A Stepmother’s Marchen

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Did I mention the man in the top of them all? Literally, if we pick the wildest beast among the siblings, it could only be Jeremy.

Jeremy didn’t seem to be that way, but he is the most impatient of the four. Instead of releasing the saddle knot by hand, he cut it with a knife.

If Elias is a colt who can’t control his energy and runs wild, Jeremy can be said to be a beast who bites first.

Ha, that impatient guy, he must hate me so much because he had to wait seven years to get the title. But it wasn’t necessarily my fault. Oh, yeah!

Princess Heinrich, a beautiful princess who made countless young people suffer from the fever of love, is not inferior in all aspects in terms of family and reputation. She got engaged at 17 years old, and had been hesitating to get married for four years.

I wonder why…!

Anyway, after nearly ten years living with the naughty lion cubs, I’m not going to change my personality for nothing.

Thanks to them, I have now become confident that I won’t be played easily by people.

There are a total of eight people gathered in a large and colorful living room with good sunlight. Excluding me, there are a total of seven.

Count Muller and his wife, Marquis Friedrich, Count Bensler and his wife, and finally Sir Valentino and Countess Lucretia.

Except for my husband’s brothers, the countess was seventeen years older than me.

That’s right.

All those people have gathered to pressure me!

Just as I remember.

It’s a scene of wild beasts surrounding a frightened rabbit. Just a little roar would be enough to scare it. The count spoke as if he had forgotten the slight frictions of the funeral, “It’s been a long time since we’ve all gathered here, so it reminds me of when we were young. My brother cherished this mansion where we all grew up together.”

“Haha, you and our older brother always made trouble.”

“Yes. At that time, you would run to our parents and complain.”

“Are you done with your stroll down memory lane? You know, I’m very busy.”

When I stepped in with bold words, all the people who were remembering their past looked at me.

In the past, the scenery where the beasts were glaring at me would have felt quite overwhelming, but I didn’t feel much emotionally.

After years of struggling with the ferocious little lions, one would become the owner of dry mood.

With the suffocating silence, Count Muller, who seemed to be observing my indifferent face closely, opened his mouth, “Lady Neuwanstein, I would like to say with confidence that we have gathered here in advance, not because we don’t believe in you, so please refrain from misunderstanding our intention. Rather, we are just worried.”

“Worried?”

“As you know, the great Neuwanstein family is the most esteemed peerage of the empire. You’re still young, as are the children.”

He sounded like he was sincerely sad. So I gently bit my lip and lowered my eyes, as if I were truly touched by his kind words.

“I don’t know what you’re worried about.”

“Of course. All of us gathered here are worried that the little lady will be seduced by someone bad and that might ruin the proud name of Neuwanstein. Excuse me, madam. Have you ever been to a party?”

“… About three or four times.”

“What’s scarier than the ladies of society is their husbands. The men……they will never allow a young woman to sit in the parliament, even if she follows her husband’s will. This means a 14-year-old boy would be a thousand times better for them.”

That was right. Isn’t it something I’ve already experienced in person?

The parliament of nobility, which is held once a month unless there is a big change regarding war or the imperial family. It’s composed of the heads of some of the most prominent noble families and prominent cardinal, the Empress’ brother, Duke Nurembert. Even the Emperor or pope could hardly ignore the parliament’s opinion.

Would they have just let a widow like me take her place at such a great meeting?

They didn’t push me away right away.

Armed with inferior manners and unmatched dignity, I just treated them with a real smile. They soon come to the hearing to investigate whether my dead husband’s will was fake or not, a hearing that has become the streets of poets’ plays.

If the Emperor didn’t rule in my favor at the hearing, and the Duke of Nurembert personally stepped forward, referring to the weight of the handwritten signature left by the Marquis, and questioning their intention behind the hearing, I would probably have been deprived of my power.

I have no idea why the Emperor and the Duke took my side. Even in the past, whatever happened, the two left me alone.

Anyway, if Count Mueller was trying to advise me purely out of concern at this moment, I would have pretended to accept it.

They’d rather kill me and get rid of me. But I had to be alive for their benefit. I have to live and move as they wish.

If I die, everything would be taken by the imperial family.

They had to protect me for their own practical interests. Isn’t that such a disgusting reality?

What they hope most is that as a young widow, I should, as usual, quietly provide internal help after their brother transferred the sovereignty to me.

That looks like a good deal to them.

Or they would remarry me to someone they could control.

It wasn’t uncommon for a young housewife who lost her husband to be turned to a puppet by her husband’s relatives.

It’s not a matter of age, it’s a matter of experience and connections.

No matter how superior one’s status and lineage are to one’s age, one could never underestimate the experience they gained through time.