How the Prince Makes Friends - Chapter 161



Only Noblemtl

Episode 161

“A snowflake festival in spring! I’m so curious!”

“huh.”

“Look, Neil! Until today! I’m glad I found it this morning.”

“I know.”

The corners of Nihil’s mouth drew a red line.

Lianus, who had not seen Nihil’s meaningful smile, poked his head out of the carriage while reading the festival pamphlet he had found this morning with expectant eyes.

People were bustling about. Evan looked at the excited Lianus with a pleased expression and quickly responded.

“This is my first time at such a big festival. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Really? It’s good that you came out! Me too, me too, I’m looking forward to it!”

How did the festival pamphlet catch my eye so well? You know what? The snowflakes are actually snowflake flowers! Are they fluffy when you touch them? There seems to be a superstition in this region that if you catch a flying snowflake with your hand, you will have good luck. I will definitely catch them and give them to you all as gifts!

The kitten couldn’t hide its excitement as it kept meowing. It seemed as if the quarterly evaluation had been completely erased from its mind.

Nihil smiled proudly, thinking that he should give some extra medicine to the butler who completed the mission in a short period of time.

“Neil, look at that! There are so many street vendors!”

“Shall we walk from here?”

“huh!”

After getting off the carriage, Lianus immediately dragged Nihil around and walked around. Then he found something and quickly approached it.

“Neil! Let’s do this!”

“…Hmm.”

“Okay, put in your money and eat your money… no, claw machine! The odds are one out of three! Haha, the little guests are here.”

“… … .”

… The first game my child chose was this kind of rock climbing.

After reading a phrase like, ‘A cute doll for just 1 dong?!’, Nihil took out a fairy tale with a flustered expression.

“What on earth are you ordering me to do?!”

Evan has completely captured the fairy tale.

“…Is it really like that?”

“of course!”

But it was my child’s first time at the festival and he wanted to try it for the first time… and he was looking at me so brightly…

As Nihil thought about this and struggled inwardly, the owner opened his mouth and smiled.

“Hey, Big Brother, you’re really picky. This is a business that I’ve officially been granted permission to do. Can’t you see this? It’s a Songsongi doll that you can only get at the Snowflake Flower Festival! If you spend 5 or more, I’ll definitely give you one.”

The ‘Song Songi doll’ that the owner confidently showed off was a ball of fur the size of a child’s fist with small, black eyes that were pointed out.

“…I paid 5 dong for such a cheap thing….”

“no……?”

“Here you go, Building 1.”

Just before the kitten’s eyebrows drooped, Evan quickly handed over the story.

“Ner, let’s just try it once.”

“huh!”

The yabawi’s hand began to mix the cup. Rianus exclaimed, “Huh, huh?” at the increasingly faster movements of his hands, and eventually dropped the cup containing the fairy tale, rolling his eyes.

“Um… this?”

“Oh, really with this?”

“Ugh……”

“Really, really?”

“Isn’t that right…? I think this is right….”

As the thief continued to ask questions with a sly smile, the kitten began to worry.

Nihil slapped away the hand that was about to place its hand on the cup again and lifted the cup that Rianus had chosen.

There was a fairy tale inside.

“Stop talking nonsense and just give me the doll.”

The thief’s eyes widened.

‘No, why? The cup must have been empty.’

But I couldn’t tell him that fact, so I just opened my mouth and a small hand suddenly appeared in front of me.

“Hand it over.”

The corners of his mouth went up under his hood.

***

“Ah, this is fun!”

“okay?”

“huh!”

Lianus, who was enjoying the festival, sat on the fountain and dangled his legs.

The snowflakes flying in the sky were pretty, and the waffles and chicken skewers were delicious. Oh, and the dart game was fun, too. Strangely, a few cans fell over even though the darts didn’t hit them…

I guess the wind blew!

“I had fun too.”

Nihil nodded and took out a handkerchief to wipe the chicken skewer sauce off Rianus’s mouth.

At that moment, something like cotton flew in and landed on Lianus’ head. It was already the tenth snowflake.

“Ner, I think Snowflake really likes you.”

Nihil smiled lowly and picked off the snowflake to show it to me.

Lianus opened his eyes wide, then smiled bashfully and was about to blow it away again, but stopped when he saw a young man having a late lunch next to him.

The young man was dressed in somewhat shabby clothes and had a violin on his back. He seemed to be a wanderer who spread music.

The overturned hat was empty, so it didn’t look like there would be a harvest today.

“Want to take it?”

“Huh? Oh, what? I don’t need it.”

The young man turned his head away, looking a little disappointed as he looked at the snowflakes sticking out.

“They say that if you catch a flying snowflake, you’ll have good luck.”

“I didn’t catch it.”

“I’ll share my luck.”

“Okay! If you feel bad for me, just give me money. This is my first and last meal.”

The young man bit into his ciabatta sandwich, a little nervously. The reason he was having a late lunch was because he had finally earned enough money to buy a sandwich.

‘Was it too much…?’

Still, I turned my head to apologize, thinking that it was not right to take my anger out on the little boy who had shared my good fortune. The little boy was emptying out his pockets.

“Um, bro, we don’t have any money now?”

“I see.”

The boy looked at his empty pockets, looked a little sullen, and handed the apple to himself.

“Sorry, I guess I don’t have any money now.”

“Why are you apologizing to me?”

“Um… because you don’t have money?”

“…….”

The young man’s face became subtle. He seemed like a really strange little boy.

Then, the even stranger kid next to the strange kid stared at my back and opened his mouth.

“Please lend me that for five minutes.”

“What? Are you crazy? This is all my money.”

“I’ll give you 30 percent of my income if you lend me five minutes.”

“Ha, does this make making money seem easy?”

The young man frowned, forgetting that he had to apologize.

It was truly miserable to be ignored even by such a kid. I thought of my classmates who had laughed at me when I ran away from the academy, saying I would pursue free music.

“Do you think you can play the violin better than me?”

“I would have given you money if you just squeaked.”

“…….”

That was true. When he was young, he was called a prodigy even if he could just make a sound.

“…But that won’t work. What if I break it?”

“It’s cheap anyway.”

“What, what!”

“Half of the income. How is that? It looks like you didn’t make any income today.”

“…….”

The young man scratched his head. It was a bit uncomfortable, but it was a very good deal as long as the violin wasn’t broken.

“Is 5 minutes okay?”

“okay.”

“You shouldn’t break it?”

“I’ll ask you if it breaks.”

“…If you don’t have any money, why are you asking….”

The young man put down the case containing his violin, grumbling.

If it breaks… I think I should just give up and go back.

“Neil, can you play the violin?”

Rianus’ eyes widened as he never imagined that his close friend could play the violin.

As expected, there’s nothing my best friend can’t do… … !

“No, you have to turn it on.”

“……?”

“ruler.”

A violin was suddenly thrust out in front of me.

“Huh, huh?”

“Just try it.”

Lianus took the violin without thinking. It was a little big for an adult, but he thought he could play it if he put his mind to it.

“Ha, but I’m not ready to play in front of others…….”

“are you okay.”

“If you make a mistake….”

“If we can’t make it here, let’s decline the birthday party performance too.”

Yeah, it’s better than ruining Kara’s birthday party.

Rian rolled his eyes and asked cautiously.

“What… should I play?”

“I’d like some popular music.”

I couldn’t help but hesitate at those words again. All I was learning was classical music, and the only popular music I knew was this one.

But my close friend had no way of knowing this fact.

“First, let’s make some noise to attract attention.”

“…….”

After thinking for a while, Lianus decided not to worry his friend and instead plucked the strings with his fingers a few times before turning the pack a little to tune it.

‘… I wonder if I can do it well.’

“Then…, I’ll do it.”

After tuning, Lianus picked up his bow. However, when he tried to play, the tip of the bow began to tremble.

“…Ner, you don’t have to push yourself too hard.”

A small hand wrapped around mine.

“No, you can.”

If I don’t do it now, my friend will blame himself for nothing.

I didn’t want to be swayed by the past any longer, nor did I want to worry the loving people who remained by my side.

‘But that’s the song you were trying to tell me.’

Kiing-!

Lianus tried to shake off the hallucinations by swinging his bow so hard that the string almost snapped.

The sharp vibration of the strings spread widely through the sound box, so sharp that it felt like my ears were hurting.

It was so unique in the midst of the bustling festival atmosphere that people who were enjoying the festival turned around.

“……!”

Rianus flinched at the expressions on the faces of the people who looked slightly surprised or angry. Now that he thought about it, it was his first time playing to so many people.

My hands were shaking again from the tension.

Rianus, who had been staring at the poor violin fretboard, felt compelled to pick up the strings again, feeling that he could not delay any longer.

“Rian.”

Just as I was about to put down the string, Nihil whispered quietly next to me.

“Look around. It’s okay. Make eye contact with each person, okay. Slowly, slowly. Take your time. A performance is not just a performance. It’s a kind of psychological warfare. You shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the audience.”

Lianus took a quick look around and paused for a moment, following Nihil’s advice.

“Start slowly, start slowly. Let it resonate slowly and broadly.”

Lianus took a deep breath, raised his bow slightly again, and then very slowly lowered it.

A song of a knight who willingly gave his life for the lady he loved.

Lianus didn’t like this song very much, but the public loved its sacrificial purity.

Isabelle, my nanny. Even her.

Are you blaming me?

It was a song that he practiced just for her. He even personally arranged the song, which was originally played only on the lyre, to fit the violin.

I haven’t played it since that day, but I couldn’t forget it.

‘Oh my goodness, our prince is a genius!’

No, it wasn’t. He wasn’t that great.

At the time, that was the only song he could play. He wasn’t even used to reading sheet music, but it was the result of practicing just for her.

‘What should we do with our prince… … .’

Even though he was bleeding profusely after drinking the poison I gave him, he worried about me first.

‘… It’s not your fault, Prince. Lian, listen to me. It’s not Lian’s fault.’

‘… You… , Mo… … .’

Beyond the blurring vision, I could see red-tinged green-brown hair and a yellow dress.

The red was both the nanny’s blood and his own blood that was in her arms.

I ended up messing up my new dress. I was happy that my hair was nicely curled.

‘No…, I won’t…. Nanny…, I’m sorry…, I will.’

‘No, no, Lian, don’t say it. It’s not Lian’s fault.’

If my birthday had come first, if it had come after receiving the elixir from the Archduke… wouldn’t I have been able to save her?

Just before the performance reached its climax, Lianus stopped his bow and raised his head.

Before I knew it, the area around the fountain was packed with people. But it was still quiet.

As the performance did not continue for a long time, doubts began to appear on the audience’s faces. Some people hesitated to turn around, wondering if the performance was over or not.

Are you feeling resentful?

Could there be a more foolish question than that?

‘Listen, Nanny.’

Just before the audience left,

Kiiing-!

A powerful melody echoed through the square once again.

***

Before he knew it, the sun was setting. The carriage made its way through the crowd very slowly. Rianus felt a little relieved and stared blankly out the window.

Then I noticed my friend fiddling with his bulging wallet.

“I didn’t know it was this easy to make money.”

At that muttering, the movements of the friend’s hands stopped. Then a soft call was heard.

“Rian.”

“Huh?”

For some reason, the call felt a little heavy, and Lianus unconsciously strengthened his body.

“Do you know how much I earned today?”

“Uh…, 7?”

He gave half of it to the young man, so he earned a total of 14 silver. Since the daily wage of a commoner was about 5 silver, it was like Lianus earned three days’ wages in five minutes.

“You think you earned 14 silver in 5 minutes?”

“Uh…, huh? Isn’t that right?”

Rianus wondered if he had made a mistake in his calculations and tried to calculate again, even extending his fingers. But the result did not change.

“How much have you learned violin?”

“Um…, I think it was when I was about 4…, no, almost 5, so about 2 and a half years….”

“I see.”

There was a moment of silence in response. Rianus tilted his head to the side, not knowing why Nihil was doing that. Then the soft voice came again.

“Rian.”

“huh?”

“You’ve only earned 14 silver coins in two and a half years.”

ah…….

It felt like something was hitting my head.

“Don’t think it’s easy. That’s belittling your efforts.”

Lianus looked down at his hands. His fingertips were covered in calluses from pressing the strings.

‘Your Majesty, don’t forget to try.’

“huh…….”

I laughed for no reason. What should I play for Kara’s birthday?

“Eww, snowflakes~”

The voice of a child throwing a tantrum could be heard beyond the window.

A child, perhaps two years old, wearing a yellow one-piece dress was passing by, held in her mother’s arms.

The child’s green-brown hair felt somehow familiar, and Lianus unconsciously stared at the child before searching through his pockets.

I caught something fluffy in my hand.

“I’ll definitely catch you next year, Snowflake. I have to go home now.”

“Eeeeeeeing~”

Lianus threw the fluffy thing out the window. Luckily, it landed well in the child’s arms.

“Song Songi!?”

“Wow~ Song Songi fell from the sky? Now you’ll be full of luck. Right?”

“Ugh!”

Ah, I feel tall.