Perhaps it was out of concern that Ryuto might blame himself.

"No, Ryuto, don't misunderstand. I didn't blame you, it's just... it's my own issue."

Delance Anna raised her head to explain.

"Is that so..."

Almost thought she was going to be done for, but...

"What do you mean by your own issue?"

Ryuto asked, shifting the focus to something he shouldn't have.

"Well..."

After a long silence with her head bowed down, Delance Anna slowly spoke.

"My mother has passed away."

"Oh? I'm sorry, I brought up something sad for you."

"No, Ryuto, please don’t feel sorry. I know you were asking out of concern for my mother, so there's no malice in it, I'm clear about that."

"Is that so..."

"And, my mother passed away when I was born; I never actually saw her, I can only look at photos."

As Delance Anna said this, she slightly lowered her gaze.

Perhaps to divert attention, Ryuto spoke.

"Your mother passed away so early, was it due to some illness?"

"No, I heard from the Delance steward that it was due to complications during childbirth."

"Complications?"

"Yes, it seems there was an accident during my birth, and at that time, the doctor told my father that only one between my mother and I could be saved, so..."

"..."

So, did her father choose her between the two, and that's why her mother died?

Well, considering the Marquess Delance's age, her mother gave birth to her when he was close to forty, and judging by the situation, she didn't have any other siblings, which means that at that time, the Marquess Delance had no children, so choosing the child was only natural.

But then...

No wonder she felt that there was something off about their father-daughter relationship earlier...

Perhaps to ease the tension, Anna spoke up when Ryuto remained silent.

"However, even though I never met my mother, I heard many things about her from the Delance steward."

"Is that so..."

"Yes, according to the Delance steward, my mother's name was Floren Lauren, and she was a very gentle person, whether towards my father or the steward, which is why she was well-liked by the servants."

"That's truly a good mother."

"Do you also think so, Ryuto?"

With that, a smile appeared on Anna's face.

"Well, how should I put it, generally, it's not common to be kind to servants and all."

"I think so too, but in reality, my mother was very gentle towards everyone, although she seemed to be quite absent-minded."

"Absent-minded?"

"Yes, that's what I heard from the Delance steward. Mother often caused chaos when cooking, even when helping others, things usually ended up worse."

Although the content was like this, Anna always had a smile on her face when she spoke about it.

"Indeed..."

That's quite quirky behavior.

"And once, it seems she mistook pepper for something else while cooking, which resulted in her having an allergic reaction to her own food, she almost couldn't breathe and had to be taken to the hospital."

"Allergic reaction?"

"Yes, I heard that mother seemed to be allergic to things like pepper and chili, so she never used them in cooking."

"Is that so..."

Quite careless, to accidentally cause a food allergy on oneself. In a sense, it's a talent.

"So, how was Auntie like?"

Anna suddenly asked out of nowhere.