“Where did you see that child?”

“What?”

“I’m talking about that child.”

“Well…”

René, confronted with the sudden attitude of the man with pink hair, swallowed nervously and rolled his eyes.

“What’s going on? Suddenly…”

Just a moment ago, he was a friendly gentleman with a playful boyish charm. However, now his gaze was mysteriously dark and unsettling.

“Could it be… Did I… touch a nerve?”

At the thought, René shuddered and cowered.

The man in front of him, based on the conversation he overheard between the brown-haired lady and the man, as well as his attire and way of speaking, seemed to be a nobleman from any angle.

If he descended to this border region, he might be an unremarkable figure in the central social circles, but René was a commoner.

Even the youngest son of a viscount visiting would make him bow flat.

René immediately bowed deeply and, with a trembling tone, apologized.

“If my recent remarks sounded impolite, I sincerely apologize. I didn’t know anything, so please forgive me…”

“Oh, no. I must have misunderstood.”

Reacting to that intense response, the gentleman clapped his hands, appearing somewhat bewildered.

“I was merely curious about the child with the pink hair.”

“Really? But, um…”

Raising her head again in response to the man’s gentle tone, René, upon checking the gentleman’s hair color, made a surprised expression.

“…Could it be?”

Now that he thought about it, that hair color was exactly the same as the one he had seen before.

Although it was quite a unique color to be seen only once in a lifetime, it matched the shade he remembered.

In an instant, the rumors the village women used to gossip about flashed through René’s mind.

“Could he be from a noble family?”

“His demeanor doesn’t seem like someone raised as a commoner. Even though he’s grown up as a commoner, he must have run away after a one-night mistake.”

“If he’s a bastard, the child must be unbearable to look at. Tsk tsk… That’s why these nobles, touching women who aren’t their wives, have no sense of responsibility.”

As the words of the villagers passed through René’s mind, he couldn’t deny that Aria was indeed fundamentally different from the locals who grew up as commoners.

From her smooth, uncalloused white hands to her neatly spread blonde hair and the occasionally condescending gaze, she was different.

Even her daughter had an unusual hair color rarely seen. Aria’s father was undoubtedly a true central aristocrat, according to the gossip among the villagers.

“Pink hair…”

Now that he thought about it, this man not only had pink hair but also had exactly the same deep pink iris and rounded, kind features as Bonita.

If Aria, who looked nothing like Bonita, and this man stood side by side with Bonita, people passing by would undoubtedly point out that he was Bonita’s biological father. René was taken aback.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Oh, no. It’s just that…”

René’s eyes rolled wildly.
Now that I think about it, after suddenly purchasing Bonita’s clothes, Aria left somewhere and did not return. I tried going to her house, but I only saw traces taken over by street vendors and returned.

“Is she here to find the child now? At this time?”

In her mind, unfounded delusions had taken root.

“Did she come to save the daughter she had to sell because the family was in trouble, or is she trying to make the daughter the successor after the reader died, or maybe she is thinking of killing her due to the shame of the family…”

In fact, it wasn’t entirely a delusion; such cases were countless.

Although having a mistress was implicitly allowed in the kingdom, the existence of a bastard child was unpleasant to anyone. It was natural for dirty rumors to circulate, and they often received treatment worse than a servant, separated from the legitimate children.

“Did Aria suddenly leave to run away from this man?!”

Come to think of it, these nobles who smiled openly and begged in public were much worse than nobles who openly sought help. René’s body tensed.

If that’s the case, he must never open his mouth. Although Aria was not a particularly good mother to Bonita, she was at least kind enough not to let Bonita starve.

Meanwhile, unaware that he was under suspicion, René, noticing René’s guardedness, intentionally began to smile more broadly.

“Lady, if you happen to remember anything about that child, could you please tell me? Ah, she was a girl, right? The girl who is raising a pretty one with blonde hair…”

And upon hearing those words, René…

“Of course, it’s her father!”

Confirmed his recent delusions.

It was understandable. She had only mentioned the ‘pink-haired child’ once, but he found out everything, even that the child was a girl and the woman raising her was a blonde beauty.

Although there might be a few people in the world who resembled him, as far as René knew, Aria and Bonita were the only ones in this Champs-Élysées street alley with such unique backgrounds.

She took a step back.

René, who had adopted a defensive posture, asked with a stiff demeanor.