Not long after that incident, Leonora’s mother, Mia, passed away from illness.
Before she left, she didn’t leave Leonora with much. Aside from those luxurious jewels and dresses, there was one more thing—a red dress she had sewn by hand for Leonora during her illness.
She knew her days were numbered, so while she could still stand, she made that red dress for her. There weren’t any extravagant jewels or elaborate embroidery on the dress—just deep, abiding love, stitched in little by little with every thread.
This was Leonora’s favorite piece of clothing, but now, because of what happened that day, it had been ruined…
Leonora’s bedroom.
At this moment, she was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees with both arms.
Tears kept streaming down her cheeks, soaking the pristine white sheets.
“Young Miss…”
Aurora carried a tray in her hands, filled with an array of exquisite foods—cheese, bacon, steak, and even desserts like cakes and cookies.
She looked at the young lady, whose face was almost washed clean by tears, and the pain in her heart was written all over her face.
“Young Miss, you haven’t eaten in so long. I made your favorite dishes for you. Please, just eat a little.”
Leonora didn’t respond. Instead, she turned her eyes away in silence, refusing to even glance at the food.
After setting the tray piled with delicious food on the table, Aurora came over to the bed and sat beside Leonora.
Leonora seemed unwilling to see anyone. She buried her face into her knees, letting her tears fall silently.
Ever since Mia died, Leonora locked herself in her room all day. Other than drinking a little water now and then, she wouldn’t even look at any food. She kept crying that she wanted to eat her mother’s cooking, leaving the maids in charge of her meals at a loss.
With no other choice, Aurora had to use the spare key from home. Otherwise, who knew how long Leonora would have kept herself locked away.
Seeing that Leonora didn’t want to look at her, Aurora felt a wave of sadness as well.
She bent down a little, leaning close to Leonora’s ear, and spoke softly: “Young Miss, if you keep going on like this, you’ll only make your mother sad.”
At those words, the face buried in her knees lifted just a bit, and as her eyes rose, they met Aurora’s gentle gaze.
“Mother… will be sad?”
“Mm…”
Seeing her finally lift her head, Aurora reached out and gently cupped Leonora’s pale cheeks.
With her thumb, she softly wiped away the tears at the corners of Leonora’s eyes, then pulled her into a gentle embrace and spoke softly, “Not only your mother, but your father and I as well—we’d all be heartbroken to see you like this.”
She kept comforting the girl in her arms, letting Leonora’s tears soak through her own clothes.
No one knew how long Leonora cried. Until her sobs finally faded away, Aurora’s comforting hands never stopped moving…
After watching the young miss eat a little and coaxing her to sleep, Aurora finally planned to leave.
But as she reached the door, her gaze was caught by a red dress.
“This is…”
She tiptoed over to the wardrobe and took a closer look at the dress.
It was pieced together from many scraps of red fabric. Rather than a dress, it looked more like a red rag.
But Aurora could still tell that this patched dress must have been made to resemble the one Mia made for her.
Her eyes drifted down and she noticed stains on the sleeves.
As if they’d been dampened by tears.
Could it be that she cried over this dress every day?
Then, the young miss must really miss that red dress. After all, it was made for her by Mia herself.
But unfortunately, that dress had been thrown away long ago because it was too badly damaged. It could never be found again.
‘If I could make that dress all over again, maybe the young miss wouldn’t be so sad anymore.’
The thought blossomed in her heart. She gripped the fabric in her hands just a little tighter, and made up her mind…
That night, Aurora didn’t rest. She lit a candle and sat by her sewing machine, searching her memory as she tried to recreate that red dress.
The next day.
“Young Miss, look what I found!”
Aurora came to Leonora and spread out the red dress before her, hoping to see a happy expression on the young miss’s face.
But instead of joy, Leonora’s face clouded with sadness.
“It’s not the same…”
“Eh?”
“It’s not the same as the one Mother made.”
She took the red dress from Aurora, touched it, and said, “The fabric is different too. This isn’t the one Mother made for me.”
Aurora froze for a moment. She took the red dress back and hid it behind her, then forced a couple of awkward laughs, “Ma-maybe I was mistaken, haha.”
“I found this in the manor. Maybe someday we’ll find the one your mother made for you!”
“Really?”
Leonora blinked her big, teary eyes, and at last, a bit of happiness returned to her face.
Seeing the young miss finally smile, Aurora felt her own heart lighten at once. “Mm, really!”
For the next few months, Aurora brought a new red dress to Leonora nearly every day, each time with a different excuse. Sometimes she claimed she’d found it on the ground, sometimes that it had floated down from the sky, even once that it was brought by a passing witch. She spun every kind of excuse imaginable, and Leonora only half believed her.
“Young Miss, look, I found another dress. Does it look like yours?”
Leonora took it, looked it over, touched it, then shook her head, a little downcast. “It’s not this one. The cuffs should be a bit wider.”
“Ahem, maybe this one’s from another family, haha.”
Aurora said as she prepared to take it back.
“Wait.”
Just as she turned around, Leonora’s childish voice called her back.
“What is it, Young Miss?”
Aurora turned back to her, the exhaustion on her face plain to see.
“Why are your dark circles so heavy?”
“Ah, well, haha…”
She deliberately looked away, not wanting the young miss to see the red veins in her eyes.
“It’s… just the dust from cleaning, it’ll go away soon.”
“Is that so.”
Leonora knew Aurora had always been honest with her, so she nodded, half-believing, then returned to her room.
Day after day, dress after dress, Leonora had lost count of how many dresses Aurora had “found.”
Until one day, a red dress identical to the one Leonora once had appeared before her eyes, and after that, Aurora never found another dress again.
She never knew where Aurora found the discarded dress. She only knew that when she saw it again, she had already outgrown it, but even so, she still treasured it in her wardrobe…
“How did this dress end up here?”
Leonora looked at the red dress in her hands. It seemed a little different from her own, or rather, it looked more like a copy made in imitation of hers.
When she was little, she didn’t understand much. Whatever Aurora and her mother said, she believed. But looking back on it now, she couldn’t help but feel it was all a little absurd.
How could the manor have lost so many red dresses, each one so similar to the one her mother made?
Could it be…
She looked up at the crack in the ceiling, and seemed to glimpse something hidden inside.
She stood on the table, trying to open up that part of the ceiling.
“Mmmph… ah!”
She lost her balance and tumbled to the floor.
At the same time, the ceiling panel came loose completely.
Red dresses poured out like a tide, engulfing her, wrapping her in their gentle warmth. For a moment, she felt as if she were embraced by Aurora’s unique tenderness.
‘Thud.’
She landed heavily on the floor, her body completely covered by the red dresses. Bathed in their gentle scent, Leonora lay there, unwilling to get up.
Her thoughts surged like waves, memories of the past flooding her mind. This time, she understood every detail of those precious memories—why Aurora “found” so many red dresses, why she was so tired during that time, why her fingers had so many cuts…
Leonora curled up on the floor, hugging those red dresses tightly, her heart unable to calm down for a long time.
“Aurora… my Aurora…”
‘Knock knock knock…’
Urgent footsteps echoed from the corridor outside, followed by the angry voice of Duke Edron.
“Leonora, what are you doing in there!”
He paused as he reached the door.
Looking at the mess in the room and the red dresses scattered everywhere, he was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Father…”
Curled up on the floor, Leonora actually spoke. Her voice was choked with tears, and her beautiful eyes were already filled with tears.
“I don’t want to go to the Knight Academy. I want to go to Orphea Academy. I want to find Aurora…”