How the Prince Makes Friends

Only Noblemtl

Episode 93

As the guards hurriedly went up to the master’s bedroom, other guards who had been guarding in front rescued the master who had collapsed and put out the fire. The fire was coming from the bed, and the master was also burned.

‘Slaves, where have the slaves gone!’

When someone shouted like that, one of the guards who had come up from outside opened his mouth.

‘There was a blanket spread outside! And it looks like they ran outside, judging by the long rope-like thing hanging from the terrace railing!’

‘Catch the runaway slaves! Quickly!’

The mansion became a scene of chaos. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the lord lost an eye and suffered burns to half of his body, and was rushed to hospital for treatment. The servants searched the entire garden, and the guards searched the outside of the mansion, searching for the escaped slaves.

Ella and Ellen carefully crawled out from under the bed after making sure no one was in the bedroom.

The bedroom ceiling, where the fire had once broken out, was blackened and the acrid smoke had not yet completely dissipated.

The servants, who thought that the slaves had already escaped through the terrace, paid little attention to the interior of the mansion, let alone the bed that had been the source of the fire.

Ella and Ellen crawled out from under the bed and carefully hid in the study connected to the bedroom.

And quite by chance, the two discovered a secret passage there.

It was God’s first and last mercy.

The twins left the mansion early in the morning after spending the night in the basement pantry, when the search was relatively lax. They went to the shopping district and pretended to be naive children who had come out to play. This was possible because the slave mark was on their backs, not on their hands.

He sold the jewels hanging here and there on his clothes, bought cheap everyday clothes, and acted as if he had a knight following him around somewhere. And as if he was ignorant of the prices of goods for commoners, he bought the necessary items by adding a little more money.

The two of them kept changing carriages and headed southeast because their priority was to escape the empire. They almost got caught by the pursuing Chunos more than once.

There were many problems even after it was taken over by another country. While most of the kingdoms surrounding the empire primarily used the imperial language, the Kingdom of ‘Harpens’ used its own unique writing system.

The two had a hard time learning the language. Fortunately, the twins were quite intelligent, and because they were so desperate, it didn’t take long for them to understand simple words. They had to live as mutes for quite a long time, but they were together, so they weren’t lonely.

But another ordeal came. All the money they earned from selling their last treasured jewel was swindled. The thing the children had saved by being swindled was none other than the magic stone.

It was because they had heard somewhere that having a magic stone could confuse the location tracking function of the slave brand. The magic stone they had obtained did not seem to be fake, but it was too small and was already a piece of trash that had lost most of its value due to having consumed most of its magic power.

He could not bring himself to throw away the stones he had bought with such a high price, and he could not resell them as a wanderer, so he had no choice but to wander around with other orphans.

‘If I think about it, it was lucky that I met Yvonne Murry.’

Some of the children in Yvonne’s group were uncomfortable with their distrust and constant wariness, but they did not kick them out. If they had joined another group of children, they might have been beaten and kicked out. If they had, it would have been even more miserable than it is now.

If, just if, I survive this suffering, and the slave label is erased, I won’t have to worry about anyone chasing me anymore.

As I was thinking that, an excruciating pain suddenly surged through me, as if my entire heart was being ripped out. Before I knew it, a gasp escaped my mouth.

I wondered if I would die like this. I wondered if I would meet the angel I had seen in my dream again.

The two of them held each other’s hands tightly and prayed earnestly, shivering with pain all over their bodies. They thought of the little angel who had given them warmth in their dreams and then disappeared.

Angel,

I don’t mind being sick for the rest of my life.

I don’t mind if you take me with you.

please…….

Escape from the instability of running away with Ellen and settle down and be happy together… … .

Ella alone is free from the pain of not knowing when she will be captured and killed… … .

My vision started to blur.

This is really the end. This is the end. I raised my head slightly, thinking that I should at least see my brother’s face once before I die. The same, or perhaps even clearer, blue eyes were reflected in each other’s pupils.

Finally, I have to show a smiling face. I thought to myself as I tried to raise the corners of my mouth with difficulty, when I heard a soft voice behind me.

“great job.”

***

A soft voice brought me back to my senses. The stinging smell of iron in my nose and the feeling of my back getting soaked became clearer.

Are you dead or not…? Are you alive now?

“It’s over, huh?”

The voice came out cracking.

“okay.”

The twins sat up in a daze at the vague answer and looked at each other. Their entire bodies were soaked in cold sweat from enduring the pain.

The two of them checked each other’s backs in disbelief. The slave mark, which had been even more unpleasant because it had shone beautifully in silver, had truly disappeared.

“It’s really… gone.”

“How, how did you do it?”

“It’s not over yet. Get dressed and go outside.”

The twins wiped the blood from Nihil’s body that flowed down each other’s backs and quickly put on their clothes. They felt a little uncomfortable because of the copious amount of sweat, but they would be fine soon after drying in the wind.

The little boy in front of them was wearing a hood, so they couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but it was clear that the slave mark had been erased.

Just as the two were about to open the warehouse door, Evan opened the door first and came in.

“This crazy bastard!”

The puppy howled.

“Neil, are you okay?”

The kitten that followed came closer to Nihil. Bella stopped the other children from entering the warehouse just in case.

Evan scolded Nihil, saying that the smell of blood was so strong that he could smell it outside, but he quickly grabbed some styptic and ointment and examined Nihil’s palm.

Then he discovered the silver pattern engraved on the back of Nihil’s hands and asked in puzzlement.

“What is this?”

“…….”

Nihil kept his mouth shut. Then the twins who had been wandering around recognized the pattern and came closer in shock.

“Hey, why is this here? Were you also…, ”

“< Slave? What do you mean, Neil?"

Lianus turned pale at the mention of being a slave and looked at Nihil.

Nihil shook his head slightly and continued speaking.

"”

“”

“…….”

The twins looked at each other, not knowing what to say when they heard that their slave brand had been transferred. They wanted the slave brand to be erased, but they had never thought of transferring it to someone else.

Nihil shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal.

“”

“ Puppy, help me.”

Nihil gave the twins a vague answer and called Evan. However, the slightly angry dog immediately refused.

“I don’t like it.”

“Then let Meow help.”

“How may I help you, pretty young master?”

As Bella quickly approached at Nihil’s call, Evan spoke in despair with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“……Shouldn’t I ask at least twice?”

Evan grumbled about how the kid could be so heartless and approached Nihil, grabbing his neck. No, he tried to grab him, but Nihil dodged Evan’s hand.

“……?”

Evan stared blankly down at his empty hands. He had grabbed the guy by the scruff of the neck many times before, but he had never avoided it, so the current situation felt very strange.

“Why… are you avoiding me?”

“…just.”

“Are you upset because I rejected your request?”

“…….”

Ugh.

Really? You’re so lenient with the kids, but why are you like this with me?

Evan felt a surge of emotion and reached out to Nihil again.

Nihil dodged Evan’s touch, which was neither quick nor threatening, a few times before falling down with a thud.

“…….”

Evan stopped his outstretched hand, not intending to trip Nihil or really grab him by force. Nihil seemed a little embarrassed and stayed like that for a moment before slowly getting up.

“…I don’t need any help, so I’d appreciate it if you could just leave for a moment.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Then I’ll go out.”

Nihil said that and started to gather up the bottles he had laid out. Rianus, who was watching, felt something strange and grabbed Nihil’s robe. The hem of the robe seemed a little damp.

“Ner, what’s wrong? I have to take care of this, so leave me alone for a moment.”

Although there were few restrictions on his actions since he only lightly held the end of the robe, Nihil tried to gently coax Lianus and pull his hand away.

Rianus felt that something was strange, so without hesitation, he put his weight on Nihil and hugged him.

Nihil was pushed in the direction that Lianus was hugging him and fell to the ground again. If things were normal, even if he had run towards him and hugged him, he would have accepted him firmly.

“…Neil, your whole body is wet.”

Rianus carefully lifted the hood as he felt Nihil’s robes, which were damp as if they had been hit by a drizzle.

Her pretty eyes, which were slightly out of focus, stared blankly at Rianus, then briefly glanced at the twins, whose eyes were wide open in surprise.

Nihil’s hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his face, and his whole body was shaking slightly.

Rian felt the slight trembling with his whole body, and carefully brushed away Nihil’s messy hair from his face before continuing.

“Neil, let’s rest for a bit. I don’t know what you did… well, but I know you overdid it a little. Rest for a bit and we’ll do it later. Big brother will help you too.”

“…….”

“Huh? Neil, please…….”

“……huh.”

At the soft but earnest request of Lianus, Nihil had no choice but to relax his body. His pure white eyelids fell down, covering the small and beautiful universe.

Lianus frowned as he looked at Nihil, who was hanging limp like a marionette with his strings cut, and turned his head towards Evan.

“Help me……”

Evan squeezed his eyes shut. He remembered a year ago when the prince, much smaller than he is now, was holding a dead puppy in his arms, crying and begging for help.