I'm Only a Stepmother, But my Daughter is Just so Cute

CHAPTER 12

There was a clack as Abigail slowly put down her knife. Calmly, she raised her head to find herself on the receiving end of Sabelian's impassive gaze. She didn't look away. Instead, she lifted her chin and answered in a confident voice, "Yes. That did indeed happen."

"Was there a reason for doing so?"

"She wasn't feeding Blanche properly." Sabelian didn't respond immediately; he simply stared straight at Abigail without any change in expression, eyes void of emotion. Facing such a Sabelian had been the cause of many a chill crawling down countless backs.

But Abigail didn't turn a single hair. To Sabelian, this whole incident was news. Up to this point, there had been no complications or issues arising from Miss Jeremie's methods of education. None of the maids had ever brought up any concerns, nor had Blanche herself ever ventured a word of complaint. "I heard it was all being done for Blanche's sake though?"

"What, starving her?" Abigail snickered. She was unbelievably good at it. Snickering, that is. "That kind of treatment is too cruel for a child. Miss Jeremie isn't respecting Blanche's rights, not just in terms of meals, but in many other ways as well."

"For example?"

"She never once asked Blanche's opinion on the dresses they were selecting for her." 

This reminded Sabelian of the time he'd received Abigail's monthly expenditure report to find that she'd used up her allotted budget again. That came as no surprise. The Abigail he knew was a woman who was terrible with money. She used to ask for more money on an almost daily basis, not to mention assaulting his ears with her constant complaints on how small her budget was. And the things she used to spend it on...

Except this time, she'd blown her entire budget on dresses for Blanche. A woman like that... willingly spending money on Blanche. Sabelian began tapping on the table with his finger as he spoke. "Miss Jeremie told me that Blanche lacked the maturity to make such decisions for herself just yet."

"Even dogs and cats have their own will and desires. What's more, Blanche is a human."

How intriguing. Sabelian stopped tapping the table. "Then what would you like to see happen? We'll need someone new to replace Miss Jeremie, to say the least."

"It doesn't matter who, so long as said person treats Blanche with respect." Her answer was completely outside of Sabelian's expectations. 

It was not surprising given that he'd been operating under the assumption that Abigail was only doing this to make Miss Jeremie look bad. When taking into consideration that not only was Miss Jeremie part of the previous queen's inner circle, she also happened to be Duke Stork's cousin and had ten years of experience as a nanny under her belt, there was little doubt that such a person could only be an eyesore to Abigail. As such, Sabelian had assumed that all this was orchestrated by Abigail in an attempt to take over Miss Jeremie's position out of sheer jealousy.

Of course, none of this showed on his face. "And if I bring in someone from the Stork family?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Abigail answered before adding, not bothering to hide her annoyance at what was clearly an issue she took to heart, "As long as they don't try to control Blanche's meals."

Meals. What an interesting condition. Unexpected, even. Sabelian couldn't even begin to imagine what was going on in Abigail's head. 

"It seems that meals are quite important to you, Abigail." Abigail flinched. What a fascinating expression. Sabelian thought as he continued on like he hadn't noticed.