Do you all know the future?

Chapter 58 Can’t afford to offend

When it was time for dinner, Isabella was indeed not there. Don't ask, you just can't find her.

After dinner, Diane left the Loran family home with her family in tow.

"Master, learning magic is so tiring. Can I stop learning magic and just wash clothes by hand?"

Dressed in a black and white maid outfit, reminiscent of Margaret's attire, the little girl wore a distressed expression, as if troubled by magic.

"You should tell your head maid that I'm afraid of her."

The carriage jolted, and Diane leaned against the head maid. The head maid gently placed Diane in her arms, and Diane nestled against the maid's chest, helpless to help.

"Sister Margaret, it's just washing clothes. Can I wash them by hand? I really can't find the water element, I can't feel it."

The little girl pleaded, but the head maid gave her a smile and then flatly refused.

"No, we brought you here to learn, how can we throw the baby out with the bathwater?"

Margaret faithfully carried out Diane's wishes, something Diane herself couldn't change.

"Okay, take your time, there's no rush!"

Diane shook his head, not realizing the two were acting. In his eyes, the mermaid was just a silly little girl; after all, someone who would come to someone's door and work for free didn't seem very smart.

"Did Margaret make this maid outfit for you? Does it fit?"

Diane will not interfere with the head maid's teaching; it is the head maid's right and responsibility.

"It fits perfectly. Sister Margaret is very skillful. She made it for me while my master was unconscious, sitting by the bedside."

The little mermaid raised her sleeves, showing off the clothes the head maid had made for her. The little mermaid was already cute, but this little gesture made her even cuter.

"This is something Sister Margaret taught me to sew, Master Brother, look, look..."

The little mermaid showed Diane the stitches on her cuff, and Diane nodded and praised her.

"That's amazing. It won't be long before Melu can become a seamstress and maid."

Diane smiled, as if she were coaxing a child, and the little mermaid was happy to be coaxed by him. The two of them chatted back and forth.

"It's not that amazing. It's Sister Margaret who's amazing. It's all Sister Margaret who taught us."

The little mermaid looked smug, proudly tilting her head back, as if to say, "Please praise me more," though her words didn't match her true feelings.

"The point is to teach you these things so that when you grow up and leave this home, you can survive on them."

Diane's goal is to raise the little girl to be sensible and mature, to teach her common sense and skills, and not to be stupid like a fool.

"Brother, don't you like me? Why do you keep thinking about me leaving?"

The little maid became depressed, her eyes welling up with tears; she was probably feeling emotional again.

"Because children grow up, you know. Maybe if you stay too long, you'll want to run away yourself!"

The cute little girl is cute, and she feels a bit like a daughter, but this innocence won't last long because Diane isn't her mother, so the little mermaid can't stay so innocent forever.

Diane doesn't approve of raising children like pigs, because pigs will inevitably be slaughtered sooner or later, while the maid's education is fine.

"No way! I'll always stay by my master's side!"

Taking advantage of her small and agile body, the little girl squeezed in front of Diane and hugged Diane's leg.

"Okay, okay, I know you don't mean that now. Get up, the ground is dirty from being walked on."

Diane took it as a casual remark, but the head maid's gaze was meaningful. However, she didn't say anything and quietly watched Diane interact with the young maid.

"Oh, oh... there won't be any more, Master, you have to believe me, you're the only person I can trust."

The little maid pitifully went from kneeling to standing up, her tone timid and cautious.

The transition from joy to disappointment and fear was seamless, without the slightest hint of acting; at least the head maid was impressed.

"Then I hope you can become someone I can trust. Right now, the only person I can trust is Margaret."

The head maid's position was unshakeable; neither Loran nor Isabella could compare. Diane was able to entrust her life to Margaret without hesitation.

"Alright, she won't understand any of this, and she can't show loyalty to you right now. Why don't you tell her some stories to educate her in an entertaining way and help her develop a basic understanding of things?"

The head maid pressed down on Diane's head, which she was trying to lift. She wanted to hear Diane tell a story. Since there were no gods in Diane's hometown, many of the stories had a fantastical element that transcended this world, and some were also applicable to real life. The maid liked them very much.

"Yes, yes, let's tell fairy tales today..."

"Change it! These princes and princesses are so boring, they're too feudalistic. I want to see stories about commoners and princesses falling in love!"

Diane was interrupted by the maid before she could finish speaking. The maid criticized her and told Diane to tell a different story.

Although the maid herself is hailed as a representative of the enlightened, she is actually the most feudal, as evidenced by her remarks about giving Diane a harem.

Unfortunately, she fell in love with Diane, so she didn't want to hear this kind of story, because it wasn't a story that she and Diane could use.

"If that's how you put it, then I don't really have anything to say, since most of the books I read are like that."

Diane scratched the head maid's belly; it was so soft and fleshy. Where else could he find a story like this?

"Then tell me about Huang Chao, I'd love to hear about him."

The head maid glanced at the little mermaid with her heterochromatic eyes. She felt that the little mermaid also liked to hear this, and since their situations were similar, their thoughts were probably similar as well.

"It's not appropriate to talk about this in front of children!"

Diane looked troubled, while the little mermaid shook Diane's leg, her face showing longing.

"I want to hear it, I want to hear it..."

"This isn't suitable for children! You really won't understand this!"

To make it easier for the maids to understand, Diane used analogies when exchanging cultural information, and the head maid liked it because of these analogies.

The analogy is like the head maid, who is talented but cannot enter Chang'an (failed to ascend to godhood). Now the head maid wants to storm into Chang'an (the spiritual realm), to annihilate the male god and make the goddess unapproachable.

"Master, please tell me! How will you know I don't understand if you don't tell me?"

The little mermaid rested her hands on Diane's lap, her starry eyes filled with anticipation. If Margaret liked it, she wanted to hear it.

"If you insist on hearing it, fine, I'll tell you. There's a country on the Eastern Continent called Tang..."

Diane recounted the chaos of the late dynasty, occasionally eliciting innocent remarks from the little maid: in a world with gods, natural disasters are rare, but divine calamities are plentiful. The little maid couldn't even imagine peasant uprisings, questioning whether demigods were in charge, and whether evil gods were supporting them, or other deities were seizing territory.

However, she was quickly drawn into the storyline. Diane's portrayal of the aristocratic families resonated with her; they were just like the gods, all equally inhuman.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The girl let out a series of sweet cries. At this moment, she felt empathy and also wanted to remove the high and mighty genealogy of the gods from her list. No wonder the head maid said she liked to hear it. How could she not like it?
"Stop killing, let's get out of here, no, we're almost home, let's go home."

Before they knew it, the carriage had stopped, and Diane and the others had arrived home. Diane got off the carriage, tucked the little maid, whose feet barely touched the ground, under her arms, thanked the coachman, and returned to her cold, quiet home.

After lighting the firewood, the room temperature rose. Diane and the head maid tidied up the little maid's room together. There was a guest room, and it was regularly maintained, so it only needed a simple cleaning, but it still took an hour or two to clean, make the bed, and find good blankets.

"I want to sleep in the water! I've been sleeping in the bathtub at Lorraine's house these past few days."

After covering the maid with the blanket, the maid suddenly said something that made Diane's brain short-circuit.

How could he forget that the little maid is a mermaid? Even if her legs turned into human legs, she is still a mermaid.

"Just make do with this, I'll buy you a bathtub tomorrow! Tell me about this kind of thing earlier next time."

Diane suddenly felt that the previous hour of tidying up had been meaningless; all she needed was a jar, why bother making the bed?

"Master didn't ask me. If you ask me, I'll definitely tell you. I can't sleep well either, Master. Let's sleep together. I want to hear the rest of the story!"

The little maid lifted a corner of the blanket and invited Diane into bed to continue telling her stories.

"Idiot, don't invite just anyone into your bed. If you run into a bad guy, you're doomed!"

Diane paused for a moment. She hadn't thought of such evil things at first, but then, seeing the little maid's innocent appearance, she suddenly felt protective of her and that's when she thought of it.

He gave her a stern warning, then flicked her little head.

"Master brother is not a bad person. If Master brother were a bad guy, I wouldn't have come to Master brother's house. Master brother, please tell me quickly, what will happen next in the story? Otherwise I won't be able to sleep."

Clutching her head where Diane had flicked her, the little maid's sea-blue eyes were filled with longing, eager to know what would happen next.

“If I told you, you’d be even more unable to sleep. In the end, we failed. After all, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, and the successors reap the rewards.”

Diane turned and left, leaving the sleepless little mermaid with a troubled expression. It was all too vague. How did she fail? How was the prize stolen? She wanted to know all of this.

"Master, you're so mean!"

As she helped Diane change, the head maid's heterochromatic eyes held a hint of amusement. The little girl was anything but cute in her eyes; watching her get flustered was a source of amusement for her.

"Oh, what did I do wrong?"

Diane changed into her pajamas, quite puzzled. The head maid's inexplicably clever remark had caught her off guard; the maid hadn't mentioned it the whole way, only when they arrived in the room.

"This is how you entertain children, this is how you tell stories."

It's not a pity to know the full version of the head maid, but it's hard to say about the little maid in "Curse of the Golden Flower".

"Didn't I tell her the ending?"

Diane was surprised. This was what the little mermaid wanted to hear. He didn't like the reasons for failure, feeling that it was all preordained.

"Alright, Master, hurry up and get into bed, it's cold outside!"

The head maid got into bed first, and like the little mermaid, lifted a corner of the blanket to invite Diane. Diane didn't stand on ceremony and crawled into the blanket, hugging the warm head maid.

"My Margaret, hehe!"

Diane hugged the head maid and let out a satisfied sound. The head maid's embrace was always the most reassuring. The forest was filled with howling ghosts and wolves, but as long as she leaned on her, she could feel safe.

"Master, my master, you have worked so hard for me, and yet you have to go and play with mortal women."

The head maid's gentle embrace was like that in the carriage, with Diane's head resting against her chest. After a day's journey, she could reflect on her gains and losses, and she could also comfort her tired husband, her master.

"Are you saying this on purpose to lessen my guilt? Please don't say it like that, it makes me feel quite embarrassed."

Diane couldn't laugh anymore. What was so hard about him? Didn't he enjoy the overwhelming pleasure? What was there to complain about?

"Because of your status, you should be dealing with the true god, and only the true god is worthy of you. If it weren't for me, why would you bother toying with these mortals?"

Seeing Diane interact with the little mermaid, the head maid thought carefully about her divine child. She should be playing with these reincarnated gods. It would be beneath her dignity to mess with mortals. She couldn't give Diane a high-end harem, so she could only give her this low-end one.

In a feudal society, everyone above Diane is equal, while below her, there is a clear class distinction. If Diane can get her, that's Diane's skill; if Diane puts effort into getting her to do something with ordinary people, that's Diane being humiliated.

The gods must be respectful when mortals woo them; it is a gift from heaven.

"Oh, what's wrong with you again? Why did your expression change so quickly? I don't think there's anything wrong with Teacher Isabella. Besides, weren't you also a mortal who became a god?"

Diane had a pleasant discussion in the afternoon, so why is she starting to blame herself now? Diane doesn't understand. Even though she and the head maid are of one mind, Diane can't figure out the maid's conflicted feelings at this moment.

"Not just any mortal can become a god. Isabella has difficulty even breaking through to become a demigod, let alone a god."

"But we helped you return to the realm of angels with her help. You're so bad, my dear wife. You should be grateful for kindness."

The two are worlds apart in terms of their spiritual realm, but they are husband and wife in terms of their status. Diane calls her "wife," and now he is educating his wife as a husband.

"I was too cold-hearted. I reflect on this. Master, do you like her?"

The maid remained silent after being reprimanded by Diane, her mindset unchanged. These were all just tools; Diane was truly sentimental and gentle.

"I like her. Teacher Isabella is really good. She can stand firm in the face of life and death crisis. I think she is just like you."

Diane answered without hesitation, frankly and without any concealment, that she should report her philandering to the head maid immediately.

"That's good. It was a life-or-death crisis for him. Actually, I've been watching him the whole time. It was also a test for her."

The head maid didn't hide it from Diane; she was under Diane's surveillance the whole time, so when it really needed her to take action, she did.

"Huh? No, you... never mind, I know my acting skills, and you reminded me to act according to my heart, but I didn't understand the deeper meaning."

Diane's memories came together, and the hidden truth surfaced. He patted the head maid, making a slapping sound, as if he had taught her a lesson.

"So, now that you've changed your mind, are you still going to try and win over Bridget?"

"Why not? You can never have too many vases. It's about letting you invest less real emotion in your husband and saving it for those goddesses!"

"It's good to be a goddess who's not to be trifled with."

(End of this chapter)