‘Noisy and stupid’ sounded somehow familiar.

‘Noisy things. If you’re stupid, at least be quiet.’

Jade’s past words and actions flashed through my mind.

‘I thought I’d heard that somewhere before.’

It matched perfectly with what he often said whenever he dealt with people.

‘Even though I’ve never seen Jade before…’

Mary approached and whispered softly.

“Baroness Beatrice has arrived. She says she has something to tell the young lady and would like to see you for a moment. What should we do?”

“…Baroness Beatrice? Show her to the reception room.”

Ellie, the daughter of Baroness Beatrice, was the friend Blanche was talking about now.

I went to the reception room and sat face to face with Baroness Beatrice.

“I’m sorry for coming so suddenly, Young Viscountess.”

She greeted me with tense gestures.

“It’s alright, Baroness. Please speak freely.”

“Well… It seems Blanche had a quarrel while playing with Ellie and bit her arm.”

“…Blanche bit her arm? Is Ellie alright?”

My face flushed with embarrassment towards Baroness Beatrice and Ellie.

“Fortunately, she didn’t bite too hard, so there’s no wound. I just thought you should know, so I came here.”

“Baroness, I’ll make sure this never happens again.”

I bowed my head towards Baroness Beatrice.

“Young Viscountess, there’s no need to bow to me! I just came to ask you to be careful from now on. Please don’t mind it.”

“No, it’s not alright. Please tell Ellie I’m sorry too.”

Socially, I could have just said I’d be careful and let it go.

But as Blanche’s mother, I wanted to apologize properly.

After all, she had the courage to come here for her child’s sake.

After Baroness Beatrice left, I told Blanche to sit in the reflection chair.

“Blanche. Sit there until you reflect on what you did wrong.”

“Hmph! Shu-shu didn’t do anything wrong!”

“What do you mean you didn’t do anything wrong? You bit your friend’s arm.”

How could her personality be exactly the same, even though she had never met Jade?

It was hard to scold her since it was her birthday today.

‘If I don’t correct her now, it will be harder for Blanche to get along with others, just like Jade.’

Still, it was right to address it properly.

“Blanche.”

When I called her name in a firm voice, Blanche slowly let out the air she had puffed into her cheeks.

“…Shu-shu, didn’t do, anything wrong.”

Blanche stubbornly refused to give up her stance until the end.

‘Jade, how could you hit Young Master Ruden like that?’

‘He deserved it first. I didn’t do anything wrong.’

Even that reminded me of Jade, so I continued to look at Blanche with stern eyes.

“Blanche Boston.”

Small droplets formed in Blanche’s eyes and soon began to fall one by one.

“…Ellie made fun of Shu-shu first for not having a dad!”

“Blanche, what are you saying…”

“Jenny also kept saying Shu-shu doesn’t have a dad!”

Her outburst took my breath away.

“Shu-shu said she has a dad, but they said she doesn’t, so Shu-shu didn’t want to play! But mom… only tells Shu-shu she did wrong, because you hate Shu-shu! Shu-shu hates mom too!”

Blanche’s small shoulders shook as she jumped up from the chair and ran up to her room.

‘She was teased for not having a dad…?’

I should have followed Blanche, but my body wouldn’t move. I was the stupid one.

“Oh, what should I do. I didn’t even know…”

I should have asked why she didn’t want to play.

‘I scolded her for no reason.’

I was going crazy with regret for not listening to Blanche’s story first.

Aaron, who had been quietly observing the situation, spoke up.

“Young Viscountess. You expected this someday, didn’t you? That the day would come when Blanche would look for her father.”

“…I don’t know what to do now.”

I knew I would have to tell Blanche about Jade someday.

But I had been mistaken because Blanche had never once looked for her father until now.

Thinking it was okay without Jade, feeling relieved.

I didn’t even notice the loneliness in Blanche’s eyes as she believed she had a father.

Was it because I knew better than anyone the feelings of not having a father?

I felt guilty knowing that the hurt Blanche felt from being teased about not having a father would leave a permanent mark.

“I’ll handle today’s business. Don’t worry and go see Blanche.”

“…I’ll trust you, Aaron. Thank you.”

With Aaron’s consideration, I went to Blanche’s room but stopped when I saw the message written on the drawing board hanging on the door.

It was a sign that she didn’t want to talk to me right now.

“Blanche, mom is sorry.”

Blanche didn’t give any answer, seemingly quite angry.

“Mom was just worried that our baby would be sad if she grew distant from her friends…”

“…”

“I should have asked first why you didn’t want to play with your friends because of what they said. I’m sorry I didn’t understand your feelings, Blanche.”

I wondered if running away here had really been the best choice.

If it were me back then, I would have only thought about protecting Blanche.

I thought if I gave her lots of love, if I gave her my all,

I could raise Blanche well even without Jade.

“Blanche. If you don’t want to see mom now, you can come out later. Mom won’t go to work today.”

“…”

“Mom doesn’t hate you. How could I when I love you so much?”

For some reason, I didn’t have the confidence to face Blanche right now either.

Curled up under the blanket, Blanche hurriedly wiped away her falling tears.

Her heart hurt like it was being pricked by needles.

This was all because of the noisy and stupid Ellie and Jenny.

‘My dad takes us on picnics every weekend and gives piggyback rides. Blanche, you’ve never done things like that because you don’t have a dad, right?’

Ellie, who bragged that her dad was strong and tall and gave her very high piggyback rides, was noisy.

It wasn’t wrong to say she was noisy for talking too much about unnecessary things.

It was just telling the truth after all!

Jenny being stupid was also true.

‘Blanche, you never had a dad from the beginning. So why are you lying that you have one? Lying is bad.’

You can’t be born without a dad in the first place. Jenny was stupid and unlikable for insisting it was a lie without even knowing this basic fact.

‘Hmph, how can there be someone without a dad. Shu-shu has a dad too.’

Mom scolded her for not getting along with friends without even knowing this.

She felt wronged and upset because mom didn’t take her side.

“Tch, Shu-shu is angry. I won’t look at mom’s face today. I hate her, I hate her so much.”

…Actually, she didn’t hate mom at all. Even though mom scolded her, mom was still her favorite person in the world.

Blanche hadn’t planned to tell mom what she heard from her friends in the first place.

Sometimes mom would say in her sleep that she was sorry for raising Blanche without a dad.

Right now, what Blanche didn’t want to see was her mom’s upset face.

‘This is all because of dad.’

If she had a dad, she wouldn’t have heard such things from her friends, and mom wouldn’t be sad.

‘Why doesn’t dad come to see Shu-shu? Does he not want to see Shu-shu because he hates her a lot?’

…Still, it was okay.

Blanche wasn’t alone.

Because she had mom who told her she loved her every day, Mary who prepared delicious snacks, and Uncle Aaron.

‘If Shu-shu studies hard, doesn’t throw tantrums, and behaves well, he’ll come to see me, right?’

What if, even after studying hard and becoming smart, not throwing tantrums and behaving well,

‘What if dad still doesn’t come to see Shu-shu?’

Blanche suppressed the emotion that was about to well up.

‘I can’t cry. If I cry, dad won’t come even more.’

Blanche wanted to smile brightly if she ever met her dad.

‘I should practice smiling from now on! So it’s not awkward!’

She tried to lift the corners of her mouth in front of the mirror, but they trembled and quickly drooped back down.

‘Maybe if I make a wish to the stars, it’ll come true!’

She remembered a fairy tale where someone met their lost family after wishing upon a star.

Blanche knelt down, clasped her hands together, and closed her eyes.

‘Star, please let me meet my dad.’

Whoosh-!

A pure white light rippled around her, enveloping Blanche’s body.

Blanche rubbed her eyes, not believing what she had just seen.

‘The star must have made everything sparkly to grant Shu-shu’s wish!’

Now she just had to wait for her wish to come true.

She was excited thinking she might meet her dad soon.

Blanche was jumping up and down on the bed when suddenly she felt all the strength leave her body and she sat down.

“Why is Shu-shu, feeling so dizzy…?”

It had been a bit difficult to breathe for a while now.

Her cheeks felt hot too, and her nose was running.

“…Mom. Shu-shu hurts.”

She needed to speak loudly enough for mom to hear, but her voice only came out as a small sound.

Her vision blurred and her eyelids felt heavy.

“Mom…”

Blanche called out desperately for her mom as her eyes slowly closed.