The Stepmother Keeps Stealing the Male Leads - Chapter 11

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop….”

Standing before her was a black-haired boy who looked to be about Liliana’s age.

Liliana felt embarrassed and angry, but as the boy said, he had no reason to have intentionally listened to her prayers.

Even if she wanted to say something to him, Liliana herself had been secretly praying at the Sun Temple and couldn’t hold the moral high ground.

“Is it really true… that if you ask the Sun God, you can talk to someone who’s passed away?”

Sieghardt didn’t want to admit he had heard her prayer, but knowing the truth was far more important than hiding that fact.

If he could speak to his late father, neither etiquette nor pride mattered at all.

Liliana was angry that he had brought up her prayer and was about to confront him, but the boy’s red eyes looked so terribly sad.

And she realized the emotion he was feeling now was exactly the same as what she had felt when she had been at her lowest.

“…Maybe?”

Liliana forced herself to speak in a cheerful voice.

She didn’t want to lie to a boy grieving in sorrow.

‘Maybe.’

It was uncertain, but even that was enough reason for Liliana to pray.

“Still, just saying it like this makes me miss my mother a little less.”

“I see….”

Sieghardt appreciated Liliana’s honest and calm words of comfort.

Just as he was about to clasp his hands in prayer, Sieghardt realized the girl was beside him.

No matter how much he missed his father, he couldn’t let himself be seen making such a prayer in front of a girl he’d just met.

Sensing this, Liliana quietly stood up to give Sieghardt space to pray.

“My name is Sieghardt.”

“I’m Liliana. Liliana Emeldia.”

Only then did they exchange names.

Who would have thought the boy praying that day would turn out to be Sieghardt, heir to the Grand Duchy of Revladian?

The next day, at the Grand Duke of Revladian’s funeral held at the Imperial Capital, Liliana barely held back a gasp upon seeing Sieghardt again.

She had made such a blunder before someone who would soon become the Grand Duke….

In the solemn funeral hall, Liliana couldn’t even raise her head, but Sieghardt called to her as if greeting an old friend.

Though their time in Lephia had been short, Sieghardt and Liliana had spent every day together.

Every afternoon, in the empty inner sanctum, the boy and girl would talk after finishing their prayers.

The boy said he wanted to become a swordsman and protect people, and the girl said she wished for everyone to be happy.

On the day Sieghardt was to return to the Revladian estate, Liliana had planned to see him off, but she couldn’t make it in time because her father suddenly collapsed that day.

She ran late to their meeting spot at the port, but the Revladian ship had already disappeared into the sunset over the sea.

Liliana waved both hands high and said her farewell alone.

After that, Sieghardt became Grand Duke, and to fulfill the duties of the late Empress, the Dowager Grand Duchess moved to the capital, Lephia.

Though he came to Lephia to visit his mother and went to the Sun Temple several times, he never saw Liliana.

He had heard through others that the current situation of House Emeldia was dire—that she had a new stepmother, and that her father had passed away.

And only after eight years had passed did Liliana and Sieghardt meet again.

Hearing Liliana’s story, Helene was shocked.

Who would’ve thought Liliana and Sieghardt had such a past?

The original Helene wouldn’t have known even in her dreams, and there had been no mention of such a story in The Perfect Lady Angelina.

In fact, Liliana’s name hadn’t even been properly mentioned in the original.

More than that…

Liliana’s role in comforting Sieghardt, tormented by guilt over his father’s death, was very similar to Angelina.

Angelina had also lost both parents in an accident, and Sieghardt had once believed her to be an angel sent from heaven because of how sincerely she comforted him.

“It’s such a silly story…”

No one had said a word, but Liliana’s face flushed red, and she fanned herself as she quickly wrapped up her story.

Unbelievable—Liliana clearly had feelings for the Grand Duke.

The Grand Duke wasn’t just any potential male lead; he was a strong contender alongside the Crown Prince.

And by this point, Sieghardt must already be deeply in love with Angelina.

Still, Helene couldn’t bring herself to crush Liliana’s pure-hearted feelings that had blossomed for the first time in so long.

The Han Yena inside Helene, a die-hard romance fantasy fan, began to stir at the romantic, novel-like backstory of Liliana and the Grand Duke.

Helene grasped Liliana by the shoulders and declared before her own heart could waver, “Liliana, I will make you the Grand Duchess of Revladian!”

***

Morning at Herbyante Castle.

A girl stirred in her canopy bed, rubbing her eyes as sunlight filtered through white lace curtains.

How could anyone not love her?

With radiant golden hair like sunlight, blue eyes sparkling like a summer lake, and cheeks as fresh as a newly bloomed rose—anyone who saw Angelina would immediately understand why she was called the “Angel of the Empire,” or “The Angel Who Lost Her Wings.”

Even as a fellow woman, one could fall in love with her.

Marisol, the maid who had been staring at Angelina absentmindedly, came to her senses and handed her two sealed envelopes.

Judging by the wax seals, one was from the Crown Prince of the Hersen Empire, and the other from the Grand Duke of Revladian.

It had only been a month since the Crown Prince and Grand Duke, having finished their studies in Herbyante, returned to the capital, Lephia.

One letter was from the dutiful Grand Duke of Revladian, listing daily happenings like a diary; the other, from the Crown Prince, was full of playful jokes written in messy handwriting—their personalities as different as their letters.

But both letters agreed on one thing.

They wanted to hold Angelina’s eighteenth birthday party and debutante ball at the imperial palace this summer.

Though Angelina was the most beloved lady in Herbyante, they thought her debutante ball, held without her parents, would be a lonely one.

The two who usually bickered had somehow found perfect agreement on this, joining forces to convince her.

After carefully folding the letters, Angelina beamed and called out to Marisol.

“Let’s prepare to leave for Lephia.”

The story of The Perfect Lady Angelina was now entering its middle act.

***

Helene hated hiking.

Not in this life, nor in her past one, had she ever understood people who climbed mountains for fun.

Her life was already a mountain taller than the Himalayas—why would she voluntarily climb another?

And yet, here she was, climbing a mountain.

A vast and beautiful natural mountain, at that.

Mountains in this world were entirely undeveloped, making the paths extremely rough.

Wild animals might jump out, and in the worst-case scenario, even monsters could appear.

For someone like Helene, with no special abilities, climbing such a wild mountain was dangerous.

But she had to find “it.”

How far had she climbed?

In a mountain this thick with growth, it wouldn’t be surprising to find a hundred-year-old ginseng instead.

She’d heard this mountain’s sun set especially fast. She had to find it and descend as soon as possible.

Then it happened.

There was a rustling sound.

It grew louder—clearly approaching.

‘Could it be a beast or a monster?’

After all this, trying to live a better life, if she got eaten by a beast or monster, it would be too unfair to even ascend to heaven.

Helene gulped and looked toward the shadow emerging from the bushes.

The silhouette resembled someone she knew all too well.

‘Jaina?’

Jaina was dressed more casually than usual, with a fox-fur scarf that could cover her face at any time. On her shoulder, she carried a crossbow.

In the original story, Helene died, the Emeldia family collapsed, and the second daughter Jaina became a hunter in the mountains—but she never imagined Jaina had started hunting at just seventeen.

Still, no matter what, it was not ideal for a young noblewoman of such a prestigious house to be hunting not as a hobby, but as a job. It would surely ruin her reputation.

“Jaina…?”

Even when Helene called her, she didn’t blink.

She stood perfectly still, as if not even breathing.

Then, as if staring at prey, she began to draw the crossbow string with emotionless eyes.

Only then did Helene recall the thoughts that had been lingering in her mind.

In the original, Helene was truly a terrible parent.

Without her permission, the daughters couldn’t do anything. Because of her, they lost their fortune, their house, and even one another.

Was there really no way the Emeldia sisters could escape from Helene?

If only Helene were gone, everything might have been solved.

Had they ever once considered that?

Jaina released the string, and the arrow flew straight toward Helene.