The Stepmother Keeps Stealing the Male Leads - Chapter 19

As Helene braced herself to push through, the crowd suddenly parted in two, and in front of her stood a navy-colored car.

‘W-why is that here?’

This wasn’t her past life—cars shouldn’t exist in this world.

But no matter how she looked at it, front or back, it was unmistakably a car, without a single horse attached.

‘It’s just like when I died after being hit by a truck in my previous life… Is this world going to end the same way too…?’

.

.

.

“A-are you alright?”

Thankfully, the impact hadn’t been as strong as she feared.

Both Helene and the car had reacted quickly with the brakes.

The navy-colored car was shocking, but even more shocking was the man inside it.

It was none other than Blaine, the godfather of the three sisters.

Well, who else in this world besides Blaine could possibly make a car?

Helene wanted to ask why he was driving one through a busy area, but then realized there were no traffic laws in this world to scold him with.

Blaine helped Helene up and guided her to the back seat of the car.

The stiff gentleman who showed politeness even to those he despised personally picked up her shopping bags from where they had fallen.

“I truly apologize. Shall we head to a hospital first?”

Even though he clearly knew who she was, Blaine acted like she was a stranger he had accidentally bumped into.

That meant he was doing all this purely because she was a victim in a car accident.

No matter how estranged they were, he was still the godfather of the three sisters.

“Forget the hospital. More importantly… shouldn’t you greet me properly, Godfather?”

“Ah, yes. Of course. So we meet again.”

The forced greeting made things even more uncomfortable.

Helene let out a hollow laugh and checked the shopping bags in the back seat.

‘These were expensive gifts… I hope nothing’s damaged.’

Just as Helene was about to open a bag—

“As expected, you pawned off that fake tiara and went on a lavish shopping spree. If any of the items are damaged, I’ll reimburse you several times over. Shall we check together?”

So she was still greedy. Blaine cursed himself for ever thinking she might have changed.

Though he hadn’t wanted to, Blaine had heard from nobles that Helene had repented before the Sun God. They said it was thanks to the devout faith of the eldest, Liliana, and praised her highly.

He had dared to hope—but no, she was still the same.

A greedy woman who went on a shopping spree in broad daylight and checked her purchases before even worrying about getting hit by a hunk of metal.

Frustrated by the sleepless nights he had spent thinking about her, Blaine lost his temper and snatched one of the bags, rifling through it.

“Of course it’s a dress. A purple silk dress…”

It looked elegant and modest.

Had her tastes changed?

“And a very short pink dress.”

He had never seen such a short dress in his life.

Was this the latest trend?

Blaine sneered.

Another bag revealed a weapon.

A razor-sharp stiletto sword.

Why had she bought a weapon? What else could it be for?

Soon a clear answer came to Blaine’s mind, and he smirked coldly.

“Planning to stab someone again? Isn’t there already no gambling den that’ll let you in? Then again, a dog doesn’t stop shitting.”

“M-my lord… perhaps you should stop now.”

Butler Pael tried to stop Blaine, shocked to see him lose control and speak so rudely for the first time.

Blaine also felt sorry.

Even when dealing with the worst kinds of people in business, Blaine had always remained silent, quietly cutting ties without a word—he wore an iron mask.

But with this witch, every time he saw her, hot emotions surged and he couldn’t hold back.

“…Not even once.”

Helene, who had silently listened, finally spoke in a trembling voice.

“Did it never cross your mind that I bought those things because I’m their mother?”

Blaine scoffed and laughed out loud.

‘No way…’

Blaine’s expression gradually hardened.

He recalled the items in the shopping bags.

Could that elegant purple silk dress have been for Liliana?

And what he had assumed was a short dress now seemed, upon reflection, to be a child’s dress.

It must have been for the youngest, April.

And thinking more deeply, the stiletto sword wasn’t a weapon fit for a reckless amateur like Helene.

It was the kind used by knights or swordsmen…

“Jaina is going to be an imperial knight. Liliana has become Lady Angelina’s chief lady-in-waiting.”

Blaine had never felt more ashamed in his life.

“Ahem…”

He cleared his throat awkwardly.

But behind the shame, a surge of unexpected joy rose at the news of the three sisters.

Jaina, an imperial knight; Liliana, chief lady-in-waiting to a noblewoman…

He never would have imagined that even after the fall of House Emeldia, Jaina and Liliana would secure such respectable positions.

This was the magic Helene had pulled off within just a month of borrowing money from him.

Helene carefully placed the dress and sword back in the shopping bags.

She could understand Blaine’s misunderstanding given her past, but it still left a bad taste in her mouth.

And it stung a little too.

Because it wasn’t just Blaine. She felt certain the three sisters of House Emeldia still saw her as the worst kind of person.

“I made a mistake… I’m truly sorry.”

Blaine admitted his error immediately.

And gratitude stirred in him toward Helene, who had helped Liliana become a chief lady-in-waiting and Jaina an imperial knight.

He wanted to repay her somehow.

“On a day like this, shouldn’t we celebrate?”

Only then did Helene remember the pork belly.

‘I need to buy pork belly to celebrate with the girls…!!’

The butcher’s shop closed early, so she had to move fast.

“Forget the hospital, take me to the butcher!”

To that, Blaine replied, “Then allow me to prepare the food for the party. I’ll also escort you to the count’s estate.”

Pael, catching on quickly, said he would prepare the party food and stepped out of the car.

“I’ll send the food to the residence.”

And just like that, only Helene and Blaine were left inside the car.

The awkward air and silence couldn’t be masked even by the loud exhaust noise.

Feeling like the guilty party today, Blaine nervously opened his mouth first.

“Ah, this is called an automobile. It’s your first time seeing one, isn’t it?”

Since regaining the memories of her previous life, it was the most ridiculous joke she’d heard.

“Haha, yes. It’s quite fascinating…”

Silence returned again.

After all, she had zero desire to chat with someone who had just treated her like dirt.

Helene’s eyes scanned around the vehicle.

Compared to the era in her past life, the car was woefully primitive.

Its exterior resembled the old cars seen in black-and-white films, and it was painfully slow. The exhaust noise and the rattling vibration were loud and rough.

In this world, when one needed to travel far, they usually used a carriage or teleportation magic called portals.

Just as the world of her previous life, reliant on science and technology, had little in the way of supernatural forces, this world, which had magic, lagged in science and technology.

Blaine was the kind of man who never touched ventures that didn’t turn a profit. And yet here he was, making a car. It didn’t feel like the Blaine she knew.

Then again, the Blaine in front of her seemed nothing like the male lead from the novel The Perfect Lady Angelina, which she had read in her past life.

In that story, Blaine was a cold-hearted man without a trace of warmth—the empire’s wealthiest tycoon, known for his woman-phobia and distaste for even touching a lady’s hand.

But he fell deeply in love with Angelina and became utterly devoted to her.

It felt unfair.

To Angelina, he showed such deep, tender love—but to Helene, he only ever scorned and snapped at her.

Even though she knew perfectly well how different she and Angelina were, Helene turned her face completely toward the window, overcome by a wave of sadness.