How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 328

“Nell.”

 

Leonhard, who got out of the carriage first, extended his hand to me.

 

Perhaps it was because the weather was so nice today. Under the bright sunlight, his golden hair sparkled extraordinarily, like gold dust in clear river water.

 

‘Everyone’s eyes will be drawn to that hair, right?’

 

I hope no one notices that my plump lips look quite swollen compared to before I got into the carriage.

 

‘Are my lips okay?’

 

I thought my lips would be okay since I was the one biting and sucking, but I was nervous for no reason so I bit my lips slightly.

 

Then, Leonhard, who had been looking at where my lips were, closed his eyes slightly and smiled as if he knew the reason for my actions.

 

I don’t know if he meant it or not, but I felt like he was teasing me, so I slapped his muscular arm, took his hand, and got out of the carriage.

 

“Wow…”

 

The house I’d returned to after about a year hadn’t changed much from what I remembered.

 

The same was true for the servants who were waiting in front of the main gate of the residence to greet us.

 

“Lady Raenel, welcome to your home.”

 

“It’s late, but congratulations on your wedding!”

 

Beginning with the butler and the head maid offering their formal greetings, the servants showered Leonhardt and me with colorful flower petals.

 

“It’s been a while, everyone!”

 

I was grateful for the welcome, so I greeted each person by name, and then I found someone I had been looking forward to meeting again.

 

“Helen!”

 

I let go of Leonhard’s hand and grabbed Helen’s hand that was holding the flower petals.

 

It had been a while since I last saw her, and her cheeks were plump. As if to prove that she had been eating well, Helen smiled brightly at me.

 

“Lady, how have you been?”

 

“I’ve been doing well! But I heard you’re pregnant.”

 

When I glanced downward, her belly was round enough that anyone could tell at a glance.

 

‘She’s not due yet… but she’s really showing?’

 

As if she’d read my thoughts, Helen smiled shyly and explained,

 

“I’m pregnant with twins, Lady.”

 

“Oh my god! Really?”

 

No wonder her belly looked bigger than I expected! Still holding Helen’s hand, I looked around eagerly.

 

“Where’s Kevin? Where is he?”

 

At my call, the soon-to-be father of twins—who’d been diligently scattering petals among the servants—stepped forward with a bashful smile.

 

“Don’t make Helen suffer, make her happy. Understand? If Helen writes me even one letter saying she’s having a hard time, I’ll take all the kids with me, too.”

 

“Yes, Lady. I will make sure she is happy and never suffers!”

 

At Kevin’s loud shout, all the servants burst into laughter and clapped their hands.

 

“Kevin, you brat—I’m watching you!”

 

“Miss! If Kevin gives Helen a hard time, I’ll write you a letter right away!”

 

“I know everyone’s excited, but you need to be careful with forms of address now.”

 

At that moment, my older brother—who had been holding Noah—set him down beside me and spoke in a stern voice.

 

“Oh—” Helen gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

 

In truth, everyone had been calling me “Lady,” so as if by silent agreement, they all clamped their mouths shut.

 

“It’s not ‘Lady,’ but ‘Marquise.’ Show proper respect.”

 

His words weren’t just about titles—it was a warning that they couldn’t treat me as before.

 

The employees all bowed their heads and replied, “We will correct it.”

 

For a moment, I felt resentful, like I had been pushed out as an outsider, but I couldn’t step forward and ask for them to treat me as comfortably as before.

 

‘I guess there’s nothing I can do.’

 

To lighten the mood, I held Leonhard’s arm with one hand and wrapped the other around Noah’s shoulder.

 

“Everyone, say hello. This man here is my husband. This is my first child, Noah.”

 

“Welcome to Howard, Your Excellency, the Marquis and young master.”

 

“First?”

 

Among the servants bowing in unison, someone murmured under their breath.

 

At the same time, a small murmur spread like a wave. I deliberately placed my hand over my belly where they could see it.

 

“Yeah, there’s a second one here too.”

 

“Oh my goodness—congratulations, La—Marquise!”

 

The servants fussed and hurried to offer their congratulations. Hearing the sincerity in their voices, I smiled brightly and thanked them.

 

“There’s one more person I’d like to introduce.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Don’t tell me the Marquise is carrying twins as well…?”

 

Shaking my head to deny it, I turned my gaze toward the carriage whose door hadn’t yet been opened.

 

As my older brother, who had led Noah to me, approached the carriage and stood in front of it, the footman opened the door.

 

‘The main character always appears last, after all.’

 

Since my brother must have announced the guest in advance, some of them likely already had an idea.

 

For those who hadn’t caught on yet, I revealed the identity of the young lady stepping gracefully down from the carriage.

 

“This is Lady Layla Cloud of the Marquis Cloud family—she’s working as my maid.”

 

Escorted by my older brother, Layla walked gracefully, spreading out her skirt and greeting the servants.

 

“Hello. I am Layla Cloud, and I hope to become your future lady of the house. Please take good care of me.”

 

“Huh…!”

 

I was the only one who burst out laughing at my brother’s rare, utterly flustered voice.

 

Among the servants who were equally frozen by Layla’s bombshell remark, the head maid was the first to come to her senses.

 

“W-welcome to the County of Howard, my lady. We will do our utmost to ensure you return with fond memories.”

 

“Haha, thank you. Let’s build good relationships while I stay here.”

 

No one could fail to notice what Layla meant by ‘good relationship’.

 

‘Anyway, wasn’t Layla a guest officially invited by my older brother?’

 

Her declaration of being the “future lady” wasn’t entirely baseless, and the servants—now faintly tense—united in offering her respectful greetings.

 

Watching Layla beam with pride and my brother secretly let out a sigh, I clenched my fist in encouragement.

 

‘Our Layla, fighting!’

 

* * *

 

When we departed Ajas Castle, a larger-than-usual number of wizards and knights of Ajas accompanied us in anticipation of facing the mages of Onyx.

 

But Onyx no longer exists. In such a situation, there was no need to travel through the Howard County territory with so many knights and wizards, so more than half of the Black Wolf and White Hawk returned directly to Ajas Castle.

 

So, the number of our party that arrived at Howard County was about twenty.

 

Among them, only Layla—who had received a formal invitation from my eldest brother—and our family would be staying at the lord’s mansion.

 

Robert, of course, and my escorts—Ethan, Catherine, Leona, and Sage—along with Noah’s escorts, Jannet, and his magic teacher, Marilyn, along with the maids and servants, decided to unpack at the villa, which had been completed a few months ago.

 

“While we’re here, this is a vacation for all of you. As long as you don’t cause trouble for others, rest as much as you like.”

 

“Wooo! Hooray!”

 

“You can’t take that back now!”

 

The period of our stay in Howard County was one week.

 

In other words, everyone was given a whole week of vacation.

 

Excited by the news, they chatted noisily about taking naps and drinking, then headed off toward the villa.

 

“Count! I’d love to look around the mansion—may I ask you to guide me?”

 

“Yes. I will escort you.”

 

Layla quickly asked my older brother to escort her and left to enjoy some time alone with him.

 

Noah looked like he wanted to join them, so for Layla’s sake, I decided to take Noah with me instead.

 

“Noah, do you want to go see the room mother used to live in?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“I’d like to see it too.”

 

So I took Noah and Leonhard and headed to my room.

 

Carrying a basket of grapes for Rake, who must have been bored with imitating ordinary birds.

 

“Hey, Rake, what do you think? Are the grapes tasty?”

 

– It’s delicious. But I think a cake or ice cream made with grapes would be even more delicious!

 

“How did you know our head chef’s specialty is green grape cake? Look forward to dinner tonight.”

 

– I’ll take two big ones! No, three!

 

As I watched the excited Rake chirping, I felt excited too.

 

As I gently ruffled Rake’s head, I looked over at the father and son standing by my bedroom window.

 

“What’s outside that you can’t stop staring at?”

 

“I was just thinking that this must be the view you grew up with.”

 

“The mountains and forests are red and yellow, Mother.”

 

From my window, the forest of yellow and red trees spread out like a vast sea, stretching all the way to the foothills of Mount Grover in the distance.

 

Noah couldn’t take his eyes off the scenery as if it were amazing.

 

‘Come to think of it, Noah must have only seen Mount Hiyela covered in snow.’

 

Because the Ajas Castle is so cold, there are hardly any ginkgo or maple trees to be found, and most of them are coniferous.

 

Noah probably had few, if any, opportunities to encounter yellow ginkgo leaves and red maple leaves.

 

Thinking that I should take him to the sea someday as well, I made him a suggestion.

 

“Want to go play in the forest tomorrow? Let’s pick up some pretty ginkgo and maple leaves and make a bookmark.”

 

“Yes! I like it!”

 

As if he were already looking forward to it, Noah’s cheeks flushed red—like a ripe apple, or like maple leaves.

 

His reaction made me feel giddy too, as though I’d turned into a child again.

 

‘We should do everything we can while we’re here.’

 

‘What else could I do to make sure Noah built plenty of happy memories at his mother’s family’s home?’

 

Leonhard asked me, who was having such worries.

 

* * *