How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love – Chapter 303

Author: Chewyy

“Oh, brother….”

“Yes. You must’ve been terrified, right?”

At his gentle, soothing voice, Mariette burst into tears.

For that moment—just that moment—it felt as if all her problems had vanished.

“Brother, we should get out of here first.”

As Mariette was shedding tears, leaning on the hand that stroked her back, an unwelcome voice reached her ears.

Mariette, who had raised her head sharply, shouted in surprise at the face that had entered her wet vision.

“You, why are you here!”

“I’ll tell you in advance, the humans you sent weren’t of any help at all, so don’t even think about showing off to Brother.”

The severed snake’s head fluttered like a loach and tried to bite Julius’ ankle.

Kairos, who witnessed it, crushed the snake’s head with his foot and declared to Mariette.

“Because I’m the one who saved Brother.”

“You…! What about the head maid and the others?!”

“They’ve been sent out of the palace, so don’t worry. They’ll be fine.”

“Brother.”

The low whisper sounded like a warning—far more serious than before.

Mariette raised her head, wondering why, and found several tentacles with sharp teeth chattering towards her.

“Eek—! Aaahh!”

“Marie, can you run?”

“Uh—uh—I—”

“Just get on my back. Kyle!”

Had she been even slightly composed, she might’ve hesitated, but faced with those grotesquely twitching tentacles, Mariette abandoned all dignity and flung herself onto Julius’s back.

While Julius, who was carrying Mariette steadily, moved away from the giant monster, Kairos swung his sword and cut off the flying tentacles.

—Screech!

But from the severed ends, new heads immediately regenerated and shot forward.

Before Kairos could react, the tentacle’s head opened its mouth wide and pounced on Kairos.

Just before the sharp teeth reached the back of his neck, the tentacle’s head burst into a fiery red flame.

A smile spread across Kairos’s lips as he narrowly escaped the crisis.

“Brother….”

“I saved you. So don’t YOU try to take credit later!”

The smile disappeared from Kairos’s face, who had naturally assumed that it was Julius who helped him.

“You think dealing with a single little thing like that is worth bragging about—”

“Haha, I know this isn’t the time to laugh, but it’s nice seeing you two getting along.”

At Julius’s laugh, both Kairos and Mariette snapped.

“Who’s getting along with who?!”

“Even if you are my brother, those words are a bit unpleasant.”

As if responding to those words, Kairos’s symbol glowed red and the sword he held was engulfed in hot, burning flames.

The heads of the tentacles that were rushing in one after another were cut off by Kairos’ sword, and their cross-sections were burned with fire.

That stopped the tentacles from regenerating, but unfortunately, it ended up attracting the main body’s attention.

—Krrrrrr!

“All the tentacles have been cut off! Run to cover, brother!”

“Let’s go there!”

Julius’ gaze was directed towards Queen Rose Hall.

The splendid high-rise building was half-collapsed, but at least it still retained some shape.

Julius, carrying Mariette, hid in the shadows of the building, with Kairos following close behind.

But as if to say hiding was pointless, a massive tail slammed into the remains of Queen Rose Hall.

With a thunderous crash, the building crumbled on top of them.

Mariette screamed and squeezed her eyes shut—Julius shielded her, and Kairos shielded Julius.

Large and small pieces of building debris rained down on the three people who were tangled together like a single lump.

“Hey guys, are you okay?”

Julius, who came to his senses first, brushed away the rising sand dust with his hand and examined his two younger siblings.

Mariette, with her mouth full of sand she couldn’t swallow or spit out, only nodded. Kairos answered shortly afterward.

“What about you, brother?”

“Thanks to you blocking for me, I’m fine. More importantly—”

As if to interrupt Julius’s words, the giant monster roared. Then, a torrent of acidic breath poured out from its gaping maw.

The remaining remains of the building blocked the breath. But judging by the speed with which it melted like ice cream, it didn’t seem like it would last long.

“Now, what do we do?”

Mariette glanced around with an anxious face.

There were many traces of collapsed buildings and walls around, but they were not enough to serve as shields.

Moreover, even if there was plenty of cover, hiding behind it forever wasn’t the answer. This wasn’t a problem they could just endure and wait out.

—Krrrrrgh!

A threatening roar followed by thumping footsteps was heard, as if telling them to get out quickly.

The sound of the tiles, laid out from cut stone, shattering like thin glass, heightened the tension like the dissonant notes of a fast-paced dance.

Shoved by that pressure, Julius spoke.

“Marie, you go out of the palace first.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Have you forgotten? All the heirs to the throne are gathered here right now. If all three of us die here, the Estroa royal family will be destroyed.”

Of course, since the emperor is alive, if he somehow exerts his power, the royal family may not be destroyed.

But Julius, who brought it up, as well as Mariette and Kairos, who were listening, did not consider that possibility.

“So what you’re saying is— I’m supposed to go somewhere safe, and if you two happen to die, I should… take the throne?”

“I didn’t say it like that…”

“You did say it like that! And why me?! Tell him to go instead!”

Kairos’ face twisted in confusion at the criticism directed at him, and he declared.

“If Brother’s staying, I’m not going.”

“Who said I’m letting you stay?! And since when have you been so close with Brother?!”

“Since long before you were aware. You can’t even imagine.”

“Even if you were close to him, you’ll never be closer than me—I’ve been his full-blooded sister since birth!”

“Did you two really pick this topic to argue about right now…?”

Julius, looking regretful as if he would have liked to keep listening if he had more time, stopped the two of them.

“Someone has to stay and keep that thing pinned here. If we buy time, Marquis Ajas or Duke Khalid will surely come. With their powers, they might have a solution.”

That was the only hope they could have in the current situation.

“Honestly, I can’t stop that thing alone. But isn’t it better to at least prevent all three of us from staying here and getting wiped out?”

Given that one of the three had to be sent, Julius had no choice.

“Kyle, come with me and stop that monster.”

“As I said before, if you stay here, I will stay too.”

“No way!”

Mariette suddenly stood up from her seat and shouted as the conversation progressed smoothly without her.

“Then let our brother go.”

“What? That can’t be—”

“Why not? Honestly, from here—”

“You are the only one with the right qualifications, brother.”

Kairos blurted out the words and looked at Mariette with a subtle smile on his lips.

“It’s good that you’re aware.”

The unspoken words passed between their glances: you too, and me too.

In that brief moment, the two realized much and felt a faint sense of kinship.

But neither of them wanted to admit that fact.

—krrraghhh!

The giant monster slammed its clawed, bird-like foot down with all its might on the three people.

Kairos, who suddenly realized this fact from the shadow that fell over his head, drew his sword like lightning and blocked the upper part.

—Bang!

“Ugh…!”

Although it was huge, it was clearly a part of a living creature, and the moment it collided with Kairos’ sword, a sound like iron clashing with iron could be heard.

As if to show that the sound was not an illusion, there was not a single scratch on the bird’s foot as it pressed down with force on the sharp sword.

“Brother, it can’t last long!”

If things continued like this, they would all be crushed to death.

Julius, urgently drawing on the power of the symbol, burned the bird’s foot and shouted as he looked behind him.

“Marie, go!”

“No! I can’t go!”

“This is not the time to be stubborn!”

“And you stop being stubborn, brother! This is your chance to get rid of those troublesome younger siblings!”

“Who are you talking about now?!”

“I never thought of that!”

Julius drew the sword he had on his waist and struck the bird’s foot with all his might, which Kairos was blocking.

—Krraaaaah!

The skin was so hard that the wound wasn’t serious.

However, a bright red flame, carrying a sizzling heat, flowed through the sword connected by a small scratch, and the giant monster howled in pain.

“Now go! I’ll—”

It was at the moment Kairos briefly withdrew his sword to strike a more effective blow on the monster that—

– Kk-kkk, so you were all here?

The sound that came, more like a hissing, crackling noise mixed with the roar of smoke and sparks than a human voice, came from a ball of fire that had revealed itself among the collapsed rubble.

There was no longer any human silhouette inside the melting, dripping fireball

Mariette gasped in horror at the sight of the horrific sight, but then realized that the swaying fireball had suddenly converged into a single point.

The symbol’s energy, pushed to its limit, made the fireball spew out heat violently as if ready to explode at any moment.

The moment Mariette realized that the person closest to the fireball was Julius, Mariette’s voice burst out like a scream.

“Brother!”

– I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you all! I—!

After a sound that could not be distinguished as a scream or a roar echoed hollowly.

A moment. A moment of silence.

Then, with a thunderous roar, the overloaded fireball exploded.

—Boom!

Dozens of large and small fireballs were scattered in all directions, burning everything from the ground to rocks.

The largest of these fireballs flew towards Julius, who was blocking the bird’s feet.