“……What?”

Aria was so surprised by what she heard that she didn’t even notice she had responded informally.

Renan’s intelligent gaze thoroughly scanned Aria. His eyes were full of conviction.

“I’ve been thinking about Bonita for a while.”

He continued speaking, regardless of Aria’s speechlessness.

“No matter how I look at it, it’s strange. Everyone believed Bonita was stillborn without a doubt. Even Elodie herself, the mother. Yet Bonita is alive.”

Tap. Tap.

Tapping his index finger, he deduced.

“Then there’s only one assumption we can make… Someone switched the real Bonita with another dead baby.”

“W-Wait a moment.”

“Then the question is ‘who’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ did they do it?”

His coral-colored eyes shone.

“Here, ‘who’ is difficult to infer. But if we consider ‘why’ first, two main possibilities come to mind.”

He made a V-sign with his fingers and wiggled them.

“First, someone with a personal grudge against Elodie did it. Second, they had business with the Lisianthus Marquis.”

“But Elodie isn’t someone who would make enemies. This is obvious even if I think objectively, not just as her elder brother.”

He spoke with a confident voice.

“Even if they were after Rothwell’s fortune, with elder brother and me around, the culprit would gain nothing by getting rid of Elodie.”

“So in the end, only one motive remains. They switched the baby targeting Bonita’s daughter, who would become the Lisianthus Marquis. Probably with someone’s dead baby.”

Aria was now staring blankly at Renan with her mouth open.

She knew her second elder brother was smart, but she never thought he could deduce this much in such a short time without any clues.

Seeing Aria’s expression, Renan seemed to gain even more confidence.

“Then who would benefit most if the Lisianthus Marquis disappeared?”

“…Huh?”

“Of course there are many, but if we had to pick just one, it would be the Lisianthus Duke’s younger brother, Viscount Delphinium.”

“Wait, wait a minute.”

Aria stopped Renan.

“Viscount Delphinium was in the Empire at that time. That’s impossible.”

“The actual perpetrator was probably someone else.”

Renan smirked, lifting just one corner of his mouth.

“The most suitable person to carry it out would be a woman Elodie trusted enough to have by her side during childbirth. Probably Aria Hilton. Well, it might not be her.”

He pondered, rubbing his chin.

“Moreover, didn’t Miss Hilton take maternity leave two months ago? I don’t know what happened to that baby, but, well, was it stillborn?”

“Then Viscount Delphinium going to the Empire was… to hire an ice attribute magician skilled enough to preserve a dead baby?”

Aria, who had been listening to Renan’s deductions, instinctively leaned forward.

Her delicate hands gripping the bench tightened.

“If Miss Hilton used some little-known magical tool to switch the babies, it would explain why she quit her job after Elodie gave birth. She probably received a hefty sum from Viscount Delphinium and left.”

“That’s nonsen-”

“So, well.”

Whisk.

Renan’s head turned.

Aria and Renan ended up face to face, just inches apart.

“So, why did you sneak into the Duke’s mansion with the switched Bonita? Did you run out of money? Or…”

Aria gulped.

This is dangerous.

If Renan goes to Luke with these deductions, she would be kicked out without a doubt.

It would be fortunate if she were just kicked out.

She didn’t know if Viscount Delphinium was really the culprit, but since Aria was the actual perpetrator, clues would surely surface if they dug deeper.

No matter how much Bonita wanted it, would Luke really leave Aria unharmed?

…There was no way.

She quickly racked her brain.

She had to get out of this awkward situation somehow.

But originally, she was far from being smart. Even in school, her grades were barely average.

Renan’s eyes observed such an Aria. After hesitating, he blurted out.

“Is it Elodie?”

“I’m not- Huh?”

Aria paused for much longer than when she first heard the words “Are you the culprit?” Her brain did the same.

It felt like her mind, which had been spinning for excuses, suddenly went blank. It probably wasn’t much different in reality.

It was such an unexpected statement. However, Aria quickly lowered her expectations.

‘No, no. Luke and Mother said similar things, but they were joking. Elder brother must surely…’

“By the way, this isn’t a joke or anything like that.”

Renan didn’t give Aria time to continue her thoughts.

He tilted his head slightly to the side with his arms crossed. His long pink hair, almost short enough to be a bob, swayed and shifted downwards.

His intelligent eyes, hidden within the sweet colors, stared at her.

“Something feels off. No matter how I think about it, Aria Hilton is not the type of person who would bring Bonita here. And if she switched Bonita under the Viscount’s orders, well. Anyway…”

Renan, who was about to recite his deductions, trailed off.

No matter how clever he was, this part was difficult to explain logically.

After all, isn’t that so?

Elodie died 6 years ago.

How could someone who died 6 years ago suddenly appear as Aria Hilton?

Even a passing dog would laugh at such a notion.

If Renan hadn’t seen Aria himself, he would never have believed or guessed it.

But something kept nagging at him.

He called this ‘sensation that can’t be explained logically but somehow feels right’ his intuition. And that intuition had never been wrong.

That was why he threw such an absurd question at Aria.

Aria tightly gripped the hem of the dress she was wearing. Her heart was beating fiercely.

“I, I-”

Someone recognizing her. It was the situation she had longed for so desperately.

Her red lips quivered. She unconsciously brushed her face.

What expression was she making now?

Joy? Elation? Fear? Or… a face full of hope?

The two faced off like that. The night breeze carrying spring air blew.

Renan’s fine hair swayed. Aria couldn’t properly read his expression.

He murmured.

“I see.”

It was a word uttered like a sigh.

“You’re not Miss Hilton. Right?”

Unlike just moments ago when he was purely rational, his tone was somewhat agitated. His jaw trembled slightly. His eyes twisted.

Aria had spent over twenty years with Renan, but this was the first time she learned he could make such an expression.

At that moment, Aria’s body shook. It wasn’t of her own will.

“Quickly, tell me it’s true. Okay?”

Renan’s hands grasped near her shoulders.

He didn’t grip tightly.

Rather, it was a careful attitude as if handling a fragile glass bottle.

“Please…”

He gazed at her with desperate eyes.

The desperate face of her little brother, who had always been rational in any situation, easily stirred the emotions deep in her heart. As if someone was tightly gripping her heart.

“I, I-”

So she was about to utter those words with overwhelming emotions-

-Until.

“Mmph…!”

Until something stopped her voice.

Aria’s mouth opened and closed. However, the words she intended did not come out.

Renan also noticed her oddity. His eyes sharpened.

“Magic? Or is it a curse?”

“I, I don’t know.”

Once the topic moved away from her identity, her voice came out again.

Reading the confusion in Aria’s eyes, his expression became serious.

“I see. Things wouldn’t be resolved so easily. Haa, there are no outstanding magicians in the kingdom…”

Whisk.

He who had been looking elsewhere, turned back to Aria.

“But that just now confirmed it for me.”

“…What do you mean?”

“You are Elodie. You really are Elodie.”

After exclaiming that, he suddenly stretched out his arms and embraced Aria.

With her petite frame, Aria was instantly enveloped in Renan’s arms.

Thanks to that, her view was blocked, and all she could see was his white cravat.

However, sometimes there are emotions that can be felt without seeing.

Renan’s body trembled slightly. Aria heard him sobbing quietly in her ear.

Renan didn’t say anything, but he was conveying his feelings with his whole body. Aria instinctively hugged his arms back. The trembling intensified.

Silence fell between the two.

But it wasn’t really ‘silence’.

The sound of leaves rustling in the wind. The sound of tightly gripped clothes crinkling.

Amidst that, a sigh filled with many emotions slipped in. After staying still for a while, Renan sniffled.

Aria realized that Renan’s cravat had become damp.

She hadn’t cried since becoming this body.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t sad.

She just didn’t want to show such a face in front of Bonita.

And… not to Luke who couldn’t recognize her.

By the time Aria was almost clawing at Renan’s shirt, he who had only been making occasional swallowing sounds, started speaking intermittently.

“You don’t… know… how much I… missed you. I…”

He couldn’t complete his sentence and struggled to find words for a long time.

He didn’t know how to express the emotions he was feeling right now. He had truly believed she was dead.

Once he was certain, the longing that washed over him was like a tidal wave. It felt as if his very existence might disappear.

“Elodie, I, I…”

He kept mumbling foolishly “I…” over and over, before finally managing to utter one sentence.

“…I missed you. Elodie.”