How the Prince Makes Friends - Chapter 312



Only Krnovel

Episode 312

‘Can I get a long vacation?’

‘Huh? Vacation?’

‘Yes. Um… about a month.’

Knock…, knock…, knock… ….

Rianus absentmindedly tapped Pupu’s black nose, then raised his head slightly and looked out the window.

There was a fluffy cat sitting on a cushion by the window. Perhaps because it was so white, it was very visible even in the darkness, but it had been staring out the window for dozens of minutes without any rest.

It’s already late so there won’t be anyone walking around, and it’s dark so you can’t see very well, so what on earth are you looking at so intently?

At that moment, a large figure approached. It was my one and only knight, Sir Evan.

“Prince, can’t you sleep?”

“Huh…? No……”

Perhaps it was because he was tossing and turning that he felt nervous. Rianus lightly shook his head and hugged Pupu tightly. Then, when he noticed that a bit of cotton was sticking out of his ear, he relaxed his arms and carefully put the cotton that was sticking out with his fingers.

“…Is there a problem, Pupu?”

“Huh? No. It’s because I hugged you too tightly.”

Somehow, Evan Sir thought his voice was a little shaky, but Lianus stuffed him with cotton as if nothing had happened and hugged him tightly again.

But even though I hugged Pupu, my troubled mind did not calm down.

‘Evan Sir is on vacation… … ‘

It’s not even a one or two day vacation, it’s a month-long vacation.

Of course, I gave permission. I had previously told her that if she needed a vacation, she could ask for it. I was a little upset, but I had to keep my promise, right?

And somehow I felt like I had to let Sir Evan go. It was strange, because I clearly didn’t want to be apart from Sir Evan.

But what’s regrettable is what’s regrettable… … .

Lianus looked up slightly after pondering. Even in the darkness, his ivory eyes, which glowed softly, were carefully examining something, then noticed my gaze and trembled slightly.

“…Why are you doing this, Prince?”

“Yes, Sir Evan.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Evan, who had been furtively looking at Pupu, answered nervously. Surely the prince hadn’t noticed Pupu’s strange behavior?

“By any chance… If you’re going on a trip, can I come with you?”

“…yes?”

“I can be quiet like Poopoo. I will never, ever bother you.”

“Huh?”

Evan’s eyes widened at Lianus’ unexpected words. Cuteness is usually inversely proportional to age, but our great kitten’s cuteness seems to be growing by the day.

‘Because it’s a trip… … .’

Evan imagined himself traveling around with a cute kitten in his arms. As if it were natural, a white cat also appeared and followed him.

‘… It seems like only yesterday I was trying to kick you out… … .’

I guess it’s going to be hard to let that guy go now.

‘If you only carry the prince while traveling, he will be sad.’

Eventually, unable to withstand the prince’s gaze, he will turn to look at the lynx, and the lynx will spread its arms wide as if it had been waiting.

I had no choice but to bend down to hug the guy… … .

“Ah, it was stolen……”

“Huh…? Can’t I? I think I’ll miss you so, so much….”

“Oh, Prince, I am not going far.”

Even in my imagination, Evan, who had his kitten stolen, quickly came to his senses and responded to the sullen voice. I can’t upset our prince with a needless misunderstanding.

“I will stop by every day, if it is okay with you, Prince.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, of course.”

Since I was going to be at the Wernus Palace anyway, it wasn’t hard to come and go. Of course, I was a little sad that I had to use my first vacation like this, but considering what I got from the lynx, I didn’t regret it that much.

“By the way, traveling sounds good too.”

It’s a bit far, but it might be a good idea to go to the beach before summer completely leaves.

“When the lynx comes back… how about we all go on a trip together? I will tell His Majesty.”

“Huh? Okay!”

At the word travel, the prince’s eyes lit up and he began to list the people he would be traveling with.

1 The Prince and Ariel, the servants of the Palace of Wernus, the Francesca siblings, the princes of House Talandrus, House Allier, the Master and the Vice-Captain, and even the puppy and the cotton ball… … .

The prince’s fingers quickly became tired because there were so many people who wanted to go together, but he still continued to chatter.

“Oh, I have to call the baby and the archduke too!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to call just one person?”

“why?”

“that…….”

Evan was momentarily speechless. He had to find a good excuse without revealing that the two were the same person… … .

“…After all, the Grand Duke’s territory is still dangerous. Shouldn’t someone stay and guard the Grand Duke’s territory?”

“But I want to go with everyone… I’m sure Agiya and the Grand Duke will want to go on the trip together.”

“Well, that’s right. Let’s try asking her to go together.”

Evan, unable to come up with any other reasonable excuses, nodded roughly. The Archduke will take care of this.

“I wish Neil would come soon.”

“…I agree.”

* * *

Stab, stab.

When I was alone, the sound of insects croaking became especially loud.

Lawrence lay still and stared at the ceiling, then turned around. It was definitely a familiar ceiling, but perhaps he had become accustomed to the Palace of Wernus, and his room felt unfamiliar.

No, actually, I know. It’s not the pattern on the ceiling that feels strange, but this silence.

It was as if everything that had happened had been a dream. If it weren’t for the pink snake doll next to me, I might have thought it was all a dream.

“…Pepe.”

Lawrence hugged Pepe tightly. A warm scent wafted through the air, and the nanny’s voice lingered in his ears.

‘…Your Majesty… is trapped in the Tower of Nightmare.’

Tower of Nightmares.

I’ve heard of such a tower, but I didn’t know it was actually used.

Of course, there are rumors that it would be better to die, but Lawrence, who did not know exactly what was happening in the Tower of Nightmares, still thought that it would be better to live. He secretly thought that his mother might have been executed.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll be able to meet my mother easily, but if she’s still alive, isn’t it not entirely possible?

“Pepe, what do you think?”

Lawrence tried to talk to the doll, hoping that it would tell him something through a dream like before.

But Pepe just stared at me blankly with his crooked tongue sticking out, and didn’t give me any answer.

* * *

“But you know, Your Highness.”

Evan, who had been quietly watching the white eyelashes move quickly, suddenly turned his head toward the Archduke with a curious mind.

And for a moment, I was startled when I saw the mountain of documents piled up so high that I couldn’t see the Archduke’s face.

The place where the Archduke sat was a tea table a little way from the bed, but there were so many documents on it that it looked like the small tea table would lose its balance and fall over at any moment.

Why on earth is he doing that over there when he has a study that is convenient for working?

“…Why do you work in such a narrow space?”

“…….”

Crack.

At my question, the soft, squeaking sound of a pen was interrupted, and something was heard breaking. I guessed that the broken thing was the fountain pen that the Archduke was holding.

“…I was wrong.”

I couldn’t figure out why, but Evan quickly put his tail between his legs and pretended to be as observant as possible. I don’t know about anything else, but I can tell that he was upset by my question.

… Honestly, even when the Archduke gets angry, it’s not as scary as before… … .

“I can’t help it since you’re threatening me.”

“When did I ever threaten you?”

He just said that if you harm yourself with holy water, you will be sent to the lynx. Moreover, I don’t know what that threat has to do with working at a cramped tea table.

“…Is it because that place is a good place to see the lynx?”

“…….”

I guess that’s right.

Evan narrowed his eyes. No matter how much I thought about this rich relationship, it was strange. If it was going to be like that, why don’t you just work at the nightstand next to the bed?

“Aren’t you that impressed by me?”

“…It’s just me being anxious, so don’t worry about it.”

“I won’t do anything to that lynx.”

“You won’t do it.”

“……?”

“…I don’t know what my father will be like.”

Evan tilted his head slightly at the unknown words. However, the Archduke did not give a clear answer and just said what he wanted to say.

“Could you please check by turning over your father’s right eyelid? … No, just both of them.”

“…? Why is that…. No, let me check.”

Evan looked puzzled, but he leaned over and carefully lifted his thin eyelids. Just the contact with them made him suck out mana like crazy.

But the problem wasn’t that Mana was sucking up.

“……!”

Evan flinched at the sight of the black pupil that appeared as soon as he lifted his eyelids. It wasn’t the iris that was visible. It was just the sclera that was black. Like the archduke’s reverse eye.

What was even scarier was that, while it would be normal for a sleeping person’s eyes to be rolled back and open, the cat’s eyes were looking straight ahead, like a doll’s… or a corpse’s.

Even his left eye was a normal white.

Evan cautiously picked up the phone.

“What should I tell you…?”

“Everything you see.”

“…the right is reversed and the left is normal.”

“…….”

The Archduke remained silent at those words. He seemed somewhat gloomy.

“The reverse eye… is because I made contact with it. Don’t think too strangely.”

“Ah… something similar happened before.”

“…Before too?”

“There was a time when a cat-like creature came into contact with him while he was sleeping, and he grew ears and a tail.”

“…….”

Even the eye color and fur color changed, and something similar happened in the territory of the Marquis of Francesca.

But Evan didn’t add any more information, because the Archduke was pressing his temples as if he had a headache.

“…Nothing happened?”

“Yes…, well….”

“Yeah… If something had happened, I wouldn’t have stayed here. Anyway, that’s… If you keep distancing yourself from me, you’ll gradually come back. What else?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Everything that is unnatural about my father’s current state is.”

“Does looking straight ahead also count?”

“Yeah. I guess you haven’t fully recovered yet.”

The Archduke calmly said that and then lowered his gaze back to the documents. It seemed that there was something wrong with the wildcat.

“It will take a few more days for you to wake up. Tell me when your pupils start to roll up like a normal human’s.”

“…Could you explain it to me?”

“It won’t be good if you know it.”

“If you don’t explain, I might just imagine this and that and come to some strange conclusion.”

“Just don’t think about it. If you’re not careful, you might end up having to erase your memories.”

“Oh, just like that night?”

“…….”

At those words, I heard the sound of a fountain pen being put down. Magic seems to be able to fix even broken objects. It’s amazing.

“…Are you aware that your memories have been erased?”

“Yes…, well….”

Evan scratched his head awkwardly. Honestly, isn’t it stranger that he doesn’t even realize that his entire memory of that night has disappeared?

“Usually it’s not noticed.”

“Is that so?”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“There’s nothing particularly strange.”

“…That’s fortunate. Don’t have any doubts even if there are gaps in your memory in the future.”

“If something happens, will you erase my memory again?”

Evan pursed his lips. Of course, he was aware that his previous conversation with the Archduke could erase his memories, but he didn’t want it to be erased without warning.

“You erased your own memories.”

“I don’t have that kind of ability…?”

Evan froze, startled, before speaking.

‘I don’t do anything. You guys just forget about it.’

‘… I don’t have that kind of ability.’

… I think we’ve had this conversation before.