Stepmothers Are Not Always Evil

“Marquis Melks, do you have anything to say?”

The Emperor, with his chin resting on his arm, asked, staring at the Marquis Melks.

It was a question of whether you would like to continue.

‘It’s stupid. He dug his own grave.’

In fact, it was not good for the Emperor to see this grow bigger.

First of all, it is the Empress who hosted the meeting, the place where Escal went missing is the royal hunting ground, and the son of the Duke of Eaton was the one who had the problem with Escal. So if the Duke or Duchess insisted on holding the imperial family accountable, it would be a headache.

With Escal’s disappearance prolonged, the Emperor’s nerves are on edge, and he’s not pleased when Marquis Melks tries to stir things up.

“Marquis Melks.”

“Ye-yes?”

“Can I read the letters you and Baron Rockefeller sent?”

“Well, it was just a regular greeting card. There is no need for Your Majesty to take a hard look.”

Helios raised an eyebrow at the obvious lie.

“If the Marquis accuses the Duke of Anthemion, why not check it anyway?”

“As for the accusation, I’ll pretend it never happened.”

“Pretend it never happened?”

The Marquis Melks said with a frown on his face.

“That… I lost my mind for a while because of the shock of losing my grandchild. Please forgive the rudeness.”

“Hmm. I see.”

The Emperor’s gaze turned to Helios. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

‘I’m in trouble.’

Marquis Melks was caught in the trap he set, so it was self-defeating, but Helios was unfortunately caught in that trap.

When Helios confessed that he had made a deal with the Marquis to get custody of Escal, it was as if the Emperor had found his great weakness.

The Emperor tilted his head sullenly and asked.

“Then this is settled, do you have any other business?”

“N-no.”

“Then go out.”

“Ye-yes.”

Marquis Melks left the room in a panic.

The Emperor, who had been waiting for the door to close, looked down at Helios and said.

“Duke of Anthemion.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I trusted the Duke’s loyalty and entrusted You with an important position, but if you had taken advantage of it, what is that position?”

“… I have nothing to tell you.”

“If your sister finds out about this, she will be very upset.”

“It is all my fault. Please punish me.”

The Emperor waved his hand as Helios knelt and placed his forehead on the floor.

“It happened while you were trying to protect your child, so how can I blame you? I will cover this up here, so be careful not to do it again in the future.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor, who responded with a smile to Helios’ words, asked with a dark face.

“By the way, how is the search for your son going?”

“… I have no news to tell you.”

“It’s a shame you haven’t had any news yet.”

The Emperor clicked his tongue in a worried tone. Helios said with a gloomy expression.

“Actually, there are things that bother me about Escal’s disappearance.”

“What is it?”

“On the day the child disappeared, I heard that one of the Imperial servants who was mobilized for the meeting had disappeared.”

“An imperial servant disappears. Is that true?”

The Emperor’s eyes widened as if he didn’t know.

So did I. The disappearance of the imperial servant could only mean that Escal was kidnapped.

In shock, Lenia forgot that she was in front of the Emperor and asked Helios.

“What do you mean, someone disguised as an imperial servant kidnapped Escal?”

“I’ll talk more about it later.”

“Not later, now! Why didn’t you tell me? If that had happened, you should have told me sooner!”

“Lena, calm down.”

Helios glanced at the Emperor and then at me. But I can’t calm down like Helios.

“Who is the missing servant? Did you verify the identity? What is the purpose? Why, our Escal—”

“Duchess Anthemion.”

At that time, the Empress who entered the audience stopped me.

Adela, hanging from the Empress’s skirt and following along, rolled her eyes and looked at Helios and me.

“… I see Your Majesty the Empress.”

“It’s been a while. I can’t ask you how you’ve been.”

The Empress said with a sympathetic gaze. The Emperor was delighted and welcomed His wife.

“Empress, what’s going on?”

“Since Duke Anthemion entered the palace, I was curious to see how the search was going.”

The Empress, who gave a short answer, asked with her gaze fixed on me, who couldn’t contain her excitement.

“But, Your Majesty, what does it mean to say that the imperial servant has disappeared?”

“I don’t know either. Duke Anthemion, please explain in detail.”

“According to the servants who accompanied them to the royal palace hunting grounds that day, the number of people entering and leaving was different.”

“How is that possible? All of the imperial servants are hired by recommendation, and wherever they go, they meticulously check the number of people.”

Helios calmly answered the Empress’s questioning words.

“I didn’t know what was going on either, so I was about to tell His Majesty.”

“Your Majesty, if Duke Anthemion’s words were true, wouldn’t it be a big deal?”

The Empress’s expression became serious.

The fact that outsiders were infiltrating the royal palace servants means that the servants are poorly managed.

In other words, it also meant that even if an assassin who was targeting the Emperor could enter the Imperial Palace disguised as a servant, he might not be able to deal with it.

“I’ll have to find out what happened.”

“How could this have happened in the Imperial Palace and nowhere else?”

“That’s right.”

The Emperor and Empress sighed deeply.

Biting her lips in frustration, Adela, who was watching the atmosphere next to her Mom and Dad, quietly shook the skirt of the Empress.

“Mommy.”

“Why, Adele?”

“I… saw it.”

“What do you see?”

When the Empress asked with a face not knowing what she was talking about, Adela crouched and pursed her lips.

“That kid… he rode a carriage that day.”

“That kid? Are you talking about Escal? What kind of carriage is it? Tell me more, Adele.”

The Empress interrupted her with great force. Adela looked up and answered in a small voice.

“An uncle put him in a carriage and left.”

“Unclu? What uncle? Did you know who it was?”

“Yes.”

“Who is that person?”

“…….”

Adela swallowed her dry saliva.

I felt like my stomach was going to explode in frustration.

‘You acted so mean in the original.’

When she saw Escal going somewhere, I was so upset that she hadn’t told me about it yet.

Even if it wasn’t just a princess.

I looked at the child with a thin hope and resentment at the same time.

“Come on, tell us. Who took the duke’s son?”

Even the Emperor urged Adela, and Adela opened her mouth with difficulty.

“G-Gail brother’s uncle.”

“What?”

****

‘Is that guy chasing me?’

Baron Hazel, who had been diligently walking out of the inn, stopped at the road he encountered as soon as he left the capital and looked around.

I could feel an unwelcome guest behind my back, there was someone following me.

In preparation for an unexpected physical fight, the presence of an uninvited guest disappeared as he entered the unpopulated road.

‘Have you gone?’

Baron Hazel walked for a while in the opposite direction of his destination, then turned back when he was sure that his pursuers had completely disappeared.

I was surprised that he gave up sooner than I expected.

‘I thought they’d be a little more persistent, since they seem to have realized I have Escal with me.’

He remembered the Duchess of Anthemion handed him the pouch.

She was a mysterious woman.

How did she know that he was protecting Escal, and how did she know and ask if it was because of Tiaris that I was looking for the Magic Stone?

There were more than a few things that didn’t add up, However, she didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would scold the child because he was not her biological son.

‘It would be better to ask Escal.’

Escal didn’t know that his parents were looking for him so desperately, so I thought it might be better to talk about it and clear up any misunderstandings and send him back.

Of course, it can’t be denied that Helios’ suggestion played a major role in Baron Hazel’s judgment.

‘If you tell me where my son is, I will give you as many Magic Stones as you need in return.’

In fact, when he heard Helios’ proposal, he almost pointed at Escal’s whereabouts.

If he hadn’t been such a high-minded soldier, he might have been tempted.

‘Before I die, I should cure Tia’s disease.’

Baron Hazel sighed with a puzzled look on his face.

Until now, I had been living with the money I received when I retired and the money I got from selling the mansion, but that was quickly running out.

As long as Tiaris is healthy, he would do a job as a mercenary, but Tiaris was young and weak, so he couldn’t leave him alone.

‘I must do something’

If I told Duke Anthemion that I saved Escal, wouldn’t he give me some money?

Thinking like that, Baron laughed at himself like a snob.

‘I wish that even a monster could appear.’

If I could get the Magic Stone even by fighting monsters, I’m willing to do it

‘Though I doubt he’d be able to do that with his old body.’

Baron Hazel laughed hollowly.

He arrived at the hut, contemplating how to earn enough money to buy the Magic Stone.

The door to the hut was wide open.

‘Where did the children go to play?’

He tilted his head and was about to enter the hut.

“Tia, wake up!”

An urgent shout was heard from inside the hut.

As Baron rushed into the hut, Escal was crying while shaking Tiaris, who had fallen on the floor.

“Tia!”