How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 56

Evan turned away from the door he had been about to leave through, leaned against it, and slid down until he collapsed onto the floor.

The chill creeping up from the floor cooled his sweat and reminded him once more that this was reality.

Nihil had probably revealed his presence only at the last moment because he had sensed Evan was about to go looking for him.

In other words, the boy was telling him, I’m right here, so don’t bother searching for me. Just go back to sleep.

Realizing that he had been in the palm of Nihil’s hand from beginning to end, Evan withdrew his mana, buried his face in his hands, and chuckled.

The room was dark, illuminated only by a single, flickering candle.

If any of the servants had seen Evan sitting on the floor, laughing like a man who had half lost his mind, they would undoubtedly have screamed and fled.

Evan knew perfectly well that he must have looked downright bizarre, but he couldn’t stop laughing.

How much time passed?

His laughter gradually subsided, and a suffocating silence settled over the room.

Evan slowly lifted his face from his hands.

The candle, now reduced to a stub, writhed like a beast struggling desperately to survive. It managed to illuminate something a vivid yellow before being swallowed whole by the greater beast that was darkness.

What it illuminated just before going out—

Were a wolf’s eyes.

 

***

 

Rianus opened his eyes at the sound of rustling. The first thing he saw was his dear friend, whose hair had somehow turned gray.

“Rian, it’s about time to get ready.”

“Mmm…”

With his morning starting earlier than usual, Rianus hugged his pillow and drowsily wriggled around. Then, he suddenly remembered what they had planned to do that day and sprang upright.

“Did I oversleep?”

“No. I was just about to wake you.”

“Okay! I’ll wash up and come right back!”

“There’s no need to wash. You’re going to get dirty anyway. Old man.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nihil called for the butler, who stood nearby with a kindly smile, holding a set of slightly faded, worn-out clothes. The butler approached to help Rianus change.

Rather than stepping aside, Nihil helped Butler Paul change Rianus’s clothes.

As the two of them guided him this way and while undressing him, Rianus tilted his head at the bandages being wrapped tightly around his body.

“What are these for?”

“It’s still chilly outside. These bandages are made from thin fabric that provides excellent insulation. If wandering children wear thick, fine clothes, they’ll become obvious targets. Cheap fabric, on the other hand, offers little warmth even when layered and only restricts movement. This won’t be enough to keep you warm, but I hope you’ll understand.”

Despite saying they wouldn’t be enough, the butler and Nihil used a rather excessive amount of bandages, making sure not a patch of Rianus’s bare skin was exposed.

There was no denying that they had gone overboard. Anyone who saw him might mistake him for someone with severe injuries.

“Won’t I look suspicious if I’m wrapped up this tightly?”

“Rian, you’re an orphan named… Let’s say, Nerr. You were raised by your relatives, but you couldn’t endure their abuse anymore, so you ran away from home with your older brother. Oh, are the bandages too tight?”

Rianus moved his body a little as he listened to Nihil’s explanation, then nodded.

“No, they’re fine. So does that make you my older brother, Neil?”

“That’ll make it easier for you to hide behind me and for me to step in when necessary. Rian, come sit here.”

“Okay, big brother!”

Rianus was delighted to have a new older brother!

Nihil sat the grinning Rianus in a chair, neatly combed his hair, and gathered it together. Then he put a shaggy, ash-gray wig on the boy’s head and asked,

“Your eyes stand out too much, so I’ll cover one. Which side do you prefer?”

“Hmm…”

Rianus pondered the question. It was like being asked, Do you love your mother or your father more? After all, he had inherited one eye from each of his parents.

Seeing how deeply Rianus was struggling with the decision, Nihil finally offered to choose for him. He alternately covered each eye and waved his hand in front of the boy’s face a few times. Then he wrapped a bandage over the golden eye inherited from Sedes.

“Neil, is there a reason you chose my left eye?”

“There’s not much difference, but your green eye is slightly more developed.”

“I see.”

Rianus didn’t understand what it meant for one eye to be more developed than the other, but since his friend said so, he simply nodded. Then he looked over Nihil’s clothes and asked,

“But what about you, Neil? Don’t you need bandages?”

“I handle cold and heat pretty well. Besides, I’ll be wearing a robe over this, so you don’t need to worry too much.”

“But…”

Rianus was worried about Nihil’s light clothing.

The ends of his sleeves were ragged, as though someone had deliberately torn them, and half of his forearms were exposed. His trousers were so short that his knees showed, too.

Nihil gestured toward Evan, who was standing a little farther away with his arms crossed, watching them.

“Don’t worry about me, Rian. Focus on protecting yourself. If you fall ill because of this outing, that puppy over there won’t leave me alone.”

“No! I’ll protect you!”

At those words, the puppy knight looked a little dejected.

Beside Evan, the dog knight, stood Bella, the cat knight. Both had already changed into comfortable clothes suitable for moving around. To an outsider, they might have looked like ordinary mercenaries.

When Bella met Rianus’s eyes, she giggled and waved her hand enthusiastically. Unaccustomed to such boisterous behavior, Rianus looked a little awkward, but he waved back.

“But what about your eyes, Neil?”

“It’s fine. I’ve made eye drops that can make their color a little less distinct.”

“If you have something like that, why not give it to His Highness, too? Covering one of his eyes like that could be dangerous.”

Evan narrowed his eyes suspiciously and interrupted when he heard about the eye drops.

“This isn’t a magical potion. It literally just makes the color less distinct. Rian’s eyes are completely different colors, so it won’t work for him.”

Nihil grumbled that it wasn’t as though they were living in prehistoric times, so why were magical potions so difficult to obtain? The decline of civilization since the War Against the Heavenly Demons was nothing but an inconvenience to him.

“Where did you find eye drops like that?”

Evan stared at him skeptically, but Nihil seemed too lazy to explain. He pulled a small vial from his clothes, shook it to show him, and opened the lid.

For some reason, Evan felt uneasy. He snatched the vial away and poured its contents onto the back of his own hand.

At first, everything seemed fine. But a gradually intensifying burning sensation made him shake his hand instinctively.

The irritation wasn’t particularly severe, but he could see that the skin where the eye drops had splashed had turned slightly red.

Even so, if something that irritating got into someone’s eyes, it would undoubtedly cause considerable pain. Evan held out the back of his hand to Nihil and demanded,

“What on earth were you planning to put in your eyes?!”

Nihil turned the empty vial upside down and shook it a few times. After confirming that not a single drop remained, he answered calmly.

“It’s a potion that temporarily reduces the eyes’ condition a little.”

“So making the color less distinct means turning your eyes into those of a dead fish?!”

“It’s not that bad. I put quite a bit of thought into making it, so that’s a rather harsh criticism. Give me your hand.”

Evan felt a vein throbbing at the back of his head. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything and simply held out his hand.

Nihil took it, pulled another vial from his clothes, and poured its contents over the back of Evan’s hand as he muttered,

“I must have gotten the concentration wrong.”

“Is that supposed to be an explanation?!”

Unable to tolerate Nihil’s seemingly reckless behavior any longer, Evan grabbed one of the boy’s cheeks and stretched it out.

Rianus, who had been watching in a daze, narrowed his eyes and pinched Nihil’s other cheek.

“Neil, don’t do dangerous things.”

“Okay.”

“You have to promise. Promise me!”

“Okay, I promise.”

Nihil obediently agreed without protest and held out his little finger.

Rianus was a little surprised to see it, but when Nihil wiggled his finger as if urging him to link theirs, he quickly hooked his own little finger around it.

Then he beamed.

He was so happy to have a friend with whom he could make a pinky promise that he asked excitedly,

“Are we all ready? Can we leave now?”

“Not even close.”

After saying that, Nihil dipped his hands into a bowl of water, dampening them. Then, from somewhere, he produced a handful of dirt and black powder and began smearing it all over Rianus.

“…Your Highness, forgive me for saying this, but you really do look like a beggar now.”

Evan spoke with a rather uncomfortable expression as he looked at Rianus, whose face was covered in soot.

Of course, a little soot couldn’t completely hide His Highness’s adorable, lovable appearance. But at least for now, he looked less like an adorable prince and more like an adorable little beggar.

Rianus seemed to agree. He nodded and looked at Nihil, who was about to apply red dye.

“That’s true. Do we really have to go this far?”

“People naturally let their guard down when someone looks weak. It’s also easier to gain their sympathy.”

After explaining, Nihil applied a blood-colored dye around Rianus’s bandaged eye. He examined the boy from head to toe and, apparently satisfied, began smearing black stains on his own body and clothes as well.

“Ah… Could you please not draw the bloodstains?”

Rianus stopped Nihil just as he was about to apply more red dye.

The more Nihil disguised himself, the more Rianus was reminded of their first meeting.

He remembered Nihil lying motionless on the cold ground, covered in blood and looking like a corpse. The memory made him feel sad.

Nihil found the request a little puzzling, but he soon understood. He nodded and set the red dye aside.

“Neil, how did you change your hair color? Did you dye it?”

“I just ground some ash into a fine powder and rubbed it in. The black powder here is ash, too. Here, take these.”

Nihil handed Rianus a dagger and a necklace.

Bella, who had quietly approached, couldn’t resist her curiosity and gently stroked Nihil’s hair. As expected, ash rubbed off onto her fingers.

Glancing around nervously, Bella tried to wipe the soot onto Nihil’s clothes. But when Evan clicked his tongue disapprovingly, she changed direction, rubbed it onto Evan’s clothes instead, and hurriedly ran away.

“You wretched cat!”

“Kyahahahaha~!”

“Argh, seriously!”

Evan came to a conclusion. Apart from their adorable, lovable little kitten, cats and he simply did not get along.

Rianus giggled, apparently amused by the two knights bickering.

Ever since Nihil had arrived, his days had been full of fun. His bedroom, which had once been so quiet that it felt depressing, had become lively and filled with laughter. It was all thanks to his friend.

Of course, Nihil didn’t consider a dog and a cat quarreling to be any of his concern. He simply continued looking after Rianus in silence.

“Nerr.”

“……Huh? Oh, yes! You’re calling me.”

Rianus, who still wasn’t used to his assumed name, had been looking through the bag Nihil gave him. He jumped in surprise when he heard it and hurriedly answered.

“While we’re outside, I’ll keep calling you by that name. Get used to it.”

An assumed name! Rianus felt his heart flutter with excitement, as though he were heading out on a secret infiltration mission.