“That’s……”

Elodie took a moment to catch her breath.

She had no choice but to lie. Or carefully edit the truth.

It was obvious that even if she told the truth, they wouldn’t believe her.

“I raised Bonita.”

“What?”

Catherine raised an eyebrow.

It was a signal to continue speaking.

“I can’t explain how it happened. ……I recently lost my memories.”

“What nonsense is that? You expect me to believe that?”

Catherine scoffed.

“If you’re going to lie, at least put some effort into it. It would have been more amusing if you said you were the ghost of the dead Elodie.”

“Pardon?”

Aria’s heart sank, wondering if she had really figured something out. At the same time, a useless hope welled up.

It must be a joke, a coincidence. Aria silently repeated this to herself as she steadied her breathing.

“What?”

“Ah, nothing.”

And as expected.

Catherine’s expression was too calm for it to have been a test. It seemed her previous words were truly just a joke.

Aria tried not to show her disappointment. She added with a calm expression.

“It’s true. I can’t explain in detail, but Bonita is certainly the daughter of the Duke…… It’s also true that I raised Bonita, and that Bonita thinks of me as her mother.”

“No, if you’re going to omit that detailed explanation, then what exactly−”

As Catherine was about to retort coldly, Bonita, who had been sleeping soundly, stirred at the raised voice.

“Mmm.”

Catherine closed her mouth at the sleepy protest. She was still glaring at Aria, though.

“Hmph, I’ll interrogate you properly later. It’s not that I’m particularly worried about waking the child, I’m just a bit tired right now. Understood?”

“……Yes, madam.”

Really…… You haven’t changed at all.

Aria replied with a subtle tone.

The carriage entered the Duke’s residence smoothly, as if gliding. Bonita was still asleep.

Aria carefully cradled Bonita as she walked.

Perhaps tired from the long outing, Bonita didn’t wake up despite the considerable jostling when Aria got out of the carriage, only stirring a few times.

As soon as Aria took the child into the room, Catherine immediately broke the silence.

“So, what’s all this about? You must have heard the situation, right?”

“Hmm.”

Luke let out a sigh.

Certainly, he had met Aria four days earlier than Catherine, but he hadn’t seen her face often.

Aria Hilton was a mystery to him as well.

A troublesome, bothersome woman at that.

If it weren’t for Bonita, he would have driven her out immediately…..

“I don’t know much either.”

“What? How can you attach a woman you don’t know well to my daugh-, anyway, to the child?!”

“But you saw it too, mother.”

Luke calmly argued.

“How attached Bonita is to Aria Hilton, I mean. Separating them carelessly could be emotionally damaging.”

Catherine let out a groan at his words.

Why wouldn’t she understand? Even with just a glance, it was easy to see how much Bonita liked that woman. Moreover, the woman seemed to cherish the child as if she were her own daughter.

“Was Hilton that kind of person?”

“How would I know? It’s not like I had many chances to meet her.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

Catherine easily accepted this.

Luke, who had been as hard as stone, melted into a softer version of himself at eighteen when he fell in love at first sight with a rabbit-like baroness’s daughter.

Only in front of that baroness, though.

Living with a filter that only saw Elodie, how could he properly remember the maid who had been by her side?

The problem is that Catherine wasn’t much different.

‘She didn’t seem to be the type to cause trouble, at least.’

If she had been, Catherine herself would have remembered, even if Luke didn’t. She irritably tapped her cane.

“You useless boy!”

“Why are you hitting me again?”

“Never mind that, just call the priest! We should have confirmed this on the first day, why drag it out for four days?”

Luke muttered while rubbing his head.

A paternity test, huh.

“If we did that right away……”

“If we did?”

“I thought it might hurt the child.”

It was an unexpected response.

Catherine turned her head sharply to look at her son.

Luke was slowly rubbing his face with one hand.

“It might look like we don’t trust her.”

“What nonsense is that?”

Catherine snapped back.

“Wouldn’t it be more reassuring for the child to do it directly? Or does she, what, know everything through some Lisianthus bloodline power or something?”

“She probably doesn’t know much. She hasn’t been taught.”

“Then the conclusion is clear!”

Thwack.

She raised her cane to point at Luke and declared proudly.

“Contact the temple right now!”

Bonita opened her eyes the next morning. The child wriggled like a caterpillar, burrowing into the warmth beside her.

“Mother……”

Now that she felt at ease, she whined naturally.

It was a spoiled act that the ‘previous Aria’ wouldn’t have even dreamed of allowing.

But now mother doesn’t get angry at all when I do this.

Bonita thought as she tugged on the blanket.

“Daughter, are you awake? You can sleep a little more.”

Then a gentle woman’s voice was heard.

Bonita exhaled.

Her foggy mind, still half-asleep, gradually cleared. Now she could properly recognize her surroundings.

The sound of the fireplace crackling could be heard. On top of it, water was boiling in a brass kettle.

The feather duvet made of satin covering her body was warm, and beside the large, beautiful bed hung a cord that could be pulled to call a maid at any time.

Bonita gently opened one eye.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

There was Aria.

Aria, who had changed into nightclothes and was lying next to Bonita, was looking at her with eyes full of affection.

Bonita placed her hand on top of Aria’s, which was gently patting her belly. Aria burst into laughter as if it tickled.

Bonita wished she could cut out this moment and keep it in an album if possible.

If she could do that, she thought she might be able to recall this moment and be happy even if the current mother disappeared.

“Do you want to get up? You can sleep more if you want.”

“No, it’s okay.”

But she couldn’t do that.

Bonita stirred and sat up. Aria, who had been awake for a while, helped Bonita get down from the high bed.

Growl.

A sound came from her slim belly. Bonita’s face turned red. Seeing the child like this, Aria chuckled softly.

“Well, you didn’t eat anything after lunch yesterday.”

The same was true for Aria. She had come to put Bonita to bed and intended to just close her eyes for a moment, but ended up sleeping until morning.

Moreover, Bonita sleeping soundly with her arm as a pillow was so cute that she couldn’t bear to leave the room.

Aria stroked Bonita’s soft cheek once, then put on soft, furry slippers. Since she had fallen asleep in the clothes she wore yesterday, there was no need to change.

“It’s seven o’clock, so the Duke will be coming down soon too. Shall we go to the dining room?”

“The dining room?”

Bonita’s eyes widened.

During the four days−now five days since morning had come−since arriving at the Duke’s residence, Bonita had spent all her time in her own room, except for the tea party with the Duke. As a result, Bonita hadn’t properly realized how big the Duke’s residence was.

“Is there a dining room in the house?”

“Noble houses usually have separate dining rooms.”

Bonita was shocked anew. She had already marveled at the enormous kitchen, but still, to think there was a dining room in the house.

Bonita took Aria’s hand with a dazed expression. Aria walked through a long corridor and down two whole flights of stairs. Only then could the dining room be seen in the distance.

“Young lady!”

The kitchen maids who spotted Bonita exclaimed in surprise. Their eyes turned to Aria, who was holding Bonita’s hand tightly.

“Did the young lady say she wanted to come down?”

“No, I just thought it might not be bad for her to start having meals with the Duke.”

Aria spoke down to them naturally.

In fact, that was correct.

Although Aria Hilton was a former maid of the previous Duchess, she was still the daughter of a baron’s family, unlike the commoner maids and servants. Even if it was now a ruined family, she was still of noble birth.

‘Ah, come to think of it.’

The Hilton barony had no branch family.

Also, given that Bonita knew nothing about it, it seemed that Aria had never visited the baron’s residence after her death, meaning the Hilton baron’s residence had been abandoned for six years.

Of course, there was a possibility that she had visited without Bonita’s knowledge.

‘I’ll have to check on that.’

The death of all the Hilton baron’s family members except Aria occurred 7 years ago.

At that time, Aria was separated from Elodie for half a year to hold funerals and manage the family affairs. And around the time she returned…..

Elodie gave birth to a dead daughter.

No, that’s what she thought.

Aria tried to shake off the memories of that time. Anyway, what’s important now is that her daughter is by her side.

Then what she needed to do was clear.

‘Having a noble title and not having one must be completely different.’

Bonita is the only daughter of one of only two ducal families in the kingdom. As she grows up, the need for a nanny will decrease, so before that happens, Aria needs to create a reason to stay by Bonita’s side.

For example, as a teacher.

To do that, it would be advantageous to officially inherit the Hilton baronage.

When she was Elodie, she might have been immature, but she wasn’t stupid. She calculated that she could serve well as a teacher for subjects like etiquette or arithmetic, which she could teach with her eyes closed.

Although it pained her that she could never be officially recognized as a parent, Aria decided to compromise with reality.

“What’s this? Why are you holding hands so affectionately with my daugh-, I mean, with the child who might be my granddaughter?”

Just then, a grumpy voice was heard.

Looking up, she saw Catherine with a disgruntled expression.

“Lady Lisianthus?”