How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 154

‘Of course. Life was never going to be that easy.’ 

 

It wasn’t like something given to me was being taken away again, but if this was how things were going to be, it would’ve been better not knowing who Noah’s real father was.

 

Barely suppressing the sigh that almost escaped, I turned to my guards, who were sitting in a circle, and asked them,

 

“Please keep everything you heard today a secret. This is an order from me as the Marquise of the Ajas. I’ll tell my husband myself.”

 

I tried to put on a serious and solemn expression, but it didn’t seem necessary.

 

Everyone nodded with a more serious expression than I did.

 

“Yes, Marquise. Of course.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll do that. It seems like something serious.”

 

“I will take this secret to the grave!”

 

Now then… What should I do next?

 

“They said we’ll talk more tomorrow. What could this ‘detailed conversation’ be about?”

 

The man who had called me Sesto or something, in addition to mentioning Noah’s origins, had said the important part wasn’t that.

 

“We should save this conversation for tomorrow. It’s not a story that can be wrapped up quickly.”

 

For now, I did as told—ate the meal they provided, bathed, and changed into comfortable clothes in the bedroom they guided me to.

 

Still, I couldn’t stop worrying. I wondered if the letter I sent to the castle through Marilyn had been delivered safely and I’m also worried about what we’re going to talk about tomorrow. 

 

In the midst of all that, Rake is still sleeping soundly, which is either unbelievable or ridiculous.

 

Then Sage muttered in a small voice.

 

“Maybe it’s about the wand…”

 

“Huh? The wand? Oh, right! Where is the wand?”

 

‘Wasn’t I holding it before I collapsed?’

 

As I looked around in search of the missing wand—which should’ve disappeared long ago anyway—Sage answered with an indescribable expression.

 

“It’s gone. No, I should say it disappeared.…”

 

“The magic stone embedded in the wand disappeared. Only the wooden wand remains.”

 

I was shocked by Noah’s explanation.

 

“What?”

 

“We don’t know exactly what happened.”

 

“All of us passed out as well. According to Marilyn, we were swept up in a massive magical storm.”

 

“I was the first one to wake up among us. By then, Sir Felix had already arrived… He retrieved the wand, which no longer had its magic stone, and asked if ‘that’ had absorbed it.”

 

“That?”

 

“It’s Rake.”

 

At Noah’s small answer, I looked at Rake lying on the soft cushion.

 

Now that I think about it, before I collapsed, Rake had flown toward the wand’s magic stone.

 

The moment Rake’s body and the magic stone collided, a dazzling light burst out, and I lost consciousness because of it…Was that when the magic storm occurred?

 

“Anyway, so you’re saying that Rake caused an accident?”

 

“Probably.”

 

“At least the wand wasn’t something that belonged to this tower, so we won’t be asked for compensation… But…”

 

Based on Marilyn’s reaction, the stone embedded in the wand wasn’t ordinary.

 

A special magic stone that may be even more valuable than the multi-attribute magic stone that the owner of this tower tried to take from me.

 

‘Considering how incredible it was, slamming into it, I hope there’s nothing wrong with Rake’s body…’

 

But Since I can see that Rake is sleeping soundly, I don’t think there is any need to worry.

 

As I watched Rake, a sudden question came to mind, and I turned to Catherine.

 

“Come to think of it, where did that wand come from?”

 

“I stole it from the great shaman of the barbarians.”

 

“Oh, I see… Wait, what? From who?”

 

“The Great Shaman of the Barbarians.”

 

Catherine spoke casually as If she was mentioning a trivial topic while munching on a cookie brought by the tower’s servant.

 

‘Wait… Not just any shaman, but the great shaman? Isn’t that an incredibly high-ranking person? Or am I mistaken?’

 

Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one whose face looked serious.

 

“Isn’t the great shaman the leader of all shamans?”

 

“Probably. I heard that the great Shaman brainwashes monsters and distributes them to other shamans.  That way, even shamans who wouldn’t normally be able to control certain monsters can do so.”

 

“Then… could the frequent monster attacks we’ve had recently be…”

 

“Yes, it looks like it was because of the great Shaman.”

 

Catherine licked the cookie crumbs off her fingers and let out a bombshell statement.

 

“But that won’t happen anymore. I heard that it was thanks to that wand that he was able to become a great shaman.”

 

“Wait a minute. So, the barbarians attacked this tower… because they were trying to get the wand back?”

 

Apparently, stealing the Great Shaman’s wand had gone smoothly at first, but they found out about it right away.

 

While escaping from the pursuers, she spotted the tower in the distance and decided to hide inside, breaking down the door to get in.

 

“You… broke the door?”

 

“Yes. It was a wooden door, so it was easy to break.”

 

Catherine’s innocent and cheerful expression made it hard to even get mad. 

 

Staring into the air, I silently thought.

 

‘Compensation for damages….If it comes to it, I’ll have to empty my personal funds.’ 

 

‘If they made a bigger deal out of it, I’d just… well, I’d give them the multi-attribute magic stone.’

 

“Did I do something wrong?”

 

‘Was my expression not very good?’

 

Catherine put down the bowl of cookies she was happily eating and looked at me.

 

‘Did you do something wrong? Of course, you did.’

 

You made a huge mistake—breaking the seal on a tower that had been locked for over 100 years, smashing the door, and letting the barbarians in.

 

‘But both problems were solved anyway.’

 

I figured Leonhard would give Catherine a proper scolding for her mistakes later.

 

I shook my head as I remembered the image of her lying on the bed, seemingly dead.

 

“It’s okay. As a result, we were able to significantly reduce the barbarian force. But don’t try to force yourself like that again. And really? Did my husband say that? You will be my escort?”

 

“Yeah. He promised.”

 

Though Catherine smiled brightly, I couldn’t shake the feeling that things wouldn’t turn out the way she expected.

 

But I didn’t want to bother her by saying things like that, so I just kept my mouth shut.

 

“Ugh, I’m so tired… Let’s leave the rest of the talk for later and get some sleep.”

 

“Oh, yes. Then we will stand guard outside.”

 

“Guard? Is that really necessary?”

 

Noah was Felix’s son, and I was apparently some kind of ‘Sesto,’ so that Felix wouldn’t dare to harm me.

 

But as if that wasn’t enough to make them feel safe, they went out to guard the room. 

 

I couldn’t stop them any longer, so I ended up nodding.

 

“Let’s go to sleep now, Noah.”

 

“Yes, Mother.”

 

Marilyn gave us rooms according to the number of people, but we decided to all sleep in the largest room.

 

I’ll sleep with Noah on the large bed, Catherine, who was a patient until just now, will sleep on the small bed, and Sage will sleep on the long sofa.

 

Although they didn’t show it on the outside, they were both probably very tired. Sage and Catherine fell asleep quickly.

 

I was also quite tired, so I thought I would fall asleep right away when I lay down in bed, but contrary to my expectations, I had a hard time falling asleep.

 

‘Why can’t I sleep? Is it because I woke up the latest?’

 

But I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t fall asleep yet.

 

“You’re not asleep yet?”

 

“No… Noah, what about you? Can’t sleep either?”

 

I turned to Noah, lay down, and examined the child’s face.

 

The room was dark so I couldn’t see very well, but I thought I could tell what kind of expression Noah had on his face as he nodded slightly.

 

‘Even after meeting his father, he can’t simply be happy about it.’

 

Even if I leave aside the fact that Felix is of barbarian blood, I didn’t think he would be a good father to Noah. 

 

‘If he dares to claim custody or parenting rights now, just watch—I’ll never lose.’

 

Determined to never give up, I reached out and hugged Noah’s body.

 

The soft and warm body came into my arms and hugged me. I was happy about this naturalness and patted Noah on the back.

 

“Mother…aren’t you… displeased with me?”

 

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

 

“I have barbarian blood flowing through my veins. I also have the power of a monster.”

 

It was a voice that gave off an atmosphere even more gloomy than the darkness that covered the room.

 

While I was surprised and froze, Noah continued talking.

 

“That man is right. I can tell when someone is lying… because their voice trembles, and I can hear it. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier…”

 

“Why are you apologizing for that? It’s okay. You were just scared, weren’t you?”

 

The reason he didn’t say anything on purpose was probably because he knew that it was a power that only he possessed.

 

‘Before Noah realized it was a power, how many lies must Noah have heard? What kind of lies were they?’

 

The thought made my heart ache.

 

But more than that, something else worried me even more.

 

“Noah.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Have I ever…..lied to you?”

 

The words were stuck in my mouth and lingered on the tip of my tongue for a long time.

 

In the dark room, I felt fortunate that my expression couldn’t be seen. I was scared, so scared.

 

‘I thought I was doing my best, but what if I wasn’t? What if Noah had been hurt and burdened alone by something I didn’t even realize?’

 

‘Before questioning someone else’s worthiness to be a parent… Do I even have the right to call myself this child’s mother?’

 

Once that thought occurred to me, I became so scared that I couldn’t control myself.

 

I regret opening my mouth in the first place and bit down on my lip, unsure of what else to do.

 

But then, I felt a small hand wrap around my arm.

 

Startled, I turned my gaze toward him, and Noah’s voice reached me—a small but clear voice.

 

“Mother… you’ve never lied to me. Not even once.”

 

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