Mom's Possessed - Chapter 9

“A picnic?”

“That’s right. Don’t you think Bonita would like it too?”

“If Bonita comes along, I’ll certainly welcome it.”

Luke, with his arms crossed, glared at Aria’s excited face.

“It seems Miss Aria still has no intention of answering my interrogation.”

“Honestly, I have nothing to say about that matter.”

“You say you raised Bonita for 7 years, yet you don’t know the reason?”

Luke’s lips twisted.

“That’s quite a convenient claim. I wonder how far you think I’ll let you get away with such words.”

“Well, of course-”

“Bonita is seven years old.”

He cut off Aria’s words.

“At seven, it’s enough to forget the person who raised her after becoming an adult. She might resent me now, but eventually, as she grows up, Bonita will realize.”

Red eyes settled on Aria.

“The difference between herself and Miss Aria.”

Aria showed a slightly hurt expression. It was true, but she didn’t want to hear it so bluntly to her face.

Perhaps her resolve had been too weak.

Although her determination to protect Bonita no matter what remained unchanged, it was inevitable that she was unfamiliar with these situations.

However, she couldn’t easily reveal her identity by saying she was actually Elodie. Even to the optimistic Aria, that seemed far too implausible.

As it was, she was already being called a fraud by the maids in the mansion.

Honestly, if she said that, it wouldn’t be strange if she was really thrown out.

Even if it were the truth.

Aria hid her anxious thoughts and opened her mouth.

“Still, Bonita needs me now.”

“Do you really think so?”

Aria’s lips trembled.

How much had she shuddered at seeing the bruises on Bonita’s body and the terrible environment unfit for a child to grow up in.

After a brief silence, she answered.

“Of course.”

To be honest, she couldn’t be certain herself. Would Bonita really need her?

Maybe not.

But Aria needed Bonita. Hiding her true feelings, Aria continued in a calm tone.

“You seem to think Bonita is still young, but memories at this age have a profound impact on forming values that influence one’s life.”

“……”

“Seven is certainly young, but not so young that everything will be forgotten when she becomes an adult.”

The duke remained silent.

There was nothing wrong with Aria’s words. How great an influence the primary caregiver since birth has on a child’s entire life.

He pondered intensely on what would be the best choice for Bonita. If he was certain it was for his daughter’s sake, he could overlook this woman subtly trying to ingratiate herself with him.

However, what’s important is her motive.

He must constantly doubt and verify whether she truly loves Bonita, or if she’s greedily approaching for money or the position of duchess.

“When Bonita first came to the mansion, her whole body was covered in bruises.”

Instead of forcing her to speak immediately, he delved into the part that had been constantly bothering him.

“I can understand a hundred times over if she was malnourished or thin. After all, it’s a world where it’s difficult for a woman alone to find a decent job.”

“……”

“But the former part, it was at a level impossible unless someone deliberately beat her.”

He shot back sharply.

“I need to hear an explanation for that, if nothing else.”

“What will you do if I keep my mouth shut?”

“I can’t leave my daughter with a woman who might be a child abuser.”

Aria realized this question was difficult to avoid.

And in fact, if she were in Luke’s position, she would have made the same choice.

The problem is…

The fact that she had become that ‘child abuser’.

Though her soul is different, there’s no way to prove it. Yet it’s too unfair to simply admit guilt, and she had no desire whatsoever to part with the daughter she had just found again.

After all the trouble finding her child.

Bonita must be raised by her hands. Even if the other party was a man who would unconditionally love the child, there were no exceptions.

So the choices given here were two.

First, tell the truth and get kicked out.

Not even worth considering.

Second, lie cleverly.

A somewhat realistic option.

But this method didn’t sit well with her either.

Wouldn’t it mean defending the culprit who dared to abuse her precious child with her own mouth?

So Aria created a third option.

The solution to this situation, the third:

“To be honest, I don’t remember.”

Tell only half the truth.

“You don’t remember? Are you daring to deceive me now?”

“It’s not a lie. The period I clearly remember isn’t that long ago.”

It wasn’t a lie at all.

Since Elodie doesn’t know the time when the real Aria occupied the body, her memories only start about four days ago.

Aria didn’t lie but cleverly cut and edited the truth.

“Maybe because I hit my head recently, I’m a bit confused overall.”

Hitting her head was true.

It was something she did to herself to regain a sense of reality, but anyway, this wasn’t a lie either.

“I’m not sure what the past Aria was thinking. That’s why I can’t answer you.”

“What…?”

Luke flinched at the blatant third-person speech. Is she crazy?

Silence fell between the two. Luke, still with his legs crossed, let out a hollow laugh.

“Ha, what. Are you telling me to believe that now? You should know that a long tongue gets cut.”

“I didn’t lie, Your Grace.”

Luke narrowed his eyes and examined Aria’s expression.

Most people don’t realize it, but usually, liars show signs in their expressions, pupils, direction of gaze, or gestures. Luke had a natural talent for catching such liars.

“……”

He pursued everything about her with a persistent gaze. However, he couldn’t find anything particularly suspicious about Aria.

He leaned his back, which had been slightly bent, against the sofa backrest.

“Alright. Let’s say everything Miss Aria said is true.”

“It is true.”

“Then why do you go out of your way to take care of Bonita when you have no memory? If what you say is true, my daughter should be nothing more than a child suddenly thrust upon you.”

“That too, honestly, is difficult to explain logically. But……”

Luke nodded slightly.

“One thing is certain.”

Aria quickly added.

“I am the person in this world who can love Bonita the most. Of course, the same goes for you, Duke.”

“……”

Luke pondered.

He could torture that woman right now to make her open her mouth. It wouldn’t be that difficult.

The problem, as always, is Bonita.

It was obvious even with a glance.

The fact that Bonita sincerely follows that damned woman like a mother and craves her affection.

Of course, there’s no correct answer in parenting.

But just providing expensive clothes, good food, excellent education, and pouring out financial support doesn’t necessarily mean a child will grow into a healthy adult.

Of course, those aspects are important, but attachment during the growth period is something that can never be ignored. Especially when the environment has changed and the child is in a sensitive state.

It was a dilemma.

Either trust that suspicious woman for now, or torture her until she can’t bear not to speak.

The latter is irreversible once chosen. It was an uncomfortable and irritating situation, like a thorn stuck in the throat.

“I don’t trust you.”

“……”

“I’ll watch you for now. And if you ever do anything foolish-”

Luke warned with a fierce face.

“I can’t guarantee Miss Aria’s life, remember that well. The fact that you’re still breathing is solely because I decided so.”

Aria was watching Luke’s current behavior with a very pleased heart.

‘Yes, that’s the least you should do to protect your daughter.’

She had been a bit worried because he acted like an idiot when dating, but this was a relief.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And it would be better to quickly regain those lost memories you mentioned.”

Luke’s face was stern. His distrustful expression nakedly revealed the hostility he held towards Aria.

“I have not the slightest intention of letting those who touched my daughter go unpunished.”

“On that point, our opinions are the same.”

Aria asked the frowning Luke.

“So, will you come on the picnic with us?”

“…I guess I have to.”

Narrowly safe.

Aria secretly let out a light sigh.

* * *

“Will Mother be alright?”

“Of course, young miss. More importantly, you can speak comfortably to me.”

“But the Duke doesn’t seem to like Mother very much.”

The maid Mary lifted Bonita, who was dangling her feet with a worried expression, and sat her on a chair in front of the mirror. It was to properly arrange her hair that had become a bird’s nest.

“Which ribbon do you like, young miss? Blue? Or red?”

“Huh? I’m fine with anything……”

Bonita trailed off in response to the question and looked at herself in the mirror.

Although only four days had passed since coming to the duke’s mansion, she looked like a completely different child compared to when she was on the streets of that village close to a slum. Especially her cheeks, which now had a rosier complexion than before.

Her skinny body and stunted growth that made her smaller than her peers remained the same, but if this lifestyle continued, those too would soon return to normal.

Bonita absently fiddled with the fabric of the dress she was wearing.

‘It’s like a dream.’

At first, she couldn’t believe it, but seeing the Duke’s attitude yesterday, it seemed he truly cherished Bonita. She didn’t know why he was so certain that she was his daughter, though.

Still, that was clearly a good thing for Bonita.

A girl from the slums and the only princess of a ducal family.

Which is better is obvious even to a five-year-old child.

‘But……’

The sticking point was still Mother.

She knows that Aria is not her birth mother. Still, she felt it didn’t matter much as long as she raised her.

To miss her birth mother – from Bonita’s first memory, her mother had been Aria.

That’s what Bonita thought, and everyone in the village knew that Aria’s daughter was Bonita. There was no doubt about it.

But here it’s different.

Bonita noticed that people sent uncomfortable glances whenever she called Aria ‘Mother’.

They denied the fact that Aria was Bonita’s mother.

They even said that the truth she had believed all her life was a lie, and that from now on she should think of someone she had never even seen as her real mother.

For Bonita, this was not something she could easily accept.

Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me

One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.

Synopsis:

Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.

But this is still far from enough.

He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.

_____

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