Yes, that was the curiosity.

The woman who loves Bonita so much, why did she abuse a child in the past?

It was an unsolvable mystery.

“I”

“If you’re thinking of confessing to the fact of abuse, it’s not a recommended method.”

He rubbed his forehead as if tired.

“I’ve already investigated where you lived. It seems to be near the Shangje Street slums.”

Aria’s lips stopped moving.

He continued speaking.

“Because you and Bonita are so noticeable, many people remember you. Thanks to that, the investigation was easy.”

“…”

“Bonita didn’t suffer from the townspeople or wicked outsiders, did she?”

Aria didn’t respond.

Luke spoke with frustration.

“Initially, the scars on Bonita’s body were all traces that could have been done by a woman. According to the doctor, if an adult man had hit a child like that, the bones would have broken and been misplaced long ago.”

At those words, Aria’s eyes showed agony and distortion.

It wasn’t the face of a criminal who had been caught, but rather the face of a mother who heard about what happened to her child and suffered later.

It was quite ironic considering that the woman in question was the one who committed the abuse.

It felt stifling, as if her chest was clogged.

“Why on earth?”

He asked, letting out his emotions.

“Why did you take my daughter, make her so unhappy, and now, only start loving the child again?”

The more he spoke, the more the anger and sadness that had been suppressed overflowed.

For seven years, he didn’t even know that Bonita existed.

While he was wallowing in the sorrow of losing Elodie, while he was delving into dark magic to try to save her and experiencing countless frustrations, and even when he thought he wanted to give up everything while being drunk on the birthdays of his child and wife.

Bonita was alive.

She was not in some far-off country but within a few hours by carriage.

And during the time he didn’t know about her, Bonita must have spent it very unhappily.

Thinking about Bonita, who sought love no matter how the person treated her, regardless of the fact that she was the only one to rely on in the world, made his heart ache and anger rise. The self-loathing for having spent the years so foolishly also crushed him.

The fact that she currently loves Bonita doesn’t erase what she did in the past.

It’s just buried, waiting to explode someday.

The problem was that Luke couldn’t grasp how to treat her.

The high status or living off the fear of others didn’t matter at all now.

He was just a human.

Not a god with omnipotence or an outstanding archmage. Didn’t all the dark magic he had studied so hard all end in failure?

Instead of reviving Elodie, he hadn’t even found one living daughter like a fool.
And now, there was only one thing he wanted.

That was Bonita’s happiness.

Since Bonita was born as his and Elodie’s daughter, he wanted to return everything she should have naturally received. It was only natural that he had to do that.

Because Bonita was his child.

Luke wiped away the tears from his eyes.

Thankfully, the area around his eyes was dry.

For a short moment, numerous emotions overwhelmed him, and sudden fatigue rushed in. He spoke with a tired voice.

“I… I treasure her too much. That’s why I keep you by my side. In case Bonita, without you, might be unhappy.”

Honestly, he had considered just ignoring and overlooking what Aria had done forever. He thought that the judgment should be left to the child, Bonita, who was the one wronged in the end.

But that determination wavered when he saw the fact that she didn’t even know her own birthday.

To someone looking, it might seem like something too small to ask, “Why does that matter?” It’s not as if living without knowing your birthday causes a significant hindrance in life.

But

“Uh… Did I do something wrong?”

Seeing the face that didn’t understand the unfair treatment she had received, his thoughts changed.

Bonita’s love for Aria, despite suffering severe abuse, wasn’t because Bonita forgave her.

It was because there was no one to teach her that it was wrong, that nobody should be treated like that.

Luke expressed all those thoughts and added.

“Just because you truly love Bonita now doesn’t mean the past incidents disappear. Still, Bonita had no choice but to accept you.”

“…”

“At that time, you were everything to Bonita.”

After saying that, Luke felt like he didn’t know what meaning there was in his actions.

Aria just listened without any reaction, and he was pouring out words unilaterally.

This wasn’t a conversation.

Moreover, he couldn’t just swiftly deal with that woman after this.

It was a situation that wouldn’t be helpful beyond self-satisfaction.

He mocked himself.

Lately, he felt incredibly pathetic

“Mu…”

When he turned his gaze to Aria again, he couldn’t help but be perplexed.

She was crying.

Quietly, tears flowed down her cheeks.

Whenever she blinked, large drops rolled down her cheeks.

Soon, those tears, with a thudding sound, began to fall, forming round droplets on the edge of the hood Aria was wearing.