Stepmother, Don't Throw Me Away Even If You Let Go Of My Dad - Chapter 1
Translator and Editor: Hue and Tea
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Chapter 1
It was a moment as beautiful as a masterpiece.
The fireplace crackled softly, radiating warmth, and before it sat a family.
On the father’s knee, with hair as blue as a deep, intense midnight, was a petite and lovely young girl who had inherited his hair color.
Opposite her, the mother had a slightly different shade. While the father and child had the cold tones of midwinter, the mother’s hair was a soft, warm brown, reminiscent of a spring forest. Her eyes were a shade of pink so beautiful that it seemed the flowers were envious of her.
Despite these distinct differences, their status as a family made them even more beautiful.
Of course, their beauty was best seen from a distance, when their words went unheard.
If one were to get a little closer, one would notice the rigid expression on the father’s face and the avoidance of eye contact by the mother, who kept her gaze firmly fixed on the ground as they tried to avoid each other’s hardened stares.
“As for your words, I understand–”
Smack.
Suddenly, the young girl who had been nestled in her father’s arms smacked his mouth with her tiny hand.
His face, so cold that it seemed to have no expression, seemed slightly surprised by this unexpected act.
“Mavis…! What kind of impertinence is this to your father…!”
“But… Dad had a really big bug on his lips, didn’t he…? I just didn’t want Dad to get hurt by the bug…”
Bowing her head and staring at the ground while her husband spoke, the mother was startled by the interruption and looked at her child.
But what could she do?
It was difficult to scold a six-year-old daughter who was trying to chase away a bug that had landed on her father’s mouth.
Even her father, whose lips were kissed, pondered for a moment whether he should scold her, but finally realized that there were no words he could say and let out a soft sigh.
The young girl’s sharp eyes sparkled as she watched her father.
“Be careful what you say! What if Mom brings up divorce? What will you do then?”
Right now, her father might think he was the one having a hard time, but that wasn’t the case. Mavis was currently performing a very difficult mission without her father or mother knowing about it.
Vanessa found it strange.
When she opened her eyes the first time, she couldn’t understand where she was.
Sunlight streamed through the massive window, blinding her, and ivory-colored moldings adorned the white walls, making the room more luxurious.
The ceiling was so high that she couldn’t make out the presence of the chandelier hanging from it until she raised her head.
The floor she stepped on was covered with a huge plush carpet.
It was not only huge but also incredibly luxurious.
Vanessa thought it was even stranger.
Her room was not like this.
The room she had been staying in… was a poorly maintained room in a distant annex, far from the main building.
The windows were dirty, and it seemed as if there were holes in them somewhere, as the cold northern wind constantly blew in.
There was no plush carpet on the floor; it was a shabby room with nothing but a worn-out piece of cloth.
It was absurdly small, shabby, and lonely.
But Vanessa did know where she was.
It was the master bedroom where she and her husband had lived before he died, before their daughter became mistress of the house.
“Oh my, Madam… you’re awake. In that case, I won’t have to help you wash, so I’ll leave the basin here.”
“Ah…”
The maid who entered the room glanced at Vanessa and then left the room immediately.
Vanessa knew her.
She was the woman who had worked for her husband’s family and had brainwashed her daughter with all kinds of gossip.
“But that woman died before Mavis grew up…”
Everything was strange.
Vanessa took shaky steps toward the sink the maid had left behind.
She wanted to try to wake up, just in case she was dreaming.
But in the end, she couldn’t wash her face.
She saw a hand in front of her, a hand that was white and wrinkle-free.
As if it had never known hardship, this hand was clean and unblemished.
As she lowered her trembling hand, she saw her own face reflected in the calm surface of the water.
Her rich brown hair was flowing with health, and her face bore no traces of life’s hardships, but rather exuded youthful vigor.
“Have I become younger?”
But not just Vanessa; her room and the dead maid were here.
“I have returned to the past… No, haven’t I?”
Vanessa stared blankly at the reflection in front of her. If she had really returned to the past, she had no reason to be here.
“Mom…! Look, flowers have bloomed here…!”
“Yeah… right.”
“Mae-, I’ll make a flower crown for Mom…!”
Her short, chubby fingers carefully touched a small flower.
In reality, it was more like “destroying” or “ruining” than touching.
Vanessa, approaching the child, paused for a moment.
“Has Mavis always been this affectionate with me?”
No, she hadn’t.
The child who had blamed her for her husband’s death and banished her to the annex was none other than the little girl before her.
“But why did this happen?”
She pinched her cheek, half wondering if she hadn’t returned to the past, if she hadn’t fallen into a dream. But what had returned was the pain.
“Mom… why are you alone…?”
And all she could do was smile at Vanessa, who pinched herself.
“Uh… Mavis. Is this maybe a dream?”
It made more sense if it was a dream. After all, would her stepdaughter suddenly start following her if she had returned to the past?
It was a story that others would find incredibly far-fetched and laugh at.
“……Huh?”
“I… I’m sorry.”
At that moment, she felt guilty for doubting Mavis with her innocent eyes.
There are no bad children. There are only bad parents.
She remembered something she had heard somewhere. Children are so pure that they change depending on their environment.
That’s why you always have to be careful with a child, she thought, because a child changes even for the smallest things…
She knew that Mavis had disliked her because of the influence of the Grand Duke’s Council.
Compared to Vanessa, who suddenly appeared and claimed to be her mother, Mavis would have found it easier to follow the people she had always known from her family.
Wise Vanessa knew that it was not this little child who was to blame, but the adults who had made her the way she was.
Mavis was not entirely without fault, but Vanessa didn’t want to hate the little child who had done nothing wrong.
Now, through a very small difference in the time that had been turned back, the child was changing.
But that was also why Vanessa felt regret.
“If only we had met like this from the beginning…”
It was regrettable that Mavis had changed in this life, where Vanessa had decided to divorce.
“Oh. I’m sorry, Mavis. I was so focused on making the flower crown. Did you say something that I didn’t hear?”
“Uh-uh. No, I was making a crown too.”
Vanessa could feel the eyes on her, so she turned to the child with a warm smile.
No matter what, Mavis had been her child until the divorce, and that’s why Vanessa had the duty to take care of her.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have completely ignored the child, and Vanessa sighed in relief.
Meanwhile, Mavis, still deep in thought, felt her small hand holding the flower sweat.
“D… She found out…”
Was it because Vanessa had looked at her strangely, as if something was wrong, that she was so nervous?
Her fear was that Vanessa had realized that she wasn’t really Mavis.
But luckily that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Mom~! I finished the crown!”
“Oh… It’s very beautiful.”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
Mavis tilted her head. The crown she had made was, putting it nicely, vintage and charming, but to be honest, it looked rather disheveled.
Even though it was a crown that would be hard for anyone to appreciate, Vanessa placed it on her head with a beaming smile.
To Vanessa, it was nothing more than an impressive and adorable creation by her child’s tiny hands, but Mavis didn’t know that.
“If I make one… will you make one for Daddy?”
“Yes… for the Grand Duke?”
“Yes! Mom and Dad are a couple… so there should be a queen’s crown and a king’s crown as a set.”
“I see…”
When the Grand Duke was mentioned, Vanessa’s expression darkened.
Her husband, who had always been away hunting monsters in their territory and was rarely seen, had suddenly returned to the mansion.
“Mavis must be happy.”
“Mom isn’t happy?”
“Ah. There aren’t enough flowers. Shall I pick more?”
Vanessa changed the subject. Talking to her husband was uncomfortable and difficult. Of course, to divorce, they would have to talk, but what could be scarier?
Mavis watched Vanessa pick flowers from a distance when there were so many flowers near them and felt like her liver was being crushed.
“I’ve suffered so much. She’s already planning a divorce…”
Mavis had been secretly begging for her father to return, and the moisture in her eyes suddenly appeared.
After all, she had come to the point where she could afford to check even the comfortable places to lie down.
She had sent dozens of letters every day, urging him to return to the mansion, and she had succeeded in pressuring him to come back, but…
Seeing how despised he was now, she even regretted if she should have dragged him back later.
But it was already too late.
The damned Grand Duke had already arrived at this mansion.
Now she had to grab him by the scruff of the neck and rehabilitate him in order to prevent that divorce.
“You called me?”
A deep baritone voice came from behind the mother and daughter playing happily.
He said he would come when the horses were ready.
Sure enough, the Grand Duke, who had the temperament of a horse, was their father, Hyrum Arsen.
Even at a moment like this, when he was with his family, there were dark circles under his eyes from working all the time.
But strangely, those dark circles made him even more decadent, to the point where he appeared charming.
Just walking down the street with that face, 8 out of 10 people who passed would lose their minds and stare, and the other two would approach and ask his name…
In a shop next to the street, the owner had begged him to take the most expensive items they sold.
In that sense, Hyrum was a perfect fit for a romance fantasy novel where the male lead’s looks were crucial.
‘If only he stayed at home…’
He should be at home, dating the female lead and becoming the male lead, but he just wouldn’t stay put.
“Wife… Have you been rolling in the grass or something? You have leaves in your hair.”
“…It’s the flower crown Mave made…”
“…”
His temper was also a problem.
“Anyone can see it’s a crown! There are leaves in it!”
But Mavis didn’t know anything. In reality, although the crown looked like a crumpled mass of flowers and grass twisted together to everyone’s eyes, she was the only one who proudly claimed that it was perfect.
“Sigh…”
With a deep sigh, Mavis felt that rehabilitating this guy would be a most arduous path.
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