How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 7

Watching the seaweed disappear in an instant, Nihil was briefly at a loss for words. He let out a deep sigh and lowered his head, his gaze falling on the cloak spread across the floor.

The cloak he was sitting on was covered in all sorts of filthy stains.

Knowing that every bit of that filth had come from his own body, Nihil couldn’t bring himself to move.

If he stepped onto the pristine white rug, he would leave pitch-black footprints behind.

“Hey, beggar.”

“What?”

Nihil answered curtly.

Just as expected, the moment the seaweed disappeared, that knight who resembled a pale grayish-brown dog began barking.

Do you have any idea how precious that elixir is? You couldn’t repay that debt even if you worked your entire life! Just because His Highness is treating you kindly and calling you a friend, do you actually think you’ve become his real friend? Know your place! Show His Highness the proper respect!…

His lecture went on for quite some time. But it was little more than a dog’s jealousy toward the wildcat that had stolen its master’s attention, mixed with the hurt feelings of a kitten who had been left out.

Nihil quietly watched the big grayish-brown dog bark before responding with an utterly expressionless face.

“And what about you? That supposedly precious elixir was poured into a complete stranger, yet you, his only escort knight, couldn’t stop it. What exactly were you doing standing around?”

The words struck a nerve.

The knight’s voice dropped even lower, and his biting retort pierced Evan’s chest like a dagger.

Evan instinctively took a step back. Then, overcome by his indignation, he let his emotions spill out.

“I’ll drive you out of here, no matter what it takes!”

“If you can, go ahead and try. If I get kicked out, that prince might cry his eyes out again and dry up completely this time.”

Nihil’s forceful response made Evan flinch.

It was true that His Highness had behaved differently today. The lonely little prince who always hid away and cried quietly so no one would see his weakness was nowhere to be found in Evan’s memories at that moment. Instead, all he could picture was a little kitten sobbing pitifully, its cries filled with grief.

His little kitten was strangely attached to that wildcat right before his eyes. The prince was tenderhearted, but he had always known how to separate personal feelings from duty and had strictly observed the proper hierarchy.

Except when it came to this wildcat.

But the boy was dangerous. A knight’s instincts told him so.

There wasn’t a single thing about this gray wildcat that wasn’t suspicious, from head to toe. There was the way he had suddenly leaped out in front of a speeding carriage as though he could fly, the fact that he had died and come back to life (even though he had never actually died in the first place), and the way he remained so composed despite finding himself in an unfamiliar place.

The risk of letting him stay with their fragile little kitten was simply too great. And, above all…

“What a rude brat.”

“Hmph.”

Evan clenched his teeth.

The boy was far too ill-mannered. That was the biggest problem of all. He wasn’t the sort of person who could be corrected through proper education. He knew perfectly well how rude he was and behaved that way anyway.

Even if Evan tried to crush him through sheer force, the boy would sooner run away than submit. Though, come to think of it, His Highness would probably be disappointed if he actually did submit…

In any case, keeping him around was bound to cause trouble.

It was painful to think that half of the elixir, something the prince could obtain only once in his entire life, had already been used up. Still, Evan couldn’t help thinking that he had to expose this boy’s true nature to his little kitten and make absolutely sure the two were separated.

Unlike their adorable, lovable prince, this boy wasn’t another kitten. He was a wildcat. He might look similar, but he was fiercer, filthier, and an entirely different creature.

If His Highness refused to let go of that wildcat, Evan would have to find a way to make the boy leave of his own accord. The longer he waited to separate them, the harder it would become.

“Know your place. You were rescued from nearly freezing to death on the streets. If you have even a shred of conscience, crawl out of here on your own.”

A chilling voice, cold enough to surprise even himself, slipped from Evan’s lips.

Is he scared? No, I said that to scare him, so why am I worried about it?!

Yet reflected in Evan’s pale ivory eyes, now settled into a calm stillness, was Nihil, one corner of his mouth curling upward.

Sitting on the floor atop his filthy cloak, the boy looked up at Evan. Somehow, despite looking up at him, it felt as though he wasn’t looking up at him at all.

Seeing how impossibly composed the boy remained, Evan tensed his jaw.

The brat began to taunt him.

“If I don’t want to leave on my own, what exactly can you do about it?”

“If you cause even the slightest harm to His Highness, I’ll hang you from a tree and beat you to a pulp.”

“Is that so?”

What a pushover.

All he could come up with was beating someone up?

Nihil’s expression returned to its usual blankness. As though threats had absolutely nothing to do with him, he remained relaxed and unhurried, carefully smoothing the cloak beneath him.

Its soft texture tickled the spaces between his fingers. It was dirty because of him, but the cloak was clearly made of very fine material.

The prince had spoken as though he were being mistreated, yet the supplies coming in seemed plentiful enough that he was living in considerable comfort.

Nihil let out a quiet snort of laughter. At that moment, he recalled the round head of dark green hair that had burst into tears when his offer of friendship was rejected.

“A royal knight, and yet you’re desperate to pick on one harmless beggar. Now I’m so scared that I’ll have to stick close to the prince.”

“Hmph. If you don’t want to be kicked out, then stay quietly by His Highness’s side and fawn over him.”

“Fawn over him, huh…”

Nihil was just about to retort that it was the prince who was fawning when he heard the rumble of wheels rolling outside the bedroom.

The sound grew louder as whatever was approaching drew nearer.

Nihil raised his head, glanced at the bedroom door, and sprang to his feet, grabbing his cloak.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Seeing dirty footprints appearing on the pristine white rug, Evan frowned and grabbed Nihil by the scruff of his neck, lifting him off the ground.

Nihil was so light that he dangled from Evan’s hand, held up by the back of his neck. Even then, his expression didn’t change.

“Someone’s coming.”

“What?”

At Nihil’s words, Evan listened carefully. He had been so focused on the wildcat that he hadn’t paid any attention to what was happening outside. But sure enough, the sound of trolley wheels was drawing closer.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and hide me.”

Evan’s insides twisted as he looked at the beggar, who was brazenly folding his arms and tilting his head despite being held up by the scruff of his neck. Nevertheless, he had to hide the boy.

The trolley approaching now was undoubtedly carrying the meal this insolent brat had ordered from His Highness: lots of meat.

If nothing else, it was becoming increasingly clear that His Highness liked this boy.

Having reached that conclusion, Evan grumbled in an unusually sulky voice.

“Why should I?”

“Hurry up. If I get caught, the one who’ll be in the most trouble is that adorable prince you treasure so dearly, isn’t he?”

Evan furrowed his brows at Nihil’s taunt and was about to snap back when he realized the trolley wheels had reached the very door. He hurried over to the terrace, opened the window, and promptly tossed the boy in his hand outside.

Then he quickly shut the window and locked it to keep the brat from coming back in. As an added punishment for being so infuriating, he drew the blackout curtains with painstaking care, making sure not a single sliver of light escaped.

From outside, Nihil watched as the bedroom’s light was thoroughly blocked out. He figured he would be stuck outside until the prince emerged from the bathroom, so he neatly spread out the cloak in his hands, draped it over his shoulders, and settled into a crouch in the corner of the terrace.

Perhaps because he had gone so long without food, the smell of it made his stomach feel as though it were being twisted into knots.

Not long after Nihil was banished to the terrace and the bedroom fell quiet, a knock sounded at the door.

When Evan opened it, three maids entered one after another, each pulling a trolley. Normally, there was only one.

It was all because the innocent little kitten had been hungry and ordered a lot of food—lots and lots of meat.

Watching the dishes gradually fill the table, especially the piles of meat, Evan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. For no particular reason, he shot a glare toward the terrace.

Perhaps the wind had picked up, because the terrace window began rattling softly.

Evan found himself hoping that it would be absolutely, terribly cold outside. Even after all the food had been laid out and the maids had withdrawn, he continued to wonder what he should do with the wildcat he had thrown out onto the terrace.

Part of him wanted to lie and say the wildcat had run away, then drive him out for good. But it would be an obvious lie, and even if he somehow got away with it, their little kitten might be terribly disappointed and never try to make friends with another child his age again.

Thinking about it that way, Evan decided it would be better to thoroughly expose the boy’s ferocious nature and let the prince grow wary of him on his own, rather than simply get rid of the nuisance immediately.

Still, the boy was infuriating. Evan briefly considered letting him back inside just before the prince emerged from the bathroom, but soon shook his head.

If that wildcat decided to report him to the prince, Evan would be the one in trouble after all.

Whoooooosh!

The wind battered the window a little harder, sounding like the wail of a ghost.

Damn it.

After hesitating for a while, Evan finally strode straight toward the terrace as though he had no choice.

Swish—click, clack!

Evan yanked open the blackout curtains, quickly unlocked the window, and flung it open.

But the wildcat who should have been there was nowhere to be seen, leaving him momentarily bewildered.

Did he run away in the meantime?

Evan was just beginning to raise the corners of his mouth, a little excited by the prospect, when he met a pair of oddly colored black eyes through the transparent terrace window. The boy was crouched in the corner, quietly staring up at him.

“…”

“…”

Got my hopes up for nothing.

Evan looked down at the boy, who resembled nothing more than a pile of trash, his eyes turning cold.

The wildcat had wrapped himself snugly in the prince’s precious cloak, firmly pinning its hem beneath his feet and curling up to block out the wind completely.

It seemed Evan had underestimated a beggar’s survival skills. No matter how abruptly he kicked this boy out, he would probably manage to survive just fine.

Evan grabbed the lump by the scruff of his neck and carried him back into the bedroom.

When he set him down in the exact same spot as before, the wildcat glanced at the table laden with all kinds of meat, gave a faint smile, and looked up at Evan.

“I’m surprised.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I was sure you’d leave me outside until the prince came out.”

That had certainly been the plan.

Evan was just about to say that he would have preferred it if the boy had disappeared altogether, when—

“You’re not quite as narrow-minded as I expected, are you?”

At the wildcat’s remark, Evan pressed his lips together without saying what he had intended.

He had nearly become a narrow-minded man.