How the Prince Makes Friends – Chapter 133

Author: isuzuuy

At the word cute, Rianus’s pupils trembled violently, and he began squirming in an attempt to escape Noah’s arms.

“Cute, isn’t he?”

Seeing Rianus wriggle, Nihil asked as though seeking confirmation. Noah looked down at Rianus, then unconsciously tightened his arms around him and nodded.

It was a rather irreverent thought, but the way the little prince stared up at him with wide, round eyes was undeniably adorable.

The Second Prince was so small and round that it was hard to believe he was the same age as the First Prince.

People behind his back called him the Swamp Prince or the Odd-Eyed Prince, but his curly, dark green hair looked incredibly soft, and his golden and green eyes were so clear and innocent that it wasn’t uncomfortable to meet his gaze. There was something deeply pleasant about the way he looked straight at someone without any ulterior motive.

Just looking at him seemed to make Noah feel better……

How could someone so small and cute have been brave enough to pick a fight with Aiden? Perhaps he had made friends with that fairy-like child because he was kind and brave enough to fight for his friends.

Mother told me to make a good impression on the First Prince…….

Noah thought he preferred the cute and innocent Second Prince to the First Prince, who smiled but somehow seemed frightening.

However, Noah was the only one who found Rianus’s gaze comfortable. Rianus, on the other hand, felt a little uncomfortable with Noah staring so intently at him, so he wriggled in an attempt to escape his embrace.

Watching the giant chick squirm, Nihil called Rianus in a low voice.

“Rian.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Take care of that child for me.”

“……”

At the request to look after him, Rianus stopped moving and stared at Noah. Then, figuring that the boy must have some sort of story behind him, he gave him a big hug. His friend had never been able to walk past someone in trouble.

The arms holding him seemed to tighten little by little, making it somewhat difficult to breathe. But Rianus decided to endure it, imagining that he had become Pupu.

“Neil, what about you?”

“I’m going to get rid of the monster. It’s dangerous, so neither of you should come out from under the blanket.”

“Y-You… You know about the monster?!”

Startled, Noah tried to jump to his feet, but Rianus’s weight proved too much for him, and he plopped back down. The yellow blanket fluttered slightly along with him before settling again.

“C-Can you see it too?”

“I can.”

Although I haven’t seen it yet.

Morris’s mana seemed perfectly normal, so the monster Noah was seeing couldn’t be an ordinary dark magic spell or curse.

Nihil checked whether there were any gaps in the blanket, then tucked it more securely around them before continuing.

“Stay here. You might get hurt if you carelessly make eye contact with the monster. I’ll take care of it for you.”

“R-Really? Can you do that?”

“There’s nothing I can’t do. Isn’t that right, Rian?”

“Yeah!”

Rianus had no idea what they were talking about, but he promptly nodded. His friend really could do anything!

Nihil found the little kitten adorable for nodding so readily without even knowing what was going on. He patted Rianus’s head through the blanket, then gestured for Morris to come closer.

Sedes, who had also been herded into the corner, seemed curious as well. He approached and sat on the sofa opposite them. Seeing him use a magical tool to conceal himself so openly, Nihil could tell that the king had no intention of being chased away again.

After confirming that even the shadow knights had concealed themselves, Nihil spoke.

“Noah, can you describe the monster in detail?”

At the question, Noah began explaining everything he could about the monster, caught between anticipation and fear.

It was something very, very black. It had been there from the beginning. At first, it had only been about the size of a head, but it gradually grew larger, and the number of eyes increased until there were now far too many to count.

“Can you hear any sounds?”

“I-I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t have a mouth yet.”

“A mouth?”

“Yeah. But now there’s a really long line running down the middle of its body. I think that might become its mouth. Though maybe not…… I honestly don’t know. But I have a feeling something terrible will happen if it opens.”

“I see. We’d better get rid of it quickly, then.”

As he answered, Nihil took Morris’s pulse. Clearly bewildered by the situation, Morris kept looking back and forth between Nihil and the round blanket mound that was wriggling slightly.

The yellow blanket mound continued.

“Holy water won’t work. I already tried.”

“Holy water?”

“Yeah. I put some in a glass bottle and threw it at the monster, but it didn’t disappear.”

At that, Morris’s eyes widened, and he rubbed the scar on his forehead. It had been caused by the glass bottle Noah threw at him. Back then, he hadn’t even known there was holy water inside it. He had simply thought Noah had picked up some random object and thrown it because he hated him.

What was more, this was the first time he had learned that Noah saw him as a huge, pitch-black monster with countless eyes.

Unaware that his father was listening from outside the blanket, Noah continued.

“Yeah. At first, I thought it was because there wasn’t enough holy water, so I filled a bucket this big with it and poured it all over the monster. But that didn’t work either.”

“Did you try anything else?”

“Y-Yeah! We have a family heirloom at home. It’s a sword called ‘Saker.’ I tried using that, but it didn’t work.”

“…A sword?”

“Yeah.”

“…Did you… swing it?”

“No. It was scary, and it was heavy, so I dropped it from above.”

“……”

Morris reflexively rubbed his left shoulder. The wound there had yet to heal. It wasn’t particularly deep, but given its location, even a slightly deeper cut or a small change in its direction toward his neck could have been fatal.

The little white-haired child glanced over his injury and casually replied,

“Noah, swords are dangerous, so next time, let’s ask an adult to do it for you.”

“Okay.”

At that exchange, Morris opened and closed his mouth in disbelief. Asking an adult to do it for him? How was that any different from saying that next time, Noah should have someone neatly cut his throat?

But the children paid him no mind and continued their questions.

“Noah, can you tell exactly where the monster is?”

“……?”

Morris looked puzzled. The monster his son was talking about was him, so why was the child asking where he was?

“The monster is……”

Noah hesitated, unable to answer immediately. Morris felt troubled watching his son struggle to say outright that his father was the monster.

“The monster is… on Father’s shoulder.”

“……?!”

Startled by the unexpected answer, Morris reflexively tried to stand, but Nihil forcibly pushed him back down. The yellow chick continued speaking.

“No, actually, I’m not sure. It got so big that now… I can’t even see Father’s face anymore. I’ve tried checking several times, but… I eventually got too scared and ran away.”

“I see.”

“…Was Father… eaten by the monster?”

At the slightly tearful sound of his voice, Morris felt as though his breath had caught in his throat. So it wasn’t that Noah hated him. All this time, he had resented his son for treating him like a monster without knowing anything.

Noah continued speaking from inside the yellow blanket, as though determined to tell them everything he could.

“When it was small, it was attached to his left arm. But it kept growing and climbed higher.”

At that, Nihil examined Morris’s left hand. He wasn’t wearing even a single ordinary ring. Perhaps the evil thing had been attached to him for so long that it had completely taken hold.

Nihil slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again. His black pupils had turned a somewhat eerie shade of purple.

He could see something black wavering around Morris, but that was all.

“…I can’t see it very well.”

He rubbed his eyes beneath the veil, but the black thing remained indistinct.

“What do you mean you can’t see it? What can’t you see?”

The chick asked. Nihil casually answered, “The monster.”

The chick wriggled in surprise.

“Y-Your father is here? W-When did he get here?”

Noah asked, then immediately realized his mistake. Hadn’t he already screamed in surprise when he saw the monster earlier? He had completely forgotten about it because of the white-haired child.

“He’s asleep. Don’t worry.”

“…R-Really?”

“Yeah.”

Morris, who had suddenly become a sleeping person, reflexively started to lie down on the sofa and pretend to sleep. But then he remembered that the king was sitting on the opposite sofa, so he hurriedly straightened up again.

“W-What if he suddenly wakes up?”

“It’s fine. The monster won’t be able to attack you. The royal family’s escort knight is very, very strong. Isn’t that right, Rian?”

“Yeah! Sir Evan is really strong!”

As Rianus nodded emphatically, one side of the blanket began to wriggle.

Evan almost reached out to pet the squirming yellow chick without thinking, but quickly withdrew his hand and stood protectively in front of the blanket mound.

Nihil returned his eyes to their original color and removed his veil. Morris, who had been facing him, widened his eyes in surprise at Nihil’s uncovered face, but fortunately, he didn’t make a sound.

Nihil considered what to do, then searched the end of his sleeve. His fingers found the razor blade he had barely managed to hide after Evan confiscated all his weapons.

As soon as Nihil pulled the small blade out of his sleeve, Evan’s jaw dropped in disbelief. He quickly approached and snatched it away.

Evan silently mouthed,

When did you even manage to bring this?!

Nihil didn’t answer. He simply held out his hand, demanding it back. But Evan shoved the blade into his own sleeve as though he had absolutely no intention of returning it.

“……”

Nihil stared at Evan sulkily, then rolled up his own sleeve and deliberately dug his fingernails into his forearm.

He pressed down harder and harder, as though to say that if Evan didn’t hand over the razor blade immediately, he would gouge into his arm with his blunt fingernails instead.

Evan finally pulled the blade back out, his eyes blazing.

If you need blood, use mine.

Evan mouthed the words and held out his forearm.

Nihil looked back and forth several times between Evan’s scar-covered arm and his resolute expression. Then he nodded as if to say he understood and accepted the razor blade.

And promptly cut his own palm.

“You little—!”

Having been tricked, Evan instinctively blurted out a curse before startling at the sound of his own voice and quickly clapping a hand over his mouth.

“Sir Evan! What happened?”

The blanket wriggled.

“N-Nothing, Your Highness. Please stay where you are.”

Evan made a hasty excuse, then glared at Nihil. If he could, he would have smacked that disobedient white-haired head.

Nihil gave the trembling Evan a crooked smile, then smeared the blood pooling in his palm over his eyelids.

Evan frowned as if asking what on earth he was doing, but Nihil simply closed his eyes slowly and opened them again.

When they reopened, his eyes were no longer black.

They were purple.

“……!”

Evan flinched and took several steps backward when he met those violet eyes. Nihil’s gaze was utterly calm, yet there was something so chilling about it that Evan felt as though his very soul might be sucked into them. A shiver crept up his spine.

Nihil turned toward Morris. Morris also stumbled backward in surprise at the sight of him, but Nihil simply gazed steadily up at the black thing covering him.

“It’s even bigger than I expected.”

It didn’t merely envelop Morris’s entire upper body. It stretched all the way to the ceiling.

Its shape resembled clay that had been only partially molded. Just as Noah had described, a long line ran down the center of its body, and hundreds of large and small eyes moved independently, rolling around in every direction.

And among them, there was one eye that didn’t move at all.

Is that its core?

Nihil reached out, but it was too high for him to touch.

“Puppy.”

“…What?”

“Give me a boost.”

“……All of a sudden?”

“I can’t reach it.”

Morris moved first, leaning his upper body forward. But even with him bending down, the thing was still far out of reach.

Evan glanced at Sedes, who was concealed by a magical tool, then hesitantly approached. He lifted Nihil and placed him on his shoulders.

“…Which way?”

“A little farther left… No, that’s too far.”