How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

“ID card?”

“Tang, you’re wrong. Take a closer look.”

I had never seen a flat silver metal plate shaped like a tulip with blue jewels embedded in the top.

As Lily said, I picked up the metal plate and examined it closely. On the front, the shape of three birds spreading their wings side by side was delicately engraved. On the back, there was my name, Raenel Howard…Hawk Hanks…Bank?

“Bank…? Isn’t it? Account? There was an account in my name?”

“Yeah. There’s a Hawk Hanks branch in Ajas Castle, so if you go there and show this, you will be able to find some money and spend it. Of course, as the Marquess, you will be given allowances, but sometimes you want to spend money secretly, don’t you?” 

Lily’s sister winked one eye, and I glanced sideways at Leonhard, who was talking with my older brother over there. He didn’t seem to hear any of the conversations we were having here.

“But….I got my allowance separately. Why do you give me this?” 

“That’s an allowance. Technically, it’s a profit share for the partners.”

“partners?”

“Nell, have you forgotten? All of the best magic tools in Clover Magic Tools are products made because of your idea.”

What I asked Lily to make purely for my convenience were the items I used in my previous life.

Things like hair straighteners, hair dryers, mini fans, vacuum cleaners and washing machines, and electric blankets.

Among them, the biggest hit was the electric blanket. She said that the amount of orders coming in, especially from the cold north, is big.

She made enough money to pay off the Howard debts, buy a mansion in the capital, and open a shop on the Silver Line.…Do you want to share the profits with me? 

“I paid you a fair price. You only took profits from the product you gave me the idea for. So you can take it.”

And Lily carefully removed the hair from my cheek.

“A woman’s confidence comes from money. so don’t be shy wherever you go. Okay, my younger sister?”

“sister…!”

“If you have too much money, you can buy a gift and send it.” 

“Yeah! I will definitely buy you a gift and send it to you! I love you, sister!”

I felt I was going to burst into tears, but I laughed harder.

I hugged Lily and buried my face in her arms, sobbing.

After a while, I heard my little brother click his tongue next to me.

“You’re married, how long are you going to act like a child?” 

“I’ll be like this forever. Don’t you have anything to say to me” 

“Nothing to say. It’s not like this is the last time we’ll ever see each other.”

“That’s it, but…”

Those words made me feel a little strange.

In the novel, ‘Raenel’, who ran away from her family in the face of their disapproval, never saw them again.

“Take this.”

“What is it?”

What my little brother gave me was an old book. no, not a book…

“A collection of music? Isn’t this our mother’s?”

“That’s right. I have to leave it at home anyway, there is no one to use it… Take it and practice your instrument. Last time I checked, you were pretty bad at it.”

“It’s not, you’re not paying attention!”

In the end, I raised my voice again and glared at him, but I was very grateful because I could feel my little brother’s care.

‘Besides, this was supposed to be in Howard’s territory…’ 

Even in the middle of the hectic, he must have ordered someone to bring it. My eyes were filled with tears for no reason because it was good to see that he was struggling to pick and choose it.

Blinking my eyes quickly, I hugged the collection of music that left many traces of my mother in my arms.

“Vertigo. I will definitely master it and let you hear it.” 

“Vertigo? Aren’t your dreams too big?”

“It’s a big dream for a guy who smashed a piano because he couldn’t play it after a few taps. You’ll see, I’ll master it in two years!” 

Vertigo was a difficult dance song that is said to take at least 10 years of consistent piano playing to master.

It is difficult to play and dance accordingly, so it is rarely played at any ball now, but it is always included in the music book.

‘If you master this song, you don’t have to learn the piano anymore!’ 

“What are you talking about that’s so interesting?”

“Brother Liv!”

“Listen, brother. Nell says she’s going to master Vertigo in two years..” 

“Vertigo…?”

Even my older brother looked at me with a look that said, “That’s a little hard, isn’t it?’ 

Well, then I’ll be discouraged.

“three years?”

“Howard has a tomboy pride. Are you going to change your mind now?” 

“A tomboy? I’m not a tomboy. Leon, that guy over there is trying to defame your wife, Please give him a hard time.”

“Hey, you.”

Hiding behind Leonhard, I stuck my tongue out, and my Little Brother let out an incredulous voice.

It was none other than the big brother who saved Leonhard, who had a confused look on his face as he was caught between my little brother and me.

“Nell, I need to talk to you alone for a minute?” 

“Alone? yes.”

I can understand why you want to talk, but why do you want to talk to me alone?

With such doubts, I followed my older brother as he climbed into the Howard carriage. 

‘Is it really necessary to climb into a carriage like this and close the door …? What the hell are you trying to talk about?’

Feeling nervous for no reason, I swallowed dry saliva.

In the meantime, the older brother, with his elbows resting on his knees, opened his mouth cautiously, as if he didn’t know how to utter these words.

“In the past… I talked to our parents about a story.” 

“A story?”

“Yeah, The story of your biological parents.”

At the moment I couldn’t imagine, my mind went blank. I’ve never heard a story about my biological parents. Even when I found out I was an adopted child.

So I assumed my family didn’t know much about my parents.

They found me abandoned somewhere and raised me…That’s what I was thinking.

“Have you ever seen the people who gave birth to me?”

“I have never met her. The same goes for Alex and Lily. Only our dead parents have seen her.”

“ah….”

“My parents and we decided to raise you as our own daughter and younger sister, but…Unfortunately, your appearance was so different that I thought you would be able to notice it yourself at any time. So our parents called a painter at the time and had him paint a portrait. A portrait of your biological mother they met.”

With that, he reached into his chest and pulled out a small, oval-shaped locket pendant.

“The day you found out you were an adopted child, I debated whether or not to show you the portrait in this pendant, but then I realized that our brave tomboy would run away from home to find the parents who gave her birth…” 

He was joking, but my older brother’s voice trembled with nervousness.

So I knew. He wasn’t completely joking. 

“Just a little more, just a little more, just a little more… I’ve been procrastinating, and now it’s the day you get married and leave the Howards, and I can’t procrastinate here any longer.”

“Nell…” 

my older brother called me in a small voice.

I lifted my eyes, which had been fixed on the locket pendant the whole time, and made eye contact with him.

“Do you want to hear the story of your mother who gave birth to you?”

I hesitated for a moment, then parted my lips. 

“I don’t know.”

How can I explain this feeling?

I just really, really didn’t know what to say.

My biological parents gave birth to me. Their existence, at least in this world, was like an alien to me.

I’ve never seen them before, and the possibility of seeing them in the future is so small that it seems like they just don’t exist in the first place.

Yeah, now my big brother’s suggestion sounded like, ‘Hey, aliens are real, why don’t you go meet one?’

How many people can answer that, after going through a normal day, suddenly hear an offer like that and immediately say, ‘Yes! ‘I want to meet them!’

“Does Brother Liv want me to hear that?”

“When I was younger than you are now, to be honest, I didn’t want you to know. The fact that my cute little sister has a real family of her own… made me a little jealous.”

“Don’t talk like that. I never thought of our parents and older sisters and brothers as not being my real family.”

“Yeah. Now I know that, so I really want to tell you this story.” 

After saying that, my older brother moved the locket pendant he was holding in his hand and showed me a small portrait inside.

I couldn’t help but look at it. In the portrait, a woman with dazzling platinum hair and light purple eyes was drawn.

It was completely different from the face I had pictured in my brief imagination, so I reached out my hand and took the pendant from my older brother without realizing it.

“This is my biological mother? She doesn’t look like me.”

“They say you inherited the color of your hair and eyes from your mother’s father, that is, from your maternal grandfather.”

“I see…”

“She said she hoped you would look like her late father, and you did, and she cried that her daughter had granted her wish.”

My older brother’s low voice, as if he were telling an old story, made me feel strange.

So I was just looking down at the portrait in the pendant, and the voice of my older brother continued.

“He saved my parents.” 

“What?”

“The mother who gave birth to you was a great wizard. When they were traveling to the Kingdom of Canel, they were unlucky enough to encounter a monster, and then your mother defeated the monster with powerful magic.” 

“Really?”

“That’s why Mother sent Lily to the magic academy. She was very impressed with your mother’s ability to use powerful magic against that giant monster without the slightest of fear.”

On days when he was very drunk, he always brought up the story and enjoyed it like a child, my older brother explained with a childlike face.

But there was something I didn’t understand.

“If my mother, who gave birth to me, was such a powerful wizard, why can’t I use magic?”