How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 124

Rianus had a dream.

A dream about a very, very terrifying witch.

The dreadful witch, whose pure-white hair trailed all the way to the ground, was silently gazing down at a charred corpse.

The sight was so terribly frightening that, for some reason, tears began to well up in Rianus’s eyes.

 

***

 

Frederick had grown bored standing guard. His eyes followed a shaft of moonlight streaming between the curtains until he suddenly spotted a pair of small feet. Startled, he quickly raised his head.

At some point, a pair of quiet eyes resembling the night sky had begun watching him.

‘…Since when has he been watching me?’

Frederick hadn’t sensed his presence at all, so he couldn’t help but tense up.

“H-hahaha… Are you going to the bathroom?”

“I’ll be back shortly. Keep doing your job.”

“Ah, yes. …My lord? The bathroom is over there. Where are you going?”

“To the doggy.”

“Ah…”

Nihil glanced at the clock before adding,

“It’s about time the pain starts setting in.”

With that, Nihil left the bedroom. Frederick stared at the door that had already closed and muttered quietly,

“…This household is raising two children.”

 

***

 

Evan woke up to the sound of someone groaning nearby. At the same time, an intense wave of pain surged through his back.

No, that wasn’t quite right. The pain had been there from the beginning. He had only realized it belatedly. And the groaning was coming from his own mouth.

Trying to minimize the area of his back touching the bed, Evan struggled to turn over. Or rather, he tried to turn over, but his body barely moved. Only his back was injured, yet it felt as though his entire body were being torn apart.

After struggling for a long time, he finally managed to roll onto his side, but the pain hardly eased. He wondered whether he really had to go find that wildcat, but he wasn’t even sure he could make it out of his room in his current condition.

Just then, the bedroom door opened without warning, and something small and white came inside.

The little thing spoke.

“If this is your first time rolling over, I suppose I should congratulate you.”

“…Why are you here?”

Nihil curled his lips into a crooked smile, pushed the door shut carelessly with his toe, and placed the things he had brought in his arms on the bedside table.

“Why else? I knew perfectly well you wouldn’t be able to move, so I came here myself.”

“After telling me to come find you if I couldn’t stand it…”

Nihil chuckled at Evan’s grumpy reply, lit some incense, then crawled onto the bed and abruptly rolled up Evan’s shirt.

“Still, it’s a relief you managed to turn over. If you were still lying on your back, I would’ve had to figure out how to roll this enormous body over.”

“…I’ll crush you under me—Aagh! That hurts! Can’t you be a little gentler, you damned wildcat?!”

Whether Evan squirmed or not, Nihil merely grinned mischievously and smeared ointment all over his back.

Once he had finished applying it and pulled Evan’s shirt down, Evan, who had been burying his face in the pillow, turned his head slightly.

“Wildcat…”

“What?”

“Are you done?”

“Yes.”

“The pain… hasn’t gone away…”

Evan asked timidly, still suffering from the pain. He had been pretending he was fine, but his entire body was drenched in cold sweat from enduring it.

“Of course it hasn’t. This is only ointment. Drink this.”

“Damn it, shouldn’t you have given me a painkiller first?”

Evan scowled, snatched the bottle Nihil handed him, and immediately gulped it down, hoping the painkiller would take effect quickly.

But there was no way it would work. What Evan had drunk wasn’t a painkiller at all, but merely a recovery potion Nihil had made.

“The pain will go away soon. Lie down comfortably.”

“Doesn’t matter if I get the medicine on my clothes?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

At those words, Evan laboriously rolled back onto his back and settled into position.

Nihil patted the broad chest of the 240-month-old baby doggy who had successfully rolled over, and promptly took his kwa.

Evan grumbled that he wasn’t a child, but when the pain disappeared, he murmured in amazement,

“…That medicine sure works well.”

“Who do you think made it?”

Nihil planned to wait until Evan fell asleep, exchange their breaths, and escape with the kwa.

However, even after quite some time had passed, the baby doggy showed no signs of falling asleep. Instead, he caught Nihil’s hand.

“Stop patting me and go to sleep.”

“…Aren’t you sleepy?”

Nihil tilted his head when Evan still refused to fall asleep. He had burned a sleeping incense strong enough to knock out an elephant, but it seemed to have little effect on the big baby doggy.

“I’m sleepy, so you should go to sleep, too.”

“I’ll leave once I see you fall asleep.”

“Am I a child? Just go… No, I’ll take you back.”

Evan said that as he sat up. Come to think of it, it didn’t seem right to simply send away someone who had come to treat him in the middle of the night.

Nihil was a little taken aback that the sleeping incense he had prepared so carefully hadn’t worked properly. The moment he lost contact with the doggy, the kwa would surely return to him.

He had intended to mix their breaths and escape once Evan fell asleep, but…

Without letting his frustration show, Nihil tried pressing down on the doggy’s body as he sat up, attempting to make him lie down again.

“…What are you doing?”

Evan gave Nihil a peculiar look as the little thing struggled to push him back down.

“Go to sleep.”

“I told you I’d take you back.”

“I don’t need you to.”

“Why refuse?”

“Just go to sleep.”

“……”

Evan narrowed his eyes. It seemed that suspicious wildcat was plotting something again.

“Doggy, a good doggy goes to bed early.”

At that, Evan glanced at the clock. It was already past three in the morning.

“What nonsense are you talking about? It’s already dawn.”

“…Bad doggies are supposed to go to bed at dawn.”

“……”

“Go to sleep.”

“I said no.”

The wildcat narrowed his eyes.

What? What?! What are you going to do about it, staring at me like that?! You little runt of a wildcat…

Thwack!

“Ugh! Y-you crazy little…!”

Evan clutched his forehead and trembled after an unexpected headbutt. He was so dumbfounded that he could only stare at Nihil. The little thing seemed to be hurting, too, as he rubbed his own forehead and muttered,

“…That didn’t work.”

“What do you mean, it didn’t work?!”

“……”

The wildcat quietly averted his eyes. Evan asked cautiously, half afraid of the answer.

“…Don’t tell me you were trying to knock me unconscious?”

“……”

“…With a headbutt?”

“……”

No. Seriously?

“…I thought it would work.”

“There’s no way that would work!”

“…If you had just gone to sleep quietly, none of this would’ve happened.”

“Hah. So now it’s my fault?”

Evan couldn’t tell whether this child was smart or stupid. Who in their right mind tried to knock someone unconscious with a headbutt? It was a miracle that little head of his hadn’t cracked open.

“I’m not going to sleep, so give up and behave yourself.”

With that, Evan picked Nihil up. It had been too dark to see properly, but up close, he could see that the child’s forehead was bright red.

“…What a fool…”

Evan gently rubbed Nihil’s forehead as he headed toward the prince’s bedroom. When he opened the door, Frederick, who had been standing guard against the wall, approached them.

“My lord, you’re back. Sir Evan, please go and get some rest. I’ll take him from here.”

“Ah, yes. Please take good care of His Highness.”

Evan added that Frederick should keep a close eye on the wildcat so he wouldn’t pull any tricks, then handed Nihil over to him.

Since Nihil had succeeded in taking the kwa under the pretense of headbutting Evan, he obediently let Frederick carry him.

But Nihil had barely begun to feel pleased with his own scheme when he noticed the breathing of the little boy, who had been sleeping peacefully, growing labored.

He hurried over to Rianus. The prince’s eyelids trembled before he slowly opened his eyes.

“Rian.”

“N-Nihil…”

“Yes, I’m right here, Rian.”

“H-hmm… Th-the witch… Sob…”

“Did the witch hurt you? It’s okay. There’s no witch here.”

Nihil hurriedly soothed him. It seemed Rianus had had a frightening dream. He kept repeating the word witch while clutching his chest.

“Rian, it’s okay. It was only a dream. Did the witch chase you?”

“The witch… Sob, the witch… A charred corpse…”

“It’s okay. The doggy will defeat her.”

“Waaaaah…”

“It’s okay. It’s all right, Rian.”

“Hic…”

Rianus’s heart hurt, and his throat felt so tight that he could barely speak.

Neil, the witch… The witch is crying.

 

***

 

The next morning, Evan, who had overslept, jolted awake in alarm.

He had been certain that his troubled mind would keep him awake, but the moment he reached his room and collapsed onto his bed, he had fallen fast asleep and slept like a log.

“Unbelievable.”

Evan hurriedly got ready and went up to Rianus’s bedroom. The little ones were in the middle of getting dressed with the butler and head maid assisting them.

“Sir Evan, you’re here!”

“I’m late. I apologize.”

“No, it’s okay. Neil told me you might not be able to get up, so I wondered if you were very sick.”

“……?”

Evan looked at Nihil with a puzzled expression, as though asking what on earth he was talking about. Nihil casually avoided his gaze and offered an excuse.

“I forgot I’d left the sleeping incense burning.”

“……”

“It was pretty strong, so I’d originally intended to burn it for only about five minutes…”

“……”

“It’s fortunate you didn’t sleep forever.”

That damned wildcat. No wonder he had been so sleepy…

Evan narrowed his eyes and glared at him, but the wildcat merely shrugged as though nothing had happened.

“Well, you got a good night’s sleep thanks to me.”

“What if I hadn’t been able to wake up?!”

“Then it couldn’t be helped.”

“You little…!”

“You should’ve just fallen asleep while I was patting your chest instead of stubbornly resisting.”

“Argh, seriously!”

Evan, who had already rushed out in such a hurry that his hair looked like a bird’s nest, raked both hands through it in frustration. So that was why Nihil had been patting his chest so diligently. He had genuinely been trying to put him to sleep…

“But Neil, didn’t you go to see Sir Evan early this morning?”

Rianus tilted his head, remembering how Nihil had left while he was still rubbing his sleepy eyes, saying he was going to visit the doggy for a moment.

“Yes. I left a neutralizing incense burning.”

“Neutralizing incense…?”

At that, Evan raised one eyebrow, as though asking what this was supposed to mean now.

“Did you really think I would use medicine carelessly without preparing a neutralizer or antidote?”

Nihil said this with a crooked smile. Faced with that blatant sneer, Evan realized he had once again been led around by the nose and started raking his hands through his hair again.

That damned wildcat. His talent for leaving people speechless was truly something else. When would Evan ever manage to win an argument against him?

“I don’t think you can beat Neil in an argument.”

“……Did you read my mind, Your Highness?”

“Hm? No, I was talking about myself. I just meant it’s easier if you give up.”

“Rian, don’t give up. That wouldn’t be any fun.”

“That’s what he says. Sir Evan, I’ll do my best, too, so please don’t give up either.”

“……”

…So I’m the wildcat’s plaything.