To Bonita’s question, her mother showed a noticeably flustered expression. Her mother’s complexion had turned so pale that anyone would be worried.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

At her mother’s, no, Aria’s reaction, Bonita asked again.

“You’re not Aria, are you? My mother wouldn’t say such things.”

Aria was so surprised that she gasped. Her voice trembled.

“H-how……”

Because of Renan’s incident, she thought someone might discover the existence of ‘Elodie’, not Aria.

It’s not that she hadn’t imagined who that person might be.

Luke, Dylan, Catherine, perhaps her father. Or it might be the Duchess of Hyacinth who was her close friend.

But Bonita was not in any of those scenarios.

Of course.

Bonita had never met Elodie, had she?

However, what she overlooked was the fact that Bonita had been watching the real Aria longer than anyone else.

To Bonita, Aria was practically everything in this world.

That’s why she was the first to notice Aria’s changes. She could distinguish between the ‘previous Aria’ and the ‘current Aria’.

She just lacked the courage and certainty to ask her mother directly.

“I see.”

Seeing Aria’s face, Bonita was sure her thoughts were correct.

Still with her hand on Aria’s cheek, Bonita murmured.

“So that’s how it was.”

At those words, Aria’s eyelashes trembled. This time, it was a different kind of emotion from before.

It was fear.

She was afraid.

Afraid that Bonita, now knowing that she wasn’t the ‘real’ Aria, would come to dislike her.

If that happened, she would no longer be able to stay by Bonita’s side.

She might never see her again.

No. Luke would definitely make sure of that. He was a man who was thoroughly protective of his precious people.

Before, she had been Luke’s precious person. But now……

“Bo-Bonita. Wait, I didn’t mean to deceive you. I-”

“It’s okay.”

Bonita whispered in a low and calm tone.

“Because I love you, mother.”

It was the same thing Aria had said to Bonita earlier.

Aria’s words of explanation stopped.

Though Bonita’s face was still youthful as ever, Aria somehow felt as if their positions had been reversed.

Bonita’s deep pink eyes were filled with overwhelming affection and love.

It was then that Aria suddenly realized.

“I love you, mom.”

It’s often said that to parents, a child is a treasure more precious than anything in the world.

Parents shower their children with unconditional love.

No matter how much the child misbehaves or causes trouble, they love them.

Because they are their precious child.

Then what about for the child?

To a child, parents are the world.

No matter what the parents do, the child loves them unconditionally.

With pure and innocent eyes, they look at their parents and give them enough love and trust to be submerged in.

Even if that emotion is returned as cold violence, the child cannot give up.

Because they are their world.

Because one can’t give up on the world just because they don’t like it.

Until parents are no longer their world, and they become independent and step into the cold reality, they crave affection and attention no matter what they endure.

Aria bit the inside of her mouth so hard it bled. She was trembling with anger at her own foolishness.

Why…… didn’t she know?

Something so simple.

This time, she couldn’t even try to stop her tears. The sound of droplets hitting the carriage seat was heard.

‘I shouldn’t… cry.’

It’s the day to attend a social gathering.

If she cries like this, her carefully applied makeup will be ruined, and her dress will get wrinkled.

So she should stop crying, tell Bonita she loves her too, and then cheerfully eat snacks while smiling again.

That’s what she should do.

That’s what she ought to do……

“Bonita.”

Aria hugged Bonita’s back tightly. The child’s characteristically high body temperature felt startlingly clear.

‘How could I have thought of giving you up?’

If she couldn’t be a mother, she was willing to settle for the position of a governess.

Since Luke wouldn’t marry anyone other than Elodie anyway, she was trying to compromise with reality.

She just wanted to raise Bonita well until she became an adult, and hoped that after that, Bonita would occasionally look back on her with childhood affection.

Aria let out a hollow laugh.

‘That’s impossible.’

It was because she realized that she could never give up Bonita in such a way.

The grown-up Bonita might no longer need her.

But she would need Bonita. Desperately.

As she blinked, the remaining tears fell. Now, tears no longer welled up continuously.

Aria sniffled.

‘They say the love for raising a child is greater than the love for giving birth.’

It seems that’s not always the case.

“Mom.”

“…Yes, daughter.”

“I can’t breathe……”

“Oh!”

Hearing the nasal voice, Aria startled and removed her hands that were hugging Bonita. She flustered and examined Bonita.

“Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine.”

Exhaling with a ‘phew’, Bonita nodded her small head.

Seeing Aria’s messy face, Bonita said.

“But Mom doesn’t seem okay.”

“That’s… oh.”

Only then did Aria close her mouth after looking in the mirror. She truly looked like a mess.

Fortunately, thanks to arriving in the capital with time to spare before the social gathering, Aria was able to change clothes at a boutique near the capital.

The madam of the boutique was also skilled in makeup, and she neatly fixed Aria’s ruined makeup.

“It’s a blessing the carriage arrived early……”

She was already exhausted before the gathering even started. Aria, slumped on the boutique’s sofa, rubbed her nape with a tired face.

Her gaze turned to the invitation in her hand.

The letter, clearly made of high-quality paper, was even adorned with luxurious gold leaf. At a glance, it seemed quite elaborate for a children’s social gathering.

Hazel Lily Hyacinth

Aria traced with her finger the name written in elegant cursive at the end of the invitation text, which was filled with greetings and superficial pleasantries.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen her.’

When she was Elodie, Hazel was her closest friend. Of course, Elodie was on good terms with most of the young ladies, but……

Her connection with Hazel was particularly special among them.

“Oh my. Did someone just speak?”

“No, I didn’t hear anything. There’s no one over there.”

Before marrying the Marquis of Hyacinth, she was the youngest lady of the humble rural barony, the Ruan family.

Because of that, when she came up to the capital, she was bullied.

They would invite her to tea parties only to blatantly treat her like she was invisible, or deliberately serve her cold tea.

Most of the noble ladies participated in this ostracism. After all, it was bullying led by a influential count’s daughter in the capital’s social circles at the time.

“Lady Ruan, your eye color is so pretty! It’s like the night sky!”

Of course, this was of no concern to Elodie.

The social atmosphere?

Who would dare touch the queen’s niece and the precious daughter of the kingdom’s wealthiest count family?

Thanks to that, Elodie was able to befriend Hazel without any interference.

The fact that the humble baroness Ruan was actually a great ambitious person was revealed later. It turned out she was even the valedictorian of the Imperial Academy’s Political Science Department.

It was instantaneous for the young master of the venerable Hyacinth family to show interest in the wise and brilliant Hazel. Her sparkling wit captivated the arrogant marquis’s son.

After she became the mistress of the marquis’s household, it became an open secret that the king’s trust in the marquis’s family deepened.

And the hidden protagonist behind this was none other than Hazel, the once plain and unsophisticated baroness.

When things turned out that way, those who had looked down on her were still treading carefully around the marquis’s family. Aria smiled softly as she recalled those times.

It’s a nostalgic memory.

Suddenly, such a thought occurred to her.

‘I wonder if Hazel cried when she heard the news of my death?’

Although she had been friends with her for a long time, Hazel was always a girl who never showed any emotional fluctuations. She became even more so after becoming the marquis’s wife.

It was hard to imagine her crying. Aria thought it was better that way.

She didn’t want the people she loved to suffer from losing her.

Besides, she was alive and well like this, wasn’t she? There could be no greater loss than crying over someone who was mistaken for dead while they were actually alive.

A gentle smile had spread across Aria’s face as she recalled her friend whose inner thoughts were difficult to guess.

The memories with Hazel still remain as warm as a hazy spring day. Unlike the real Aria.

“I really hate you, Elodie.”

She remembers that back as it spoke those words. To think that her last memory before dying was just that.

Elodie Lisianthus lived a happier life than anyone else, but her end was cruel. As if paying the price for all the happiness she had enjoyed.

Perhaps the law of equivalent exchange used in black magic really does exist.

“…Ah! …is really… …!”

Aria, who had been lost in thought behind the curtain, raised her upper body at the commotion heard from outside. The madam of the boutique seemed to be making a big fuss.

‘Has Bonita finished changing clothes?’

While she was taking a short rest, Bonita had gone with other staff to change out of her crumb-stained dress.

Aria poked her head out from behind the curtain, expecting to see Bonita’s cute appearance.

Then the faint commotion flowed vividly into her ears.

“No! No no no no no! I won’t wear this! I want to go hoooooome!”

…What is this?

Aria blinked her eyes as she saw a boy lying on the floor.