Selected as the New Stepmother (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 6
I wondered if there was any way to get through this situation unscathed.
‘It’s better to confess voluntarily than to be caught and then confess.’
I couldn’t let these two enter the bank and find out the pink diamond had been pledged as collateral.
I summoned my wits and spoke boldly.
‘We can’t go in now.’
The Kid tilted his head curiously.
‘Why?’
‘The request form stating the pink diamond was entrusted to Blackswan—it’s right there at the counseling office, isn’t it?’
‘Oh! That’s right!’
The Kid slapped his palm with a fist, as if remembering.
‘Then I’ll go in first and wait. You bring the request form, Auntie.’
Watching the Kid assign tasks so naturally, I reproached myself for not having realized sooner he was from the Artenbach family.
‘I won’t even have time to explain the situation.’
A cold, icy face—Duke Artenbach—appeared in my mind. There were terrifying rumors he could make people vanish without a sound just by adjusting his gloves.
Just imagining it made my legs tremble and my heart feel like it might stop.
I decided to play my last card.
‘Come on, let’s go together! You’ve been staying here for a week—shouldn’t Father, I mean, the Duke, know what kind of place this is?’
‘Is that so?’
The Kid rolled his eyes around, then looked up at the Duke.
‘Would you like to visit the counseling office?’
I swallowed hard. The moment the Duke’s answer came, it would decide whether we went to the bank or the counseling office.
‘No.’
Oh no, it was over. Now the Duke and the Kid would walk straight into the bank, and of course, they wouldn’t even need a ticket—they’d immediately be told the current status of the pink diamond.
And I might have to offer my neck before the Duke adjusted his gloves.
‘Maybe it would be better to tell the truth right now.’
Yes, while they haven’t entered the bank yet…
‘But I would very much like to go to the counseling office with you.’
It was like a ray of salvation. Behind the Kid, angelic wings seemed to unfurl.
Well done, Kid! If we get through this, I’ll play a hundred puzzles with you!
‘Must we go?’
‘Let’s go. We’ll bring the request form too.’
‘…Fine.’
The Duke’s reluctant reply sounded as sweet as honey. I forced myself to suppress the urge to jump for joy and smiled with professional politeness.
‘I’ll guide you, Your Grace.’
From his height, just above my head, the Duke’s golden eyes regarded me. My forced smile trembled slightly. Then, relief washed over me as I realized we’d made it through.
Wait—had we truly made it through?
[This is the timeline separator]Noble visitors had entered the humble counseling office. Anna brought tea out with trembling hands, and the Kid pulled out his handkerchief, spread it on the sofa, and settled in with practiced ease. But the Duke remained standing, motionless.
‘I… Your Grace? I’ve prepared the tea.’
He did not answer. He simply surveyed the room in silence.
‘Why is he like this?’
He looked as if he were searching for a fault to pounce on.
Then again, it was natural—he was inspecting the place where his heir resided. And not just any child, but one from the Artenbach family.
‘Do you not have any other chairs?’
‘No. I apologize.’
Suddenly, I remembered our first meeting. Back then, the Kid had told me the chair looked dirty and demanded a new one.
‘…It doesn’t look clean enough.’
Wow. He said the exact same thing.
‘I’m fine standing. Don’t worry about me.’
I was extremely concerned. I forced a smile.
‘We don’t have a new chair, but we do have a fresh cushion. May I offer it to you?’
‘No.’
He replied, then immediately began checking his wristwatch repeatedly. After a moment, the Secretary entered and whispered something into his ear. The Duke nodded, then spoke to him:
‘Replace all the furniture here. Even if we’re only staying briefly, this is where the heir of the Artenbach family will be.’
‘Understood, Your Grace.’
The Duke lowered himself and approached the Kid, whispering to him as he had with the Secretary. Occasionally, he glanced at me.
‘What’s going on? What’s happening?’
When their conversation ended, the Duke straightened his posture. Standing, he was tall. But seated, he seemed even taller.
‘I’ve seen enough. Shall we go now?’
A brief silence fell. His black clothes and black hair made him look exactly like a grim reaper demanding departure, and my thoughts froze.
‘Yes, you’re busy—please go.’
It was the Kid who answered the Duke’s question.
Instantly, I rose from my seat to see them off. But the Duke merely glanced sideways, waved his hand dismissively, and walked out.
Stunned and unable to even offer a proper farewell, the Kid turned to me.
‘Auntie, we have a lot to talk about, don’t we?’
The bright smile on the child’s face suddenly terrified me.
[This is the timeline separator]In the center of the small, ten-pyeong room stood a single desk. On either side sat chairs with backs—a space that, to any observer, would evoke the question: ‘Is this an interrogation room?’
‘Explain in more detail.’
And the master of this space was, as expected, Duke Artenbach.
‘The building at Rueve No. 3 has never been sold. And the fraudster claiming to be a merchant from the Western Kingdom boarded a ship and fled to the West this morning.’
‘So what’s the bank’s potential loss?’
‘Including the loan secured by collateral, it amounts to about forty million Tiga.’
‘A big player.’
Ascal clicked his tongue. He’d muttered earlier about wanting to visit the bank.
‘First, prevent the ship from docking in the West. Send a boat to capture him.’
‘Yes, Your Grace.’
He read the paper before him—a list of victims who had borrowed money from Artenbach Bank and fallen victim to an investment scam.
‘Blackswan didn’t seem capable of borrowing ten million Tiga.’
‘Yes. It’s said that Viscount Dely, owner of Blackswan, used the pink diamond held under Blackswan’s name as collateral for the loan.’
‘The pink diamond?’
Ascal’s mind flashed back to the scene before the bank: the woman who had desperately tried to prevent him from entering, her face radiating panic with every word.
‘So that’s why.’
She had clearly been trying to flee. She’d just been caught, pitifully.
Her hair was exactly like pink ranunculus flowers.
The hem of her dress sleeve had slightly slipped, revealing a subtly short length.
Her household didn’t seem affluent for a noble.
I couldn’t understand what had captured Rublion’s heart, but Ascal did not like her.
‘Well, at least she’s honest. That’s something.’
Schmidt was the type whose emotions showed plainly on her face—though she was completely unaware of it, convinced she was hiding them perfectly.
[This is the timeline separator]I confessed everything to the Kid about how the pink diamond had ended up pledged as collateral at the bank.
‘So you mean, Auntie, you borrowed money from Artenbach Bank using the pink diamond I entrusted to you as collateral, but then you were scammed? Not you—it was Viscount Dely?’
‘I won’t object if you file a lawsuit. I will take full responsibility and return the pink diamond to you…’
‘How exactly?’
Truthfully, I had no plan. Unless I grabbed the fraudster by the collar and demanded my money back.
If I just earned money, my father—like a ghost sensing blood—would pour it all into gambling again.
I could only sigh deeply. The Kid didn’t yet understand the world well enough to grasp this, but the Duke certainly would.
I knew. The Duke was someone who took money seriously. If he touched what he owned, it wasn’t just that I’d be banished from his territory—I might not even survive in the Tidga Empire. Maybe not even on this earth?
‘…I’m sorry. Honestly, I haven’t found a solution yet.’
The Kid’s eyes sparkled unusually brightly. I felt guilty, as if I’d shown a pure child the dark side of the world.
‘I’ll speak to the Duke myself before this gets worse. So, Kid, can you help me become someone who can take responsibility?’
‘So you mean, don’t tell Father?’
‘…Yes.’
‘Understood! I’ll do it!’
The Kid grinned broadly in reply.
He’d spoken grandly about becoming a responsible adult, but in truth, he was begging me not to tell his father.
…I feel ashamed. I’m truly a bad adult.
‘Sorry. I made you carry this secret.’
‘I understand it was unavoidable. You didn’t borrow the money yourself.’
The Kid sat upright on the sofa, back straight.
Now I saw it—the refined posture of a well-bred noble.
‘Very well. Since you’re going to keep this secret, what would be a fair reward for you right now?’
‘Huh?’
I thought I’d misheard. Seeing my confusion, the Kid nodded.
‘Don’t tell me you’re asking me to keep quiet for nothing?’
When yandere male lead believes she loves him — but she never did
“How dare you!”
“How dare you make me love you, only to cast me aside as nothing more than a friend?!?
“I will never accept that.”
“I will never let you return to him.”
“Even if I have to burn myself to ashes.”
“Even if I must shatter my purity, my dignity, my very soul.”
“I will never let you escape me!”
This was the first novel that introduced me to the matriarchal genre. I’ve read it three times already!
At first, the male lead despised the female lead. Later, he misunderstood that she liked him, so he condescendingly and reluctantly reciprocated her feelings.
Then, he suddenly discovered that she was kind to everyone in the same way, and there was already someone she cherished in her heart, and that person was not him.
The male lead couldn’t believe it, he became angry and crazy. He was determined to capture her body and heart by any means necessary.
Synopsis:
Want to see how a green tea bitch male lead falls in love with the female lead?
Want to see how he flirtatiously pursues the female lead?
Want to see how he gets slapped in the face repeatedly?
The male lead is a green tea bitch, a poisonous lotus, jealous, ruthless, unscrupulous, with a venomous heart, and he’s also a delusional maniac.
The female lead is righteous, positive energy-filled, kind, a holy mother.
Let’s see how two people with extreme personalities come together~
_____
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