How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

“Did Ruby do that?”

 

Noah’s eyes widened at my question.

 

A tear as clear as crystal fell from the wide open amber eyes.

 

As I wiped the child’s reddened cheek with a handkerchief once more, a stuttering voice came out of the child’s mouth.

 

“Uh, how did you know?”

 

“Oh my god, did Ruby go to your room and cause an accident?”

 

I wondered if the servants I had fired had played with a shawl to torment the child, but I’m so glad that they had not crossed the line to that extent.

 

“Ruby, he was like that all the way here. If I take my eyes off him for a moment, do you know how many dresses he has ruined in my clothes bag? I’m afraid it’ll ruin my dressing room, So I told them not to let Ruby come up to the 4th floor, but it looks like that troublemaker went all the way to your room and caused an accident.”

 

“Ruby…Did he do that often?”

 

“Yeah. It’s not like I’m the only one with a bag of clothes, but he dared to look for my bag of clothes out of all the bags. Did he actually hate me?” 

 

“That’s probably not it!”

 

Noah quickly shook his head at the words I spoke while sighing lightly.

 

The child who could not even utter a word in defense of himself spoke in a more desperate voice for Ruby’s sake.

 

“Ruby doesn’t even approach you if He doesn’t like you. At first, he bit my hand and scratched it a lot.….”

 

“What? Did he hurt you?”

 

Ruby is not an ordinary cat, but a monster. 

 

Surprised, I quickly grabbed the child’s hand and checked it, but fortunately, there were no scars anywhere. As I rubbed his soft and smooth hands and mumbled that I was glad, Noah shook his head with his earlobes turning red.

 

“I’m okay. I have the pattern of Ajas…so Ruby’s claws or teeth won’t hurt me.”

 

“Oh, right. Come to think of it, it was like that. Still, don’t do anything too risky. “Wouldn’t it be a big deal if you believe in that power and suddenly you can’t borrow the power of the pattern at a dangerous moment?”

 

It is said that if you use the power of the pattern, your physical strength and mental strength will quickly wear out. The degree of this ‘speed’ varies depending on one’s innate ability, but in any case, it was not a power that could be used a lot.

 

No like the Male lead or Noah in the book.

 

‘He said he could use his strength all day and not get tired…..Of course, that was when he was grown up.’

 

Suddenly, the image of Noah in the book I was reading came into my mind, and I quietly looked at Noah’s face in my arms.

 

The tears seemed to have stopped now, but the child’s cheeks were still wet.

 

I carefully wiped them away with my sleeve instead of my damp handkerchief, and Noah blinked in surprise.

 

In the process, the tears that had formed on the child’s black eyelashes gathered together and formed at the corners of the eyes again.

 

I wiped the tears away before they ran down the child’s cheeks.

 

“Noah.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“You are such a good boy.”

 

‘Really, I feel so sorry that I once worried that he might be born to be a psychopath.’

 

“But you don’t have to be so nice. You don’t have to blame everything that happens to you. If Ruby ruins your shawl, you can just say Ruby did it. And what if it’s misinterpreted as you being mean?”

 

“but…someone said it was a bad thing to blame someone else for something that has already happened.”

 

“Who said that?”

 

“that…”

 

Noah was about to say something but closed his mouth. It was as if he was trying to stop himself from doing this because it was a bad thing.

 

‘Haha, but I should listen, right?’

 

I playfully pulled out a threat that wasn’t a threat. 

 

“Aren’t you a good boy, Noah? I’m so curious about who said that, can’t you tell me? Oh, I’m so curious I won’t be able to sleep at night.”

 

“Yes, my etiquette teacher. He said that when I was late to class.”

 

“Why were you late to class?”

 

“Because the maid didn’t come to wake me up…. But I was the one who overslept, so it was my fault…”

 

“Of course it’s your maid’s fault for not doing her job! It’s wrong to blame her mistake on an innocent person. So what’s wrong with saying that someone else is wrong when someone else did something wrong?”

 

You’re not bad. You didn’t do anything wrong…

 

I whispered that into Noah’s ear nonstop.

 

“There is no need to listen to someone who doesn’t love you. In particular, people who want you to be hurt deliberately choose only the words that will hurt you. So if someone says something to you, say, “Shut up!” and walk away. They’ll never talk to you like that again.”

 

“Then what about your mother? “Do you love me?” 

 

“Yes, I love you.”

 

‘Did those words, spat out straight away, touch the wound in his heart?’

 

Rather than being happy about what I said, Noah looked like he was going to cry at any moment. 

 

“why?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Why, why mother… be so nice to me?”

 

As Noah looked up at me with watery eyes, his face showed more confusion about the situation.

 

And an unidentifiable fear. 

 

“Everyone said that to me. They said my mother would hate me. Because I, a stranger, will take away all the titles and property that my mother’s real children should inherit.…!” 

 

“Noah. Calm down, Noah.”

 

“I won’t, I won’t take anything from you, so please continue to love me….”

 

No matter how I tried to soothe the child, tears poured down his cheeks again as if a dam had burst.

 

There was no trace of any adult or dignified look in Noah, who was finally letting out a whimper while holding the hem of my clothes in his hand, just in case I chased him away.

 

I was a little relieved to see that. The fact that this child has not yet lost his five years.

 

“Noah, you cry so much, how can you hold back from wanting to cry for so long?” 

 

“Oh, I won’t cry. I’m sorry, I won’t cry….” 

 

“Why do you keep apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

 

I patted him on the back and told him it was okay to cry, but Noah whined and tried to hold back his tears.

 

That sight was so pitiful that I thought for a while about how I could take away this child’s patience before opening my mouth.

 

“You know, actually, I’m adopted too. There was no blood connection with my family at all.”

 

“What…?”

 

“You’ll find out later. Everyone in my family has brown or platinum hair and the same green eyes. But what about me?”

 

Noah’s eyelids fluttered slightly as he looked at me, blinking.

 

But soon, he touched my heart with his very kind words.

 

“It’s a pretty color. It looks good on you.”

 

“That’s right. It’s a pretty color. But I used to hate this color. I felt like I was revealing with my whole body the fact that I was adopted.”

 

Noah’s eyes glistened a little with his mouth wide open at the words.

 

“Me too. I don’t look like my father at all.”

 

“Maybe we look like our biological parents, right? I don’t know what kind of people they are, but they must have been very sad to be separated from us.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“Yes, they gave me my name. My name was given to me by my mother who gave birth to me. Knowing that makes my name even more precious to me. What about you, Noah?”

 

“I am….”

 

Noah pursed his lips and shook his head. Tears were slid down his wet cheeks.

 

“I don’t know. sorry.”

 

“I said there’s no need to apologize. You are still young. You can think about it in the future.” 

 

I didn’t know what to say to this kid, not expecting to have such a serious conversation out of the blue.

 

But I realized that Noah had somehow managed to open up to me, and if I didn’t take advantage of this moment, he might not open up for a while.

 

So I chose my words carefully. What needs to be said first and foremost before anything else.

 

“It’s definitely too early to say we’re a family, but that’s not because you and I aren’t related by blood, it’s because we don’t know each other very well.”

 

“If we know each other well,…can we be family? Even if we are not same blood?”

 

Of course! If same blood is mean we “are family, then parents who abandon their children are family, and children who stab their parents are family. It’s not the blood in your body that matters. It’s whether you consider each other family or not.”

 

And you know what, I already consider you as my family…

 

Noah’s eyes widened at my whispered words. I could only smile at the look of disbelief on his face.

 

‘I didn’t expect him to believe me right away.’

 

Like a drizzle soaking your clothes, if I keep telling him, he’ll gradually come to accept my words.

 

I will continue to live in this castle, as his mother.

 

“Speaking of which, let’s do a homework check. Have you finished the storybook I asked you to read?”

 

“Yes, I’ve read them all.”

 

Noah answered with great confidence.

 

It was a sincere answer, but I was a little disappointed.

 

“You can skip it,” I said.

 

“Because it was the first homework my mom ever gave me. I will cheat Next time when I want to.”

 

“Good! You promise?”

 

I held out my pinky, and Noah hesitantly linked his pinky finger with mine.

 

He wiggled our tightly intertwined fingers lightly and said, “I promise.” then Noah laugh.

 

The look on his face was so adorable, I pulled him into a tight hug.

 

‘He’s so cute! How can he be so cute!’

 

“We’re going to be a good family, trust me, Noah.”

 

“Yes. I will.”

 

Noah followed, still intertwining his little fingers with mine.

 

“I believe everything my mother says.”

 

His face was wet with tears, but he smiled the kind of sunny smile that looks so good on a five-year-old.

 * * * 

“oh, Your Highness the Marquis?”

 

The guard, who was frightened and hardened as if he had seen a ghost, belatedly saluted politely.

 

But Leonhardt had already passed through the gates into the lobby.

 

As he strode briskly toward the stairs, he was met by Lucius, who was returning to his room after finishing the paperwork until late in the night.

 

“Marquis…? Ah, no, the horns didn’t blow, how is that? Are the gates of Hiyela been cleared? You shouldn’t be doing this, you should be calling people….”

 

“There is no need to call. I just stopped by, so don’t bother announcing my presence.”

 

Leonhard gestured roughly to Lucius, who was falling in step behind him.

 

Certainly, his flushed cheeks and disheveled hair gave him away as someone who had just arrived at the castle.

 

However, Lucius couldn’t understand what he said, so he thought the word ‘wait’ in his head.

 

From the gate of Hiyela to Ajas Castle, even if the road was not laid down, the road was evenly maintained, so he could be reached in a day’s ride if a horse was fast enough.

 

But that’s a one-way trip, and you’d have to lose half a day to get to Castle Ajas and back to the Hiyela Gate.

 

In other words, it meant that you had to give up your sleeping time at all in order to really go for a short time.

 

‘You’ve never done this before…’

 

‘I wonder if he heard about what happened to the castle.’

 

Lucius was about to ask him about it.

 

“I hope nothing happened to the castle.”

 

‘As expected.’

 

Lucius swallowed hard.

 

“That…. There is.”

 

“What?”

 

As if that wasn’t the answer he was expecting, Leonhard stopped walking up the stairs and turned around.

 

At the moment, Lucius felt strangled by his glare. It was because he had committed a crime.

 

“No way, what my wife said really happened…?”

 

“You must have heard. Yes….That’s right.”

 * * *