How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 20

Evan’s expression twisted as he looked at Nihil, who seemed to have no attachment whatsoever to life in the royal palace.

Nihil claimed he didn’t expect anything from children’s fickle whims, but it seemed more like a form of self-defense.

Yes, a way of comforting himself so he wouldn’t get hurt when he was inevitably kicked out.

He had adapted surprisingly quickly, but perhaps that was because he had never expected anything from the beginning.

…Has this sort of thing happened to him often?

Evan remained silent for a long time, lost in serious thought. Perhaps interpreting his silence differently, Nihil spoke as though trying to justify himself.

“I’m not asking you to trust me blindly. But for your prince’s sake, you should find a pharmacist you can trust.”

“No, we don’t have any way to deal with this immediately, so I’ll take you up on your offer. What should I do?”

“I’ll write down several additional medicines so that no one can identify the illness from the prescriptions alone. If you collect a generous supply and store them carefully, you’ll have enough to treat Rian immediately the next few times he falls ill. If you bring the ingredients back unprepared, we’ll be able to tell right away if anything has been mixed in by mistake, so there’s no need to worry even if poisonous herbs have been added. And if you don’t trust me, get a magical contract.”

“…I see.”

Evan felt strange.

Was that it? Has the problem really been solved just like that?

There was no need for a magical contract. Nihil didn’t seem like the sort to lie.

He disliked serving under anyone and had neither materialistic nor ambitious desires.

He might be soft toward the prince, but if they threw him out right now, he would probably turn around with that same indifferent expression without asking a single question.

If he ever had a reason to harm the prince, it would probably only be because someone had found a weakness they could exploit.

Evan glanced at the wildcat sprawled across the sofa, looking as though he had said everything he intended to say.

He wondered whether Nihil had any weaknesses, but in truth, he knew almost nothing about the boy.

Should I try to sound him out?

“What’s your weakness?”

Even as he asked, Evan let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of his own question. Sound him out? Some attempt that was. Has he really become this stupid?

There was no way Nihil would tell him if he asked about his weaknesses so bluntly.

“Weakness?”

“……”

“You’re asking me that outright?”

“……”

Evan admitted to himself that it had been a stupid question, so he didn’t bother responding. But instead of mocking him as he had expected, Nihil began seriously considering the question.

“Did you want to find a weakness you could hold over me before I harmed your master? Or did you think I might hurt Rian if someone else found a weakness to exploit?”

Sharp little brat…

Feeling as though his thoughts had been exposed, Evan lowered his eyes to avoid Nihil’s gaze and mumbled awkwardly. If he had to choose, it was the latter.

Hearing his answer, Nihil muttered as though it were nothing particularly important.

“A weakness, huh? You’re right. You don’t trust me enough to entrust me with the medicine yet.”

Nihil could have been offended by Evan’s words, but he was remarkably objective about himself. He simply nodded as though he understood.

Since he seemed genuinely willing to reveal something, Evan pretended not to be interested while quietly pricking up his ears.

He had no way of knowing whether a weakness he learned this way would be real or fabricated, but surely there was no harm in hearing it.

“But can you really trust information obtained this way?”

“……”

Does this brat read minds, too?

Evan glared at Nihil with a cold expression. The boy let out a soft laugh and fell into thought.

Evan was surprised to realize that Nihil seemed to laugh rather often. He stared at him in fascination until Nihil suddenly lifted his head, making Evan flinch.

“But wouldn’t you normally do something if your life were threatened?”

“Well… yes, but…”

“If my life were threatened, I might become frightened enough to threaten Rian myself.”

“……You? Getting scared?”

Evan imagined Nihil trembling in terror under a death threat.

If he trembled and shed big, fat tears with that face, I don’t think I could bring myself to kill him.

Genuinely thinking so, Evan decided to play the role of someone threatening Nihil’s life. He pulled a dagger from inside his clothes.

When he pressed the blade against the boy’s slender, pale neck, Nihil’s eyes widened slightly.

That was the extent of his reaction.

Nihil simply stared at Evan as though asking, What do you want me to do about it?

Threatening him with the blade, Evan said, “Cry.”

“……”

“What are you waiting for? Why aren’t you crying?”

“……”

Nihil let out a hollow laugh, as though Evan’s demand was utterly ridiculous. Then he actually leaned his neck farther toward the blade.

Just before his neck touched the edge, Evan finally withdrew the dagger.

“At least pretend to be scared.”

“I’m sensitive to murderous intent and hostility. Something this vague isn’t enough to threaten me.”

“Normally, when someone puts a knife to your throat, even if they’re joking, your body tenses up. But you didn’t react at all.”

“Is that so?”

Nihil nodded, saying he would keep that in mind. It was as though he had carefully memorized the lesson and intended to act accordingly the next time someone threatened his life.

Then, to put what he had learned into practice immediately, Nihil turned toward the bathroom and drew a deep breath.

“Ria…! Help! Help!”

Just before the sound could escape his mouth, Evan realized what he was trying to do and hurriedly clamped a hand over it.

Through gritted teeth, he whispered, “Shut your mouth while I’m still asking nicely.”

“!!!”

“……?”

But then the wildcat beneath his hand began trembling, looking up at him with eyes full of fear.

“???”

Evan was confused. Looking into those large, trembling eyes, he felt as though he had become the greatest villain in the world.

He wondered how he should calm the boy down. Deciding that an apology was probably the best place to start, he opened his mouth.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you… Hey.”

However, as he continued apologizing, he noticed Nihil’s oddly colored eyes narrowing into thin, curved crescents. He immediately changed his tune.

“…You’re not actually scared, are you?”

A low chuckle answered him.

“Don’t ever pretend to be scared again.”

Feeling thoroughly mocked, Evan irritably raked his fingers through his hair. Nihil responded with a sly grin.

“Weren’t you the one who told me to at least pretend to be scared?”

“…You’re infuriating.”

“You should be praising me for learning so quickly, not being so unreasonable.”

“……”

Nihil continued needling him for quite some time, insisting that children needed to be praised properly. Then he brought up the subject Evan had thought they had already finished discussing.

“If I have a weakness, I suppose it would be that child.”

“The child whose life or death you don’t know?”

“That’s right.”

“What if the child is already dead, and someone threatens you with their remains…?”

“I have no interest in an empty shell without a soul. Life has value while it’s alive. If I cared so much about a corpse or a handful of bones, I wouldn’t have struggled so hard to save that child in the first place. Isn’t it stranger to harm someone who’s alive over something that’s already dead?”

Nihil answered with a frown, his tone suggesting that Evan had asked an utterly ridiculous question.

It was certainly a perfectly reasonable answer. Unfortunately, there were plenty of unreasonable people in the world.

Feeling awkward for no particular reason, Evan scratched his head.

“Then what if the child is alive and someone takes them hostage…?”

“I’d rescue them.”

“How can you be so sure you could? They could take the child hostage and order you to harm the prince.”

Nihil considered the question for a moment before answering.

“…No matter how I think about it, taking that child hostage would be difficult in the first place. Besides, wouldn’t someone threatening me like that have to assume I possess the power to harm Rian? Frankly, regardless of how things turned out, my head would end up on the chopping block. It would be obvious that the whole threat was just a ploy to use me and then throw me away. I have no intention of obediently doing what they want.”

“…I see.”

Evan felt a little dejected by how Nihil kept getting straight to the point. Somehow, it felt as though the boy were criticizing him for being incapable of thinking beyond the obvious.

“…But the person behind it could be a royal or noble whom we absolutely can’t afford to oppose. There are imperial royals, too…”

“Has Rian offended the Empire?”

“That’s… no.”

“Well, I don’t care whether they’re imperial royals, kings, or nobles.”

Evan was beginning to admire Nihil’s simplicity, especially his complete disregard for the consequences of his actions. Was he starting to take after his master?

“Then what would it take for you to harm the prince?”

“Hmm. If Rian became the hostage-taker…?”

“…There’s no way His Highness would do something like that.”

“Then there’s no way I’d harm Rian, either. Though even if he did take someone hostage, I’d try to talk him down.”

“…But wouldn’t there be a time when you had to choose between the two? The prince and the child you raised.”

Evan mumbled the last words somewhat dejectedly.

Nihil narrowed his eyes as he studied him. Then he lightly patted the back of Evan’s hand several times and spoke as though it were nothing important.

“Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. Deal with them when the time comes. If that day ever arrives, buy yourself some time. I’ll help you.”

Faced with such an audacious declaration, Evan eventually let out a small laugh. He had no idea who was supposed to be helping them.

He felt rather pathetic, sitting there seeking advice from a child who looked no older than five or six. Still, he was relieved that they seemed to have resolved at least one problem.

But Nihil appeared to mean what he said about helping. He began offering serious advice.

“There’s no need to tremble just because someone has found your weakness. All you have to do is find a weakness of theirs in return.”

“……”

“Alternatively, there’s nothing wrong with revealing your weakness yourself. Once a weakness is exposed, it can actually create an opportunity to exploit the blind spots of those who try to use it against you.”

“…I’ll remember that.”

Evan wasn’t sure how much help a wildcat’s paw could really be, but Nihil probably wouldn’t be so confident without good reason.

“And just in case, bring me some books on medicinal herbs and medicine. The latest editions.”

“Books?”

“Yes. There may have been newly discovered medicinal or poisonous plants. And since we’re giving the medicine to a child, wouldn’t it be better to double-check before administering it?”

“Well, I suppose so.”

It was strange to hear Nihil refer to the prince as a child when he was still so young himself. Yet he said it so naturally that Evan couldn’t find anything to argue with. After all, whenever he spoke with Nihil, it rarely felt as though he were talking to a child.

They said children with younger siblings often became a little more mature than their peers from an early age. Perhaps Nihil was like that because he had raised a child himself.

Since the prince’s growth had been unusually slow, Evan had assumed that Nihil, who was about the same height as Rianus, was actually younger than the prince. But Nihil had said himself that he was older than he looked, and he did seem remarkably mature for his apparent age.

“…How old are you?”

“……”

The wildcat fell silent.