Stepmothers Are Not Always Evil - Chapter 1

The room was filled with suffocating tension.

A handsome man and a boy who looked alike were looking at each other.

The man opened his mouth first.

“Escal.”

“Yes, Du-Duke.” The dazed child stuttered and answered.

“Tell me what you did wrong.”

“I-I, Coo-cookies……”

The boy couldn’t continue his words and lowered his head.

tic tic. Tears were dripping down the carpet.

The sight of him crying with the tip of his nose red was so pathetic.

I wanted to comfort him right away, but unfortunately, I couldn’t even lift a finger.

I looked at the boy anxiously, clutching the edge of the seat.

“I-I-I’m sorry. I-I was wrong, I was wrong. Fo-forgive me……”

“Don’t cry and speak properly.”

“Hic……”

At the man’s scolding, the boy covered his mouth with his hand.

hiccup, hiccup. The boy, who was forced to hold back crying, started hiccups.

The man frowned. The boy’s face turned red as he held his breath to stop the hiccups.

Everyone, don’t just watch and stop him!

But none of those who were watching the situation stepped forward.

With all my might, I grabbed the man’s hem.

This was all I could do as I was running out of energy, but he noticed my subtle movements and immediately turned to look at me.

“Why, Lena? What do you need?” The man hurriedly asked.

“……out.”

“Get out.”

Realizing what I meant, he ruthlessly chased the boy away.

The boy nodded his head with a face full of tears and turned around in loneliness.

“Get out all of you.”

In an atmosphere like a thin layer of ice, the maids who were just watching the situation hastily left the room.

The man who stood staring at me in the silent room suddenly knelt down.

“I’m sorry, Lena.”

He grabbed my hives hand and rubbed his face against my palm.

The pool of tears moistened my palm.

“I’m really sorry.”

It was an affection I couldn’t imagine coming from someone who had scolded a child a while ago.

‘I’m going crazy.’

I feel burdened just by looking at this man cry and beg me for forgiveness.

‘I really want to cry!’

How the hell did this happen?

***

Good luck and bad luck always come at the same time.

I ate the hamburger that my mom bought for me for the first time, so I bragged to my friends and then came home, but my mom was gone.

My father whom I met after twelve years told me that I was his illegitimate child.

I starved all day and bought gimbap with the money I picked up on the street, but my stepmother caught me and kicked me out, saying I was a thief.

I almost missed the bus that was just leaving the stop, and the bus overturned and I died in vain.

“No matter how much I think, this is too much.”

I sighed as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

“How pretty.”

With blonde hair that looks like it was made from honey, emerald eyes, smooth skin like white jade, and a sweet voice like a Siren.

The praise of being the most beautiful woman in the empire was not without reason.

The problem was that the fate of the owner of this body was not as beautiful as her face.

“Of all the characters, why Lenia Evelyn?”

I, who became Lenia Evelyn, the villainess in an ordinary novel, grabbed my hair and cried.

Lenia Evelyn is the stepmother of Escalium Anthemion, the male lead of the novel “She Healed the Male Lead and Ran Away.”

“She Healed the Male Lead and Ran Away” is a mass-produced novel about the female lead Tiaris who saves Escal from abuse by his evil stepmother and they end up falling in love.

Escalium Anthemion, that is, the little boy who cried and begged for forgiveness, is the male lead of this novel.

Lenia’s hatred for Escal was complicated.

Escal’s father, Helios Anthemion and Lenia Evelyn were in love with each other. However, the two run into strong opposition because Lenia is the daughter of a poor viscount.

Helios plans to marry Lenia without his father’s knowledge, but the Duke of Anthemion, who finds out later, makes his son lose his mind by giving him a strong drink, then sends Charlett, the daughter-in-law he wants, to Helios’ bedroom.

That night Charlett has Helios’ child, Escal.

Lenia is shocked to learn that Charlett has a child with Helios, and goes into hiding. Then the Duke forces Helios to marry Charlett.

But Helios does not open her heart to her.

He said, “Don’t expect me to be your husband. Lena is the only one I love.”

Charlet tries to change Helios’ heart with Escal but to no avail.

Charlett, shunned by Helios, neglects Escal, and Escal grows lonely without being loved by his parents.

Five years later, when Charlett died suddenly, and the Duke of Anthemion also died, Helios found Lenia and brought her to his residence.

‘He has searched the entire empire to find Lenia, so it must be no ordinary love.’

The feud between Lenia and Escal begins from then on.

On the first day Lenia and Escal met, Escal showed his hospitality by giving her a cookie.

It was Escal’s favorite shrimp-flavored cookie.

However, Lenia had a severe shellfish allergy.

Lenia, who ate the shrimp-flavored cookie, collapsed because of allergies.

‘In the original story, Lenia started to hate Escal after this incident.’

And when Lenia was seriously ill from allergies, I possessed her.

‘That means this time is before Escal and Lenia’s relationship is completely broken.’

That’s a relief.

Lenia’s evil deeds, who became Escal’s stepmother, were beyond words.

She frame him, separated him from his father, kept him from leaving the room because she hated to see him, and when she met him, she scolded him for trivial things.

Even though it’s in a novel, she’s a woman who’s so bad to the point of swearing in front of a little child.

The bullying only gets worse when Lenia gives birth to her child.

After Lenia gives birth to her son, Escal’s maternal grandfather, Melks, urges Helios to make his eldest son, Escal, his successor.

Helios insists that it’s impossible, but he can’t ignore imperial law, which is based on the principle of firstborn inheritance. So Lenia secretly tries to get rid of Escal.

Escal, who was running away with injuries, is saved by Tiaris, and when he becomes an adult, he goes to the battlefield and makes a big contribution, then returns to the duke’s residence to take revenge on Lenia.

He slaughters Lenia’s children in front of her and then kills her horribly.

He said, “I should have killed you earlier!”

“What did I do so wrong?”

Even after being abandoned by my parents, I struggled to stay alive, but my life ended in vain.

“What’s life like?”

My tears welled up and I sat down in front of the mirror.

‘If I’m going to die anyway, I’ll die peacefully.’

I wiped my runny nose and shook my head.

No, there’s still a chance.

“Is there a law that says stepmothers are always evil?”

In the novel, Lenia Evelyn gets her karma, but I haven’t done anything yet.

Even though the first button is wrong, we can get along well from now on.

I called the maid, swearing that I would lovingly care for my poor son and avoid my wretched fate.

Mary, who had been serving Lenia for a long time, ran into the room.

“Did you call me? How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry, I should have checked it out first.” She muttered, “I never imagined he would do that. A six-year-old child has already done such a terrible thing……”

“Mary.”

Mary stopped as I frowned at her exaggerated remarks.

I’m sure everyone thinks so. There’s no one in this mansion to side with Escal.

Poor Escal. He must have just wanted to be loved.

The memory of a child crying in front of me comes to mind. It’s hard for me if he thinks I hate him, so my top priority is to calm him down first.

“Where is Escal and what is he doing?”

“The Young Master? He is in his room.”

“Then bring him here.”

“Sorry? Why all of a sudden……”

Mary avoided my eyes and didn’t finish her words.

Why are you reacting like this?

“I asked you to bring him here. Hurry up.”

“Well, but……”

“What’s wrong?”

Mary reluctantly opened her mouth.”Well…… The duke told him to reflect and not leave his room until he gave him permission.”

“Helios? Since when?”

“From the day the Young Master said he had done something wrong.”

That happened ten days ago!

“Then he’s been locked up in his room since then?”

“Yes.”

“How come no one told me that?”

I was furious at the fact that not only the maids, but also Helios, who had been by my side day and night, said nothing to me.

Then, what if Escal holds a grudge against me? Maybe it doesn’t matter to others, but my life is at stake!

I rose from my seat in a hurry.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“Escal’s room.”