How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 144

Rianus’s expression twisted the moment he heard that the Queen had sent an etiquette tutor.

Paul continued as he handed over the letter.

“Lady Sarete is here at the moment.”

She had even sent someone along with the letter. Did that mean she had no intention of listening to their opinion at all?

Rianus tore open the envelope and quickly scanned its contents. To summarize, the letter stated that his newly appointed page was unworthy of the royal family’s dignity and ought to be dismissed. However, taking into consideration that the child had not yet received a proper education, Her Majesty wished to give him a chance and had therefore sent an etiquette tutor.

But the contents weren’t particularly important. The problem was the final sentence.

“…Neil, she says you’ll also have to take the quarterly assessment this month.”

“……?”

“Um, my brother and I take exams once every quarter, too. The teachers submit their reports as well… She’s definitely trying to have you evaluated so she can find an excuse to dismiss you.”

Nod, nod.

“…Doesn’t that bother you?”

Nod.

“Well… Carus will at least take your side. But…”

Rianus thought back over all the lessons Nihil had attended with him so far.

Swordsmanship… There was no need to explain that one, since the Duke was the instructor. During violin lessons, his friend had essentially been nothing more than an audience member. He had simply sat quietly through public finance, and they hadn’t even attended a statecraft lesson together yet…

Thinking about it this way, he felt immensely relieved that Carus taught two different subjects.

The real problem was Countess Tarandrus, his etiquette tutor. No matter how he looked at it, she didn’t seem to have a favorable opinion of his friend.

“…Neil, are you really going to be okay?”

As he asked, Rianus gently lifted Nihil’s veil. Since they couldn’t have a proper conversation, he wanted to at least see his friend’s expression.

But when his eyes met Nihil’s mischievous gaze, Rianus awkwardly lowered the veil again.

“Um, right. I think it’ll be fine. Butler.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“What’s Neil’s lesson schedule?”

“Two hours every day.”

“What? That’s too much! Then when am I supposed to play with him? There are still twenty days until the quarterly assessment!”

Nod, nod!

Nihil enthusiastically nodded as though he wholeheartedly agreed. Apparently, his friend wasn’t particularly fond of spending two hours a day on lessons, either.

“Since etiquette is included in my lessons, tell her to come only three times a week. Just one hour each time. No more than that.”

“I’ll convey that. What shall we do about today’s lesson? Should I simply send her away?”

Shake, shake.

Before Rianus could even answer the butler’s question, Nihil shook his head. Then he made a brief hand signal.

Wait.

The butler saw the signal and smiled warmly.

“For how long?”

Nihil glanced at the clock, then held up two fingers.

Two hours.

 

***

 

“Neil, you have to make a good impression on Countess Tarandrus until the quarterly assessment!”

Rianus clenched his fist solemnly as he said this.

Seeing Rianus set a time limit of until the quarterly assessment, Nihil chuckled beneath his veil and nodded.

He was sitting reasonably straight in his chair when Countess Tarandrus entered.

The countess’s eyebrow twitched at the sight of Nihil wearing both a hood and a veil, but she forced herself to ignore it and offered a greeting.

“Good afternoon, Your Highness.”

“Yes, good afternoon, Teacher!”

The countess regarded Rianus, who seemed strangely enthusiastic, with a hint of suspicion. But she simply assumed something good must have happened to him that day and let it go.

After hesitating for a moment, she also greeted Nihil.

“…Good afternoon to you, too.”

Nod, nod.

“…Why are you merely nodding instead of greeting an adult properly?”

“…….”

It seemed the countess had now decided to accept Nihil as one of her students, because she began lecturing him.

“Wearing your hood indoors like that is impolite.”

“…….”

Watching Nihil, who couldn’t answer, Rianus desperately racked his brain for an excuse. He needed to make a good impression on the countess, but there was no way he could let her see the fluffy ears on his head.

Just then, the experienced butler, who had deliberately stayed behind instead of leaving, stepped forward and quietly spoke.

“My lady, it seems the young master has been teased because of his appearance. Although it may go against proper etiquette, would you be willing to give him a little time until his emotional wounds have healed?”

At the butler’s words, Nihil promptly pulled his hood down even farther.

The countess regarded him with an ambiguous expression, then quietly continued the lesson.

“…That concludes today’s lesson.”

“You’ve worked hard today, my lady.”

“…….”

Even after the lesson ended, the countess didn’t immediately leave. Instead, she glanced at Nihil, who was still sitting quietly in his chair.

Nihil stared back at her for a moment, then rummaged through his clothes and took something out, placing it on the desk.

It was a medicine bottle tied with a pretty ribbon.

“…….”

When the countess merely stared at the bottle without saying anything, Nihil nudged it slightly closer, as though asking why she wasn’t taking it already.

After hesitating for a moment, she cautiously picked it up.

“…Is this the same as the last one?”

Nod.

“…Thank you.”

With that, she bid Rianus farewell and withdrew.

Rianus was relieved to see that the countess seemed to have developed at least a little affection for Nihil. He was curious about what his friend had given her, but since Sir Ernest was still there, he refrained from asking.

Sir Evan is late.

Sir Evan usually never stayed out for more than half a day, no matter what he was doing. But today, he seemed to be taking longer than usual. Perhaps, since Sir Ernest was filling in as his escort, he had decided to take care of as many things as possible while he was away.

Thinking about it made Rianus feel a little sorry for Sir Evan. He hardly ever had any free time.

He was wondering whether they should recruit another escort knight when Carus made a rather boisterous entrance. The next lesson was history.

“Haha! Your Highness, my dear friend! It’s been a while!”

“I saw you just the other day.”

“I barely managed to restrain myself from coming again yesterday! Oh? But… Where has my secret friend gone? Why is Sir Ernest here instead…?”

“Sir Evan went out today.”

Walter, who had encountered the young marquess, gave him a slight bow.

Carus exchanged a few brief greetings with Walter, asking him to take good care of His Highness for the day, then immediately prepared to begin the lesson.

“Let’s get started and finish quickly! I’ve brought some delicious snacks, too.”

“Ah, Neil has to attend another lesson today.”

The two hours Nihil had told Lady Sarete to wait were almost up. The countess was probably sitting in the waiting room right now, grinding her teeth as she waited for him.

They had been able to make her wait because the previous lesson had been taught by a relatively high-ranking noblewoman—a countess—and, more importantly, because it was the subject Nihil needed most at the moment: etiquette.

If they kept her waiting any longer, she would simply leave.

Honestly, I’d be happier if she just went home… But Neil seems to have something in mind…

“Why does he have to skip my lesson to attend another one?! He should skip the other lesson and come to mine!”

After hearing the circumstances, Carus threw a childish tantrum, insisting that Nihil shouldn’t go.

“I’ll go and kick that Sarete or whatever her name is out myself! Do you know that I’m a marquess?”

“…Sometimes I genuinely wonder whether Carus is really a marquess.”

Especially lately.

“My dear friend, why on earth do you need etiquette lessons~? It’s not as though you don’t know how to behave, right? I’ll give you two hundred points out of a hundred on the quarterly assessment! Ah, I came here so excited because there was something I wanted to show you!”

Snap!

When Carus continued pestering him like a child, Nihil snapped his fingers to draw everyone’s attention. Then he held out his hand as though asking Carus to give him something.

It seemed he was willing to take a look at what Carus wanted to show him before leaving.

Carus eagerly approached Nihil, took his hand, and whispered as he traced something onto his palm with his finger.

“I memorized all the particularly emphasized sentences in the documents!”

Carus grumbled that they had been difficult to memorize, then slowly wrote the sentences he had learned onto Nihil’s palm.

Afterward, he gazed at Nihil expectantly, practically overwhelming him with his enthusiasm.

“…….”

Nihil remained silent for a moment after deciphering the sentence.

When Nihil didn’t respond, Carus seemed to assume that he hadn’t understood because he had written too quickly. He unfolded Nihil’s palm again, intending to write it once more.

Nihil curled his fingers shut, forcibly closing his own hand.

“Oh! You understood?”

Carus beamed.

Beneath his veil, Nihil’s mouth moved a few times before he pressed a hand to his forehead. There wasn’t much he could say.

No unauthorized disclosure. No copying.

“…….”

Of all the sentences Carus could have memorized…

Of course… From the perspective of the person who had written it, it was a very important sentence.

It just wasn’t important to Carus.

Nihil let out a deep sigh, then lightly smacked Carus on the forehead. The marquess had been looking as excited as a child waiting for a present.

Nihil stood up.

“Ah! Where are you going?! At least tell me what it means before you leave!”

 

***

 

“Why are you so late?!”

The moment Nihil opened the reception room door, an elderly woman’s furious voice rang out.

He glanced at the grandfather clock.

He was a full two minutes early.

Rianus, who had secretly followed him and was watching from around the corner, nearly rushed forward in anger at the old woman’s thunderous voice. But Nihil discreetly raised a hand behind the door to stop him, then entered the reception room and closed the door.

“And what on earth is wrong with your clothes?! His Highness Prince Bi told me you were an uneducated commoner, but I never imagined you’d be this disgraceful!”

“…….”

“Why did the Second Prince have to pick up someone like you?! Even if he is only half-blooded, does he have to be this lacking in judgment?!”

The old woman wasn’t teaching him etiquette at all. Instead, she was insulting both him and Rianus.

Whether those insults actually affected Nihil was another matter entirely.

The woman’s shrill voice was making his ears ring, so Nihil casually picked at one ear and sat down on the sofa.

“Y-You! You insolent little brat!”

The old woman, her face turning bright red, raised her voice again and continued shouting. Nihil simply sat quietly on the sofa and waited for her anger to subside.

After more than thirty minutes of screaming and ranting, Sarete finally realized that her words weren’t having the slightest effect on him.

So she picked up a switch.

“Hold out the soles of your feet!”

Naturally, Nihil had no intention of obediently letting her beat him.

Sarete tried to catch the little brat as he scampered around, but within five minutes, she was panting heavily and collapsed onto the sofa.

As soon as she sat down, Nihil deliberately took the opposite sofa and sat there as well, openly mocking her.

Left with no other choice, Sarete brought out a pen and paper to give her punishment some semblance of legitimacy.

“If you can’t speak, does that mean you can’t write, either?! Copy this! If you make a mistake, you’ll get one strike for every incorrect letter!”

Nihil readily nodded.

Sarete had expected the page to behave however he pleased, so she had been slowly raising her switch. But when she saw Nihil begin copying the writing, she quietly lowered it.

“…….”

Sarete’s mouth fell open as she examined the letters he had copied.

He had reproduced not only her handwriting but even the smudges in the ink. They were so identical that it looked as though someone had simply copied and pasted the original.

She couldn’t even criticize his handwriting.

“T-Then copy this one, too.”

Sarete quickly scribbled down a somewhat longer sentence. It was written in a cursive style that children weren’t yet accustomed to.

But the result was exactly the same.

Seeing him reproduce even the little flourishes at the ends of the letters perfectly, Sarete could only stare in disbelief.

Your Highness Prince Bi, is this really right?