A white, plump hand stretched out toward Alan. The hand struck Alan’s nose hard.

“Ouch!”

“What’s that sound?”

“It’s Alan.”

“Serves him right, nyah.”

One of the boys pushed by Alan had extended his arm and hit his nose.

In a normal situation, he would have been furious and gone wild, but even with tears in his eyes, Alan couldn’t take his eyes off Bonita’s drawing.

Bonita handed the finished drawing to Maya.

“This is a gift for you.”

Maya received the gift with a very happy expression, as if she had already forgotten about the ruined drawing from earlier.

Maya and Alan’s eyes met.

Bonita looked at the two of them.

One had reddened eyes, the other a red nose. It was quite a comical sight, but the parties involved were serious.

Feeling the gaze of the two girls, the back of Alan’s neck turned red. He hesitated a bit, then soon mumbled softly.

“Um, well, ahem. Earlier, I yelled… Sor…, sor…”

“So?”

“Soso?”

“Alan’s face is red!”

“Argh! You guys!”

As the surrounding children began to tease by repeating the end of Alan’s words, Alan shouted again in frustration.

“Don’t do that.”

At that moment, Bonita spoke.

“You shouldn’t tease someone who’s trying to apologize.”

The children fell silent.

Bonita’s gaze turned to Alan. Alan flinched as he met her pink eyes.

“…”

“…”

The candy house was unbelievably quiet for a place with over twenty children.

It was Alan who broke the silence.

“…Sorry.”

Alan, speaking towards Maya, fidgeted with his fingers and added.

“I’m sorry for tearing your drawing, not apologizing properly, and for yelling.”

“Wow…”

Derek marveled at the sight of the stubborn Alan apologizing.

And Maya, who received the apology.

“It’s okay.”

“You forgive me?”

“Yes.”

Maya nodded.

She showed the drawing she received from Bonita.

“Because I got such a wonderful gift. I’m going to show this to my mom.”

Alan’s expression, which had been uncomfortable all along, softened.

Cassis, who had been watching from behind, let out a “huh” of admiration.

He muttered.

“That kid, she’s really amazing…”

“This goes like this. And then…”

After that, Bonita continued to draw. The children now gathered around her, watching Bonita or lying on their stomachs, drawing crooked lines with crayons.

‘It’s been a while.’

As she drew, Bonita felt a bit nostalgic. It felt like it had been a very long time since she had sat quietly like this, immersed in drawing.

Actually, she drew every day.

In the house without Aria, Bonita had nothing to do after finishing the housework.

Looking at the pictures in storybooks she couldn’t read was only interesting once or twice.

Naturally, she started copying them.

She hid the drawings she was embarrassed about under the floorboards and didn’t show them separately to Aria, but…

“Amazing!”

“Next time, draw a castle where a princess lives! And a prince on a white horse!”

“No, a cool knight would be better.”

“Wow.”

That’s why it was the first time she heard such direct and blatant praise.

Bonita’s cheeks turned red at the compliments she was hearing for what felt like the first time. She felt shy but extremely happy.

It was around the time Bonita had finished her fifth drawing when someone knocked on the door of the candy house.

“Young masters, young ladies. It’s time for you to return home now.”

The person who opened the door and entered was one of the marquis’s servants.

He had steeled himself to hear screams and shouts like little beasts, but he was surprised to see the children sitting in a circle.

‘What’s going on?’

By this time, surely two or three of them should have been fighting over something trivial and sulking. But today, no one was crying or shouting.

It wasn’t just that.

The servant tilted his head in confusion as he approached the center, where they were engrossed in something without even paying attention to him who had come to announce the end of the social gathering.

He could soon see what had captured the children’s attention. There was a pink-haired girl there.

‘The Lisianthus young lady?’

Perhaps the children found it fascinating that she was the only daughter of the duke’s family.

His gaze turned to the drawings that Bonita and the children were passing around.

‘Did Madam arrange for separate paintings?’

Well. It was common for nobles to hire skilled painters and hang their work on walls. Why not in a candy house?

Thinking this, he smiled and spoke to the children again.

“Young ladies, young masters! The ladies will be here soon. You need to be ready to go home in 10 minutes, so please prepare yourselves.”

The reason why the ladies didn’t come suddenly and a servant came in advance to announce the time was simple.

Not all children would obediently go home when told to.

It was common for them to whine about wanting to stay longer, to cling to pillars like cicadas saying they would live here, or to hide somewhere secretly.

But by giving them time and slowly warning them, such non-rebellious rebellion could be minimized.

Much better than telling them to stop in the middle of an ‘important game’.

“Ah, okay.”

“We have to go home already?”

“He said in 10 minutes.”

“Then let’s quickly finish this in 10 minutes! I’m almost done coloring.”

Like this.

Still, the children who were drawing started to move their hands more busily than before.

“This much is a masterpiece!”

“Masterpiece? What’s that?”

“Well… I’m not sure? My mom says this about well-drawn pictures…”

After about 5 minutes since the servant arrived, the voices of the ladies could be heard from outside.

“Ah…!”

Bonita, who had been looking at Maya’s drawing, suddenly raised her head.

“I need to go for a moment.”

“Bonita?”

Maya stood up with a puzzled expression. Meanwhile, Bonita was the first among the children to rush towards the entrance.

Bam.

The door of the candy house opened.

Bonita’s face brightened as she spotted Aria in the distance.

“Oh my, someone seems to be coming out first.”

Hazel turned her gaze towards the candy house door upon hearing the words of Viscountess Robinier.

Clunk.

The chocolate-made joints creaked as they opened, and she could immediately recognize who had opened the door. In fact, anyone could have.

After all, there was only one girl in the kingdom with such pink hair.

Hazel observed Bonita running towards Aria with slightly surprised eyes. Aria immediately extended her arms and hugged her tightly.

“Aria!”

“Yes, Bonita.”

Seeing the two embracing like that, the noble ladies felt a strange sensation.

Despite Aria and Bonita’s appearances being completely different, they thought they looked like an affectionate mother and daughter.

Hazel thought to herself as she put on her silk gloves.

‘I’m being unusually sensitive today.’

Although she didn’t know the exact circumstances, Aria must be the nanny of the Lisianthus young lady. It’s natural and normal for children of noble families to be attached to their nannies.

Especially if they don’t have a birth mother. So this shouldn’t be strange at all…

‘Is it because of Miss Hilton’s atmosphere?’

Hazel concluded that this sense of discomfort was due to the demeanor Aria Hilton had shown.

In fact, Aria Hilton was quite an peculiar woman.

“Raising a child is not an easy task.”

“Tell me about it. The servants are always at their wits’ end because the child is so disobedient.”

“It’s about time to bring in a tutor, but I’m worried about what to teach first.”

While the noble ladies with young children were sharing their child-rearing struggles, Aria Hilton just quietly sipped her tea and listened to the conversation.

She was so quiet that one lady, feeling awkward, directly addressed her.

“Miss Hilton. What do you think is the best way to handle it when a child keeps asking to buy things?”

At that time, they were discussing children throwing tantrums.

It was just a light topic.

Any parent of a typical seven-year-old, especially one who had been pampered by servants and maids all their life and grown up as a little tyrant of the house, would have their own opinions.

However, Aria answered like this:

“Well, that’s… I’m not sure. Bonita has never asked for anything first…”

“Oh my. Well, some children like Cassis are so mature they never throw tantrums.”

The lady who first spoke up smoothed over the situation, and the conversation flowed naturally afterward. Aria Hilton remained silent whenever the topic of children came up again.

Seeing this, Viscountess Robinier thought that she seemed more like someone who had just adopted a seven-year-old child rather than someone who had raised a child to seven years old.

Of course, it must be an absurd fantasy. But what could she do about feeling that way?

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

When the topic shifted away from children to fashionable clothes and accessories, Aria would often vividly recount stories from long ago as if she had experienced them recently.

Perhaps she had been living in some countryside, out of touch with current affairs?

It’s common for people distanced from the glamorous life of the capital to reminisce about past glories. However, Hazel was certain that Aria Hilton was not that type of person.

Rather – yes.

Like someone who had been in a long sleep.

So she knew nothing of recent events, but distant past events were as vivid as if they were recent.

“…”

Hazel’s brown eyes turned towards Aria and Bonita.

The daughter and maid of a dear friend she had loved.

What exactly was the relationship between those two?