How the Prince Makes Friends - Chapter 217



Only Noblemtl

Episode 217

“Do you know the name of my palace?”

Gyah.

“It’s Estas. It means summer.”

Nod nod.

Baedong nodded repeatedly as if he would remember.

Although he wasn’t sure if communication was working properly, Lawrence was more than happy to have Baedong brought to his palace.

Even though he only came to visit for a little while, the important thing is that Baedong is now separated from Lianus and is alone.

Aiden was just sent away because it was obvious that if he was left around, he would keep talking and making noise.

Although he was a little worried about the servant of the Wernus Palace who did not follow him, Baedong was already here, so it did not matter if he told Rianus about this.

“If Rianus comes to visit, tell him you don’t want to see him.”

“Yes, Prince.”

“…And, please don’t tell your mother, I will tell her separately.”

“All right.”

After giving instructions to his servants, Lawrence walked away with Baedong. Since the palace was busy at the time, there were fewer servants than usual to pay attention to.

“Is the palace a little messy?”

Nod.

“It’s my birthday soon, so that’s why.”

“……?”

Nihil’s head tilted to the side. If it was Lawrence’s birthday, it would also be Lianus’ birthday, but the palace of Wernus was too quiet.

“Is it quiet in the Palace of Wernus?”

Nodding, nodding.

“That would be true. Our birthday is also the anniversary of the death of Consort Natura, the former mistress of the Palace of Wernus.”

“…….”

I don’t care about anniversaries. I don’t care about the dead. I don’t want to commemorate death.

‘Come to think of it, I forgot that the kid was supposed to turn 8 this summer. I almost got in big trouble.’

I should have looked into it in advance, but because of my poor memory, I almost didn’t prepare a birthday present for my child.

Nihil shook Lawrence’s hand up and down in gratitude for the information.

“…If you touch the body of a royal family without permission…, no, no. Do as you wish.”

Nihil nodded without hesitation. Of course, he would do whatever was comfortable even if he was told not to.

“Is there anything you would like to receive as a gift?”

At that question, Nihil tilted his head and pointed to Lawrence’s earrings.

“…This won’t do. I’ll give you another jewel.”

Dori dori.

“Then…, I’ll make something similar to this and give it to you. This is special to me….”

“…….”

When Nihil looked up at him with his lips pursed in response to his repeated rejections, Lawrence looked embarrassed and changed the subject.

“Hey, let’s go to my playroom. You can pick whatever you want there.”

The first prince said this and showed me around his playroom. However, the playroom was so colorless that it seemed like it was a room for a 7-year-old child, and it was filled with strategy board games that only adults would play.

‘Rianus didn’t have many toys, but he had a variety of them… ‘

“…Is there anything you can do?”

Lawrence seemed a little embarrassed, perhaps because he thought that only the difficult parts were there.

“If there’s anything you want to play with, I’ll make sure to get it for you.”

Dori dori.

Nihil shook his head slightly and pointed to the chessboard, as if he was ready to pester his servants to get what he needed.

“Do you know how to play chess?”

Nod.

“That’s good.”

Lawrence quickly grabbed the chess board. Baedong, who had only recently learned chess, was no match for him, but it was better than coming to the playroom and sitting around doing nothing.

Lawrence laid out the board himself, thinking that he should lose the first game because he might get bored if he kept winning.

“Choose any color you like. Even if you choose black, I’ll still give you the first move.”

At that, Baedong pointed to a white horse nearby. Lawrence quickly placed white pieces in front of him.

As soon as all the pieces were placed, Baedong immediately moved his pawn. Since they had just started, Lawrence also moved his piece without much thought.

Exactly, exactly, exactly.

The chess pieces moved without delay. After about three turns, Lawrence hesitated for the first time, but the hesitation did not last long.

Exactly, exactly.

“…….”

Baedong moved his horse without hesitation. As the game progressed, Lawrence’s horse moved at a slower pace, but Baedong’s moves did not hesitate even an inch.

Lawrence was skeptical of whether Baedong understood the rules and was making moves properly, but he did not find fault with them because the pieces he was moving were not against the rules.

“…….”

Lawrence’s chess pieces were eaten one by one. His determination to lose the first game was long gone.

Just as I was about to move my chess piece, thinking that I might be able to capture the queen, Baedong blocked my hand.

“Why is that?”

Baedong pointed at my king with his finger. Now I saw that it was check.

“…….”

I don’t blame him for not letting me know the check in advance. It was customary to call out the check, but Baedong couldn’t speak, and Lawrence didn’t really expect it.

But it was quite shocking that he didn’t realize that he was checked. It would have been very embarrassing if he had lost.

Lawrence quickly scanned the board. It was not feasible to move the king because his pieces were blocking his path.

‘Even if you move the knight and capture the chess piece of the opponent, the queen is waiting, so it’s better to sacrifice the bishop…, no, but then the check will happen again in the next turn…

He calculated a few more moves, but there was no way out. Lawrence became confused. Was it actually checkmate?

At that moment, Baedong spun the board around. Then he moved his black piece.

“……?”

Lawrence was embarrassed, but he moved the white horse hesitantly as the chin gestured as if to tell him to move quickly. According to his calculations, the white horse would win.

But contrary to expectations, the game continued without much trouble, and eventually only one black piece, the king, remained.

“…is a stalemate.”

Nod.

“…….”

Lawrence was speechless. To be honest, at first I had doubts as to whether a proper game would be played, but this was a complete defeat for me.

“I lost.”

Dori dori.

“Do you want to call it a draw?”

Nod.

“But didn’t you swap the utensils in the middle?”

If I hadn’t changed it, it would have been my defeat for sure. Even with a favorable layout, it ended in a stalemate.

Lianus used to sing that his friend was smart, and it seems he wasn’t wrong.

“…Shall we play one more round?”

Nod.

Lawrence lost, but he smiled happily.

“We will win this time.”

Nod.

But not long after the new game began, the door to the playroom burst open. It was none other than my nanny who rushed in.

“nurse?”

“Your Majesty, the Highness is coming!”

“……!”

Lawrence felt dizzy. What on earth could his mother do all of a sudden? Did she find out that he brought Baedong? Did the servants report it?

“That’s right, Aunt. The Prince should send me back and give me that thousand things…”

Aiden’s voice echoed in the hallway, and Lawrence felt a surge of betrayal. But now was not the time to hold back his anger.

“Come here, come here.”

Lawrence grabbed Baedong, who was standing there blankly, and dragged him along.

“Can you kill the sound?”

Nod.

“My mother will be angry if she sees you. So you must not come out of here.”

“…So that thing…….”

Come on in. Come on! Lawrence, whose heart was racing at the sound of Aiden’s voice getting closer, pushed Nihil into a large toy box and closed the lid.

In the rush, Baedong’s hand got caught in the box lid, but Lawrence couldn’t ask if it was okay and quickly put his hand back in and closed the box lid.

Immediately afterwards, a knock was heard on the door.

“Your Majesty, I will buy you some time, so hurry up and get things in order.”

Lawrence quickly moved away from the box. He could hear the sound of his mother and nanny talking. He put the chair Baedong had been sitting on back in its place, and instead of forcibly organizing the chessboard, he pushed the captured pieces to one side.

“Your Majesty, the Highness has arrived.”

Nanny signaled me again. Lawrence quickly checked my attire and took a deep breath.

“mother.”

“Lewis.”

Lawrence raised the corners of his mouth slightly. He looked carefree but not vulgar, elegant but dignified.

It was a smile just like my mother’s.

“Why did you take such a long journey? If you had called me, I would have gladly come see you.”

“You can’t say that it’s hard for a mother to come see her son. Rather than that……”

Again, Helia quickly scanned the playroom. It was no different from usual, except that there was a chessboard.

“Were you alone?”

“yes.”

“Your Majesty, where did that belly go?”

Aiden asked sharply. Lawrence tried to hide his face from collapsing and answered calmly.

“It was sent back.”

“why?”

“Why…, that’s a strange question, Aiden. It almost sounds like I should have kept that thing?”

Rather, Aiden avoided his gaze at the questioning speech. However, Lawrence could not enjoy the fact that he had won the fight. He was nervous that the thing hidden in the box would pop out at the mention of the thing.

Fortunately, the box was quiet. It was almost as if I was wondering what was inside.

Lawrence wondered what was going on with Baedong, but he didn’t make the foolish mistake of looking at the box.

The mother asked, picking up the black queen that had been captured and placed next to the chessboard.

“Prince, what were you doing alone after sending Prince Aiden away?”

“…I was reviewing the games we played before by myself.”

“Who did you play against?”

“It’s a game I played with my grandfather. It’s been so long that I don’t remember exactly, but I suddenly remembered that I lost so easily back then, so I’m reviewing it to study again.”

The lies just kept coming out. I couldn’t help it. Half of my life was made up of lies.

“Weren’t you playing chess with that guy?”

“…How would someone who is just learning to read and write know how to play strategy games?”

That’s right. My mother laughed softly, put down the queen, and lifted the black piece on the chessboard, knocking over the white piece.

“What a truly pathetic country.”

“…….”

‘… That was a trap.’

If the game continues like this, the white horse will definitely win.

“…I think so too.”

But Lawrence didn’t say anything that didn’t need to be said. He just quietly replied that he would work hard and cleared the chessboard.

“How did you bring that vulgar thing here?”

“Oh, I heard some strange rumors going around, so I brought you here to check it out. You happened to be alone at the time.”

I thought it was a good opportunity. Lawrence barely managed to catch her gaze as she was about to head towards the box, then smiled again.

I don’t tell lies that will be exposed right away. That was the condition of my lying.

“Otherwise, why would I bring such a lowly thing to my palace?”

The lies continued to grow in size. But at some point, Lawrence began to have the delusion that his lies might actually be the truth.

“So what did you find out?”

“…There wasn’t much of a harvest. Still, the rumor that Baedong had been sick didn’t seem to be false.”

“About the Archduke.”

“Actually…, communication wasn’t smooth so I couldn’t find out the details.”

“Oh, what a waste of time.”

“…….”

“Well, how can you communicate with that shallow and stupid thing?”

At those words, Lawrence couldn’t hold back for a moment and turned his gaze towards the box.

‘In fact, he’s smart enough to pull off a stalemate even in an unfavorable situation… … .’

“prince?”

“Yes? … That’s right. I think I misjudged.”

But I soon realized my mistake and quickly looked away again.

“Prince, is there something in that box?”

“no.”

Lawrence responded reflexively, but realized he had made another mistake.

‘I should have asked what box you were talking about… … !’

But now that it was time to change my words, it would seem even more suspicious, so I couldn’t say anything else.

“Helen.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Open that box.”

“It’s just a box of blocks, Your Majesty.”

“How do you answer the question?”

“…….”

The nanny seemed to be trying to take my side, but it was no use.

“I want to see what the prince is playing with. Open it quickly.”

“…….”

“Let me open it, Aunt!”

As the nanny hesitated, Aiden stepped forward and ran to the box. Lawrence’s face became increasingly hardened. He was not good at controlling his expression.

In the meantime, Lawrence kept coming up with excuses in his head to avoid getting in trouble.

‘Should I say that Baedong sneaked in on his own? I sent him back, but if I say that Baedong sneaked in to steal my toy because he wanted it… . . . ‘

… what punishment will I receive if I sneak into the palace and steal the prince’s belongings?

I won’t kill you… right? You’re still young, so you’ll just get beaten and kicked out.

‘Wait, then is that actually a good thing?’

When I think about it, it doesn’t seem so bad. It might feel a little unfair from Baedong’s perspective, but if you give him something like a jewel later…

Really… , is that really okay… …?

Strangely, a corner of my heart started to tingle. If those mysterious eyes were filled with contempt, then really…

“Hey, Cheonmin, are you here?”

“Ah, no……!”

But before Lawrence could say anything,

Rattling-!

The box opened roughly.