How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 13

Evan’s light grayish-brown hair, which he had already tugged at several times, was now sticking out in every direction like he had just woken up.

Rianus glanced sympathetically at the strands of brown hair falling onto his bed, then turned to Nihil.

“Neil, you’re really amazing. How do you do it? Sir Evan doesn’t usually hide his emotions, but when he does try to conceal them, it’s really hard to tell what he’s thinking.”

“I can tell just by looking.”

“Hmm. Do you have any Jacks?”

“Take the second one.”

At Nihil’s words, Rianus plucked the second card from the right without hesitation.

“……”

It was the Queen—the Old Maid.

“Oh, I meant the second card from the right on my side.”

Nihil’s expression remained indifferent, but Rianus, who had drawn the Queen, couldn’t hide his reaction. His face stiffened.

Realizing he would almost certainly lose at this rate, Rianus hastily shuffled his cards. Then, to make sure even he wouldn’t know where they were, he spread them facedown across the bed.

“Sir Evan, draw one!”

“Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of psychological warfare?”

“But this is the only way we’ll have a chance of beating Neil even once.”

“…I see.”

Evan nodded as though he understood. It was the moment an alliance was formed between the little kitten and the guard dog.

“But for that guy to lose, wouldn’t I have to draw the Old Maid first?”

“…If I gave it to you, would you take it?”

“…No.”

The alliance fell apart within seconds.

Nihil let out a derisive snort, as though he found their little exchange ridiculous.

With a solemn expression, Evan drew one of Rianus’s facedown cards and added it to his hand.

No cards were discarded, and Evan’s expression hadn’t changed, so Rianus assumed he hadn’t drawn the Old Maid. Just as he was about to gather up his cards, Nihil spoke.

“You got it.”

“What? Really?”

At Nihil’s words, Rianus hurriedly swept up all his cards from the bed. Evan’s face twisted miserably.

After checking his hand, Rianus saw that the Queen was indeed gone and broke into a delighted grin.

Pretending to remain expressionless, Evan cursed the damned wildcat inwardly and shuffled his cards. Then, just as Rianus had done, he laid them facedown across the bed.

There really was no other way to win.

“You’re certainly determined.”

“Shut up and draw.”

Indifferently, Nihil picked up one of the cards scattered across the bed and checked it before placing down a matching pair with a sharp slap. He now had only two cards left in his hand.

“Your turn, Rian. Do you have any Threes?”

“Hmm, no.”

At the honest answer, Nihil chuckled softly.

“Rian, you shouldn’t tell people everything just because they ask.”

“What? Then you shouldn’t have asked!”

Rianus insisted that it wasn’t his fault. How could he refuse to answer when his friend asked him a question?

Nihil seemed to like Rianus’s reaction, which was so honest that it was practically transparent. A faint smile tugged at his lips as he held out a card.

“It’s a Jack. You can have it.”

“……”

Rianus stared at the offered card, unable to accept it right away.

Was Nihil telling the truth this time, or was he lying?

Having been tricked into taking the Queen in the previous game, Rianus hesitated to accept the card. He tried desperately to read Nihil’s expression, only to realize once again that the boy simply had a pretty face.

“Give me a different one.”

“You won’t regret it?”

Rianus hesitated again at the question, but eventually nodded with a determined expression.

In the end, Nihil gave him the Three of Clubs as requested, muttering, “Guess we’ll have to go around a few more times.”

“……Aw.”

“You should’ve trusted your friend.”

Rianus mumbled, “I guess so…” before shuffling his cards and laying them facedown on the bed.

“Sir Evan, draw.”

“I’d prefer it if you drew the Jack.”

“……”

Evan resolved never to draw the Jack Nihil wanted, then picked up the nearest card, checked it, and discarded a matching pair.

He now had three cards left.

And the Old Maid was still among them.

He placed the remaining three cards on the bed with a solemn thud, then jerked his chin at Nihil, urging him to hurry up and draw.

Nihil knew that no matter which card he picked, the game wouldn’t end on this turn, so he selected one without much thought and turned it over.

The Queen’s eyes met Nihil’s.

The Old Maid had returned to him at last.

Evan checked his hand and visibly brightened when he saw that the Old Maid was gone. However, Rianus had been so focused on watching Nihil’s expression that he failed to notice the Queen had ended up in Nihil’s hand.

Maintaining his poker face, Nihil shuffled his two remaining cards.

“Rian, it’s fifty-fifty.”

Rianus groaned. One of those two cards had to be the Jack, while the other was the card Nihil had just drawn from Evan.

“Want me to pick one for you?”

“…Mm-hmm.”

Nihil held out a card. This time, Rianus accepted it without a moment’s hesitation.

If he had known that Nihil was holding the Old Maid, he would undoubtedly have chosen more carefully. But by then, the card had already passed into Rianus’s hand.

“Aaah!”

The game ended with Rianus’s defeat.

Nihil got rid of his last card on the very next turn, while Evan demonstrated the exceptional dynamic vision he had developed through knight training, using it to track the Old Maid’s changing position and dodge it at every opportunity.

Since the Old Maid never seemed to leave Rianus’s hand for good, his defeat was inevitable.

Nihil stared coldly at Evan.

“I doubt knight training is supposed to teach you how to track the Old Maid.”

“……Shut up.”

“You really want to win that badly, even against a child?”

“You’re one to talk! Try losing even once before you lecture me!”

Evan fumed at Nihil, demanding to know whether the boy had any conscience at all.

Rianus gathered the cards from the bed and spoke.

“I never managed to beat you even once, Neil.”

“Bring a game you’re confident in.”

At that, Rianus tried to think of a game he was good at.

But he hadn’t had any friends until now, so he hadn’t had many opportunities to play games. No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with an answer. In fact, he had only ever heard of Old Maid before today; this was his first time actually playing it.

More importantly, he couldn’t imagine being better than Nihil at any game. That shouldn’t have been possible, but somehow, he had a feeling it was true.

“Rian.”

Just as he was deep in thought, Nihil called his name.

“Hmm?”

“Food’s coming.”

“Oh!”

Food. That was important.

Mealtime was very important indeed.

Rianus was glad that Nihil seemed to have a healthy appetite.

After all, people always said that those who were truly ill lost their appetite. Besides, hadn’t Rianus promised himself yesterday that he would make sure his friend ate properly every day? Yet he hadn’t even managed to give him a proper breakfast this morning.

So, using the excuse that he was feeling much better but still needed to eat well to recover quickly, Rianus had just arranged for three servings of food to be prepared.

The servants had belatedly realized that their master had been ill and stared at him in surprise. Rianus, in turn, was astonished to learn that they hadn’t known he was sick.

It turned out that Evan had kept Rianus’s condition a secret. Instead, he had told the servants that Rianus had overeaten the previous day and asked them to prepare something easy to digest.

Nihil seemed to have grown tired of hiding. He nudged Evan’s foot with his own, then jerked his chin toward the door, signaling for him to hurry up and fetch the food.

Evan narrowed his eyes, but since the boy had spent the entire night looking after Rianus and had also made do with just one piece of bread for breakfast, he got up without complaint and returned with the meal.

Once the food had been laid out, Nihil roughly cut into his steak and speared a piece with his knife. Rianus then spoke.

“What should we do this afternoon?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Hmm, umm, I never really get to play because of my lessons… Oh, my lessons!”

Rianus’s expression suddenly froze.

What happened to my lessons…?

He sprang to his feet. He had completely forgotten about his classes because he had spent the morning playing cards with his new friend, who had complained of being bored as soon as Rianus woke up.

“Sit down.”

“Oh, okay.”

At Nihil’s firm command, Rianus obediently sat back down.

His friend had told him to sit, so he should sit. Getting up abruptly during a meal was impolite. Yes, absolutely.

Evan was so dumbfounded by the sight that his mouth opened on its own. He had never seen such an outrageous case of insubordination.

“Your Highness, your fever was high throughout the night. Please rest properly for the rest of today. I’ve already informed your tutors that you won’t be attending your lessons.”

“I… see.”

Rianus looked a little dejected before putting a piece of meat into his mouth. As he chewed, his movements gradually slowed, and his expression grew increasingly tense.

“At this rate, I’ll fall behind again. Maybe I should at least attend the afternoon lessons…”

“No.”

At Nihil’s firm response, Rianus lifted his head slightly, only to lower it again. The mood grew gloomy, and worry crept into Evan’s eyes as well.

Rianus spoke hesitantly, his mouth still full.

“Neil, I’m sorry. I can’t play with you anymore today.”

“Rest.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“I get sick so often that I miss classes all the time. I’m bad at studying, too, so my grades are terrible… My older brother is smart, and I can barely keep up with the lessons. The lessons will keep moving forward, and I’m… stupid. I even forgot about my classes because I was playing… What am I going to do…?”

Unaware that Nihil had deliberately led him into this line of thought, Rianus buried his face in his hands and continued berating himself.

As Rianus’s words tumbled out in a disjointed stream, almost as though he were talking to himself, Nihil glanced at Evan. The knight’s expression had grown tense, too.

Perhaps because of some lingering trauma, Rianus’s golden-green eyes trembled incessantly. Then the corners of his eyes reddened, and tears began to gather until it seemed one might fall at any moment.

His hands, resting on the table, had grown damp and fidgeted restlessly. His previously fluttery seaweed-like hair drooped heavily.

Nihil watched him quietly.

So this was why the guard dog had been barking about lessons in the early hours of the morning. Nihil slowly blinked a few times.

He had absolutely no intention of listening to the dog’s nonsense after it had dared to disturb his sleep. But if things continued like this, the seaweed would end up soaked in mucus.

I don’t want to play along with the dog’s little scheme, but I suppose I have no choice.

“Rian.”

“Mm…?”

“Do you have lessons every day? With the First Prince?”

“Mm-hmm. No, not every day. Just on weekdays. Some days I have a lot of lessons, and other days I have fewer…”

“Rian, what am I supposed to do if you go to your lessons? I’ll be bored. The only people I know here are one dog and you, my friend.”

“……”

The dog in question was deeply offended, but since he realized Nihil was trying to help His Highness, he quietly clenched his fists beneath the table.

“Um, well, I’m sorry, Neil. But even so, I really do have to attend my lessons…”

“Rian, do you think I could come with you? I’ll just sit quietly beside you and watch.”

“Huh?”

Rianus’s expression brightened a little. If Nihil came along to his lessons, they could stay together the whole time. It would be good for Rianus, and Nihil wouldn’t feel lonely either.

Perhaps Nihil could learn a few things, too. Rianus had heard that even a single book was a precious thing to commoners, so surely this would be a good experience for him.

Just as Rianus was about to nod enthusiastically, Nihil spoke again.

“Ah, but the First Prince would hate having a commoner like me in the classroom… You don’t discriminate against me, Rian, but the other members of the royal family probably aren’t as kind as you…”

At Nihil’s sorrowful words, Evan’s lips parted before he could stop himself.

The wildcat had begun peddling his tricks.