Bonita wandered through the corridor.

‘No one’s here.’

Actually, to ensure Bonita could rest comfortably, the top floor was cleared of all the staff, but she wasn’t aware of this fact.

In the empty corridor, the sound of a child’s footsteps echoed. Since there were no slippers, the coldness of the floor directly reached Bonita, making her shiver.

Bonita descended the stairs. Fortunately, due to the mealtime, most of the staff had left their positions. Hence, she could reach her room without encountering anyone, which was rare in the Duke’s mansion.

“Mom?”

Aria, who she naturally thought would be in the room, was not there. Bonita tilted her head.

‘What happened?’

During the time with Teacher Hildre and the lesson, something seemed to have happened, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t overly worrying.

She wasn’t kidnapped, and this was the Duke’s mansion. It was rare not to see any staff, but it wasn’t that surprising.

They couldn’t be cleaning the corridors all day long.

Bonita sat on her room’s bed and stretched her legs. Checking the time, it was around lunchtime.

‘It hasn’t been that long.’

Despite that, her stomach felt quite hungry, and for some reason, she desperately needed to use the bathroom.

.

Unaware to herself, a growling sound came from her hungry stomach. Bonita pondered what to do first and decided to go to the bathroom and then lie back down.

‘She had lunch before the lesson, strange.’

Why was her stomach so hungry?

Also, she felt strangely weak all over. If she hadn’t held the handrail while coming down the stairs, she might have stumbled.

It felt like waking up after lying in bed all day with a fever.

“Huh?”

Wait a moment.

Bonita, who had thought up to that point, blinked in confusion.

Then she checked the time again.

“One and a half hours…”

The lessons started at one. Since checking the time frequently during class would be impolite, she didn’t know the exact time, but she had definitely sat for about an hour.

But how could it be one and a half hours?

If she had woken up after the lesson and had been lying down, it should have been at least four or five in the afternoon.

‘But it’s not night.’

It was too bright outside to be around 1 a.m.

Bonita grabbed the clock that was ticking away and opened the lid.

The mechanism was working fine. The clock wasn’t broken.

Of course, someone might have turned the hands incorrectly. Bonita approached the window as if possessed and confirmed the sun floating in the sky.

The altitude was high.

Even if the clock was working, only one person in the world could control the sun, and she was not a queen. So, the answer was clear.

It was indeed half-past one in the afternoon.

In the moment of realization, Bonita briefly panicked at the incomprehensible situation.

Had time gone back?
Could some evil magic have affected her?

“No, that can’t be…”

However, as she thought more slowly, a more reasonable assumption came to mind.

For instance, it wasn’t that time had turned back; it was just a fact that her last memory was of ‘yesterday.’

If she had been lying down for nearly 24 hours, it would easily explain why the clock pointed to half-past one.

The problem was why she suddenly fainted, and there was no clue at all.

! !! !

At that moment, there was a commotion outside.

Due to the good soundproofing, Bonita couldn’t hear what people were saying in front of the window.

Listening briefly, Bonita soon lost interest in the commotion. What mattered now was not why it was noisy outside but why she suddenly fell asleep.

When she had such concerns, Bonita preferred to contemplate deeply alone. She knew well that hasty judgments could lead to trouble.

Considering the time, Aria seemed to have left for lunch for a while. Bonita sat on the comfortable sofa at the edge of the room, looked out the window, and pondered.

Outside was still noisy.

“By any chance, did you also receive Oliver’s fortune seven years ago?”

The moment she heard those words, Aria’s body stiffened for a moment.

It seemed like it was coming.

Even if Oliver was convinced that he was the culprit of everything based on Lenn’s words, the reason she hadn’t spoken out to Luke before was this.

‘Aria received a fortune… It must be certain.’

She had thought about it several times.

Why did Aria, who had grown up with her for over a decade, betray her? She had no reason to do so.

It wasn’t because of a low salary, and she didn’t particularly dislike Elodie. She found Luke a bit awkward, but she wasn’t a bold and evil person to sell a child.

Yeah, the problem was the lack of a reason.

There are no results without a cause in the world. However, Aria had no motive to ‘kidnap Elodie’s daughter.’ So, there was only one thing left.

Someone received a fortune.

And that someone was undoubtedly Oliver Delphinium.

How he manipulated Aria was still unknown, but that was certain.

“…”

Instead of revealing such facts, Aria fell silent.

Luke’s lips twisted.