CHAPTER 159…………………………………………………………..
When Minerva hurried back, the situation was already a mess—or rather, a “cat-astrophe.”
Aslan had transformed into a cat, and after confessing that she herself had been a cat, Lloyd had fainted, and while Aila seemed to hold on for a moment, she too soon collapsed.
Even after knocking out two people, Aslan remained completely unfazed.
Minerva had many things she wanted to say, but she prioritized moving the two unconscious individuals to their respective rooms first.
Dealing with Aslan came afterward.
In truth, it wasn’t really “dealing with” her.
Aslan, knowing her own wrongdoing, followed Minerva quietly without a word of protest.
She seemed aware that her actions had been dangerous and reckless, and unusually, she was unusually compliant.
She entered the bedroom and immediately sat on the bed.
She simply kept her back turned to Minerva, refusing to meet her gaze.
“So it wasn’t my imagination that something was off about Aslan back then.”
From that time onward, Aslan had kept her distance from Lloyd and was strangely hostile toward Aila.
The days were uncomfortable, with all the prospective family members constantly tiptoeing around Aslan’s moods.
Minerva did not force herself to look at Aslan’s face, but she did ask questions—direct ones.
“Aslan, you met Gabriel, didn’t you?”
Though the words left her lips, her tension did not fully dissipate.
Minerva was still suspicious of Aslan.
Suspicion over how her daughter had suddenly changed overnight.
Suspicion over how deeply Aslan had become entangled with Gabriel.
Aslan, as if sensing Minerva’s anxiousness without looking at her, flicked only the tip of her tail from beneath her skirt in a gentle wag.
She was listening—and agreeing.
“Ugh… I haven’t been tricked like this in a long time.”
She could freely transform into a cat now, but perhaps the previous times when only her tail and ears had changed were intentional.
Of course, Aslan was cunning, but she did not exploit Minerva’s desperate feelings.
Seeing that Aslan had no intention of answering, Minerva changed her question.
“…Do you not want to become part of a family with Lloyd and Aila?”
The reason Aslan had obediently followed Gabriel’s instructions seemed less like being swept away and more like making an excuse to act out.
At least, that was how it felt to Minerva. It seemed like a timid protest that even if she revealed her secret, she did not want to become a family with them.
It was completely different behavior from the Aslan who had wanted them as family before.
Because of that, Minerva had long suspected—and was now certain—that someone who understood Aslan very well was impersonating her.
That someone didn’t seem like a complete stranger to Minerva, but one thing was certain: that was not Aslan.
It was as if someone had possessed her, like Minerva herself might have been.
Minerva had already reached all her conclusions and steeled herself.
Finally, she parted her dry lips.
“Who… are you?”
At that, Aslan’s shoulders twitched, and her head slowly turned toward Minerva.
Her eyes, which had always been lovely whether she smiled, was surprised, sulked, or seemed indifferent, had now gone cold, as if she had abandoned all semblance of acting.
Minerva’s heart sank at the sight.
She had hoped it wouldn’t be the case—but it truly was someone else.
A complete stranger now wore Aslan’s face.
Then where was Aslan?
“W-Where is Aslan? Where’s my daughter?”
Minerva grabbed the child’s shoulders, panicking at the worst-case scenario that sprang unbidden to her mind.
‘If Gabriel killed Aslan and some unknown girl entered her body…!’
Even if that weren’t the case, the Aslan she had raised no longer existed.
Could she even find her again?
Just as the girl didn’t know Minerva’s true whereabouts, this stranger wouldn’t know Aslan’s either—was it even possible?
She had almost lost Aslan many times before.
Yet now, despite all her precautions, she had lost her.
‘All because I selfishly went after Lloyd…!’
Her selfish actions had caused Aslan to vanish.
Had she known someone else would enter Aslan’s body, she never would have followed Lloyd.
Minerva buried her face in the bed and silently wept.
The stranger in Aslan’s form quietly watched her, then spoke softly:
“Mom, don’t marry that man.”
Hearing that, Minerva felt both anger and disbelief, and even her tears abruptly stopped.
That was hardly something to say to someone who had just lost her child and was crying.
Even more astonishing was that this wasn’t Aslan—yet the girl had casually called her “Mom.”
Minerva lifted her head.
The child was now looking directly at her.
“Stop pretending to be Aslan! You’re not my daughter…!”
“Don’t get close to Aila either. You’re my mom. Don’t get close to someone I dislike.”
“…What?”
Strange.
The child truly seemed to consider Minerva her mother.
And she clung to what was hers like a younger child, even more so than Aslan.
Her expression betrayed a hope.
The girl seemed never to have considered that Minerva would reject her, crawling into her arms without hesitation.
“I don’t want you to die. Can’t we leave the palace and live like we used to? I won’t ever say I want to go back to the academy again.”
Her voice, rigid and precise as if reading from a book, struck Minerva.
Somehow, she felt she understood who this girl was.
Minerva could neither embrace nor push her away, awkwardly holding her hands in midair as she asked:
“Riona…?”
“……”
Then tears fell from Aslan—no, Riona—like raindrops. She cried like an even younger child than Aslan.
And she refused to leave Minerva’s arms, as if they had not met in so long.
Just moments ago, the child had seemed like the culprit, yet now Minerva felt as though she herself had become guilty.
Because she was not this child’s real mother.
She knew she had to tell her that truth, but Riona’s sorrowful crying made it impossible to speak.
Ironically, it was Riona who comforted Minerva, who hated becoming the “bad person” and therefore could do nothing.
“I know that Aslan is your daughter, not me. But for now… can you be my mom? Aslan said it’s okay…”
“…Aslan said it’s okay?”
“Yes. Aslan isn’t dead. She just lent me her body. Once I leave, Aslan will appear again.”
Minerva could not make sense of this.
So there were two consciousnesses in one body, then?
“…Did Gabriel call you here?”
“In a way, yes.”
“In a way, yes”?
The more Minerva spoke with Riona, the deeper her confusion became instead of clarifying things.
For now, the important thing was that Aslan was safe, and how Riona had appeared could be questioned later.
What mattered now was why Riona hated the two of them so much.
‘I understand her dislike of Aila, even in the original story—but why Lloyd?’
In the original, Lloyd had saved Riona after she lost her mother.
Perhaps Riona could explain why she had become Minerva.
Minerva gently patted Riona’s back as the girl sobbed in her arms.
Apparently missing this for a long time, Riona shed tears again.
Even though Riona was not her daughter, it hurt Minerva’s heart.
She still had not told her that she was not the real Minerva, and guilt gnawed at her.
Minerva, her heart softened, decided to listen to Riona’s story.
“Riona, can you tell me why you dislike the two of them so much?”
Riona hesitated slightly, then stretched out a small hand and placed it on Minerva’s forehead.
“…It’ll be faster to see than to explain.”
“Huh?”
See? How was she going to show her?
Before Minerva could ask, the scenery of the hilltop mansion appeared in front of her, where she had just been in the bedroom.
Until she was seven, Riona lived in the hilltop mansion in Fran Village, leading a life no different from Aslan’s.
At seven, she tried to enter the academy—but lost Minerva.
On that day, when the rain fell especially hard, a stranger came to the hilltop mansion.
Carrying the bodies of Minerva and Louisa.
