A Stepmother’s Marchen - Chapter 7

I couldn’t believe it. The fact that this boy, who is still a little taller than me, with fluffy hair, will soon grow to the point of being out of reach.  I didn’t always show off, but I was always proud of  him, the Neuwanstein’s lion, the prince’s sword, who had just debuted in society and made young ladies blush.

He finally opened his mouth and his breath came strained without reason.

What’s the matter? What do you want to say to make me angry?

Instead of saying what he was supposed to say, Jeremy did something I had never expected. He took out a handkerchief from his jacket and reached out to me.

Then he finally spat out bluntly, “Your makeup is smudged.”

……Thank you for that. Thanks to you, I am able to avoid embarrassment. Hahaha, you yellow bastard! (m. yellow= coward)

After my husband was buried in the ground, the three most important things fell into my hands.

One was the keys that could open all the warehouses and doors of the Marquis, the other one was the box which contained the will, and the last one was the seal with the crest of the family.

In the past, I was literally busy at this point with no time to sleep, because I had to take care of what my husband had been doing all by myself.

It wasn’t only about the safety of the Marquis’s family, but also about how to understand and handle reports and petitions from gold mines, how to calculate revenue and profit, budget arrangement and account book management method paid to the royal family, Knights’ wages, penalties and rewards, etc.

Because I wanted to master everything in a short time, I didn’t have enough time to eat and sleep.

Without the sincere help of the housemaid and butler,, I would have died of overwork.

Of course, it was all in the past. Now  I have reached the point where I can see what was wrong and what was missing right away by just browsing through the documents. I could do it while drinking tea and scanning countless paper documents and stamping them one by one.

To people, the Marquis of Neuwanstein was the goose that laid golden eggs.

Aside from its historic reputation of protecting the imperial family since the beginning of the founding, the merchant guilds and gold mines owned by the Marquis went beyond the astronomical unit of income.

It’s the imperial family that rules the empire, but isn’t it sad that people joke that Neuwanstein is the one who paints the imperial family with gold?

The uniforms of the military alone showed off the splendor and solidity of the Imperial Guard.

However, the most precious legacy left by the Marquis Johannes Von Neuwanstein during his lifetime wasn’t such material things.

The four children of the Marquis, who had lost their parents at a young age were remarkable.

Somehow, when everyone attended the official event together, everyone, regardless of gender, couldn’t take their eyes off us.

Except for Elias who inherited his mother’s red hair, the other children inherited the blond hair and green blazing eyes, they even developed fast compared to other children.

In particular, Jeremy was always the tallest among his peers. They grew up so frighteningly. I even thought that if I were a man, I would have lost my self-esteem.

Of course, it wasn’t just their appearance. Jeremy, who was ordained a knight at the age of 15 and eventually was  given the brilliant nickname of the Crown Prince’s Sword. Elias, who followed his brother’s footsteps seriously. Rachel, who showed outstanding attainments in fashion and art since childhood. Leon, who could  remember the content of a book by just looking at it once.

At this point, I even think that God is unfair.

However, there is a saying that God doesn’t give you everything. I don’t know who came up with it, but I can’t help but respect that deep view.

Having been tortured by them for nearly 10 years, I can say that the most obvious characteristic of Neuwanstein’s blood is their beautiful appearance, excellent talent, and their hot-tempered mood.

The twins, Leon and Rachel, never compromised and were very honest with their emotions. If there is something they didn’t like, they had to turn everything upside down and make people mad. It got worse after my husband died that even their nanny and tutor couldn’t bear it.

…Well, let’s say they can do that since they are young, but if I’m in a bad mood, no matter who the other party is, I’ll fight first. For example Elias, who was the cause of my injury. Because of my accident, the number of times I’ve had a headache in the past seven years were uncountable.