When Beauty Destroys The BL World

Chapter 100~Her Second Life V~

Dacia stepped into the courtyard, her footsteps slow, hesitant. The air was scented with blooming roses, and sunlight spilled over the trimmed hedges and stone path. Ahead, seated at a white table adorned with a porcelain teapot and a tray of delicate cookies, was the Duchess.

Her mother.

The woman looked up, a fleeting expression of surprise flashing across her elegant face. But it quickly melted into something softer-relief, joy even-as she stood and approached Dacia with open arms and a gentle smile.

"You came," the Duchess said warmly, reaching out to touch her daughter's hands. "I wasn't sure you would. Are you well? Are they treating you well in the palace?"

Dacia stood frozen, uncertain. The Duchess's kindness, her eagerness to receive her-it didn't match the distant figure she remembered from her previous life. The woman before her looked the same, but her demeanor was so different... caring, warm.

Too sincere.

The duchess beamed and motioned toward the chair across from her. "Please, come. Sit. You must be tired from the journey. I had prepared you some tea-honey rose, the taste is every exquisite."

Dacia's brows furrowed slightly. She took the seat carefully, watching her mother pour the tea with graceful hands.

"I hope the cookies are to your liking too," the duchess added. "It is my own recipe."

"Wait....why are you-" Dacia murmured, more to herself than anyone else. Her brows drew together as confusion swelled in her chest. "Don't you remember... anything?"

The Duchess blinked. "Remember what?"

That answer was all she needed.

Dacia's heart sank. Her mother didn't remember.

She hadn't returned from the past the same way she had. Then... what had brought her back?

"This is a mistake," Dacia said suddenly, as she stood from the chair, turning away. "I shouldn't have come."

Alarm flashed in the duchess's eyes as she stood too. "Wait-please. Did I say something wrong?"

"No," Dacia said quickly. "It's not that, truly. I just-" she couldn't finish her sentences.

"Then was it the tea? Or the cookies? I can have something else prepared-"

"Mother." Dacia's voice trembled, though she didn't mean to sound so raw. "You didn't do anything wrong. Really. I just have too many thought right now."

The duchess hesitated, then took a step closer. "Oh...if you like...you can just sit for awhile here. You can take your time to set your mind at rest. I won't be a bother to you at all."

That simple sentence made something in Dacia's chest twist. She caught the look in her mother's eyes as she spoke.

It wasn't just sadness.

It was reluctance.

Longing.

"...I'll stay," she said after a long pause, her voice low.

The duchess exhaled in relief, a smile blooming across her lips.

Dacia sat quietly beside her mother beneath the blossoming veranda, the soft clink of porcelain teacups occasionally breaking the silence between them. The golden morning sun bathed the courtyard in a gentle warmth, casting dappled patterns across the stone floor. Birds chirped faintly from the trees, and a mild breeze carried the scent of roses from the garden.

For once, she finds the dull, quiet and peaceful surroundings were quite comforting.

Before...she only thought how lonely she was.