How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 356

“My wife is suffering… and there’s nothing I can do…”

 

Tears streamed down Leonhard’s cheeks.

 

Unable to watch the Marquise’s husband cry, some people turned their heads away, while the Howard family nodded as if they understood his feelings.

 

Meanwhile, Raenel quietly smiled to herself, thinking even his crying face looked handsome.

 

“Alright, stop crying. You’re about to meet Titi for the first time—you should show her a smiling face.”

 

“Ah…”

 

As Leonhard hurriedly wiped the tears soaking his cheeks, the midwife brought over **Titiana**, freshly cleaned and wrapped in soft baby clothes, and placed her in Raenel’s arms.

 

Everyone gathered around her.

 

—Wow, she’s so tiny. Is this Titi?

 

“Even though she’s this small, I can already see how she resembles you. Once she grows a bit, she’ll look exactly like you did as a child.”

 

“Come to think of it, you guys don’t remember Nell as a newborn. She looks just like Nell did when I first saw her.”

 

“But her hair is black. Who does she take after?”

 

—I know! She looks like Noah!

 

“Haha, that’s the right answer.”

 

“She hasn’t opened her eyes yet, right? When will she? Tomorrow? The day after?”

 

“They’ll definitely be the same blue as her father’s. Right?”

 

As Noah looked at him, Leonhard finally snapped out of his daze and slowly stepped closer.

 

“Titiana… Titi.”

 

The moment he gently lifted the newborn and called her name—

 

as if responding, **Titiana** blinked her eyes open.

 

“Ah…”

 

Just like the image Raenel had imagined, just like Noah had said—

 

**Titiana’s** eyes held the same clear blue sky as Leonhard’s.

 

Seeing his reflection in that tiny sky, tears burst from his eyes again.

 

“I should tell Titi later. That her Father cried a lot the day she was born.”

 

Even at Raenel’s teasing, Leonhard couldn’t stop crying.

 

As he stepped back to compose himself, Noah took the baby from him.

 

Though only six years old, Noah was tall and strong for his age, and he held his newborn sibling with surprising ease.

 

“Titi…”

 

The baby, already sleepy again, scrunched up her face.

 

Even that was adorable. Noah smiled and gently touched her soft cheek with his finger.

 

“My little sister…”

 

She was far cuter and more lovable than the face he had imagined hundreds of times from Raenel’s drawings.

 

Holding **Titiana** close, Noah resisted the urge to press his cheek against hers.

 

“Titi, I really missed you.”

 

Noah realized that something Oliver once told him wasn’t quite right.

 

‘You’ll grow to understand and love each other step by step, at the same pace.’

 

“I already love you a lot, a whole lot.”

 

No matter how quickly **Titiana** would grow and catch up to him, Noah would always be ahead—

 

and he would never stop.

 

But he didn’t mind that at all.

 

In fact, it wasn’t something to mind in the first place.

 

Being able to love first, and love more— that was the privilege of being an older brother.

 

“Take care of me from now on, Titi.”

 

On a warm day as late spring turned into early summer,

 

**Titiana** came into everyone’s lives—

 

as someone’s daughter, sister, niece, and friend.

 

Like a gift.

 

* * *

 

**Titiana Ajas**, 4 months old.

 

Noah completed the second magic tool he had carefully worked on.

 

It was a mobile that moved on its own, playing a lullaby recorded by Raenel.

 

“Uwa… ah!”

 

As dolls resembling her dad, mom, brother, and her aunts and uncles spun around, **Titiana’s** blue eyes followed them in circles.

 

“Uwa… aaah!”

 

As she reached out toward the floating mobile, the gentle lyre-like lullaby slowly lulled her to sleep.

 

Soon, soft breathing filled the room, and a smile appeared on Noah’s face.

 

‘This lullaby mobile is truly an innovative magic tool. For world peace, it must be commercialized!’

 

The two nannies—with 15 and 12 years of experience—strongly insisted on it. Even Leonhard and Raenel, whose success rates at putting **Titiana** to sleep were only 12% and 28%, agreed.

 

‘I thought my sister was exaggerating before, but I was wrong. Noah, you really are a genius.’

 

‘If you ever want to pursue magic tool crafting as a career, feel free to say so. I meant what I said before.’

 

‘Making magic tools is fun… but I don’t think I’d want to do it every day.’

 

It was fun to take something he imagined and bring it to life.

 

But that was it.

 

There was satisfaction in completing something, but not much desire to go further.

 

‘Unless there’s something I really want to make someday.’

 

“Alright, done.”

 

Putting down his pencil, Noah looked at his drawing with satisfaction.

 

Working title: *Titi Sleeping Soundly No. 9.*

 

Before, **Titiana** would wake up too quickly, making it hard to finish drawings. But after the lullaby mobile was made, she started sleeping much better.

 

Because of that, Noah managed to draw five pictures of sleeping **Titiana** in just one week.

 

‘Now I can send one to each person.’

 

His eldest uncle, aunt, uncle-in-law, uncle Alex, and aunt-in-law.

 

At some point, the number of people he exchanged letters with had grown that much.

 

Maybe in about five years, there would be one more—his first cousin.

 

‘In the last letter, they said the baby should be born soon.’

 

Would it be a boy or a girl?

 

Either way, since it’s their child, they’d probably learn swordsmanship.

 

The thought of sparring with them someday already made Noah excited.

 

—Noah! Titi!

 

“Shh. Don’t be loud. Titi is sleeping.”

 

—Sleeping again? Titi is such a sleepyhead.

 

Rake flew in through the half-open window and landed on the crib railing, chirping.

 

—When will Titi grow up?

 

“She’ll grow up quickly.”

 

It felt like just yesterday that he first held her, but in just four months, she had already grown enough to roll over on her own.

 

Because of that, Noah—who already spent more than half his day in **Titiana’s** room—now only went to his own room to sleep.

 

He had to quickly roll her back over before she started crying from struggling on her stomach.

 

“They say once she grows a bit more, she’ll be able to roll back over, crawl on her belly, and even crawl on all fours.”

 

—Is that impressive?

 

“Of course it is! Don’t you remember? When she was just born, Tti couldn’t even open her eyes properly.”

 

—I could fly as soon as I hatched from my egg!

 

“That’s because Rake is a great dragon.”

 

—That’s true!

 

At the cheerful chirping, Titiana—who had been napping—finally opened her eyes.

 

“Hooe…”

 

Maybe she was upset that she couldn’t sleep enough, because the moment she woke up, she was about to cry.

 

Before the nanny could even get up, Noah quickly picked her up.

 

“Don’t cry, Titi. Your big brother’s here.”

 

Having carried and held her many times a day, his posture was already very steady.

 

In her brother’s arms, as he gently cooed and played peekaboo, Titiana stopped before fully crying and instead broke into a bright smile.

 

Seeing the siblings getting along so well, the nanny relaxed and sat back down to continue knitting.

 

Noah then carried Titiana over to the window.

 

“Look here. Your favorite sunflower is here.”

 

Every day, Noah personally arranged flowers from the greenhouse to decorate her window, so he knew exactly which ones she liked.

 

Maybe because she was still so small, Titiana liked big flowers like sunflowers and lilies.

 

“Uwa, ah!”

 

Her eyes sparkled as she saw the sunflower, and she reached out toward it.

 

Noah brought her closer so she could touch the petals.

 

But her tiny fingers, still weak, only waved uselessly in the air.

 

“Uee…”

 

Just as she was about to cry again out of frustration, Noah gently placed his finger into her small hand.

 

Immediately, she gripped it tightly, like holding onto a lifeline.

 

“Kaha!”

 

Satisfied just to be holding something, Titiana smiled brightly.

 

And once again, Noah felt a wave of emotion wash over him.

 

“Our Tti, who did you take after to be this cute? Hmm?”

 

As Noah showered her cheeks with kisses, Titiana made a small annoyed sound.

 

At that moment, Rake—who had landed on the flower vase by the window—raised one wing proudly.

 

—I know!

 

“Really?”

 

—Titi’s face is like Nell, her eyes are like Leon, and her hair is like Noah. And her cuteness comes from me, Rake!

 

Titiana, distracted by Rake’s twitching tail feathers, reached toward it.

 

Worried she might accidentally hurt Rake, Noah quickly gave her his finger to hold again and nodded with a smile.

 

“That’s right. Titi takes after all of our family.”

 

—How is that possible?

 

“Because she’s the youngest.”

 

—The youngest!

 

For some reason, Rake really liked how that sounded. Its long tail feathers twitched again.

 

—I… I was actually the older sister!

 

* * *