How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 299

“Hurry up and take us to the living room! Are you deaf?”

 

Judging from their grown bodies but still boyish faces, they couldn’t have been far from adulthood.

 

“You’re not alone here, so behave yourself, or I’ll kick you out.”

 

Despite the guards’ polite warnings, Logan was eventually called out to deal with the young nobles who continued to run wild.

 

“As I told you before, only those personally invited by His Excellency the Marquis and the Marquise are allowed into the reception room. Otherwise, only those close enough to come and go without an invitation.”

 

Logan’s calm gaze lingered on each of the young nobles gathered together.

 

“As for the latter, I, the Head butler, remember their faces. But for all of you, this is my first time meeting you all.”

 

“What? How dare a mere butler speak so arrogantly—!”

 

“Not just a butler. Head. Butler.”

 

He split the syllables with emphasis, as though kindly teaching them a new word.

 

One of the young men, taking it as mockery, grew furious and stepped forward.

 

“You little bastard, do you even know who I am—!”

 

He reached to grab Logan’s collar, but he never even got the chance.

 

“Where do you think you’re causing trouble?”

 

Because he got hit hard on the back of his head and fell over.

 

Logan took a step back to avoid the young man who fell down with a loud groan.

 

Then, his eyes widened as he saw who had hit the back of the young man’s head.

 

“Oh, my….”

 

“Damn it! Who was that! Which bastard…!”

 

“Hey, you’re bleeding! There’s blood on the back of your head!”

 

“What? Ugh, ah… m-my head…!”

 

The young man reflexively put his hand on the back of his head, then felt a damp sensation and a belated pain, and then fainted and fell down.

 

“John!”

 

“D-did he die? He’s not dead, right?”

 

His friends rushed to gather around the fallen John, panic spreading.

 

Meanwhile, Brilliana let out a disgusted sound at the blood staining the tip of the wand she was holding.

 

“My precious wand got filthy with such lowly blood.”

 

“L-Lily. You shouldn’t have hit so hard.”

 

While it seemed as if he was reprimanding his fiancée, Benjamin took a handkerchief from his bosom and wiped the blood off the wand himself.

 

“I thought he just looked thick-headed enough to withstand it, but I didn’t expect his skull to be completely empty.”

 

“Lily, keep your voice down. Someone might hear.”

 

“I want them to hear. Who do they think they are, making a scene here?”

 

Brilliana glanced at the young men and handed Benjamin a wand, asking him to clean it a little more.

 

One of John’s friends, who had been gaping at the blatant insult, ran towards Brilliana with a bright red face.

 

“How dare you lay hands on John—ugh!”

 

A heavier, dull thud than before sounded as Benjamin’s wand smashed down on the man’s crown.

 

Without even a scream, he collapsed in a heap. Benjamin glared furiously.

 

“You lunatic! How dare you raise a hand against a weak lady!”

 

“Hey! Do you even know who you’re messing with?”

 

“Who are you, then? Let’s hear it. Who’s so great that they think they can cause a ruckus here?”

 

Brilliana took Benjamin’s wand and wiped the blood on its tip on the hem of the fallen man’s clothes.

 

Such bold, brazen behavior could only come from someone truly insane—or from someone who knew they had powerful backing.

 

“You raised your hand to the butler, even though you weren’t even formally invited. How much must you have disrespected Ajas’s authority to commit such an act of rudeness?”

 

“Rude? It must be Marquis Ajas who is being rude! How can it be right to mix nobles of high status like us with commoners?”

 

“That’s right! If word spreads that he treated us so carelessly, it’s the Marquis who will suffer disgrace!”

 

“We never made unreasonable demands! We merely gave him the chance to make amends for his mistake!”

 

“And who are you two, anyway? To assault John and Smith like this? Our family won’t let this go—!”

 

“If we had known you were arriving, we would have welcomed you properly. Forgive us for failing to pay attention.”

 

Logan bowed deeply to Brilliana and Benjamin, ignoring the young nobles’ huffing and half-mangled protests as though they were nothing.

 

“W-what…?”

 

The young men and the onlookers were all shocked by Logan’s extreme respect, which had never even been seen before.

 

Some among the crowd, who already knew Brilliana and Benjamin’s identities, watched with keen, excited interest.

 

While everyone anticipated the coming climax, Brilliana casually gestured at Logan.

 

“In a situation like this, there’s no need for welcomes. We’ve brought quite a few people ourselves, and we’re just grateful you let us all in.”

 

“If you’re two guests, I should be able to accommodate hundreds of people. Please allow me to escort you now. I will guide you to the main building.”

 

The front gates stood wide open for those fleeing from the monsters, but the doors of the main mansion remained firmly shut.

 

Everyone knew this, thanks to the young nobles who had been shouting out the family name, demanding that they be led to the reception room and treated with respect.

 

And yet—the butler was offering not the reception room, but the main building itself.

 

“Who on earth is that woman…?”

 

“Sister-in-law.”

 

At that moment, a powerful, heavy voice silenced all the surrounding noise.

 

Just as a stone thrown into the water creates wide ripples, the aura of intimidation that spread around the sturdy man approaching Brilliana made the onlookers forget even their breathing.

 

“Oh my, brother-in-law!”

 

Brilliana, realizing Leonhard’s deliberate choice of words, responded quickly.

 

Sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

 

Those simple words made their relationship unmistakably clear, and the people who had not known Brilliana’s identity were left so shocked their jaws dropped.

 

Because there wasn’t a single person who didn’t recognize the man who called Brilliana “Sister-in-law” and the man Brilliana called “brother-in-law.”

 

Not even the arrogant young nobles.

 

“I came down because I heard that someone was causing trouble.….”

 

Leonhard’s voice trailed deliberately, his gaze sweeping slowly across the crowd.

 

More precisely—across the two men collapsed unconscious on the ground, and the three youths standing around them.

 

“What did those men dare to do to the two of you?”

 

Though he spoke as if a subordinate, the weight in his words showed that, between them, the ties of sister-in-law and brother-in-law carried special meaning—far more than they did in ordinary noble society.

 

The young nobles, who had earlier boasted of their family, belatedly remembered the rumors.

 

That the Marquis of Ajas had wielded both whip and carrot to deliver a chilling warning to the nobles of the capital.

 

That out of love for his wife, he had shown no mercy to anyone who dared to slander her—breaking them ruthlessly.

 

‘That woman is the older sister of the Marquise of Ajas?’

 

‘We’re in trouble!’

 

They considered the conflict with the elder sister of the Marquise Ajas more serious than the fact that they had touched the butler, who could in some cases exercise the authority of the head of the household.

 

After all, isn’t there a saying: if your wife is pretty, you will bow down to her parents’ house?

 

Leonhard’s actions upon arriving in the capital were exactly like that.

 

And look even now—two men unconscious on the ground, and two others clutching weapons.

 

It was clear who the assailants and victims were. Yet he was worrying about the supposed assailants instead of the injured.

 

“That guy over there tried to put his hand on Lily. And the guy next to him tried to hit the butler.”

 

Leonhard’s right eyebrow rose as Benjamin spoke without hesitation, as if he had been waiting for that moment.

 

Displeased eyes turned to the young men.

 

He hadn’t even glared, nor revealed killing intent, yet the young nobles scrambled to excuse themselves.

 

“Wh-when did John ever try to hit the Head butler!”

 

“This must be some kind of misunderstanding….”

 

“Everyone, you saw it too, didn’t you?”

 

Benjamin didn’t give the young men any room to make excuses.

 

As he questioned the people gathered around him, testimonies poured out from all sides as if they had been waiting: “That’s right, that guy tried to hit the butler.”

 

“They were very arrogant, saying that they did not recognize them, and if you did not treat them properly, this would tarnish Ajas’s honor, so they would give Ajas a chance to correct it!”

 

“Oh? So Ajas’s honor will be damaged if we do not treat them properly? They must think of themselves as royalty.”

 

The young people’s mouths fell open.

 

With Leonhard’s recent remarks, they could easily be accused of impersonating the royal family!

 

“N-no, that’s not what we meant…!”

Then, another youth, trembling but stubborn, lashed out.

 

“I-Isn’t it true that Ajas, as a great noble house, enjoys its lofty privileges precisely so that it can step forward in times of crisis? Instead of protecting weak people like us, you oppress and mistreat us—if word of this spreads, Ajas’s honor will be dragged through the mud!”

 

“That mouth of yours just won’t stop…”

 

Brilliana gripped her rod again, making the youth shriek and stumble backward. She looked ready to swing once more, but Leonhard stopped her.

 

“A nobleman who enjoys privileges is supposed to help and give to the weak in times of danger. That is correct. Logan.”

 

“Yes, master.”

 

Leonhard gestured to the young men with his chin.

 

“Take them away and put them to work. They look sturdy—let them do heavy labor.”

 

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