How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

“But really, hoamm…when are you coming back to the castle?”

 

“The behavior of the barbarians is suspicious, so I think I will have to stay at the gate for a while. I wanted to go back before spring came, but I guess that would be impossible.” 

 

“Then…our wedding will also be postponed that much.…?”

 

“I told Lucius to continue preparing for the wedding, so we can have a wedding whenever I return.”

 

Those words brought me to my senses a little. I opened my eyes and looked up at Leonhard.

 

“That’s right, and I hear that he will be calling a tailor to the castle soon, so what are you going to do about your robes?”

 

“The tailor knows my measurements. I’ll let you choose the design.”

 

“Hmm, well. No matter what I choose, you will wear it without complaint, okay?” 

 

“Would it be possible?”

 

After answering like that, Leonhard was briefly silent and then opened his mouth.

 

“and…I heard it from Lucious, he was punished.” 

 

“That’s right. Did you hear that?”

 

“I heard. If it hadn’t been for you, I would never have known that Lucius was thinking such thoughts.”

 

‘What exactly did Lucius say that makes this man look so bitter?’

 

To be honest, this man didn’t do anything well, but I felt even more sorry for him because he was my husband.

 

No matter what he felt after hearing Lucious, I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping that the loss would be filled with my warmth.

 

“So you decided to forgive Lucius?”

 

“Who am I to forgive him, I’m just as guilty of neglecting Noah as he is……. If I forgive him, Noah will have to forgive him too.” 

 

“Exactly, and in that sense, you need to talk with Noah, a long talk.”

 

‘That good kid probably doesn’t even know he’s in a situation to forgive someone….’

 

Still, I thought it was fortunate that people around Noah were realizing this one by one.

 

‘Well, I guess I’ll have to have another conversation with Lucius…’ 

 

With that thought in mind, I fell asleep as if the movie had suddenly cut off.

 

Leonhard was patting my back regularly as if singing me a lullaby.

 

* * *

 

“Nell?”

 

His call went unanswered, and before he knew it, Raenel was asleep in his arms.

 

Instead of tiny hands, her rhythmic breathing tapped regularly against his chest. Leonhard had to grit his teeth to resist the urge to hug his wife tightly.

 

After a while, He carefully picked up Raenel’s body so as not to wake her from her sleep and headed toward her bedroom.

 

After laying Raenel down on the bed, who was sleeping soundly, Leonhard covered her with a blanket up to her toes.

 

“Uhuh….”

 

She whimpered in a low voice in her sleep and wriggled under the blanket. 

 

Leonhard turned around to see that her white feet were not sticking out of the blanket.

 

After making sure that, he turned around.

 

The bird, which looked like two white snowballs stacked on top of each other like a snowman, was dozing in its cage, its head twitching.

 

Carefully, Leonhard picked up the two envelopes beside the cage, worried that he might wake the bird or, more accurately, that the bird might squawk and wake his sleeping wife.

 

Both were addressed to him. But the sender was different.

 

One is his wife’s. And the other one is Noah’s. 

 

Leonhard recalled the contents of the letter he sent to Noah. It wasn’t much of a story when he thinks about it.

 

He told Noah about the servants who had been kicked out of the castle, apologized for not being able to supervise them and for not caring enough, and asked how Noah was doing.

 

That is the content of the letter written over several days and throwing away dozens of pieces of paper.

 

Raenel advised him to tell his story, even if it was trivial, but all he did was defeat barbarians, subdue monsters, and do paperwork.

 

Leonhard thinks he can’t write such a story in a letter to a five-year-old child.

 

“hah…”

 

Suddenly, Leonhard realized that he had been fiddling with this envelope for a long time without being able to open it.

 

Since the envelope had not been sealed yet, it was easily opened even with one hand. 

 

However, he couldn’t bring myself to take out the letter inside. 

 

‘I’m nervous….’

 

It was a feeling Leonhard had never felt before, even when facing a monster. 

 

How ridiculous and pathetic it is to be like that. Leonhard, who had a self-mocking smile on his face, stood up holding two envelopes in his hands. 

 

“Ah, Captain.”

 

Ethan, who was yawning, quickly shut his mouth when he saw Leonhard come out of the room. 

 

However, Leonhard laughed as he saw his eyes were red due to the remnants of a yawn. 

 

Ethan, who was embarrassed by that, cleared his throat softly and asked as if nothing had happened.

 

“Are you returning to the Hiyela Gate?”

 

“No, I just wanted…. to see Noah.”

 

The sentence, consisting of common words as well as his son’s name, was circulating in the mouth like a grain of sand.  

 

Ethan’s eyes were wide open in surprise.

 

“Young master? He must be sleeping now…”

 

“I’m just going to see his sleeping face. You keep protecting the bedroom here.”

 

“Alright, Captain.”

 

Leaving behind Ethan, who was saluting, Leonhard passed through the hallway and came down the stairs.

 

As he headed toward Noah’s bedroom, Leonhard fiddled with the envelope out of habit. Then, the ribbon tied around his wrist brushed his skin, and suddenly Raenel’s voice passed by his ear.

 

“The child is also worried that he will be hated for doing something wrong to you.”

 

Before he knew it, he was in front of Noah’s bedroom.

 

Leonhard hesitated a little, took a long breath, then grabbed the handle and twisted it.

 

Through the gently opened door, the view inside the room came into his eyes. The wizard had installed a fire magic stone in Noah’s bedroom, and even though the fire in the fireplace was off, a hot fume hit his face.

 

At the same time, he made eye contact with Noah, who was half-raising his upper body and staring at him with surprised eyes.

 

“Ah…father?”

 

Noah could not hide his confused face, as if Leonhard’s appearance was very unexpected. 

 

Leonhard, who had not expected the child to be awake at this time, was so surprised that his mind went blank for a moment.

 

“Why aren’t you asleep at this hour…?”

 

“I went to sleep early last night and woke up early. I was just about to get up and read a book.”

 

The child’s voice was stiff with emotion, whether it was awkwardness or nervousness. The same goes for his face.

 

Although Noah doesn’t avoid eye contact, the hard gaze that looks up at him is like a subordinate looking at his superior. Not a son looking at his father. 

 

It wasn’t just today. Noah had been looking at Leonhard that way since the first time he’d been called Marquis. 

 

‘I don’t know what I had to say to make that face soften…’

 

Leonhard thought it was a bad thing to keep a child making faces like that. So he didn’t go any closer.

 

‘You still look at me like that. Really….It makes it impossible for you to like me.’

 

Leonhard thought that since Noah was his sister’s son, he might not want Leonhard to approach him either.

 

However, according to Raenel, Noah was Noah. Not his dead sister. Just because Noah is his sister’s son, didn’t mean he inherited his sister’s feelings. Noah doesn’t even remember his own mother’s face.

 

“Every time I see him, I think of Lady so that’s why I….’

 

As he said, he had no right to punish Lucius. When he looked at Noah, he was the first to think of his dead sister.

 

Leonhard consciously erased the face of his dead sister, which was smeared like paint behind Noah.

 

And Leonhard tried to sound as gentle as possible to Noah, who was waiting for his answer as if he was being punished.

 

“It’s late, so it would be better to sleep more.” 

 

“Yes, I will.”

 

As if he was going to carry out the command he had received, Noah awkwardly put his body back down on the bed and pulled the blanket up to below his neck.

 

Leonhard felt strangled when Noah closed his eyes like that, opened his eyes as if he had noticed it, and looked up at him.

 

“No…That’s not what I mean.”

 

As Leonhard turned his head and rubbed the back of his neck, a storybook on the dresser next to the bed caught his eye.

 

“Okay, I’ll read you a story until you fall asleep.” 

 

“Yes…?”

 

Leonhard almost bit his tongue when Noah looked confused.

 

‘If I try to do something I don’t normally do, it will scare this child. I wondered if there was another guardian on this earth as bad as me…’

 

Leonhard ignored his feverish face and went to the dresser, turned on the lamp, and picked up a storybook.

 

He just picked up the top one of the children’s books piled up like a tower, and the title seemed familiar, so he felt glad to see it.

 

“I heard that your mother often reads children’s books to you.” 

 

“Yes. She read it to me tonight too.”

 

As Noah nodded, the corners of his eyes relaxed slightly, but gently. 

 

Seeing that, Leonhard couldn’t help but ask.

 

“Is this fun?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I mean….Is it fun? I asked because I was really curious.”

 

“Ah…yes. It’s fun.”

 

Even though he acted like an adult, he was still a child. Leonhard looked at Noah’s flushed cheeks. And then he sat down on the bed and opened a storybook.

 

There was a bookmark between the books, probably because it was the book he read before going to sleep today.

 

The bookmark Raenel made from the rose Leonhard gave to her. She seemed to have been using it all the time after finding it in fairy tale books she bought in the capital. 

 

The bookmark made from clover was kept in Ruby’s magic bag because she tried to bite it so hard.

 

‘Both were made by my wife, but why is Ruby so obsessed with the Clover bookmark?’ 

 

It was a silly question, so Leonhard pushed it out of his mind.

 

As if he had just learned how to read, he awkwardly stuttered and then began to read the storybook.

 

“The baby lamb cried so loudly that all its fluffy fur got wet. ‘Why doesn’t mom hug me?’.” 

 

“Mrs. Cloud’s body turned a dull gray, but the baby lamb in her shadow didn’t notice….Mrs. Cloud says, ‘I am here to give you shade. You are very hot.’ The baby lamb cried even louder. ‘I don’t need shade, I don’t mind being hot, just come and sit next to me and hug me warmly.’”

 

“The clouds also shed tears following the crying baby lamb. Round raindrops fell on the baby lamb’s head. The baby lamb was startled for a moment and stopped crying. ‘Did you just stroke my head? Please stroke me more, Mom!’. Mrs. Cloud cried some more, and the baby lamb was very happy to be under the falling raindrops. And Mrs. Cloud’s shadow got a little smaller…”

 * * *