How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

“Noah, say hello. This is Lady Cloud, who has decided to become my maid and help me starting today. Layla, this is Noah. My son.”

 

“Nice to meet you, Young Master. My name is Layla Cloud, the eldest daughter of the Marquis Cloud. You can call me Layla. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

 

“Me too…..Please take care of me.”

 

I was worried that maybe Layla didn’t like Noah, but fortunately, there was no sign of that.

 

Rather, Noah, who seemed shy and ate silently, was the first to talk to Layla about various topics, and by the time the meal was over, Noah was the first to ask Layla a question.

 

“Why did Lady Layla volunteer to be my mother’s maid?”

 

“Haha, Marquise saved me. That’s it. I came here after urging my mother to repay the favor. If she didn’t allow me, I would even run away from home.”

 

“Run away?”

 

“You don’t have to be surprised, Young Master. I came here with formal permission. Otherwise, how would I have gotten my mother’s letter?”

 

I felt a strange sense of Deja Vu as I watched Layla laugh out loud after spitting out the outrageous word “runaway.”

 

‘Why…? Is she just being carefree and messing around, or is she stubborn because she knows her family will eventually give in?’

 

“….ah!”

 

“Mother, what’s wrong?”

 

“It’s nothing.”

 

I see. I felt a strange sense of familiarity.

 

‘Does she look like me?’ 

 

People usually feel aversion when they meet someone different from themselves, but I strangely felt affection for Layla.

 

But it seems I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

 

When I went into Noah’s bedroom late one night to read him a story, he told me this story.

 

“I think Lady Layla is a good person.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes. I don’t think she would betray my mother.”

 

“Right, she’s a nice lady, isn’t she?”

 

Noah nodded and smiled slightly as if agreeing with what I said.

 

I felt very happy because it seemed like my only maid and my son would get along very well from now on.

 

* * * 

 

“Ah, I’m full!”

 

Layla, warmed by the warm bath water, collapsed onto the soft bed and rubbed her stomach with both hands.

 

“Lady, you should dry your hair before going to bed.”

 

“Hmm, I’m sleepy.….If I close my eyes like this, I think I’ll be able to end the day feeling great.…”

 

“Please sit down, it will only take a minute. Ugh, sit up and move your upper body.”

 

Diana forced Layla to sit up, as if she was trying to comfort a whining child, and quickly dried her wet hair with a towel and hair dryer.

 

The hand that was carefully combing the hair that had finally lost its moisture was very skilled as if it was not something she had done only once or twice.

 

“Okay, it’s done, Lady. You can go to sleep now.”

 

“Yeah…Hoamm.”

 

Layla yawned with her mouth wide open and climbed onto the bed, resting her head on the pillow. It was Diana’s job to cover her body with the blanket.

 

“Is there anything uncomfortable?”

 

“Huh….It’s so comfortable….”

 

Layla looked at Diana through her blurry vision and suddenly thought.

 

‘How many years has it been since I had Diana by my side?’

 

It hadn’t been that long, if she counted on her fingers, but Layla felt like Diana was her Nanny.

 

Perhaps next to her blood family, the person who knew her best was Diana, even more than the nanny who gave her milk.

 

“I’m glad I helped you back then…”

 

“Huh? Young lady, you still bring up old stories. Aren’t you tired of it now?”

 

“No, I’m not tired of it….I’ll do it until I die.”

 

“Me too.”

 

Looking at Diana, who was laughing as if she couldn’t stop herself, Layla smiled faintly even though she was sleepy.

 

Three years ago, Layla was going out in her carriage when she heard a commotion in front of the main gate.

 

Layla opened the window to look outside, wondering what was going on, and saw a girl in tattered clothes kneeling in the snow, begging for help.

 

When Layla asked her about her circumstances, she said that her mother was seriously ill, but she couldn’t afford the medicine, so her mother was just suffering in silence.

 

The medicine was too expensive and she couldn’t borrow money anywhere else, so she came to the compassionate Marquis Cloud for help.

 

‘Please save my mother. I will repay this favor with my life…’ 

 

Her swollen eyelids were redder than her frozen hands.

 

Pitying her appearance, Layla paid for the medicine, and Diana took a job as a maid at the marquis’s mansion to repay the favor.

 

With her nimble hands and quick-wittedness, she quickly blended in among the Marquis’s servants.

 

Because she made such a fuss at the main gate, everyone knew what she was up to, and the average age of the servants, who were in their thirties and forties, either felt sorry for her or were impressed by her.

 

Plus, she has a cheerful and diligent personality, so who wouldn’t like her?

 

Layla, too, found Diana’s come out in between work to offer her woolen gloves and shawls, which Layla took as a sign of her good nature.

 

So when the maid, who was the nanny’s daughter, Layla’s lifelong friend suddenly passed away in a carriage accident, Layla was devastated.

 

No one thought it strange that Diana ended up filling the void as she comforted the grieving Layla.

 

“It is my wish to serve you for the rest of my life, but I will never be able to repay you for what you have done for me.”

 

‘It was also because she insisted on taking her with me to Ajas Castle.’

 

‘How can I deal with a child who has never asked for anything in her life, ever since she begged for money for her mother’s medicine, clinging to me and wanting to take care of me until the end?’

 

In the end, Leyla, who had been unwilling to take anyone except her escorts, ended up taking Diana.

 

“Diana.”

 

“Yes, lady.”

 

“If you happen to see a guy you like while working here, let me know right away. I’ll be the matchmaker.”

 

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

 

Diana shook her head, saying it was nonsense.

 

Layla just laughed mischievously.

 

“Is that nonsense? You are my close maid. When I get married, you will become a maid close to a noblewoman. Even if you don’t know about nobles, you can easily catch a knight.”

 

“Ah, Lady!”

 

“So, if you have time, hang around a nearby training ground. Who knows? The Black Wolf Knight might fall in love with you.”

 

Although her words were playful, Layla was serious.

 

However, Diana shook her head, not knowing whether she knew her feelings or not, and held the pendant hanging around her neck under her clothes as she spoke.

 

“My dream is to be by your side until I die. I have already sworn to do so on my father’s heirloom.”

 

“Tsk, I’m sure your father would want you to find a good man and be happy.”

 

“Lady.”

 

Layla let out a light sigh at Diana’s awkwardness. What else could she say when she said something like that?

 

“If you change your mind later, tell me. And….”

 

“And?”

 

Layla stared silently at the pendant that stood out prominently above Diana’s clothes.

 

Layla had only seen it once, but even so, the pendant was still vividly imprinted in her mind.

 

‘If you’re going to pass it down as a keepsake, give it something pretty.…’

 

Diana’s cherished pendant, which was her father’s only heirloom, was not made of gold, silver, or precious stones, but was instead made by threading together the ends of an unidentified raw stone.

 

The shape is just bumpy, so let’s say it’s a raw stone. Then shouldn’t the color be pretty at least?

 

It’s an unpleasantly blood-red stone.

 

Even looking closely, something seemed to be sloshing inside, and it really did look like clotted blood, so much so that it almost made Layla vomit.

 

Diana must have felt the same way, as she always wore the pendant around her neck, but always hid it under her clothes.

 

Probably no one except for Layla has actually seen Diana’s beloved pendant.

 

“Then I will take my leave now, lady. Sleep well.”

 

“Yeah…good night…”

 

Even beyond her blurry vision, she could see Diana walking out, her hand tightly wrapped around the middle of her chest.

 

‘If he leaves something pretty as a keepsake…’

 

‘Does that dead father know that his daughter is fond of such a disgusting thing?’

 

Layla fell into a deep sleep, resenting Diana’s father, whose face she didn’t even know.

 

* * * 

 

I don’t know when I last sorted through the piled-up gifts, but as soon as the sun rose, gifts and letters from all over the place piled up again.

 

‘But now there was nothing to be afraid of because I had Layla!’

 

“From here to here, I think it would be best to send it back right away. Oh, my God, it’s seafood. I picked it because it’s getting a little warm and it will spoil if it stays out too long, so then we can’t send it back.”

 

“You calculated that far in advance?”

 

“It’s like foxes and raccoons, they’re all smiling on the outside, but inside they’re all thinking about how they’re going to take you down, so never show any openings.”

 

Although Layla was a year younger than me, she seemed to have a lot of social experience, so she gave me advice.

 

Regardless of whether or not that advice helped me, I was just worried that I might get scammed somewhere.

 

* * *