How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 283

‘Okay… Let’s practice more. So as not to get in the way of Violet, who has become a Sword Master.’

 

Just as Alexander was renewing his resolve, Ethan coughed and stepped between them.

 

“Sir Alex, may I ask you to evacuate this child?”

 

“Of course. It’s my duty to do it.… But why have you two come here?

 

Wasn’t Sir Ethan in charge of Nell’s escort?”

 

“There was an order from the young master.”

 

“Noah?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Ethan nodded and said as he led the child to Alexander.

 

“The Young Master has ordered that if there are any who were unable to escape, we are to help them evacuate to Paul Herbina.”

 

“Paul Herbina…!”

 

Paul Herbina’s entire estate was larger than the capital’s plaza.

 

If its gardens and back courtyards were opened, they could easily accommodate the people crowding the plaza.

 

“Currently, a magical barrier has been installed throughout Paul Herbina’s estate that even high-level monsters cannot penetrate. It’s probably as safe as the Imperial Palace.”

 

In fact, it would be safer than the Imperial Palace. The one who installed the magic barrier around Paul Herbina was the dragon, Rake.

 

“As expected, it must’ve been set up by the master of the Silver Frost Tower!”

 

“Well… he is Young Master Noah’s biological father.”

 

Ethan gave a vague nod, and Alexander, whoever he might have been, beamed as if he were quite proud and impressed.

 

“But where is His Highness the Marquis? Has he already gone to the eastern wall?”

 

“Oh,… He’s gone for a moment. He has something urgent to attend to.”

 

“Is that so? That’s too bad. If he were here, we could have easily defeated the monsters…..”

 

As Alexander lamented sincerely, Violette spoke up.

 

“I’m going to the eastern wall too.”

 

“What?”

 

“I’ve become a Sword Master. I can cut them all down.”

 

Alexander’s eyes widened in shock. He had never seen Violette, who usually seemed so timid, speak that confidently—or that aggressively.

 

“Yes! You’re strong, so you’ll definitely be able to protect people!”

 

“Wait for me at Paul Herbina. I’ll smash them all and come find you after.”

 

Her voice wasn’t just full of resolve—it practically surged with power.

 

‘How dependable she was.’

 

Alexander, secretly thinking he might just fall for her at this rate, patted her shoulder.

 

“But don’t forget to be careful.”

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll live a long time. I’ll be by your side to protect you until you defeat me.”

 

Alexander nodded, not realizing the emphasis she had placed on a few key words.

 

Ethan shook his head behind him.

 

‘The road to marriage is blocked.’

 

As far as he knew, there was only one female Sword Master in the capital right now: Violette, who had only just awakened her aura.

 

The way she was acting, she’d be sticking to Alexander like glue.

 

Who could possibly get past that intense guard dog to approach him?

 

‘Honestly, a bit of the blame lay with Sir Alexander too—how could he not realize when she was being that obvious?’

 

‘If the Marquise found out about this, would she be pleased or not?’

 

‘Either way, she’d probably think her brother was pathetic.’

 

With that thought, Ethan left for the eastern wall with Catherine.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, at Silver Line Street No. 13—

 

“That red bastard’s opening its mouth! Bring me the water attribute magic stone!”

 

“Damn it, what are they, dragons now?! Since when do wyverns breathe fire?!”

 

Silver Line 13th Street was known for its clusters of magic tool shops and rods. Naturally, most of the staff working there were wizards.

 

Thanks to this, they were able to deploy shields across the street the moment the bell rang, just like they had done last winter.

 

They also evacuated the non-wizard staff, customers, and people from neighboring buildings (12th and 14th Street) into a building with a shield spread out.

 

In fact, they were moving quickly, but they did not realize the seriousness of the situation.

 

Last winter happened, so let’s prepare for just that. That’s about it.

 

Whatever the reason for the bell, they doubted that the high and sturdy wall would ever be breached.

 

They never thought that would happen.

 

But then—

 

That “surely not” turned into “holy crap.”

 

The walls were breached. Or to be exact, flying monsters passed over the walls.

 

It’s not like the guards or wizards guarding the walls were just playing around.

 

If the attacking monsters had been ordinary ones, they might have been stopped.

 

But mixed among them were chimeras—and some of those chimeras had wings.

 

Like the two currently attacking Silver Line 13th Street: a Fire Wyvern and an Ice Wyvern.

 

Already tough-skinned by nature, these two had undergone multiple modifications, resulting in skin harder than steel—resistant even to magic.

 

They deflected arrows and spells with ease and soared right over the walls.

 

Whether it was lucky or unlucky that they didn’t split up and both came to Street 13… Brilliana couldn’t tell.

 

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have quietly gone to Paul Herbina when Nell called me!’

 

“Look at that thing! Now it’s ramming the shield since magic didn’t work!”

 

“If this continues, the shield will break!”

 

Between the wizard deploying the shield and the civilians who cannot use magic hiding in the building.

 

The wizards who could freely use magic climbed up to the roof of the building and faced the two wyverns.

 

But it wasn’t giving any significant impact.

 

The way to deal damage was clear: use fire magic on the Ice Wyvern and water magic on the Fire Wyvern.

 

But somehow, the wyverns figured that out and were covering for each other—acting like each other’s shields.

 

—Kyaroooo-!

 

“Kyaaaaah!”

 

“Mommy!”

 

Screams and cries could be heard from inside the building, perhaps frightened by the wyvern’s roar.

 

Brilliana wanted to scream along with them.

 

The sheer horror of the giant wyvern repeatedly slamming its grotesque body into the semi-transparent shield above her was overwhelming.

 

‘I should’ve chosen combat instead of magic tool making. Then I could’ve burned those guys to the ground!’

 

Just then, her eyes met the giant yellow eye of the wyvern—roughly the size of a human head.

 

“Eww! It’s gross!”

 

“Lily, Benjamin isn’t here, so don’t act all cocky.”

 

“You think this is me acting cute? I just hate anything that looks like a bat!”

 

The wizard on the roof of the building across from Brilliana shouted loudly as she trembled.

 

“Boss Clover! Ice Breath coming from that side!”

 

“All right!”

 

The ice wyvern, which had been banging against the shield, pulled back with a flap of its wings and opened its mouth wide.

 

Because the location was directly in front of her, Brilliana was able to see the inside of the wyvern’s gaping mouth.

 

Even from a distance, the stench of the wyvern’s breath seemed to reach her nose.

 

Suppressing a wave of nausea, she lifted her rod and deployed an extra fire-attribute shield on top of the street-wide barrier.

 

—Saaarh!

 

A blizzard laced with ice shards slammed against the shield without mercy.

 

But the scorching heat radiating from the fire-attribute shield completely melted the raging snowstorm without a trace. The heat was so intense that even the melted snow instantly turned into steam.

 

“So, you’re still not going to answer? Lily, when exactly did your rank go up?”

 

“What on earth have you been talking about?”

 

“Does that shield look like something a mid-level wizard could cast? And you’re a magic tool maker!”

 

“Well…”

 

That much was true. Even Brilliana had started to feel a bit suspicious.

 

‘My main attribute is fire… but I shouldn’t be capable of producing something that powerful, right?’

 

Ice wyverns and fire wyverns are mid-level monsters. Their magic stones are embedded in their backs between their wings. While the magic stones are visible, targeting their backs while they fly overhead is no easy task.

 

Because of that, the wizards gathered in District 13 were focused solely on blocking the attacks from the two wyverns beneath the shield.

 

That wasn’t good news at all. The shield was shaking uneasily under the constant attacks of the two wyverns.

 

“Ugh, how long do you think this can hold?”

 

“Support should come before this collapses….”

 

“But isn’t it holding out longer than we expected?”

 

“What?”

 

“Even though the shield is shaking—”

 

—Bang! Bang!

 

“See? They’re slamming into it like maniacs, but there aren’t even any cracks yet.”

 

“Now that you mention it, you’re right…”

 

The shield covering all of District 13 was enormous, and the amount of magical power it consumed was equally massive.

 

It would be difficult to hold out for long even if you just sit still, but with the wyverns attacking without stopping, it wouldn’t have been strange if it had cracked and broken into pieces long ago.

 

“Is this really the time to be talking about that? Battle wizards! What are you doing? Attack them already!”

 

“Hey, it’s not like we don’t want to attack…”

 

“We can’t! We’ve completely run out of magical power!”

 

“This is no time for excuses! Just squeeze out whatever little mana you have left—!”

 

Just as tensions began to rise among the exhausted wizards who had barely managed to inflict any damage on the wyverns—

 

“Everyone! We’ll help you too!”

 

Wizards swarmed up to the rooftops of each building.

 

The wizards, who had been delighted to finally receive support, soon changed their expressions to one of shock.

 

The ones now appearing weren’t support mages from the Imperial Palace—they were the very wizards who were supposed to be hiding inside the buildings, maintaining the shield.

 

“Are you crazy? Why did you come up here? If the shield disappears, everyone here dies—wait, why is the shield still up?”

 

“Don’t tell me… you sacrificed all the magic stones we were supposed to sell?”

 

“No! Vice President Clover is currently in charge of the shield alone!”

 

“What? Who?”

 

At someone’s shout, Brilliana doubted her ears.

 

The vice president at the top of Clover was none other than her fiancé, Benjamin.

 

* * *