Chapter 19

“I hope it doesn’t come to that. I still have to buy my son food. Heuk. Heuk.” 

Ruth put his hands in front of his face and gave a faint cry. 

‘…I can’t believe it.’

It was funny, and my guard dropped a little.

At the same time, it was made clear what kind of person Ruth was. 

‘He’s completely different from the Cardinal and the priests of my previous life.’

My lips pouted.

“If… if it’s just this once…”

“Wow! Dia, thank you!”

Ruth smiled brightly as if he had never pretended to cry. 

Gallio looked at his son putting on a play and clicked his tongue in pity. 

The Little Bear rolled his eyes. 

“Let’s go inside. Young Master, let her sit on the bed.”

The Little Bear did as Ruth said and stood a few steps away from the bed. The farther he was, the more uneasy I felt. It grew even more as Ruth approached. 

I looked at the Little Bear in a hurry. 

“Come on, come here.”

“Huh? Yes.”

The Little Bear moved quickly and stood right next to me. 

I was a little relieved because he was within reach as long as I reached out. 

Ruth sat comfortably on the floor in front of me, looked up, smiled kindly, and held his right hand out to me.

“Look, even though it’s only my right hand it looks quite handsome, right?”

“…”

“Can you hold this handsome hand of mine?”

“O-okay.”

I slowly reached my hand out and took a deep breath. 

It took a little time, but Ruth didn’t press me and waited with a smile. It was a bit believable that he would not do me wrong, so I reached out and grabbed Ruth’s right hand. 

Even though he was a priest and muscular, his palm was very hard but warm. 

I was relieved a little more because it was similar to Big Bear and Little Bear. 

“I’ll start now. It will shine a little, so don’t be surprised.”

“…Okay”

Only after I answered did Ruth smile and use his Divine Power. 

The Grace of the Lord to man.

Mana was used through a specific method of magic, and everyone was born with it. However, it is said that only 10 percent of the population was actually strong enough to use mana in combat. 

‘On the other hand, they say that less than 1% of the population is born with divine power, right?’

That alone was a very small number, but only about one-tenth of them were actually able to use their divine power properly. As a result, only 0.1 percent of the population could successfully use divine power. 

It was a truly precious power. 

‘Thanks to that, all priests and Divine Power users were treated very highly.’

In addition, the majority of Divine Power users had a sense of privilege. 

Not to mention my previous life, the priest I met in the orphanage in my present life condescendingly treated all the children, including me, as bugs. 

‘This person… is different.’

Ruth was completely different from the people I had previously seen before. 

There were times when even the Divine Power felt dirty. In fact, there were so many cases. 

‘The Cardinal is one example.’

However, Ruth’s Divine Power was as warm as the spring sunshine. 

At the same time, he comforted the anxious me. 

‘…Incredible.”

Usually, Divine Power could only be used for a few seconds, but Ruth had been using it now for more than a minute. At the same time, he did not lose his breath at all. 

‘The control over his mana is incredible. It’s used well even though the movements are detailed. That’s… that’s really great.’

It was a force similar to that of the Cardinal in my previous life. I got goosebumps all over my body as I curled up with a sense of rejection, but I didn’t shake Ruth’s hands off. 

‘Ruth is not the Cardinal.’

He was a different person. A warm, tender, caring, good person. 

I stared Ruth straight in the eye. 

‘It’s the same brown color as Gallio.’

It made one feel calm and peaceful. 

Ruth continued to smile at me amicably in consideration of my uncomfortableness and rejection. However, the more he used his divine power, the more he frowned. 

“This…”

Ruth sighed and stopped using his divine power. 

“Is there a problem, by any chance?”

The Little Bear who stayed close to me worriedly asked right away. 

“You’re healthy, but… Dia, how old are you right now?”

I was so surprised by the question that I couldn’t say anything, but the Little Bear answered for me instead. 

“She’s five.”

“I don’t think so. According to the examination, she should be a little older.”

The Little Bear’s startled expression was obvious to the eye. 

“Dia, you’re five years old right?”

At this point, I realized I had to answer the truth. 

“I’m seven years old.”

“What?”

It wasn’t Little Bear who spoke, but Gallio who was quietly behind him. 

‘What’s wrong with him?’

It was strange, but it wasn’t a situation where I could simply ask. 

“Are you actually seven years old? Really?”

The Little Bear’s eyes widened. 

“Really.”

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

At the words, I narrowed my eyes and stared at the little bear. The Little Bear flinched. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you serious! At first, you teased me, asking if I was three or four years old. How could I say I’m actually seven! If I told you the truth you would have definitely teased me to death, talking about how small I am for a seven-year-old!”

I said in a fit of anger.

Gallio and Ruth’s eyes automatically turned to the Little Bear. The Little Bear rolled his eyes and lowered his head. 

“Sorry! …It’s just that I wouldn’t even have thought you were seven with that weight and height of yours. How can a seven-year-old be so short?”

The Little Bear held a shocked expression. Even amid the relentless shaking in his eyes, the Little Bear urgently asked Ruth. 

“She’s healthy, right?”

“Yes. She’s healthy. Her physique is well balanced. However, she is too small and light for her age. Of course, it’s possible that it’s genetic and Dia simply resembles her parents.”

I couldn’t confirm nor deny it. I knew nothing about them. 

“If it’s because you resemble your parents, there’s no problem. But if it isn’t… I heard there is a rare disease that makes the person stop growing prematurely. Dia, have you ever been treated by a priest?”

I was a little dizzy when something about a rare disease was mentioned, but I still obediently answered.

“Yes. I met one once a year when I was in the orphanage.”

“The priest didn’t say anything?”

“Yes. They only said I was healthy.”

“A few days ago, Dia was taken to a priest because she caught a cold. He didn’t say anything about the rare disease. But the priest was only of intermediate rank, I don’t think he found anything because he’s not a senior priest like you.”

‘Ruth was just a senior priest? How odd…He’s definitely more powerful than that.’

He’s definitely at least on the level of the Cardinal in my previous life. 

‘Why is he hiding his abilities?’

Something was off, but it didn’t feel malicious. 

If he had any bad intentions, his Divine Power wouldn’t have given off such a kind and gentle feeling. 

“Let’s try again.”

Ruth used his Divine Power again. This time he used it for so long that a sheet of sweat had condensed on his forehead. 

“I don’t know what it is exactly, but there’s definitely something. It could be a rare disease, but also just genetics. Maybe it’s because of another reason I don’t know. However, I’m sure it’s not life-threatening.”

“Phew.”

The Little Bear let out a long sigh of relief and stretched out his arms to hold me. 

“Our Dia is alright, thank God.”

“Yes, indeed.”

The touch patting me on the back was as friendly as ever. It was fortunate that there was nothing that would threaten my life. I shared Little Bear’s emotions as I sighed in relief. 

I was also very happy that the Little Bear was genuinely worried about me. 

‘But it is indeed serious.’

I was worried about being small and thin, but I never really took it seriously. However, seeing everybody’s reactions around me, it seemed to be a serious problem. 

I hesitated a little and then opened my mouth. 

“I’ve been using magic a lot. Ever since way before.”

When I was a baby, I used up too much mana to run away. I thought that the current problems in my body might be the aftereffects of the incident. 

“Is it possibly because I overused my mana?”

I asked because I couldn’t tell if it was a valid possibility. 

“You know how to use magic?”

Ruth asked with a startled look as if he didn’t know.

Unlike Ruth, Gallio didn’t lift an eyebrow at the fact that I could use magic.

“Yes.”

“What kind of magic can you use?”

I was at a loss if I should tell the truth. As I hesitated, the Little Bear answered for me instead. 

“Invisibility Magic, Presence Erasing Magic, Flight Magic, Body Enhancing Magic… She knows how to use them all.”

“Wow, that’s incredible!”

“She learned it on her own. I think she learned it on her own. Right, Diamond?”

That was not true. 

I learned it from the temple in my previous life. 

‘It’s a bit of a lie.’

I simply rolled my eyes. 

The Little Bear thought it was a positive thing, so he smiled and proudly said, “Our Dia is a genius!”

“She’s indeed a genius!”

The compliment was good, but it felt a little ticklish. 

“Recently, the more Dia uses her mana, the longer her sleeping time,” added the Little Bear.

Ruth nodded his head. 

“I see. As Dia guessed, her growth might have been suppressed as a side effect of excessive use of magic at an early age. But just in case, I’ll research more about that rare disease. It might take a lot of time though. For the time being, I think we need to find some things we can do to help her grow.”

“What?”

“We have the innate power to grow in our bodies, which comes from sleeping and waking up regularly. You have to go before 10 pm. It’s also basic to exercise to a reasonable extent and have a balanced diet. Some foods will help you grow taller, like milk. I’ll find more details and let you know as soon as I can.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

I replied from the bottom of my heart. 

‘Growth is a must to be able to use my strength properly.’

To grow properly, I had to follow Ruth’s advice diligently.

“As the Lord said, you must not use magic until you are thirteen,” Gallio said.

“Yes. I won’t.”

I was very disappointed, but it wasn’t like I could help it. 

‘The blessing of the Lord will make it better sooner.’

In the future, I should think of my physical condition as the most important thing. One of the reasons I originally came to the Duchy was to strengthen my body anyways. 

‘I’ll be better when I leave…’

Thinking about the future seemed to calm me down. 

“Dia.”

I raised my head. 

It was unusual, but Gallio looked a little nervous.

“Do you know when your birthday is?”

I shook my head. 

“You don’t even know the season?”

“I think it should be around early winter, but I’m not sure. A staff member once told me it was late Fall.”

It seemed to be winter because it was so cold, but Spania was very cold even during autumn. I had retained all my memories since I was born, but I often had to sleep a lot because I was young. So, I didn’t know exactly when. 

“Why do you ask?”

“A butler should know everything about his master’s guest.”

“I see.”

“Yes. I am also one of your teachers. You’ll be learning from me every other day, an hour after you go to daycare.”

“Gallio will teach personally?”

Little Bear seemed to think there was something wrong. 

“Yes. Dia is a valuable guest. Young Master, can you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Can you use detection magic on Dia’s body? Young Master is good at detection magic, so you can figure out the exact size of her body and the true color of her hair. I need to know for sure, for the sake of matching and customizing her clothing.”

I was astonished to hear such words. 

“You don’t buy clothes, you customize them?”

“Yes. That is simply how the Duke’s guests must be treated.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

The Little Bear asked with a  questioning face, “Why are you asking about hair color?”

“The Spania Estate’s people may have bleached her hair because they didn’t think it was nice. Now that she’s staying here, she should return to her original color. I want to know the exact shade.”

Gallio answered as if he had expected to hear such a question. 

It was the first time I had heard of such a practice, but I still agreed. 

“Well then. Juliano, please use your detection magic.”

The Little Bear carefully used his detection magic on me. 

Gallio took out a notebook and pen from his subspace and prepared to take notes.

The Little Bear soon enumerated my height, arm length, leg length, and other sizes. 

“The color of her hair is…”

Edited by: Healing Moon