How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 152

“Yes? Me…? This is mine?”

 

The mouth opened wide and the eyes trembled like water. As the person giving the gift, I was very pleased by the response which was beyond my expectations.

 

“Yeah. You’ve suffered a lot because of me. And you’ll probably go through more in the future.”

 

“I-I was just doing what I was supposed to! But if you give me something so precious, I—my hands are shaking so much.”

 

It wasn’t just empty words, but Sage’s hands that were receiving the wand were shaking as if an earthquake had occurred.

 

I waved my hand, saying there was no need to feel so burdened.

 

“It’s something I won’t use anyway. It’s better for someone who needs it to use it rather than just displaying it in my room like a decoration.”

 

“But, still….”

 

“I even had your name engraved on it. Do you really dislike it that much?”

 

As per my request, Sage’s name was elegantly engraved on the shaft of the wand.

 

Upon seeing that, perhaps Sage finally believed the wand was truly hers. Sage’s eyes filled with emotion and desire.

 

“I’ll… I’ll serve you for life! Forever loyal to you, Marquise!”

 

“Alright. I’ll count on you from now on.”

 

“….Wait a second!! Could it be that the thing embedded in that wand is a multi-attribute magic stone? Is that why you brought the Marquise here? I thought you brought her here because of your son!”

 

“My son?”

 

“Yes, your son. He is the master’s son…”

 

Marilyn’s voice suddenly became quiet as she spoke, pointing at Noah with a polite gesture. Perhaps it was because of the numerous eyes focused on her.

 

She looked flustered, as if she hadn’t expected such a reaction, and glanced at Felix with a distressed expression.

 

“W–Why is everyone looking at me like that…? Did I get it wrong? Isn’t the young master of Ajas the master’s biological son?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Right? See, I knew it! It can’t be wrong!”

 

Marilyn let out a sigh of relief and looked back and forth between Noah and Felix, muttering that they really did look alike.

 

‘Indeed, if you placed them side by side, they definitely look similar.’

 

“Marilyn, how can you be sure that Noah is your master’s son? It’s not like you knew about Noah’s existence in advance.”

 

“Of course not! Our Master, no, we didn’t know that Lady Louise had given birth. If we had known, we would have come to see him long ago.”

 

The name Louise came out of Marilyn’s mouth quite naturally. It was certainly surprising, but I was more intrigued by what she said next.

 

“Are you saying you would’ve come to take Noah if you had known about him?”

 

“Of course! He’s our master’s son. Even if he hadn’t taken care of him, I would have taken care of him.”

 

“Even if he hadn’t taken care of him?”

 

When I repeated the part that bothered me, Marilyn’s gaze briefly darted to the ceiling.

 

Realizing her slip-up, she quickly met my eyes again but ultimately lowered her gaze, unable to endure my piercing stare.

 

“I didn’t mean to imply that our master abandoned his son… Please say something, Master! You only just met your son—how can you just stay quiet!”

 

It was hard to tell whether Marilyn was trying to defend her master or criticize him.

 

Regardless, Felix was just sipping his drink. He didn’t even look at me.

 

His behavior was so annoying. I glared at him with all my might, then turned to look at Noah, who was listening to this whole story.

 

The child, who had been waiting for me to meet his gaze, smiled brightly at me. As if Marilyn’s story and Felix’s attitude were nothing to him.

 

But it was impossible to know what he was thinking inside because Noah was not good at expressing his feelings on the outside.

 

Feeling somewhat concerned, I quickly picked Noah up and hugged him, placing him on my lap.

 

I felt a little sorry for the child who was leaning against my arms as if he had been waiting, so naturally, my eyes turned sharp like thorns toward Felix.

 

“If you truly didn’t know about Noah, shouldn’t you have been more surprised when you saw him? You said you didn’t even know Louise had given birth.”

 

“That’s true. I didn’t know she gave birth… but I knew she was pregnant.”

 

“Is that true?”

 

Marilyn glanced at me briefly and nodded. I was a little confused because I didn’t understand the answer.

 

“How is that possible? You knew she was pregnant but didn’t know she had given birth?”

 

“That’s….Lady Louise…uh…”

 

Marilyn was about to say something, but then glanced at Noah and closed her mouth.

 

It seems like it’s not a good thing for a child to hear.

 

As expected.

 

“That woman told me she wouldn’t give birth to my child.”

 

“…..”

 

“She said she would kill my child before he was born. Those were the last words she ever spoke to me. And then she disappeared.”

 

‘What did I just hear?’

 

“I saved her from dying and she kept going back and forth between this tower and the outside, slaughtering the barbarians. Her hatred for the barbarians was beyond imagination.”

 

Felix lifted his glass to his lips and continued speaking.

 

“So I assumed that she would do exactly what she said. Of course, I never thought that the child adopted by the Marquis Ajas would be Louise’s child.”

 

The sound of a glass being set down on the table broke the still silence.

 

I doubted my ears, replaying Felix’s words over and over in my mind before finally looking at Noah.

 

Noah, who had always seemed indifferent toward his biological father, appeared shaken by those words.

 

“He inherited… barbarian blood?”

 

“To be precise, it’s a quarter. I’m half.”

 

“No way…”

 

“Didn’t you suspect it at all? I’m sure he has some abilities tied to it—like his ears.”

 

“What do his ears have to do with that?”

 

Confused, I frowned, but Felix casually popped a cherry into his mouth and said,

 

“I can tell when someone is lying. Noah, you probably have that power too.”

 

“Noah, is that true…?”

 

Only then did I notice how pale Noah’s face had become.

 

“I… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Mother. I was wrong.”

 

“No, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. Why are you apologizing?”

 

Avoiding my gaze, Noah lowered his head and clenched his trembling hands into fists on his lap.

 

Instinctively, I took his hands to comfort him, and that’s when I realized it.

 

‘Noah really did have that ability.’

 

‘He already knew about it. But he kept it hidden.’

 

He must have discovered it was a unique power of his and been afraid of what would happen if others found out.

 

How hard it must have been to carry such a secret.

 

“It’s okay. That’s not something to be ashamed of—it’s amazing. Think about how many liars there are in the world. Isn’t it great that you won’t be deceived by them?”

 

“It’s not something to praise. It’s proof of barbarian blood. That woman probably has some kind of power too.”

 

Felix’s eyes turned to Catherine.

 

Catherine, who had been walking up to the table where Felix was sitting and eating a piece of beef jerky, glanced at Felix and nodded.

 

“That’s right. I can sense other people’s emotions, or feelings.”

 

“Feelings?”

 

“Yeah. Right now, the young master seems happy. He’s relieved because Nell said it’s okay… Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t have read that.”

 

Noah buried his face in my arms without saying anything in response to Catherine’s seemingly insincere apology.

 

‘I’m so glad he felt reassured with just a few words. He must have been very surprised, and I was worried about how I could appease him… Ah, he said Noah could tell if someone was lying?’

 

‘He must have felt reassured because he could tell my words weren’t a lie. Because I was sincere when I reassured him that it was okay…’

 

“All barbarians are a mix of monsters and humans. Long ago, humans made a contract with monsters to gain power and then conceived children using the monster’s energy as a seed. Those children became the ancestors of the barbarians.”

 

“What?”

 

‘A human becomes pregnant using only the energy of a monster? Is that possible?’

 

“A child born that way could use the powers of the monster that gave him the energy. Among them, the power that Noah and I have is the power to break magic that was originally implemented in the form of sound…..Anyway, let’s leave the complicated story for later.”

 

“It’s already complicated enough…”

 

This was something that wasn’t in the book. Not only about the barbarians, but also about Noah’s abilities.

 

‘If Noah had that ability, it would have definitely been mentioned.…’

 

There’s no way it wouldn’t have been explained. 

 

There was definitely a scene where Noah was tricked by someone and put in danger.

 

‘Does that mean this ability will disappear later? Why?’

 

‘But Felix said he had the same power. That must mean it’s not an ability that fades with age…’

 

‘Ah, my head is going to explode.’

 

I decided not to think about the story in the book for now. Even if I excluded the parts that changed because of me, most of the events took place twenty years later—how could I possibly use them as a reference?

 

“Now do you understand why I can’t harm you?”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

Why is the conversation jumping from A to Q?

 

“What else could I mean? Ultimately, as someone with monster blood, I can’t harbor hostility toward you… Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”

 

“Didn’t know what?”

 

At my question, Felix’s gaze slightly lowered and turned to Noah.

 

“He must have felt it too. The unreasonable attraction towards the woman who is embracing him right now.”

 

* * *