I Won't Clear Up the Misunderstanding. I Don't Mind Being the Villainess. - Chapter 11

“Excuse me, but there’s something I need to clear up.”
“…Well? What is it?”
Kevin’s eyes, which had been locked on Leo, finally shifted to me.
Ignoring his utterly hostile stare, I went on.
“First, I want to know exactly why Lord Leo is going to such lengths to harass me.”
I directed my gaze toward the boy.
Leo’s half-sobbing face contorted with anger, and he screamed:
“Because I don’t want to call you Mother! Seriously, figure it out already!”
“Hmph. So, you’re complaining about a decision I made, despite being nothing more than a dependent?”
“H-h-hic, but, but… Father.”
Honestly, put a kid under the thumb of a guy like this, and of course, they’ll turn around and bully someone weaker. I was so sick of Kevin’s aggressive nonsense.
Father and son, Kevin and Leo were spitting images of each other. The only differences were their age and their expressions.
And their thoughts were probably just as similar. They both likely felt they could say or do whatever they wanted to a person they considered beneath them. Leo feared Kevin, but for now, he showed no sign of disliking him. A child raised by taking this kind of father as a role model, and then subjected to Lady Marvella’s twisted teaching—the one that claims the eldest son is king—would absolutely become a Demon King if he ever inherited the Duchy.
“Stop that, Your Grace. I actually think Lord Leo’s point is perfectly valid.”
“Eh?”
Leo looked completely astonished by my statement.
I spoke to him, meeting his eye level.
“Yes. Accepting your father’s new wife—especially someone you’ve never even met—as your mother right away? That’s a huge ask, even for an adult.”
In my past life, after my husband died so young, I raised three children. Friends and colleagues often suggested I should remarry, saying the kids needed a father.
I discreetly asked my children about it. All of them, except the youngest who never knew his father’s face, were against it. They said they’d steel themselves to accept it if I found someone I genuinely wanted to marry, but otherwise, they didn’t want it. The fact that Ron treats me without reservation might be partly because he has no memories of his birth mother.
I heard stories from friends who struggled after remarriage. One married a man they’d dated for years and who got along well with her children, but it still took ages for the children to naturally call him ‘Father.’ The hard part, she explained, was accepting him as their father, even if they accepted him as their mother’s husband.
“Lord Leo, the only Mother you have in your heart is Lady Lily, and I have no desire to be treated as your mother.”
“…Are you seriously trying to shirk one of your duties as Duchess, then?”
A voice that sounded like it was crawling from the ground came from behind me. I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.
“I will certainly play the part of a mother to Lord Leo and the others, regardless of whether they ever call me ‘Mother’.”
I stood up, turned around, and stated this.
But when it comes to the role of a mother, high-ranking noble children are almost never directly involved in childcare. Everything—meals, personal care, education—is handled by servants. That’s probably why Leo was so easily influenced by people nearby, like Lady Marvella.
(…So what exactly IS the job of a noble mother?)
What exactly are the duties of a Duchess in the first place? The original Erica just had tea parties, baked sweets, threw lavish parties, played with the kids, and fawned all over Kevin.
But Erica’s main thing was how completely un-noble-like she was, despite being a Countess’s daughter. She was no model to follow. I mobilized all my memories of Erica.
My birth mother was a former maid, not a noble. My stepmother? The only image I have is her and her birth daughter, Rose, laughing loudly after spending fortunes on dresses, jewels, and sweets, and bullying me. I never saw her doing anything that resembled work, not even when I was a servant. Plus, I think my stepmother failed at parenting. I definitely mustn’t imitate her.
“However, I lack the necessary knowledge to execute the responsibilities of a Duchess flawlessly. Please give me time to learn.”
“Why wouldn’t you know? Were you too busy sleeping around with other men to bother learning?” he sneered.
I was more irritated by the vulgar remark being made in front of the child than by the insult itself. I covered Leo’s ears with both hands and glared at Kevin.
“….Don’t you dare speak like that in front of a child. It’s terrible for his development.”
“Oh, playing the mother already, are we?”
He smirked sarcastically and grabbed my chin. A wave of dread washed over me from the strength of his grip, locking me in place.
The moment I tried to pull back, a heat touched my lips with a force that forbade it. The instant I realized it was Kevin’s lips, I shoved him away.
“….I can’t believe you!”
It was genuinely shocking. The man was crazy. What was he doing in front of a child? What if Leo ended up traumatized?
As I spat out my surprise and disgust without reservation, Kevin wiped his own lips. A streak of bl00d appeared on the back of his hand.
“I’m the one who can’t believe it. Who marries a wife who bites her husband?”
He laughed, saying he seemed to have married a mad dog. But to me, he was the only one who looked utterly mad.