How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

In the meantime, Raenel, who was resting her chin on the simple table, smiled at Leonhard.

Then, as she suddenly leaned over her upper body and whispered something with her hand over her mouth, Leonhard’s ears visibly red.

His perplexed gaze wanders here and there as if he doesn’t know where to look. 

His embarrassed gaze wandered around as if he didn’t know where to look. But Raenel followed him, snooping his head around everywhere he turned his eyes.

Her face, with its singularly mischievous expression, eventually drew a short laugh from Leonhard’s lips.

Seeing his eyes curved like a crescent moon, Zenut ended up scratching the nape of her neck.

“Oh, our Captain is dating, dating…!” 

“Really, I am really surprised. He wasn’t always interested in women. Of course, I thought it would be a political relationship even if they got married.”

“Therefore. In the first place, he wanted to get married because he needed the young master’s mother rather than needing a wife.…”

“Wait and see From now on, the Captain will be held captive by the Marquess.”

“Like you?”

“Like me?….Oh no!” 

“Hey, Zenut. Let’s talk. What kind of person is the Marquess?” 

Zenut pricked up her pig ears and blinked in surprise at the arrow that came back at her.

She was not sure what he meant by that, but Colin sliced off a tiny bit of meat from his plate and placed it on Zenut’s plate.

“You’ve had a few conversations with the Marquess. How was it? huh?” 

“Well….”

‘We’d exchanged glances and small talk, but that was it. It’s unlikely that the Marquess would talk to a knight who wasn’t her escort.’

“Yes, how Is she?”

As if curious, Vermont also came to Zenut’s side.

Perhaps the weak lady was surprised to see her, so she was deliberately in the back, so she had not even had a simple conversation with the Marquess.

“Just….she seems like a nice lady.” 

“Nice in what way?”

“She didn’t look down on me for being young, and she didn’t tell me I was special for being young.” 

She was originally young, but her short stature made her look younger than she actually was. She hated being treated like a child by others.

But Raenel never said anything like that, and whenever she called her by her first name, she always added a title. 

“I said I was from the desert.….” 

“Did you say that? What did the Marquess say?”

The perception of Desert people in the Empire is not so good. It’s just that she was born with dark skin, but

They think it’s dirty and messy because she doesn’t wash often because she lives in the desert where water is scarce.

The prejudice was much stronger, especially in the case of nobles.

“She asked if it is difficult to live in a cold place after living in a hot place.”

“And?”

“She asked if I had a favorite flower.” 

“Eh? Flower? Why?”

“Because she made this.”

Zenut took out a scarf from the magic bag on her belt. Embroidered on the pitch-black scarf were the red flowers of a green cactus with thorns.

Zenut showed the scarf for a moment, but because she was afraid that Vermon and Colin might take the scarf away, she quickly put it back in her magic bag.

“Honestly, I told her that it was hard to be cold, and she gave me a scarf. Knitting and embroidery are her hobbies and specialties.”

She pretended to answer the question gently, but her voice, which seemed to be stiff at first glance, was bragging.

— ‘You didn’t get any presents, did you? You haven’t even talked to her, have you?’

Something like that.

There was no way Vermon and Colin couldn’t understand it. 

“you you…!You cheeky bastard!”

“Hahaha, if you’re envious, just say you’re envious, but I won’t give you this!”

“You damn bastard! coming here!” 

“Should I go? Haha, envy, envy! Kalam Kong!” 

“So what is that kalamkong! Damn, you’re not coming here!”

The unintelligible desert slang finally caught Colin off guard, and he began to run after Zenut, determined to kick her ass today.

However, Zenut, who quickly ran out, was already far away.

“hahaha! Kalamkong, Kalamkong!”

“Zenut!”

No one cared about the chase that took place every three days.

Vermon, who was left alone on the spot, sighed and shook his head.

“Anyway, the mental age is the same.”

While happily eating the meat on the plate the two of them had left behind. 

Vermon was looking around for a drink and his eyes met Raenel, who was looking this way. Leonhard was nowhere to be seen.

Bored, she swings her legs back and forth in her seat, then smiles and waves her hand at Vermon.

To an unexpected greeting, Vermon awkwardly bowed his head in response.

Soon after, Leonhard returned and her gaze turned, so there was no further interaction, but Vermon felt strange just by that and lowered his head.

‘Are you not scared?’ 

The hollow sleeves fluttered weakly in the wind that blew in. Vermon, who glanced at Leonhard and Raenel, who was chattering, put a piece of meat in his mouth for no reason in a sense of tickling inside his chest.

‘Next time, I’ll have to say hello first.’

A secret he has never told everyone.

As a former mercenary, he joined Heilang. On the other hand, he actually had a dream of being a ‘knight serving a lady’ when he was young that remained in his heart.

* * *

 “Were you comfortable last night, Marquess?”

“Yes, I slept well…hoamm.”

“I brought you water to wash. Wash your face first.” 

“Yes….”

While I was washing and grooming, people were diligently preparing breakfast and packing up their belongings.

Sometimes I wondered if it was okay for me to sit here while everyone else was working, but I knew that if I, as a Marquess, started doing work, the whole place would turn upside down.

‘At times like this, being calm helps.’ 

Breakfast is bread and soup. 

Originally, they would bake eggs, bacon, and even make salad, but they said they prepared it simply because they had to leave early today.

“Oh, but why is the flag lowered?” 

After walking all the way to the tent and finishing all the tidying up.

As I was about to get on the carriage to depart, I saw the flag of Ajas, which had been installed in the field, separated from the pole and rolled up.

In fact, it is not necessary to raise a flag just because the state moves together, but Ajas’s flag had a very practical effect.

Bandits and mercenaries are avoiding them.

Originally, a procession containing this number of carriages was perfect for being a target.

Besides, even the traces of carriages’ wheels dug deep into the ground showed that they were heavily loaded with goods.

No matter how many knights are lined up, it’s worth attacking for a jackpot, but we haven’t been attacked a single time so far. Not even once.

Even a five-year-old child knows that the blue flag with the ice dragon on it belongs to Ajas.

Would a great bandit ever dare to attack Ajas? If you want to commit suicide, there must be a more moderate way.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t give any explanation. It’s better to hide our existence, at least at the Anild Gate.”

“Why?”

“It’s a nuisance…Because there are many things.”

Leonhard’s face, which looked groaning and distressed as he said so, looked really sick of it.

Why are there so many troublesome things at the Anild Gate?

I was curious, but I calmly put my curiosity aside, wondering if there was a need to pry when it wasn’t a good thing.

“Hmm, are you riding in the carriage with me today?”

“Yes, my appearance is widely known. It is difficult to hide my identity just by hiding the flag.”

That’s right. If such a handsome super-special handsome man rides his horse with his face uncovered, all eyes will be focused on him at once. 

But if he covers his face, it will stand out again.

“The guards will guard the area around the carriage. Even if you are bored without a friend, please be patient with me for a day.”

After helping me get into the carriage, Leonhard climbed into the carriage and closed the door.

I smiled mischievously as I stroked the hair of Ruby, the only one allowed to ride with me.

“Why aren’t you talking to me? You can do it for me.” 

“Because I’m not good at talking enough to pretend to be a friend. Even now, I am not sure what to say.”

“Well, then I will ask Leon a question. Then, Leon will answer my question, and if you have any questions, ask me. What do you think?”

“I think I can do that much.”

The moment Leonhard nodded with a bright face, the carriage started to depart.

The road out of the dirt field was quite bumpy, and the carriage rattled and shook greatly. I slowly brought out the first question, careful not to accidentally bite my tongue.

“How did you select my escort knights?” 

“Is there anyone you don’t like?”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way, I was just genuinely curious, You only picked a few out of all those people.”

“All of them are very talented.…I chose them because of their appearance.” 

“What? Appearance?”

That’s another criterion I hadn’t thought of.

“Isn’t it the first thing that my wife feels threatened by the knight who will escort her right beside her?”

Aha, sure.

Leona, Ethan, and Sage.

They were all neat and well-groomed in appearance, though their moods and vibes were slightly different. They weren’t all that big either.

‘Sir Vermon or Sir Colin or Sir Heliot…they are big and they are so tall that it’s hard to look up at them.’ 

Suddenly, I remembered that I’d made eye contact with Sir Vermon yesterday at dinner, and we’d exchanged a brief glance. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever even done that before…

“Oh, please sir Vermon, he Is not misunderstanding that I’m afraid, right?” 

“Aren’t you afraid of him?”

“If he belongs to Heilang, he is a knight who protects me. I know he won’t hurt me, so how could I be afraid of him?”

“On the contrary, I’m more afraid of those people who raise their hands in front of me, even if they have a good face, or chase after me in a dark alleyway until we are alone.”

After explaining that, Leonhard immediately stiffened his expression and asked me in a serious voice.

“Have you ever had such an experience?”

“Oh, no, I’ve heard of it, don’t worry.”

In fact, it was something I had experienced. Not in this life, but in the life before I die.