CH 36

“Calm down, the both of you,” said Cain. 

The two four-year-olds’ were still half-standing, but each of them had a heel hovering in the air, and Cain was holding them up, and keeping them apart.  

Even though Cain was seven (three years older than the two youngsters), in order to lift them up, he had to hold his arms way above his head, as he was not much taller than them. He looked as though he had his arms up in celebration. Cain watched the two younger children flail their arms and kick their legs, then set them down, and took a step back. 

Still holding hands with them, Cain crouched down and looked at each of them in their eyes. 

“Are you done?” asked Cain. 

“Mm-hm,” said Diana. 

“Yes,” said Arundilano. 

“Good.”

Cain gave them a smile, and they looked relieved to see it. 

He looked over at Diana with a troubled expression on his face and said, “Diana. If someone starts talking to you, you have to face them when you respond. Otherwise, if there’s a lot of people around, it becomes hard to tell who you’re talking to.”

“But, Brother! When he said ‘Look,’ I said ‘Later,’ right away,” said Diana. 

Cain realized that Diana meant that what she said was clearly in response to what Arundilano had said. 

Cain slowly shook his head and said, “Diana, at that time, you were talking to someone else, right? Kay, you said?”

“Mm-hm. Kay was trying to think of an answer to my quiz, and I was giving her hints and stuff,” said Diana.

“Well, then, the Crown Prince might have thought that you were continuing your conversation with Kay,” said Cain. 

“Huh?” asked Diana, exasperated.

“Well, he might have thought that Kay asked you for another hint, and you said ‘Later,’ to her. After all, you were looking at Kay when you said it,” said Cain. 

Diana didn’t answer, but she looked embarrassed.

In response, Cain smiled even more. Once he explained the situation carefully, Diana was smart enough to understand. She really is the best little sister in the world, thought Cain. 

At the Elgrandark manor, since everyone paid close attention to Diana, there was never any confusion as to who she was talking to. Even if she didn’t face the person she was talking to, if Cain was around, he gently guided her and advised her on her manners. This was the first time Diana was in a group of people outside of the manor, and Cain had to explain to her that she hadn’t responded properly.

“Good girl. You’re very smart, Diana. From now on, when you respond to someone, you’ll face them before you speak, right?” asked Cain. 

“Mm-hm,” said Diana.

Cain wanted to tussle Diana’s hair, but he realized both of his hands were occupied, so he used the back of his hand to pat her on the head, while still holding her hand. 

Then, once he saw Diana laughing bashfully, he turned around and met eyes with Arundilano. 

“Your Highness. When you start speaking to someone, you have to face them, too. Since you are royalty, I think there will be lots of situations where you speak to many people at once. That day, though, you wanted Diana and Kay to turn around, right? If so, you should have gone in front of Diana and Kay, and after seeing their faces, you should have said, ‘Please look at my castle.’”

“But when I said, ‘Look,’ before that, everyone else looked,” said Arundilano. 

“If someone is far away or concentrating on something else, it becomes quite hard for them to hear your voice. If you want to call on someone when they are turned away from you, you should call them by their name. If you don’t do that, no one can tell that you are calling on them from behind,” said Cain. 

“But I didn’t know their names, yet…” 

“You are right. That is why you should have walked over to where you could face them, and then started talking to them.”[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

Cain had explained everything gently thus far, but he then put on a strict demeanor. Cain glared straight into Arundilano’s eyes.

“Even if you were ignored, or you were cast aside for later, that gave you no right to pull on a girl’s arm. Since you already apologized, I will not be too hard on you, but from now on, you must never be violent towards a girl, ever again,” said Cain. He wanted to make this point extremely clear. 

If somehow, the Crown Prince Route could not be avoided, as long as the Crown Prince could become someone who could see how horrible it was to hurt a girl, he might not sell Diana off to an old man.

It was Cain’s mission to prevent Diana from becoming a villainess to stop the Crown Prince Route from becoming a reality, but there were little things he could do as insurance, in case that didn’t work.

“Even if the girl is mean?” asked Arundilano. 

“Even if the girl is mean. You cannot fight meanness with meanness. A great man will avoid all meanness with dignity,” said Cain.

“Even if a girl hits me first?” 

“You must act in such a way that would never result in a girl hitting you in the first place. It is quite a difficult thing to do, but Your Highness, you are a prince, so you must learn how to do so.”

Arundilano was thinking hard about what Cain was saying. He brought his fist up to his mouth and was nodding and mumbling in understanding.

“I get it. I’m the Crown Prince, so I should put up with meanness,” said Arundilano. 

He didn’t get it. 

“No. Brother just said that we should face each other when we talk,” said Diana, cutting in after listening to our conversation. 

“It was mean of me to say ‘Later,’ without turning around, but if you said, ‘Diana, turn around please,’ I might have turned around before talking to you,” said Diana. 

“That’s very smart, Diana! That’s right. That’s what I’m trying to say!” said Cain. 

Cain finally let go of Diana’s hand and tussled her hair. 

“Your Highness. There is no such thing as a girl who is mean from the start. There is always something that makes them want to be mean. So, you must take away the thing that makes them mean,” said Cain. 

There is no such thing as a girl who is mean from the start. Cain was talking about Diana. Diana wasn’t a villainess from the day she was born, and since Cain was raising her, she was adorable and proper and good, for now. 

From his experience as a salaryman (on dispatch) in his thirties, Cain knew that there were people who were mean from the day they were born. He knew that there were people who enjoyed being spiteful for no reason. 

It would be pointless to mention that right now, though, and since Arundilano was the Crown Prince, he probably wouldn’t be running into many people like that. 

“People who are treated with kindness will return that kindness. Please try to be a kind prince,” said Cain. 

Cain tried to break it down into simple terms so that this young prince would understand. He wanted him to know that Cain wasn’t asking him to put up with meanness. 

“I don’t really understand, but okay. I don’t have to put up with meanness, I have to be kind,” said Arundilano. 

Arundilano was nodding, and Diana came over and tousled his hair, saying, “Good, good.” She wasn’t holding back on the tussling, and his hair was getting messy. 

“Very good, Your Highness,” said Cain, letting go of his hand and joining in on the tussling. Arundilano’s head was being pushed this way and that by Diana and Cain’s hands, but his face showed that he was happy.