How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 206

The day my brother and Layla were to have their arranged meeting.

 

I invited Layla to my dressing room and worked with the maids to dress her up with all my might.

 

“Oh my god…! Layla, you’re so pretty!”

 

“Really? Then will the Count also fall in love with me at first sight?”

 

I wanted to tell her that he probably would—but I couldn’t say it with confidence.

 

It was hard to imagine my older brother falling for someone at first sight.

 

‘Come to think of it, I don’t even know what kind of women my older brother likes.’

 

His engagement to Julia had been arranged by our parents before birth, so it was hard to say she was his ideal type.

 

After breaking up with Julia, he was so busy with work that he didn’t have time to meet women.

 

“Hmm…. I’m not sure, but I think my older brother would be weak to aggressive women.”

 

Rather than confessing first, I feel like he would get pushed around by a woman who keeps insisting on liking him, leaving him flustered and just going along with it.

 

“Really? I’m confident if it’s about being aggressive!”

 

Cheering on Layla, who was determined to win over Count Howard’s heart, I sent her off to the living room.

 

Actually, I had suggested the garden for the meeting place, but maybe he thought I’d try to spy?

 

My older brother insisted on an indoor location instead—with multiple maids present and the door open.

 

“Seriously, Brother Liv knows me too well. It’s a curse.”

 

– what?

 

“It’s nothing.”

 

At my words, Rake tilted her little head and then started pecking at the strawberries again.

 

I looked at Rake, who was eating a whole basket of strawberries just today, and thought to myself, how lucky I am to be a rich noble.

 

‘No way I could afford his strawberry bill on a normal income…’

 

There’s nothing more petty than lording food over someone, and nothing more miserable than getting scolded over food.

 

I gave up the strawberries from my cake to Rake and focused again on the magic control practice tool I had received from Felix.

 

“Please… I just want to see them live peacefully for once.”

 

The magical tool Felix created was shaped like a snowball.

 

Inside the round crystal ball was a miniature estate with mountains in the back and a river in front.

 

There were houses clustered around the lord’s castle—basically a miniature fief.

 

Moreover, there were not only buildings inside, but also people and livestock.

 

I took a deep breath as I looked at them, who were still as if time had stopped.

 

Then I placed my hand on the snowball and concentrated my magic.

 

–Flash!

 

The magic power that escaped from my hand was concentrated in the snowball.

 

And with it, the tiny people and animals inside began to move.

 

People come out of their homes, sweep the front yard with brooms, feed the chickens, walk the dogs, and head to the river with fishing rods.

 

Guards from the castle patrolled the roads, men with hoes on their shoulders went to the fields, and women with laundry baskets headed for the river.

 

Just when I thought I might finally get a peaceful day…

 

Dark clouds suddenly gathered over the snowball, and a snowstorm struck.

 

The people who had been calmly going about their day panicked and fled, only to instantly become snowmen.

 

I quickly pulled my hand away from the snowball.

 

“Again! Again!”

 

– Nell wiped out the whole estate.

 

“Don’t say that. If someone hears you, they’ll misunderstand.”

 

– This is already the 43rd time.

 

If you count the ones I practiced secretly, it’s the 51st time.

 

I sighed as I watched the snowball revert back to its original state after its magic supply was cut off.

 

“They said that if I do this well, I could watch a whole month of daily life with this…”

 

What’s a month? I haven’t made a single day of progress.

 

According to Marilyn, there was supposed to be a banquet at the castle on the 15th day, where the prince would fall in love with the lord’s daughter and they’d marry by the 30th.

 

But the daughter was originally engaged to the neighboring lord’s son, so the man who had his fiancée stolen declared a feud and brought knights to start a domain war.

 

‘That domain war is supposed to require more advanced magic control.’

 

But forget the domain war—I’ve already triggered 51 blizzards.

 

At least my main element isn’t fire. They said disasters vary with magic affinity, and with fire, the estate would be engulfed in lava from a volcanic eruption.

 

‘I’d rather have a snowman than that… Ugh, no. What’s better?’

 

I refocused my magic on the snowball, determined to save the people this time.

 

* * *

 

“The Blue Thorn Mercenaries, fully recovered, are heading back to search for their missing member… Your Highness?”

 

“Huh? Ah.”

 

Leonhard, momentarily distracted, gestured for Crow to continue. But his gaze remained fixed on the bookmark on his desk.

 

Eventually, Crow couldn’t help but ask,

 

“It’s a bookmark I’ve never seen before.”

 

The previous bookmark seemed to have had three leaves, but the one Leonhard was looking at now had four leaves.

 

When Crow pointed that out, Leonhard smiled faintly, as if impressed.

 

“Noah gave me this.”

 

“Young Master?”

 

“Yeah. He and my wife made a clover field in the greenhouse and found a four-leaf clover to give to me. Me, specifically.”

 

He emphasized “me” a few times and even brought out the three-leaf clover bookmark to show off.

 

“Did you know that? The flower language of a three-leaf clover is happiness, and the flower language of a four-leaf clover is good luck.”

 

“Uh… I didn’t know.”

 

“I think the meaning is very accurate.”

 

Meeting Noah was luck, and meeting his wife brought him happiness.

 

Leonhard gazed fondly at the two bookmarks, but came back to his senses when Crow cleared his throat and gestured for him to continue the report.

 

This time, he seemed really focused, so Crow resumed the report he had just given.

 

“The Blue Thorn Mercenaries returned to the dungeon to search for their missing members. We plan to subdue the chimeras there, so Black Wolf knights, White Hawk wizards, and the messengers will set off together.”

 

“If they finish off the chimera and still don’t find the member, have them assist with the search.”

 

“Yes, Your Highness.”

 

“What’s the result of the dungeon search?”

 

“We checked all the dungeons within the border territory, but found no signs of human presence.”

 

“Well, other dungeons are thoroughly managed.…”

 

This incident prompted Marquis Cloud to vow tighter control of the dungeon beneath the Anild Grand Canyon.

 

If only he had done so earlier, the kidnapping of Lady Cloud wouldn’t have happened.

 

“If there are any documents or records inside the dungeon, bring them all. And if you find any stones glowing blood red, seal them immediately and bring them to me.”

 

“Yes, Your Highness.”

 

After Crow left to carry out the orders, Leonhard, organizing the documents on his desk, suddenly remembered what had happened in the capital.

 

‘Didn’t they say there were signs of human presence in the dungeon under Count Gordon’s territory back then…?’

 

‘Could there be a chimera there too?’

 

Unfortunately, all the information collected at that time was destroyed.

 

‘If the other person was a close noble, I would have asked him directly, but aside from friendship, Count Gordon was currently in prison.’

 

‘Then who has his title and territory now?’

 

After thinking for a while, Leonhard took out a crystal ball from the drawer and injected magic into it.

 

He thought that there might be no reaction, but a human image quickly formed inside the crystal ball.

 

–Marquis

 

“You look awful.”

 

Though his voice sounded indifferent, there was a faint layer of concern hidden in it.

 

Duke Khalid noticed this and wiped his noticeably haggard face with his palm.

 

– His Majesty is pushing me a little.

 

“Really?”

 

Leonhard knew that the fatigue weighing on Duke Khalid’s shoulders wasn’t just because of that.

 

However, Leonhard nodded without saying anything, as the image of Duke Khalid fainting beyond the screen was still vivid in his mind.

 

– That’s good. The subordinate I had sent to the island had just arrived.

 

“Island?”

 

Duke Khalid nodded.

 

– At the time, I executed all the pirates who had killed even a single person. But I showed leniency to those who had been forcibly taken and made to work as laborers.

 

“I see.”

 

– However, since they had once boarded a pirate ship, whether by force or otherwise, they could not be sent back to their hometown, but were sent to a deserted island and made to settle there.

 

Duke Khalid explained that they were still under surveillance because they were the ones who had boarded the pirate ship that had killed innocent people and looted their property.

 

“So, what’s the result?”

 

– There was one. One person who had boarded the pirate ship that attacked the sunken vessel.

 

Seeing Duke Khalid cover his face with his hand in anguish, Leonhard sensed he had uncovered something serious.

 

– According to that man, before they sank the ship, someone was taken from it and locked in a cabin.

 

“When you say ‘someone’… how many exactly? Could it be…?”

 

– The former Count and Countess Howard are indeed dead. He testified clearly. Only one person was taken from the ship.

 

Leonhard bit his lip at Duke Khalid’s firm words.

 

‘If they were alive, Raenel would have been very happy.…’

 

“That one person must have been your former wife.”

 

– Yes. It was a scheme to steal my former wife from the beginning. The ridiculous amount of gold they demanded from the beginning must have been a pretense.

 

Of course, the reason Duke Khalid did not grant the pirates’ demands was not because they were demanding a large sum of money.

 

If the pirates succeed in taking hostages and extorting money, how many more hostages will they take next?

 

But many people blamed him for making the wrong choice.

 

If he had given the money, all the hostages would have lived.

 

But the truth was the opposite.

 

Even if he had handed over the gold, all the hostages would have been killed anyway—

 

To hide the fact that the real target was the former Duchess of Khalid in the first place.

 

* * *