Swan, twisting his messy shirt as if trying to hide it, nodded his head.

“Yeah, it was fun. Arianthe taught me how to make fire… I even climbed a tree.”

Arianthe chimed in excitedly, “We saw squirrels and rabbits too! Swan almost caught one!”

Meiana gently stroked the cheeks of the two children. “I’m glad you had fun playing. However, before dinner, you should take a bath. Bridget!”

Bridget’s voice came from inside. “Alright, alright. I’m coming out… Oh, my lord! What happened? Your face and shirt…”

Bridget, blinking with a surprised expression, turned to Arianthe and made a mischievous face as if she understood something. “Milady finally taught Lord Swan something, didn’t she? What kind of prank did you teach him?”

“Making fire!” Bridget exclaimed.

“I see. Well then, Lord Swan, come here. Finally, it’ll be worth helping with your bath!”

Swan followed Bridget, looking embarrassed. At that moment, Arianthe, standing behind Swan, said, “Don’t forget to play together later!”

Swan, with a blush on his face, quickly nodded his head.

Meiana looked at Arianthe, who seemed proud, with a satisfied expression. “Milady, are you now getting along well with Lord Swan?”

“Better than I thought.”

Arianthe’s serious response made Meiana burst into a short laugh.

She picked up the child who kept trying to hug her and headed to the bathroom. Filling the bathtub made of white marble with warm water, she undressed the child, removing everything from the dirty shoes to the hair ornaments. Then, she added a few drops of scented oil to the steaming bathwater and slowly washed the child.

“I’m glad that Milady is getting along with Lord Swan.”

“Jocelyn tried to bother Swan, but I stopped her.”

Meiana’s movements, who was putting water on the child’s small shoulders, stopped abruptly.

“What do you mean?”

Arianthe explained everything that happened in the garden to Meiana. Starting from Ash explaining what ‘rights’ were, to the moment when Jocelyn appeared as Swan was about to go for a walk, scaring Swan…

“…And then I gave Swan a huge apology! The biggest and reddest one!”

The child raised both arms as if asking for praise, but Meiana, unlike usual, didn’t respond quickly to Arianthe’s words. At that moment, only one thought occupied Meiana’s mind.

That Jocelyn tried to take Swan away. Only that thought filled Meiana’s mind like steam, making her feel stuffy and hazy.

“Meiana! Are you listening?”

Arianthe shouted with a frustrated voice. Finally coming to her senses, Meiana kissed the child’s soft cheek as a sign of approval. However, a vague and uneasy suspicion still pulled at the back of her head.

At that moment, playing in the water and teasingly splashing water from the bathtub, Arianthe suddenly spoke.

“You know, sometimes I feel like Meiana is my… mother.”

Meiana’s hand, which had been gently stroking the child’s soft shoulder with a soft brush, suddenly stopped. Arianthe, who turned her head to Meiana as if asking why, met Meiana’s strange gaze directly. However, unexpectedly, she didn’t avoid Meiana’s gaze or try to joke it off.

When Meiana remained silent, Arianthe, like driving in a nail, said once again, “It would be nice if Meiana were my mother.”

Meiana felt her mind become complicated in an instant. Meiana, who had been maintaining a thoughtful silence for a long time, started moving the brush again, slightly reddening her earlobe.
“You shouldn’t say that, Milady.”

Arianthe’s hand forcefully slapped the water. It was a sign of discontent. Fragrant and misty water splashed around, wetting the front of Meiana.

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“Well, that’s…”

Meiana, pondering for a moment, moved the brush along the child’s spine and answered.

“Milady’s mother should be someone more noble than a servant like me.”

Even as she answered, Meiana had to suppress a bitter smile, feeling that her words didn’t make much sense.

Arianthe was still a child, but she would soon grow into a young lady. Someday, she would have to mingle with people of similar status and become a fine lady of a noble family. She wouldn’t always enjoy running around in the forest and climbing trees.

When that time came, Meiana wasn’t sure if she could continue helping Arianthe. Because Meiana herself had never experienced living as a noble here. So, if she wished well for Arianthe, she had to hope that she would marry into a respectable family like the Cedellois.

Meiana considered herself a very realistic person. In this unfamiliar, lonely place, with no friends to attach to or a true family, the only way for her to maintain sanity and adapt was to focus on what was right in front of her.

Not fantasizing, just living in the present and facing the immediate challenges. Except for the futile hope that she might someday return to where she lived.