It is impolite to touch someone else’s child carelessly. Even if it’s the daughter of a dear friend you truly cared for.

She quickly erased the regretful expression and withdrew her hand. Only Aria noticed her momentary hesitation.

At that moment, the sound of thundering footsteps was heard.

Small shoes mercilessly trampled the fresh spring grass.

“Hey!”

“…Allen?”

Hazel’s eyes narrowed as she spotted her son.

She had just thrown him into the playroom, yet here he was popping out again?

Her gaze turned fierce. If he threw another tantrum about hating social gatherings in front of the ladies, she planned to make him sit motionless on the ‘thinking chair’ he hated most for at least two hours.

However, Allen didn’t sprawl on the floor and scream as usual.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

Instead, the boy went straight to Bonita and asked. He was clutching a cute red bow tie in his hand.

‘What’s with this child?’

Bonita blinked.

Though his actions were unclear, judging by his clothes and the fact that he had left holding the Marchioness’s hand, the boy before her was undoubtedly the young master of this house.

A rich young master.

Bonita didn’t know how to handle such children. At most, she had only seen merchant’s children strutting around the market district.

Wouldn’t real nobles be different somehow? How should she answer?

Should she curtsy and greet him like her mother would?

“Hey!”

As Bonita kept racking her brains, Allen, growing impatient, called out again.

“I asked what your name is!”

“It’s, it’s Bonita…”

“Is that so?”

Hazel was about to caution Allen at this point.

“Hmm…”

However, instead of saying something mean to Bonita, Allen merely observed her with narrow eyes.

“What’s your name, young master?”

“Young master? What are you on about, you’re not even our maid.”

Allen snorted and turned away.

“My name is Allen Hyacinth.”

His words were quite polite, all things considered.

“Follow me! I’ll take you to the playroom instead of your mother!”

At the word ‘mother’, the ladies’ expressions briefly hardened.

But no adult was going to make an issue of thoughtless words from a boy of barely eight years old.

Bonita’s head turned towards Aria.

“You can go. It might be good to make a friend while you’re at it.”

“Aria will still be here, right?”

“Of course, naturally.”

Having received Aria’s assurance, Bonita soon scurried after Allen, who was already some distance away.

The ladies watching the two children leave burst into exclamations of “Oh my!”

“How cute.”

“They’re adorable.”

“Miss Hilton, how old did you say Bonita was again?”

Suddenly becoming the subject of the question, Aria quickly answered.

“She’s seven years old.”

“Seven years old…”

Seven years ago coincides with the time of the former Duchess’s childbirth.

‘So she really is seven.’

‘Well, of course she would be, looking so similar.’

In that brief moment, the ladies exchanged glances, having a silent conversation among themselves.

Their gazes soon converged on Aria once more.

The first to speak was the Countess of Rubiniere.

“By the way, Miss Hilton.”

“Yes?”

“How did Bonita end up growing up outside the Duke’s household? Actually, before you and Miss Bonita arrived, we were all curious about that.”

The other ladies nodded. Hazel’s index finger twitched.

It was such blatant curiosity that it almost made her frown. However, Hazel knew that such frankness was far better.

There are two reasons people express their honest feelings in high society.

First, to disrespect and insult someone to their face.

Second, to show goodwill.

This time, what the Countess of Rubiniere and the other ladies showed was clearly the latter. They must have changed their minds after seeing Bonita’s appearance.

In any case, it was quite common for a maid to raise or educate her former mistress’s daughter. At least it was far more sensible than the issue of becoming her master’s concubine by displacing the mistress.

Moreover, not far from here was a tea table with a children’s playroom nearby.

As such, children’s social gatherings, unlike adult social parties filled with complex schemes, were at the level of building friendly relationships in a wholesome manner. The recent question could also be seen as an extension of that.

‘…Or is that just an excuse?’

Hazel inwardly gave a bitter smile.

Yes. In fact, setting aside all those reasons, she too was dying of curiosity.

‘Wasn’t Elodie’s daughter stillborn…?’

Unlike the other ladies present, she had even gone to meet Elodie in person.

Elodie had said the child was definitely dead. That’s why the Duke hadn’t even attempted to search for her all this time.

But the child was very much alive.

A child who was unmistakably Elodie’s daughter to anyone who looked.

Being human, it was impossible not to be curious about how this had come about.

Noticing such gazes, Aria gave an awkward smile.

“About that…”

“Yes?”

“His Grace asked to keep it confidential for now. I’m afraid I can’t answer that.”

At the mention of the Duke, they let out sighs of disappointment. No matter how noble their families, even the ladies of the house were… a little afraid of Duke Lisianthus, the ruler of the South.

Moreover, once refused, pressing further would be an inexcusable rudeness and lack of manners. They cleared their throats and changed the subject.

Thump thump thump thump.

Bonita diligently followed the boy walking like a tin can in front of her.

‘Tin can… I feel like there was a better word than that…’

What was it again? Ro- something?

While Bonita was pondering the ‘metaphorical word’ to give Allen, Allen suddenly whirled around.

The boy turned his head this way and that. He seemed to be checking if anyone was watching them.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“What do you think?”

Allen replied grumpily.

“I made the excuse of taking you along to escape. I can’t go back to that playroom full of smelly babies.”

“What?”

“We’re going to sneak out through the dog hole now.”

“…What?”

Allen frowned at Bonita’s dumbfounded face.

“Why do you keep going ‘wh-what’ like an idiot… no, like a baby since earlier?”

“B-but.”

Faced with an escape proposal from a boy she just met, Bonita blushed, not knowing what to do.

Although she had become quite confident living in the Duke’s household compared to before, Bonita had never done anything bad in her life.

“Aria said to go to the playroom. The Marchioness probably-”

“It’s fine, I tell you!”

Allen pounded his chest with his fist.

“This is how all boys play. We trick our moms and sneak out of rooms. How perfectly you can infiltrate is proof of strength.”

“…But I’m a girl?”

“Huh? Oh, right?”

Allen blinked, stumped by the logical rebuttal.

The boy stood still for a moment as if his brain had stopped, then soon said,

“Girls probably do the same!”

“I don’t think so…”

“No, I’m telling you this is right!”

Of course, Allen had no other girls around him, but he decided to insist for now.

“Come on. There’s a wooden plank over there that I pried loose with my brother. If we go through there, we’ll be outside the Marquis’s estate.”

“Ugh…”

Bonita rolled her eyes with an uneasy expression. However, there were no adults around to ask for help.

‘Is it really okay to leave like this?’

…No matter how she thought about it, it didn’t seem right.

As Bonita kept hesitating, Allen, who was gently moving the wooden plank, sighed.

“What? You’re not coming?”

“Umm…”

“Fine then, forget it. And here I was trying to show you something fun.”

“Wait…!”

Bonita grabbed Allen’s leg as he was sticking his head into the dog hole. Allen, suddenly fixed in place with his head stuck, yelled.

“Hey! Hey! What are you doing! If you do this, my clothes will get scratched and Mom will find out!”

“But…!”

“Let go already! We need to get out before we’re caught!”

What saved the flustered Bonita was an unexpected figure.

“What are you trying not to get caught doing?”

“Eek!”

Allen flinched at the sudden voice. Though all Bonita could see was his chubby bottom and flailing legs.

“Brother. What are you doing right now?”

“Cassis…!”

“Didn’t you say you were going to bring the young lady?”

Cassis clicked his tongue like an old man looking at Allen’s lower half.

“Where did you leave the young lady, doing something stupid here…”

Cassis, who was nagging his brother Allen, suddenly made eye contact with Bonita. The boy’s lips closed.

“Hmm…”

Cassis tilted his head with an expressionless face.

“Who are you?”

“I-I’m Bonita.”

“Is that so? It’s a face I haven’t seen before.”

Cassis said this while looking Bonita up and down.

Pink hair that looked like it would taste sweet. Red eyes like a rabbit’s. With gentle and round eyes, she was quite a cute ‘baby’.

‘She must be about three years younger than me.’

Cassis, who had made his judgment in an instant at seven years old, patted Bonita’s head and asked.

“Three years old? Or four?”

“…Huh?”

Bonita was dumbfounded.

Although she was small and thin for her age, she was certainly not so much as to be asked if she was three years old.

‘Is he making fun of me now?’

To bully me?

…Thinking that way, it made a bit more sense.

The mischievous boys on the streets would look down on those who seemed weaker than them and call them babies.

But she couldn’t just give in to such bullying here.

Bonita, who had gained confidence from her experiences at the Duke’s household, clenched her fists and shouted.

“I-I’m seven years old!”