Chapter 2

The Prince's Method of Making Friends - Chapter 2 (2/324)

A small child, who looked to be around the same age, had their toes frozen red due to the cold weather and lack of shoes. The oversized clothes, which seemed to have been found somewhere, were torn and frayed in many places, and there were stains of unknown origin—whether blood or mud—covering the child's head and clothes.

"Your Highness, what will you do if you run out like this!"

A knight who followed the child from behind wrapped a thick cloak around them and handed over an umbrella.

"I'll take care of the aftermath, so please get into the carriage first. It's too cold."

The child glanced at their knight, then looked around to find the parents of the child who had been hit by the carriage. However, no matter how much they asked, the parents did not appear. Only after the child let out a loud cry did an old man, trembling, finally speak.

"Your Highness, please forgive us. The child has only recently appeared in this village. An orphan without parents, there is no family to punish them. Please, please, do not be angry."

Forgiveness?

The child had been killed by the prince, so who was to forgive whom, and who was to punish whom?

The prince, with a face that looked like it might cry, scanned the surroundings once more.

Due to lying on the cold, damp ground, the villagers' clothes were already soaked, and the sleet was falling even more heavily, freezing their hands and feet.

The prince thought he should send the villagers away first.

"Everyone, get up and go home! If anyone is related to this child, stay behind."

"But, but—"

"Foolish and stupid people! Get inside now! If anyone continues to loiter, I will have them whipped!"

The people's faces turned pale at the prince's words, reminded of the child from the neighboring village who had died from being whipped. After a brief commotion, a few people began to leave, and soon everyone had disappeared.

The street was quickly and eerily empty.

The prince chuckled.

He was the powerless Second Prince, yet these people, who knew nothing, were trembling in fear, which he found both amusing and pitiful.

Water droplets fell from the dark green hair in front of him.

A dirty swamp color. They called him the Swamp Prince. Was there a more fitting nickname for him than that?

It felt as if sticky filth was falling from his head, making him even more depressed.

"Your Highness, please go inside now."

The knight's voice broke his thoughts, and he looked up to glance at the child lying in a pool of blood.

The child was in a truly pitiful state.

To have caused such a state and to be depressed over the color of hair—clearly, he was a bad child.

That's why he had no friends. That's why everyone had cried and left.

Sleet settled on the ash-gray head of the blood-stained child. The prince, without realizing it, crouched down beside the child and held the umbrella over them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Please forgive me. Be born in a better place next time. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

He whispered a final farewell to the nameless child.

May you live in a place where it's not cold and you're not hungry next time.

The prince, who had quietly prayed, did not take his eyes off the child's body and spoke softly to the knight standing by his side.

"Sir Evan."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Will you mourn for me when I die?"

"Before Your Highness passes, I will die first. I am your knight, am I not?"

"Sir Evan, I will have to mourn for your death. Then who will mourn for mine?"

"...Don't say such things."

The knight's face twisted. His prince, who was injured and torn in many places, seemed about to crumble at any moment.

The prince thought to himself.

Since he was a prince, many people would come to his funeral, he supposed.

The Emperor might mourn a little, but he didn't think he would die before the Emperor.

Feeling depressed again, he shook his head.

"This child has no one to mourn for them, so I will mourn for them. When I return to the castle, I will make just one friend. A friend who will mourn for my death. I don't need many, just one will do."

The knight, who had been watching his master mutter to himself, felt a complex emotion. The noble children who had come to play had already left in tears, too many to count.

They had been sent by the Emperor, but the nobles, under pressure from the Empress and the Tessaurs family, had made sure their children stayed away from the Second Prince.

The knight thought of his sister, who had never met anyone her age because she had been bedridden for ten years.

If she hadn't been sick, would she have become friends with the prince?

Suddenly, the prince stumbled and fell. The umbrella slipped from his hand and rolled away.

The knight, startled, quickly helped the prince up and retrieved the umbrella, holding it over him.

"Your Highness, why did you do that?"

"I, it moved!"

"What? The body?"

"It definitely moved!"

Evan thought his prince had mistaken the wind-blown hair for movement and dismissed it. The child, having been trampled by horses and bleeding so much, could not possibly have survived, let alone a grown adult.

Just as the knight was trying to calm the shocked prince,

- Twitch

The blood-soaked ash-gray head twitched unmistakably.

***

"Guh, guh..."

With a thud, the small hand groped through the pool of blood, and the ash-gray head slowly lifted. The child groaned faintly, managing to lift their body halfway.

The knight and the prince, who saw the bizarre sight of the blood-soaked child moving right in front of them, were momentarily frozen.

Could it be an undead? Was there a black mage around?

The knight pushed the prince behind him and drew his sword. The prince, pale-faced, clung to the knight's clothes but couldn't take his eyes off the child.

The knight looked down at the child, who was almost lying on the ground. He couldn't see the face clearly, but he could tell the child's gaze had reached the prince.

Evan, wary of the child, hid the prince even further behind his back.

The prince saw the black eyes through the matted, blood-soaked bangs.

In the fleeting black eyes, he saw a mysterious light. Drawn by this, the prince stepped out from behind the knight and approached the child.

Despite the knight's calls of "Your Highness" from behind, the prince, as if entranced, took one step after another toward the child.

He wanted to see more closely. Those mysterious, luminous eyes.

The prince, without realizing it, crouched down and lifted the dirty bangs.

The child's face was covered in blood, making it hard to see the features, but the eyes, which resembled a night sky or a black opal, were strikingly clear.

"...Look. You... are..."

The child's lips moved, making a faint sound. The prince, unable to hear clearly, tilted his head.

The child frowned slightly and spoke louder.

"What are you looking at? Who are you?"

The child's voice was clearer, but the content was unexpected, making the prince's yellow and green eyes widen.

The bangs, which he had lifted, slipped back, obscuring the child's eyes, which resembled a night sky or a black opal.

The prince, feeling disappointed that the eyes were hidden, moved even closer and swept the hair away completely. Blood and filth stuck to his hands, but he didn't care.

The prince wanted to be friends with this child. Just a few minutes ago, he had resolved to make at least one friend, and now was the time to act on that resolve.

His mouth, however, felt stiff as he tried to speak. He had a strong intuition that he couldn't miss this opportunity, that this child was the one he needed.

He had to make a friend! He would make a friend, definitely!

Gathering his courage, he spoke carefully.

"Um, um..."

"What."

"Um, well."

"Stop stuttering."

"Me, me and—"

"...?"

"...Do you want to be friends?"

Oops, he said it wrong.

The beautiful black opal eyes crumpled.

***

In the end, making a friend didn't go well.

"Go away, you dog."

The prince felt a lump in his throat.

He knew he had made a mistake by speaking so abruptly to the child, who was lying in a pool of blood, and that his offer of friendship had been misguided, but he had really gathered his courage to say it.

Even if his courage was dismissed, he shouldn't have hit a person who was already injured.

It wasn't intentional. He had no intention of hitting the child.

He thought of the incident at the duke's place and the children who had run away crying, which made him a bit emotional. He hadn't hit the child hard, just pressed their head a little.

The child, with the head pressed, fell back to the ground.

They must have fainted from losing too much blood. It couldn't have been because he hit them. It had to be that way.

The sleet had stopped. The carriage, accompanied by the clatter of hooves, was heading smoothly toward the castle.

The prince, since getting into the carriage, had been looking at the child lying on the opposite seat. Concerned that the child, who had lost a lot of blood, would die if left alone in the cold, he had put the child in the carriage. The child's body temperature was very low, so he had taken off his cloak and covered the child, making sure the feet were completely covered.

The black opal-like eyes, which had captivated him, were now hidden behind the eyelids, but he could finally observe the child's face in detail.

A very, very beautiful face.

Even with the blood, the beauty was not completely hidden.

"Sir Evan."

The prince called out to his knight, who was driving the carriage.

"Did you call, Your Highness?"

"Who should I say this child is?"

The castle was not a place where unverified outsiders could enter freely.

Even a mere servant or maid needed a letter of introduction to apply, and the attendants that nobles brought with them could not enter the palace without the noble's direct guarantee.

For a commoner, who had been wandering as an orphan and could not prove their identity, it would be even more difficult.

Evan, who had been asked by the prince, sighed at his master's poor social skills, thought for a moment, and then spoke hesitantly.

"...A friend?"

"..."

Evan, sitting in the driver's seat, couldn't see inside the carriage but knew the prince's ears and tail must be drooping, so he sighed deeply.

"Why did you hit them?"

The prince felt a bit depressed. He couldn't deny it; he had hit an injured person.

They must have fainted from losing too much blood, but since he had hit them just before they fainted, the child would likely suspect he had caused it.

He had resolved to make a friend, had gathered his courage to confess, but instead of making a friend, he had been misunderstood as an enemy.