CH 15

Cain had taken Diana by the hand and was about to go out to the yard with her, but he suddenly remembered the tutor that he had left alone, in his room. 

“Wait just a second, Diana,” he said.

When Cain turned around, he saw Professor Yannis, his tutor, peeking out of the room and down the hallway at him. Their eyes met. 

“Thank you for finally remembering that you were in the middle of your studies, Master Cain,” he said. 

“I’m sorry,” said Cain.

After this short exchange, Professor Yannis came out of the room and into the hallway. 

“Well, your studies have been progressing smoothly. Why don’t we go out to the yard and learn about flowers and insects, today?” he said.

“Learn about flowers!” said Diana.

“You will come along with us, Diana, and I will teach you the names of flowers and all about how insects live.”

“Okay!” said Diana, raising her hands in happy agreement. 

She’s seriously adorable, thought Cain.

She had been bawling, up until a moment ago, but now she was in a wonderful mood, singing “Flow-ers! Flow-ers!” 

How precious! It’s practically a holy hymn, coming from her. She’s a miracle, sent from the gods.  

“Master Cain, your face,” said Ilvalino. 

“Master Cain, you must train yourself to show less emotion on your face,” said Professor Yannis. 

Cain was being scolded from both sides. 

“…Am I being that obvious?” asked Cain.

“You’re practically dripping with adoration for Diana-sama,” said Professor Yannis. 

“It’s not my fault that Diana’s this cute…”

“You’re the duke’s heir. Get a hold of yourself,” said Ilvalino.

“Get a hold of yourself!” said Diana, giggling and following up Professor Yannis and Ilvalino’s words of caution with her own.

Even her smug look was adorable, and so Cain felt like there was nothing he could do. He raised a white flag In his heart and waved it about. 

Professor Yannis and Ilvalino looked at Diana, and then over at my smiling face. They both sighed. 

…Am I honestly that obvious?

In the central courtyard of the duke’s manor, there were many seasonal flowers in bloom. 

The blooming periods of various plants were tested for in the backyard and greenhouse, and depending on which ones were in season, they were cycled in and out of the courtyard. In this way, the courtyard was always stocked with flowers.

“All noblemen, especially an heir to the duke, should know the names of flowers,” said Professor Yannis, beginning to lecture as he caressed a white flower, “For many men, flowers are simply flowers, but women can draw deep meanings and backstories from each flower.”

“A deep backstory…” said Cain.

“For example, a man passes by a flower, thinking that it is pretty, and picks it. A woman he doesn’t know starts talking to him, saying ‘What a lovely flower.’ The man says, ‘Well, then, take it, please.’,” said Professor Yannis.

“Sounds like an ordinary thing to happen,” said Cain.

“Well, as a result, even though they just met by chance, this man and woman would then be caught in a mess. They would have to get married.”

“Why?!” blurted both Cain, and Ilvalino, together. They both had extremely confused looks on their faces.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

“This white flower is called a Diliguz. It represents the idea of, “If you die, then I die.”

“Well, that’s quite disturbing, isn’t it?!” asked Cain.

“A woman who accepts this flower from a man is agreeing to be with that man until death do them part! In other words, giving a woman this flower amounts to a wedding proposal! …That’s how people would interpret it,” said Professor Yannis.

“Oh come on. No, they wouldn’t, would they?” asked Cain.

“No one would think that, right?” asked Ilvalino. 

As the two children questioned Professor Yannis, he gazed upon the white flower with a certain sadness, for some reason.

Perhaps something like this happened to him in the past.

“There is another popular story that says that a woman came home one day and saw this flower on display in her bedroom. She took this to mean that her affair had been found out, and she desperately apologized to her husband, asking him to reconsider.”

“Ah, she thought it meant the husband wanted them to commit double suicide?” asked Cain.

“In the story, it turns out that it was actually the married couple’s anniversary that day, and the husband had put the flower on display to commemorate it. When his wife apologized to him, it was the first time he heard about the affair. It’s an ironic story,” said Professor Yannis. He looked up at the sky, with a far-off look in his eyes.

Oh yeah – I think I heard somewhere that Professor Yannis was a batsuichi (once divorced) bachelor. I don’t know if people call it batsuichi in this world, though. I doubt that they do.

“Master Cain and Mistress Diana – you are both very good-looking. You have a good face, too, Ilvalino. I’m sure you’ll grow up to be handsome men and a beautiful woman. Attractive people are often misunderstood. Please make sure you learn the names of these flowers, and what they mean to people,” said Professor Yannis. 

Professor Yannis has an attractive face, too. 

After graduating from Unlimited Magical Academy, Professor Yannis had started attending Magical Graduate School, and he was currently studying magical stones and magical energy as a researcher, and he was also working as Cain’s tutor as a side job.

Cain hoped that the story that Professor Yannis had just told about the diliguz wasn’t actually a personal anecdote. After all, Professor Yannis was gentle and kind, and strict only when it came to Cain’s studies. He really was a good teacher. 

He was also very kind to Diana, which was, of course, extremely important to Cain. Whenever Diana would ask him “Why?” over and over as if attacking him, Professor Yannis would patiently answer her each time. He didn’t just blow off her questions because she was a child.

“Professor Yannis – Who came up with the meanings behind flowers?” asked Cain.

“Well, the meanings were established long, long ago. Nobody knows who came up with them, originally. There is one theory, though, that says there are specific types of fairies that are said to accompany specific flowers. The flower meanings are taken from the characteristics of the fairies that rule over them. 

“Is there really a fairy that says ‘If you die, then I die’?”

“Well, the flowers that we are used to now were brought about by selective breeding. They’re generally all beautiful because beautiful flowers sell the best. In other words, the stories that explain the meaning behind the flowers could just be the stories that remained because they sold the most flowers, too.”

Professor Yannis had been forlorn, but he had fully recovered after answering Diana’s question and seeing her smile. 

“If I make a new flower, would that mean I could make up my own meaning for it?” asked Diana.

“Yes, of course,” said Professor Yannis, “If you really were to discover a new flower, what would you name it and what would be its meaning?” 

Diana had been waiting for this question. Diana took a deep breath in through her nose, and then answered clearly. 

“I would name it ‘Cain Flower’, and I would make it mean, ‘I love my brother!’”

Oh, God. She is so cute that I could die here and now.

Ilvalino felt like he could read what Cain was going through. He thought that maybe Cain would faint, and so he stepped behind him and supported his back. 

No one noticed that Ilvalino was physically helping Cain stay on his two feet