CH 14

About half a year had passed since Ilvalino had become Cain’s chamberlain. All the children had their birthdays in that interval. Cain and Ilvalino turned seven, and Diana had turned four years old.

“Gyaaahhh!”

A cry like the distant howling of a dinosaur reverberated through the halls. 

It was Diana’s voice.

Cain got permission from his tutor and looked out into the hallway. What he saw was Diana, wailing as if she were on fire, and a housemaid standing beside her, trying to comfort her, but at a loss. 

“What happened?” Cain asked the housemaid, walking down the hall towards them. Ilvalino followed closely behind. 

The housemaid opened her mouth to reply, but Diana cut her off with an accusation.

“Delina won’t give me the quill pen!!!” she cried.

“Quill pen?” asked Cain.

Cain could see that the housemaid, Delina, had a quill pen with a beautiful blue feather in her hand. Apparently, Diana wanted it, but Delina refused to give it to her. 

“Delina – Is that quill pen important to you?” asked Cain. 

Delina looked up and nodded her head up and down. Her face was completely pale, probably because she was terrified of what it meant to make Diana cry. 

Cain didn’t want to take away something that meant so much to Delina, and he needed to teach Diana why it would be wrong to do so. 

He thought that in order to make sure Diana wouldn’t become a villainess, he had to let her use her own reasoning to understand the situation. 

“…Delina – Could you tell me where I could buy a quill pen like that?” Cain asked.

Delina replied, “My son made this for me, and so…” 

Ah, so it’s not for sale, anywhere. It’s no wonder Delina couldn’t just give it away easily, thought Cain. He crouched down to get to Diana’s eye-level and looked at her face-to-face. She was sniffling but no longer crying. 

“Diana – Delina says that quill pen is precious to her. It’s a present from someone in her family,” said Cain.

“I know…” said Diana.

“If you had a present that I gave you, and someone said to you, ‘Give me that, please,’ would you be able to give it to them?” 

“No! Anything I get from you is a treasure!”

Did you hear that? Hey, did you hear that? She said that anything that she gets from me is a treasure! What an angel! Seriously, she’s an angel! Ahhh, Diana’s just the cutest, really.

Cain looked back at Ilvalino and tried to say all of this with just a glance. Ilvalino looked away and ignored him.

Cain had to make an effort to stop himself from grinning as he softly pets Diana’s hair. 

“Just like you can’t give away your treasures, Delina can’t either,” said Cain, in gentle admonishment.

Diana’s eyes widened, and it looked as though she had come to a realization. She looked up at Delina.

“Delina’s treasure?” asked Diana, pointing her tiny finger at the blue quill pen. 

She is so adorable.

“It is my treasure, yes,” said Delina, carefully bringing the blue quill pen to her chest. 

Seeing this, Diana sheepishly apologized, saying, “I’m sorry.”

Did you see that?! You saw that, right?! Our little Diana can apologize! What a good girl!

Again, he tried to send these thoughts to his chamberlain through eye contact. Again, he was ignored.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

“What a good girl! Diana, you apologized! You did so good!” said Cain, ruffling her hair lovingly, and then hugging her tightly. 

Cain saw that if he showed her that what she was doing was wrong, she could understand. Even at the age of four, she could apologize when she saw her wrongdoings. 

Isn’t she clever?! Our little Diana! What an angel!

“Diana, let me tell you a secret,” Cain said to Diana while looking at her, directly. 

She turned her head and tilted it so that Cain could whisper into her ear. 

Ah, how cute.

He got close to her and directed her on how she could ask for a favor. 

Diana haltingly walked over to Delina, then looked up at her, and started her adorable plea.

“Delina… I would like to please ask your son… if he could possibly make one of those for me as well.”

Uggghhh. She’s so precious I could die. She’s too cute to handle. How could anyone turn down a request like that? It should be illegal to be that cute.

Ilvalino caught Cain’s back, as he was beginning to swoon from watching Diana. “Master Cain, your face,” he warned in a quiet voice. 

Delina blushed, too, and she looked down at Diana bashfully.

Cain thought that since Delina had said that her son had made the quill pen, Diana could ask whether he could make a new one for her, as well. After all, Diana didn’t want Delina’s quill pen, per se. She wanted a beautiful quill pen with a blue feather.

“Delina, please consider it a favor for me, too. I’ll pay for the materials and labor from my own allowance,” said Cain. 

It would be wrong to press her with what amounts to a demand for a new quill pen for free. It’s not like she could easily refuse her master’s son. Cain knew that he had to follow up Diana’s request with a proper offer to pay for any costs. 

“My grandson found this pretty feather in the yard and brought it in, and so my son made it into a quill pen for me. We didn’t have to spend much on the materials, but at the same time, it’s not like a feather-like this can be found so easily…” said Delina, with a look of hopelessness on her face. She slouched her shoulders and bowed her head.

Her treasure was much more priceless than Cain had thought. Her grandson had found a precious item, and then her son turned this into a priceless tool. Now that this was clear, it was no wonder why it was so important to Delina.

It was a good thing Diana hadn’t pleaded for this quill pen away from Cain, somewhere. A low-ranking noblewoman like Delina would no doubt have felt that she needed to give up her treasure to a crying Diana. 

Then, Diana would have learned that if she cried and pleaded for something from someone of a lower rank, she would get what she wanted, easily. 

“Well, if I had a feather-like that, would your son be able to make it into a quill pen, for me?” asked Cain. 

“Yes,” said Delina, upon hearing this new request.

“Diana, let’s go to the yard and look for a feather-like that one. If we get a quill pen made for us with a feather that we found, it’ll be a precious treasure, for sure!” said Cain.

“A pen for Diana!” said Diana.

Diana grinned, and grasped Cain’s hand, urging him outside immediately. 

She holds onto three of my fingers with her whole hand – how cute! I can feel her warmth and softness. My heart’s gone all fuzzy. Ah, so precious.

“Master Cain, your face failing to keep a straight face,” Ilvalino warned.

Cain pulled himself together and turned to face the housemaid once again. 

“Delina, please allow us to call on you if we find a good feather. You may go home, for today,” said Cain. 

After sending Delina home, Cain took Diana by the hand and they headed out to the yard.

What was that saying? A raven crying in one moment, laughs in the next? 

Diana was singing happily now, pulling Cain by the hand and walking quickly to the yard. 

Behind them, Ilvalino sighed and followed them out