“Cough, cough!”

Continual hacking coughs echoed.

Aria, leaning against the bed, weakly reached out. The hot water the maid brought earlier had now cooled down to lukewarm.

Her head was spinning.

“I haven’t been this sick in a long time.”

Since Aria’s body had been taken over, it was the first time.

“But still, it’s better than when it was Elodie.”

It was no exaggeration to say that even a slight exposure to the cold breeze would make her suffer from a fever for a week.

Elodie was undoubtedly happy, but in terms of health, she was never truly free. How envious she had been of robust uncles who were unlike her.

Having a healthy body, Aria had forgotten this sensation. She sniffled her dry nose.

Breathing was difficult.

“Sigh…”

The tremendous relief was that Bonita, resembling Elodie in appearance, was healthy. Her constitution seemed to resemble Luke.

Thinking of Bonita’s upbringing environment, Aria suddenly felt eerie.

Asthma is a difficult disease to manage.

Even a slight mistake could lead to a seizure and instantaneous death. Sensitive patients could have an attack just from being exposed to the scent of hay that someone nearby was smoking.

She recalled that house.

The creaky floor, dust flying every time it moved, and rain and wind pouring in directly – that house.

If Bonita had been born with congenital asthma like Elodie, overcoming the age of one would have been a challenge.

Aria’s complexion became even paler than before.

Then, a knock sounded.

“Come in…”

As the slumped Aria answered, the door opened quietly. Aria, who had been staring blankly at the door, widened her eyes.

“Bonita?”

She immediately tried to get up. However, her feverish body did not move as she wished.

Furthermore, she had a coughing fit. Aria quickly opened her mouth to send Bonita away.

“Bonita, if you stay here…”

“Here!”

“…What’s this?”

Aria blinked in surprise as she received the item Bonita had brought.

In the meantime, Bonita had already quickly rolled out of the bedroom, tapping her feet. Passing a string through the keyhole, Bonita, with an excited expression, spoke.

“Mom!”

That sound reached Aria’s ears.

Having played with a toy telephone in her childhood, Aria quickly caught on to what Bonita was trying to do.

“Yeah… Bonita.”

“This way, even if Mom is lying in bed, we can talk. Right?”

Aria bit her lip.

Her chest tingled.

Even the pain in her body felt strangely insignificant.

Beyond the paper cup, Bonita happily chattered away.

“When I said I wanted to talk to Mom, Mrs. Lysianthe told me about this!”

“Is that so?”

Wondering how Bonita came up with this, it turned out to be Catherine’s intervention.

“I thought it was a cup made of paper, but Mrs. said it’s a ‘phone.’ It’s so fascinating. I wonder who first made it?”
The item called a ‘telephone’ was a quite common toy among the noble children. It was an invention first created by the imperial Duke about 50 years ago.

An interesting fact is that the names of items like the ‘real telephone’ or ‘paper cup’ were very alien. Even though it’s called a paper cup, the moment you pour water, it quickly gets wet and torn, making it unsuitable for the actual purpose of a cup.

When people asked why such names were given, she left only a cryptic answer.

“That’s the original name.”

Aria briefly explained such stories. Then, Bonita showed interest in it again.

“You seem like a really amazing person!”

“Well, there are many mythical stories about real events passed down in oral tradition……”

“What’s that?”

Due to Bonita’s vigorous curiosity, Aria had to break into a sweat. The endless question marks of ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ and ‘So what?’ followed.

Even so, Aria’s face, while talking, revealed joy that couldn’t be compared to a moment ago.

“Hmm.”

While Aria was telling stories about oral traditions that had been passed down, a fake coughing sound was heard from behind Bonita.

It was Catherine and the maid Mary following her.

Catherine still said with a brusque expression.

“It seems very enjoyable to talk to Mr. Hilton.”

“Ma’am!”

“Still…”

Hearing the title ‘ma’am,’ Catherine looked disappointed.

However, it was embarrassing to directly ask to be called ‘Grandma.’

Listening to the paper cup, Bonita answered.

“Ma’am came! And Mary too.”

“Miss, I’ll go in for a moment. I need to bring medicine and meals to Mr. Hilton.”

At Mary’s request, Bonita stepped back quietly, like a good child.

As Mary entered Aria’s room, only Catherine and Bonita remained outside the door.

Silence returned.

Catherine clicked her tongue.

“Is it that fun? You rarely talked when you were with me.”

“Oh…!”

It was just a habitual complaint.

However, Bonita’s expression immediately turned sour.

“W-Well… If my being quiet bothered you, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to say to you, ma’am. I didn’t know what to talk to you about.”

Seeing Bonita’s frightened tone, Catherine realized.

“Darn. This is my problem.”

In all honesty, she also wanted to be affectionate with Bonita.