I Became The Stepmother Of An Irrevocable Dark Family - Chapter 57

The child straightened her posture confidently as she boldly made her way through the crowd.

However, the children of the nobles were busy whispering among themselves.

Rere approached those children, stood in front of them, and quietly glanced at each of them.

“Ahem, ahem.”

The whispering stopped at once. In the meantime, the children gathered among themselves.

“You guys. Aren’t you going to greet me?”

“…You didn’t allow us to greet you last time.”

“Is that so? Then greet me today.”

Lily, who was still invited even after the incident she caused last time, made eye contact with the other young ladies and came closer to Rere.

“It’s nice to see you again, Princess Rebecca.”

“Okay. How about the rest of you? Aren’t you going to greet me?”

Only then did the other children who were hesitating at first started to introduce themselves one by one.

Not long after, the parents of those children also slowly gathered around us. Of course, they never spoke up.

By the time 10 people had finished delivering their greetings, Rere yawned as if she was bored.

“Ha. I’m sick of it. Stop greeting me.”

“Ah…yes.”

An unnamed young lady, who bowed her head, paused and looked at her with a bewildered expression.

“Do you know how worried I was?”

Everybody was confused about how to react to Rere’s abrupt remark.

“I was worried that you guys, who were gossiping about my birth because I don’t have a mother, won’t come. I was so worried.”

Only then did I realize something about these kids. Of course, there are those who attended with their parents, but it seems there are a lot of kids present here who have bullied Rere before such as Jayna Nadira and Lily Cuffs.

The kids couldn’t even make eye contact with Rere. Because of that, the parents who sensed something was off looked at me scornfully.

Their gazes pierced me as if telling me to sort out the situation. They couldn’t tell me their thoughts directly because I’m the duchess and the host of this party, but their gazes were as fierce as a lion’s.

“Why are you avoiding my eyes? You’re not going to use a lousy excuse such as, ‘I forgot’, are you?

At that time, Lily Cuffs stepped up to speak on behalf of the terrified children. She seemed to think that she was a match for Rere since both of them are princesses.

“Princess, I think I’ve apologized enough for that last time. That was….”

“I don’t think that was an apology, though?”

“Pardon…? B-But…”

“At that time, I just told you to get lost. I don’t think I’ve received a proper apology.”

Good job, Rere!

I patted Rere’s shoulder gently as I watched the people around us freeze. Now that Rere has shed light on what the children have done, their parents must be very nervous right now.

“Tell me. Was that enough to be called an apology? It’s easy to bully a person, but apologizing to someone shouldn’t be so easy. You hear me?”

What else can I say? I don’t find a single fault in Rere’s words.

“Well, you might think it’s not a big deal because you guys are the preparators, but I’m the victim here.”

“…Princess. What can we do to lessen your anger? I thought you weren’t angry anymore since you invited us here today. And because you invited us, I thought you wanted to get along with us….. That’s why please don’t be angry.”

“That’s not what the preparators are supposed to say, is it?”

That’s my child! At this point, Rere must have lived for 50 years instead of 5 for how mature she’s handling this situation. She spoke better than I would’ve.

Rere smiled as she made eye contact with each of them.

“But it’s not your fault.”

The atmosphere changed in an instant. A number of kids breathed a sigh of relief as they were under the impression that this stifling situation had finally come to an end.

But my Rere wouldn’t just stop there.

“Because that’s what your parents taught you. They taught you to not let others hurt you, and to make yourself shine more by dragging others down.”

I was at a loss because Rere took the words out of my mouth. She throws a tantrum everyday, so I didn’t realize how clever she actually was.

“Because of dumb parents like them, their child behaves this way!”

Tsk. Rere scoured the surrounding area with an annoyed expression.

“Princess! You’re going too far. How can you disrespect us in such a way! This little princess speaks so rudely!”

Eventually, one of the nobles couldn’t hold back anymore and chipped in. Then she naturally stood behind Lily Cuffs. She was probably the Duchess of Cuffs.

Since a grown-up finally intervened in a children’s fight, I decided to do the same.

“Who are you to interrupt the children’s conversation?”

“…This is the first time I’m formally greeting you. I’m Ezryn Cuffs from the Cuffs Dukedom, Duchess Petri.”

“Oh my god, you must be Duchess Cuffs then? I’m sorry, I thought only someone from an insignificant family would dare to meddle in a conversation between children. But to think you are part of the family who became the pillar of the empire is shocking.”

“Do you only see this as a friendly conversation between children?”

“Yes, it looks like a very cute conversation between children to me.”

“This is…! This is a family matter!”

“Oh, is that so?”

I decided to watch Rere at a close distance because it seemed to me that she was able to relieve her stress by personally getting back on these kids, but I suppose I’m grateful that this person spoke up as well.

“If that’s the case, I also have something to say. It’s a matter that could be easily overlooked if we consider it as a fight between children, but let’s not forget that Princess Lily Cuffs said something horrible to my daughter last time.”

“That’s…!”

“At that time, I assumed that it was just a fight between children so I wanted to let it slide, but if you truly mean what you said earlier, then I will also take what happened last time seriously.”

The Duchess, who was about to retort, bit her lips.

“I told you so! My mommy and daddy are good at teaching dumb people a lesson. Just look at my mom!”

Then, the atmosphere suddenly changed. The people around us realized that the situation had turned worse for them.

“Pa-pardon? Just now… That was a mistake…”

She even started to stutter.

“Ha. What a hopeless fool. Raise your kids properly from now on. I’ll forgive you just this once.”

“…Re-really?”

Lily, who was staring at the floor the entire time, finally raised her head.

The Duke must have done something to her. No one in their right mind would come here willingly after what happened that day. Even if Rere invited her.

However, they are still children. It’s normal for them to whine to their parents that they don’t want to come, yet all the children who are on bad terms with Rere were here.

The children’s expressions were exactly the same as each other’s. They seemed to be relieved that Rere finally forgave them.

“In return. You guys laughed at me because I didn’t have a mom, right? Apologize for that.”

“..But, why?”

“Why?! I have a mom now. You guys are mocking me and spreading lies about me. Apologize properly for that!”

At this point in time, many people have already surrounded us, and this made the children even more anxious.

There were children who were anxious about their parents finding out and children whose faces were red as if they were caught red handed.

“You don’t think I told my daddy everything you said to me, do you?”

Rere looked happier than ever.

“Do you remember the content of the letters I sent you?”

So the Duke didn’t do anything, it was Rere all along.

“I’m not a blabbermouth in the first place, but I can be one if you want. If you don’t apologize to my mom right away…I’ll tell my daddy everything. Urk, my mouth is so itchy. Daddy!!’

Without hesitation, Rere turned around and waved her hand to where the Duke was. Then the Duke, who had been watching us close by, quickly approached us.

Meanwhile, the children, who had been at a loss of what to do, rushed to me and bowed their heads.

“I’m sorry, please…please stop the princess. I’ll apologize as much as I can, so please…”

“I’m sorry, Duchess.”

It wasn’t just one or two of them who did so. Before I knew it, the children had already rushed to me.

“No, I’m…”

At that time, Rere stretched out her arms wide, as if she wanted to be hugged. Because of that, I managed to escape from the children and held her in my arms.

“I’m satisfied now.”

“Did you want them to apologize to me?”

“Yes! How dare those ugly people speak ill of my mom. That’s why I have to make them apologize properly this time. They won’t be able to look down at our big bunny ever again.”

“That’s why you…”

“Yes, that’s why I invited them. I don’t even want to see them, hihi. I wrote down everything they said to me in the letter.”

I rubbed my cheek against the child’s cheek.

So she did this for my sake. I thought it was just another tantrum of hers, but that wasn’t the case.

Rather, Rere had to remember all the hurtful things they said to her just to avenge me. It must’ve been tough.

“Rere.”

“Yes!”

“I love you.”

“I know!”

“You know?”

“Yes! Because I love you too! That’s why I know!”

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