I Became The Stepmother Of An Irrevocable Dark Family

“The party ended abruptly yesterday, and quite a few noble families sent us letters expressing their regrets.”

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“They sent letters in just one day?”

“Yes.
You must read all of them, and you also should think about how to manage the dukedom’s property.”

“…Don’t tell me he asked me to do all that?”

“Yes.
Master has entrusted the household management to Madam.”

With her hands clasped together and her face blushing, she seemed to be imagining a prince in a fairy tale.

“He is so considerate toward his wife.”

“Considerate? Not at all.
Don’t misunderstand, Nanny.
Everything he does for me—”

I was going to say more, but I stopped when I noticed the nanny smiling at me.

“Yes.
I see.”

Ha.
Her response made me even more uncomfortable.

“But I still think you need to sort the letters and set the budget.”

“No! Big Bunny must rest today!”

Before I knew it, Rere had already climbed over my body, and shook her head strongly.

“But, Miss.
It’s something that Madam has to do….”

“My Big Bunny is tired!”

“But…”

“Hey Nanny! You’re a nanny, right? Why is a nanny doing this?! A nanny doing this is called cheating, so stop working.
Today, Rere declares! Today is a rest day for everyone!”

Rere lifted both arms, and shook her head eagerly.

“If everyone is resting today, who will cook for you, Miss?”

“Oh no…I have to ask the chef to make chocolate cake.”

“But today is a resting day for everyone….”

“Yeah! Today is the day where bunnies rest! So Big Bunny should rest today!”

Giggling, Rere covered me with a blanket and stroked my head.

“Shuush, sleep well, Big Bunny.”

“What about Rere?”

“Since Rere is a small rabbit, Rere will sleep next to you!”

Before I could respond, Rere had already snuggled next to me.

“Is that so?”

“Yup! Ugly! You should lay down too! We’re a rabbit family, so we should sleep together!”

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The nanny who had been watching us silently, shook her head.

“I recall we had this kind of day too before.”

“I also want to rest today, so please let us slide just for today.
Also…I don’t usually do that sort of work…”

The nanny nodded slightly at my words.

“Yes.
I understand that you may feel burdened by this.
Then why don’t you rest until we find someone to help you?”

“Someone to help me?”

“Yes.
Since Master knows that Madam is unfamiliar with this kind of work, he decided to find an expert to help you.”

“…Why did he even entrust it to me in the first place?”

“Master genuinely cares about Madam! He has never entrusted the household management to anyone before!”

Given that the nanny completely misunderstood my words, and the maids behind her even nodded in unison, I made a firm decision.

‘I’ll deceive you, and squander all of your fortune! You’ll regret it!’

I had to secure my own funds as well.

Don’t tell me you left everything to me without even checking where the money comes and goes?

Great.
My stay here won’t be long anyway, and someday Rere will not need me anymore, so taking care of the household wasn’t so bad since I could appropriate slush money for my escape.

Having made up my mind, I nodded eagerly.

“Okay.
Tell him I don’t need anyone to help me.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m good with numbers.”

No, even if I’m bad at it, I will be good at it starting today.

Since that man had shown me what the worst thing human beings could do, I should compensate myself for the damage he inflicted on me.

With a firm determination, I smiled at the nanny as naturally as possible.

“I-If that’s your wish, I will inform Master about it.”

“All good then! I will rest with Rere today, so I’ll leave it to you.
And regarding the letters…put it on fire….”

“Put it on, what..?”

Just put it on fire.
I suppressed my desire to say that.

“I meant don’t put them in order and just leave them for now.”

“Yes! I will heed your order.
I’ll just leave them neatly so Madam can go through the letters one by one.”

“Thank you.”

“Then, I’ll tell the chef to make chocolate cake.”

The nanny and the maids quickly set off.
Even just looking at their back was exhausting.

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“Rere.”

“Yeah?”

“Big Bunny is tired.”

“Gosh! Are you tired? Should Rere tell Daddy not to make Big Bunny work?”

“No! I should do what’s entrusted to me!”

I had to do it no matter what.

“Didn’t you say you don’t want to work?”

“No! I want to work!”

“Big Bunny is so kind!”

“K-Kind?”

“Yeah.
Even though my daddy is always mean to you and acts like a fool, you still do whatever my daddy asks you to do.
How nice of you! If it were me, I’d storm his office and scold him!”

Dang.
It seemed Rere also misunderstood the situation.

“Anyways, it’s true that you’re kind.
That’s why I’m worried.
Rere needs to teach Big Bunny a lot! Haaa…Rere is tired, but what else can I do? Big Bunny, you should follow what I say until you become human, okay?”

Rere sighed as if she carried a huge burden, and snuggled her way into my arms.

“Why aren’t you answering?!”

“I’ll do it.
I’ll follow Rere’s instructions.”

“How nice.
My Big Bunny is so nice!”

“My Rere, too, is so pretty.”

I expected Rere to say, ‘I know I’m pretty’, but she closed her eyes and quietly hugged me.

“I’m happy.
Now everyone in the world won’t mock me because I don’t have a mom, right?”

“Of course.”

I won’t let you think that way again, Rere.
I don’t want you to get hurt again.

“You know, the party was fun though.
I can’t forget it!”

Rere wriggled her legs in joy and smiled brightly.

“Yeah.
I will never forget that moment.
Dancing with Rere, and how Rere sought apologies for Big Bunny!”

“What else did you find fun?”

“When Rere scolds the bad guys?”

“What else?”

“Eating cake with Rere, actually, every moment I spend with Rere is making me happy.
It was fun.”

Perhaps it was finally the answer that Rere wanted to hear, she nodded calmly.

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“I’m Big Bunny’s favorite daughter, after all!”

“Big Bunny also thinks so.
How can I live without Rere?”

At that time, Rere sat up.

“I’m sure there’s a flower in Big Bunny’s mouth.”

“A flower?”

“Yeah! Since you only say pretty things like flowers!”

I couldn’t help but smile.

“Is that so?”

“Yes! Flower rabbit.”

How could you be so lovely? I held Rere tightly in my arms.

“I feel so blessed.”

“Why?”

“Because I can be Rere’s mom.
I’m so lucky to have such a lovely daughter like Rere!”

“Me too, I’m happy because you are my mom.
There were other mothers, but I’ve never seen anyone like Big Bunny.”

Rere gently stroked my check.

“Thank you for making Rere happy.
Thanks to you, Rere is having so much fun! Rere is not even sick because Rere is too happy now.”

“Oh, you’re right!”

I seized that moment to examine Rere’s complexion.
Recently, Rere’s complexion had improved even beyond the kids her age.
Her pale, white face started to show some pink sometimes.

More than her face, her thin body had gotten heavier, and she was a little taller as well.

“Yes! My heart is not pounding so fast anymore, I don’t feel dizzy or have a coughing fit anymore!”

Should I feel relieved?

However, one shouldn’t be relieved when dealing with illness, since a sudden relapse could occur anytime.

‘Once I’m done with everything, I’ll call the doctor from last time.
The things he said then…it makes me restless.’

Surely, there were some parts that seemed effective.
It was not something to pass lightly.

“Anyways, it’s all thanks to Big Bunny!”

“It’s good that Rere has gotten better, but I hope Rere’s illness could be cured completely.”

“Me too! I want to get better soon! Even now, I’m not hurt or anything…but still!”

“Don’t worry.
Mom will make sure you will get better.”

“Yeah!”

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The child was getting more and more expressive.
She smiled a lot and spoke so beautifully.
Seeing her made me smile.

“Shall we sleep more then?”

“Yup! Sleep!”

Just like that, we slowly fell into slumber.
We didn’t know that we could sleep so soundly even after already waking up.

 

***

 

There was an old saying; Don’t postpone your work.
If you keep postponing, you’ll never see the end of it.

That was exactly what happened to me.

“…Why did I agree to do this?”

At a large desk next to Rere’s room, I was busy examining the documents piled before me.
A stack that never decreased no matter how much I looked at it.

No, when I saw one document, it seemed in my eyes it had increased by five pages.

“Haa…”

“Let go! I wanna play with Big Bunny! I wanna play with Big Bunny!”

At that time, Rere ran fast to me and poked me in the side.

She was pouting while holding Ugly.

“Big Bunny.”

“Rere! When did you get here?”

“…Rere…didn’t want to disturb you…”

Rere fidgeted her feet as she hesitated and bowed her head.

“Daddy said I shouldn’t disturb you when you’re working…I know that, but….”

I turned the chair and lifted Rere onto my lap.

“Good job!”

I leaned against her.

“Huh?”

“Rere, my Rere.
Please save Big Bunny!”

I whispered so that the nanny, who was calmly placing documents next to me, didn’t hear it.

“Save Big Bunny?”

“Yeah…Big Bunny doesn’t want to work.”

“Gosh, is that so? Ey, this is not good! Rere needs to save you!”