Both men resembled Bonita a lot, especially Dylan.
However, to Bonita, this fact didn’t feel particularly special. There was no reason to dislike them, but that was it.
The most important person to Bonita was Aria, followed by, well, probably Luke and Catherine.
Of course, she liked Aria much more.
“I understand.”
“How did you know?”
Dylan’s pressing question made Bonita feel slightly uncomfortable.
“Aria told me.”
“She told you that you’re not her biological daughter?”
“Yes.”
Seeing Dylan’s expression improve, Bonita realized why he had been uncomfortable. She hurriedly added,
“But I still think of Aria as my mother. She loves me very much.”
Dylan’s lips tightened.
A good child shouldn’t make adults uncomfortable. However, Bonita felt a strange satisfaction seeing his expression.
“You think of her as your mother? But—”
“That’s possible.”
Observing the tense atmosphere, Lennon quickly intervened.
“We have no intention of denying your opinion. Anyway, it’s possible to have two mothers, right?”
“Tha—t’s right.”
Bonita was about to say it wasn’t possible, but then she thought Lennon’s words didn’t seem entirely wrong.
It was true Aria was not her biological mother, yet Bonita thought of her as a mother.
Relieved to see Bonita’s mood improving, Lennon silently sighed. If he had let Dylan and Bonita continue their conversation, it surely would have gone wrong.
“Are you two going to stay here?”
“No, we can’t do that.”
Lennon responded, relieved by the lighter mood.
“Unlike the duchess or the duke, we belong to the Rotweil earldom. But we’d like to invite you to our estate this weekend. What do you think?”
“I’ll think about it.”
Noticing Bonita’s conscious glance at Dylan, Lennon smiled wryly. Dylan wasn’t malicious, but…
“Please consider it positively.”
“Positively consider?”
Bonita tilted her head, puzzled, and Lennon explained,
“That means I hope you’ll come visit us at our uncle’s house.”
As Bonita was about to nod, the door opened. It was Luke, who had been standing outside the door the whole time.
“Ten minutes are up.”
“Ten minutes?”
There was no mention of such a time limit before entering the room.
Lennon soon understood.
Luke often acted without explanation, and this was no exception.
Yet it felt too short.
“Your eviction notice is quite prompt.”
“Eviction notice?”
Luke looked puzzled.
“I didn’t tell you to leave.”
“Really?”
“Just saying I’ll be here too.”
Staring blankly at the tall man, Lennon let out a laugh.
‘Indeed, he’s more innocent than he looks.’
Despite his appearance, he was quite different.
Had Luke been just a bit more ordinary-looking, he surely wouldn’t have earned the nickname ‘Monster of the South.’
And then……
Lennon’s gaze turned towards Bonita, who was walking towards the Duke, or more precisely, towards Aria Hilton standing behind him.
Bonita clung to Aria like glue. The conversation they had shared earlier about considering Aria as her mother was clearly sincere.
‘It looks the same on that side too.’
Lennon trusted his instincts.
Aria Hilton seemed to genuinely love Bonita. The Aria Hilton of the Hilton Baronetcy he knew wasn’t like that.
Did she change after raising a child? But what was the reason she took on that responsibility in the first place?
And why did he feel strange every time he saw that woman?
Lennon watched Bonita chattering with Aria and their eyes met.
Aria smiled.
At that moment, Lennon’s index finger twitched slightly. He touched his lips with his right hand, pondering.
Bonita spent most of her time closely attached to Aria. Aria thought this was because Bonita hadn’t adapted to the unfamiliar environment of the Duke’s mansion.
The real reason was somewhat different, but it wasn’t entirely a wrong assumption.
Naturally, young children feel anxious when suddenly moved to a new place. The same goes for anyone, not just children.
Clinging to a familiar person in an unfamiliar environment is a natural response.
But there were times when the two were apart.
For example, when Bonita spent time with Luke.
It was Aria who suggested this.
“How about spending some time alone with the Duke? Maybe an hour a day?”
‘I’d like to stick with her forever if I could…’
But Aria knew it was impossible.
Bonita is the sole daughter of the Duke of Lysianthus, a precious figure destined to become the future Duchess.
And what about Aria Hilton?
She might inherit the title of Baroness Hilton, as the Hilton Baronetcy was practically extinct.
Aria was fairly familiar with etiquette and also held a degree from the Imperial Academy.
She could survive either by tutoring or managing the baronetcy’s estate. In other words, that was it.
She couldn’t become Elodie Lysianthus or Elodie Rotweil again. Reclaiming her original body, buried under the earth, was impossible.
Luke would treat her as a stranger for the rest of his life, and so would her two brothers and father.
Awareness gradually crept in.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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