How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 139

“……”

“Kyahahaha~ They kissed~!”

Cara covered her face with her palms, teasing them with a sing-song chant.

By then, Nihil had gone limp again, like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

Carus quickly scooped up Cara, who was running circles around Evan while shouting, “Nyeh-nyeh, you kissed!” Then he waved a hand in front of Evan’s blank face.

“Sir Evan, are you all right?”

“……”

“Mwah!”

“Mm-hmm. A little kiss for our Cara. Sir Evan, your lips didn’t touch. I saw it myself! Your chastity is intact, so don’t look like your whole world has come crashing down.”

“…Damn it.”

“???”

Carus cautiously backed away from his suddenly transformed secret friend.

“Why are you suddenly swearing? I know you’re not particularly fond of my dear friend, but still…”

“Hey, you damn wildcat brat! Wake up this instant!”

“…?! Sir Evan, c-calm down…!”

Evan shook Nihil vigorously. But just as though the boy had opened his eyes by sheer coincidence, he once again became completely motionless.

For one brief instant, countless emotions flashed through Evan.

Confusion, anger, guilt, and…

Helplessness.

It was a familiar feeling, yet one he never expected to experience at this particular moment.

Evan stood there, fuming for a long while before setting Nihil down on the bed almost as if throwing him.

“Your Highness, I’ll be stepping into my bedroom for a moment.”

Evan returned to his own room and swallowed the medicine Nihil had given him the previous day. He wanted nothing more than to demand that the boy return his kwa right that instant. But it wouldn’t do any good to let Nihil’s ability become known to outsiders. And above all, even if Nihil woke up, he didn’t seem like the sort who would obediently give it back.

There was nothing for it but to ease the pain himself.

However, perhaps because his kwa had already been transferred, the medicine made little difference. He couldn’t even tell whether it was working.

I should’ve just taken the medicine quietly from the start.

Evan roughly dragged a hand down his face, his heart heavy. At the very least, he shouldn’t have let Nihil see how much pain he was in.

What are the conditions? The forehead…? Is it enough to press foreheads together to take someone’s kwa? Or can he do it through simple physical contact?

As Evan pondered the conditions for Nihil’s ability and headed back toward Rianus’s bedroom, he saw the maids bringing in a steady stream of food.

There were so many unexpected visitors that the maids could easily have been flustered, but they were chatting and laughing as though they were enjoying themselves.

Evan announced the arrival of the meal in their place and opened the door. A lively little girl’s laughter rang out.

“Kyahahahaha~!”

The maids giggled along with her.

“Sir Evan was injured during a sparring match, but why was my dear friend hurt? Did he spar, too?”

Carus asked as he dipped a roasted mushroom into sauce and fed it to Cara. Cara whined, “I don’t liiike mushrooms~!” but Carus replied, “But the mushrooms like our Cara~” and slipped one straight into her protesting mouth.

There was some scuffling accompanied by a cry of “Big brother, I hate you!” But Carus paid no attention to his youngest sister’s hitting and instead caught the little kitten trying to push his carrots aside.

“Your Highness, you mustn’t be a picky eater~”

Rianus hurriedly swallowed the carrot, which had been cooked until it was soft and mushy, then opened his mouth.

“Uh… No, Neil…”

He was about to explain why Nihil had been hurt, but glanced at Noah and hurriedly tried to think of another explanation. He worried that if he said Nihil had damaged his hearing while fighting the monster, the timid Noah might be shocked.

Noah had been eating cautiously, clearly unaccustomed to dining with escort knights. But despite his timid nature, he seemed quick to pick up on things. His face gradually turned pale.

“Could it be… because of me?”

“Huh? N-no. He was just… tired.”

“H-he got hurt while defeating that monster, didn’t he? D-did he get cursed to sleep forever or something…?”

“No, no! Neil has always been hard to wake up once he falls asleep, even if someone bothers him. He’s just a little, a little tired. He said he’ll be better by the end of today.”

“I-I’ll contact my father right away and ask him to send potions…!”

Despite their attempts to stop him, Noah abruptly stood up in the middle of the meal and badgered his escort knight until a letter was sent to the trading company.

And an hour later, Rianus couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the might of the Allier Trading Company, said to be the largest in the kingdom.

“W-what… What is all this…?”

Butler Paul gaped at the bundles of medicinal herbs and various potions piled high in the lobby. The servants gathered around as well, whispering among themselves.

Potions were usually strictly regulated and reserved for urgent situations such as combat, with production and supply taken into account. Yet the Allier Trading Company had sent an entire chest of high-grade potions, as though those restrictions were nothing to them.

Considering that even King Sedes secretly slipped Nihil low-grade potions whenever he could, this was an astonishing quantity.

“N-Noah, th-this is too much…”

“I asked them to send plenty, and they only sent one chest…!”

“N-no, but even this is a lot…”

“Your Highness, I’m sorry. Potions are so heavily regulated that they must have had difficulty procuring more. Still, they’ve sent a considerable quantity of precious medicinal herbs as well, so please accept them, even if it’s a little less than I requested!”

“……”

Rianus opened and closed his mouth a few times. But when he saw the fire blazing in Noah’s eyes, he eventually gave his thanks.

“Butler, there are many precious things here, so please take special care when moving them.”

“Please don’t worry, Your Highness.”

The butler smiled pleasantly as he carefully compared the inventory with the servants carrying the goods and recorded every item. It had been quite a shock to discover that, despite his efforts to keep the servants in line, there were still people who had been stealing gold coins.

He had let the matter of the gold coins go because Young Master Neil had told him to. But this time, if anyone so much as tried to steal a single item, he would have their wrists cut off.

“Hehehe…”

“……”

Evan sensed a strange bloodlust behind the butler’s neatly crinkled smile and quietly picked up the little kitten.

The little kitten glanced at the potions, then whispered,

“Sir Evan, do you think Neil will wake up if we give him a potion?”

“…I don’t think he’d particularly like that.”

“Really?”

Rianus tilted his head. He thought that did sound rather likely, so he called the head maid over and told her, “Lots and lots of meat.”

The head maid gave him a rather peculiar look, but after Rianus emphasized “meat” a few more times, she finally agreed and hurried off toward the kitchen.

Rianus felt strangely proud of himself. He imagined his dear friend would praise him as soon as he woke up.

But that sense of accomplishment didn’t last long.

“Kyahahaha! Prince Cara has defeated the Demon King!”

“……”

The Demon King—or rather, Rianus—lay face-down on the floor, wondering if this was how Nihil felt when he played with him.

Still, he had at least been the final boss. Five people had already been defeated and sprawled across the floor, including Noah’s escort knight. Or rather, four people and one pet cat belonging to the Demon King.

The first villain to fall, sprawled out on the floor, spoke to him.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. My youngest sister has stolen your role as prince.”

“…It’s all right.”

Although Prince Cara had defeated him, Rianus had at least been promoted from prince to Demon King, so he decided to be reasonably satisfied. Besides, hadn’t his dear friend been promoted all the way to princess?

“Oh, Princess of Winter! Prince Cara has come to rescue you!”

Having defeated all the villains, Cara launched into a dramatic performance before Princess Nihil, who was fast asleep.

Rianus wondered how flustered Nihil would be if he woke up to this scene. Then he imagined his friend playing the princess and gave a little giggle.

Smack!

“……?”

What… was that sound?

Smack!

“???”

At the strange sound, the Demon King suddenly sprang back to life. Prince Cara had approached Princess Nihil and was reenacting a scene from a fairy tale.

“Ah! C-Cara, you mustn’t do that to someone who’s sleeping…!”

But whether Rianus panicked or not, Cara’s lips remained puckered, moving like a fish’s mouth after making that smacking sound.

“Princesses have to be kissed to wake up!”

“N-no, but you need to ask for permission first…”

“But you can’t ask for permission until they wake up, and they won’t wake up unless you kiss them! So you have to kiss them first! Act first, report later! Cara knows difficult words, too!”

“Uh, Cara is very clever. B-but still…”

“Pfft—!”

The Demon King’s knight found his master’s predicament so adorable that he irreverently burst into laughter, wheezing while lying face-down on the floor. The Demon King’s pet cat beside him was also trembling, curled up as tightly as possible.

Carus, who had been secretly impressed by his youngest sister’s impressive vocabulary, hurriedly stood up and picked her up.

“Cara, you mustn’t kiss other people without permission.”

“But that’s how they wake them up in fairy tales…”

At Cara’s insistence, Carus briefly thought, Perhaps it’s all right because they’re going to get married. Then he hurriedly shook his head. He would have to warn her not to imitate everything she saw in fairy tales.

“Cara, my dear friend, didn’t choose to play the princess.”

“But… my sisters and brothers said that if Cara gives someone a kiss, all their pain goes away…”

Cara had only wanted to make him feel better…

Watching her mumble that, Carus couldn’t bring himself to cruelly explain that kiss-based healing only worked within their family.

Just then, Noah, who had been quietly watching the whole time, spoke up.

“Cara, if you kiss someone, you have to marry them.”

“Huh? Cara is going to marry Big Sister Kitty, so she can’t marry my dear friend.”

“What?!”

“Mya-mya-myaang!!”

Regardless of Carus’s shock, Bella jumped up and happily bounced around.

“Cara! You said you’d marry your big brother when you grew up!”

“No, Big Brother. They say you can’t marry your family.”

Why was she only being so sensible about that part?!

Carus felt wronged and glared at the cat hopping around for no reason.

Bella had been injured and lying on the ground in her cat form when Cara had picked her up. Perhaps that was why the two had grown so attached to each other.

“I can’t believe this is why I picked Bella up…!”

“Big Brother! The Princess of Winter has become Princess of Spring!”

“…Huh?”

At Cara’s cheerful remark, everyone tilted their heads, wondering what she meant. Then they all froze in place.

“She looks like Cara now!”

“……”

“……”

Nihil’s once snow-white hair had somehow turned cyan.

“Big Brother, why aren’t you saying anything?”

The atmosphere in Rianus’s bedroom turned chilly. There had been more people than usual in the room, but apart from Cara, no one could bring themselves to speak.

A chill ran down Rianus’s spine. It felt as though he had secretly played with a toy that couldn’t be replaced or repaired, without permission, and broken it.

“Big Brotheeer!”

“……”

Cara, uncomfortable with the silence, tugged at Carus. But he was in no state to answer her. Perhaps this was how someone would feel after taking a child to a museum and accidentally destroying the one-of-a-kind priceless artifact.

“U-um…”

Carus swallowed nervously. What on earth were they supposed to do?

“…I’ll take responsibility and find a white… wig.”

“…Would a wig be enough?”

“T-then… hair dye…”

“What on earth are you two talking about? This whole situation is absurd to begin with…”

Evan rubbed his face, looking at the two of them as though they were trying to repair some mysterious magical artifact—one that might be broken or might simply have a function they didn’t understand—by sticking it back together with glue.

Noah rolled his eyes nervously before cautiously raising his hand.

“Wouldn’t it be better to… just tell him the truth? He might understand.”

Evan nodded and added his own opinion.

“That’s right. If we simply explain the circumstances, he’ll take care of it himself. Besides… there might be some sort of function connected to his hair. He once cut my hair and made talismans for the butler and head maid.”

“Talismans…?”

“Yes. He told them to burn them if the hair turned black. So perhaps a change in hair color isn’t such a serious matter to him.”

“Is that so?”

At Evan’s explanation, Rianus’s expression brightened noticeably.

“…But if he told them to burn it…”

Carus muttered with a grave expression. He glanced at the bed and pressed his lips together. Rianus’s expression darkened again.

“……”

“……”

Everyone’s faces grew gloomy once more, and silence settled over the room.

Just as Carus was seriously wondering how on earth they could apologize, and Evan was thinking something along the lines of Wouldn’t the wildcat still be pretty even if he went bald?, a soft purring sound came from somewhere.

“Prrrrr…”

“……?”

Everyone naturally turned toward the bed. They saw the wildcat still sleeping like a corpse, with a cat curled up beside him, gently cradling his head.

“…I didn’t know that a wildcat could snore.”

Evan muttered awkwardly. Carus gave a faint smile and corrected him.

“Sir Evan, that’s Bella making that sound. They say it has a calming effect and helps reduce stress. Though I can’t say for certain whether it actually works…”

“…That’s interesting.”

Evan nodded, feeling that it might be true. There was a reason he felt so at ease whenever he was with their little kitten.

“Anyway, we’ll have to wait until he wakes up…”

“Myaak?!”

Just then, the cat suddenly sprang up with a strange cry, drawing everyone’s attention again.

“…What are you doing?”

Bella, in her cat form, hurriedly grabbed the blanket in her teeth and carefully pulled it over Nihil’s head, covering him completely.

Something about the back of her head looked suspicious, so Evan approached. Bella hurriedly transformed into her human form and blocked his way.

“I-It’s nothing. I just… didn’t want the pretty young master to get cold…”

“…Why would you cover his face with the blanket, then? Move.”

“Y-yes, the pretty young master must be cold…”

“……What did you do?”

“I-I-I didn’t do anything. R-really…”

“……”

Seeing Bella avoid his eyes and stumble over her words, Evan grew suspicious and hurriedly tried to lift the blanket. But Bella blocked him with her entire body.

“M-Mr. Doggy, I-I really didn’t do anything~”

“Move!”

“I-It’s true~ I’m only guilty of clinging to something pretty…”

“S-Sir Evan…!”

Bella even coated herself in aura to stop Evan. Meanwhile, Rianus, wondering if his dear friend had woken up, hurried over and lifted the blanket.

“…Did his hair turn black or something?”

“N-no… Th-that’s not it. It’s just that Neil’s head…”

“……?”

“…He has ears now.”