Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: How the Prince Makes Friends
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Sir Evan shot to his feet and lunged forward, seizing Nihil's face in his grip. No matter how many times he'd been told not to bark, he couldn't stay silent this time.
Nihil tried to dodge by jerking his head back, but Evan was just a fraction faster.
"You look like you're not barking! Spit it out right now!"
"L-let... gooo..."
With his cheeks squished flat, Nihil flailed and shoved at Evan's face. But there was no way a hulking, battle-hardened knight several times his size would budge that easily.
"Spit it out! How much did you eat? Stuff like this, all charred up—if you eat too much, you'll get sick!"
"Let... go... you mutt..."
"You're the type who won't do anything he doesn't want to, even if it kills him, but why the hell did you stubbornly wolf down all of that by yourself?!"
"E-enough, Sir Evan!"
"Sir Evan, calm down!"
Finally losing patience, Karus grabbed Evan while Lianus pulled Nihil back. Evan had no intention of actually hurting him, so he released his hold without protest.
Nihil, whose cheeks had been squeezed pretty hard, rubbed them in circles with his hands as he worked his jaw loose. Lianus placed both hands gently on Nihil's cheeks, whispering worriedly if he was okay. Nihil nodded, showing no sign of pain.
Having finally settled Evan back into his seat, Karus spoke up.
"What on earth got into you?"
"Marquis."
"...Yes?"
"You weren't secretly bullying him just because he's a commoner, were you?"
Evan narrowed his eyes, shooting Karus a sidelong glare. Caught off guard by the unexpected accusation, Karus jumped to his feet in denial.
"W-why would I bully him? Have you thought of me that way all this time?"
"...Of course I know you're not the type. But... didn't you pour tea on his head, scratch his cheek, and give him those pitch-black cookies as a gift?"
"Hearing it like that, it really sounds like I was bullying him. The tea was entirely my mistake, I admit. The scratch on his cheek... I still don't know exactly what happened, so I can't explain it... but were the cookies really that bad...?"
"...I thought they were lumps of coal."
"I-I'm sorry. My apologies to you too, my friend. I had no idea it was that serious."
"It's fine. They weren't that bad."
Karus reflected that he should supervise his youngest sister's baking next time and vowed to bring something delicious without fail.
Meanwhile, Lianus started to sniffle.
"I-I had no idea... and I kept feeding you those cookies...!"
"It's okay, Rian."
"Sorry, Nil. I should've tasted them first."
"Don't eat burnt stuff."
The guard dog off to the side muttered something like, "As if you get to say that," but Nihil ignored him completely, focusing only on Lianus.
"I'm used to scavenging whatever I can find, so something like that won't make me sick. And they weren't even that bad."
"W-what kind of talk is that? Waaah..."
Nihil's excuse was meant to keep Lianus from crying, but the prince burst into tears at the thought of his friend growing up in such hardship.
Nihil blinked rapidly at the sobbing Lianus, then turned to the two adults with a look that said, Now what?
The two men panicked at the sight of the prince crying, waving their hands helplessly without knowing what to do. At their utterly useless display, Nihil sighed and carefully brushed Lianus's tear-streaked cheeks with his hand.
"Don't cry, Rian."
"Sniff... but I wanted to give you only good things, tasty things."
"If you say that, your little sister—who baked them with such care—will feel bad."
"Sob... I don't want that..."
"If you see her again, just tell her they were delicious."
"O-okay."
Nihil stroked Lianus's hair as the boy nodded obediently and promised he would. Lianus beamed through his tears, clearly loving the touch.
Karus, watching from the side, poked Evan and whispered, asking if he was sure this "friend" wasn't actually a nanny. Evan stayed silent—he couldn't exactly hit a marquis, and he couldn't deny it outright either.
Before long, the young prince had stopped crying. It was enough to make anyone mistake Nihil for a nanny.
"Rian."
"Hm?"
"You said you want to give me only good things, tasty things, right?"
"Yeah!"
"So, when someone gives you food as a gift, you'll give it to me first to try?"
"Yeah! I will!"
Lianus nodded eagerly with a bright smile. But the two adults listening in went stiff-faced.
At first glance, offering to taste food gifts first might seem arrogant. But it was a sign of...
Poison testing.
Evan's brow furrowed.
He was about to chew Nihil out for it, but at that exact moment, Nihil met his eyes.
Confronted by those impassive, unfathomable, mysterious black opal eyes, Evan couldn't bring himself to speak and simply looked away.
Having successfully silenced the dog, Nihil turned to Karus.
"And teacher, I have nothing more to say. Class is over, so you should head back now."
"Ah..."
Caught off guard by the abrupt dismissal, Karus hung his head. Then, as if steeling himself, he clenched his fist.
"If I go back like this, I won't sleep for ten days."
"That's too bad."
"And if I can't stand it anymore..."
"Can't stand what?"
"I'll attempt a kidnapping."
The marquis was more extreme than expected. Nihil let out a hollow chuckle at the sudden kidnapping threat.
"Me?"
"I'd prefer to kidnap my friend, but... somehow, that feels a bit tricky."
"Tricky?"
"...The prince..."
Karus glanced at Lianus. The boy, never imagining himself as the target, widened his eyes in surprise.
"Something chocolate-bonbon-sized should be kidnappable."
Evan flinched at the words.
Nihil thought to himself that at this rate, the guard dog would get kidnapped first.
With only one guard dog for Lianus, that would be a problem. Resigned, Nihil decided to give in one last time.
"...Fine, I'll hear you out and decide. Speak."
At the unexpected permission, Karus sprang up and closed in on Nihil, grasping his hand tightly. A faint tremor passed to Nihil. He glanced at his captured hand and sighed deeply.
"Why go this far?"
"It's... truly important to me."
"Don't get your hopes up. Just say it. I'll check it out at least."
Karus cleared his throat nervously a few times, then opened his mouth with resolve.
"(My chiiild... may the wiind's bles-sing reeeach...)"
An unknown language flowed from Karus's lips.
It was mangled, but Nihil—the only one who understood—twitched his eyebrows, his mouth opening and closing before clamping shut.
"...My friend?"
Karus's voice trembled slightly. His hands, still clutching Nihil's, gripped tighter, oblivious to how pale Nihil's knuckles were turning from the pressure.
He looked desperate, like a man clutching his last lifeline.
As the silence dragged on, his palms grew sweaty and cold. Anxiety clouded his eyes, making them quiver faintly.
"Ha..."
Nihil pried free Karus's hand with a sigh that was half a laugh, then rubbed his whitened fingers with a wry smile.
"It's a mess. If you're going to memorize it, do it right."
"It just wouldn't stick for some reason. It's a foreign language, and five years have passed already—I might have misremembered."
"Who taught you that? Your mother? Father?"
Karus's eyes flew wide. He reached for Nihil's hand again, but Nihil—still tingling from the earlier grip—dodged quickly.
Seeing the red handprint on the small palm, Karus apologized profusely and gently massaged it.
"That phrase... my mother whispered it to me consistently since I was little. Right up until she passed."
Karus had spent five years researching every language in history to decipher it—a far from short time. Even his siblings had urged him to give up.
When he discovered a similar script system on a world map in his mother's documents, he thought it was all falling into place. But he'd been gravely mistaken.
He'd been fifteen then, and after five fruitless years, he'd ended up just playing teacher.
Nihil murmured while staring at the ink-stained hand massaging his own.
"...Maybe it's good you misremembered it."
"C-could you tell me what it means?"
Nihil frowned slightly.
This was none other than the spirit tongue. A language still used by spirits today—not ancient, and not one humans were meant to use.
Spirits generally felt little toward humans, but they wouldn't tolerate intrusions into their domain.
The spirit realm: a parallel dimension, existing alongside yet untouchable, invisible, inaudible.
Even today, when he'd peeked to gauge the marquis's aptitude, hadn't they tried to gouge out his eyes? If he hadn't dodged in time, he'd have been seriously hurt.
Their language held power in itself. When spoken by the apt, it gained strength. Conversely, if an unworthy one uttered it carelessly, the spirits would take offense and wreak havoc.
The marquis was not apt. Nihil had confirmed it today. Apt ones usually awakened young; an adult like the marquis likely never would.
Unless his late mother hadn't been apt.
"Teacher."
"Y-yes!"
"What did your mother do?"
"Ah, my mother was a wind mage. She told me never to learn magic, though."
If so, then his mother was definitely apt.
Magic and spirit arts were polar opposites. One who learned magic could never awaken as apt, and apt ones who contracted spirits could never use magic.
His mother had probably pretended to use magic while wielding spirit arts.
An apt person's spirit tongue carried power. If an apt mother repeated the same phrase countless times, even her son would awaken as apt someday—late or not.
Nihil hadn't expected such circumstances with the marquis. Exhausted by the complication, he slumped into the sofa. Lianus, sitting beside him, draped a blanket over him and patted gently.
Lulled by the soothing pats, Nihil spoke languidly.
"Teacher."
"Yes!"
"I can't tell you what it means right now."
"Why not?"
"If you learn it and start poking around, things could go wrong—really wrong."
Incurring a spirit's wrath before awakening as apt would be irreversible.
"Don't even mention that language. Don't research it—just rest. When the time comes, I'll tell you."
"I-is it that dangerous?"
"Dangerous. I nearly lost my eyes today..."
Remembering the foul-tempered spirits that lunged at him the moment their eyes met, Nihil rambled casually before suddenly straightening up.
"No, wait. I misspoke. Pretend you didn't hear that."
"......"
"......"
Silence blanketed the drawing room.
Growing awkward, Nihil carefully sat up. The blanket slipped off with a soft thud.