How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 287

No, can you call that a wyvern?

 

Horns, tentacles, and even a snake’s head…

 

No matter what horrifying legend you pulled from the darkest corners of the world, nothing could be more grotesque than the creature standing before them.

 

The Marquise of Calvin shuddered with instinctive fear.

 

“Oh, my God, how could something like that be in the Imperial Palace…!”

 

Even the imperial knights, normally steadfast, backed away pale-faced.

 

The enormous wyvern, flapping its wings lazily, landed on the ground with a thud.

 

In the process, a couple of imperial knights ended up rolling on the ground like fallen leaves.

 

Marquise Calvin managed to stay on his feet only by leaning against a burly knight.

 

“L-Long time no see,”

 

At that moment, a familiar voice reached the Marquise of Calvin’s ears.

 

No—at first, she didn’t even recognize it. It wasn’t until the uncanny sense of déjà vu hit her that she looked up in shock.

 

“Y-You…! What are you doing here?”

 

Only after she had blurted out the words without realizing it did Marquise Calvin realize, “Oh no.”

 

How dare she pretend to know a suspicious guy who flew into the palace riding a giant monster!

 

“Do you know him?”

 

The knight who had actually been standing in front of her to protect the Marquise of Calvin looked back at her with suspicious eyes.

 

The Marquise of Calvin quickly raised her voice in denial before the knight’s suspicion grew any stronger.

 

“Wh-What kind of question is that?! How could I possibly know a filthy thing like him—!”

 

—Boom!

 

“Kyaaaah!”

 

A thunderous crash nearby made the marquise scream.

 

The imperial knights were just as startled.

 

Having drawn their swords too late, they stared in shock as the building collapsed like a sandcastle under a swipe of the wyvern’s massive tail.

 

“But there should be a magic barrier protecting the palace…”

 

“Didn’t… didn’t seem like much. It broke, uh, pretty quick.”

 

Pan patted the giant wyvern as if trying to calm an excited horse.

 

At that touch, the giant wyvern swished its tail a few more times as if it were complaining.

 

The trees, fences, and statues planted along the road were swept away like fallen leaves.

 

In an instant, the surrounding area became a mess, but Pan let out a small sigh, as if it wasn’t his intention.

 

“H-He’s hard to control… so, um, while I can still hold him back, it’d be b-best for you to hear me out.”

 

“You arrogant bastard! How dare you bring a monster here and threaten us!”

 

“B-Bring out the Emperor and Karl.”

 

As if he couldn’t hear the knight’s words, Pan stubbornly made his demands known.

 

How dare this nobody command the presence of His Majesty?

 

Everyone was shocked by his demands, which were outrageous and over the top, but no one had the chance to punish the intruder.

 

—Boom! Boom!

 

“Hurry up, hurry up…, otherwise.”

 

The massive wyvern smashed another building, then sent an approaching knight flying with a swing of its front paw.

 

That was the beginning.

 

“You’ll all… d-die.”

 

The giant wyvern easily beat and bit the imperial knights who came running after hearing the sound of the building collapsing.

 

There was no mercy. No hesitation.

 

The Marquise of Calvin trembled at the horrific and cruel sight unfolding before her eyes.

 

“P-Please spare me…”

 

In some ways, it was fortunate that her life was threatened here.

 

Thanks to that, the news reached the Emperor’s ears straight away, and he was able to take action before the damage could be done any further.

 

* * *

 

‘How long had it been since we teleported from Onyx’s hideout and left Karl’s lab to save my biological father…?’

 

I’m not sure exactly, but it felt like an hour or two had passed.

 

My small, humble reserves of stamina were completely drained—my feet hurt, and my legs had started to tremble.

 

‘I’m starting to get hungry.’

 

I hoped that Leonhard hadn’t heard the growling sound because it was so loud behind me.

 

“Nell, it’s all over.”

 

Just then, I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

 

Lifting my hands from my ears, I tried to stand but nearly toppled over—my legs had gone numb from squatting too long.

 

“Oh my god.”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“I’m okay. My legs are numb because I squatted for too long.….”

 

I leaned into Leonhard’s waist and looked over his shoulder, waiting for the numbness in my legs to go away.

 

The fifth wizard we’d encountered since arriving here had passed out mid-interrogation and lay limp, unmoving.

 

“What did that person say?”

 

“He’s only been in the tower for a year. Claims he doesn’t know much.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Well, it’s probably true that he hasn’t even touched a bloodstone yet. Said he spent the entire year just making feed for his trained monster.”

 

If he hadn’t touched a bloodstone, there was no way he knew anything about its source—my father.

 

While I let out a small sigh, Leonhard tied up the unconscious wizard and confiscated his wand.

 

Meanwhile, I collected all the books and notes in that small cell and put them in Leonhard’s magic bag—just in case there was at least one piece of evidence among them.

 

“But isn’t it a little strange?”

 

“You mean how we keep meeting small fry like this?”

 

“Yes, that’s it.”

 

Maybe it was just married couple telepathy, but it seemed Leonhard found it strange too.

 

The wizards here kept calling this place a ‘tower,’ but shouldn’t that mean the structure is vertical?

 

But we haven’t seen anything like stairs yet.

 

Even when we first exited the laboratory we’d teleported into, we were greeted by a long hallway.

 

Leonhard and I had walked that hallway for a while.

 

If he hadn’t sensed something off and pulled out a magical detector…

 

If he hadn’t destroyed the hidden door it pointed to…

 

We might still be walking down that hallway.

 

“Couldn’t the wizard we first met have lied? He said there’d be a door straight ahead if we walked down the hallway, but we didn’t see it.”

 

“Perhaps this door is only visible to the wizards of this tower. Or perhaps the tower’s security magic detected us as intruders and twisted the passage.”

 

“So are we in a trap now?”

 

The reason we didn’t ask the wizards to guide us in the first place was that we were afraid they would lead us into a trap.

 

But what if we were already in one?

 

“Not sure. But judging by how weak all the wizards we’ve met are, maybe we’re just… lost.”

 

Well, if we were really in a trap, wouldn’t we have been greeted by poison gas, thorny platforms, and scorpions crawling on the floor?

 

Every time Leonhard broke down the door and entered, the wizards all screamed in surprise at the sight of him.

 

If this were a trap, they would have been standing ready with their wands raised.

 

“I wonder where all those wizards who were supposedly summoned to defend against the Silver Frost Tower went.”

 

“Hmm, now that you mention it… did the master of the Silver Frost Tower tell you anything?”

 

If Felix had really planned to attack this place, he wouldn’t have been lounging around at our house so casually.

 

“I haven’t heard anything like that. Unless it’s something Felix is doing on his own, there’s not going to be a war between the towers.”

 

“Then why does everyone here talk like an attack from the Silver Frost Tower could happen any second?”

 

“Well, there’s a reason people say that the one who gets hit can sleep soundly, but the one who did the hitting can’t stretch out their legs at night.”

 

“So they’re feeling guilty about what they did in the past?”

 

“It is rather surprising that they even feel guilty, though.”

 

I nodded at Leonhard’s merciless words.

 

So they were fully aware that there might be consequences and still went ahead with such outrageous actions?

 

“Wait a minute. Aren’t they scared of me? I’m the daughter of the woman they wronged! What if I decided to take revenge? Why did they even come looking for me?”

 

Even if I look like this, I’m basically a ticking time bomb who could blow up the entire Paul Herbina mansion if I really wanted to.

 

“Oh! This just occurred to me—what if the reason we got lost is because of this?”

 

Leonhard’s eyes widened when he saw the bracelet I held out.

 

If you’re wearing that bracelet, people with ill intent toward you won’t be able to find you, right… That might be it.”

 

If it really was because of the bracelet, then it would explain why we only ran into those low-level wizards.

 

They haven’t been in the tower for long, so the wizards who have never touched a bloodstone would naturally not know much about me.

 

“Then let me take off this bracelet.”

 

“Wait a moment, Nell.”

 

Leonhardt stopped me for a moment, pulled out his gauntlet, and put it on his left hand instead of his right.

 

A gauntlet that could be worn on either the right or left hand.

 

As I clapped in curiosity, Leonhard drew his sword with his right hand.

 

But after slightly frowning, he put the sword back in its sheath… and simply held the whole sheathed sword.

 

“I’m ready, Nell. You can take it off now.”

 

Hmm. That must mean he’s prepared to strike down whatever might jump out, wherever it may come from.

 

My husband is very reliable.

 

Bring it on—Wizards, monsters, whatever!

 

I took off the bracelet, feeling like a fox with a tiger on its back.

 

“Let’s go now.”

 

“Don’t leave my side under any circumstances, Nell.”

 

“Of course. I’ll stick to you like glue.”

 

Honestly, I wanted to just wrap my arms around Leonhard’s waist as we moved, but I thought that might get in the way, so I just held on to the hem of his clothes and stayed as close to him as possible.

 

We walked down a seemingly endless hallway

 

Then, Leonhard suddenly stopped, apparently having noticed something.

 

* * *