How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 132

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t scold him for crying, Noah’s father.”

“……”

Morris glanced at Sedes, unsure how to respond to such an unusual way of speaking. But Sedes was still not accustomed to this manner of speech either, so he merely shrugged.

Morris gazed nervously at the child whose face was hidden behind a black veil, making him all the more mysterious, then cautiously nodded. The child must have been no ordinary person to save his son.

“How could I possibly reprimand the person who saved my son? Still, I would like to repay you, so tell me if there is anything you need.”

“Hmm……”

Nihil hadn’t saved the boy with any particular reward in mind, but there would certainly be advantages to having the support of such a prominent trading company.

“Do you happen to deal in medicinal herbs as well?”

“Of course. Do you need something?”

“I’m not asking you to procure anything right away. I’d like you to sell them to me at a discount sometime in the future.”

“Tell me your family name. I’ll pass it along to the trading company.”

“I don’t have a family.”

“……?”

“I mean, I’m a commoner.”

Morris looked at Sedes in confusion. What kind of commoner child could sit alone with the king of a country and speak to him like this? And in such an extraordinarily refined manner, no less.

Noticing Morris’s doubtful expression, Nihil tilted his head slightly and asked,

“Is it strange for a friend’s father and his son’s friend to have a conversation?”

“……”

Once again, Morris was at a loss for words. How could this possibly be the atmosphere between a friend’s father and his son’s friend? At the very least, he had never sat alone with one of his son’s friends and had a conversation like this.

Morris had to rack his brain to figure out the child’s identity. Then he realized this was the new friend the Second Prince had made—the very same child who had reportedly been called a lunatic earlier that day—and his eyes widened.

Seeing Morris’s bewildered expression, Sedes offered him a gentle piece of advice.

“Baron Allier, don’t try to make sense of him using common sense. You’ll only end up more confused.”

“…Yes.”

So he really is no ordinary child.

After sorting through his thoughts, Morris reached into his breast pocket and handed Nihil a small token. It was the only identification token issued by the head of the trading company.

“This is our trading company’s token. If you show it, any branch of the Allier Trading Company will give you the highest priority.”

“Hmm……”

Nihil gave the magically enchanted platinum token a cursory glance before slipping it into his pocket.

“I’ll accept it gratefully. I’ll leave the preservation and anti-counterfeiting spells intact, but I’ll remove the tracking spell. I detest being watched.”

“…It was only meant to prevent theft, so don’t misunderstand.”

“Who knows.”

“……”

“Head of the trading company, don’t go digging into my background.”

“……”

Morris narrowed his eyes at Nihil, who had changed the way he addressed him. The child had told him not to investigate, but that only made Morris even more curious about him.

Yet the child seemed to see right through even that thought and spoke again.

“This is advice, not a warning. You’ll only come up empty-handed, so if there’s something you want to know, ask me directly. Honestly, I couldn’t care less whether you investigate my background or not.”

“…Then……”

“Ugh… Uuugh……”

Sedes, who had already tried and failed to investigate Nihil once, was about to take the opportunity to ask him a few questions. But Noah let out a groan and his eyelids began to flutter, forcing him to close his mouth.

“Noah!”

Overwhelmed with relief that his son had regained consciousness safely, Morris hurried toward him. But the moment Noah saw his father, he began having another fit.

“U- Uwaaaah!!”

“N-Noah!”

“U-Ugh, m-monster! S-Save me……!”

Nihil covered Noah’s eyes and pulled him backward. Noah fell onto his bottom, but he still couldn’t calm down and thrashed about in Nihil’s arms.

“G-Ghk, huff……!”

When Noah showed no signs of calming down even after quite some time, Nihil spread the blanket covering him wide, creating a dome over their heads. He then gestured for Morris to move farther away.

“H-Hic, s-save me……”

“Look at me.”

Nihil held Noah’s cheeks and turned his face toward him.

“H-Huh, huff… Huff…?”

Noah, whose eyes had been covered, flinched at the black veil suddenly appearing before him. Then he noticed the yellow blanket enveloping him and his eyes widened.

“H-Hic, y-you… The p-page…….”

Why was the Second Prince’s page in front of him? He had heard that the child couldn’t speak, but he could have sworn he’d heard a voice.

Just as Noah thought he must have imagined it, a calm voice sounded again, as if to prove him wrong.

“Shhh. There, there. It’s okay. Breathe slowly.”

Noah had no idea what was happening, but he was short of breath, so he slowly drew in and let out his breaths. The inside of the yellow blanket felt unfamiliar, yet strangely comforting.

“Y-You… You said you couldn’t speak.”

“…That’s right. I can’t speak.”

“B-But… You’re talking! I-Is this an illusion too? A-Am I going crazy…? Is that why I’m hearing voices?”

Even as he spoke, Noah tightened his grip on Nihil’s wrist. He wanted this to be real.

But instead of calming down, his body began trembling again. Perhaps he really was insane, just as everyone said. Maybe even this sensation was something his own mind had fabricated.

Then he remembered falling from the terrace while being chased by a monster. Without even realizing that the wrist he was gripping was turning pale, Noah began gasping for breath again.

“D-Did I… Did I die?”

At those words, Nihil wrapped his arms around Noah and answered,

“Hmm… You’re soft and warm. I don’t think you’re dead yet.”

“……”

I don’t think you’re dead yet? What kind of answer was that?

Noah thought it was a very strange thing to say, but regardless, the small embrace felt so cozy that he quietly remained in Nihil’s arms.

“But… How can you talk? D-Did you lie to the prince?”

Nihil improvised an answer to the question.

“…Actually, only good children can hear my voice.”

“……?”

“It’s true.”

“B-But I’m… I’m not a good child. I said mean things to you and……”

“Children who regret their mistakes are good children.”

“……”

At those words, Noah felt inexplicably embarrassed. He lowered his head and fidgeted with his fingers. Then, curious about what had happened to the monster, he cautiously lifted the blanket.

But the moment he did, his cheeks were grabbed again, and his head was turned back.

“Stop. Don’t turn your head. Look at me.”

“……!”

Noah stared wide-eyed at Nihil, who was holding his face. Then he pouted and complained sulkily.

“You’ve covered your whole face with a veil. What am I supposed to look at?”

“…You can look at the veil.”

“…You… Aren’t you actually the same as that monster?”

“Monster……?”

Nihil tilted his head, wondering what that was supposed to mean. Noah, still sitting on the floor, muttered to himself.

“This is all just my imagination. I fell from the terrace and am hovering between life and death, and both that monster and you are illusions I made up in my head!”

“Illusions……”

Nihil flinched slightly at the word, but Noah continued speaking in a rush.

“To begin with, how does it make sense that only good children can hear your voice? I’m too old to believe in fairies! I’m already ten! This is… This is because I wanted to talk to you!”

“You wanted to talk to me?”

At that question, Noah flinched and stammered.

“N-No! I-I just… You were doing such strange things, and it was frustrating that we couldn’t talk… S-So… A-Anyway! You’re wearing a veil because I can’t imagine what your face looks like.”

“Then how did you imagine my voice?”

“H-Huh?”

Come to think of it……

Noah’s eyes darted around in confusion. Then was this actually real? Where was he, anyway? And why had the page been right in front of him?

“Is my voice anything like the one you imagined?”

“Uh… No.”

When Nihil asked again, Noah thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

The voice of the little boy who had played such mean tricks on him and smeared chocolate on his face was lower and calmer than he had expected. His tone was so composed, without even a hint of mischief, that Noah almost wondered whether it was really the same person.

Hesitantly, Noah reached out and pinched the edge of Nihil’s veil with his fingertips. Then he caught sight of eyes resembling the night sky and sucked in a breath.

“……!”

Nihil playfully curved the corners of his eyes.

“Well? Is it anything like what you imagined?”

“N-N-N-Not at all……!”

Was it anything like his imagination? He didn’t have nearly enough imagination to picture a face like that.

“Y-You’re really a fairy……?”

At that, Nihil’s expression turned subtly strange.

“…Do fairies look like this these days?”

“Uh… Actually, I don’t know. I’ve never seen one.”

“Do you realize you sound exactly like a five-year-old? You’re already ten. Try thinking a little more realistically.”

“Then… An angel?”

“……”

“Am I dead after all? Did you come to take me away?”

“…No.”

Nihil let out a deep sigh, thinking that children these days had lost so much of their imagination.

“Noah, stay here for a moment.”

“H-Huh?”

After saying that, Nihil poked his head out from under the blanket. The adults were quietly talking a little distance away. Nihil made a hand gesture, herding them toward one corner of the room.

And then the reception room door burst open.

“Neil!”

The little kitten had arrived.

“Rian.”

“Did they scold you a lot?”

Rianus asked as he hurried toward Nihil without even checking who might be in his blind spot.

Evan followed behind him, but froze when he noticed the people in the reception room. When Sedes silently shook his head, Evan couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He could only stare at his utterly innocent young master with trembling eyes.

Nihil scooped up the little kitten who had come running toward him. When he asked whether his lessons were over, Rianus nodded vigorously.

“Yes! They let me finish early today! I hurried over because I was worried you might still be getting scolded!”

“Good. You came at the right time.”

“Were you scolded a lot after all?”

“No, I wasn’t scolded. It’s all thanks to you.”

At those words, Rianus smiled brightly and rubbed his face against Nihil’s head, saying how relieved he was. Then he noticed the blanket, which was bulging into a round dome beside them.

“What’s this……?”

Rianus tilted his head and plopped his hand down on the blanket.

“Eeeek!”

“Kyaaa!”

The yellow blanket and the seaweed-like creature both let out strange shrieks and jumped.

“N-Neil! T-There’s s-something in here!”

Rianus clung tightly to Nihil’s head while warily eyeing the blanket.

The yellow blanket seemed to realize it mustn’t be discovered. It froze for a moment, then quietly curled back into a crouch. Of course, that only made it more conspicuous.

“W-Who’s there?”

At the question, the blanket wriggled a little before going still again. Curled up as tightly as it could be, it almost looked like a giant chick.

Holding Rianus in his arms, Nihil flipped the blanket open. Noah stared at him wide-eyed, as if asking why he was doing that, but Nihil simply handed Rianus over to him.

“Here.”

“…H-Huh?”

“W-What?”

Noah reflexively caught Rianus in his arms. Rianus stared wide-eyed at Nihil for casually handing him over to someone else, but he didn’t resist and remained still.

“Take good care of him.”

“W-Why are you entrusting the prince to me?”

“I’m not entrusting Rian to you. I’m entrusting you to Rian. Hold him tightly. You’ll feel better.”

At those words, Rianus and Noah stared at each other with wide eyes before speaking at the same time.

“Does the prince have that kind of ability?”

“I have that kind of ability?”

Nihil nodded solemnly and answered,

“He’s cute.”

“……”

“If you hold something cute, you feel better.”

“……”

“I see.”