How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 198

“I’ll be honest with you. I heard from Hiyela how your parents died.”

 

“You heard that…?”

 

In the darkness, I saw Leonhard’s body stiffen as he half-rose.

 

It would’ve been better if he had just gotten angry.

 

I grabbed Leonhard’s arm, helped him up, and buried myself in his broad chest.

 

“I’m sorry for bringing it up for no reason. Honestly, I regretted it right after, thinking I shouldn’t have said anything. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt like you were carrying too much alone.”

 

Wondering if he had eaten properly, I reached out to touch his chest. He caught my hand.

 

“That’s not true.”

 

“It’s not? Really?”

 

“Yes.”

 

His answer came too quickly, unnaturally. I didn’t let his agitation pass me by.

 

“Then explain it to me yourself. What happened when you returned to the castle?”

 

“That’s….”

 

“If it really doesn’t matter to you, then you can talk about it, right?”

 

It seemed that he couldn’t refute what I said.

 

After hesitating for a moment, Leonhard wrapped his arms around the back of my head and pulled me into his arms before opening his mouth.

 

“Have you ever heard about how the former Marquis and his wife died?”

 

“I don’t know the details, but I heard that he died from an infectious disease.”

 

“Yes. I told people to spread that rumor… but the truth is, my father was murdered by my mother. And afterward, she took her own life.”

 

It was just as I heard from Hiyela.

 

I wanted to see what kind of expression Leonhard had as he said it, but he must have sensed that, because he held me tighter, not letting me pull away.

 

“For as long as I can remember, they didn’t get along. My father had already brought a mistress into the guest room of the East palace.”

 

The guest room of the East palace—wasn’t that the one Leonhard shut down right after becoming the Marquis?

 

Now I understood his disgust for mistresses.

 

“While it’s common for nobles to keep mistresses, my father’s case was excessive. He took her with him even to official events.”

 

“What? That completely destroys the lady of the house’s authority!”

 

“That’s why my mother kept protesting. But my father just scoffed, saying she had no right to raise her voice when she couldn’t fulfill her duties as Marquise.”

 

“What duties?!”

 

“At the time, neither my sister nor I had manifested the symbol.”

 

‘Why would the children’s lack of symbol manifestation be the wife’s fault?’

 

‘Wasn’t Leonhard eight or nine when he manifested his symbol? Then how young was he when he heard such things?”

 

“My mother said she’d try for another child, but my father refused. He said she’d already failed twice and didn’t deserve another chance.”

 

“…‘She’?”

 

Leonhard exhaled deeply over my head, then rested his cheek against my crown.

 

“Yes. He announced that he would get the mistress pregnant instead.”

 

“What? He openly declared he’d father an illegitimate child? Even for a Marquis, isn’t that crossing a line?”

 

“Even if they are illegitimate, if they manifest the symbol or pattern of Ajas, they have priority in inheriting the title.”

 

Originally, this would have been grounds for divorce. However, if the matter had been taken to court, the judge would have sided with the former Marquis.

 

The most important thing for the five noble families, including the imperial family, is to pass on power.

 

The living proof of that was the First Prince.

 

“If the illegitimate child were to manifest the symbol, my mother’s position would have collapsed completely.… So my mother put a birth control pill in my father’s glass.”

 

“Good for her.”

 

“Yes. So the mistress couldn’t give birth to a child, and just as my father started to suspect something, I manifested the symbol.”

 

Leonhard once said that his relationship with his sister soured after that. But if he hadn’t manifested it, maybe his entire family would have collapsed.

 

‘Wow… how did he survive all this?’

 

I hugged Leonhard’s back tighter, and he rubbed his cheek against my head more.

 

That oddly childlike gesture softened something inside me.

 

“So did things get better for your mother then?”

 

“No. My father said she had fulfilled her duty as Marquise, so he no longer had any reason to see her. He forbade her from even setting foot in the East palace.”

 

‘Unbelievable.’

 

“How can a person be like that? If that’s the case, then you shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place!”

 

“My uncle said that when my sister was born, they were very much in love. But when my mother became pregnant with me, everything changed. That’s when he brought in the mistress, and things fell apart.”

 

Leonhard paused, then said quietly:

 

“That mistress… was the Marquise of Calvin.”

 

“Who…?”

 

“The Marquise of Calvin. The same person you know.”

 

“Wait, no way…!”

 

He continued talking while rubbing my back to comfort me, who was surprised.

 

“When I went to the capital to inherit the title, she saw me and called out my father’s name. I wondered how she knew it, so I asked my uncle, and he told me everything.”

 

“Oh my god….”

 

No one had known her past before marrying Marquis Calvin… because she had once been the former Marquis’s mistress?

 

“After that, I rarely saw my parents together. So when I returned to the estate upon hearing of their deaths and read my mother’s suicide note, I wasn’t all that surprised.”

 

“What did it say?”

 

“She said that although killing the Marquis was a great crime, she hoped they’d allow her to die as the Marquise, for the grace of having given birth to me.”

 

“That’s all? She didn’t leave you any other message?”

 

“There was no reason to. If my sister were the one reading it, perhaps my mother would’ve written something more.”

 

“That’s why my mother hated me. She said I didn’t resemble her in any way.”

 

‘I didn’t think about it because he spoke so casually….. but maybe it wasn’t just dislike.’

 

‘And then she said something about the grace of giving birth to him?’

 

“So I honored her last wish… and that was it. Since then, I’ve stayed at the castle, fulfilling my duties as Marquis.”

 

“Is that really the end of it? You didn’t resent your mother, hate her, or feel sad?”

 

Leonhard hesitated for a while and then answered in a small voice.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really. There was no reason to be sad.”

 

‘There was no reason to be sad….’

 

‘Of all the stories I heard from Leonhard, that was the saddest.’

 

“I understand why you’re worried about me. But what worries me more… is that you might avoid me, thinking I’m the son of such a disgraceful man.”

 

“Why would I think that? I know exactly what kind of person you are.”

 

If anything, it’s amazing how good a person he turned out to be.

 

I slowly raised my head, and this time Leonhard did not stop me.

 

When I finally saw his face, it was dry and expressionless, and the only emotion I could see was a faint fear.

 

A fear that I might hate him.

 

Maybe he didn’t want me to see that he wasn’t sad about his parents’ deaths.

 

Because he knew how devastated I was when mine passed.

 

Idiot. Just as you can be family even if you’re not related by blood, you can’t be family even if you’re related by blood.

 

“So those people… they just weren’t your family, right?”

 

“Yes….”

 

“You don’t need to worry about how I feel. Anyway, that’s all that matters. I was just worried that you might be suffering all alone.”

 

I looked at Leonhard’s face one last time to check.

 

“But you really are okay, right?”

 

“I’m okay, If you say you’re okay too, Ma’am.”

 

“I told you I’m okay, right?”

 

‘Why does he keep asking when I said I’m okay?’

 

Thinking that, I figured Leonhard was probably thinking the same thing, so I decided not to ask any more questions.

 

“Well, it’s not like there’s a reason you wouldn’t be okay. You have me and Noah, after all.”

 

“You’re right.”

 

I hugged him tightly once more as he nodded vigorously.

 

“Let’s go to sleep now. We’re in trouble if we don’t wake up early tomorrow.”

 

I laid Leonhard down and rested my head on his arm again.

 

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me into his embrace. Then, I spoke softly.

 

“From now on… if anything ever upsets you, you have to tell me, okay? Don’t suffer alone.”

 

“As long as you promise to do the same.”

 

“Okay. Promise.”

 

After intertwining our little fingers and shaking them gently, I buried my face in his chest to hide my yawn.

 

“Mmm, what were we talking about before we got distracted…? Ah, right. What does your mother look like?”

 

Leonhard explained again, his voice devoid of any emotion.

 

“She had black hair and violet eyes. Just as I take after my father, my sister resembled my mother with the same black hair and violet eyes.”

 

“Wow….. If you consider that a child can resemble their grandparents, then there must be so many possible combinations, huh?”

 

Come to think of it, what kind of hair and what kind of eyes does my biological father have?

 

I was vaguely wondering what kind of person it was that had passed down the Sesto pattern to me, when Leonhard whispered in a low voice while playing with my hair.

 

“No matter what color hair or eyes our child is born with, if they’re ours, they’ll surely be adorable.”

 

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