How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 9

“Neil, Neil, are your senses always that sharp? I was really surprised.”

The meal continued. Or, more accurately, Nihil’s meal continued.

Evan shook his head as he watched the boy tear into a chicken leg.

Nihil had seemed a little on edge at first, but now that his stomach was full, he appeared to have become considerably more easygoing.

Rianus, on the other hand, was getting rather excited, unlike the now-composed Nihil.

He felt a mixture of curiosity and kinship toward his new friend, whose senses were even sharper than his own despite Rianus being a quarter-elf.

At Rianus’s question, Nihil was about to take a big bite out of the chicken leg in his hand. However, wanting to show some appreciation to the host who had provided him with a meal of lots of meat, he decided to answer first.

“My senses have always been pretty sharp. Being constantly on guard probably has something to do with it, too.”

After giving what he considered a reasonably thoughtful answer, Nihil took a big bite out of the chicken leg. He chewed for a while, then wondered if his response had been a little too perfunctory. After finishing what was in his mouth and swallowing, he continued.

“Your senses must be pretty sharp, too. You’ve got elven blood in you, don’t you?”

At Nihil’s remark, the seaweed-haired boy’s head gave a sudden, pronounced shake. Evan sprang to his feet as well, but Rianus hurriedly stopped his knight before anything could happen.

The prince’s mismatched eyes began to tremble.

As the atmosphere abruptly grew tense, Nihil wondered what was going on.

What? Was it a secret? Or did he not know himself? Was I not supposed to mention it?

Seeing that his attempt to show consideration had caused the seaweed to become pickled all over again, Nihil hurried to explain himself.

“You smell like a forest. It’s very faint, though.”

At those words, the prince’s mismatched eyes shook even more violently. Evan’s face twisted into a menacing scowl before he raised one eyebrow and stared at Nihil as though demanding to know what he meant.

“It’s fine. It’s not a bad smell.”

“…”

Was that not the right thing to say?

Nihil thought for a moment about what the problem might be, but he couldn’t figure it out.

If he said anything else wrong, the grayish-brown guard dog glaring at him from the side looked ready to bite him by the scruff of the neck and throw him outside at any moment.

So he decided to ask outright.

“Why?”

Rianus hesitated, stumbling over his words as he repeatedly fidgeted with the hem of his clothes.

It’s okay? You’re saying… you’re okay with me having mixed blood?

His voice came out so muffled that even Evan, sitting right beside him, couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Part of Rianus hoped Nihil wouldn’t understand him, while another part desperately wanted to ask the question anyway. Those conflicting wishes had tangled up his words.

Perhaps Rianus’s wish had come true in a way, because Nihil understood what he had said but couldn’t understand what the fuss was about.

“What do you mean, whether it’s okay? The only things I wouldn’t be okay with are getting my head crushed under a horse’s hooves or having nothing to eat when I’m hungry. As long as you don’t steal food from me when I’m starving, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be okay with you.”

I see. To someone like you, who simply lives from day to day, it doesn’t matter whether I have mixed blood or not.

Only then did a smile spread across Rianus’s face. His bright, refreshing laughter rang through the bedroom.

“Neil, then if I steal that chicken leg from you, does that mean you won’t be okay anymore?”

“No. Want some?”

Nihil abruptly held out the chicken leg he’d already bitten into toward Rianus.

Watching him, Rianus burst into laughter once more. He made up his mind that he would never forget to make sure his friend was properly fed, not even for a single meal.

Then you’ll always be able to stay by my side, perfectly fine.

After finishing his meal, Nihil headed to the bathroom to wash up. In the end, every last bit of the enormous amount of food had gone into his stomach.

Rianus fetched one of his own sets of pajamas and handed them to Nihil. As for the ragged clothes Nihil had been wearing, they were so filthy that washing them would have been a waste of water, so they went straight into the trash.

Evan, who hadn’t had a chance to rest all day because he’d been following Rianus around and guarding him, returned to his own room. He washed up quickly, changed into comfortable clothes, and went straight back to Rianus’s bedroom.

With an outsider like the wildcat around, he couldn’t afford to take a break from his duties as a guard.

“Sir Evan, you can go and rest. Nothing will happen.”

“…The fact that there’s already a filthy gray wildcat here is an incident in itself, Your Highness.”

“Neil is a good person. You don’t need to worry.”

No matter how hard he thought about it, Evan couldn’t figure out what exactly made the boy a good person. He raised one eyebrow and narrowed his eyes.

Seeing his expression, Rianus let out a small laugh.

“If you’ll permit me, I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

At Evan’s words, Rianus glanced at the sofa in his bedroom.

It was large and spacious for him, but it looked far too cramped for someone as tall and broad as Sir Evan. If the knight lay down, his legs would surely stick out.

“No. You’ll definitely be uncomfortable. Go back to your room and get some proper rest.”

“If you won’t let me use the sofa, then I suppose I’ll have to stand guard all night.”

Evan was adamant. Even if he didn’t think the wildcat would harm His Highness, as long as an outsider was inside the prince’s bedroom, keeping watch was essential. It was both Evan’s duty and his loyalty as a knight.

Rianus realized that no amount of persuasion would convince Evan to leave.

If he forced his knight to go, Evan would undoubtedly spend the entire night standing alone outside the bedroom door, guarding it.

Concluding that allowing him to use the bedroom sofa would be the more comfortable option, Rianus let out a deep sigh and finally gave in.

But that sigh lasted only a moment. Soon, he was happily pondering what he and his friend could do together.

Evan gazed fondly at his little kitten, who was happily meowing away, and thought to himself:

Well, so what if that gray wildcat is a little rude? Our little kitten is this happy, after all. And it’s just a mere wildcat.

Sure, he’s a dangerous fellow who blows up pirate ships, but if we keep feeding him, he’ll surely calm down. Before long, he’ll fall head over heels for our little kitten’s charm and end up eating out of his hand.

However, the one who emerged from the bathroom wasn’t a gray wildcat.

Water droplets fell from his wet, snow-white hair, as though pure white snow had melted into water.

The white wildcat seemed displeased with the two pairs of eyes staring at him in sheer horror for entirely different reasons. He furrowed his brows slightly and spoke.

“What are you looking at?”

His indifferent, blunt remark snapped the two people staring at Nihil back to their senses.

Rianus, whose mouth had been hanging open as though he were about to start drooling, hurriedly snapped it shut. He had been sitting on the edge of the bed, wondering what he should talk about with his friend before going to sleep, but he’d completely forgotten about that. Instead, he sprang to his feet and dashed over to Nihil.

“Neil, was there bleach in the bathroom or something? Couldn’t you find the shampoo? Is your scalp okay? I’m sorry! I should’ve helped you wash up!”

Evan had been horrified to discover that the boy had been so filthy that his hair had turned gray. Now, he was even more horrified by the utterly novel explanation his beloved little kitten had come up with.

Why on earth would bleach even enter the conversation?!

He was so dumbfounded that Rianus’s offer to help the beggar wash up hadn’t even registered in his mind.

Meanwhile, the fearless little kitten had already hurried over and was rummaging through the wildcat’s hair.

“What happened?! Your hair has turned completely white! Did you suddenly grow old? Does losing too much blood make your hair lose its color, too?”

Nihil stood still and let the boy ruffle his hair, momentarily at a loss as to where he should even begin correcting him.

He glanced at the knight, silently asking with his eyes, Is your master really going to be okay like this?

Evan made a complicated face, glanced at his master as well, and then promptly looked away, pretending he knew nothing.

At first, Nihil had wondered if the boy was joking. But when he saw how genuinely worried Rianus looked, he let out a deep sigh and caught the restless little hands messing up his hair.

Nihil briefly froze at Rianus’s unusually warm body temperature. However, he showed no sign of it, maintaining his usual blank expression as he guided Rianus over to the bed and sat him down.

“It’s naturally this color.”

“Then is your scalp okay?”

Nihil stared at the pair of eyes rolling about as they anxiously examined his head. He began wondering whether the child’s apparent lack of common sense was due to his bloodline or simply because he was still young.

If this had been caused by some kind of external impact, should he track down whoever had inflicted it and hold them responsible?

Having gotten that far in his thoughts, Nihil eventually let out a quiet laugh.

So what if the kid’s a little empty-headed? He’s cute, and that’s enough.

The boy with an exceptionally creative and peculiar way of thinking gazed intently at Nihil’s head, his eyes sparkling.

Nihil gave a soft snort and gently took the restless little hand, slipping his fingers between Rianus’s.

“I’m fine.”

Rianus hadn’t given a single thought to the mystery of Nihil’s rare white hair. He had been worried only about his friend’s scalp, so when Nihil assured him he was fine, he nodded repeatedly in relief.

Then he sprang up, fetched a fresh, fluffy towel that hadn’t been used yet, and began vigorously rubbing Nihil’s snow-white hair.

“Neil, you’ll definitely catch a cold if you don’t dry your hair properly.”

Whether he noticed the knight glaring at him with gritted teeth as he naturally fussed over the beggar, Rianus continued chattering away.

“Neil, apparently friends invite each other over to their homes for something called a pajama party. They play together in the bedroom, share delicious snacks, talk all night, and then fall asleep! I’ve always wanted to have a pajama party once I made a friend! Oh, should I ask someone to bring us some snacks?”

“Let’s have snacks tomorrow.”

Nihil barely managed to calm Rianus down and pull him back onto the bed before the boy could dash off to fetch the snacks.

When Nihil suggested that they have their pajama party another time because he was tired, Rianus looked a little disappointed. But once Nihil told him that they would be staying together from now on and could have a pajama party whenever he wanted, the prince’s face lit up. He broke into a delighted, radiant smile.

After that, Rianus continued rambling for quite some time. He offered to lend Nihil his favorite teddy bear, told him that the pajamas suited him very well, promised to make sure they had delicious snacks the next day, and said he would hurry to meet His Majesty so that he could arrange for them to roam freely around the palace.

And then, as sleep gradually overcame him, his increasingly slurred words eventually faded into soft, steady breathing.

Nihil quietly watched him for a while, making sure Rianus had properly fallen asleep. Then he turned his gaze toward the guard dog, who had been standing silently and watching everything unfold.

In a voice so quiet it was barely audible, he called out to Evan, careful not to wake Rianus.

“Hey, doggy.”

“…You’re not seriously talking to me, are you?”

“Bring me some medicine.”

The seaweed, which had been cold and damp, was drying out rapidly from the heat.