daddy?”

“To be honest, I have another secret…”

“Hm, a secret…?”

“Daddy also likes Big Bunny. But he can’t confess because he’s such a fool, so keep it a secret until my daddy finally confesses!”