How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 10

Evan had been bustling about nonstop from last night until the early hours of the morning. He went to the kitchen and instructed the staff to exclude all strongly seasoned foods and serve only soft, watery dishes for breakfast. He also stocked up on various medicines in case the fever returned.

Then he piled what seemed like an excessive amount of firewood into the fireplace and kept poking at it with a fire iron to make sure the flames wouldn’t go out.

Thanks to his efforts, the fire looked ready to burn for all eternity.

“You’re driving me crazy!”

Unable to stand it any longer, Nihil hurled the pillow he had been resting on at Evan, who was pacing restlessly around the bedroom.

After exchanging a few words with Evan during the night, Nihil had unconsciously slipped back into his old-man way of speaking.

Evan caught the incoming pillow with one hand, then lowered his voice and snapped, “How can you sleep so peacefully with an ill prince right beside you?!”

“His fever’s gone down, so there’s no problem. Stop making such a fuss and sit still for once.”

It was true that the fever hadn’t risen too high, thanks to the wildcat who had told Evan to fetch medicine just after the prince fell asleep. And what His Highness needed now was plenty of rest.

Having regained the slightest bit of composure, Evan hugged the pillow Nihil had thrown at him and slumped onto the sofa.

The prince’s fever had been unavoidable. He must have been emotionally exhausted from what happened at the ducal residence, and then he’d gone out in sleet and cried his heart out. It would have been stranger if he hadn’t developed a fever.

His Highness was so frail that once he fell ill, he would be bedridden for anywhere from two days to a full week. Just thinking about how long this bout might last was enough to fill Evan with worry.

“Give me back my pillow.”

…Damn that wildcat. He wouldn’t even give Evan a moment to think.

Evan glared at Nihil, tossed the pillow back at him, and lay down on the sofa.

He had done everything he could for now. All that remained was to notify the princes’ tutors that His Highness would be absent once the sun came up.

Normally, he would have left such matters to the butler, but for the time being, he couldn’t let anyone know the prince was ill. The reason was that damn wildcat lounging around beside His Highness.

And, in fact, there was an even bigger problem.

The princes’ lessons.

Since the First Prince and Second Prince were the same age, His Majesty had arranged for them to take the same classes with the same tutors, insisting that neither should be given an inferior education.

As a result, their adorable, tenderhearted prince had to face the First Prince at every turn. And because of the Duke of Thesaurus, who was particularly biased in his swordsmanship lessons, Evan had lost count of how many times their prince had secretly shed tears.

His Highness had always been sickly, making it difficult enough to keep up with the lessons. Even so, he’d worked so hard to avoid falling behind. Once, he’d even attended class while ill, only to collapse and be carried back.

Even when the prince was too sick to attend, the lessons continued as usual. There was no consideration whatsoever for adjusting the pace just because one student had missed a joint class.

And that First Prince was absurdly robust despite having been born prematurely. He never seemed to get sick. His tongue was just as crafty, too. Whenever Evan could no longer stand his subtle bullying and suggested separating the classes, the First Prince would coax His Highness with all sorts of nonsense to keep him from agreeing.

If the prince fell behind in his studies again this time, his little kitten’s heart would suffer even more.

Overwhelmed by the thoughts relentlessly gnawing at him, Evan grabbed his own hair and tugged at it furiously.

A few unfortunate strands of grayish-brown hair came loose under the strain, catching between his fingers. Their owner, however, callously flicked them away before turning over on the sofa.

From there, he could see the prince’s bed.

That white wildcat was probably sleeping peacefully inside the canopy.

Just thinking about the brat made Evan’s blood boil again. Then, suddenly, a truly brilliant idea occurred to him—one that would let him make use of the wildcat.

Perhaps the prince would willingly agree to separate classes if they used the wildcat as bait.

He could ask His Highness whether he wanted to study alongside his friend. Learning together would surely be more enjoyable. But since a commoner couldn’t attend lessons with the First Prince, the classes would have to be separated.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Evan was so pleased with himself for coming up with the idea that he almost felt proud.

Shouldn’t the wildcat earn his keep? After all that meat he’d stuffed himself with, he owed them something. They were even offering him a royal education for free. Of course he’d agree.

Their little kitten, who was particularly attached to that wildcat, would jump up and down with delight without giving the matter a second thought.

And if they sat the wildcat beside His Highness—a boy who had undoubtedly received so little education that he was bound to be stupider than the prince—then perhaps His Highness’s self-esteem would gradually recover, too.

Having thought it through that far, Evan sprang up from the sofa. He called out softly, intending to wake Nihil, who had probably fallen asleep again by now.

“Hey, wildcat.”

“…It’s been less than ten minutes since you finally shut up. Are you mentally ill or something?”

Evan felt a surge of indignation.

At that scathing criticism, delivered without the slightest trace of sleepiness, he genuinely wanted to rush over, grab the wildcat by the scruff of his neck, and shake him senseless like a madman.

But he needed to use him, so he decided to forgive him this once.

“You. Attend lessons with His Highness.”

“No.”

The answer came without even a tenth of a second’s hesitation.

Wasn’t a person supposed to at least ask why when someone made a request?!

When the adorable, lovable prince had asked him to be friends, the brat had rejected him just as coldly. Clearly, the one with mental problems wasn’t Evan. It was that damn wildcat!

In truth, Nihil had rejected the suggestion without even considering it simply because he disliked Evan’s commanding tone. But Evan, who had made a request that barely qualified as one, had absolutely no idea what he’d done wrong.

All Evan could do was sigh, his head aching at the thought of having to persuade a wildcat with such a strong streak of feral independence.

Was getting the prince’s classes separated really this difficult?

Ah, how was he supposed to make the brat earn his keep?

Nihil furrowed his brows.

His head was beginning to throb. Sleep was necessary for his body to recover, but being surrounded by unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar place had put his senses on such high alert that he simply couldn’t fall asleep.

And the guard dog was partly to blame.

Nihil had thought the barking had finally stopped when things went quiet, only for the dog to start yapping again shortly afterward.

He kept going on about how Nihil had no right to refuse, how anything he learned might come in handy someday, how an opportunity like this would never come again, and how Nihil could at least just sit there and keep his place…

Nihil couldn’t say he understood exactly what the man was talking about, but he had no desire to listen. He lay facedown on the bed, pulled the blanket over his head, and clamped his hands over his ears.

The guard dog’s barking continued for quite some time, and during that time, the sun began to rise.

Having spent the night tossing and turning because of the restless footsteps and incessant barking, Nihil’s irritation surged the moment he saw the rising sun.

So he made a decision.

Whatever scheme that guard dog was plotting, Nihil would absolutely refuse to give him what he wanted.

Everything before him was dark and blurry.

Rianus struggled to hold on to his hazy consciousness. Then, seeing the mysterious black opal before him, he cautiously called out to the owner of those eyes, which were the same color as the gemstone.

Neil…?

His ears felt blocked, and a buzzing sound filled them so loudly that he could barely hear his own voice. Rianus wondered whether his voice had been too faint to hear—or whether he hadn’t been able to speak at all.

He was sure he’d been having an unpleasant dream just moments ago, but as he gazed at those eyes resembling a brilliant gemstone, he couldn’t remember a thing. The harder he tried to recall it, the more clearly the figure before him seemed to come into focus.

Snow-white eyelashes fluttered a few times. White usually made someone’s features seem less distinct, but perhaps because everything around him was so dark, Rianus couldn’t take his eyes away.

They had only just become friends, yet Nihil was already appearing in his dreams. Rianus supposed that meant he must like Nihil quite a lot. He smiled faintly again.

Everything around him was blurry, but that gemstone alone was exceptionally clear. Rianus decided that it must be a very good dream.

Someday, he would give his friend a black opal just like his eyes.

Earrings or a hair ornament would be nice. Against hair as white as snow, the gemstone would surely sparkle even more brightly.

His friend, who had appeared in his dream, said nothing. Then Rianus felt something warm trickle into his mouth.

His throat was dry, so he instinctively swallowed it down in eager gulps.

At some point, the black opal before him disappeared.

Rianus was about to feel disappointed that his pleasant dream had ended when that brilliant object suddenly appeared again.

Seeing the gemstone return, he couldn’t help smiling again. Then he felt something lightly tapping his lower lip.

“Ah. Open up.”

A calm voice reached his ears.

Ah, why is it that I can barely hear my own voice, but yours is so clear?

It took Rianus a little while to realize that he wasn’t dreaming.

Warm soup flowed between his slightly parted lips. It was thinner and blander than what he usually ate.

When did you prepare this? Is there any breakfast left for you? I only decided last night that I would make sure you had enough to eat at every meal, yet all I can offer you is watery soup.

I was going to visit His Majesty today and ask for permission to keep you here, but now you’ll have to hide in my room because of me. Still, my room is spacious, so perhaps it won’t be too bad. I should ask Sir Evan to bring us some toys.

If my friend gets lonely, I can lend him my Pupu. It’s fluffy and soft, and hugging it makes the loneliness fade a little.

I’ve been using it all this time, so I don’t mind letting my friend have it for a while.

Just then, something fluffy and soft was placed in his arms. He tried to figure out what it was, but warm soup kept flowing into his mouth again and again, making him forget what he’d been thinking about.

The soup tasted worse than usual, yet somehow, it was delicious.

Rianus thought of his friend, who had said he didn’t want to serve him.

But this wasn’t serving him. Someone as proud—no, downright arrogant—as Nihil, who acted as though social status could go straight to hell, would never wait on a mere prince.

I’m the one who took you in, yet it feels as though I’m the one who was chosen.

Surely that wasn’t just his imagination.

The final spoonful of soup slipped into his mouth.

Something about the taste was strange.

A bitter flavor stung his tongue, making his face scrunch up involuntarily.

Just as he was about to tell Nihil that the soup tasted strange and was far too bitter—

“Go back to sleep now.”

He couldn’t speak.

He couldn’t hear anything else at all, yet Nihil’s voice rang in his ears as clearly as a divine revelation. Looking into those mysterious black eyes, which glowed with a quiet, subdued light, made him feel as though he ought to lie down and sleep again immediately.

He says I should sleep, so I should sleep. Of course I should listen when my friend tells me to.

The bitter taste lingered in his mouth, and he thought it would be impossible to fall asleep. But contrary to his worries, his consciousness soon began to fade once more.