A Stepmother's Marchen

Chapter 60

I didn’t expect to be treated like a mother so there’s nothing to be upset about. But, well, what a bad guy! No matter what, did he have to say it like that?! Jeremy smiled calmly on the surface, looked at me, moved his golden eyebrows slightly, and suddenly said, “Do you know that you smile differently when you’re sad?”

“…I didn’t know?”

“Damn it, I’ll pull out that boy’s tongue sooner or later…”

It’s strange to see him muttering a truly creepy remark and clicking his tongue. To be able to control that dog-like temper so well, should it be said to be a huge development?

Yeah, Jeremy has developed that much…

The smart child, who was sitting near the bedside stopped looking from side to side, came to me and grabbed my sleeves with his hands.

I quickly smiled brightly, so as to not transmit what I was feeling to the child, but the little intellectual who looked up said, “Mom, is the second brother going through puberty?”

“…I guess so.”

“The teacher said that children in adolescence are rebellious because they don’t get beaten.”

Jeremy, who was holding a glass of water and gulping it down, began to cough.

I smiled and stroked Leon’s head.

Fortunately, Rachel slept soundly, otherwise, this place would have been transformed into the middle of a jungle. Anyway, what should I do with my second son? Ha, if one guy calms down, the other guy will make trouble. That’s my fate!!

By the time the sun was setting, white snow began to scatter. We headed directly to the restaurant where we had booked, wrapped in thick fur cloaks.

Speaking of Elias, who had been confined to the room until then, he followed without saying a word, with his lips still protruding, probably because he was hungry.

Nevertheless, Jeremy didn’t say anything to him.

“Wow, isn’t this the best spot in the restaurant?”

As Jeremy expressed, the spot was the restaurant’s most expensive terrace on the top floor of the hot spring hall. Even on the terrace, thick glass walls blocked the outside air, so there was no chance of being hit by the cold wind. Although the sight of other people eating inside is a little unpleasant, anyway, we can have a warm dinner while enjoying the beautiful scenery of the mountains shrouded by the snowstorm.

“You’re already here?”

Nora appeared by the time the warm steaming stew and wine-pickled wild boar dish came.

The young Nurembert loosened his black scarf with one hand as if it was a nuisance, came into the terrace where we were sitting, and pushed the box he held in the other hand directly to me.

“Mom asked me to send it.”

“Madam…?”

“Yeah. White chocolate or something. Anyway, thank you for inviting me.”

Hehe, white chocolate? It’s just dinner together. Why did she even send that?

“But… It’s a family trip. Is it okay to eat separately like this?”

“My parents must have been eager for me to disappear even for a moment. They’ll be here anyway, so you can say hello later,“ Nora, who responded with a shrug of his shoulder, sat next to Jeremy with a smile. It’s really great to see the rivals of fate sitting on a table so harmoniously.

“Welcome to the lion’s den, puppy.”

“Who is the puppy? Do slow wildcat babies count as lions these days?”

“Oh, you want to give it a try?”

“That’s what I was going to say.”

While the rivals of fate kicked each other’s legs under the table, the twins were watching Nora with a look on their faces as if they were watching something extraordinary.

In the meantime, Elias, who is still stirring the stew plate loudly with a sulky face alone, decided not to pay them attention.

But why do I keep feeling awkward?

Nora was being polite to me as never before, perhaps because he was in front of the lion cubs or because he was conscious of the eyes of others, and I was the same.

In any case, Nora, who was getting along with Jeremy and had a hearty appetite, seemed fine.

Even though I know what was happening according to the testimony I heard from Jeremy earlier and the scar on his face that I saw the last time I met him, he still seemed cheerful. And yet, why does it feel like something strangely changed?

“Good. After the meal, we’ll have a proper fight, puppy!”

“Don’t cry because you lost, Kitten.”

“But did you bring your sword? You look like you came empty handed. As for me, I have a great sword that St. Clara personally gave as a Christmas gift… “

(Tl note: I used Santa instead of St. Clara in previous chapters …. If anyone knows why they use ‘St. Clara’ in the novel comment and tell me, thank you.)

“St. Clara must be the most generous person in the world,” Nora, who lightly responded, suddenly turned to me and smiled slightly.

Although it didn’t matter if he said it, I was amazed that he didn’t confess that he received his Christmas gift as well.

I thought he was as reckless as my son…

It was then that Elias, who was struggling with the dessert pie, suddenly opened his mouth, “Ah, it’s so noisy. Can you shut up and stop interrupting other people’s pleasant meals?”

Clang!

The sound of Jeremy dropping the knife he was holding rang loudly. As for Nora, who was the target of that sudden quarrel, he looked surprisingly calm and turned slowly toward Elias, “It’s etiquette to look into each other’s eyes and talk during the conversation. It seems that you said it to me just now, didn’t you, coward?”

It goes without saying that Elias, who was suddenly treated as a coward, lost his temper and pushed the pie plate roughly.

He immediately jumped to his feet, and roared with the spirit of destroying the entire restaurant without saying a thing, ”Why? Are you unhappy?! If you have any problem, you can leave! You’re like a wild dog who doesn’t know where to be!”

While Nora was just frowning at that innocent remark, Jeremy responded to the argument that it was more than unbearable, “Why do you always vent your anger on the wrong person whenever you’re upset? Do you really want to be beaten up?”

“Hey, for how long have you been so close to him?”

“Who’s on his side? You’re the one who’s been trying to ruin the good atmosphere!”

“What kind of atmosphere is it? He’s been smiling with his eyes and making people angry…”

“Elias!” Unknowingly, my voice went up sharply. In the meantime, the twins, who were firmly eating their food deliciously, opened their eyes wide and looked at me.

Elias, who was arguing with his brother, also flinched and opened his eyes wide and looked back at me.

“Where did you learn to be rude? Can’t you apologize right away?”

“No! Why should I…”

“Don’t you understand when I say something?! How do you treat me? I’m your guardian. It’s an invariable fact. Just do what I say! Do you want to see severe people die because of a quarrel between our family?”

Of course, because of the quarrel between children, the possibility of our family fighting with the Nurembert family is very small. But my patience with that angry foal-like guy has slowly reached its limit. Even so, if a fight occurred, it was clear who would be beaten.

No matter what happened, Nora was one of the few people who had shown heartfelt concern during the previous trial, and I didn’t want him to come to dine with me in an unpleasant atmosphere, get involved in an absurd vent and argue with his father again.

After I shouted and then breathed heavily, Elias pouted as if he had completely lost his soul.

Jeremy, who was raising his arm to beat his younger brother, sat down and kept talking to himself. The dark green eyes stared at me with complex and subtle light.

At this time, Nora, who was chewing his lips with a vague expression, quickly replaced the expression with a smile as soon as he made eye contact with me and moved.

He stood up calmly as if nothing had happened, and soon wrapped his hand around the scarf.

“I’m sorry… I think it would be better to go. I was rude in many ways.”

“But…”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s impolite to rashly intervene in other people’s family trips… Although it’s a pity, we’ll compete later, slow man.”

“Hey, dude. Are you running away again?”

“If you’re sad, you should come and see me. Then I’ll get going now!”

Jeremy seemed to have felt something unusual at the sight of his rival going away so quickly, but he didn’t hold onto it anymore. Instead, he stared at his immature brother with irritated eyes.

“You are a blind person who can’t read the situation. You’re a family wrecker.”

Instead of questioning why he was suddenly accused of breaking the family, Elias only sat down with a very awkward movement.

Then I sighed and looked back at Jeremy, “Jeremy, I’ll go back first, you finish eating with your siblings.”