Cute stepchild.
“Mother.”
“Noah. Good morning.”
The next morning. When I arrived at the dining room, I met my son Noah, who was waiting at me in his chair. Noah is currently six years old. He is an obedient child with appearances similar to Anton, namely his black hair and eyes. To me, he is like an angelic child.
While Noah and I are stepchild and stepmother, our relationship is good. The servants say that we are like an older sister and younger brother rather than a parent and child.
“Father returned to work yesterday, right?”
“He’s apparently very busy at work. He ended up returning to the palace right away.”
“Is that so…”
Noah looked a little disappointed. It’s understandable. He’s still at the age where he wants to be loved by his parents, yet Anton didn’t even go to see him. Anton’s late wife apparently died shortly after giving birth to Noah, and seeing Noah makes him remember it, or so I was told by a senior servant.
Anton’s late wife was his childhood friend and their love was mutual, and that’s why Anton can’t accept him. I don’t think he’s indifferent to Noah or anything, though.
He must have heard that I get along well with Noah from a butler, as Noah was often the topic of our conversations, and he always asks me to take good care of him. But, he most likely won’t ask me that anymore from here on out. Considering that, my heart ached.
“Mother. You see, I’m going for a picnic in the forest today.”
“Oh my, a picnic in the forest? That sounds nice.”
“Would you like to go with me?”
Noah’s lively voice made me feel depressed. I know that I should inform Noah what Anton told me yesterday. He will get to know about it soon anyway. But, while knowing that, I still find it difficult to say. What should I do?
“Mother? What’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing, Noah. I will go with you. Take me along for the picnic.”
“Yay. I’m happy. A picnic with Mother.”
“Noah.”
As I was looking with a smile at Noah, I felt like I was going to cry and quickly wiped my tears. I was reluctant to tell him about the divorce. I can do it later, right?
“Mother?”
“I’m very happy you invited me. I am so happy my tears started coming out…”
“You are weird, Mother.”
“Fufufu. I am weird, aren’t I?”
Looking at Noah’s face, I recalled my three years of marriage. I’m a daughter of Baron Vise, the youngest one at that. I’m from a family of three sons and six daughters. Fortunately, our family was not in debt, and it’s thanks to my parents that I lived a better life than other low-ranked nobles.
After my third older brother got adopted and the fifth sister got married, I became the topic of the talks. The sons of aristocratic families in this country get married at eighteen and daughters at sixteen, so I who was eighteen at that time was already considered late to marry.
My looks weren’t as pretty as those of my sisters, so I would be either married off as a second wife to a middle-aged man, or remain single for the rest of my life. I thought it wouldn’t be bad to build a small house somewhere on the Baron’s territory and live there quietly.
So when I heard that there was a man with a three-year-old child who was willing to take me in, I thought “Ahh, it’s going to be like that, after all”, but the man was younger than I thought, and I was surprised to something hear other young noble ladies talk about him, the Commander of the Imperial Guards, with admiration.
It wasn’t possible to refuse since the man my fifth sister married was on good terms with him, so when I thought of meeting him first, it went more smoothly than I thought as I got a good impression of him, and before I noticed, I desired to become his wife.
The next three happy years of my life passed in no time. My husband was gentle, and Noah quickly accepted me. Anton was avoiding Noah, but I spent time with Noah, more and more people started caring for him.
What is going to happen to Noah if I leave this house? I can’t help worrying.
“Then, Mother. I will go do the preparations.”
While worrying, I stopped eating. Noah had already finished his meal and cheerfully left his seat.
“Sure. Come pick me up when you are done. I will be waiting for you in my room.”
“Okay.”
After Noah left with a maid, I couldn’t continue eating and decided to leave as well.