How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 282

“Shit, this thing’s a high-level monster?”

 

Basically, the standard for dividing monster levels is the location of the magic stone.

 

If the magic stone is revealed in an easy-to-target location, it is low-level.

 

If it is revealed in a difficult-to-target location, it is intermediate-level.

 

And if the magic stone is revealed in an invisible location, such as inside the body, it is high-level.

 

Although there are exceptions, most are graded according to this criterion.

 

‘It was already a high-level monster, and now it’s got a damn steel tail…’

 

Can the two of them really take it down?

 

Alexander felt sweat forming in the hand holding the sword due to the rising tension.

 

‘Damn it, I should’ve trained harder. If only I could use aura…’

 

If his comrades had heard that, they would’ve scoffed—How could you possibly train harder than you already do?

 

But they weren’t here. They were out helping the civilians evacuate.

 

Alexander felt regretful about that, but also considered it fortunate. If the civilians’ evacuation had been delayed, the fighting would have been more difficult.

 

‘Isn’t it fortunate that we didn’t run into each other in the square?’

 

“This way, you punk!”

 

Alexander exchanged glances with Violet and provoked Poison Mantis, dragging it into an empty alley.

 

“Well, at least it followed the bait easily…”

 

“What do we do now?”

 

—Clang, clang!

 

Violette, retreating into the alley as if being pushed back by the sharp forelegs of the mantis, hid behind a half-collapsed wall and checked her sword.

 

“The sword is starting to wear down! It’ll break any moment!”

 

“Use this!”

 

Dodging the heavy tail hammer flying toward him, Alexander flung his sword—still in its scabbard—toward Violette.

 

She took the sword reflexively and asked Alexander in a bewildered voice.

 

“If you give me this, what about you?”

 

“Anyway, it’s useless now—Arghh!”

 

—Boom!

 

“Alex!”

 

“Don’t come! I’m fine.….”

 

“Huh, hhhhhh!”

 

Alexander’s eyes widened as he clutched his twisted ankle beneath the debris.

 

He looked at the place where the crying sound came from with a shocked face.

 

“Hiks, huff….!”

 

Either he lost his parents and was wandering around, or he took a wrong turn while running away.

 

In an alleyway, a child who looked to be about six or seven years old was sitting on the floor, covering his mouth with both hands.

 

The child, his face pale and terrified, even bit his hand to keep himself from making a sound.

 

However, he ended up attracting Poison Mantis’s attention.

 

“Kreeeek!”

 

“Damn it,”

 

Watching the heavy tail hammer swing in a wide arc through the air, Alexander clenched his teeth.

 

“Run, hurry! Please!”

 

Violette, pinned down by the mantis’s slashing forelegs, shouted.

 

“Hiks! Waaah!”

 

But the child remained frozen in place, unable to move.

 

The tail hammer flies towards the child with fierce force.

 

If it hit, the child wouldn’t even have bones left.

 

Knowing that—no, because he knew— Alexander threw himself forward and pushed the child away.

 

“Wahhhh!”

 

“Alex!”

 

The child rolled roughly across the ground, crying loudly, while Violette screamed Alexander’s name in sheer terror.

 

Alessandro closed his eyes tightly, unable to see the tail hammer flying towards his head.

 

‘Shit…’

 

As death loomed, a montage of his life flashed before his closed eyelids.

 

His late parents, his siblings, all the moments he’d devoted to becoming a knight—all passed through his mind.

 

And at the very end—

 

An emotion like lingering regret gripped his ankles, making the moment feel agonizingly long—

 

—Crash!

 

“Wow, that was close…”

 

A woman’s voice, mixed with a sigh of relief, was heard behind the heavy cracking sound heard nearby.

 

Alexander didn’t feel any shock or pain hitting his whole body.

 

When Alexander finally opened his eyes, what he saw was a red-haired woman standing in front of him.

 

A semi-transparent black shield enveloped both her and him.

 

“You are….”

 

“You’re Nell’s brother, right? Then no way. If you die, Nell will be sad.”

 

“She’s right, Sir Alec.”

 

A man’s voice interrupting Catherine’s words could be heard from a distance.

 

Turning his head, he saw Ethan gently holding and comforting the sniffling child.

 

“Sir Ethan? …Why are you here?”

 

“The young master ordered it. More than that,….”

 

Ethan stepped back from the Poison Mantis’s range, clearly worried about the child in his arms. Then he blinked in disbelief at the scene before him.

 

“This thing… how dare it…”

 

The tail that had bounced off the protective shield that Catherine had deployed with her magic tool was already cut off and rolling around on the ground.

 

And that wasn’t all.

 

The once-aggressive creature now lay pathetically on the ground while Violette tore into it with wild ferocity—using Alexander’s sword, now glowing with a faint lavender aura.

 

“A sword Master….”

 

The sword aura flickered like a candle in the wind, but it was undeniably a sword aura.

 

The proof was that every time she swung her sword, the locust’s body was torn to pieces.

 

“Wow, she’s really mad… so scary….”

 

Catherine shivered as she peeked from behind Alexander.

 

Ethan, seeing that, coughed slightly and then approached Alexander while holding the sobbing child in his arms.

 

“Sir Alex, shouldn’t you stop your colleague?”

 

“Huh? Oh… Yeah. You’re right.”

 

Alexander cautiously approached Violette, who was extremely excited and running wild.

 

“Hey, Violet. Maybe that’s enough…”

 

After driving the sword deep into the mantis’s belly and shattering its mana stone, Violette finally dropped the sword to the ground.

 

“That’s my sword—”

 

“Waaaahhh!”

 

Alexander’s timid protests were drowned out by Violette’s loud sobs.

 

Violette, who had just slaughtered a ferocious monster, ran to Alexander and hugged his neck, and burst into tears in a truly sad manner.

 

He could feel her tears soaking into his chest. Flustered, Alexander hesitated before awkwardly patting her back.

 

“No, really, I’m fine…”

 

“I thought you were going to die. I thought you were going to die…”

 

“Yeah. I thought I was going to—ugh!”

 

“You call that comforting now?!”

 

Violette glared at Alexander with tearful eyes, then kicked his shin with a grudge.

 

Unfortunately, it was the same leg with the twisted ankle, and he cried out in pain, but clenched his teeth to endure it.

 

He was afraid Violette would cry again if she found out he was injured.

 

“By the way, congrats on becoming a Sword Master. I haven’t even caught up to you yet, and now the gap’s even wider.”

 

Although the congratulations were sincere, there was a hint of bitterness in his voice.

 

Violette’s wet eyes flashed as she spoke combatively, her tone already feeling distant.

 

“So what? You’re going to give up?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You’ve still got at least 100 more years to live. There’s plenty of time.”

 

“Wait—100 years? That’s a bit much…”

 

“I’ll protect you so you can live 100 more years. So stay by my side. Keep training until you defeat me.”

 

In the raw eyes of the baby that had just hatched from the egg, some emotion bordering on madness was clearly flashing.

 

‘If I had to give a name to that feeling, which she doesn’t even seem to have realized yet, it would be closer to obsession.’

 

Of all the people present, only Ethan noticed that.

 

‘Uh… that seems kinda dangerous.’

As he thought about that, Violette was shaking Alexander’s shoulder, urging him to answer.

 

“You swore you’d catch up to me. Was that a lie?”

 

“It wasn’t a lie, but… you’re a Sword Master now. Now you can go to Griffin.”

 

Alexander had no intention of moving to Griffin because he had hoped to join the Red Lion from the beginning.

 

But Violette wanted to go to Griffin if she could.

 

People generally think that Griffin is stronger than red lions, so she thought maybe she’d be more recognized there.

 

“No, I’ll stay in the Red Lion.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Why? Are you okay with me going to Griffin?”

 

Not realizing the chill in her voice, Alexander nodded.

 

“Of course. Isn’t that something to celebrate?”

 

“Are you sure it’s okay if I’m not your partner anymore?”

 

“We’ll still be friends even if we’re in different units, right?”

 

“Oh my god.”

 

The sound came from Catherine’s mouth.

 

She, too, was generally slow to catch on, but since she could literally see others’ emotions, she at least knew that Alexander had just given the wrong answer.

 

“Yeah… You really should stay with the Red Lions.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Do you want me to go to Griffin?”

 

Behind Violette, Ethan and Catherine were frantically making hand gestures, mouthing hints to Alexander to give the right answer.

 

Alexander had no idea why they were doing that, but he still gave the correct answer.

 

“No, I’d rather you stayed here with me.”

 

“Good. I’ll stay by your side—until you no longer want me there.”

 

Those words were almost a confession. If Alexander had even the slightest bit of awareness, he might have realized it.

 

But Alexander had only ever cared about swords since he was young.

 

To protect Raenel, the adopted daughter, their family had rarely allowed outsiders into their home—so he had barely interacted with girls his age.

 

There was no way he, who had grown up like that, would have noticed.

 

“Right. Let’s keep working hard together. I’ll train even more so I don’t become a burden.”

 

Whether it made the onlookers want to scream in frustration or not, Alexander felt a sense of relief.

 

‘I guess I’ve grown more attached to Violette than I realized.’

 

His earlier melancholy had probably been because he thought she was going to transfer to Griffin.

 

And maybe the reason her face had flashed before his eyes in that near-death moment… was because, despite all his bluster about surpassing her, he didn’t want to end things with such a pitiful death.

 

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