“Pheeeew! Pheeeewww!”
“Miss, you have to purse your lips a little more!”
“Pheeeewww! Pwah… Ah! It tore again!”
Vivian, who had been trying to learn how to play a grass whistle for three straight days, stared mournfully at the split blade of grass in her hands.
“Hng… A-Anne, show me one more time how you do it.”
“Of course! Now watch carefully—my lips, and my hands too.”
Anne slowly began to play Vivian’s favorite nursery song.
Behind the two, who had become almost like cousins by now, Kiki was staring intently at a white butterfly.
“Kkiik!”
Watching the butterfly flutter its wings, the little creature squeaked in a way that almost made it seem as though he wanted to hunt it.
But that clearly wasn’t the case.
Because as soon as the butterfly drifted away, Kiki ran up to Vivian, urgently searching for Jean.
[Bring your father here, Vivian!]
“Huh?”
Vivian had no idea what was going on, but Kiki was being so insistent that she excused herself to Anne and went looking for Jean.
“Dad!”
“What is it, Vivi?”
Jean poked his head out from the first-floor storage room, where he had been organizing luggage.
“I dunno. Kiki said to bring you!”
“The Divine Beast did? …Don’t tell me!”
Jean hastily put down the box in his hands and rushed outside.
Kiki stood atop the sofa’s backrest with overwhelming dignity.
[Bow before me!]
“He says… to make a toast.”
“Doesn’t he mean bow?”
“Oh! Right! How did you know?”
“If he called me over for what I think he did… then your father really should bow.”
[Mwahaha! So your father does understand something after all, Vivian. Now relay my words exactly as I say them.]
“Mwahaha! So your father does understand something after all, Vivian. Now relay my words exactly—”
[Not that part!]
“Not that part!”
Unable to contain his frustration, Kiki clawed at the sofa before clearing his throat and once again forcing himself back into a dignified pose.
[Anyway, a butterfly from the northwest said it heard from one of the cockroaches over there that there’s a mine producing glittering powder. Not gold, not silver.]
“A cockroach…”
Jean had imagined Kiki communing directly with the earth itself when he said he communicated with nature.
The reality was unexpectedly… practical.
Jean barely held back a laugh.
[And the minnows living in a nearby stream said shiny particles occasionally float downstream as well. Apparently nobody’s seen anything like it elsewhere, so it would be wise to investigate the mine in the northwest.]
“The northwest… That might be the Dohaju Mine… Ah!”
Jean, who had been thinking so hard his brows pinched together, suddenly gasped.
“Ju! The name had ju in it! Now that it’s narrowed down, I remember!”
Kiki tilted his head.
What a strange human.
Not only did he already know there was a diamond mine somewhere…
He carried an inexplicable certainty about the future.
Was there something he wasn’t saying?
The Divine Beast narrowed his eyes.
Well, whatever.
The one who awakened Kiki was Vivian, and Jean was someone who would never harm her.
Whatever secret he held didn’t matter—
[KYAAAK! Put me down!]
—but being suddenly lifted high into the air by a man overflowing with joy did matter.
[Put me down, you insolent fool!]
Kiki screeched furiously, but Jean—already imagining himself as the owner of a diamond mine—couldn’t hear a thing.
A tragic situation indeed.
Purchasing the Dohaju Mine turned out to be absurdly easy.
The mine owner, completely unaware that diamonds lay hidden within it, actually lectured Jean that a place like this wasn’t worth buying at all.
He kept asking over and over if Jean was truly serious about purchasing this abandoned mine.
Knowing full well what treasures lay buried there, Jean felt a sharp pang in his conscience.
But if he didn’t buy it, some merchant rumored to traffic even human beings would become its owner instead.
That thought was the only thing that eased his guilt.
A mountain couldn’t spit out jewels on its own, so he hired new miners.
And after all the additional expenses piled up, Jean’s hands trembled.
It wasn’t as though he lacked money—he could always sell more gemstones—but this was the first time he had ever spent such a massive sum by his own will.
‘When I paid under my benefactor’s name, I never felt this kind of burden.’
Had that man always carried such weight on his shoulders?
Thinking of the face of the benefactor he missed dearly, Jean sank into melancholy for a moment.
‘If I want to see him again, I have to succeed.’
His benefactor, Edouard, was a great merchant said to be second only to the emperor in wealth.
In his current state, Jean couldn’t even hope to greet him properly.
But once he held the respectable title of “owner of a diamond mine,” perhaps he could somehow arrange a meeting.
Reaffirming his resolve for the future, Jean dismounted his horse.
After leading it into the stable and unloading the bundles strapped to it, he felt their considerable weight.
Every single one was filled with snacks for Kiki and Vivian.
The fact that a Divine Beast capable of locating diamond mines could apparently be satisfied with sugar treats felt almost ridiculous.
‘I should treat him even better.’
Thinking Kiki would probably praise him as a commendable human if he knew, Jean opened the front door.
“Daddy’s home!”
“Daddyyyy!”
Vivian, who had spent the entire evening waiting in the drawing room for Jean to return, came running toward him at full speed.
Her pale pink twin ponytails bounced adorably as she ran.
“Why are you so late?!”
Jean walked forward with Vivian dangling from his leg, clinging tightly to his thigh.
“Daddy had important work to do, so I came home late. Sorry, Vivi. Did you miss me a lot?”
“Mhm.”
“Oh dear. Daddy really did something wrong. Making Vivi wait this long.”
“Yeah. You were bad!”
“Hahaha.”
Scooping Vivian up into his arms, Jean rubbed his face all over her warm, squishy cheeks.
“Eeeh.”
Even though she made sounds of protest, she didn’t push him away.
Seeing that alone nearly brought tears to Jean’s eyes.
How long would she still come running to him saying she missed him?
What would he do when the day came for her to leave his arms and follow the man she loved?
He wanted to see Vivian grow healthy and happy as soon as possible—
and yet, selfishly, he wished that day would never come.
“What did you do while Daddy was away? Were you practicing the grass whistle with Miss Anne again today?”
“Nnno.”
Vivian shook her head.
Wasn’t her goal to play an entire song with it?
Pressing her tiny hands together, Vivian whispered into Jean’s ear.
“I was talking to a cat.”
“Huh?”
Jean naturally failed to understand immediately.
So Vivian added another clue.
“Kiki’s present!”
Jean still looked utterly confused.
Only then did Vivian realize.
‘Oops!’
She had never actually told her father what Kiki had promised her.
After Jean left to sign the contract for the mine—
Vivian stood before her little monkey with one leg cocked and her arms crossed.
[What is it, Vivian? What’s with that insolent posture and look?]
“Kiki! Why didn’t you keep your promise?!”
[What are you talking about?]
“You said you’d give it to me! That thing!”
[What thing.]
“Oh, come on! I wanna talk to butterflies too!”
Only after hearing Kiki say he had spoken with a butterfly did Vivian finally remember the ability he had promised her.
Being able to talk to butterflies sounded exactly like something a fairy-tale princess could do!
But for a Divine Beast who had supposedly broken a promise, Kiki was shamelessly calm.
After glancing at Vivian once, he casually groomed his fur and answered:
[I already gave it to you.]
“When?!”
[When I awakened. Naturally.]
“Then why can’t I understand the dog walking by? It just sounds like barking!”
[Because you had no desire to converse with them. You will only hear their words when you genuinely wish to speak with them. Wouldn’t it confuse you terribly if you constantly heard them talking all the time?]
“Huh? Is that how it works?”
[Exactly! And yet you doubted the deep wisdom of this great being— Vivian! Where are you going without listening to the rest?!]
The moment Vivian heard she already possessed the ability, she bolted outside.
Sadly, there were no butterflies nearby.
But there was a cat basking in the sunlight, enjoying a nap.
It had striking patches of fur and a glossy coat that suggested it lived quite comfortably.
“Butterfly!”
The cat didn’t answer.
“Um… kitty?”
The cat still didn’t answer.
“Kiki, you liar! It doesn’t work at all!”
“Meow!!” [For goodness’ sake, you’re noisy!]
The instant Vivian stomped her feet in betrayal, the cat’s eyes snapped open and it shouted at her.
