“Yes, you’re seven years old. ……Wait, what?”

Cassis, who had been intending to fondly look after a baby younger than himself, wore a dumbfounded expression at Bonita’s exclamation.

He muttered again.

“Seven years old? Not four?”

At that moment, Alan, who was still stuck with his upper body, shouted.

“Cassis, you idiot! How does she look four years old? She looks at least six!”

“No, but she’s so tiny?”

Cassis looked at Bonita with an expression of incomprehension.

But no matter how he looked at her, he found it difficult to accept Bonita’s age. It didn’t help that the three boys from the viscount’s family were considerably larger than their peers.

However, Cassis’s anguish didn’t last long. It was due to Alan’s scream.

“Hey! Don’t just stand there, help me get out! I can’t get out!”

“Ah, really.”

Cassis grumbled.

“Elder brother, can’t you just stay still for once? Why did you crawl into such a place?”

“Hmph. You must be the weak one.”

“The weak one is the elder brother who’s embarrassingly stuck in a hole.”

“Ugh……”

Alan, who was truly stuck in the hole, was at a loss for words and closed his mouth.

Bonita’s eyes rolled around.

Cassis fidgeted with the wooden planks around Alan, then turned his head to look at Bonita.

“Hey.”

“Uh, yes?”

“Could you hold this idiot’s legs for me? He keeps moving and it’s inconvenient.”

“Cassis, how dare you call your elder brother an idiot!”

“I call you an idiot because you are one.”

Cassis, who had coldly snapped at Alan, was about to hand over Alan’s two legs to Bonita− when he stopped.

“Wait.”

“……Huh? Why?”

“On second thought, I think I can do it alone.”

‘Such a tiny child holding elder brother Alan’s legs would be too heavy.’

Alan was also well-developed for his age, looking a year or two older than he actually was. Thanks to his sword training from an early age, he had quite a bit of muscle for a child.

Cassis eventually grabbed both of Alan’s legs tightly.

He clenched his arms with strength.

“Ow! Ah! Ah! Ah! It hurts! It hurts! Cassis!”

“Just. Be. Quiet.”

Cassis said, gritting his teeth and enunciating each word. His face had turned bright red from exertion.

“Ah! Hey, seriously, stop…!”

Pop!

Just as Alan was about to scream again, with a cheerful sound, his body came free.

“Ow ow ow……”

Alan groaned, rubbing his side.

“Ouch, really! Couldn’t you have pulled more gently!”

“Hmph.”

Cassis, whose face had been red from exhaustion, returned to his cold expression as if nothing had happened and snorted.

Lightly ignoring his elder brother, he turned his head towards Bonita.

“Oh right, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Cassis of the Hyacinth Viscount family, and this is…… I don’t think you need to know.”

“Hey!”

Alan, who was blatantly ignored, shouted again. Cassis grumbled, covering both his ears.

“Elder brother, can’t you speak without shouting? Why are you like this?”

“Because you’re making me angry!”

“That’s what I want to say!”

Crackle.

Sparks flew between the two boys.

The first to break away from the battle of nerves was Cassis. He spoke in a slightly lower voice than before.

“Ahem. I showed an unseemly sight in front of a baby…… no, a young lady.”

“Ugh. So cringeworthy. Do you think you’re seventeen or something?”

“Shut up.”

Feeling a bit embarrassed by his own words, Cassis blushed.

He looked at Bonita again.

“You said Bonita, right? I didn’t hear your proper introduction. Which family are you from?”

“Family? ……Ah!”

Bonita realized Cassis’s intention half a beat late. She spoke in a slightly brighter tone than before.

“I’m Bonita Lisianthus!”

“What?”

“What?”

The two boys who had been fighting to the death now had the same reaction in unison.

Alan and Cassis, who had been staring at each other for a moment, soon rushed over to Bonita.

“No way! So you were that young lady? I’m jealous!”

“You, you, were the Lisianthus young lady? No, but you don’t look anything like the Duke. Is this genetically possible, no, of course I’m the same but……”

“Hey, hey, listen. What’s the Duke like at home? My dad is very strict outside, but at home−”

Bonita’s head started spinning at the relentless attack from the two boys. Even Cassis, who had seemed calm, appeared quite excited, causing Bonita to unconsciously step back.

And then.

“Ah!”

Thud.

Unfortunately, her heel caught on a stone, and she fell backwards with a thump.

The two boys’ expressions darkened.

“Are you okay?!”

Alan approached, making a fuss.

“Uwah, falling on your bottom really hurts. What are we going to do? We need to call a doctor right away!”

“Huh? No, I’m fine.”

“Fine, you say? That’s impossible!”

“That’s right.”

Cassis agreed with Alan’s opinion.

“A tiny child like you could get a fracture from even a small fall. So we need to inform your parents as quickly as possible.”

Alan, who had been nodding continuously, suddenly tilted his head.

“By the way, Cassis, what’s a fracture?”

“It’s when a bone breaks, idiot.”

“I told you not to call me an idiot!”

“Is this the time to fight?!”

“Ah.”

When Cassis raised his voice, which was rare, Alan made an expression as if he had just realized something.

He crouched down in front of Bonita with an apologetic face.

“What should we do? Should I carry you on my back for now?”

“Hey!”

At that moment, Bonita, who had been quietly listening to the two boys’ fuss, shouted.

“I’m not hurt at all.”

“Huh? That can’t be.”

“It’s true. Look!”

Bonita stood up and stomped her feet as if to prove it.

Her bottom that had hit the ground ached a little. But if she showed it now, she would be caught by those troublemaking boys and carried away, so Bonita decided to endure it.

It wasn’t a difficult act for her, unlike other seven-year-olds.

She was used to enduring.

Be it emotions or pain.

“Hmm, it seems the bone isn’t broken.”

“Eck. Is that so?”

Alan, still not reassured, said that and circled around Bonita.

Watching the boy, Bonita was reminded of Coco, the large chocolate-colored dog that used to live near her house.

‘He looks like Coco……’

The milk chocolate-like hair color and eyes, and the gentle eye shape made him look even more so.

“Eek!”

“Stay still. We need to make sure there are no scratches!”

Thanks to that, Bonita let out a small scream when she saw Alan trying to examine her injuries closely. For a moment, she mistakenly thought he was going to sniff her.

A few minutes later.

“Yes, she’s fine! Thank goodness!”

Alan, who had thoroughly examined Bonita, exclaimed with a satisfied face.

Cassis grumbled.

“Elder brother, you just circled around her. Don’t act proud when you didn’t do anything.”

“What…!”

Looking at Cassis, Bonita was reminded of something else.

‘A cat?’

Unlike Coco who would always greet her, the white cat Sasha who would always meow from a distance whenever they met.

Looking closely, his clean silver hair and blue eyes resembled Sasha exactly.

Of course, it would be very rude to say a person resembles an animal, but…

‘They really do look alike!’

What could she do when they were really identical?

Besides, imagination wasn’t a crime.

Bonita burst into laughter as she imagined Alan with dog ears and Cassis swishing a cat tail.

The two boys stared at Bonita with blank faces.

Alan asked, blushing.

“Wh-what? Why are you suddenly laughing?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry……”

“But when you laugh, you look a bit−”

“Elder brother, don’t tease our younger sister.”

Cassis cut off Alan’s words.

He gestured to Bonita with his returned expressionless face.

“Ignore that foolish elder brother, let’s go to the playroom. Children need to be there during the social gathering.”

“Okay.”

Bonita nodded.

Aria had told her to go to the ‘playroom’ in the first place, hadn’t she?

As Bonita started following Cassis, Alan, who had been left behind blankly, shouted loudly.

“Hey! We should go together!”

Bonita stared at the boy walking steadily in front of her.

Eight years old? Or maybe nine?

Although she thought he was a bit cute because he was like a cat, Cassis definitely looked a couple of years older than Bonita.

Bonita’s hand twitched as she watched the silver hair fluttering in front of her eyes. She had never seen hair that looked so soft.

‘It’s pretty.’

It would probably be even prettier if he grew it long.

It was while Bonita was thinking this.

Cassis, feeling her gaze, turned around.

“What? Do you have something to say?”

Bonita hesitated a little.

Even when he was arguing with Alan earlier, this boy Cassis seemed quite prickly.

Moreover, boys around this age usually get angry when told they’re pretty, don’t they?

So Bonita thought about it and just shook her head. Cassis’s blue eyes turned towards Bonita.

“……Well, if you don’t have anything to say, then don’t.”

He turned his head away with a slightly grumpy tone.

Alan, who was next to her, patted Bonita’s shoulder.

“Young lady, just bear with it. He’s originally a bit unpleasant.”

“Un-unpleasant?”

“Yes. He acts like he’s the smartest person in the world.”

Cassis’s ears in front of them twitched.

“I can hear everything, you know?”

“I said it so you could hear, so what!”

Bleh. Alan stuck out his red tongue at Cassis. It was when Cassis was about to turn around with a slightly annoyed face.

“Oh!”

Something caught Bonita’s eye.

“It’s a house.”

Bonita murmured.

True to her words, after passing through the small forest of trees grown in the viscount’s estate, there was a wide stretch of lawn beyond it.

And right in the middle of it stood a small, colorful house.

At that moment, the wind blew from the direction of the house towards where the three children were.

There’s a sweet smell.

Bonita, who was sniffing, opened her eyes wide.

Watching Bonita like this, Alan’s mouth corners twitched as if he wanted to smile.

“Hey, do you know what that is?”

“What is it?”

To Bonita’s question, he shrugged his shoulders with a smug expression.

“A candy house!”