How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

There were so many things I wanted to talk about with Leonhard.

I told him that I wanted to talk to him alone, and my older brother allowed me to do so even with a complicated expression.

“Rather than that, those carriages…”

“It is a marriage proposal gift. Now that Nell accepted my marriage proposal, there’s no reason to take it back.

“All that stuff, it’s really a marriage proposal gift…”

Unlike my older brother, who looked back at the carriages with a tired face, Leonhard nodded with a calm face.

“I will leave it to Nel’s will to decide what to do with them, Now they all belong to Nell.”

At those words, my older brother looked at me, and I left my seat as if I were running away, leaving only one word.

“Except for this ring, I will leave everything else to Liv. Please organize it on your own!”

My older brother would be busy trying to organize the nine carriages.

This was a small revenge, as well as a way to make sure that he didn’t have time to stop me and say, “I’ll think about it later. Revenge for not playing with me when I was bored to death.

“Nell. May I ask what makes you so happy?” 

‘Oops, did I smile just now?’

However, even if it was found out, the corners of my mouth wouldn’t come down.

But since I couldn’t say, “I like getting revenge on my eldest brother,” I pointed my index finger at Leonhard’s ear.

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Leon’s ears are still red?”

“That… Please forget about it.”

Leonhard answered with a blushing face, but I giggled and shook my head.

How could I forget that? The scene where she was struggling to confess his love to me in front of everyone.

“You promised to take today’s promise to heart, so I’ll take it to heart with you.”

“Can’t …I take it to heart twice, including Nell’s part?” 

“No. We’re going to be a couple now, so we should do everything together!” 

Besides, even if it was an act, when else would I get a confession like that?

I’ll never get a confession like that because I’m going to be this man’s wife, and no man is going to flirt with me now that I’m a married woman.

“But how could you even think of making such a confession if you were going to be so embarrassed?”

“If I can protect my fiancée’s honor by doing so, it will be only a moment of shame.”

“Um, I don’t think it will end in a moment…”

At my murmur, Leonhard grunted. Perhaps he thought so too.

But soon, he burst into laughter as if he couldn’t help it. There was no sign of embarrassment in that laugh, so I burst out laughing once more along with him.

We walked back, holding hands, like it was spring already.

Although my sister Lily put the warm magic in everywhere, the flowers in the backyard were almost all gone.

Still, there were coniferous trees and shrubs, so the scenery of the backyard was not desolate.

I looked at the wall where I put the ring on Leonhard’s hand and said, ‘Oh, that’s right!’ I asked him about the story that came to mind.

“What was the letter about? Did you really send me a letter?”

“No. Robert advised me that would make me look like I was dangling, and besides that, he wrote half of the script.”

“I see… Didn’t the aide feel bad? It’s like exchanging my honor for Leon’s.”

“I didn’t even trade my honor for a married woman, and besides, there’s no honor to be traded for that. What use of honor to a coward who can’t even woo the woman he loves?”

“The woman you love?”

Leonhard’s cheeks turned red at the teasing question. 

“I mean… that.”

“I know. We just have to build it up slowly from now on.”

I laughed a little, and then I wondered. What would happen if this guy fell in love more?

Would he be even more shy than he is now?

‘Is that possible?’ 

If your cheeks turn redder from here, your face might really explode. 

Thinking about that, I stared at Leonhardt’s apple-colored cheeks, and he met my eyes with a puzzled face, perhaps my gaze was too blatant.

I was a little surprised and quickly changed the subject. 

“Rather than that, didn’t you spend too much money preparing a marriage proposal? I was surprised to see that carriage. I don’t think you need to prepare that much.”

“What do you mean you spend a lot? Nell, compared to what he wrote, it’s still a long way off.”

“What?”

“I am still far from spending all my money. Oh, come to think of it, I can wear it again now.”

Carefully taking the ring out of his pocket, he then took out a small handkerchief and carefully polished the ring and blue sky-colored jewels as if he were used to it. It was only after making sure that there was not a speck of dust on the surface of the jewel that glistened in the sunlight that he put the ring on the ring finger of his left hand.

Then, somehow, he looked at the ring with a pleased gaze. It happened in a very short moment, but I saw it.

Has it been more than fifteen days since I gave him that ring? Although it was a short time, the ring in his hand showed signs of being well cared for by the owner.

I was ashamed of the ring, which was not scratched at all. 

“Is my entire fortune the same as Leon’s? One pearl would have been enough to raise my honor. You didn’t have to bring nine carriages of expensive jewelry.”

Odette’s tears.

Who else in the world is there other than me who receives a marriage proposal with such a precious jewel?

I opened my left hand wide and inspected the coral pearl in the center of the ring.

A round pink pearl, about the size of my thumbnail, a green jewel shaped like a three-leaf clover was attached like a petal.

You must have remembered what I said about liking green and clover. That’s why I liked this ring more.

“My aides say that the more money I spend, the more rumors will spread. When I bought the Paul Herbina mansion, I received a letter from His Majesty, so I thought it was working.”

“Whoa, there’s a letter from Her Majesty… The Paul Herbina mansion? The one in the Platinum line? Oh my God, you bought that ridiculously expensive mansion as a townhouse? Why? If you go back to your territory, you won’t come back to the capital.”

The Howard family did not actually have a townhouse in the capital.

This mansion was recently purchased after my sister Lily’s magic tool business was successful.

She bought it because my little brother joined the Knights of the Red Lion. otherwise, my family wouldn’t have bothered to buy a mansion in the capital. The same goes for Ajas. 

It was the first time Leonhard had come to the capital since the title succession ceremony. After that, he would come down only when the emperor ascended the throne, so why bother…?!

“It seems you haven’t heard the rumors. That too is one of the marriage proposal gifts I prepared, Nell.”

“What?”

“I have already sent someone to Howard Country.”

As if a mansion or two was no big deal, Leonhard said without batting an eye.

“Wouldn’t it be convenient to go to see your family after marriage if there were mansions in both the capital and Howard country?”

* * * 

The Marquis Ajas proposed to the youngest daughter of the Howard family, offering a nine carriage of jewels and a proposal ring made of Odette’s tears, and the news that she had accepted his proposal spread throughout the capital even before that night.

Of course, the news reached not only Brilliana, who was working hard on developing new magic tools at Clover Magic Tools but also Alexander, who was undergoing a set training schedule at the imperial palace.

“What? The Marquis of Ajas proposed to our Nell?”

I wanted to go home right away to see if the rumor was true, but ‘I heard that my younger sister has proposed’ was not a legitimate reason for leaving early.

To make matters worse, Alexandro’s time to leave work was later than usual because he was in a hurry and couldn’t concentrate.

As a result, when he finally returned home at the end of the evening, what he saw was an empty carriage leaving the mansion.

“What are these carriages…?”

Apparently two carriages had gone out of the mansion, but seven more were still parked in the garden.

Alexander had a hunch. What was in that carriage was the marriage proposal that the Marquis Ajax had been buying like crazy.

‘I couldn’t believe it, but the Ajas Marriage Proposal was really my sister?’

While he was staring at the carriages with his mouth wide open, Raenel, who recognized his return with the cuckoo magic tool, grabbed the hem of her skirt with both hands and ran out into the garden.

“Brother Alex!”

“Nell! You came out just in time. You’re really…”

“Leonhard is buying a marriage proposal gift, and the person who stopped me from hearing it was my brother!”

Brillianna stood behind Raenel, who shouted with an angry face.

‘Didn’t I tell you not to hide it?’

She muttered while looking at Alexander, and shook her head with a face that she didn’t know anymore.

In the meantime, Raenel, who had run up to Alexander and trampled his instep with her shoe, shouted loudly with a voice filled with anger.

“Because of you, I became a cunning girl who knew that Leon was buying a marriage proposal, but kept my mouth shut to get more! At least, you should have told me about the Paul Herbina mansion!”

“Argh! The top of my foot…! Is he like that? He bought it, but he told you such nonsense…”

“Of course, he didn’t! He wouldn’t! Because he is kind! Rather than that, why did you hide it from me!”

“Because I didn’t know that Marquis Ajas’s marriage proposal was you… ” 

‘I was so confused and the top of my foot was throbbing that I finally told him honestly. Of course, it was natural for Raenel’s eyes to rise sharply. ‘

“You never imagined that Leon’s marriage proposal would be me, right? Did you think that I am not enough for Leon?”

“That’s not what I mean, there’s no talk of marriage!”

“What?”

“I mean, how can he propose to you when there’s no talk of marriage in the family? It’s out of order!!”

“What do we have to talk about with the family? If we like each other, we’ll just get together.” 

“Yes, Howard’s boastful tomboy could pursue free love. But I don’t think the Marquis Ajas was like that too.…Do you meet each other?”

Suddenly, words that I couldn’t ignore came out of Alexander’s mouth.

His green eyes sparkled, and for a moment, a dazed Raenel clutched the hem of her skirt with both hands and turned to walk back into the house, but Alexander was faster.

“Raenel Howard!”

“My brother too, if you call your beloved family member so carelessly, other people will misunderstand you…”

“You, you, did you forget your promise to me, and when did you meet that guy?!”

Raenel solemnly declared with her hands in front of her chest. 

“I swear to Clover, I haven’t met him since I promised you.”

“Then before you promised me!”

“Well, just… meet casually and…”

Raenel smiled and faked an affectionate voice, as she always did after she was caught messing up.

“I made a little proposal first.”

The reason why Alexander was able to let her go was thanks to the regular training of the enemy Lion Knights, which was strict and regular enough not to let him go home just because his Younger sister had received a marriage proposal.

* * * 

That evening. Another family meeting was held at the Howard family dinner.

Naturally, Alexander knew that his brother and sister would be on his side. But when the lid was lifted, the content of the family meeting went in the opposite direction of his expectations.