After the maid helped me take a bath, I ate a lot of snacks.
“…Today, I’m going to see Father.”
Feeling full made me sleepy, but I held it in. I climbed onto Daru’s back, bringing Carro and Koruko along, and we headed to Father’s room.
“Father!”
“What is it, my cute Luria?”
“I want to study.”
“You’ve already been studying reading, writing, and math, haven’t you?”
I had started studying reading, writing, and arithmetic at three years old, and I was still continuing it. I could now read picture books quite well and do two-digit multiplication and division.
“I want to keep studying reading, writing, and arithmetic, but I also want to study history.”
“…History?”
Father hesitated for a moment. Then he stared directly at me.
“Father?”
“No, nothing… History, you say?”
“Yes, history.”
“Why do you want to study history? Do you want to know about the heroes from the past?”
“Hmm, not really. I’m more interested in the relationship between the church and the royal family.”
“…………!”
Father’s eyes widened.
“What is it, Father?”
“No, it’s just… Why do you want to know about the relationship between the church and the royal family? Why do you want to study history to learn about that?”
“Hmm…”
I thought for a moment, trying to organize my thoughts. I didn’t feel the need to hide what I was thinking from Father. Of course, I couldn’t just say, “I’m a reincarnated person,” though.
“If the church is strong, bad things might happen.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“And you can’t understand the relationship between the church and the royal family without knowing history, don’t you think?”
“Well, yes, that’s certainly true.”
“That’s why I want to know. I asked the maid, but she said she didn’t know.”
Father stared at me intently.
“Alright, I’ll teach you after dinner.”
“Eh? Father will?”
“Yes. Is that okay?”
“It’s not that I mind, but… aren’t you busy?”
“It’s fine.”
“Okay then! Thanks, Father!”
I wasn’t sure why Father himself was going to teach me, but I was happy that he would.
After dinner that evening, Father came to my room with the butler.
Even though it was my room, it was actually a study room next to the room with my bed.
The butler who came with Father had brought a cart full of books. He placed the books on my desk.
“Thank you, this really helps.”
“Thank you!”
Since Father thanked him, I also said thank you. He had carried the heavy books for me, so it was only right to thank him. When I bowed my head, Daru and Carro also gave a little bow. On the other hand, Koruko was sitting on the desk with his eyes closed—maybe he was tired.
“It’s nothing,” the butler said, bowing deeply before leaving.
“Thank you too, Father.”
“It’s nothing. It’s because it’s my cute Luria’s request.”
“But I didn’t expect you to teach me, Father.”
Father was always so busy.
“Well, it’s going to be a very political discussion.”
“Hmm?”
“Also, it’s something that involves you too.”
“Me too…”
I didn’t understand what Father meant when he said it involved me.
“You mustn’t tell anyone lightly about what I’m about to say, okay? Can you promise that?”
“I promise!”
“Good girl.”
Father smiled and patted my head before sitting down. My room had a nice desk and chairs that adults could sit on, and there was a chair that was just right for me.
“Now, where should I start… Luria, come sit here.”
“Okay.”
Instead of sitting in the chair, I climbed onto Father’s lap.
“Here.”
Koruko jumped onto my lap, so I petted him.
“Alright, let’s start by talking about the founding of the Farnese dynasty. That will be the best way to understand the relationship between the church and the royal family.”
“Thanks, Father!”
“Mm, let’s see which one is the best to start with.”
After hesitating a bit, Father picked a book and opened it.
“Wow~”
There were a lot of small letters written on the pages. Daru sat on the floor, Carro climbed onto the desk, and Koruko stared at the book from my lap. They looked almost like they were reading it.
“This is a difficult book, so I’ll explain it to you since you can’t read it yet.”
“Please!” “Woof!” “Kyuu kyuu” “Here.”
Father told me about the great disaster that occurred two hundred years ago, where many people died. Despite this, the Holy Royal Family not only failed to act but also tried to squeeze more labor and wealth from the people.
Father seemed to have the history mostly in his head, as he didn’t need to look at the book much to explain it. He probably kept it open just to make sure he wouldn’t mix up dates or events.
“The people who died because of the Holy Royal Family’s bad governance were even more than those who died in the disaster.”
“…That’s awful.”
“Yeah, it was really bad.”
I listened while glancing at the book Father had opened. He seemed to think I couldn’t read difficult books, but I could. I found a word in the book that caught my eye.
“Seijo?”
“Hmm? Oh, you read that? Good job.”
“I can read it! What’s ‘seijo’?”
“The Holy Royal Family occasionally had daughters who were loved by spirits.”
“Wow.”
It seemed that the royal family was called the “Holy Royal Family” because they sometimes had daughters born as “saints” blessed by spirits.
“But does this ‘seijo’ do something bad?”
“Wow, you can read such a difficult book! You’re amazing, Luria.”
“Hehe.”
Father praised me and patted my head with his big hand, which made me feel embarrassed.
“The last saint in the Holy Royal Family mentioned in this book, however, is said to be a fake.”
“A fake?”
“Yes. After the day of divine retribution when the church was destroyed, she stopped performing miracles, and during the great disaster, she couldn’t do anything.”
It seemed that this “saint” was the same princess who had bullied me.
“In the end, she was stoned to death… But I won’t go into detail.”
Stoning was a very cruel punishment where stones were thrown at a person until they slowly died. Father probably didn’t want to tell me about such a brutal punishment, considering I was only five years old.
However, I knew about cruel punishments, as I had learned about them in my previous life.
Of course, it wasn’t taught out of kindness.
It was taught to scare me, to make me afraid, and to torment me with detailed descriptions of the brutal punishment. After seeing me tremble with fear, the person laughed and threatened that they could give me that punishment anytime.
That night, I was so scared that I clung to the goat and fell asleep with Loa petting me.
“Mm.”
I tightly hugged Father’s arm. Koruko seemed to sense something and softly chirped, pressing his body against me.
“Are you sleepy, Luria?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m not sleepy.”
I wasn’t scared anymore. Perhaps it was because Father was holding me, and Koruko was close to me, with Daru and Carro watching over me.
“I want to hear more!”
“Alright, if you get sleepy, just let me know.”
Father patted my head before continuing with his explanation.