How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 62

Evan, who was currently under the impression that Nihil was terribly lonely for the “child” he had mentioned, quietly opened his mouth.

“…Did you put him to sleep?”

Evan poked Nihil, who was now limp like a marionette with its strings cut, but the boy didn’t move in the slightest.

Nihil had already managed to overcome Bella’s sleeping fragrance before, so he had undoubtedly allowed himself to fall asleep on purpose this time.

Bella seemed to know that, too. She let out a strange meow and pulled Nihil’s limp arm toward her, hugging it weakly.

“Huh? Is Neil asleep?”

“Myaah.”

Rianus, who had been thinking about something, belatedly realized what had happened and widened his eyes. He whispered quietly, just in case he woke Nihil.

“Neil doesn’t seem to like teddy bears very much.”

“……”

“Mya, mrow…”

“Then should I give him a real bear instead?”

“…Wouldn’t a real bear be rather dangerous?”

“You think so?”

Evan finally realized that the reason the prince had been so quiet was that he had been trying to figure out what to give Nihil as a present.

Perhaps Nihil liked their oblivious but ever-earnest prince. Maybe the wildcat hadn’t really meant anything by his words, either.

“He must be quite tired, too. I think we should let him rest until we find a place to settle down and prepare our meal.”

“Yeah, I think so, too. But we only have bread and potatoes…”

Rianus thought about the scraps of bread in his little bag and the potatoes in Nihil’s bag.

They hadn’t done anything, yet they had received bread scraps, earned a copper coin, and bought potatoes. They had even been given strawberries.

He wondered whether other street children gathered food this way, but judging from the conversation he had overheard, that didn’t seem to be the case.

As Rianus glanced back and forth between his own bag and Nihil’s, Evan chuckled softly and spoke.

“You certainly have an easy time getting food. I never would have expected that.”

“Is that how it usually works?”

“Of course not. You looked so clueless that people probably wanted to look after you, young master.”

“Did I really look that clueless?”

Rianus awkwardly rubbed the corner of his mouth, wondering whether he had looked that foolish.

“Street children can be quite cunning. What wouldn’t they do to survive? Meanwhile, you had no ruthlessness in you at all, and you looked at everything as though it were fascinating. How could anyone resist looking after you?”

Rianus wondered whether Evan was complimenting or insulting him. Then he realized it didn’t really matter and shook his head to clear the thought away.

Evan smiled brightly at him and continued.

“And if you’re worried about lunch, don’t be. The wildcat prepared something in our luggage.”

With that, Evan entered an alley.

Avoiding people had made their route increasingly long. Fed up with the detours, Evan decided they couldn’t go on like this. He leaped high into the air and began moving swiftly from rooftop to rooftop.

Bella, who hadn’t been expecting it, let out a strange cry and sprang out of his arms. She quickly transformed back into a human and hurried after them.

Startled by the sudden sensation of being lifted into the air, Rianus clutched Evan by the collar. Then he quickly checked whether his friend was all right.

Nihil was still asleep, without moving a muscle.

His beautiful black eyes remained hidden beneath his eyelids, and his ash-dusted hair, darkened with soot, fluttered wildly in the wind.

After observing him for a long while, Rianus called out to Evan.

“Sir Evan.”

“Yes?”

“I think I prefer living things to dead ones, too.”

“Pardon…?”

Rianus’s sudden remark about dead things startled Evan so much that he stopped dead on the roof of a nearby house.

Rianus carefully poked Nihil’s cheek.

Nihil was obviously tired, so letting him sleep longer was the right thing to do. But Rianus wanted to see those mysterious, beautiful black eyes again—the gaze that followed his every movement.

He didn’t like things that remained still.

Evan was bewildered by Rianus’s unexpected behavior, but he didn’t stop him.

Rianus felt a strange certainty. Nihil seemed to be sleeping deeply, but if Rianus called him, he would open his eyes for him at any time.

And Rianus wanted to test that certainty just once.

“Neil.”

“…Yeah.”

A moment later, a voice slightly more husky than usual answered his call. The thin veil of Nihil’s eyelids fluttered several times before finally lifting completely, revealing a beautiful black night sky.

Even after waking his friend, Rianus smiled happily.

It was nothing more than an ordinary moment in which he had called out and Nihil had answered. Yet the fact that Nihil would respond even when he was asleep made Rianus incredibly happy.

“Should we buy strawberries on the way back?”

Having woken someone who had been sleeping, Rianus couldn’t think of anything to say, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Even as he spoke, he wondered whether it was a strange thing to say, but he knew Nihil wouldn’t scold him.

“Sure.”

As expected, Nihil answered without fuss. Rianus beamed and urged Evan to hurry because he was getting hungry.

Evan found Rianus’s sudden obsession with strawberries puzzling, but he resumed walking.

“Puppy.”

Nihil spoke while playing with Rianus’s hands as they traveled.

“What?”

“The red roof to the southeast.”

Nihil jerked his chin toward an old inn in the red-light district of Sharton Street, the sort of place that could be found anywhere.

Evan looked in the direction he indicated and frowned.

“What about it?”

“There’s medicine in the basement, but you can only get down there through the attic.”

“……”

“Keep that in mind.”

“…Sigh.”

Evan sighed after being forced to absorb information he would rather not have known.

He had a bad feeling that this whole affair was about to become much more complicated. But now that he knew about it, he couldn’t simply ignore it.

Evan figured he would leave the cat in charge of guarding the children later and go file a report with the royal authorities. Then he descended into an alley.

“How do you find things like that, Neil? Do you have some kind of X-ray vision?”

Rianus, who had climbed down from Evan’s arms, asked with fascination as he gazed into Nihil’s black eyes, which resembled the night sky.

Even at a casual glance, those eyes were clearly unusual. It wouldn’t be surprising if they possessed all sorts of strange abilities.

“Nerr, don’t stare so intently. You might get enchanted.”

“…Huh?”

Nihil smiled at Rianus’s blank question, the corners of his eyes curving upward. It was an almost ideal smile for bewitching someone.

“Y-You have that kind of ability, too?!”

Evan warily eyed Nihil, who was smiling seductively despite being nothing more than a little brat, and hurriedly covered Rianus’s eyes.

Rianus was startled when his vision suddenly went dark, but he didn’t remove Evan’s hand, obediently staying still in case he really might be enchanted.

Then a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

Could it already be too late?

“If Neil has that kind of ability, doesn’t that mean I’ve already been enchanted…?”

“……!”

Evan was horrified all over again. He turned Rianus around and examined him carefully.

Bella only made matters worse by chiming in that it seemed entirely possible for such a thing to happen to the adorable young master. Evan’s heart sank further and further.

Rianus’s large, sparkling green eyes rolled around as he looked at Evan.

He wore a shabby ash-gray wig and had bandages wrapped around his entire body, but to Evan, he still looked cute. Cute, cute, and impossibly cute.

While Evan was seriously examining Rianus, a quiet snicker reached his ears.

Realizing belatedly that Nihil had played another trick on him, Evan burst out in frustration.

“Stop messing around!”

“Teasing children is one of my greatest pleasures.”

The boy, whose expression had returned to its usual blankness, shrugged as though he had never smiled in the first place.

“Everything you say sounds completely serious!”

“It’s not entirely a lie. There are rare beings who can enchant people.”

“W-What do you mean by that?!”

“Nerr, are you hungry? Let’s eat.”

“Ah, yeah!”

Nihil grabbed the flustered Evan and pulled him down to sit on the ground.

Evan found himself plopping down on the filthy pavement and was about to complain. But when Nihil placed Rianus on his lap, he pressed his lips together and wrapped his arms securely around the prince.

Nihil took a handkerchief and a canteen from his bag and carefully wiped the dirt from Rianus’s hands.

Sitting on Evan’s knee and quietly watching Nihil work, Rianus spoke softly.

“Neil, I know hygiene is important, but…”

“Yeah?”

“We’re pretending to be wandering orphans. Do you really have to go this far?”

Rianus had prepared himself for all sorts of hardships during their undercover mission, including going hungry and having to eat food that was a little dirty. Yet his friend treated him like a fragile dandelion seed that might blow away at the slightest breath.

At this rate, Rianus wondered whether the other children would shun him for being too fussy about cleanliness before he even had a chance to join their group.

Nihil finished wiping Rianus’s right hand and moved on to the left as he answered.

“Nerr, I know you came here prepared to endure all sorts of things, but keep one thing in mind: if you catch some disease here, I’ll lose my head.”

“……”

Rianus quietly closed his mouth, realizing that his friend had prepared himself for even more than he had.

In reality, even if the king discovered their little expedition, Nihil wouldn’t actually lose his head. Still, there was no harm in listening to his friend.

After all, one ought to listen to one’s friends.

Once he had thoroughly cleaned Rianus’s hands, Nihil handed him the thickest sandwich. Then he casually tossed pouches of dried jerky to Bella and Evan.

Rianus looked at Evan, who was chewing on the jerky with dead eyes, and asked,

“Are you two not eating the same thing?”

“Ah, well…”

Before Evan could come up with an excuse, Nihil interrupted.

“They’re tired of sandwiches.”

“…No, I’m not—”

“Oh, I see.”

“……”

Unable to bring himself to deny it, Evan continued chewing the jerky with dead eyes. Somehow, it felt as though their prince was being used as a pawn in the wildcat’s teasing games.

“I like jerky!”

Bella, who had been enjoying the spectacle of Evan being teased by Nihil, laughed merrily as she chewed on her own jerky.

Evan shot Bella a sidelong glance, then carefully lifted Rianus, who had just taken a bite of his sandwich, and settled him on one thigh. Next, he pulled Nihil over, who had been standing while unwrapping his sandwich, and seated him on his other thigh.

Rianus had been concerned about Nihil eating while standing, so he finally smiled brightly. Nihil glanced up at Evan before finishing unwrapping his sandwich and taking a bite.

The atmosphere was so warm and cheerful that it was hard to believe they were sitting in a dark, filthy alley.

That was, until Bella finished her own jerky, transformed into a cat, and tried to steal Evan’s portion—only to bite his finger instead.

“Argh! You damn cat!”

“Mraaaow~!”

Although Evan shouted quite loudly, curses directed at stray cats were hardly unusual in the back alleys, so nobody paid any attention to him.

Evan came to a conclusion.

He and the cats were simply not compatible.