How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

Author: Chewyy

“…So tiny.”

Curled up into a little ball beneath the bush, the baby fox looked quietly up at Titiana and let out a long, mysterious cry.

Then, little by little, it got to its feet and carefully approached her, as if to say, ‘I don’t mean any harm.’

“Kyuu.”

“Why are you all alone? Where’s your family?”

“Kiiing…”

“Did you get lost? Want Titi to help you find them?”

“Kyung, kyung!”

When Titiana held out her hand, the little fox gently stuck out its tongue and licked her fingers.

“Hehe, that tickles.”

Just as Titiana was carefully stroking the fox’s soft fur—

“Titi! Where are you? If you can hear me, answer!”

“Titi’s here!”

She had been crouching behind the bushes, so Noah must not have been able to see her.

Still hugging the little fox, Titiana jumped to her feet and ran toward Noah.

“Big bro, big bro! Look!”

“What were you doi… Titi.”

The moment Noah saw her, he let out a sigh of relief.

Then his face froze.

It was the scariest expression Titiana had ever seen on her brother’s face.

She flinched and instinctively tightened her arms around the baby fox.

The little fox let out a soft cry, as though reminding everyone of its presence.

“Kyuu… kyung.”

But Noah heard it as a threat.

“Titi, put that down. It’s a monster.”

“A monster?”

“It’s a bad beast that hurts people.”

“It’s not! It didn’t hurt Titi!”

As Titiana immediately defended the little fox, Noah’s expression hardened even more.

Naturally, Titiana’s face crumpled into tears.

Worried that a crack might form between the siblings, Leona—who had followed right behind Noah—quietly stepped between them.

“Young Miss is right. That monster won’t hurt her.”

“But…”

“It *will* hurt other people.”

“Why?”

“That’s simply… its nature.”

A monster was still a monster, even as a baby.

And a Snow Fox wasn’t even a low-rank monster—it was middle rank.

Its adorable appearance only made it more infamous.

Many people let down their guard after seeing such a cute face, only to be seriously injured.

“Nuh-uh. It’s Choco.”

“Choco?”

“That means it’s nice!”

“Hmm… and how do you know that, Young Miss?”

“Just because!”

The way Titiana hugged the little fox made it obvious she had absolutely no intention of letting it go.

Once Titiana became stubborn about something, only Raenel had ever been able to change her mind.

At least, until now.

‘Should I take her back to Marquise?’

With a troubled expression, Noah stared at the little fox nestled in Titiana’s arms.

Sensing his gaze, the fox lifted its head and looked back at him.

Then it made a strange little snickering sound.

Almost as if it were laughing at him.

‘That thing…?’

Noah’s lips tightened.

Meanwhile, the little fox whimpered pitifully and buried itself deeper into Titiana’s embrace.

Suddenly, Noah remembered.

Part of the reason Snow Foxes were classified as middle-rank monsters wasn’t just their strength.

It was their intelligence.

They were far too clever for such cute creatures.

‘I can’t let it stay beside Titi.’

Just like Ruby had been drawn to Mother, this fox would probably try to stay close to Titiana as well.

If it was as clever as the stories said, it could easily exploit Titiana’s innocence and compassion to achieve whatever it wanted.

And after that…

It might even start manipulating her.

‘I have to separate them.’

How could he get the fox away from Titiana?

An idea immediately came to him.

Noah quietly signaled Leona to wait where she was before walking over to Titiana.

“That fox… is it really nice?”

“Yep!”

“Then… can Big Brother pet it?”

“Of course! You have to stay still, okay?”

After gently patting the little fox, Titiana held it out toward Noah.

Dangling limply in her hands, the baby fox looked at Noah while making soft little whining noises.

‘It isn’t showing any hostility yet.’

‘Which means it’s smart enough to understand exactly how it should act in this situation.’

Even among Snow Foxes, this one seemed exceptionally intelligent.

‘All the more reason to deal with it now.’

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Noah intentionally released a killing intent toward the little fox.

“Kyaang!”

Leona noticed the killing intent and stiffened.

At almost the exact same moment, the little fox lunged forward and bit Noah’s outstretched hand.

“Big bro!”

Startled, Titiana dropped the fox.

“Kyaaang!”

The little fox cried pitifully, as though saying, *That hurt!*

But instead of looking at the fox lying at her feet, Titiana grabbed Noah’s hand with tear-filled eyes.

“B-Big Brother’s hand… got eaten!”

“No, it didn’t. Look, my hand’s perfectly fine. See? All ten fingers are still here.”

Noah spread all ten fingers wide and wiggled them in front of her.

He truly wasn’t hurt.

He had strengthened his hand with the power of his crest before reaching out.

To be honest…

Part of him had wanted the fox to bite him for real.

He thought it would teach Titiana to be more careful.

‘But then Mom and Dad would scold me.’

Besides…

He didn’t want little Titiana to see blood or injuries.

“Waaaahhh!”

“Titi, Big Brother’s okay. Really, I’m not hurt at all, so don’t cry—”

“Waaah! Waaaaah!”

“Oh dear… this one’s on you, Young Master.”

Leona, who had already come over, picked Titiana up and gently patted her back.

Buried in Leona’s arms, Titiana sobbed uncontrollably.

As if she didn’t even want to look at her brother anymore.

Rejected by his little sister, Noah stood frozen like a block of ice, unable to say a single word.

The baby fox’s pitiful cries mixed together with Titiana’s loud sobbing.

Watching the scene, even Leona looked completely at a loss.

She gave a helpless shrug.

“Shall we return to Lady Marquise for now?”

And so…

raenel, who had been peacefully resting with a cup of warm tea, was suddenly struck by a bolt from the blue.

* * *

—Knock. Knock.

At the cautious knock, I gave permission for them to come in.

The door slowly opened, and Noah stepped inside.

“Mother…”

It had been a long time since I’d seen him wearing such a cautious expression.

For a moment, it reminded me of when he’d first come here, and my resolve almost softened.

But instead of smiling warmly, I deliberately kept a stern face and held out my hand.

“Are you finished?”

“Yes… Here.”

Without looking directly at Noah’s gloomy face, I purposely kept my gaze over his shoulder as I accepted the paper.

Reflection Report

To think the day would come when I’d receive a written reflection from a child who had acted more mature than most adults ever since he was five years old.

If it had been some small accident, I could’ve laughed it off as a funny story.

But what had happened today wasn’t something I could simply overlook.

* * *

Reflection Report

**Month X, Day X**

Today, I went sledding with Mother, Titi, and Rake.

While chasing after the snowball she was using to build a snowman, Titi wandered alone into the forest, and I followed her.

At the time, I strongly felt that I had a responsibility to protect my little sister in Mother’s place.

So the moment I saw the monster in Titi’s arms, I became convinced that I had to separate them no matter what.

To do that, I deliberately provoked the monster in front of Titi so it would bite my hand.

* * *

“…Sigh.”

Leona had already explained what happened, but seeing Noah admit that he’d done it intentionally was still shocking.

* * *

The mistakes I made were as follows.

**First:** I frightened Titi and made her cry.

**Second:** Without consulting Mother or Father, I acted on my own and used a dangerous method, causing them unnecessary worry.

**Third:** I should have prevented the monster from approaching Titi in the first place…

* * *

“Noah, come sit here.”

Still standing where he was, Noah quietly sat down in the chair beside me.

Even now, he kept glancing at me nervously.

Feeling sorry for him, I gently stroked his hair.

Then I set his reflection report on the table and picked up my fountain pen.

“This isn’t your fault.”

I drew a large **X** over the third point.

“So you don’t need to reflect on this one.”

Noah blinked in surprise as he looked at the crossed-out line.

“But… if I’d been paying closer attention, none of this would’ve happened.”

“If we’re going to think that way, then it’s even more my fault.”

“If I’d gone with you instead of letting you go alone…”

“If I hadn’t suggested making a snowman…”

“If we hadn’t gone sledding in the first place…”

“Then none of this would’ve happened either.”

“But…”

“Right now, this is a reflection.”

“So let’s only talk about the mistakes *you* actually made.”

At those words, I saw Noah’s shoulders tense slightly.

“First… I understand why you did it.”

“You were confident you wouldn’t get hurt because you have Ajas’s symbol.”

“…Yes.”

“Didn’t it occur to you that something could still go wrong?”

“What if that monster had been much stronger than you expected?”

“The one Titi was holding was a Snow Fox. It may be middle-rank, but it was still just a baby. I didn’t think it could break through the protection of my symbol.”

“And what if it hadn’t been a Snow Fox?”

“What if it had been a much stronger monster disguised as one?”

“Then…”

“If you’d gotten hurt…”

“Titi would’ve cried even harder than she did today.”

“And of course… I would’ve cried too.”

Only then did Noah’s eyes waver.

Seeing that, I felt strangely relieved.

At least those words had reached him.

“You did it because you were afraid Titi might be in danger because of a monster, but Noah…”

“If you’re trying to protect Titi… How can you willingly put *yourself* in danger?”

“I… I never thought of it as dangerous.”