How the Prince Makes Friends - Chapter 111



Only Noblemtl

Episode 111

Nihil waved his hand as if it was nothing, even though he was looking at the two people with serious expressions.

“Rian is sleeping now. Leave her.”

“I have not come to your Majesty the Prince.”

“Did the Queen send a letter directly to me?”

“How did you know that…, yes…….”

“Come here.”

To send a letter directly to Nihil, who was not even a noble and was simply known as ‘Baedong’, was to disrespect the master of the palace, Lianus.

Nihil glanced over the cover of the letter, then tore the envelope open with his hand.

The contents of the letter were nothing special. On the surface, it was a message welcoming the arrival of the king and a wish to have a brief conversation. The date was the following Friday at noon.

It wasn’t tea time, it was lunch, and on top of that, it was Friday, a day when there was swordsmanship class in the morning. It seemed like they were planning to have the First Prince join them, so it was clear that they had some kind of plan.

“Send me a reply. I’m worried that Baedong will ruin this precious lunch because he hasn’t been educated.”

“……I will send it like that, but lunch will not be cancelled.”

“I guess so.”

Nihil thought for a moment, then took out a pen and drew a very large ‘X’ directly on the margin of the queen’s letter. It was a bold and messy stroke of the pen. He must have used too much force to write, because the ink flowed out too much, turning the clean and elegant letter into a scrapbook.

The three people who were watching the scene were inwardly very surprised by Nihil’s sudden actions, but tried not to show it.

Nihil folded the Queen’s letter, with the letter ‘X’ added, and handed it over to his butler without even drying the ink.

“Enclose this with your reply as well. And spread the rumor that Baedong was greatly scolded in the palace and is extremely reluctant to meet with high-ranking officials.”

This was a means of defense and a form of revenge. He sent the letter directly to Bae Dong, not the master of the palace, so Bae Dong responded ‘directly’.

A reply that seems to be polite, but in reality is not.

The maid’s mouth opened wide at Nihil’s bold actions, but the butler smiled broadly.

“I understand. And this is a compilation of the personal information of the servants you requested, as well as rumors spreading within the palace.”

Nihil received a paper organized in report format and glanced through it. The three servants he had asked for personal information on were all either people who had hidden or smuggled a significant amount of the gold Nihil had hidden away.

‘I don’t know how you knew. I guess it was just a feeling.’

Nihil glanced at Rianus, who had not stamped his seal on the three of them until the end. As expected, he had a good feeling about this strange place.

“inspiration.”

“Yes, your highness.”

“Have these three trusted servants watch over them. The ones whose faces were painted today. I’ll tell Lian.”

“May I ask why?”

“The gold was smuggled out.”

The butler’s eyes widened at that response.

“Is that what you ordered me to retrieve this time? But… how?”

“The gold coins were scented from the beginning. It was a bit of a hassle because all the servants exchanged them……”

“Huh? Swapping gold coins? Is that necessary?”

The butler looked puzzled as if asking why he would do such a useless thing.

“Ask the maid. She has a gold coin right now.”

Nihil pressed his throbbing temples and nodded to the maid. Then he gulped down the slightly cold, tasteless black tea.

“……Chief Maid?”

When everyone’s eyes turned to the head maid, she looked embarrassed, lowered her head, and barely opened her mouth.

“There is a rumor going around that if you have that gold coin, it will bring you good luck.”

“Do you believe that? I’m not even a kid.”

“…….”

The maid was embarrassed and couldn’t raise her head. She took out the gold coins in her pocket and showed them to me.

These superstitions were originally popular among young female servants, but because of the young master’s appearance, new superstitions related to him were created every day.

Even though they say each other is stupid, they try it first just in case, or with the thought that it might work out.

“I’m embarrassed. I’m sorry.”

“Well, I don’t mean to blame you for that, but I hope you don’t blame me if it doesn’t work.”

“Of course, yes.”

Nihil looked at the gold coin, which still had the scent of the scent, and then returned it to the maid. Perry fidgeted as if she had expected the gold coin to be returned, but she was noticeably happy when she received it back.

Nihil chuckled at the sight and finished reading the report. Most of the rumors circulating within the palace were about my true identity.

“Which of these rumors has the highest support?”

“…there are many servants who think of them as spirits or divine beings.”

“I think there are more rumors related to that.”

Nihil tilted his head slightly as if to ask why he didn’t write everything down. The butler seemed to hesitate for a moment at the question, but eventually opened his mouth, unable to bear Nihil’s persistent gaze.

“…It’s not a rumor related to you, but there is a rumor that if you drink the blood of a spirit, your illness will be cured.”

“I guess I’ll be asked to give blood soon.”

The butler lowered his head as if he was ashamed of Nihil’s sarcasm.

“……I’m sorry. I’ll be careful.”

“No, let the rumors be. You two…, I’ll give you a gift, so keep it with you.”

“……?”

Nihil handed the teacup over to Evan and jumped down from the bed, bringing back two small glass bottles and a piece of white thread.

Evan asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“But what are you trying to do?”

“Should I give you one too?”

“what?”

“amulet.”

“I don’t believe in that kind of thing.”

“Don’t hate me.”

Evan furrowed his eyebrows at the mention of the amulet. In response, Perry’s eyes began to sparkle.

Nihil took out his pocket knife, cut off a small section of my hair, tied it with white thread, and dropped a few drops of blood on it. It looked very convincing, but Evan frowned as he watched the white thread turn red with blood.

“Do you really have to use that blood?”

“Wouldn’t it look more plausible if we used blood?”

Nihil replied and handed the vial over to Paul and Perry.

“Don’t hide the fact that I gave you an amulet made of blood.”

“Then I’ll wear it around my neck!”

Perry seemed a little excited about the amulet, as he tied the string tightly around the glass bottle and hung it around his neck.

As Evan watched the scene with a trembling look, Nihil opened his mouth again toward Evan.

“Should I give you one too?”

“No need!

“Why don’t you go around bragging to the other knights?”

“No need…, should I spread the rumor to the outside world?”

Evan was about to yell that he didn’t need it anymore, but then asked if he could possibly need his help. But Nihil just snorted, as if the question was really funny.

“Then I wouldn’t have asked you to do it. You… don’t have any friends.”

“…….”

The friendless puppy became a little sullen at the words that were so true, but then he thought of someone and answered timidly.

“…I have a friend.”

“Oh, who?”

“……Your Majesty.”

“Big.”

At those words, Nihil shut his mouth tightly as if trying to suppress laughter.

The butler looked at the grown-up Evan as if he was very cute, and the head maid’s eyes lit up as if she had seen something very unexpected. Perhaps there will be more stories about the dog who has only one friend in the palace.

“Ahem, well, I’m sure the teacher will like hearing that.”

Nihil thought he would have to tell Karus later, and patted the bright-eyed twenty-year-old with only one friend.

Evan grumbled, pulling away from the teasing touch.

“…Get rid of it. Your only friend is the prince.”

“There’s a difference between not being able to make friends and not making friends.”

“…….”

Evan glared at Nihil as if he was genuinely annoyed by those words, but Nihil, who was enjoying teasing the child, smiled slyly and added, “Will you be my friend?”

Naturally, Evan was horrified and refused, and Nihil smiled lightly and opened his mouth towards Perry, who kept fiddling with the glass bottle.

“It doesn’t last long, so throw it away after a month or so.”

“……?”

Perry blinked as if to ask what was going on.

Do talismans have an expiration date?

“If your hair turns black, burn it without delay.”

“…Yes…, huh?”

Perry asked stupidly, but Nihil bit them both.

As the two people retreated as if being chased away, the curious dog immediately asked.

“Does it really work?”

“Then should I have given you an ineffective talisman?”

“Hair has that kind of… function?”

Evan began to ruffle Nihil’s snow-white hair with a suspicious look. Then, his face became serious, he brought a cloth from somewhere, wrapped it around Nihil’s head, and tied it in a knot under his chin.

“…What are you doing?”

“If someone tries to pull out your hair, you have to shout ‘No’, ‘No’, ‘Don’t do it’.”

“…….”

“Be careful of hair loss.”

“…….”

“There’s no cure for that.”

… hair loss.

Nihil was so shocked that he untied the cloth wrapped around his head and threw it away. My hair and blood were just a medium to temporarily hold my ‘breath’. Hair itself did not have much of a function.

Of course, it has the same tendency to assimilate as itself, but it doesn’t last long.

Evan furrowed his brows at the torn piece of cloth.

“Even if this kid thinks about it…, what effect will it have?”

“Nothing much. Just something to keep your knees from breaking when you fall?”

“…Is it true?”

Evan narrowed his eyes as if he was suspicious, then quickly stepped back as if he wasn’t really curious. Of course, he kept glancing at Nihil’s hair.

“Anyway, I need to find a pharmacist quickly.”

Otherwise, rumors might spread that I’m feeding blood to Rianus.

“…Does it really work?”

“What do you mean? My blood?”

Evan couldn’t bring himself to answer yes, so he nodded timidly.

Why, aren’t precious potions made by processing troll blood?

I thought that the blood of the lynx guy had some kind of amazing effect, so they secretly added it to the medicine. The medicines he made were actually more effective than other medicines.

But perhaps it wasn’t a very good question, as the cat’s face hardened for a moment. The change was brief, but it was noticeable, not a common expression.

“…Why, should I share some?”

“…no.”

There was a brief silence. The boy continued to focus on nursing the prince as if nothing had happened, but Evan began to feel uneasy at the thought of saying something unnecessary.

A heavy silence fell as the prince calmed down to some extent and Nihil, who had been moving busily, became quiet.

Nihil wasn’t a talkative guy to begin with, but most of their conversations were about the prince, and it was something like work, so Evan felt awkward about such long silences.

‘You’re angry, after all.’

No matter how much I think about it, I feel like I said the wrong thing. Whether blood is actually an elixir or not, it wouldn’t be good for others to find out.

The guy who can easily see through others’ minds must have already noticed that I was being cautious like this, but seeing him not paying attention to me like this, it was clear that he was deliberately ignoring me.

‘Why are you making such a bloody sound… … .’

Evan regretted saying something unnecessary and thought about whether to speak to her for several minutes. If he spoke to her, she might respond as usual, but if she just ignored him, it would be a huge psychological shock.

But if the lynx was angry, it was my fault, so Evan ended up speaking first.

“Hey, you little squirrel.”

“……why.”

Uncomfortably, the answer came a beat late. Her gaze was also fixed on the prince. It was clear that she was angry.

Evan opened his mouth again, not wanting to have an awkward relationship with the lynx guy.

“…sorry.”

“……why?”

“That, that blood……”

“blood…….”

“I, I really asked with that intention…, Ouch! Wait, what are you doing!”

Evan stopped talking and grabbed Nihil in shock. Nihil had already pulled out his dagger and was trying to pull down his arm.

“…why?”

Nihil tilted his head as if he didn’t know why Evan was holding him back.

“You, you, why are you like that?”

“No, do you need it?”

“When did I say I needed your blood?”

“why?”

“Why, why!”

“…why?”

“……?”

It was at this point that Evan realized.

The kid is a bit strange.