I Was Marked as the Grand Duke Male Lead’s Stepmother - Chapter 64

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 64

Marisselle finished the first round of document sorting and checked the time. It was already time to take care of Fleur.

“Your Highness. I’ll go see Prince Fleur for a moment. Ah! And Your Highness. Do you have a map of the Monsan Region area?”

“Why do you need a map…?”

“I need it for organizing the documents.”

Morgan paused for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll have one prepared.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. Then, I’ll be back.”

* * *

“Marisselle!”

“Your Highness!”

As Fleur welcomed Marisselle as if they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, Baroness Veronica stood by the door watching them with a pleased smile.

‘What a lovely sight. I’d believe she was his mother rather than his nanny.’

“Hello, Baroness Veronica. It’s been a while since we’ve met.”

“Indeed. Nanny. Have you been well?”

“Of course. Have you been well too, Baroness?”

“Yes, indeed. My daughter gave birth recently, so I’ve already become a grandmother.”

“Oh my! Is that so? Congratulations, Baroness. Are both the mother and baby healthy?”

“Ho ho ho. Perhaps because she takes after me, both my daughter and granddaughter are healthy.”

They shared everyday conversation as they passed through the manor hallway and reached the foyer.

“Your Highness? Would you like to go to your room first? There are snacks prepared, so please have some while you wait. I’ll escort your writing teacher to the front entrance and come back.”

Marisselle winked as she spoke, closing one eye playfully.

“Yes. I’ll do that. Teacher Veronica, please go safely.”

Fleur showed proper respect to his teacher and turned toward his room.

As Fleur moved away, Veronica and Marisselle resumed their conversation.

“Lately we’ve been covering the classic ‘The Plicher People,’ and he asks things like ‘Are mothers and fathers originally like that?’…”

Veronica told her how Fleur’s expression would darken when discussing parents during lessons, but would brighten again after hearing various perspectives about parents.

“Teacher Veronica… thank you.”

Marisselle was grateful that she understood Fleur’s pain and embraced him warmly.

She showed the utmost courtesy as she saw Baroness Veronica off and hurried toward Fleur’s room.

But when she opened the door, Fleur was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did he go? Is he playing hide-and-seek again?”

Marisselle began looking around the room with concern.

The sofa, between the display cases, behind the curtains, but he wasn’t anywhere.

Having no choice but to go outside to look for the child, something bumped against her foot.

“…Charcoal?”

When she bent down to look closely, she saw more coloring tools and drawing paper hidden under the bed.

She reached her hand in and pulled out everything she could grab.

What she pulled out were blank drawing papers, papers already filled with drawings, and bundles of blunt colored charcoal and crayons.

“…What’s this?”

A black-haired woman and a sky-blue haired man. And a black-haired boy.

It appeared to be a drawing of Fleur and Fleur’s mother and father.

They were drawn far apart from each other, and Fleur was even further away from his father.

Her heart ached.

Among the expressionless faces, only Fleur was smiling.

The happiness Fleur wished for. Something he had never received from his parents.

The child’s wish, his happiness, was fulfilled in the next drawing.

A black-haired man and a bright blonde woman. Between them, a black-haired, blue-eyed little boy.

Anyone could see it was a drawing of Morgan, Marisselle, and Fleur.

All three were smiling. Brightly.

And they were holding hands affectionately.

Her nose began to sting.

It was heartbreaking and painful to see what the young child wished for but couldn’t openly show, hidden away.

There were several such drawings. Among them was one that was half-colored.

A woman with bright yellow hair. About half of it was covered with white, giving it a bright golden color.

It seemed Fleur had hastily shoved the drawing under the bed and gone to get more white crayon.

“How did you even think to paint over it like this…”

In the midst of all this, she was amazed by Fleur’s cleverness.

Tap-tap-tap-

Small footsteps that sounded like someone running hurriedly could be heard getting closer from beyond the door.

Marisselle quickly pushed the drawings back to where they had been. Then she hurriedly got up and went to the window.

Just then, the door creaked open.

“Huh? Marisselle, you’re already here?”

Marisselle pretended she hadn’t seen anything and turned around from the window, feigning innocence.

“Yes! I just arrived. But since you weren’t here, I was thinking whether I should go look for you, then decided to wait a bit and was looking out the window.”

“Ah… I see.”

“Where did you go? You didn’t even have your snacks.”

“Me? Um… it’s a secret. I won’t tell you.”

Fleur slyly put his hand in and out of his pocket.

She could see his pocket bulging.

“I understand, young master. Our young master has grown up so much. You even have secrets now…”

Marisselle deliberately smiled brightly and answered cheerfully.

Then she pulled out a chair and lightly patted it with her hand while making eye contact with Fleur.

“How are your composition lessons, young master?”

Fleur naturally sat in the chair Marisselle had pulled out for him and said,

“It’s fun. The teacher says I have excellent composition skills. She says I have good observation skills too. And she told me that having good composition skills is also good for winning love.”

“What? Lady Veronica said that?”

Marisselle asked with wide eyes as if surprised.

“Yeah. The teacher said she won her husband’s heart by writing letters well too.”

“Oh my! Really?”

Fleur nodded vigorously as if it were really true. Then he added an interesting comment.

“I think Uncle should take Lady Veronica’s composition lessons too.”

“What? Why?”

Marisselle leaned toward Fleur with curious eyes and asked.

“Uncle isn’t romantic. He only works. He hasn’t even been able to have dinner with Marisselle for over two weeks now. So he should at least write letters well. What if he loses love like that!”

It felt like something was skipped in the middle, but the meaning was definitely conveyed.

She laughed at his words that were both childlike and adult-like.

“Pfft! Ahaha, ahahahahahahaha. Young master! Ahahaha.”

The child tilted his head and looked at her seriously as if he couldn’t understand.

“…Huh? Marisselle… why are you laughing??”

“It’s because you said something so reasonable in such a funny way, young master. You’ll definitely become a wonderful lover. Ahahaha. Hahaha.”

Marisselle laughed heartily again.

Fleur’s eyes sparkled brightly at the word ‘lover.’

Eyes filled with hope.

Marisselle found Fleur so lovable and cute that she picked up a cookie and popped it into the child’s mouth, then smiled brightly.

“I guarantee that in just 10 years, young master will captivate all the women in the Empire. No, no. It won’t even take 10 years. I’m already captivated.”

Marisselle pointed to herself with her finger, winked once, and smiled playfully.

Then Fleur shyly lowered his face for a moment. A rosy blush rose on the child’s cheeks.

“It’s true, young master. This isn’t flattery or a lie.”

She said while sliding the milk toward Fleur.

“Have some milk too. You’ll get indigestion at this rate.”

The child looked once at the person who had made him shy, then carefully took the glass and gulped down the milk.

Marisselle smiled gently and wiped the white milk mustache on his upper lip with a napkin, saying affectionately,

“Eat lots and grow big and strong!”

* * *

Marisselle looked at Fleur lying on the bed with gentle and loving eyes and said,

“His Grace the Grand Duke is very busy right now. So he asked me to tell you that it will be difficult to have meals together for a while, and that he’s sorry.”

“Is Uncle really that busy?”

“Yes… he’s very busy. So I decided to help with the work too.”

“Huh? Then, Marisselle, you’ll be with Uncle all the time?”

“Not all the time. Just during the young master’s lesson hours and after you go to sleep.”

“Then… I should go to bed early.”

“Huh?”

“That way Marisselle can help Uncle a lot more.”

“Ah.”

“I can sleep well by myself now, so don’t worry and help Uncle well, Marisselle.”

And then the child smiled brightly.

‘When did he grow up so much…’

He even knows to think about Uncle.

While she felt proud of Fleur for gaining independence, why was there also a strangely bittersweet feeling…?

Marisselle remembered something her mother had said in her previous life.

“Watching you grow up made me so happy, yet also so bittersweet.”

“Why did you feel bittersweet?”

“Because you stopped looking for Mother as much. Because you were moving away from my embrace.”

Though it was already in the past, something she could neither see nor touch, the memory lived vividly in her mind, stirring up longing.

Drip.

Tears flowed.

Marisselle roughly wiped away the flowing tears with her hand, brushing away the longing along with them.

It wasn’t yet time to shed tears over longing.

And to live in reality, she trudged out of the room.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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