Chapter 28
Mother, Mom (2)
At first, Luke planned to follow along, but was caught by Catherine.
“Are you planning to make the kids cry? No! If I don’t go, you can’t go either! Stay at home!”
“… This is too much, Mother.”
In the end, the two made a dramatic compromise. They decided to pick up Bonita together right around the time the social gathering was over.
That’s why only Aria and Bonita rode in the carriage of the Lysianthus family.
Bonita looked as if she had lost her soul in the luxurious carriage she was riding for the first time in her life. Her small mouth fell open.
‘It’s so soft!’
Bonita pressed the carriage seat she was sitting on several times with a face of disbelief .
It wasn’t as soft as the bed at the Duke’s house, but it was softer than the bed in the house she had lived in before.
There was even a small rabbit doll that Luke had bought for Bonita in the carriage.
Bonita hugged the pink bunny tightly and tapped her foot. Aria smiled bitterly at her.
‘You’re not supposed to be excited about this, Bonita.’
Although it was cute, it was incredibly frustrating when she thought back on why Bonita was reacting like that.
‘Tch, no.’
It was useless to feel sorry for each and every one of these things. After all, it was the past that could not be undone.
Instead, she focused on making the cutie in front of her even more happy.
“Daughter, do you want to see something new?”
“Something new?”
Bonita tilted her head to one side. Aria’s lips twitched.
“Ta-da!”
When she pressed the button attached to the bottom of the chair, the carriage floor suddenly opened.
Cleak.
A table popped out from under the opened floor. On the table was sweet fruit and cookies that a child would like.
“Ma-magic?”
Bonita exclaimed in surprise. Her already large eyes were round like a rabbit’s.
Aria let out a short laugh.
“No way!”
“Then how does it come up?”
“……?”
Aria broke out in a cold sweat as she watched Bonita touch the table with more seriousness than she expected.
“Is it a gear? Or a pulley? Maybe it’s connected by attaching a spring to the button.”
“Uh….”
Aria, who had been pressing buttons like that all her life but had never thought about how they worked, stuttered.
She was very happy that the child was interested in studying, but the sudden question was very embarrassing.
Bonita was now crouching down and looking around the table.
After checking the connection where the table protruded, Bonita pressed the button again.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Click, click, click.
Bonita tilted her head and muttered as she pressed and closed the button.
“I wish I knew how it was made….”
“Maybe, it’s a magic tool?”
“Is that so?”
Bonita’s innocent eyes seemed to pierce through Aria.
Aria swallowed hard.
“Ah! That, that’s right. There should be a blueprint for the carriage at the Duke’s residence. Then we’ll be able to see how it works.”
“What’s a blueprint?”
“When making a mechanical device like this, they leave pictures and text showing how to make it. The paper with those written down is called a blueprint.”
“Why are you writing it down?”
“Uh- because, if you write it down, other people can make the same device. It’s easier.”
“Why do other people have to make the same device?”
“It’s easier to make mass-produced products.”
“What’s a mass-produced product? Why do you have to make it?”
“T, that…”
Aria’s eyes spun around at Bonita’s endless ‘why’ questions.
Bonita, noticing her troubled expression, covered her mouth with both hands.
Then she began to realize.
“… I’m sorry. Did I bother you too much, Mother?”
“No!”
Aria shouted hurriedly.
“That’s not it.”
When she first woke up in Aria’s body, Bonita had been watching her closely.
It was much better now than then. At least she had made Bonita feel a little comfortable, so she couldn’t let her go back to how she was before.
“Anything else you want to know?”
“… I’m hungry now.”
But Bonita had already become timid again.
Bonita was cute as she picked up the cookies with her little hands, but I couldn’t help but feel a bitter taste in my mouth.
‘What should I say here?’
She vowed to herself that she would do anything for her lovely daughter. If she couldn’t be a real mother, she wanted to be a good parent to Bonita at least.
However, it was really hard to think about what to do for her child.
She thought back to how her father and brothers had treated her when she was little.
“My Elodie is the cutest in the world.”
“He made my daughter cry? Execute him right now.”
“My little sister. I bought an island for your birthday. Is that not enough? Then let’s buy an airship.”
…. It didn’t help much.
Come to think of it, she had never cared about what others thought in her life.
Even when she accidentally broke an expensive vase, accidentally scribbled on a masterpiece worth thousands of gold coins, and accidentally glued a national treasure to the wall, the Count Rottweil just let it go, thinking, “Our young lady will probably grow up to be an artist!” It was a miracle that Elodie didn’t grow up to be a rascal.
Aria thought again.
Then, she soon realized that even the time she spent worrying like this was making Bonita feel uncomfortable.
She calmed her mind.
Unlike before, Aria called Bonita in a low and soft voice.
“Bonita.”
“…….”
“Daughter.”
Bonita barely raised her head at the second call.
“You never bother mommy.”
“…….”
“If there’s anything you don’t know, feel free to ask me. Of course, Mom can’t answer everything…”
Aria laughed awkwardly, recalling the questions from earlier.
“Still, if Mom knows anything, I’ll tell you anything.”
“But…”
“Mom is so happy that Bonita is curious and asks questions.”
“… Why?”
“Because Mom loves you.”
Bonita blankly stared at Aria, who was smiling brightly. Then she felt an unbearable ticklish feeling.
Bonita unconsciously grabbed the hem of my dress and noticed that her hands were covered in cookie crumbs.
“It’s okay.”
Aria grabbed Bonita’s hand, which was about to cry again, and wiped it with the handkerchief next to her.
She then wiped the crumbs off her dress cleanly. Fortunately, the chocolate fudge didn’t get on it, so there was no stain on her skirt.
Bonita watched the entire process.
The words she had just heard were still spinning around in her head.
“Daughter.”
“You never bother mommy.”
“I’ll tell you anything I know.”
“Mom is so happy that Bonita is curious and asks questions.”
“Because Mom loves you.”
I never thought I’d ever hear that from Aria, not even after she changed.
Yeah, even after she changed….
Bonita stopped at the thought that suddenly occurred to her. It was ridiculous.
But the words had already left her mouth.
“Mother.”
“Yes, daughter.”
“Mom.”
“Yes…?”
Aria’s golden eyelashes fluttered at the word “Mom.” The small trembling that had been like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings soon became a huge wave that swept over her.
How should I describe that expression, that feeling?
Bonita had never received a proper education.
Most of the words she had heard in her life were curses or vulgar words used by back-alley thugs.
Although Aria used sophisticated vocabulary, she rarely spoke to Bonita at home.
Naturally, she could not read. The only books she knew were children’s storybooks that Aria often read to her.
As such, Bonita can’t find the right words to describe the look on Aria’s face right now.
It was too complex to be simply called ‘joy.’
Bonita reached out with one hand and touched Aria’s cheek. Aria’s hand completely covered Bonita’s.
Her hands were callused from sewing. A mother’s hands, rough but beautiful.
“Mom. Your face is like waves.”
“… Waves?”
“Yes. If you throw a rock into a puddle after it rains, it’s like mom’s face right now. It’s like the sky and the world in it, and it gets pretty.”
Aria’s expression became even stranger after hearing Bonita’s words. Bonita thought it was like a puddle into which many stones had been thrown.
A puddle of water that had been thrown so many times that the water droplets splashed, the colors mixed here and there, shook, became cloudy, and eventually returned to its original state.
Drop.
A warm teardrop fell on Bonita’s hand that was on Aria’s cheek.
Aria’s blue eyes became tearful. Bonita’s face was reflected in those eyes.
Bonita asked with a surprised expression,
“Mom, why are you crying?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
Aria blinked in surprise. Then the tears that had been gathering fell down.
She wanted to wipe her eyes, but she didn’t want to forcefully remove Bonita’s hand that was touching her face.
“Oh, why are you crying…”
Aria smiled with a blush on her face, feeling both happy and embarrassed that Bonita was staring at her.
Sniff, there was a sniffling sound as she took a deep breath.
Aria slowly looked at Bonita.
“Da-daughter?”
“……”
“Mommy won’t cry anymore, so you don’t have to hold me.”
Bonita didn’t respond for a long time to her soothing words.
She looked straight into Aria’s eyes with a serious expression, as if her small head was thinking deeply about something.
Then, Bonita opened her mouth.
“Mom.”
“Yeah.”
“Mom, you’re not my mother, are you?”
