Chapter 1
My Mother Has Been Possessed (1)
Mom became strange.
“Oh my god, Bonita. What is this?”
Bonita looked up at Aria with a blank expression on her face.
“To be this skinny….”
Aria was so upset that she didn’t know what to do and kept touching Bonita’s face.
She felt a little nervous. At the same time, it was a little scary.
“Ouch.”
“oh! I’m sorry, did it hurt a lot?”
Bonita groaned reflexively at her touch on her arm.
At that small reaction, Aria looked at her as if the sky had fallen.
“It’s a bruise…! Who the hell did this-”
‘I-I’m scared!’
Bonita squeezed her eyes shut at Aria’s angry face.
Aria was so temperamental that even if you kissed her sweetly, she would suddenly change her attitude and get angry.
But no matter how long she waited, Aria did not hit or pinch Bonita. Bonita held her pounding heart and carefully opened her eyes.
“Mo-mother?”
Aria had tears streaming down her face.
Bonita was startled by the water flowing down her beautiful cheeks and stretched out her small and skinny hand.
“Mother, don’t cry. Bonita was wrong, huh?”
“Ugh, Bonita! Mom, it was mom’s fault!”
But when she touched her, Aria cried even harder.
Worried that she might have hurt her mother, Bonita squirmed and tried to get away, but Aria wouldn’t let her go.
“I’m sorry, Mom is sorry, Bonita…”
Bonita blinked her eyes, holding Aria tightly in her arms.
It had been a long time since her mother hugged her like this.
When she sweetly calls her name, and when she strokes her head with her warm hands like this.
She said, ‘It feels like my mother has become a different person.’
Bonita felt awkward as she turned to face Aria and hugged her.
Then Aria’s sobs became more intense.
“I’m sorry mom died so early. I should have found you a long time ago, but to a woman like this until you were this big…”
Bonita had no idea what her mother was talking about.
But she was happy enough to hear her mother whisper “I love you” in her ear over and over again.
Bonita muttered her aria, straining her hands.
“I love you too, Mom.”
She didn’t know what had suddenly happened, but Bonita hoped it was good.
If this is her mother’s whim, I hope it will last for a long time.
*****
Bonita was very smart for a seven-year-old.
“You came all the way to the countryside with just one child?”
She said, “I think the woman was a nobleman’s mistress. For a country woman, her clothes are luxurious, aren’t they?”
“It looks like she was kicked out of the family for having an illegitimate child. Tsk tsk, that’s always the case with nobles. They pretend to be noble, but they’re really the dirtiest.”
However, she was not able to understand everything the adults around her were saying about her and her mother. So Bonita once held on to the hem of her mother’s skirt and asked her,
“Mother, what is mistress?”
After hearing those words, Aria wrinkled her pretty face like a demon and her eyes sparkled fiercely.
“Where did you hear that?”
“From Mrs. Becky at the bakery…”
“Hah! Mistress is absurd. I wouldn’t blame you if it really happened.”
Aria, who heard Bonita’s words, said to herself, ‘Yeah, if it weren’t for that damn bastard, I would’ve been there,’ muttering her words unintelligibly.
But in the meantime, there was one thing Bonita could understand.
“Damn it. I didn’t pick you up to listen to that shit.”
She muttered that for a long moment, then swung her hand at Bonita. With a dull pain, she realized.
Aria was not Bonita’s biological mother.
She may have said that out of anger, but Aria seemed like she meant it. She had no reason to lie in the first place.
Of course, it didn’t make any difference if Bonita found out. She wasn’t shocked anymore.
Even if she wasn’t her biological mother, Aria was Bonita’s mother.
She wasn’t sure why she was raising someone she didn’t even like… but she liked her mother, and she liked Aria better than her biological mother.
She said, ‘Because my mother must have abandoned me.’
If you went outside the house right now, there were so many children without parents.
They were caught by a gang of beggars in the back alleys, begged in ridiculous ways, and all the money they earned was taken away. In the middle of winter, there were many children who froze to death because they had no home.
Add to that the beatings they received on fictitious days, and Bonita, with her mother, was in a much better position.
Because her mother works.
Of course, she often spent her earnings on drinking and gambling, but somehow she managed to find the money to feed Bonita. When she got too drunk, she often beat Bonita, but it was not severe until her bones were broken or her ears were damaged like in other families.
Clearly, she had some responsibility.
Responsibility enough to raise Bonita without death or disability.
In other words, just enough.
But my current mother…
“Bonita, can Mommy wash you?”
“… Yes?”
Bonita, who was trying to brush her teeth by herself like usual, looked surprised when she saw her toothbrush in Aria’s hand.
But now her mother is even holding her shower brush. The warm water she didn’t know when she got it was a bonus.
“It’s been my lifelong wish to bathe my daughter,” Aria said, “So why not?”
As Bonita hesitated, Aria looked sullen.
Seeing her sad face as if she was about to leave this world at any moment, Bonita stuttered.
“Well, that.”
“You sure you don’t want to, huh?”
In the end, it was Bonita who lost.
“Ye-yes, Please wash me.”
“Sure thing!”
Aria clapped her hands with excitement.
Soon she removed Bonita clothes from her and placed them in the small bathtub.
As Bonita blinked her round eyes, warm water poured over her head.
“Acho.”
Bonnie got water in her nose and sneezed softly. Aria was startled by the sound and grabbed Bonita’s face.
“Where does it hurt? Are you okay?”
“My nose…”
“Then you should blow your nose. Hmph, do it.”
“Ye-yes?”
“Hum!”
Bonita turned bright red and blew her nose in response to her repeated requests for that.
Then Aria’s hands were covered in her sticky snot. At that moment, Bonita panicked.
‘She might get angry because it’s dirty!’
Aria hated anything dirty. Bonita looked up at Aria with a pale face.
“Oh my god, how can blowing your nose be so cute? After all, you’re my daughter.”
But rather than getting angry, Aria gave Bonnie a kiss on the cheek. She kissed her so passionately that she almost sucked her cheek.
Bonita became confused.
“Now sit down.”
Compliant or not, Aria hummed a tune and sat Bonita down in a small chair.
Her hands dug into Bonita’s greasy hair. Even though she was probably dirty because she hadn’t washed properly in days, Aria didn’t show any displeasure.
‘Do you want to pull my hair now?’
Or not… Could it be that she suddenly comes with scissors?
‘I don’t want my head cut off….’
Bonita rolled her big eyes, but Aria remained silent.
Bonita, who was nervous at first, gradually adapted to Aria’s touch.
Her mother, who washed her hair, was much less skilled than she was before, but she felt deep affection.
As Aria stroked Bonita’s pink hair, she asked,
“Bonita, what year is it?”
“It’s 617, Mother.”
“617 years….”
Aria muttered as if she was thinking about something and smiled weakly.
“Then our Bonita would be seven years old.”
It’s already been two months since she started this year, and this was a new reaction.
“For seven years…”
Bonita rubbed her eyes and looked at Aria in the mirror.
The look of regret and disappointment on her face made Bonita feel very strange.
“Mother.”
“Just for a moment, close your eyes. If soapy water gets in it, it stings.”
But soon the water to rinse her head came rushing in, and Bonita could no longer see her mother’s expression.
*****
“Bonita, shall we sleep together?”
“… Is that okay?”
“Well, of course.”
Bonita crawled into Aria’s arms.
Until yesterday, it was something she couldn’t even hope for, but thanks to the sweet side she showed today, Bonita was able to gain courage.
“it’s warm.”
The corners of Bonita’s mouth relaxed. It was cold in the house with the cold wind blowing in, she didn’t feel cold at all as she was hugged tightly by her mother.
Aria carefully covered Bonita with the blanket.
“Sleep well, my baby.”
“Mom too.”
When Bonita mumbled the answer, Aria smiled slightly and quietly sang a lullaby.
The steady beat of her hand and the sound of her mother’s heartbeat, which she hadn’t heard in a very long time, lulled Bonita to sleep.
“Bonita, are you sleeping?”
Aria asked in a low voice. But instead of answering, she just let out a peaceful breath.
Aria let out a deep breath she’d been holding, a sign that she was fully asleep.
It’s been 7 years
A year when she thought Bonita was her stillborn, and six years after she died.
In her memories, Bonita was just a small baby in her stomach, but she had already grown so much.
Nevertheless, she was able to recognize her at a glance because her child looked exactly like her former self. It was as if she had a little version of herself in the mirror.
As expected, she can’t fool blood.
She remembered the voice of her husband, the Duke of Lysianthus, which she heard before her death.
“Elodie, I will not let you die like this. I’ll save you, certainly. No matter what it takes.”
At the time, I thought he was a fool for insisting.
Still, I smiled faintly, glad for his love and sorry to leave him alone.
But when she really opened her eyes she came back to life.
And that too from the body of her close friend who had betrayed her.
She became the adoptive mother of her biological daughter.
It was not a funny situation, but Elodie, or rather Aria, decided to gladly accept this opportunity.
Her eyes turned to Bonita.
“Bonita, my dear baby.”
A child less than half my size was more precious and lovable than anything else in the world.
Aria smiled bitterly, and gently stroked Bonita’s sleeping head.
“Mother will protect you from now.”
