Ding-a-ling.

As Aria entered the store with Bonita in her arms, the woman reading a newspaper inside was startled.

“Welcome… Aria? What brings you here at this hour with Bonita?”

“…Haha. Would you give me some clothes for Bonita to wear?”

“You’re buying clothes for Bonita?!”

Aria’s face froze in a smile at the astonished reaction. Bonita raised her hand and tightly grasped the front of her mother’s shirt.

At that small gesture, Aria’s expression softened. Renée, an apprentice at the high-end clothing store and Aria’s drinking buddy, looked bewildered at the scene.

“Um… The owner isn’t here right now. You’re going to look at the cheapest ones anyway, right?”

“No!”

Aria quickly exclaimed.

“Not the price, but something that would suit our Bonita best… No, anyway, please find a pretty outfit at a reasonable price.”

“I’ve really seen it all in my life.”

Usually, Aria paid no attention to her daughter at all. She was feeding her, but how should I put it, she treated her more like a pet dog than a child.

Casually doting on her, grumbling about how annoying she was. Sometimes lashing out at her, then hugging her daughter like a madwoman and muttering someone’s name.

To Renée, Aria was a very strange mother. Certainly not in a good way.

But today, she actually came to the store to buy Bonita outerwear. And at this place where the main clientele was wealthy commoners.

Renée muttered that it was the strangest thing she’d ever seen, then slipped into the back where the inventory was kept.

“Here! I’ve prepared about twenty outfits for now. Let me know if you need more.”

“Thank you.”

Aria smiled as she saw the adorable children’s clothes hanging on the tray.

“Come on, Bonita! Let’s try them all on.”

“A-All of them?”

Bonita cried out in surprise.

Twenty outfits?

Bonita thought that was more than the types of outerwear she had worn in her entire life.

‘I might never finish changing clothes!’

Of course, that wasn’t the case.

After about three hours of being Aria’s doll, Bonita reached out to the mirror in a daze.

Tap.

A tiny handprint appeared on the mirror. Bonita’s pink eyelashes fluttered.

‘Unbelievable!’

The light blue dress made of silk even had real lace sewn on it, stitch by stitch.

Bonita kept fiddling with the white lace and ribbon on the front, feeling amazed.

Though it was far from the level of clothes worn by nobles, for Bonita who had always worn old clothes, such soft fabric was a whole new world.

Aria inwardly felt regretful as she watched Bonita with her mouth agape.

‘I wish I could have dressed her in even prettier clothes.’

One year old, two years old, three years old…

Even now at seven years old, she was so lovely and cute that Aria wanted to bite her, so imagining what she was like before made her heart ache with regret.

Aria gave a bitter smile as she stroked Bonita’s hair.

“Shall we go with that one?”

“Yes! But…”

It would surely be expensive.

As Bonita’s expression darkened, Aria gently pinched the child’s cheek.

“Don’t worry. From today on, you’ll be the richest person in this country.”

“What?”

At the words ‘richest person in the country,’ Bonita floated 3cm off the ground again.

Bonita squeezed her eyes shut, prepared to be hit, and shouted:

“Mother, g-gambling is not allowed! It’s really not allowed!”

“…You even gambled? Are you really out of your mind?”

“…Huh?”

“Oops. What am I saying in front of a child!”

Bang bang!

Aria hit her head against the wall twice, then immediately smiled brightly.

“It’s nothing, dear. Come on, let’s go outside.”

Bonita’s pink eyes shook violently as she witnessed her mother’s eccentric behavior.

‘Is she really not right in the head…?’

She had heard before. When people drink too much alcohol, they lose their senses.

In fact, there were many people on the streets rotting away, pickled in alcohol and drugs. For men, it was just getting beaten up and robbed of everything they had, but when women ended up like that, they suffered even more miserable fates.

Moreover, wasn’t Aria a stunningly beautiful blonde?

Her imagination ran wild in a bad direction.

Bonita grabbed Aria’s skirt with a pale face.

“Mother…!”

“Want me to hold you?”

Dangle dangle.

In an instant, Bonita found herself dangling in Aria’s arms. There wasn’t even time to get angry.

‘W-What should I do.’

Could it be that Mother had really gone mad?

Her little head was filled with confusion. While Bonita was inwardly groaning, Aria hailed another carriage.

“To the Lisianthus Ducal House!”

“As you wish, ma’am!”

The coachman responded energetically and gripped the reins with a “Giddyup!”

After closing the small window connected to the coachman, Aria finally set Bonita down on the seat beside her. The small and skinny child looked pitiful next to the slender Aria.

“Mother, why are we going to the ducal house…?”

“Bonita. Listen carefully to what Mommy has to say now.”

Gulp.

Bonita clenched her fists and swallowed hard in the serious atmosphere. But still, no good thoughts came to mind.

‘Could Mother be trying to sell me off?’

There were surprisingly many noble houses that wanted young girls, especially cute ones like Bonita.

Bonita remembered what a certain man who had seen her before had said while looking at her: “Pink hair, that’s rare. You could fetch a good price if sold to a noble house.”

After that, when Aria came, she got extremely angry, saying “Sell her to a noble house? How dare you say such a thing!” But still…

She recalled the money lost to gambling last month. And now Aria was spending so much money on her when every penny counted.

‘So that must be it!’

She might really be planning to hand her over to a noble house after feeding her well, washing her clean, and dressing her in nice clothes.

Bonita panicked. She had always expected that such a day might come someday in her life, but when it actually became reality, she was scared. Bonita didn’t want to be separated from Aria.

“Bonita, the truth is, you’re the Duke’s only daughter.”

“N-No! I want to live with you, Mother!”

Their words overlapped.

Belatedly hearing what each other had said, Aria and Bonita blinked.

“You want to live with me…?”

“Y-You weren’t trying to sell me to the ducal house… were you?”

“What?”

Aria’s mouth fell open at Bonita’s unbelievable imagination. At the same time, anger bubbled up at the ‘Aria’ who had raised the child to think such things.

Blue eyes flashed with sparks.

“Mother…?”

Right. The child is watching.

Calm down, calm down.

Suppressing her temper, Aria poked Bonita’s nose bridge with a very stern face.

“How could Mommy ever sell you? You must never imagine such things.”

“Yes…”

“And you really are the daughter of Duke Lisianthus.”

“What?!”

Seeing the child’s startled face, Aria smiled mischievously.

“Luke will recognize you as his daughter as soon as he sees you. He can’t not know. The Lisianthus family can always recognize their own blood, he said.”

“What…”

Bonita wanted to strongly object to Aria’s words, but she couldn’t because her mother looked so excited.

‘I’ve never seen Mother’s eyes sparkle like that before.’

Aria was a beauty with a uniquely captivating aura that was hard to find in their small countryside. Even when she was drunk and making a scene, men would knock on her door, drawn by her decadent atmosphere.

But Aria’s eyes were always empty. They lacked light, as if she wasn’t really alive.

She often stared off into the distance as if searching for something she had lost, and whenever that happened, Bonita trembled in fear that her mother might disappear just like that. It was also scary when her mother hugged her and muttered someone’s name.

It was much better to be hit a few times or pinched, even if it hurt. At least when Aria was angry, she didn’t look like a dead person.

But now, Aria was like the bright afternoon sunlight.

Silence fell inside the carriage. Bonita quietly shifted her bottom to move closer to her mother.

Bump.

As Bonita’s hand touched Aria’s, Aria’s eyes curved gently. An affectionate gaze was directed at Bonita.

“Do you want to hold hands?”

Before Bonita could even answer yes, Aria firmly grasped the child’s hand.

Bonita wiggled the fingers of her other hand at the warmth transmitted from the held hand.

* * *

It was nearly nighttime when the two arrived at the Lisianthus ducal house. Bonita felt relieved when she saw the clock approaching midnight, thinking they would at least stay nearby for tonight.

Her mother now seemed like someone under a fairy’s spell.

But as fairy magic tends to break in an instant, her mother might come to her senses after a night’s sleep and try to return to their original life.

No, she had to.

However, Aria’s actions always exceeded Bonita’s expectations. In a bad way.

“Let me see the Duke!”

“…Aria?”

Dalton, the gatekeeper who recognized her, widened his eyes in surprise.

Aria had been a maid who worked at the Lisianthus ducal house for a long time.

The former Duchess had cherished her greatly and treated her almost like a close friend, so anyone who had worked at the ducal house for a long time couldn’t help but know her face.

Moreover, Aria was a beauty that was hard to forget once seen.

“You’re alive? After the Madam passed away, you suddenly disappeared, so everyone was whispering that you had died.”

“Why are you saying such unpleasant things? Anyway, I have business with the Duke, so hurry up and guide me in. He’s surely still working at this hour.”

Was Aria always like this?

Dalton blinked at her bold attitude that showed no signs of backing down.