Stepmothers Are Not Always Evil

The room was filled with suffocating tension.

A handsome man and a boy who looked just like him were looking at each other as if they were confronting each other.

The man opened his mouth first.

“Escal.”

“Yes, D-Duke…”

The dazed child stuttered and answered.

“Tell me what you did wrong.”

“I-I- Co-cookies… … .”

The child was speechless and shook his head.

Tears were dripping down the carpet.

It was so pathetic that the tip of his nose was dyed red because of crying

I wanted to comfort the child right away, but unfortunately I couldn’t lift a finger.

I looked at the child anxiously, clutching the hem of the seat.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I was wrong, I was wrong. fo-forgive me… … .”

“Don’t cry, talk straight.”

“Hic…”

At the man’s scolding, the child covered his mouth with a hand like a fern.

Hiccup, hiccup. The child, who was forced to hold back crying, started hiccups.

The man frowned. The boy’s face turned red as he held his breath to stop the hiccups.

Everyone, don’t just stare, stop him!

However, no one came forward.

There’s nothing wrong with him.

With all my fault, I grabbed the man’s hem.

I was powerless and only touched the hem, but he noticed my subtle gestures and turned to look at me immediately.

“Why, Lena? What do you need?”

The man hurriedly supported me and asked.

“Out… outside…”

“Get out.”

Recognizing what I meant, he issued a ruthless expulsion order for the child.

The boy nodded his head with a wet face and turned around in loneliness.

“You all, go out.”

In an atmosphere like a thin ice sheet, the servants who only looked at them hurriedly left the room.

The man who stood silently in the quiet room and looked at me suddenly fell to his knees.

“I’m sorry, Lena.”

He grabbed my hives-covered hand and rubbed his face against the palm of my hand.

The pool of tears moistened my palms.

“I’m really sorry.”

It was a feeling of affection that I couldn’t think of as someone who had scolded a child a while ago.

‘I’ll be back.’

It’s a situation in which me who are burdened just by looking at them are crying and begging.

‘I really want to cry!’

How the hell did this happen?

****

Good luck and bad luck always come at the same time.

I ate my first hamburger my mom bought me and I was excited to brag to my friends and came home, but my mom was disappeared.

It’s like hearing that I’m an illegitimate child from my dad, whom I haven’t seen in 12 years.

I got hungry all day, and I buy gimbap with the money I found on the street, but my stepmother catches me and drives me as a thief.

I barely caught the bus that was just leaving the stop, and the bus overturned and I died in vain.

“No matter how much I am humbled, this is too much.”

I sighed as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

“It’s pretty, it’s pretty.”

With blonde hair that looks like it was made with honey, emerald eyes, smooth skin like white jade, and a sweet voice like a siren.

The admiration of being the most beautiful woman in the empire was not insignificant.

The problem was that the fate of the owner of this body was not as beautiful as the face.

“No, out of all the characters, why is it Lenia Evelyn?”

Lenia Evelyn. I, who became the villain in a common novel, ripped my hair out and cried.

Lenia Ivelyn is the stepmother of Escalium Anthemion, the male leade of Ropan, who ran away after curing the hero.

<The Hero Healed and Fled> was a novel about the heroine Tiaris, who was abused by a naughty stepmother, saved Escal, who nearly died, and fell in love.

Escalium Anthemion, that is, the little boy who cried infront me that he was wrong is the main character of this novel.

Of course, Lenia’s hatred for Escal was complicated.

Escal’s father, Helios Anthemion and Lenia Ivelyn, were in love with each other.

However, the two run into strong opposition because Lenia is the daughter of lower status.

Helios plans to marry Lenia without his father’s knowledge, but the Duke of Anthemion, who realizes this, made his son drinks strong alcohol, causing him to lose consciousness, and then sends Charlet Melks, whom he has made for his daughter-in-law, into the bedroom.

That night, Charlet has a child of Helios, who is Escal.

After learning that Charlet had a child with Helios, Lenia was shocked and disappeared, and the Duke forced Helios and Charlet to marry.

But Helios did not open his heart to Charlet.

“Don’t expect me to be your husband. The only person I love is Lena.”

Charlet tries to change Helios’ heart with Escal, but fails.

Charlet is neglected by Helios and neglects Escal, and Escal grows up lonely without the love of his parents.

Five years later, when Charlet died suddenly and the Duke of Anthemion also died, Helios found Lenia and brought her to the Duke’s mansion.

‘I searched all over the empire to find Lenia, so it’s not usual love.’

The feud between Lenia and Escal begins at that time.

On the day Lenia and Escal first met, Escal gave Lenia a cookie to look good on her.

It was Escal’s favorite shrimp-flavored cookie.

However, Lenia had a severe shellfish allergy.

After eating shrimp-flavored cookies, Lenia collapses from allergies.

‘In the original story, she started to hate Escal after this incident.’

And the time when Lenia was seriously ill from allergies was right now, at this point in my possession of Lenia.

‘That’s right, before Escal and Lenia’s relationship was completely broken.’

It’s fortunate.

Lenia’s evil deeds, who became Escal’s stepmother, were beyond words.

She framed a child to Helios, separated the father and son, refused to come out of the room because he hated being seen, and when she happened to run into him, she scolded him for trivial matters.

“What kind of woman did do that?”

Even though it was a novel, it was a woman who ate so badly that swearing came out of her own accord.

The bullying gets worse as Lenia gives birth to a child.

When Lenia gave birth to a son, Escal’s maternal grandfather, Marquis Melks, pressured Helios to adopt his eldest son, Escal, as his successor.

Helios persevered that it was impossible, but he could not ignore the imperial law, which was based on the principle of firstborn inheritance.

So Lenia sends Escal on a false errand to secretly kill the child.

Escal, who was running away with injuries, is saved by Tiaris, and when he becomes an adult, he goes to the battlefield and makes a big contribution, then returns to the Duke’s house to take revenge on Lenia.

He killed the child in front of Lenia, and also killed Lenia horribly.

“I died. It should have been done earlier!”

… I have a clear memory of saying, “I’m going to become that Lenia.”

“What did I do so wrong?”

Even after being abandoned by my parents, I struggled to live like that, but this is the end.

“What is life like?”

Tears welled up and I sat down in front of the mirror.

‘If I’m going to die anyway, I’ll die in a good way.’

I shook my head as I snorted a runny nose.

No, there’s still a chance.

“Is there a law that says stepmother is always bad?”

In the novel, Lenia Evelyn has a karma, but I haven’t done anything yet, right?

Although the first step was already wrong, we should be fine from now on.

I called the maid, swearing that I would take care of my poor son with love and avoid a miserable fate.

Mary, who had been serving Lenia before marriage, ran to her room.

“Did you call? How is your body?”

“I’m okay.”

“Sorry, I should have checked.”

Mary muttered sullenly.

“I never imagined that the young master would be like that. A child who is only six years old has already done such a heinous thing….”

“Mary.”

Mary closed her mouth as she frowned at the exaggerated remarks.

Everyone would think so. No one in this mansion is with Escal.

Poor Escal. The child must have just wanted to be loved.

It was so bad to see the tears dripping down in front of me and thinking he had done something wrong.

It would be difficult to think that he was hated, so it was my urgent priority to appease the child first.

“Where is Escal and what is he doing?”

“Young master? The master is in the room.”

“Then go and get Escal.”

“Yes? But, why calling the young master suddenly…?”

Mary looked me in the eye.

Why are you reacting like this?

“If I asked you to bring him, bring him. Why are you talking so much? Come get him.”

“That, but….”

“What’s wrong with Escal?”

When asked to say the right thing with the seemingly troubled look, Mary reluctantly opened her mouth.

“That is… He told him not to leave the room until the Duke allows me to reflect.”

“Helios? Since when?”

“From the day the young master said he had done something wrong.”

That happened ten days ago?

“Then he’ve been locked up in the room ever since then?”

“Yes.”

“How can nobody tell me that?”

I was furious at the fact that not only the maids, but also Helios, who had been by my side day and night, said nothing to me.

Then, what if Escal holds a grudge against me? It doesn’t matter if it’s you, but it’s a matter of life at stake for me!

In urgency, I shook off the hem of my dress and stood up.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To Escal’s room. Come on ahead.”