I Became The Stepmother Of An Irrevocable Dark Family

Chapter 79

As I watched her silently, Rere closed her eyes tightly as if she was in a great mood.

“Rere has a good feeling about it…! I felt the same thing when I first met Big Bunny!”

“…Really?”

“Yeah! I know right away that we’ll be deeply in love!”

“…But Rere told Big Bunny to get lost back then.”

“Did I do that?”

Rere rolled her eyes as if it were her first time hearing it.

“Yeah. You said ‘get lwost’ to be exact.”

“…Mom.”

“You called me Big Bunny until a while ago, but now you call me Mom?”

“….Anyways. I guess my Big Bunny’s memory isn’t that good.”

Rere wagged her fingers, making a serious expression.

“Huh? Is that so?”

“Yeah! R-Rere, at that time definitely…umm…I said, ’Uah! Is she my mom? Is she really my mom…!’. So I think Big Bunny must have misheard me saying ‘Get lost’!

Rere laughed awkwardly while rubbing her head against my chest, perhaps because she knew that she wasn’t making sense either.

“Anyway! What I want to say is I won’t be sick in the future. Because I have my mom by my side now.”

“I really hope so too. Still, I will make sure that Rere doesn’t get sick.”

“Yup! I’ll believe in you!”

I patted her back so that Rere could sleep again.

“Okay. You should sleep now, my dear Rere.”

“But it feels nice to lean on you like this. Big Bunny’s heart is pounding.”

“Really?”

“It sounds good to hear. Like music.”

“I guess it sounds like that because I love Rere so much.”

“Thump, thump. Listening to it…I think I’m falling asleep.”

Instead of answering, I looked down at Rere. Although she said she felt better, she quickly fell asleep indicating that her physical condition was not good. I also fell asleep watching the child sleeping peacefully.

***
It was another full week before Rere could move her body as usual.

While preparing for Rere’s medicine for the last time, the doctor once again stressed his message from last time.

“Madam, you haven’t got any information yet, right?”

“Oh, I haven’t gone out yet.”

“I see. I was looking everywhere, but it seems that there’s no other place that could give the right answer. For our Young Miss’ sake….please do that.”

He was an untrustworthy doctor, but his skills were trustworthy. Even if the doctor hadn’t told me to go there, I would seek any possible method for Rere and go to the temple myself.

‘It’s not that difficult to go there.’

The problem is whether the temple was going to help me or not.

‘As expected, in this case, power is the best.’

Since the temple was weak against power. Would my status as a Duchess be enough? Or should I ask the Duke to give some money and bribe them? Since they seemed to love money.

“Alright. Don’t worry.”

“Alright! I’ll be waiting to hear from you. Then, Miss, you’re all better, so you don’t have to take any medicine.”

“Uung!”

Rere gobbled down the medicine at once and jumped down from the chair.

“Bunny, bunny! Let’s go eat now.”

“Rere. Isn’t the medicine bitter?”

“Yeah! But if I don’t take medicine, I can’t play with Big Bunny, so I’ll eat it even if it tastes bitter.”

Just like a child who gets used to needles, Rere took medicine better than I did. Usually, she’d be very blunt if she didn’t like something, but she just took the medicine in a good mood.

“Then let’s go! It’s been a while since I had a family meal!”

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yes! If I don’t do this, Big Bunny and Daddy wouldn’t be together.”

“Hmm…that’s true.”

“I want to give up at this point….but I shouldn’t give up because of Daddy!”

Rere shook her round head from side to side as if it was a very serious matter.

“Give up?”

“Yup! I hate him so much that I want to change my daddy right away, but I’m worried if I don’t see him again. Haaa… I’m such a nice daughter!”

Rere shrugged her shoulders cutely and sighed.

“Haa. Seriously. I guess there’s nothing I can do if such a nice daughter like me has a silly daddy.”

“Is Rere nice?”

“Of couuurse! Why! Is Rere not nice to Big Bunny?”

“No. Rere is too nice.”

I bent down and held Rere in my arms.

“I’m worried because Rere is too nice.”

“Yeah, Rere is a bit nice.”

“I know right? So Mom is really worried. What if a boy like the Crown Prince saw my Rere-”

Rere pouted even before I finished speaking.

“I don’t like him.”

“You don’t like him?”

“Yes. I don’t like him 200 times more than my daddy.”

“But maybe you’ll come to like him…”

“Never. Even if Big Bunny suddenly changes form and becomes Big Tiger. I will never like him. I can tell how annoying and mean he is. Who is he to be so rude to my Big Bunny?”

Rere gritted her small teeth, and clenched her fists.

“R-Really?”

I was glad Rere hated him so much. In the original story, Rere pestered the Duke, saying she wanted to be the Prince’s partner after falling in love at first sight.

The Emperor also liked Rere at that time, so Rere became the Crown Prince’s fiancée at a young age. She traveled back and forth between the Imperial Palace and the mansion.

But now….

“He’s ugly.”

I wasn’t sure if I should say that it’s a relief now.

“Is he really ugly? He wasn’t that ugly when Mom saw him.”

I tried to test her, in case she was actually interested in him. But the next moment I saw Rere’s angry face, which I hadn’t encountered in a while.

“…He’s no different than a golden poo. He’s very ugly.”

“…R-Really?”

“So Big Bunny, don’t even think about him again. I think I’ll hate gold from now on! Okay!”

“Yes, yes.”

Huffing, Rere stretched her hand forward.

“Let’s go eat now. At this rate, I’m going to faint because I’m hungry.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Because I was running late, I had no choice but to go to the dining room quickly. As expected, the Duke was already seated there.

“You’re late.”

“Next time, I want to eat separately so that I won’t be late.”

“…You can be late.”

The Duke was really acting like a child. He was like a little kid who whines about everything and changes his mind at the drop of a hat.

“Rather, how did your meeting with Princess Astra go?”

“Oh, that’s right. I completely forgot since you didn’t even ask. She knelt down and apologized. That woman.”

“That’s good.”

I thought about telling him that Astra might return later and that everything was thanks to Luca, but I swallowed the news along with my food because he didn’t seem very curious.

Rere was busy eating, perhaps because her appetite had returned recently. Sometimes she smiled at me, but she didn’t talk at all. Because of this, the dining room was only filled with the sounds of tableware clanking.

By the time the second maid’s dish was presented, I made eye contact with the Duke.

“There’s a place I want to go.”

“Where is it?”

“…I want to go to the temple.”

“I see. I’ll prepare the carriage for you. Or I can accompany you there.”

“No. It’s okay not to go with you. I want to go with Rere.”

Clank-!

When I said that, he put down his utensil roughly.

“..Why are you refusing my escort, but bringing Rere along with you?”

“It’s been a while since the two of us went out. Come to think of it, I don’t think the two of us ever went out alone…”

However, the Duke looked askance, as if he was offended.

“Rere isn’t feeling well. Going out is prohibited as much as possible.”

“Didn’t you take her to the Imperial Palace?”

“It was an urgent matter.”

That’s nonsense!

“….I want to go out!”

Rere, who was still munching on her food, chipped in.

“No.”

“…Why?!”

“You will fall down again.”

“That’s because of Daddy! Without you, I won’t faint!”

Hearing Rere talk back to him, his face collapsed inward.

“That’s..!”

“So I’m going out with my mom. Don’t stop me.”

Looking at Rere, he quietly swallowed what he was going to say and spoke in a low tone.

“If you’re going to go, the three of us must go together. And you can’t go to the temple. People in the temple aren’t trustworthy.”

“Why do you hate the temple so much?”

“Because they tried to dig into Rere’s birth to discover the truth.”

Everything finally made sense.

“Then, it seems we can’t go to the temple. Rere, let’s go somewhere else with our family next time.”

“…I don’t want to. Then, Big Bunny is going alone? Huh?”

I had no choice but to soften my own expression when I saw Rere’s disappointed face.

“Instead, I’ll come up with another idea so Rere and Daddy can go somewhere where you both can have fun.”

“…Hum. Okay! Then Daddy, let’s go play with all three of us, okay? Okay? The three of us never go out to play. Rere is always here.”

“But it’s dangerous outside…”

“I’ve never fainted outside! I was doing fine when I went out a few times before.”

His eyes trembled a little.

“…That’s true, but..”

“So don’t worry! Okay? We can go safely. Hmmm? I want to go play!”

He was silent for a long time as if deep in thought. Then he laughed as if he had a good idea.

“Alright. I’ll do something surprising for Rere as a father.”

“…What else are you going to do?”

“It’s a secret. But I’m sure Rere will be quite surprised.”

Rere’s face filled with anxiety at his words.

“I think it’s better for Daddy not to do anything…”

“Please trust Daddy just this once.”

“And if I don’t trust Daddy…?”

“You can’t go out.”

“…Okay. I’ll believe you.”

Rere didn’t have any choice but to yield to him.

“You should trust me, too.”

….I had to smile awkwardly as I heard the Duke utter the most dubious words in the world.

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