Stepmothers Are Not Always Evil

“Lena.”When I heard that the guest had arrived, I hurried to the front door, and Helios was standing in front of the door one step ahead of me.“You are pretty.”He raised the corners of his lips as he looked up and down at my appearance.Again, I gently slapped the back of his hand, which was wrapped around my waist, and turned around.“What about Escal?”“I’m going to call him now.”As soon as they called him, Escal appeared at the end of the hallway.“Escal, come on.”As if he was very nervous, Escal, who was walking stiffly like a robot, saw me and exclaimed, ‘Wow‘.“What’s the matter?”“Because you are so pretty.”“Really?”When I asked again if I had heard it wrong, Escal came running and whispered to me.“The most beautiful person in the world.”“Oh.”Is it the same as someone said before?Thinking I couldn’t stop it, I smiled brightly.“Thank you, Escal is handsome too.”“Hehe.”His plump cheeks turn blushing as if he’s embarrassed to be praised.I grabbed the child’s hand and headed towards the front door.A carriage had just stopped in front of the front door. It was a middle-aged couple who got off the carriage and looked stunning.“Marquis Hallstein.”After confirming the identity of the first guest, Helios spoke quietly.Marquis Hallstein was the first to reply to my invitation.He seemed to have been close to the Duke of Anthemion since Helios was young, and the Marquis of Halstein also knew Lenia and willingly accepted the invitation.I watched Marquis Hallstein carefully as he stepped off the carriage.The plum-shaped hairpin sent with the invitation sparkled beautifully above her head.“Welcome.”“It’s been a while, Duke Anthemion.”Marquis Hallstein shook hands with Helios. I waited for the two of them to finish their greetings, and then gave a light greeting to the Marquis.“Hello, Madam, Thank you for coming.”“Long time no see, Lady Evelyn. No, I’ll call you the Duchess of Anthemion now.”Mrs. Hallstein responded with a bright smile.Unlike the other nobles who despised Lenia, she was kind to Lenia.Helios and Lenia met and fell in love in the Marquis Hallstein salon.“You’ve worked so hard, and in the end you succeeded. Congratulations, Duke Anthemion.”“Thank you.”Helios bowed his head politely.He looked a little happy because it was the first congratulations he received from another person after marrying me.“Then I will go in first.”The Marquis of Hallstein tapped Helios on the shoulder and entered the banquet hall with his wife.‘I’m glad to have made paper flowers.’I relaxed a little as I watched the back of the Marquis Hallstein heading towards the banquet hall.Then a second guest arrived.This time, it was the guest who replied to the invitation.“Happy birthday, Helios!”“Honey, you should call him Duke Anthemion.”“Oh really, that’s right. I feel like he’s still young. Happy birthday, Duke Anthemion.”The man who looked like Helios’ father burst into laughter. He was Count Tilburn, who commanded the strongest fleet in the Empire.Although he was retired as he was old now, it is not an exaggeration to say that he pioneered almost all of the empire’s trade routes, but he was also a person who could not treat the emperor recklessly.“Thank you for coming. Count.”“Thank you, thank you for the invitation. I also received such a wonderful gift.”Count Tilburn chuckled as he showed off the cufflinks on his sleeve.A kraken was engraved on the cuff button, but I remembered the story that it was the most difficult and dangerous monster the Count encountered while sailing the sea.As if he was pleased with the gift, Count Tilburn treated me very favorably.“Let’s see, this is the Duchess. Nice to meet you. My name is Eric Tilburn.”“Thank you for coming. I’m Lenia Anthemion.”I raised my skirt slightly and waved my hand.His title was below Helios, but he was so famous that he could not be treated carelessly.“Your beauty is extraordinary.”“Again and again. Stop talking nonsense and come in.”“Uh, yes.”Countess Tilburn took her husband’s hand. Merlin quickly led them into the banquet hall.“Hah.”I let out the breath I had held in waiting for the Countess to disappear.The real difficulty hasn’t even started yet, but my palms are already wet.Helios took out the handkerchief he had and wiped my forehead.“Are you okay?”“I’m okay.”I nodded my head pretending to be okay, and my eyes met with Escal, who had not opened his mouth yet.Perhaps because there was no one to talk to him, the child had a slightly pale face.‘This world’s etiquette says that you shouldn’t even say hello until an adult has spoken to you first…’The Marquis of Halstein and the Count of Tilburn pretended not to know Escal because of my consideration.Seeing the child made me feel sorry for everything. I stroked Escal’s shoulder without a word.“Sir, Viscount Espenser has come.”The third guest was Viscount Espenser.At the news of the teacher’s arrival, Escal’s face brightened.I took the child’s hand and went out to the front door to meet the Viscount. He was alone, without a partner.“Welcome.”“Thank you for the invitation. How many people arrived?”“You are the third guest.”“I’m glad I’m not the first one.”Viscount Espenser looked around the carriage in the front yard and said: He seemed concerned it was probably the advice he had given her.“I will use the gift you gave me in return.”“You’re welcome. If you need anything else, just tell me.”I replied with a smile.Viscount Espenser, who seems to have no desire for material, made a pen tip with pure gold and there’s a rumor that he was a pen tip collector, which seemed to be very pleased.He opened his eyes from me and spoke to Escal.“Escal.”“Hello teacher.”“You are very nicely dressed.”“I appreciate your compliment.”Viscount Espenser smiled a rare smile as he greeted as if his head was touching the ground.“You are doing well as I taught.”“Thanks to the great teachers.”“Teaching hard doesn’t mean everyone learns well. If the student didn’t follow me, there was no point in talking by myself.”“That’s right, as you know, Escal is so focused and quick to understand, so once you teach it, he can absorb it right away…”“I’ll go in.”Viscount Espenser, who stopped me as if tired of talking, passed me by.Well, you’re only going to drink if you go in, but if you give him a compliment, what’s the matter?Viscount Espenser went back into the mansion.Helios was nowhere to be seen.“Merlin, what about Helios?”“Count Tilburn took him to have a drink before it got noisy.”“Ah….”The Count, you look very drunk, are you okay?I shrugged my shoulders.This is the expected guest. The question was whether more people would come after this.It’s not a complete failure as three out of ten people who received invitations came, but a 30% success rate wasn’t something to be proud of.I was impatient, and I only checked the watch.There were about 10 minutes left until the banquet started.In a normal banquet, it is common for invited guests to arrive 30 minutes before, unless there is a very special event, to greet people they haven’t seen in a long time, have a drink and warm up the atmosphere.Of course, today’s banquet is very different from a normal banquet.“Madam, the time is running out, so should I start playing?”I was only going back and forth in the hallway with anxiety, but Merlin, who was in charge of the banquet hall, came to me and asked.What do we do.At that time, I couldn’t do this or that, and I was only biting my pitiful lips.“Ma-madam. The carriage is coming!”The servant who was guarding the front door hurriedly ran and said.It was a guest who did not reply whether or not to attend.I forgot that I didn’t know all the descriptions of people and rushed out to the front door.A modest carriage without even a patterns stopped in front of the door, and the coachman who had been driving the carriage jumped off the carriage and opened the carriage door.A strange woman, who appeared to be in her mid-30s, got off the carriage first.Then, the fourth guest who had been waiting for so long got off the carriage.“I was a little late.”It was Grand Duchess Crawford.