Mom's Possessed - Chapter 28

At first, Luke was planning to follow along unconditionally, but he was caught by Catherine.

“There’s no need to make the children cry! No! If I don’t go, you can’t go either! Stay home!”

“…You’re too much, Mother.”

In the end, the two reached a dramatic compromise. They decided to go pick up Bonita together when the social gathering was about to end.

For this reason, only Aria and Bonita ended up riding in the carriage of the Lisianthus ducal family.

Bonita had an expression like her soul had left her body as she rode in a luxury carriage for the first time in her life. Her small mouth gaped open.

‘It’s so soft and fluffy!’

Bonita pressed down on the carriage seat she was sitting on several times with a look of disbelief.

It wasn’t as soft as the bed in the ducal residence, but it was softer than the bed in the house she used to live in.

There was even a small rabbit doll that Luke had bought in advance for Bonita inside the carriage.

Bonita hugged the pink rabbit tightly and stamped her feet. Aria watched Bonita with a bitter smile.

‘She shouldn’t find things like this amazing. Bonita.’

It was cute, but when she thought about why Bonita was reacting like this, it was incredibly upsetting.

‘No, that’s not it.’

Feeling sorry for every little thing like this was completely useless. It’s a past that can’t be changed anyway, isn’t it?

Instead, she focused on making the adorable child in front of her even happier.

“Daughter, do you want to see something amazing?”

“Something amazing?”

Bonita tilted her head to one side quizzically. The corners of Aria’s mouth twitched.

“Ta-da!”

When she pressed a button attached under the seat, suddenly the carriage floor opened.

Drrrr.

A table popped up from the opened floor. On the table were sweet fruits and cookies that a young child would like.

“Is, is it magic?”

Bonita exclaimed in surprise. Her already large eyes were round as a rabbit’s.

Aria let out a short laugh.

“Of course not!”

“Then, how does it come up?”

“…Hmm?”

Aria broke out in a cold sweat as she saw Bonita touching the table curiously, more seriously than she had expected.

“Could it be gears? Or pulleys? Maybe they attached something like springs to the button to connect it.”

“Uh…”

Aria stammered, having never thought about how it worked despite pressing such buttons her whole life.

It was very pleasing that the child was interested in studying, but the sudden question was quite perplexing.

Bonita was now crouched down, examining around the table.

After checking the connection where the table popped out, Bonita pressed the button again.

Drrrr.

Drrrr.

Drrrr.

Click, click, click.

Bonita, who had pressed and closed the button repeatedly, tilted her head and muttered.

“I wish I could figure out how it’s made…”

“It, it might be a magical tool?”

“Do you think so?”

Bonita’s innocent gaze, devoid of malice, seemed to pierce through Aria.

Aria gulped.

“Ah! That’s right. There should be carriage blueprints in the ducal residence. Then we can check how this works.”

“What’s a blue-print?”

“When they make mechanical devices like this, they leave behind drawings and writing showing how to make it. The paper with that written on it is called a blueprint.”

“Why do they write it down?”

“Well, because if you write it down, other people can make the same device too. It’s convenient that way.”

“Why do other people need to make the same device?”

“So it’s easier to make mass-produced products.”

“What are mass-produced products? Why do they need to be made?”

“Well, that’s…”

Aria’s head spun at Bonita’s endless ‘why’ questions.

Noticing her troubled expression, Bonita covered her mouth with both hands, making a ‘heup’ sound.

Then she started watching Aria’s reactions carefully.

“…I’m sorry. Did I bother you too much, Mother?”

“No!”

Aria cried out hurriedly.

“It’s not like that.”

When she first woke up in Aria’s body, how much did Bonita watch her every move.

Compared to then, now was much better. She couldn’t let Bonita go back to how she was before, just when she had started to become a little more comfortable with her.

“Don’t you have anything else you’re curious about?”

“…I’m hungry now.”

But Bonita had already become timid again.

Bonita picking up cookies with her small hands and eating them was cute, but there was no helping the bitter taste in her mouth.

‘What should I say here?’

She had vowed to do anything for her lovely daughter. If she couldn’t be a real mother, she at least wanted to be a good caregiver for Bonita.

But it was truly difficult to figure out what to do for a child when it came down to it.

She tried to recall how her father and elder brothers had treated her when she was young.

“Our Elodie is the cutest in the world.”

“Someone made my daughter cry? Execute that scoundrel at once.”

“Our little sister. I bought an island as a birthday present. Is it not enough? Then let’s buy an airship too.”

…It wasn’t very helpful.

Come to think of it, she had never been mindful of others’ feelings in her life.

Even when she accidentally broke an expensive vase, accidentally scribbled on a painting worth thousands of gold coins, or accidentally glued a national treasure-grade jewel to the wall, the people of the Rothwell family just said, “Our young lady must be planning to become an artist when she grows up!” and let it slide. It was a miracle that Elodie hadn’t grown up to be a complete scoundrel.

Aria pondered again.

Soon, she realized that even this time spent pondering was making Bonita anxious.

She calmed her mind.

Unlike before, Aria called Bonita in a low, gentle voice.

“Bonita.”

“…”

“Daughter.”

At the second call, Bonita finally raised her head.

“Mother never finds you bothersome.”

“…”

“You can ask anything if there’s something you don’t know. Of course, I may not be able to answer everything…”

Aria smiled awkwardly, recalling the barrage of questions from earlier.

“But if it’s something I know, I’ll tell you anything.”

“But…”

“It makes Mother so happy when Bonita is curious about something and asks questions.”

“…Why?”

“Because Mother loves you.”

Bonita stared blankly at the brightly smiling Aria. Then she felt an unbearably ticklish feeling.

Unconsciously grabbing the hem of her dress, Bonita noticed that her hands were covered in cookie crumbs.

“It’s okay.”

Aria took Bonita’s hand as she was about to make a sad face again, and wiped it with a handkerchief placed nearby.

Then she carefully brushed off the remaining crumbs from the dress. Fortunately, no chocolate fudge had gotten on it, so there were no stains left on the skirt.

Bonita watched the entire process.

The words she had just heard were still spinning vaguely in her head.

“Daughter.”

“Mother never finds you bothersome.”

“If it’s something I know, I’ll tell you anything.”

“It makes Mother so happy when Bonita is curious about something and asks questions.”

“Because Mother loves you.”

Bonita had never thought she would hear such words from Aria. Even after she had changed.

Yes, even after she had changed…

Bonita paused at the sudden thought. It was an absurd idea.

But the words had already left her mouth.

“Mother.”

“Yes, daughter.”

“Mom.”

“Yes… Huh?”

At the word ‘Mom’, Aria’s golden eyelashes fluttered. The small tremor, like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, soon became a huge wave that engulfed her.

How could one describe that expression, that emotion?

Bonita had never received a proper education.

Most of the words she had heard in her life were the rough curses or vulgar expressions used by the thugs in the back alleys.

Although Aria did use sophisticated vocabulary, she hardly ever spoke to Bonita when they were at home.

Of course, she couldn’t read. The only books she knew were the children’s fairy tales that Aria occasionally read to her.

Therefore, Bonita couldn’t find a single appropriate word to describe Aria’s expression right now.

It contained too complex and varied a tremor to simply be named ‘joy’.

Bonita reached out one hand and touched Aria’s cheek. Aria’s hand completely covered Bonita’s hand.

It was a hand with calluses from sewing. It was her mother’s hand, rough but beautiful.

“Mom. Your face is like ripples.”

“…Ripples?”

“Yes. When you throw a stone into a puddle after it rains, it becomes like your face right now. The sky and world inside mix together and become beautiful.”

Aria’s expression became even stranger after hearing Bonita’s words. Bonita thought it looked like a puddle that had many stones thrown into it.

A puddle where many, many stones had been thrown, water droplets splashed, colors mixed here and there, shaking, blurring, and finally returning to its original state.

Plop.

A warm teardrop fell onto Bonita’s hand on Aria’s cheek.

Aria’s blue eyes welled up with tears. Bonita’s face was reflected in those eyes.

Bonita asked with a surprised expression.

“Mom, why are you crying?”

“Huh? That’s…”

Aria blinked in surprise. Then the tears that had been pooling fell in drops.

She wanted to wipe her eyes, but she didn’t want to forcibly remove Bonita’s hand touching her face.

“Oh my, why are the tears coming…”

Pleased yet embarrassed by Bonita staring intently at her, Aria smiled with reddened cheeks.

Sniff, a sniffling sound was heard as she breathed in.

Aria carefully glanced at Bonita.

“Um, daughter?”

“…”

“I won’t cry anymore now, so you don’t have to hold on.”

Despite the coaxing words, Bonita didn’t answer for a long time.

With a serious expression, as if deeply pondering something with her small head, she stared straight into Aria’s eyes.

Then, Bonita opened her mouth.

“Mom.”

“Yes.”

“You’re not Mother, are you?”