How the Prince Makes Friends – Chapter 73

Author: isuzuuy

Jane hurried over to Yvonne, who was tending the campfire, and relayed Nihil’s instructions.

After thinking it over for a moment, Yvonne suggested making meat stew.

The children, who had been looking forward to the roasted pigeon, jumped up and protested, but Yvonne firmly shook her head, cut the meat into pieces, and tossed them into a pot one after another.

“Meaaat…”

Little Dan clutched Yvonne’s hand and stared intently at the pigeon roasting to a golden brown over Nihil’s separate campfire.

After watching it for a long time, Dan suddenly toddled toward Nihil.

“D-Dan! Come back here!”

Yvonne called out urgently, but Dan charged straight toward Neil. Fortunately, after exchanging a few words, the little one soon returned.

“Dan, why did you suddenly run over there?”

“Wanted meat.”

“You mustn’t covet what belongs to someone else.”

“Nope. He said he’d give me some. It’s not cooked yet, so he told me to come back in ten minutes. And he says Pan hyung should come over, too.”

“What? Why?!”

“Dunno.”

“What gives him the right to order me around?!”

“Pan, go over there. And apologize for what you said.”

“No!”

Apparently hurt that nobody was taking his side and everyone seemed to be siding with Nihil, Pan shouted angrily and whipped his head away.

Jane stared at him for a moment before grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, lifting him up, and carrying him toward Nihil.

“Put me down—!”

Pan shouted as he was dragged away, but nobody tried to stop Jane.

Little Dan grabbed Yvonne’s hand and shook it cheerfully.

“Hyungaa~! How high do I have to count for ten minutes~?”

***

“Let go of meee!”

Pan struggled desperately to escape Jane’s grasp, but he couldn’t get free and was eventually delivered straight to Nihil.

Nihil held out a glass vial to Pan, who was glaring at him furiously.

“Drink.”

“Who do you think you are, ordering me around?!”

“Drink.”

“How am I supposed to know what’s in that?!”

Nihil stared at Pan for a moment, then nodded toward Jane. After hesitating briefly, Jane stepped behind Pan and grabbed both his arms.

“W-what?! Jane hyung, what are you doing?! Wh-what is this?! D-don’t come any closer!”

Nihil rose to his feet and seized Pan by the chin. Pan struggled in alarm, but he had no chance of escaping Nihil’s grip.

The strength of Nihil’s hand, far beyond what one would expect from a child, made Pan’s eyes tremble violently.

“You’d better take it obediently.”

“Mmpph! Mmmph!”

Pan shook his head frantically, but it wouldn’t budge at all. Just as tears of fear were about to well up in his eyes, Rianus, who had been watching, giggled.

“Neil, stop teasing him so much.”

At the same moment, Pan’s chin was released.

“……?”

“Drink.”

The glass vial was held out to the bewildered boy once more.

Pan stared blankly for a moment before realizing he had been tricked. His face flushed bright red as he snatched the vial, fuming.

He was about to fling it away in irritation when Nihil’s terrifying grip caught his hand again. In the end, Pan swallowed the potion with tears in his eyes.

“Blegh! It tastes awful!”

“Good job.”

“You little brat! Who do you think you are?!”

“Now go.”

“Argh! You’re so annoying!”

Pan stormed off, still furious, but the obvious difference in their strength kept him from daring to attack Nihil.

He still wanted to make sure everyone knew he was angry, so he stomped his foot hard against the ground. Since he was barefoot, however, it barely made a sound.

“Th-thank you. Y-you gave him m-medicine, right?”

Jane thanked Nihil on Pan’s behalf. Nihil casually turned the roasted pigeon over and spoke.

“Make him fast today. Unless you want to dispose of a corpse.”

“H-huh?”

“Don’t give him anything to eat. He might die.”

Jane’s eyes trembled violently at the chilling warning. Rianus’s eyes shook right along with them.

“Now go. That kid’s stealing your potatoes.”

“!!!”

At those words, Jane hurried away. They could hear Pan complaining about having his potato stolen.

Rianus grabbed the hem of his friend’s clothes and asked urgently, “Neil, what do you mean, he might die? Explain it to me. What kind of medicine was that?”

“A potion. His intestines were ruptured. If I hadn’t given it to him, they would’ve found his cold corpse tomorrow morning.”

“What?!”

Rianus shouted and sprang to his feet.

He nearly knocked over the skewer of pigeon meat in the process, but Nihil deftly caught it and planted it back into the ground.

Rianus could feel the children’s gazes turning toward them, but he was far too preoccupied to care.

“Wait, then, Neil… When you asked me earlier what I would think if one of those children suddenly died…”

“Yeah. I asked because I thought that kid was going to die.”

“Don’t ask questions like that! Just treat them! What would you have done if I’d said it couldn’t be helped even if they died?!”

“I would’ve ignored it.”

“What? Why?”

“What if you got hurt while I was treating him, and I couldn’t treat you right away? I only have one potion.”

“……”

“I should’ve brought more, but we were running out of time.”

Rianus opened and closed his mouth several times at Nihil’s perfectly rational answer before finally falling silent.

He couldn’t decide whether he should be happy that Nihil put him above everyone else or lament the fact that his friend had nearly stood by and let someone die to prepare for a possibility that might never even arise.

Whether or not Nihil understood what was going through Rianus’s mind, he carefully wrapped a potato in a handkerchief and split it in half, gently peeling away the skin. Wisps of steam rose from the hot flesh.

Nihil reassured Rianus that there was nothing to worry about now that Pan had taken the potion, then handed him the potato. He wrapped the other potato in a handkerchief and gave it to the cat.

“Share this with the puppy.”

“Myaang~”

“If you get cold, eat the herbs I gave you, too. And bring the handkerchief back.”

“Myaak.”

The cat took the handkerchief in its mouth and darted away.

The puppy would probably scold the cat for accepting food so readily, but he wouldn’t refuse to eat it.

“Neil, let’s share mine.”

Rianus realized that Nihil had no potato of his own and quickly offered him half. The sight of him gathering the edge of his robe’s sleeve to hold the hot potato was rather adorable.

Nihil was about to decline, but he thought Rianus might feel uncomfortable if he did. So he accepted the potato obediently and took a bite.

“Tastes good.”

“Yeah! It’s delicious.”

Rianus decided that even an unseasoned, simply boiled potato could taste perfectly wonderful.

“Hey, you two. Eat this.”

Just then, Yvonne approached and held out a bowl of stew.

“Um… I wanted to thank you both. For the meat and the medicine. I know something like this isn’t nearly enough to repay you, but…”

Rianus hadn’t expected to be offered any stew, so he looked up at Yvonne with wide eyes.

Nihil, meanwhile, had been so focused on eating his potato that he hadn’t paid Yvonne the slightest attention. Rianus hurriedly accepted the bowl on his behalf.

“Oh, yeah. Thank you. We’ll enjoy it.”

Yvonne told them to return the bowl afterward and went back to the others.

There was a piece of pigeon leg meat in the stew she had given them. With so little food to go around, it seemed she had deliberately set aside a piece for them.

Rianus held the bowl awkwardly, caught off guard by this unexpected kindness. Perhaps feeling the children’s subtle glances, he eventually raised the bowl to his mouth.

But just before it reached his lips, he hesitated and handed it to Nihil instead.

He was only supposed to eat food Nihil gave him. That was the promise they had made to each other.

Nihil was pleased that Rianus still remembered their agreement so well despite the circumstances. He patted the boy’s head a couple of times, tasted the stew himself, and then handed it back.

“You can eat it.”

“Okay!”

The moment Nihil gave him permission, Rianus beamed and took a sip of the stew.

Then he hesitated again.

Seeing him pause, Nihil chuckled quietly.

There was no way the children’s cooking could suit a prince’s palate when they had neither proper seasonings nor spices. They had also added plenty of water to make the ingredients go further, so the stew was practically tasteless.

“…I think they forgot to add salt.”

“Where do you expect beggars to get salt?”

“……”

Rianus took another sip, doing his best to keep his expression neutral. They had gone to the trouble of preparing it for him. He couldn’t just throw it away because it tasted bad.

Nihil enjoyed watching him struggle for a moment before taking seasonings and spices out of his bag and sprinkling them into the stew.

“…You could’ve added those before I tasted it…”

“It’s good for you to know what the children have to live on.”

“That’s true.”

Rianus comforted himself with the thought that this, too, was a valuable experience, and took another sip of the now slightly improved stew. The potatoes were a little crunchy, as if they hadn’t cooked through completely.

“Neil, do you have any more seasonings or spices?”

“Hmm, not much left. I do have a little salt, at least.”

“Give me that.”

With a grave expression, Rianus carefully set down his bowl, snatched the bag Nihil had been rummaging through, and marched toward the children with a determined look.

Then he proceeded to dump seasonings into their pot.

Nihil chuckled at Rianus’s behavior and neatly wrapped the pigeon meat intended for the cat in a handkerchief.

“Kitty, take this, too, and share it with the puppy.”

“Myaaaang, myaow!”

“Are you going to refuse to eat it because the puppy scolded you?”

“Myaang, myaaaaaow!”

“Tell the puppy to eat it obediently so he won’t regret it later. He won’t get to rest comfortably today. The same goes for you, kitty.”

“Myaak.”

The cat finally took the handkerchief containing the pigeon meat in its mouth and disappeared again.

Rianus returned after recklessly dumping seasonings into someone else’s pot and asked, “Did he get scolded?”

“From his perspective, he did steal his owner’s food.”

“He’s working hard. He should eat well.”

Just then, Dan, who had been following closely behind Rianus, peeked out and asked, “Kitty get scolded?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Hyung, ten minutes passed?”

“That’s right. Come here.”

At Nihil’s invitation, Dan smiled brightly, clambered onto his lap, and plopped down.

The children let out horrified cries from a distance, but Nihil merely chuckled under his breath and wiped Dan’s hands with a damp handkerchief.

Nihil tore a well-cooked piece of meat in half and handed one half to Rianus.

As Rianus accepted it, he said he would make sure Dan got his share, too. But Nihil refused, claiming that eating too much would make him sluggish.

“But hyung, won’t you run short if you feed the little one, too? I already ate your stew.”

“I’m only letting him have a taste.”

“Okay! Dan won’t steal much of hyung’s food. I’ll only have one bite!”

“Good. But take your medicine before you eat the meat.”

Nihil deliberately let the smell of the meat waft toward Dan as he took a medicine bottle from his pocket and held it out.

“Do you know how to take medicine?”

“Dan’s really good at taking medicine!”

“Is that so?”

But Dan confidently opened the vial Nihil handed him, only to freeze when the smell wafted out.

“…Hyung, can’t I eat the meat first and take the medicine afterward?”

“If you don’t take your medicine, you won’t get any meat.”

At Nihil’s firm reply, Dan clutched the bottle and rolled his eyes from side to side before trying to bargain.

“Hyungaaa, I think I’ll be able to take the medicine if I eat some meat first… Please?”

Nihil chuckled at Dan’s little scheme and tore off a piece of meat no bigger than his fingernail, placing it in the child’s mouth.

Dan’s eyes widened at the chewy texture and wonderful blend of spices he was tasting for the first time. He carefully chewed the tiny morsel.

“Yummy!”

“If you take your medicine, I’ll give you more.”

“Really?”

Hearing that he would get more meat, Dan looked down at the medicine bottle in his hand. He wanted more meat, but the medicine looked like it would taste absolutely awful.

Nihil watched fondly as Dan rolled his eyes and stole anxious glances at him. Then he swiftly grabbed the child’s hand.

“You’re not allowed to throw it away.”

“N-no! I wasn’t gonna throw it away…”

Dan had been trying to let go of the bottle as though by accident, but Nihil’s quick reaction made him flinch and hastily deny it.

Nihil deliberately made his voice even firmer.

“If you don’t want any more meat, you don’t have to take the medicine.”

“N-no! I want it! I’ll take it!”

When Nihil casually reached for the bottle as if to take it away, Dan panicked and quickly gulped down the medicine.

Rianus couldn’t help admiring Nihil’s skill at getting the child to take his medicine willingly.

“H-hyung. I drank it all.”

“Good.”

Nihil patted Dan’s scrunched-up head once before tearing off a pigeon leg and placing it in the child’s hands.