Chapter 17: A child

Currently, the Second Prince’s Palace was in a state of commotion for the first time in a long while.

It was all because of a little boy named Nil, whom the Prince had brought along, calling him his close friend.

With hair as white as freshly fallen snow, and eyes so dark they seemed almost inhuman—like an aurora spilled across the night sky or a flowing Milky Way—he hardly looked like any ordinary human.

No one had yet heard the child speak, but surely, with such beauty, his voice would be just as lovely.

Everyone gathered in groups, speculating about the mysterious child’s true identity.

Some said he was a Holy Divine Beast transformed into a human, others claimed he must be a Fox Beastkin, or perhaps the Prince had been bewitched by that appearance.

Some whispered he was a hidden illegitimate child of a foreign royal family, a Demon who stole souls, or even that the lonely Prince had brought home a Magic Doll.

All sorts of wild rumors spread from Servant to Servant, growing ever more outlandish and impossible to contain.

Meanwhile, at that very moment, Lianus—blissfully unaware of the gossip—was immersed in playing with dolls.

The doll spoke.

“Lian.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m tired.”

Tired, he said.

Lianus had already solved food and shelter for his friend, so now, insisting on handling clothing, he had dragged Nihil into his dressing room.

He had actually tried to call the royal designer to make new clothes, but the designer, prideful as ever, refused to make clothes for anyone who wasn’t Harpens Royalty.

Lianus was furious that his close friend was looked down on because of status, but instead of chasing the designer out, he simply gave all the clothes the designer had made for him to Nihil as gifts, then set about making his own clothes.

Of course, most of those clothes were intended for his close friend anyway.

Nihil, sulking like a puffed-up seaweed, chose to endure and play the part of a doll for the sake of appeasing Lianus.

Had the Servants not been sent away, he would never have agreed.

Evan, who had been jeering at Nihil’s docile appearance as a doll, was forced to quickly apologize and withdraw after Nihil expressed a wish to see the Knights’ armor, leading Evan to don the heavy and cumbersome suit.

If he hadn’t apologized, he would have had to change into the Knight’s dress uniform, ceremonial uniform, and training gear, parading them all like a fashion show.

“Sorry, Nil. I guess I got carried away because everything looked so good on you.”

“It’s fine. Let’s eat.”

Before they knew it, evening had arrived.

Lianus, delighted by the fun of playing dolls, had completely forgotten about the royal designer and headed to the dining room in high spirits.

As soon as they entered the dining room, the food was served.

It was a more lavish spread than usual, but Lianus, unaware that the Servent had prepared a celebratory feast to mark the ‘day the Prince was divided from the main palace’, simply assumed it was because there was one more person at the table.

Lianus didn’t sit at the head, but instead sat facing his close friend as an equal to share the meal.

Nihil didn’t know all the fine points of Noble table manners.

But seeing Lianus eating so quietly, unlike the previous day when his manners had been a mess, he realized that the Prince’s messy eating had been to put a commoner child at ease.

It was a gesture of consideration that meant little to someone like Nihil, who never cared about others’ opinions, but recognizing that he was being considered for made Nihil feel strangely moved.

Nihil had thought Lianus was too slow-witted for a Prince and would never become Crown Prince, but now he was relieved to see that Lianus had a clear sense of rank, took care of his own people, and possessed the authority befitting royalty.

Thinking so, Nihil stabbed a piece of meat with his knife and popped it into his mouth.

The chunk was so large—having been cut carelessly—that Nihil’s cheeks puffed out, round and full of meat.

With the Head Chef and several Servants waiting in the dining room, Nihil’s appearance was clearly visible to all, and soon enough, word of it would spread throughout the palace.

But Nihil paid no mind to their stares, and Lianus also said nothing about Nihil’s table manners.

“Ah, Nil. There was something I wanted to tell you…”

At Lianus’s call, Nihil looked up, still chewing his meat, meeting his eyes. For a moment, Nihil’s gaze flickered to Evan, who was standing guard behind Lianus.

Evan, seeing Nihil’s cheeks so stuffed with meat they looked ready to burst, shot him a look as if to say, ‘Eat more quietly,’ but Nihil pretended not to notice and just kept chewing.

“Her Highness wants to meet you. If you don’t want to, it’s okay to refuse. I’ll stop her somehow.”

At Lianus’s words, Nihil tilted his head, still chewing. He had no idea what kind of person the Queen was, so he didn’t know how to react.

Lianus, not wanting to disturb his friend’s meal, somehow managed to muster up his nonexistent tact and continued his explanation.

“The First Prince, my older brother, his mother is Queen Helia, the eldest daughter of Duke Thesaurus. Like all royalty competing for the throne, I’m not on good terms with my brother, and the Queen doesn’t like me either. She might call you over just to cause trouble.”

“…..”

Nihil finally swallowed his meat, but his expression remained indifferent despite Lianus’s explanation.

Just then, as he stabbed a cherry tomato in his salad, his fork missed, and the tomato shot up to head height before falling to the floor.

Plop, roll—

All the Servants behind Nihil turned their gazes to the rolling tomato.

Sitting across from Nihil and seeing it all, Lianus couldn’t help but feel something indescribable as he watched the Servants’ eyes follow the tomato.

All the Servants were focused on Nihil.

Lianus, without realizing, forced his gaze away from the others and looked at Nihil instead.

Yet even then, Nihil paid the flying cherry tomato no mind, simply picking up a piece of grilled pineapple and popping it into his mouth.

With Nihil’s sharp senses, he should have felt the Servants’ gazes, but his close friend was always so confident, no matter where he was.

Lianus continued his explanation.

“Nil, the Queen is very proud and extremely, pois—”

Ting—

Before Lianus could finish, a clear ringing sound echoed in the dining room. Nihil had struck his water glass with his fork. All eyes turned to the source of that clear sound.

Lianus, completely baffled by Nihil’s action, blinked in confusion.

“What’s wrong, Nil?”

Nihil still didn’t answer, but glanced back and waved his hand—a signal to dismiss the Servants.

Realizing the meaning, Lianus sighed, realizing he’d almost made a mistake.

He waved his hand at the Servants, ordering them all to leave.

Click, the door closed, and only Lianus, Nil, and Evan remained in the spacious dining room.

With the Servants gone, Lianus naturally called Evan to sit beside him.

Apparently used to this, Evan glanced at Nihil and sat down without a word.

From experience, Evan knew that if he didn’t sit, the Prince would refuse to eat any more.

Since Evan always handled the Prince’s escort alone, the kitchen would prepare a sandwich for him.

Today, as he hadn’t eaten his sandwich at all, it was still carefully stored in his bag. If he didn’t eat it now, it would go to waste.

Thinking of the Head Chef’s kindness, Evan took out his sandwich and began to eat.

Nihil didn’t find it strange at all that the Escort Knight suddenly sat beside the Prince and started eating a sandwich. He simply seemed to focus on something for a moment, then spoke.

“Go ahead, Lian.”

“Thank you. I almost made a mistake because I got emotional thinking about the Queen. She annoyed me again today by nitpicking about your entrance to the Palace. Ah, Sir Evan, don’t just eat your sandwich—have some of the other food, too.”

Nihil nodded once as if it was nothing, and Evan shook his head to decline.

Lianus, sulking at the thought of the Queen, continued.

“The Queen is a very ruthless woman. To make her son the First Prince, she even cut open her belly before the child was full-term. I know you don’t care about status or age at all. I don’t want to force that on you either, and I like your confidence in treating everyone equally. But the Queen is different. If you make even the slightest slip of the tongue, she’ll charge you with insulting the royal family right then and there. I won’t be able to protect you from legal punishment. Honestly, even if you use formal speech, she’ll find some excuse to accuse you of disrespecting royalty.”

To sum up Lianus’s words, unless the Queen was in a very good mood, there was a high chance you’d lose your head no matter what you said.

“I don’t use formal speech.”

“…..”

Even then, Nihil’s confidence didn’t waver.

Lianus blinked, then let out a soft laugh. Evan, listening beside them, raised his eyebrow in disbelief.

“Nil, I really do like you. Can I ask why?”

“I only use formal speech with one person.”

“…Huh?”

Lianus blinked at the unexpected answer.

“Who?”

Nihil didn’t answer right away. He propped his chin on his hand, tapping the table absentmindedly as if lost in thought.

“I… used to take care of a child…”

“…A child?”

Lianus tilted his head at the sudden mention of a child.

Evan, remembering that Nihil had once mentioned caring for a sick child, quietly listened as he ate his sandwich.

“Yes, a very small, kind, and lovely child…”

Nihil lifted his bowed head slightly, meeting Lianus’s eyes.

Perhaps recalling something precious, a faint smile played on Nihil’s lips.

“One day, that child started imitating my way of speaking.”

“My way of speaking?”

“But my speech was pretty hard to use in society, even back then.”

Evan, listening, nodded to himself, thinking Nihil was surprisingly self-aware.

Lianus, unable to imagine what sort of speech would make it hard to fit into society, tilted his head in confusion, but Nihil continued.

“So, I started using formal speech, just in case the child picked up bad habits.”

At that, Evan interrupted with a wry expression.

“Just so you know, adding ‘yo’ at the end doesn’t make it formal speech.”

“…Makes me want to hit you.'”