Diana, who had just finished washing her face, came out of the bathroom, wiping her face with a handkerchief.
While wiping the parts that hadn’t been washed properly with a wet towel, Diana asked in an enthusiastic voice.
“Luke, what’s next?”
“Alright. You seem quite motivated.”
Luke liked children who were eager to learn.
Influenced by that motivation, Luke replied in a lively voice.
“The final thing is knowledge. A woman with a high level of knowledge can assist her husband in many ways. So, it can be considered the most important virtue for a bride.”
“…Knowledge?”
Diana thought.
Knowledge meant knowing things, and to know, there was an action that had to be done.
A sudden wave of anxiety washed over her.
Diana’s expression began to harden.
“Right, so…”
On the other hand, Luke, with a bright smile, pulled out a workbook that had been untouched because it was too easy and said.
“Studying.”
“Ehhh…”
Unfortunately, Diana’s prediction had come true.
———
Thus, Diana began studying as Luke had asserted.
In fact, the reason Diana needed to study wasn’t just to gain a lot of knowledge. If she wanted to become friends with Shirud, wouldn’t she need to be able to enroll in the same academy at least?
However, that didn’t mean that her dislike for studying would suddenly change.
“Ugh…”
Diana groaned in dissatisfaction.
The problems were too difficult. For a mere 8-year-old child, they were so tough that her head felt dizzy just trying to solve them.
But these were problems Luke had carefully selected. They had been chosen to match the difficulty of the entrance exam for Triga Academy, which was one of the best academies in Aires.
It was naturally going to be harder than a typical entrance exam.
Plus, the entrance exam problems Luke had solved boasted the highest difficulty ever, designed to assess ‘discernment’, making it an unfathomable level for an average 8-year-old child who hadn’t even learned proper studying yet.
But what could she do? The path to becoming a bride was long and arduous.
If she didn’t solve the problems, she would end up disappointing Luke.
Watching Diana, who couldn’t even start one problem, Luke pointed at one of the questions with his finger and said.
“If the problems are too hard, try starting with the easiest one. That arithmetic problem looks quite simple.”
The question was a very simple arithmetic problem.
– Problem. (2×2)+(7×3) =?
But Diana, after staring at the math problem for a while, tried to calculate the answer using her fingers and toes, but since this problem relied heavily on multiplication, her fingers and toes were of no use.
Diana began to mumble the multiplication song she had memorized at the daycare in an attempt to solve the problem.
“2×1 is 2, 2×2 is 4, 7×1 is 7, 7×2 is 15, 7×3 is 27. Um. So, is it 31?”
“Wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because 7 times 3 is 21. The answer is 25.”
“Ugh!”
She was trying to solve the problem by reciting the multiplication tables, but somehow she was always off the correct answer.
At 8 years old, the multiplication tables were still too difficult.
Luke sighed heavily.
If things continued like this, even if they stayed with math all day, she wouldn’t improve at all.
He had to start teaching Diana from the very basics.
First, Luke decided to ask her about the principle of multiplication.
“Do you understand how multiplication works?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
Though she recalled having learned it at some point, it wasn’t clear in her mind.
Diana was an average child who would forget one thing for every one thing she learned.
Luke rubbed his forehead.
If she didn’t even know the principle of multiplication, it was naturally impossible for her to get the right answers.
These days, children learn to memorize the multiplication tables without understanding the principles behind them, which was quite troublesome.
“…Multiplication is like this.”
Luke wrote a number in his notebook.
“7.”
“Now, how many 7s are there?”
“One.”
“Right, there is one 7. So, the number written in this notebook must add up to 7, right?”
“Um… yes.”
“Okay, now I wrote one more 7 beside it. How many does that make in total?”
“Um… since it’s 7 and 7, um…”
In response to Luke’s question, Diana pondered for a while, folding and unfolding her fingers a few times, then murmured in a hesitant voice.
“…14?”
“That’s right, Diana. That’s 7×2.”
“Really?”
Luke nodded and wrote another big 7 in the notebook.
“Now, if I write one more 7 next to it, how many 7s are there in total?”
“Three.”
“Exactly! That’s 7×3. Now add all the numbers together. That’s the answer to 7×3.”
“Ah!”
Diana’s expression brightened at Luke’s praise.
She felt like she was beginning to understand somewhat. Although the concept of multiplication hadn’t yet formed in her mind, she felt like she was on the verge of a realization.
Diana quickly began folding and unfolding her fingers again, confidently shouted.
“14 plus 7, 20, no, 21, no, 23!”
Diana started to sneak a glance at Luke.
“…”
“Um… twenty… four?”
“Wrong.”
Seeing Luke’s expression harden, Diana lowered her head and began to avert her gaze.
How could she add 14 and 7? There were only 20 fingers and toes altogether.
In fact, it had been miraculous to even get 4 + 27 right at the start.
“Diana, you need to start with addition correctly.”
“Ugh…”
——-
Thus, Luke filled Diana’s notebook with a plethora of addition problems.
He even imposed a condition that “if you don’t solve all the addition problems, you can’t leave the room”, leaving Diana with no choice but to solve math problems.
“Ugh…”
It felt like being trapped in a prison.
There were as many as 100 problems written in the notebook.
It seemed almost insurmountable, and Diana was leaning back and forth in a rocking chair, whimpering.
“I wish someone would solve it for me.”
While lamenting over the problems, someone carefully opened the door and entered.
At first, thinking it was Luke, she jumped in surprise and pretended to solve problems, but it wasn’t Luke.
With sky-blue hair and a face resembling Luke, it was Pyris.
“What’s up? Why are you here?”
“Shh!”
Pyris raised a hand to her lips and gestured to be quiet.
To the children, her actions felt like magic.
It made it seem like they were doing something secretively.
Suddenly intrigued, Diana nodded with a look of curiosity.
Then, Pyris whispered.
“I’m bored, let’s play.”
“I need to study.”
“Study?”
“If I don’t solve all of these, I can’t go out.”
“Really?”
Pyris looked at the notebook filled with problems that Luke had written, grinning as if it wasn’t a big deal.
Diana felt a glimmer of hope seeing that smile.
After all, Luke was incredibly smart, so wouldn’t her younger sister Pyris be smart too?
Perhaps she could solve the problems for her instead!
Or at the very least, if they worked together, wouldn’t half be enough?
“Can you solve it, by any chance?”
Then, Pyris replied with an even brighter smile.
“Nope.”
A spirit was unlikely to solve math problems.
She had only just begun to learn to read numbers.
——–
“…”
Just then, as Diana was again staring at the notebook, lost in thought.
To the spirit, Diana’s expression and groans reeked of discontent.
This was puzzling to Pyris.
She couldn’t understand why Diana would endure such pain to study, when Luke always seemed to enjoy studying.
“Why are you forcing yourself to do something you hate?”
Ugh, that’s annoying, Pyris.
Diana replied in a dissatisfied voice.
“To become a bride.”
“What’s a bride?”
“It’s when you become family with someone you like.”
“So, to become a bride, you have to study?”
“Yeah.”
“Got it.”
Pyris nodded.
So studying was originally for becoming a bride.
Then did Luke also study to become a bride?
“Well then, I want to study too.”
Pyris jumped up from her seat, took any random book from the shelf in the living room, and opened it as if to imitate what Diana was doing.
However, she had no idea what was written in it, just looking at it.
She wasn’t sure if just looking at it counted as studying. Luke was busy moving her eyes and hands.
But if Diana said this was “studying”, then it must not be a problem.
Thus, Pyris sat together with Diana in the rocking chair for some time, just flipping through the book.
The only letters Pyris could read were the names of foods she often ate, so the words written in the book were just scribbles to her.
Still, just the act of looking at the book and turning the pages was fun for Pyris, and she enjoyed it.
“What are you having so much fun reading?”
Curious about what Pyris found interesting, Diana asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Then I want to read it too.”
“Here.”
Taking the book from Pyris, Diana looked at the densely packed array of letters and felt a bit intimidated.
Usually, she only read fairy tales, but this had so many letters!
Just attempting to read it felt like an adventure to Diana.
So she wouldn’t dare to read it from the beginning and decided to read just one page.
– It was the day half a year after Nia became Gray’s bride.
“Wow, a bride!”
Pyris cheered softly at the mention of a bride.
Somehow, there was a sense that this book really spoke to her, and her selection turned out to be correct.
Following that, Diana began to read aloud from the book.
Nia said, “It’s okay to be a bit rough today.”
Then Gray replied, “Alright, then lean against the wall and stand back.”
“Hmm?”
Diana and Pyris both made a puzzled sound simultaneously.
Rough? Wall? What on earth was rough, and why was she being told to lean against the wall?
“Gray admired her swaying hips…”
“What? Why is he hitting her hips all of a sudden?”
Diana and Pyris had no idea why Gray and Nia were acting that way, but they decided to continue reading for now.
———-
“Um, good. They are baked well.”
Luke gazed at the cookies placed on a plate with a satisfied expression.
In fact, while Diana was studying, Luke was busy preparing a snack for the children.
However, Pyris had been causing so much disruption that Luke told her to be quiet. Now, where had she gone?
Luke called for Pyris several times, but received no answer.
“Is she not in the house?”
Well, it wasn’t too rare for Pyris to suddenly dash off somewhere.
Spirits generally don’t like to settle in one place.
That was why wandering minstrels preferred a nomadic lifestyle instead of settling down in one place.
Only Pyris stayed put because of her absurd affinity.
So, Luke decided to call Diana instead and opened the door to the room.
Click.
“Diana, I just baked cookies, so you can eat and then…”
Luke stopped when he saw the children sleeping soundly in the rocking chairs, leaning on each other.
The gentle sound of their breathing, with their hands clasped together, made them look incredibly cute.
To be able to hold hands while sleeping, had they already become that close?
“Haha, they must have been quite tired.”
He understood. Diana’s day of lessons to become a bride had surely been exhausting.
It was fine if they had cookies a little later.
But why on earth were they sleeping uncomfortably in the chairs?
He thought it would be best to lay them down comfortably on the bed.
As Luke reached over to rearrange the precarious book that looked like it would fall off Diana’s lap, he paused when he saw the title.
“Tailly’s Handkerchief, this is…”
The story was about a cat-human maid who falls in love with her employer and eventually marries him.
Luke knew this because he had read the first part at Yerna’s lodging before.
Seeing that it was marked as a two-part series, this appeared to be the sequel, and from what he remembered, the earlier installment had detailed sexual descriptions.
Would the kids have read this?
No way.
Even if they had read it, most of the text was about psychological depictions involving the opposite sex, so they likely would have only read the inappropriate sections.
Well, since they fell asleep while reading it, it seemed they weren’t too interested…
“Ha… I must ask them directly when they wake up.”
Rustle, rustle.
A sound made him turn slightly, and Pyris was waking up with a messy expression.
“Oh, Pyris, did you wake up? Did I disturb you?”
“Yeah.”
After rubbing her eyes for a while, Pyris suddenly remembered something and asked Luke.
“Hmm, I like you, Luke. How about you?”
“Haha, really? I like you too.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Suddenly asking if he liked her, it seemed spirits truly craved affection.
Spirits, in some ways, seemed no different from little children.
While thinking that, Luke smiled and, bending down to put the book in a vacant space on the bookshelf, said to Pyris.
“Oh, by the way, Pyris. If you go out to the living room, I baked some cookies for you to eat…”
Pyris’s sparkling eyes were now directed at Luke’s bottom.
The tail and bottom brought to mind a scene from the book.
With a sly grin, Pyris raised her hand and…
Smack!
“Eek!?”
The sudden sting of her tail was enough to make Luke’s bent waist spring upright.
The shock even made Luke drop the book he was holding.
What on earth was happening? Luke couldn’t comprehend the situation immediately.
“W-What are you doing, all of a sudden?”
“Because you’re my bride!”
“…What?”
Luke could not fathom how hitting his butt (or more accurately, his tail) was related to that.
It only left him more confused.
