The Lion's Heart | A Stepmother's Marchën Fanfic

Chapter 10: Cheer up!

"SISTER KARINA!!! DRINK THIS TEA I MADE!!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Be careful, Rachel." Karina immediately took the tea cup from Rachel's tiny hands and took a sip.

'What the... this taste makes me feel like I'm in a candy store.'

"How is it??" Rachel's green eyes brimmed with curiousness.

"It's a bit sweet, but with a little bit more improvement, you'll make a perfect tea in no time."

Rachel scratched her head and pouted. "Was it too sweet? maybe I shouldn't have put 7 cubes of sugar."

Karina deadpanned. '7 CUBES??"

"Sister Karina, please read the poem I wrote today!" Leon showed Karina a piece of parchment.

It has been a little over a few hours when Karina had just arrived at the Neushwanstein mansion. Shuri had to go and greet guests who had come to visit, so Karina took the initiative to take care of the twins until Shuri was done.

While she was disappointed that she missed her timing to bid goodbye to Jeremy and Elias, who had gone to hunt foxes, she was still glad that she could spend her day with Rachel and Leon.

"Young master Leon and Miss Rachel... it is time for your afternoon nap." Shuri's personal maid whom Karina was introduced to as Gwen reminded the twins who let out devastated grunts.

"But we wanna play with Sister Karina!" Rachel said. "That's right..." Leon agreed.

Gwen's uneasiness didn't go unnotice to Karina, and so she decided to pinch in and help. "Rachel, Leon, you two want to grow up faster, correct?"

"I WANNA BE AS TALL AS SISTER KARINA!!" Leon excitedly declared.

"That's right, it's so that I can pay back and pinch brother Jeremy's face." Rachel's reasoning caused Karina and Gwen to sweatdrop.

'Now that I think about it, Jeremy is slightly shorter than me, huh. My current height is 167cm, around the same height as the prince, I believe...'

"That's right, so you need to rest and take care of your afternoon nap. This way, you'll grow up faster!"

Both Rachel and Leon's eyes glimmered as they were taken in by Karina's advice, and they decided to quickly get ready for their siesta.

"Thank you, Lady Karina.." Gwen whispered, to which Karina only nodded.

"Read me a fairytale story!" Rachel asked, Leon instantly butted in his twin sister's suggestion. "Rachel, it's my turn to pick."

After successfully persuading the two little children to bed, Karina decided to lounge around in one of the guest rooms while Gwen get the twins to bed.

However, sitting quietly for a few minutes caused boredom to overpower Karina's mind as she realised that there was nothing to do in this spacious room.

"I'll just... look around for a bit. Robert mentioned that I could tour around when I first came here." Karina convinced herself with an excuse that is likely to be expired already as Robert's words were from weeks ago.

Thus, Karina explored the Neuschwanstein mansion, but she made sure not to go too far from the guest room.

That's when Karina saw a suspicious young boy who was spying outside a guest room through the clear glass pane. She sneakily walked towards the boy and finally recognised who it was.

"What are you doing, young lord Nuremberg?" she whispered close to his ear. Nora swiftly turned his head to Karina and flinched. Before he could slam his hand on Karina's face, the brunette made a close call by ducking down.