How the Prince Makes Friends - Chapter 1
Only Noblemtl
Episode 1
‘Rianus.’
It’s been a long time since my brother spoke to me.
‘yes!’
I was glad and quickly replied. But still, my brother was the only one who talked to me.
‘They say they’re inviting the children of nobles of the same age who are learning swordsmanship at the Duke of Tesaurus to a gathering to get to know each other better.’
‘Is that what you mean, Duke?’
‘Okay, aren’t you going?’
‘But brother, I… … .’
I hesitated. Because I was a child cursed by Mana.
‘You also learn swordsmanship. No one else will care about that.’
‘Hey, is it okay if I join in?’
Whenever my brother spoke to me kindly, something bad happened.
Even though I knew it, even though I’ve always been hurt, I wonder if this time will be different. Just in case…
For fear of missing out on a chance that will never come again.
‘If you can’t join, who will? No one practices swordsmanship as diligently as you do.’
‘Okay, I’ll go! When?’
‘Come tomorrow at 4 o’clock. I have something to talk to the teacher about, so I’ll go first.’
‘Yes! See you then!’
This time, wouldn’t it be possible to make a friend and talk about it together?
I thought that even if I could never handle an Aura in my entire life, I could at least talk about swordsmanship. I practiced swordsmanship hard and tried hard to look dignified like my older brother.
But, I should have been suspicious from the start of having a social gathering at such an odd time.
‘Look, the Swamp Prince has indeed come, but he is quite late.’
‘Your eyes are really different colors.’
‘They say that because they were mixed together, they were cursed by mana.’
‘Even though he was young and didn’t know, I didn’t know he would be so clueless… … .’
‘By the way, you’re really small. Are you the same age as the Prince?’
The Duchy of Tesaurus, the home of Queen Helia and the maternal home of Prince Laurence de Harpens.
A snake’s den where no one would welcome a second prince without a backing.
‘Why are you learning black magic? I heard that not only will you never be able to use Aura for the rest of your life, you will also never be able to feel Mana itself.’
‘I heard that His Majesty does not discriminate between the princes’ education and gives them equal education.’
‘Wouldn’t that be considered only if the level is similar to some extent? Your Majesty, you are going too far.’
What is too much? Is it too much that you didn’t consider me, who couldn’t handle the aura no matter how hard I tried my whole life? Is it too much that you made me, who was so low-level, take classes with you?
The sound of chattering, the laughter like the wind, the young heirs of the nobles who dared to glance at the prince right in front of them and not even say hello.
I should have been angry. I should have questioned him for daring to insult the prince right in front of him.
But I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t help but smile as I saw those crimson eyes, like those of a queen and a duke, round and round between them.
I guess that’s what he’s saying, stupidly fooling me again.
In the end, I was fooled again and ran away again.
* * *
“The royal carriage passes by!”
A small, remote town with little traffic.
In the sky filled with gloomy dark clouds, something that could be either snow or rain was fluttering and hitting my cold, frozen cheeks.
It’s so sad that the sleet that started falling just a few minutes ago is so heavy.
It was neither snow nor rain, but it quickly soaked the ground and soaked into the lapels of the villagers who were lying face down.
A traveler passing through the village would simply tilt his head in confusion as he looked at the villagers lying prostrate here and there along the village road without knowing what was going on.
“What’s going on, bringing you out in this cold weather?”
The old man who was asked the question quickly made the traveler lie down on his stomach.
“Hasn’t the royal carriage passed by? Hurry up and lie down.”
“Why don’t you just bow your head and show your respect?”
The old man grabbed the traveler by the back of his neck and began to explain in a soft voice.
The traveler was very uncomfortable with the feeling of his clothes getting wet, but he decided to listen for now because the old man’s face looked serious.
“Not long ago, a young master of a count’s family passed by the next village and beat a child to death. He was so ill-tempered… … It was a day when the snow was so thick that it reached his ankles, and he drove his carriage in such weather. Then, his eyes met with those of the child who was watching through the window, and he dared to look down on him from a higher place, so he dragged him out and beat him on the spot. The child was covered in blood and froze to death in the snow!”
The old man continued to speak passionately, not even realizing that his voice was getting louder. The faces of the travelers who were listening to him became increasingly hardened.
“Oh my god, a child was beaten to death and no one stopped him?”
“How could I step out in that situation? If I had stepped out recklessly, I would have been beaten to death. The child’s parents cried and begged for forgiveness, but they were beaten too. They almost died, but they saved their lives. But how can you really live when your own child died right in front of you?”
“Without submitting a petition.”
“Would they blink an eye just because a commoner’s child died? If the nobles are like this, how much worse must it be for the royal family? So you too, lie flat on your face.”
After hearing the old man’s story, the traveler shuddered and quietly lowered his head to the ground.
As soon as the carriage passed, I quickly grabbed an inn, soaked in a hot bath, and vowed not to leave the inn until the weather cleared up.
Then came the sound of sniffling and the pitiful voice of a woman.
“Could you please hide my child? If his clothes get wet, there’s nothing to change.”
It was a wandering mother and child. Next to the woman, a sullen child was sniffling and looking at his mother.
A man who appeared to be the village chief stepped forward and spoke.
“The carriage is going too fast! I will let you sleep at home today, so lie down quickly. You might see your child being beaten to death!”
The woman’s face turned pale and she urgently grabbed the back of her child’s head and pushed it down.
There was a brief silence and the sound of a child sniffling, and then the sound of horse hooves began to be heard in the distance.
The sound came closer at such an incredible speed that it made me wonder what the big deal was.
The traveler waited for the carriage to pass by, thinking that the Kingdom of Harpens was truly a nuisance.
* * *
“Sigh, ugh, huuuuk… … .”
Between the dull, dark green hair that swayed to the rattling sound of the moving carriage, muffled sounds that could not be called laughter or crying leaked out.
Whether it was because of the cold spring weather or because he couldn’t control his emotions, his small body shivered and curled up, making him look even smaller. The tears flowing from his reddened eyes dripped down between his fingers, soaking his knees and taking away his body temperature, but the child’s hands were busy trying to stop his tears and doing nothing.
The knight riding the horse felt a pang in his heart as he could not do anything to hear his young master’s cries coming from inside the carriage. The sleet that had started to fall without notice was annoying.
The child, who wanted to cool down his swollen eyes that had been swollen from crying so much, opened the carriage window.
The cold wind and sleet blew into the carriage. Something that was neither snow nor rain, something that resembled himself and was not welcome to anyone, struck his frozen cheek.
“Your Majesty! You have a cold. Close the window!”
“Can you open it a little more? How much is left?”
“It’ll take a couple more hours. We’ll be entering the village soon, so please go in quickly.”
The child stuck his face out at the word village and looked at the entrance to the village. The child, who had exceptionally good eyesight, could see far away even in the sleet.
In front of the child’s eyes, the villagers were seen panicking and falling face down on the ground. Seeing the villagers’ strange behavior, the child shouted to his knight sitting on the stable.
“Sir Evan! Why are the townspeople acting like that?”
“This is the royal carriage, so please be respectful! It’s cold, so please come in quickly!”
“What? Who would be polite enough to lie down on the ground in this weather? Tell them to get inside!”
“If you get out of the carriage to tell me that, I’ll be even more scared. It’s better to just pass by.”
“Then run quickly!”
“…yes?”
“Get out of town quickly! Hurry up! It’s sleeting!”
Evan was taken aback by his master’s urging voice, but he followed the order and increased the carriage’s speed.
He heard her muttering, “If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have come,” but Evan couldn’t bring himself to say, “That’s what I told you. I told you it would be better if you didn’t go.”
Because it’s not worth pouring salt on the wounds of this delicate kitten.
The kitten, who had been crying quietly until just a moment ago, opened the window on the stable and started to slap my back as if asking when I had cried.
I was a little relieved to see that the kitten seemed to have regained its energy, but Evan pretended to be upset and cried out.
“Your Majesty, hitting me won’t make me speak faster!”
“Hurry up, hurry up!”
“You’re still running too hard! The ground is starting to freeze, so if you’re not careful, you’re in real trouble!”
“The road is already clear, so what’s the point of having an accident! Just get out of town quickly!”
The child kicked his feet in the carriage, forgetting that he had even cried.
Why is it suddenly sleeting! If I had known this was going to happen, I would have come out a little later. I should have held out a little longer so that the villagers could return home.
At that moment, the child’s crimson eyes, forming a crescent moon, flashed through his mind.
No, I couldn’t have endured it any longer.
I glanced outside the carriage, holding back tears that were about to well up again, thinking that it was all my fault for being so stupid.
In the passing scenery, it seemed as if I had made eye contact with a child whose eyes and hands were frozen and turned bright red.
Why are you out here in this weather, foolishly? Why don’t you go in properly?
The prince couldn’t argue with the villagers, so he took his anger out on his knight.
“Are you there yet? Run faster!”
“How much faster do you want me to run! And then really… , ugh!”
Heeeeeeling-
I heard horses neighing. I also thought I heard something crashing.
The carriage rocked violently.
The knight put all his effort into calming the horses. The carriage almost capsized.
“What! What’s going on!”
“It looks like a child was hit by a horse as he jumped out!”
“What? Sir Evan, stop! Stop it!”
Although the carriage was already slowing down, it was still running at incredible speed and could not stop right away. It had to go a long way before it finally stopped.
As soon as the carriage stopped, the door opened wide and a dark green head popped out.
The heads that had been raised reflexively, wondering what was going on, met a pair of eyes each with a different color.
The townspeople, surprised at having made eye contact with royalty, fell to the ground again with a gasp.
The child who saw that sight suddenly cried out in frustration.
“What! You dropped money on the floor? I don’t want to see that sight, so everyone get out!”
The child jumped out of the carriage and, not caring that the water was soaking his shoes and trouser legs, started running down the road the carriage had come from.
‘It’s all my fault. I yelled at Sir Evan, so he couldn’t see the child.’
I would have definitely died. There was no way I could have survived being hit by a carriage that was moving so fast that my vision would change in a flash.
I thought my escort was shouting something from behind me, but I couldn’t hear it clearly over my own heavy breathing. It was so cold that my legs felt stiff.
The sleet gradually soaked my hair and the hem of my clothes, and every time I exhaled, a puff of white breath rose and dispersed repeatedly.
How far had I run? On one side of the road where the carriage had passed, a red puddle of water appeared. Above, an object caught my eye.
It was a child.