How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 336

Catherine suddenly raised her hand when she saw it.

“Uh, uh, is that the portrait of the second young lady that appears in Nell’s dreams? I want to see it too!”

“I’m curious as well.”

“Me too, me too.”

“Please show it to me too, young master!”

 

My guards, Marilyn, and Layla all knew that I often dreamed about Titiana.

 

Since I had never had prophetic dreams or anything like that, I couldn’t know whether the child I saw in my dreams was really the child I was pregnant with or not.

 

But the people around me seemed convinced that the child in my dreams was the future of the baby in my belly, and they passed the portrait around while making amazed voices.

 

“Oh…… She looks about six? Seven years old?”

“I was thinking roughly the same.”

“Then she would be the same age as the young master now, or maybe an older sister.”

“Let’s see… Her face looks exactly like you did when you were little, Nell. Did you perhaps use your childhood as a reference?”

“No way. I don’t even remember what my face looked like when I was little.”

“Is that so? Then let’s take a look at your childhood portrait.”

 

My older brother immediately sent someone to bring the portrait of me as a child that had been kept separately.

 

“Wow…… It’s really the same?”

“Are you sure you didn’t look at it while drawing it, Marquise?”

“Of course… But they really do look alike.”

 

I truly hadn’t noticed it, but when the two portraits were placed side by side, they were indeed similar enough that it felt like the faces were the same.

 

The color of the hair and eyes was different, so the overall impression—or atmosphere—was a little different though.

 

“Do you happen to have a few more portraits of the lady?”

“There’s one for each age group. Would you like one?”

“One…… If you could give more than one, I would be grateful.”

“Then……”

 

While Leonhard and my older brother were whispering about something with my portrait between them,  Sage, who had brought Titiana’s portrait and was looking back and forth between Noah and Leonhard, muttered softly.

 

“Her hair is black like the young master’s, her eyes are blue like His Excellency the Marquis, and her face looks exactly like the Marquise……. It feels like she’s the perfect combination of the three of you who became a family.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“How should I say it, when the four of you are together, it feels like anyone would see you as a family……. Ah, I don’t mean that you don’t look like a family right now.”

 

Worried that his words might be misunderstood, Sage waved his hands and hurriedly added more explanation.

 

As if he understood exactly what Sage meant, Noah immediately nodded.

 

“Actually, I thought something similar too.”

 

Noah hugged the frame he had received back tightly and said with a slightly flushed face,

 

“I really like that Titi has parts that look like me.”

 

His smiling face was so cute that I couldn’t bring myself to say that I wasn’t sure whether the child I would give birth to next year would grow up to look like the portrait.

 

‘Did I raise Noah’s expectations for nothing by drawing that portrait?’

 

The Titiana that appeared in my dreams had to be the exact same person as the child in my belly.

 

While thinking that, I suddenly remembered what my older brother had said about my birth mother.

 

“They said she was very happy when she saw you right after you were born. She hoped you would resemble your late father, and when you were really born that way, she cried while laughing, saying her daughter had granted her wish.”

 

‘Maybe my birth mother also…… saw me in her dreams.’

 

Me, who resembled her husband, with pink hair and pink eyes.

 

It was just a baseless guess, but I hoped it was true. No matter what age I was, I had always been loved by my family and grew up healthy.

 

“Well then, shall we look at His Excellency the Marquis’s gift now?”

“Sounds good!”

“Please set an example for your subordinates, Captain!”

 

As if such a chance was rare, everyone chanted Leonhard’s name together.

 

His face, which had looked satisfied after finishing a good deal with my older brother, suddenly turned flustered.

 

“It’s Noah’s present, so why are you all curious?”

“So we can use it as a reference for next year!”

“That’s right! It’s not a gift we’ll only give this year!”

 

It seemed his heart wavered at the thought that they intended to prepare birthday presents for his son next year and the year after as well.

 

When Leonhard, who usually acted strict, hesitated and couldn’t say anything, everyone shouted excitedly.

 

“If you delay too much, our expectations will only rise!”

“Young master! Aren’t you curious too?”

“You guys…….”

Leonhard groaned and, pushed by his subordinates, stepped in front of Noah.

The man who had recently started acting rather cheeky even in front of me cleared his throat with the tips of his ears red and held out an envelope to Noah.

“Here, this is my gift.”

“Captain, you’re not seriously giving the young master only a single letter for his birthday present, right?”

“I like letters too……!”

At Robert’s sharp remark, Noah quickly spoke up.

It seemed Noah also thought Leonhard’s gift was just a single letter.

If that were true, it would really make him an insincere father, yet Noah was covering for him.

Wondering whether it was because Noah was a kind child, or because Leonhard’s past behavior had lowered the child’s expectations, I stepped in between them.

“Open it quickly, Noah. Your father said he didn’t know what kind of gift would be good, so mother helped think of it and we made it together.”

“Huh? It’s not a letter?”

“There is a letter. But the main thing is something else.”

When I winked one eye, the same anticipation as before finally filled Noah’s eyes again.

The moment Noah opened the envelope, Leonhard’s face stiffened slightly with tension.

Unaware of that, Noah looked at the pieces of paper that came out together with the letter.

“‘Do you want to go on a picnic with Mom and Dad’ coupon…?”

“It’s a coupon that lets you cancel all the schedules Mom and Dad have that day and go on a picnic with us.”

“Really? That’s okay?”

“That’s why we made it. Look at the others too.”

Noah flipped the envelope over and shook out the coupons inside onto the table.

“‘Please buy this for me’ coupon, ‘Please grant this wish’ coupon, ‘Let’s sleep together today’ coupon, ‘I want to be picky about food today’ coupon……. I—I don’t do picky eating anymore!”

“Really? Then should we pretend this coupon never existed?”

When I slowly picked up the picky-eating coupon, Noah rolled his eyes once and shook his head slightly.

“Since Father made it himself… I’ll keep it.”

“You can use it. That’s why we made it.”

There were ten coupons in total that Leonhard and I made together.

After carefully checking each one, Noah gathered the coupons neatly, put them back into the envelope, and smiled brightly.

“Thank you, Father!”

“Do you like the gift?”

“Yes. I really like it.”

“That’s a relief.”

Leonhard let out a sigh of relief, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and patted Noah’s head.

“I’ll make more for your birthday next year… So use them whenever you want.”

“Yes!”

I was relieved that Noah seemed to really like it.

 

After giving Leonhardt a look that said ‘See? I told you so’, I held out two boxes to Noah.

 

“This is a gift that your uncle and aunt left before they left the capital.”

 

Lily unni’s gift was a  “Even Beginners Can Do It! Magic Tool Maker Starter Set,” and my younger brother’s gift was a “training sword perfectly suited to Noah’s current height and strength.”

 

The selfish intentions of the two of them were so obvious that I felt embarrassed on their behalf.

 

But Noah, as if he didn’t notice at all, smiled brightly and said he liked the gifts.

 

“I should write a letter to thank Uncle and Aunt for the gifts.”

 

“You can send it together with the bookmark you made yesterday.”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Well then, shall we start the official gift-giving ceremony now?”

 

Leonhard, who had already finished his turn, said this while looking at everyone with a refreshed expression.

 

“After we return to Ajas Castle, I will give ‘special leave’ to the person whose gift Noah likes the most. First, second, and third place. Three people.”

 

“Wow…! Captain! You should have told us that earlier!”

 

“Why? Sounds like you’re not confident.”

 

“That’s not it! Young master, please choose my gift quickly. And grant me that special leave…!”

 

“Anyone who makes it obvious which gift is theirs is disqualified.”

 

The gift-giving ceremony that began like that was absolute chaos.

 

“Wow, young master! That scarf looks amazing on you. It matches your eyes perfectly—”

 

“Your Excellency the Marquis! Sage just openly advertised that it’s his gift!”

 

“Ah, no! That’s not my gift! I just said it because it really suits him!”

 

“Sage, disqualified.”

 

“Y-you…! Wait a second. Young master, what’s that gift right now? Peanut cookies? The young master’s favorite is chocolate cookies! Anyone could know that with just a little research!”

 

“Speaking of that, I’ve seen that fairy-tale book in the carriage before. The young master has already read it several times. Eliminated!”

 

“Wait, why are ‘you’ the one deciding who’s eliminated?”

 

“I’m just helping the young master make his choice. Oh, is that a magic tool-making set? That overlaps with Lady Brilliana’s gift. Eliminated!”

 

“Hold on. That’s not an ordinary magic tool-making set. It was made by our master—”

 

“Your Excellency the Marquis, Marilyn just revealed the origin of the gift. Please disqualify her.”

 

It was completely and utterly chaotic.

 

At first Noah looked troubled, unsure what to do, but later he started giggling along with the noisy crowd.

 

Laughing together with them, he gathered the ‘disqualified and eliminated gifts’ to one side.

 

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