“……”

Again.

Lumiere quickly lowered her eyes, feeling she might burst into tears inappropriately in front of Elina again.

Why did her heart become so soft whenever she stood before Elina?

Lumiere carefully raised her eyes to look at Elina.

The stylishly aged middle-aged woman was looking at Lumiere without the slightest wavering.

Her gaze was warm and affectionate.

Staring at that face quietly, Lumiere somehow felt she understood why her heart weakened around Elina.

She resembled her mother.

Duchess Buchanan, Diena Buchanan……

The thoughtful and kind duchess who was my mother.

‘……Did I unconsciously see my mother in Elina.’

Thinking that way, the unconscious mind truly seemed remarkable.

‘Come to think of it, Karl also asked if we had met somewhere when he first saw me.’

Suddenly remembering their first meeting, her heart began to stabilize rapidly.

Until then, Elina continued patting Lumiere’s hand, caressing her skin with gentle warmth.

Lumiere took a moment to steady her breathing and slowly composed her expression.

“It was fine because I couldn’t remember. I find it rather amazing how I completely forgot that such a thing happened.”

While saying this, a familiar voice suddenly came to Lumiere’s mind.

‘……You had another bad dream, my lady.’

‘Yes, Tamia. I’m so scared. Everything keeps burning in fire. The white mansion gets covered in terrible flames and many people die screaming. Why, why do I keep having these dreams?’

‘Something hidden in your unconscious mind is coming out through dreams, my lady. But…… it’s too terrible a dream for a young lady to bear.’

‘Unconscious? What’s that……? I don’t want to have these dreams anymore. They’re scary and sad. The tears won’t stop.’

She remembered running to Tamia whenever she had nightmares.

‘……Then, my lady, shall I lock your dreams away in the depths of your consciousness for a while? Later, much later, when you need those memories, they can come out.’

‘……Can you do that?’

‘Of course. It’s my specialty. It’s called hypnosis.’

‘Do it. Do it, Tamia! Stop these dreams!’

Lumiere desperately clung to Tamia.

Tamia embraced the finely trembling young Lumiere’s shoulders, stroked them several times, and cleanly erased the remnants of the terrible dreams from her memory.

No, thinking about it now, it seemed she hadn’t erased them but temporarily locked them away somewhere in the darkness of her mind.

And just as Tamia had said, those childhood memories had broken free when they became ‘necessary’.

Rudels told her she must no longer be a Buchanan.

Despite that, Tamia had suppressed her memories of Buchanan that kept leaking out.

“……Now I understand everything.”

“Huh?”

“Ah, nothing. Nothing at all.”

Lumiere quickly shook her head.

Seeing Lumiere now considerably more stable, Luka, who had been listening silently until then, opened his mouth.

“Miss Lumiere, if you’ve calmed down…… could you tell me again about your memories of that day? If it’s not too rude, I’d also like to know how you survived and how you’ve lived since then.”

Lumiere smiled at that polite request and slowly nodded.

“Of course. That’s why I came running here.”

* * *

Lumiere visited Elina’s mansion every day to help Luka with his script.

With the actual person involved meeting the genius playwright, the play’s progression became much smoother and more detailed.

Luka sensed that this work would become his greatest masterpiece.

After about three days had passed, she visited Elina’s mansion.

* * *

“What’s this? What fun thing are you all doing without me?”

The person who suddenly burst in like a shower was Madame Rosa.

She crossed through Elina’s mansion as if it were her own home, entered the reception room where Michael, Luka, Lumiere, and Elina were already gathered, looked them over, and raised one eyebrow.

“……Oho. This is quite an interesting combination.”

She headed straight for Michael without hesitation.

The timid child jumped back a step in surprise at Rosa’s intimidating presence.

But Rosa didn’t mind and bent her knees to meet the child’s eyes, smiling brightly.

“Hello? We’ve met before, do you remember?”

Michael quickly nodded as if checking her reaction.

Rosa smiled even more brightly, hugged the child, and lifted him up.

“Wow, you’re so light. I saw your leg was injured then, is it okay now? Oh, you’re so cute! You look just like Diella.”

The child blushed, not knowing what to do, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

“Do you not like me holding you? Should I put you down? I thought your leg might be uncomfortable…… Oh right, I bought cookies for you, what was I thinking!”

Rosa, apparently possessing surprising strength, quickly walked to the sofa where she had thrown her coat while still holding the child with one arm.

She carefully put the child down on the floor and handed him cookies she had packaged inside her coat.

They were cookies from a very famous shop in town.

“Have you tried these?”

“No.”

“Try them, they’re delicious! My kids love them when I bring these home.”

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy them.”

“Oh my, look at those good manners! Diella has raised you very properly.”

Rosa showered the child with compliments for quite some time, clearly adoring Michael, before approaching Elina and Lumiere.

“You still go crazy whenever you see children.”

Elina shook her head as she made room for her.

“Of course! Children are angels. Unlike tainted adults. They must be cherished unconditionally.”

Madame Rosa particularly loved children.

She also loved animals like dogs and cats, but had been unable to show it until now.

Marquis Evoque had constantly hinted that caring for children and animals didn’t match the image of ‘Madame Rosa’.

However.

‘Now I don’t need to care about what others think, that’s it!’

A few days ago, Marquis Evoque had been arrested for his involvement in the fire at the Tartien mansion.

According to rumors, he had already been sent to prison.

When she first heard the news, Madame Rosa had been brushing her teeth.

She was so surprised that she accidentally swallowed her mouthwash.

My goodness!

No matter how powerful Duke Tartien was said to be, to think he would imprison someone with the rank of marquis!

Of course, she had heard that it was Duke Tartien who had given Evoque his marquis position.

‘But still, even so……’

After the initial shock……

‘But so what? What does that have to do with me? I’ve been cast aside anyway.’

Madame Rosa soon cheered and jumped up and down on the spot.

Well, she would soon be kicked out of her house, but couldn’t she get a small house by selling off various things she had collected?

The jewels she had extracted from Evoque at the end were quite substantial.

‘Now I’m free!’

She felt rather unburdened.

Becoming lighter, she began to regret some of her past actions.

Among them, what weighed most on her mind was spying on and probing Miss Painter and Karl Winger.

She immediately left the house and went to find Lumiere.

But every time she went, she was repeatedly told that he wasn’t home.

It turned out that he had been going to Elina’s house for several days.

So she came straight here.

Remembering Michael whom she had met in front of the orphanage, she even bought cookies after standing in line for a whole hour.

“Actually, I came here looking for Miss Painter.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I have something to apologize for.”

At this meaningful statement, Lumiere asked with a bewildered expression.

“……For what?”

“I’ve been telling Marquis Evoque things about you, knowingly or unknowingly. If I may make a cowardly excuse, I was in a situation where I had to rely on him, so I couldn’t refuse what he wanted.”

Rosa spoke with a genuinely apologetic expression.

She knew it was an excuse, but she still had to say it.

People often consider excuses useless, but not for Rosa.

When apologizing, isn’t it strange not to explain why you’re sorry and what you did wrong?

To say you’re too sorry to speak?

That was the strange statement.

The more sorry you are, the more earnestly you should speak.

Shouldn’t you apologize more sincerely and reflect?

“I’m sorry. But I can truly swear. I didn’t say anything important! Just things like the two of you seemed to be meeting, or not meeting. That’s all I said. Anything beyond that would be difficult for me to know anyway.”

Lumiere listened to her story silently with a surprised face.

In truth, she had never expected to receive an apology for something like this, so she was genuinely surprised.

If her patron had ordered her to scout the surroundings, how could she refuse?

‘……But there’s no reason to tell her not to be sorry when she’s apologizing so sincerely.’

Either way, it was true that Rosa had used her.

After her initial surprise, Lumiere composed her expression and changed her attitude.

“Are you truly sorry, Rosa?”

Rosa nodded with all her might.

After staring at her intently for a while, Lumiere smiled gently and said,

“If that feeling is sincere, there’s something you need to do for me, Rosa.”