Could he recognize the truth? A glimmer of hope arose in Aria, though not seriously considered.

Considering black magic had vanished long ago, with the last of it being used for controlling people or creating portals for monsters, the idea of transferring a dead person’s soul into another’s body was unthinkable.

Typically, one would dismiss such a possibility.

The peculiar standoff continued as they reached the dining room. A silent servant bowed and opened the door. Dylan’s eyes sharpened.

‘Duchess Lisianskus?’

The first person he saw was an elderly woman in a classic dress, looking at them like bothersome insects.

“What is this sudden visit about?”

She wasn’t addressing the brothers but her son, the Duke.

“He came early in the morning. We couldn’t just send them away without offering breakfast.”

“Early in the morning? These young people nowadays don’t even know how to visit properly.”

Catherine clicked her tongue. The Lisianskus family’s habit of enjoying early mornings was unusual, as most nobles woke up around 11 am.

To them, 8 am was indeed very early.

The Rothweil brothers could only offer awkward coughs in response.

Then, a small figure burst out from behind the Duchess.

“Ah—Aria!”

Noticing a stranger’s presence, Bonita quickly changed her call for her mother to Aria’s name, remembering the advice given the day before.

“Bonita. If there are other people around, call me by my name, alright? Say ‘Aria’.”

“By your name?”

“Yes.”
Bonita was very dissatisfied with not being able to call Aria ‘mother.’ Moreover, calling her mother by her name seemed like something only an impolite child would do. But seeing Aria’s sad eyes when she made this request, Bonita found herself unable to object.

“Instead, when it’s just the two of us, you can call me that way. Understand, my daughter?”

“……Okay.”

Aria’s request turned out to be incredibly timely. Thanks to it, the Rothweil brothers could only see Bonita innocently running towards Aria without any other suspicion.

“Bonita.”

“I was waiting for you. Uh, I mean, Aria.”

Bonita, holding onto Aria’s skirt, beamed a smile. Her angelic appearance brought a happy grin to Aria’s face.

“Were you very hungry?”

“Not too much!”

Bonita’s head turned as she robustly responded. When she saw the two men who bore an uncanny resemblance to herself, her eyes wavered.

‘Who are they?’

Bonita had never seen other nobles visit the mansion before. The only exceptions were Catherine crashing a lakeside picnic and the two clerics who came for the paternity test.

Since Catherine was originally a member of the Lisianskus family, she didn’t really count as ‘other’ nobility. So, for Bonita, this was essentially her first encounter with non-related nobility (though technically, they were related).

Meanwhile, the shock for the two men was incomparable to what Bonita felt.

They stood frozen as if nailed to the spot, feeling as if they had been hit on the back of the head with a hammer.

Even the hot-tempered Dylan was speechless, gaping in disbelief. It was as if he had seen something unbelievable, and soon his legs gave way, and he slumped down right in front of Bonita, their eye levels matching.

Their eyes, so strikingly alike, met. Dylan mumbled in a daze.

“An illegitimate child? Doesn’t seem like it.”

“……What nonsense is this all of a sudden?”

Luke questioned incredulously, witnessing the scene.