FT DR Chapter 10: The Stepmother’s Assertiveness

Chapter 10: The Stepmother’s Assertiveness

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Lilith’s roots were English, and though her military background gave her a tougher demeanor than the average woman, she still possessed an elegant and proud British ladylike quality.

When Wu Chenghe and Hannibal came downstairs, she had already entered, busy brewing coffee at the bar in the dining room. A striped and colorful fierce cat lazily lay by her feet, its ice-blue eyes alertly scanning around, showing a friendly expression upon seeing Hannibal but displaying a hint of hostility towards Wu Chenghe.

That was Lilith’s quantum beast, a fierce cat slightly larger than the average mountain cat, with pointed ears as sensitive as radar, constantly detecting any movements around it.

Although “sentinel × guide” was the optimal mate combination, due to the rarity of guides, many sentinels with similar attributes would also form families—after all, they also needed the comfort of love and family affection. Moreover, their exceptional physical abilities made it difficult for ordinary people to accept them, so being with similar individuals was considered a harmonious choice.

Hannibal and Lilith were one such “sentinel × sentinel” pair.

Wu Chenghe was somewhat puzzled by Hannibal’s choice. With Lilith’s military rank, she might find it difficult to qualify for the official blind date group of the guide school. Still, with his status, he had more than enough qualifications. Why would he give up the opportunity to find a guide and be with Lilith? It was worth noting that even though medications for mania syndrome had advanced considerably today, they still fell far short of what a guide could provide. His choice meant giving up half of his lifespan.

Was it true love? Or was it for the support of the Lancer family? Wu Chenghe pondered. If it was the latter, then Hannibal was truly a bold man—though he looked young, he was actually forty-eight years old. Without a guide, relying solely on medication, he probably wouldn’t live past seventy.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Lilith opened the cupboard to get brown sugar and milk, evidently familiar with the place. Her beautiful blue eyes casually glanced at Wu Chenghe, ignoring him directly, and sarcastically asked Hannibal, “Why did you cancel my key? Do I look like a wicked stepmother?”

Feeling awkward, Wu Chenghe simply hid behind Hannibal and said nothing, using him as a shield. His gaze swept over Lilith’s fierce cat, silently hypnotizing it: I can’t see you, I’m just ordinary… Oh, why aren’t you sleeping yet?

Soon, the fierce cat accepted his suggestion, moving its gaze away and curling up to nap.

Hannibal explained, “I want to transfer this place to Charlie for his future independent residence, so I canceled all the keys. Sorry for not informing you, I thought you wouldn’t mind.”

“I indeed don’t mind, you don’t need to notify me specially, after all, this is your pre-marital property, isn’t it?” Lilith poured two cups of coffee, handing one to Hannibal, and smirked, “Just asking casually. I came to see you about something else…”

“Wait, I think we should introduce ourselves first.” Hannibal interrupted her, taking the coffee and placing it on the bar, then pulling the silent Wu Chenghe over, “This is Charlie, you’ve already seen the photos Wu Xi sent.” He then said to Wu Chenghe, “This is Lilith, my wife. It was our decision to bring you here.”

“Hello, Madam,” the pitiful fallen aristocrat could only muster a dumbfounded expression, nodding apologetically to the stepmother, “I’m sorry for causing you trouble.” 

He believed Lilith agreed to accept him because he was Hannibal’s child. If he ended up in a welfare institution or adopted by someone with ulterior motives, it could put them in a very passive position in the future. It was better to adopt him; after all, it was just another mouth to feed, ensuring everyone’s safety and maintaining a favorable public opinion.

Wu Chenghe was very cute and adorable, especially when he looked directly at others, his black and shiny pupils appearing particularly innocent. Lilith met his gaze, her pupils contracting slightly, her complexion involuntarily softening. “Hello, Charlie. Welcome to Gabriel.” After a pause, she added, “I’m sorry about your mother’s passing. Please, accept my condolences.”

“Thank you for your concern, Madam,” Wu Chenghe said sincerely. His smile had a clean infectiousness to it, immediately easing the awkward atmosphere. 

Lilith even handed him the cup of coffee she was holding, “Would you like some coffee?”

“No, thank you, I’m not used to it,” Wu Chenghe knew she hadn’t prepared one for him, tactfully declining. At this point, his feelings toward Lilith, the stepmother, were not bad—although she was cold and dismissive towards him, it indicated that she was not good at, or did not bother to conceal her emotions.

Proud, calm, straightforward, with clear goals—such a personality might not necessarily make a good mother, but it certainly made a good stepmother. To be honest, it would be more terrifying if she were fiery and passionate—what woman would welcome her husband’s illegitimate child? Even if it was just an accidental pregnancy before marriage, it would still be distressing, wouldn’t it?

Lilith didn’t mince her words with him, instead turning to Hannibal and asking, “I heard you ordered the ‘Scout’ cavalry to raid the Free Revolutionary Army’s stronghold and have the ‘Quarterback’ fleet to besiege them?”

Hannibal frowned, silently sipping his coffee. Lilith pressed on, “That area belongs to my father’s territory. If there’s going to be an anti-terrorism operation, it should be under his Second Army Corps. Don’t you think you’re overstepping your bounds?”

“Was it Lancer who sent you to find me?” Hannibal referred to his father-in-law in this way. “I thought I had obtained his consent yesterday afternoon.”

“But wasn’t the order issued last week? Discussing it with him yesterday might be a little too late, don’t you think?” Lilith frowned, displeased. “Dad didn’t mention this to me. I decided to ask you myself. Commander, I’m not questioning your decisions; I just want to remind you that there’s a treaty among the three major corps of the Voyager Army. You have the right to coordinate, but not to engage in operations outside your jurisdiction!” Pausing for a moment, she added, “Please, don’t let your personal feelings jeopardize the treaty!”

“I’m not indulging in my personal feelings,” Hannibal narrowed his eyes slightly. “Charlie’s itinerary being exposed, I don’t think it’s a coincidence. It may involve some terrorists with ulterior motives, or… perhaps Lancer himself is the one acting out of emotion?”

“Are you suspecting me?” Lilith sneered. “Do you think I leaked his itinerary to my father?”

“No, Lilith, I trust you. I trust you more than anyone else in this world. I believe you understand every decision I make,” Hannibal said gently. “I just suspect that Lancer may have misunderstood me on this matter. Dear, sometimes you may not realize it, but not everyone understands me and stands by me like you do all the time. Lancer is your father, and his love for you far exceeds his trust in me, and it’s much deeper than you imagine.”

He seemed to be making no excuses for himself or condemning Lancer, but with this subtle speech, he had already painted a less favorable picture of the esteemed father-in-law—enough to put his wife in a relieved mood.

Wu Chenghe couldn’t help but give thirty-two thumbs up to his own dad’s emotional intelligence. A woman like Lilith definitely fell for this.

Sure enough, Lilith’s expression softened, her deep blue eyes showing a hint of tenderness as she said, “Maybe you’re right. I might have been presumptuous about many things and didn’t explain it clearly to Dad. But… regardless, if you’re going to act beyond your authority, you should still consider Dad’s authority. After all, he’s the star general of the Second Army Corps. Ah, please don’t make me feel embarrassed, okay?”

“I’m sorry, sometimes I’m too arbitrary.” Hannibal put down his coffee cup, smiling as he put his right arm around his wife’s shoulder, kissing her forehead. “Having a stubborn husband is indeed troublesome.”

“Indeed,” Lilith chuckled bitterly, saying, “I’ll explain it to Dad again. Accepting Charlie’s guardianship was our joint decision.” She kissed her husband’s cheek in return and then turned to Wu Chenghe, taking out a stack of documents from her handbag and handing it to him. “Charlie, I’ve already signed the change of guardianship. In the future, both the Commander and I will take care of you on behalf of your mother.”

Wu Chenghe took the documents and found it was a handover document for guardianship, signed by Wu Xi, with her will attached, and the recipients were the Hannibal couple. From the moment Lilith signed, he had officially become their adopted son.

“Thank you.” Wu Chenghe had already said thank you many times tonight, but he had to say it again at this moment.

The change of guardianship took effect quickly. On the day of enrolling in the basic school, Hannibal consulted Wu Chenghe’s opinion, asking if he wanted to take their surname or keep his original Chinese name. Wu Chenghe thought for a moment and decided to keep his original name, as it was the only thing connecting him to his past life.

Hannibal respected his decision and had Yuna pay his tuition fees, buy a bunch of stationery and daily necessities for him, and personally ordered a new car (a flying saucer) for him—Wu Chenghe insisted on not staying in the dormitory and commuted to the apartment every day.

As a joke, he wouldn’t dare to stay in a collective dormitory. Gabriel was a Military Base, and most of the residents were military personnel. More than a third of the students in the basic school were sentinels! Sitting in the classroom for six hours a day, watching various cats, dogs, lions, and tigers walking around in high-dimensional space was distressing enough. If he lived in the same dormitory with these guys, he would probably die suddenly—pretending to be blind would drain his HP! The little Light Bulb could handle it, but he couldn’t!

And who knows when he would suddenly go into estrus? According to common sense, an egg wouldn’t always be an egg. Sooner or later, the little Light Bulb would hatch something strange. When that happened, he’d probably start his cycle. Damn it, being on your period is so depressing!

While Wu Chenghe was anxiously fretting about the male elders visiting him at any time, he received a call from Ava.

Monica had completed her recovery treatment and was about to leave for the Federal Guide School. Before leaving, she cried and begged to see him. Ava couldn’t resist the tearful plea of the little girl and had to submit an application. He wondered if his status as the “Commander’s adopted son” played a role, but surprisingly, it was approved.

On a sunny afternoon, Wu Chenghe drove to the military area outside the Gabriel loop and met Monica in the hospital’s isolation ward.

In less than a month, the little girl looked much more haggard. As soon as she saw Wu Chenghe, she grabbed his hand and didn’t let go, “Brother, I’m so scared. I keep seeing and hearing strange things, and I can’t stop. The medicine doesn’t work.”

Wu Chenghe patted her head to comfort her, “It’s okay, you’ve just awakened, and you don’t know how to control your consciousness yet. It’ll be fine when you go to guide school. The teachers will help you.”

“No, I don’t want to go to guide school at all,” Monica said anxiously. “They said I won’t see my family until graduation… Why, why am I a guide? There has never been a guide in our family.”

Guide was a variant of sentinel, with a certain genetic inheritance, but it could also occur randomly in ordinary families. Wu Chenghe sighed and whispered to comfort her, “Don’t be afraid, you’ll graduate soon, and you can still call your family. I’ll call you too.”

Ragdoll lay on Monica’s pillow, stretching out its front paws to reach under Wu Chenghe’s shirt hem. Unable to reach, it lazily gave up and bit its tail, sulking. Wu Chenghe dared not touch it like last time because Monica was now awake and might notice his abnormality. He could only observe the little cat from the corner of his eye while marveling at the vast difference between cute pets and stupidly cute pets.

The little Light Bulb flashed angrily in a corner where Monica couldn’t see, then cautiously resumed its transparent mode.【Humph!】

“What’s the point of graduating? I’ll still have to marry a stranger?” Monica became even more despondent. “Brother, I don’t want to marry those scary men. I want to marry you… Why aren’t you a sentinel?” She cried harder, throwing herself into his arms.

Wu Chenghe was drenched in her tears, not daring to move. He could only sigh, “Don’t cry. You’re so cute; you’ll definitely meet someone better, maybe a general or a scientist. Can you treat me as your brother?” 

These days, no one cares if sentinels are together, but if guides are together—forget it. Two guides together means four hundred thousand sentinels lose their chance, it’s almost like a crime against humanity.

Monica cried even harder, and who knows where a little girl with asthma got such lung capacity from? She cried for half an hour before getting tired and falling asleep. Even her quantum beast couldn’t bear it anymore and kept its airplane ears up, its little face wrinkled into a ball.

After settling the sleeping Monica, Wu Chenghe went out to find Ava—guides’ estrus is hard to endure alone, it requires the help of a sedative, but sedatives are contraband and can’t be bought outside.

Of course, he didn’t intend to get sedatives from Ava, as it would cause trouble for her. He just wanted to ask her for some guide medical information and see if he could come up with some alternatives for himself.

Thank God he was a doctor, and his pharmacology was quite solid.