To my beloved younger sister, Elodie

I knew as soon as I read the first sentence.

This was Renan’s handwriting.

Since there’s a limit to the size of paper a carrier pigeon can deliver, the writing was tiny, as if trying to fit in as much content as possible.

If Aria were just a bit older, it would be the level where you’d need to take out a magnifying glass, with a little exaggeration.

I don’t know if you’re doing well, Elodie.

I wanted to write you a letter, but I felt uneasy about delivering it through a servant.

Of course, I want to trust the servants working in our count’s mansion, but this isn’t an issue that can be resolved simply by trusting.

So I decided to use a slightly illegal method to obtain a carrier pigeon.

This one was distributed to the imperial army, but it seems they were going to return it because its personality was too willful.

Thanks to that, I was able to sneak it out with a bribe. How about that, isn’t your elder brother quite capable?

Aria burst into laughter after reading that far.

Reading a letter addressed to ‘Elodie’ really made her feel like she had gone back in time.

Although the situation then and now was as different as heaven and earth.

She continued reading the next page.

You’re probably trying hard to find a way to contact me by now too.

But you can’t write letters, can you?

This is just my guess, but I think your curse of ‘losing your voice if you reveal your identity’ might manifest in a similar way when you try to write.

‘How did you know?’

It was an eerily accurate guess.

The last time she tried to write a letter to Renan, her fingers indeed froze, unable to write any letters, just as he said.

Aria’s hand slowly caressed her own mouth.

‘As expected, Renan is reliable.’

He is certainly intelligent.

Beyond just intelligent, he far surpasses ordinary people in reasoning and insight.

Didn’t he see through Elodie’s identity at a glance with that intuition and insight when no one else had noticed?

‘And……’

Her eyes moved again.

I heard from a reliable source.

That the duke invited the Viscount Delphinium to the mansion this time?

The Viscount Delphinium probably quickly accepted that invitation.

He must be very surprised that Bonita, whom he might have thought he had gotten rid of… um… it’s not easy to find a good word for this.

Anyway, he must be very surprised that Bonita has reappeared. The Viscount Delphinium will try to figure out what Bonita looks like and what kind of relationship Luke has with his daughter as much as possible.

Of course, as soon as he sees Bonita, he’ll be shocked inside, but he’ll come to this conclusion.

The next sentence was written with such pressure that the ink was slightly smudged.

I must get rid of Bonita.

Aria’s hand tensed.

Actually, I don’t just suspect the Viscount Delphinium is the culprit, I’m almost certain.

I investigated separately and there are definitely some suspicious and dubious circumstances.

I can’t write everything in this letter right away, but I plan to keep investigating.

Anyway, after confirming Bonita, the Viscount Delphinium will try to contact you again.

He must be dying to know what on earth the perpetrator he instigated to switch the children is up to, returning to the duke’s mansion with the child after 7 years.

And reasoning logically, it’s clear that the Viscount Delphinium will try his best to sweet-talk you and make you his ally again.

It seemed that Renan and Aria’s thoughts aligned on this part.

Aria thought she had done well to wait in the room, and turned the letter over.

The remaining content continued there.

Since Bonita feels like you’re her real mother – which you are – the Viscount Delphinium will try to use you again to get rid of Bonita and pin the blame on you.

Even if you don’t cooperate, he’ll try to somehow shift the blame onto you.

From the Viscount Delphinium’s perspective, you’re the only person in this world who knows his wrongdoing and could open your mouth to tell the duke the secret at any time. How anxious must he be?

So if he can’t persuade you, he’ll try to kill you before Bonita.

Always use a silver spoon when eating something, and it might be good to keep a small animal in your room to test your food and water, just in case.

If he tries to poison you, he’s more likely to tamper with the food going into your room rather than in the dining room where everyone is watching.

And please be careful.

If I lose you again, I’ll really feel like I’ve fallen into hell.

From your little elder brother who loves you most in the world, Renan

Tears welled up in Aria’s eyes as she read the last line.

She rubbed her eyes and read the letter over and over again, then tore it into small pieces.

Whoosh.

As she threw the letter pieces into the fireplace, the small papers began to blaze up instantly.

Aria watched closely until the last piece of paper turned completely to ash, lest someone get hold of part of the letter.

Only then could she finally feel at ease.

“Wait a moment.”

She said to the carrier pigeon, which had already finished eating the bread.

Suddenly, she had a thought.

‘At least today’s bread was fine.’

It was quite a chilling imagination.

Assuming that something would be in every meal was an extremely tiring and mentally exhausting task.

However, it was necessary to heed Renan’s words. Seven years ago, something that they thought ‘no way’, no, something they couldn’t even imagine, had happened.

They had switched babies right in front of the wide-awake mother, so an attempt at poisoning was a much more common and easier thing to do.

Though it rarely actually leads to death. Still, eating poison isn’t a pleasant feeling, is it?

‘I need a pen and paper.’

Aria scanned the bookshelf in the room. There were drawing paper, pencils, and paints that Luke had newly brought in for Bonita.

She wet the corner of a large drawing paper with her saliva and tore it off.

Then she began to write her reply.

Dear el

But Aria got stuck right from the start.

She couldn’t write the word ‘elder brother’ no matter what.

In the end, Aria had to change the opening of the letter she had planned in advance.

Dear el Renan

I received your letter well.

I’ll make sure to keep in mind what you advised.

Or maybe you could (this is due to the curse, so please don’t take offense!) gift a small animal

Come to think of it, keeping an animal as a poison detector seems too much.

And if an animal I’ve grown attached to dies, it wouldn’t be good for Bonita’s education either.

Is it possible for you to get and send a magic tool that can detect poison?

It would be good if it could be disguised as something like a fountain pen.

Then I’ll wait for you to visit the duke’s mansion in the near future.

“……”

The pen tip hesitated and stopped.

Naturally, she couldn’t write the word ‘Elodie’ at all in the closing part of the letter either.

Aria eventually had to write like this:

Aria

It was a truly plain signature.

The reason for not writing her surname was not so much a sign of familiarity, but to be able to back out in case the letter was discovered, however unlikely.

Looking at the content of Renan’s letter, there didn’t seem to be much need to worry about leakage.

‘Renan isn’t the type to take risks.’

He must have written such sensitive contents thinking it would absolutely not be discovered.

And if Renan thought so, it probably wasn’t dangerous.

Historically, there have been very few cases of carrier pigeon contents being leaked.

“Coo.”

Elodie stroked the full neck of the carrier pigeon once, then quickly folded the letter and tied it to its leg.

But after tying it…

“… Is it too big?”

“Coo!”

The pigeon that had risen vigorously came back down to the ground.

It pointed to its leg twice with its wing.

“Coo!”

“… Sorry. I’ll write on a smaller paper.”

In the end, Aria copied the letter she had written earlier onto a smaller paper in smaller writing, then tore up the original again and put it in the fireplace to burn.

Sending one letter was quite difficult.

“Can I stay over tonight, elder brother?”

“Sure.”

As the meal ended, the sun had completely set. Luke looked out at the darkening outside and said calmly.

“I’ve already had the servants clean the room you used before anyway. Ah, are you going to share with Bentley? We could clean up another child’s room too.”

“Ah. Sharing is-”

“I prefer alone!”

Bentley, who was following the two adults, shouted urgently.

“I don’t sleep well when I’m with someone. I always sleep alone at home too.”

“Bentley, you’re quite mature.”

“Hehe, it’s nothing.”

Bentley, who was praised by Luke, glanced at Bonita and grinned.

“It’s natural to sleep alone when you’re ten years old.”

Bonita raised her eyebrows.

‘What are you trying to say?’

He was a strange kid anyway.

Luke, who didn’t notice the tension between the two children, called a maid.

“Prepare a room for this child to use. There’s not much time left until bedtime, so as quickly as possible.”

She immediately bowed her head and disappeared at a surprisingly fast speed. It was an amazing movement no matter how many times you saw it.

“Bonita, don’t you want to play a bit more?”

Bentley raised his voice and took Bonita’s hand. The boy looked at Luke with sparkling eyes.

As Luke nodded, the boy pulled Bonita back to the playroom from earlier.

It was the desperate struggle of a child who didn’t want to be scolded by his father.

“They play so well together, don’t they, elder brother?”

“Indeed.”

Oliver, who had been watching the two children, smiled for a moment, then turned his gaze to Luke.

“By the way, elder brother. There’s something I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

“I heard that the woman who brought Bonita is staying in this mansion……”

Tap, tap.

Tapping his fingers, he asked in a casual tone.

“Where is she?”

His black eyes flashed sinisterly for a moment.