Chapter 1: First method. Don't be a stepmother (1)

It is often said that you are the main character of your life, but there was a life where I wasn't the main character. I felt this more clearly growing up as a childhood friend to a girl who was much prettier than me, and was born into a much better family at around the same time.

The child became an elegant and gentle girl, married the Duke and had a successor. When I heard that my childhood friend wanted to see me, I ran a great distance. The baby I held was a very healthy and beautiful boy, half resembling the Duke and half the girl. Perhaps, like his mother, he would be the kind of child to be the main character in someone's life.

The Duke looked at the delicate child I held in my arms and said,

“The child's name is Carlos.”

Then he left without even looking at his wife who had nearly died giving birth to their child. I saw the Duke's back in a daze. It was the first time a man left without even paying much attention to his newly born son, or the wife who looked sad and haggard after the birth.

“Cough, cough.”

The sound of a sick woman coughing matched the sound of winter wind blowing outside that seemed similar to the cold hearted Duke who ignored his sick wife.

“The child's name is Carlos.”

Carlos, Carlos Von DeMancier. What if I put the child's mother's name as a middle name? Carlos Merilyn von de Mancier.

The more I ruminated, the more familiar the name felt.

“Carlos, his nickname is… Carlo. No, I prefer Carl.”

Coughing and wheezing, Merilyn said. His nickname would be Carl. The mother's name was Merilyn, and the father's name was Gellerhard; and he was born on a winter day in the Duke's family of DeMancier, the ruler of the North.

I saw a baby with beautiful green eyes like his mother.

He really was the main character of this world!

It reminded me of a novel I had read in my life before I became Merilyn's childhood friend, before I was born as the daughter of a Viscount.

Half of the year was a novel about a man born on the coldest day ahead of spring in the north, which is winter. The man lost his mother shortly after birth and grew up in the hands of a vicious stepmother, and his half-brother threatened his right to succession. Even though he was a great hero, the story of the first book was that his father did not protect him, so he left the gloomy winter castle and entered the academy.

The second and third books were about life in an academy where the dreams, love and tactics of fresh youth were prevailing. The man who grew up as an adult in the fourth book returned to the family, but due to his stepmother's plot, he left for the border where the battle with monsters raged day after day, where he made exploits and gained loyalty from soldiers and knights. Then he falls in love with the dragon during the battle and ends the war at the border. At the finale of the much-anticipated fifth volume, the man kills his wicked stepmother and half-brother, and then takes over the estate and title from his father and becomes a Duke.

I realized the baby in my arms was the hero of this world, who would end the long-running war with monsters with love and be remembered as the greatest Duke in the north.

“Cough Cough Cough.”

Merilyn's cough became more frequent, and the maid continued to add firewood to grow flames in the fireplace. But Merilyn's life, unlike that flame, would soon fade, and this child would grow up abused by a vicious stepmother because of his father, who was indifferent to him. Pity for the child fluttered in my mind.

Such a beautiful child, I felt sorry for him.

If it weren't for Amanda… What?

The Count of Petrika, Merilyn's father and the child's grandfather, urgently needed to find the next Duchess who would take good care of the young Duke like his own mother. The Count of Petrika recommended a woman of a Viscount family who would not be able to fight later as a new Duchess. Amanda, the daughter of the Viscount of Ventta, the vassal of Petrika, was only a Viscount's daughter and was able to become a Duchess. The fact that she was a childhood friend who grew up with Merilyn was also a good part for the Count of Petrika. She was expected to take good care of her dead friend's child and know her place and act.

“Cough cough cough cough!”

Merilyn's cough became intense and her slender body trembled. The doctor flustered and a seasoned maid whispered to me,

“The disease may spread to Young Master. Take the Young Master out of here!”

At those words, I carried the baby outside. Unlike Merilyn's room, which was hot and humid due to the fire, the hallway was chilly because it was cold. In the hot room, the baby with pink cheeks chewed its small lips. I took the baby in my arms and walked slowly to the nursery.

Where should I go?

A maid approached me quickly.

“Miss Amanda! There you are! Count Petrika and Viscount Ventta are looking for you!”

I stopped walking with the child in my arms. The Count Petrika's vassal, the Viscount of Ventta. Amanda, that was my name.

And maybe, I'll be the stepmother who bothers this kid.

Fuck.