How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

“Hey, sorry for being late.… By the way Nell, How much did you drink alone?”

“I didn’t drink much. This much?” 

“This much?”

“hmm….as much as this.”

Leonhard let out a small sigh when I doubled my thumb and index finger. Then he took away the wine glass that was still in my hand.

“Uh, it’s mine.”

“Haven’t you already drunk more than half of what is supposed to be shared between husband and wife, and this one is mine.”

“But Leon’s is mine, right?” 

“That…”

“Right? So give it to me. I’ll drink just that much, okay?”

Looking at Leonhard’s hesitant face, I couldn’t help but smile. For some reason, the corners of my mouth were twitching.

I give up, so Leonhard sighs softly and takes the glass from my hand, lifts it to his mouth, and downs it in one gulp.

“Ugh.”

“I can’t offer you anything, Nell. Stop drinking now….” 

Why not, you had one drop left on your lips!

With one determination not to let it be taken away, I leaned over to Leonhard, hugged him by the neck, and kissed his lips.

Clink!

At that moment, I was startled by the sound that I heard and came to my senses. As I tried to check the identity of the rupture sound that I heard a while ago, my body, which was about to return to its original position, was lifted by Leonhard’s arms.

“Leon?”

“Sorry. I dropped my wine glass… I broke it. It’s dangerous, so I’ll move you.”

I have a slip and a shawl. Leonhard has a shirt.

Both the slip and the shirt were thin, so I could feel the beat of Leonhard’s heart with my whole body, leaning against him with my arms tightly around his neck.

thump, thump, thump.

I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder, hoping that I could hear it with my ears.

But, he quickly lowered my body onto the bed. 

Before I could feel his heartbeat and hot body temperature, I quickly grabbed his arm as he tried to turn away from me.

“Where are you going?”

“Call someone to clean up the broken wine glass.…”

“Is that necessary at this late hour? You don’t even have to go under the bed, Leon.”

“Do you know what your wife is talking about?”

I raised my upper body a little, and the shawl slipped off my shoulders. I roughly tossed the shawl, which felt a bit cumbersome, down the bed, then shifted to the side to make room.

“Hurry up.”

In the blue eyes looking down at me, something stirred like the waves of the sea on a dark night.

In an instant, the urge to look closely into those eyes welled up. I applied strength to my hand on the bed to raise my upper body completely, and at the same time, Leonhard sat on the bed and stretched out his hand toward me.

A large hand wraps around the back of my head and pulls weakly. I got up on my knees, put both hands on his shoulders, and kissed him on the lips.

I feel his quivering breath over the soft touch of my lips. The touch tickled me and I flinched a little, but Leonhard wrapped his left hand around my back and pulled me toward him as if to tell me not to move away. A little harder than before. I hugged his thick neck more deeply and carefully bit his lower lip.

Then this time, I felt under my hand that he was startled. I couldn’t help but put my head back and burst into laughter.

“why…are you laughing?” 

“Because Leon-nim is cute.”

“Cute?”

“yes. I think you are cuter than Ruby.”

Leonhard looked very shocked when he remembered the winged cat who often acted cute to him. I thought it was a compliment. 

“Hehe, oh, that’s good.”

“Do you mean I’m cute?” 

“I mean, Leon is handsome.”

‘This face is mine now.’ 

The thought alone filled my heart. Oh, my God, I was so stupid.

But who cares if I am stupid? This face is mine where I can kiss and touch whatever I want.

With a happy smile on my lips, I was still locked in Leonhard’s arms, and I wrapped my hands around his face and touched his cheek.

His shoulders and back, which I had touched earlier, were surrounded by some kind of stone-like muscles and were just hard.

but he was human, too, and his face was just soft skin, so his cheeks were quite chubby.

‘He must have had a chubby childhood too, right?’

‘If I gave birth to a son who looked just like him, would I be able to see him with my own eyes?’

Whether he knew I was fantasizing about such things or not, Leonhard’s voice was a little muffled because of the way I pinched his cheeks.

“My wife seems to really like my face.”

“sure. If it wasn’t for this face, I wouldn’t have proposed to you.” 

“Well, I must take care of my face if I don’t want to get divorced.”

“I’ll leave the scars on your face. Just don’t touch other women’s hands.” 

“I will keep that in mind.”

Oh, he’s good at answering.

I’m so proud that I want to kiss him.

No, I can do it if I want. He’s my husband now!

“Leon, can I kiss you?”

But it’s important to ask permission, even if you’re married, so I’m ready to do it, and I ask him.

“That’s….You don’t have to ask for permission, Nell.” 

As I lowered my gaze, Leonhard said while holding my hand covering his cheek. I smiled at the answer, which I liked more than I expected.

“I see, Leon, you don’t have to ask permission either.” 

You’re so handsome.

my heart was beating fast, so I grabbed Leonhard’s face and kissed him all over his lips and cheeks.

I felt his cheeks stiffen in my hands, but I didn’t stop. I’d already gotten permission…right? 

“Nell.”

“yes?”

Through my suddenly flipped vision, I saw the ceiling of the bedroom, and I saw Leonhard’s face looking down at me from the middle.

Even looking up at that face from below, he looks so handsome.

While I was blankly thinking about that, Leonhard, who was staring at my face, continued with a sigh.

“No matter how I look at it, I think you’re drunk.” 

“What? No, I’m not, I’m not drunk at all.”

“No. you’re drunk.”

The voice of speculation, which had left the room, was instantly filled with conviction.

Why do you think I’m drunk when I’m not drunk?

“I think we better sleep for today.”

Leonhard, who reached the conclusion, lifted the blanket and covered it over my body, and he lay next to me.

At least he didn’t say, “You sleep here, I’ll sleep on the sofa.

“You know it’s our first night, right?” 

“How can I not know?”

“No, you don’t. You don’t seem to know.”

Someone who knows it’s the first night tells me to lie down and sleep?

“Your only day off is tomorrow, and you have to travel a long distance in a carriage the day after tomorrow, and I can’t afford to strain you.”

“Are you going to overtax me to the point where I won’t be able to recover by tomorrow…?” 

“I’ll try to consider you, of course, but when it comes to physical exertion, moderation is hard to come by.”

Leonhard smiled softly as if telling me not to be frightened by his words. 

“When I train with my subordinates, I’m the only one standing on two feet when I wake up.”

“aha….”

So you’re saying you’re going to do that until I faint, right?

A strange imagination popped into my head for a moment, and I wiggled under the blanket and buried my face in Leonhardt’s arms.

Oh, it’s hot, it’s hot. I must have pulled the blanket too much. I stayed there, trying to catch my breath, and then poked my head out of the blanket.

“Here, you know…”

“Yes, speak, madam.”

“It’s not that I’m not beautiful, it’s just that my husband’s patience is as strong as steel, right?”

Leonhardt’s eyes widened at my question, and he immediately closed his eyes and laughed out loud.

Embarrassed by that appearance, I went back into the blanket, and Leonhard came in with me and kissed me briefly on the lips.

“Sure. Your husband has inherited powers of steel, and his patience is as steel as his body.”

“I see…”

I see, your patience is as much steel as your body…

It seems that what my husband said I was drunk was right. Strange thoughts keep popping into my head.

It’s very hot because I’m drunk.

I thought I was going to die, so I pulled the blanket that covered us up to my chest.

“Then…hmm, I will spend my first night at Ajas Castle.”

“Then you must not leave your husband and get drunk first, madam.”

“Okay. I promise. No, but I’m not drunk.” 

“Okay, let’s leave it at that.”

In the end, I fell asleep with my husband, who had a handsome face and a body like steel, holding only his little finger.

It’s not holding hands and sleeping, only holding his little finger.

* * *

The lamp, which burned quietly by the bedside, eventually ran out of oil and went out. 

Raenel was plunged into darkness by the dim light.

However, in the eyes of the sword master Leonhard, the darkness was not such a big problem.

After claiming that she was not drunk, Raenel quickly fell asleep using his arm as a pillow, exhaling lightly and evenly.

‘Maybe your day was very tiring.’

Leonhard’s breath almost stopped as he listened to her tiny breathing.

“Ugh…”

Raenel, who struggled with sleep for a bit, curled up his lips with a frown and turned over on his half.

Staring at her small back covered in tangled hair, Leonhard cautiously reached out and turned her body over.

Then her face comes into view again.

“It’s not that I’m not beautiful, it’s just that my husband’s patience is as strong as steel, right?”

‘Did you ask because you really didn’t know?’

Leonhard lay in this bed, reflecting on the conversation he exchanged with Raenell, and then rubbed his hand roughly over his face, which had become hot before he knew it.

“I’m drunk…”

‘Was it me?’ 

‘Just a glass of wine on the bottom.’

But he knew very well that it wasn’t just a sip of wine that had gotten him drunk.

‘I have to sleep now.’ 

Be patient like steel.

Perhaps he will find out by tomorrow morning. Is his patience as strong as steel or not.