How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 67

At the instruction to keep the cat safe, Rianus hugged it tightly to his chest protectively and took a small step backward.

Nihil had handed Bella over to Rianus with the intention of telling her to protect him, but the oblivious Rianus failed to catch on.

With both hands free, Nihil raised his head slightly and stared straight at the boy.

The boy flinched at the quiet atmosphere and stepped back. But perhaps conscious of the other children watching him, he took a step forward and tried to intimidate Nihil.

“W-what? You wanna fight?”

Instead, Nihil tilted his head and replied in an even tone.

“Why would I?”

“Then what is it?!”

“What?”

“Why are you staring at me?!”

“If you don’t like it, I won’t look at you.”

With that, Nihil turned his head away again.

The boy opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but he was so dumbfounded that no words came out.

He had tried to intimidate the little brat into backing down, but the kid wasn’t intimidated at all. On the other hand, if he started a fistfight carelessly, he might get kicked out.

The boy was irritated. Just who did this kid think he was, ignoring him so completely? He hated how someone so small acted so arrogantly, pretending to be an adult. So he reached out and yanked Nihil toward him roughly.

The little boy stumbled and landed on his backside, but he got right back up as though nothing had happened, without even letting out the slightest groan.

That irritated the boy even more. Would the brat burst into tears if he hit him?

“What the hell are you doing?!”

Once again, it was the younger brother, not the older one, who reacted first.

The freckled boy curled his lip in disgust.

What an annoying pair of brothers, acting as though they couldn’t live without each other. If he beat up that insolent little brother, perhaps the older one would burst into tears and beg him for forgiveness.

“…Damn it.”

Imagining the little boy kneeling and begging in place of his younger brother, the freckled boy found himself more disgusted than he had expected and muttered a curse.

Meanwhile, the older brother was stroking the head of his younger brother, who was fuming with anger, trying to soothe him.

What was there to like about a useless little brother who couldn’t beg or steal, and who even dragged a cat around, doing nothing but eating up precious food?

Annoyed by the sight, the boy sneered.

“Hmph. It must be nice having a little brother who listens so well.”

“Yeah.”

“……”

“……”

Once again, the conversation came to an abrupt halt.

The boy was utterly dumbfounded. What the hell was that attitude?!

“You idiot! I’m being sarcastic! You don’t even understand that?!”

“But it is nice.”

“I like it, too!”

The younger brother chimed in again with an oblivious smile.

The boy felt his temper rising. It was pathetic how the brat clung to his brother, happily declaring how much he liked him.

Useless, clueless little brothers who lived off their siblings and stupidly took everything they received for granted should all disappear.

The boy glared at the little brat wrapped from head to toe in bandages. The child eyed him warily, hugged the cat tightly, and slipped behind the boy he called his older brother.

So annoying.

So annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying.

I don’t have anyone to hide behind anymore. So why do you get to have that? Why does someone like you get to have it?!

In the end, the boy couldn’t suppress his surging anger and threw a punch.

Then his vision spun.

“…?”

…What? Why am I looking at the ceiling?

For a moment, the boy had to figure out what had just happened to him.

Just then, a head suddenly appeared, looking down at him.

The moment his eyes met the black, opal-like eyes beneath the hood, he found himself unable to breathe.

As he stared blankly at that face, a quiet voice reached his ears.

“Does it hurt?”

The boy came to his senses. He abruptly sat up, then scooted backward on his bottom, retreating in small, hesitant movements. Even so, he couldn’t take his eyes off Nihil.

Nihil took a step forward, following him.

Every time Nihil advanced one step, the boy retreated one step. He backed away again and again until he eventually bumped into the opposite wall.

Realizing he had nowhere left to retreat, the boy faltered in alarm. But Nihil showed no mercy and closed the distance until he was right in front of him.

The boy timidly tried to push Nihil away, then raised his voice for no particular reason.

“W-what do you want?!”

“You seem awfully concerned about my little brother.”

“S-so what?!”

“Pay attention to me instead.”

“W-what?!”

At Nihil’s words, the boy’s face turned red enough to burst. If Rianus hadn’t quietly whispered from behind, “Neil, you mustn’t bewitch people,” he might genuinely have fallen under Nihil’s spell.

The boy suddenly snapped out of it and shoved Nihil away hard.

“Y-you! So you really earn money this way, don’t you?”

“What way?”

“By selling your body! You disgusting—!”

“……”

The boy’s explosive accusation plunged the break room into silence once again.

Alarmed, Rianus rushed over and covered Nihil’s ears, telling him not to listen. It was a pointless gesture.

“Why? It’s true, isn’t it? In a place like this, how else are pretty kids supposed to make money? How do you think you got those cookies? Hah, hunting? Do you really expect anyone to believe that kids who are barely six or seven can hunt?”

“Stop it! Don’t insult my brother!”

At last, Rianus stepped forward in anger. But the boy only shouted louder.

“You’re being fooled! Your brother’s a filthy whore! I’m sure he went off flirting with some filthy pig!”

“No, he didn’t!”

“It’s not easy to feed and support a useless kid like you who doesn’t know anything! Do you even know what your brother does when you’re not around? Wake up and face reality!”

“No! That’s not true!”

“Your brother’s going to end up broken, crying under some damn pig’s weight, just to keep you fed! And the day he fails to please one of those filthy pigs, he’ll end up a cold corpse, dumped in the street!”

“I SAID THAT’S NOT TRUE!!”

Under the boy’s relentless shouting, Rianus looked as though he was about to burst into tears.

Nihil watched the boy closely, then felt bewildered when he saw Rianus’s tearful expression.

He had never sold his body to feed Rianus. If anything, the situation was the other way around, considering Rianus was the one supporting him. So why on earth was the little seaweed crying?

Nihil was about to correct the adorable little seaweed’s apparent misunderstanding. But then he decided it would be easier to shut the boy up instead. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a piece of chocolate.

When Nihil held it out, the boy stared at it with wide eyes.

“W-what is that…?”

“I’ll give it to you.”

The boy was momentarily taken aback by the offered chocolate, but soon frowned again, preparing to shout.

He had no desire to eat anything offered by a filthy whore, no matter how precious the chocolate might be.

“Selling your body—!”

“Don’t cry.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

Nihil calmly repeated himself.

“Don’t cry. I’m fine.”

Perhaps those words had been the signal. Suddenly, tears spilled from the boy’s eyes.

The children who had been watching the whole time exchanged startled glances. Even Rianus stared wide-eyed at the boy, who had suddenly started crying.

Nihil gazed at him for a moment before asking a question.

“Who is it?”

Who are you seeing when you look at me?

The boy sat there blankly, staring up at Nihil. Then his face slowly crumpled.

“S-sob… S-sis…”

“Is your sister disgusting?”

“Sniff… hic… No! M-my sister… Hwaaaaaah!”

The boy no longer cared that the other children were watching. He began sobbing loudly like a little child.

Several guards rushed in at the sound of his crying, but the strange atmosphere inside the break room made them hesitate to intervene. They tried to assess the situation first.

Nihil carefully sat down beside the boy. He didn’t wipe away his tears or try to comfort him. Instead, Rianus, whose heart had softened, quietly offered the boy a handkerchief.

The boy continued his story between hiccupping sobs, tears falling in fat drops like chicken droppings.

 

***

 

The boy missed his older sister.

He wanted to see her face again—that slightly exhausted face that nevertheless always brightened into a smile whenever she was with him.

One day, his sister had suddenly disappeared.

Everyone insisted that she had found it too difficult to support a useless, incompetent little brother and had abandoned him before running away.

The boy had been furious. He shouted that she couldn’t possibly abandon her only family like that. Then he tried to console himself, saying it was actually better this way because he could keep all the food and their only blanket to himself.

But not long after his sister disappeared, the food ran out.

Of course it did. His sister had been the one bringing it home.

Eventually, the boy had no choice but to go outside.

For someone who knew nothing except eating, sleeping, and throwing tantrums, the world was merciless.

One day, he begged for money without knowing any better and nearly had his head split open by a liquor bottle. Another day, he was caught stealing and beaten. On yet another, he couldn’t stand his hunger and rummaged through a garbage bin, only to suffer such terrible stomach pains that he nearly died.

The other children refused to let him join their groups, saying he was useless and couldn’t do anything. Even after he finally managed to join a group, they took everything he earned.

The boy hated his sister. He resented her.

And yet, every night, he prayed to the moon, begging it to bring her back. He promised that he would give up the blanket and eat less if only she would return.

Perhaps the moon had granted his wish, because the boy was reunited with his sister.

But his sister was no longer his sister.

She was a naked corpse sprawled on the filthy ground in a back alley of the red-light district.

By the time he found her, decomposition had already progressed considerably, and the stench of decay filled the air.

Her skull had been crushed, as though someone had struck her head with a blunt object. Her once-beautiful face was so battered and covered in blood that it was difficult to recognize her.

Even after seeing that horrific corpse, the boy couldn’t run away.

He desperately hoped it wasn’t his sister. He would have preferred that she had simply abandoned her pathetic little brother and run far away to live a happy life.

His sister had been only seventeen years old.

Her naked body looked so unfamiliar to him. Perhaps someone had thrown her away carelessly, because her arms and legs were twisted at grotesque angles. She wasn’t wearing a single thread of clothing, so he couldn’t even retrieve a keepsake.

The only thing he managed to recover was a ring engraved with the crest of a noble family, which his sister had clutched tightly in her hand until the moment she died.

He was terrified. He couldn’t even imagine dragging his sister’s naked, discarded body all the way to the mountains. So he had no choice but to leave her there, without burying her.

The only thing he could do was cover her body with their one and only blanket.

That was all.

But even that didn’t last long. To prevent the spread of infectious diseases, the royal family regularly collected corpses from the filthy back alleys and had them cremated.

His sister’s body was burned along with the blanket.

He was grateful that the royal family had taken care of her remains, yet he resented them, too.

Why did they dispose of the bodies without even wondering how those people had died?

At first, he had wanted revenge. Revenge against the filthy noble who had reduced his sister to that state.

But he was useless and couldn’t do anything. All he could manage was to survive from day to day by begging others for money.

He regretted it every single day.

I should have learned how to steal. No… I should have at least wondered how my sister earned the money she brought home.

Whenever she brought home food, he had simply been happy and gobbled it up. When he was hungry, he complained and threw tantrums.

He had taken his sister’s care for granted, thinking it was only natural because she was an adult.

But his sister had been only… seventeen years old, too.