Chapter 37. Never or once (1)


    ntz thought that way sometimes.


    The real reason Calian saved his life may not actually be that grand.


    It was around that time that Calian went out to chase n.


    After finishing his conversation with Chase, ntz went to the Wilhelm Pavilion and met Arsene and Kyrie. He didn’t ask why, but told them to take turns staying by Hina’s side for the time being. Afterwards, I returned to Arpia Pce and met Lemain, who had returned from a meeting.


    My younger brother ran away again, but I guess it’s time to get used to it. After talking about how it would be a good idea to ease the curfew considering the hardships the royal horses will have to chase after Raven every time, that thought came to me again.


    I think my brother, who waspletely ruined by construction, kept me alive so that I could be used as a useful broom.


    “This time I went to find Count Manasil.”


    The useful light green broom, which swept up all the leftover work and took care of the cleanup, said while looking at the deep blue eyes that seemed to be carefree and worried.


    Calian upset Evan, and Demirea, Calian’s fiancée, upset Evan. In the meantime, Calian’s teacher, n, just ran away.


    The deep sea-colored broom, which had taken care of what Demirea had done in the conference hall, asked in surprise at ntz’s words.


    “Where did Lord Manasil go in such a hurry?”


    “He probably went south, but he seemed to have something important to do, so just pretend not to know.”


    “I… again…”


    Lemain, who had been responding like this without realizing it, closed his mouth without finishing his sentence. Then I took a sip of tea made with persimmon leaves.


    Isn’t this n, who always said he would go south because he couldn’t see Lemain because he was so upset? So, I had deep doubts about what I did wrong and whether n really went to the south.


    However, Lemain could not bear to bring up such a story in front of his second son, so he stopped talking and took a sip of tea to think about what he had done wrong. After that, there were so many things that came to mind that I started reflecting.


    “… I understand. Thank you for letting me know in advance.”


    “no.”


    ntz answered briefly, drank the tea with a scent that was not too unpleasant, and then put it down. Lemain, who was watching it quietly, asked.


    “Do you have time tonight? If it’s okay, let’s have a meal with your brother.”


    Randel did note to Calian’s birthday banquet and was absent from this meeting as well. The story was brought up to observe the rtionship between the eldest and second child, who seemed particrly awkward since Calian was away at the time, to meet Randel, and to tell them about Freya’s admiration, which he had not been able to tell them in advance due to the situation.


    When asked if it was okay instead of telling them to set aside time because they wanted to eat together, ntz shook his head and answered.


    “If you want to talk, it’s better to see them separately.”


    The rtionship between ntz and Randel is not something that can be resolved just because Lemain intervenes. If the two brothers and Lemaine sit around without Calian to set the mood, it’s just a quiet meal where they don’t say a word. Rather than wasting dinner time like that, it would have been better for Lemain to have a private talk with Randel alone.


    “Yes, I will.”


    After looking at nz for a moment, who spoke briefly without giving a detailed exnation, Lemain spoke in a slightly lower voice.


    “nz. You might not have heard it because you weren’t there. At this birthday banquet…”


    After that, he paused for a moment. This was because he was still thinking about how to exin this to Silike’s son, nz.


    “Well done.”


    This is something you already know.


    Because I had already heard from Rerick, who had been diligently asking for news except about Lennon. Since I knew the reason for Lemain’s hesitation, there was no need to make it difficult for him to speak up.


    “Kalian would have liked it a lot too.”


    After that, ntz drank all the remaining tea in front of him and put it down. I remembered that I hadn’t even touched thevender tea, so I just drank it all.


    “okay.”


    LeMaine looked at thepletely empty teacup and nodded.


    After finishing his conversation with Lemain by saying a few more words, ntz stood up, bowed, and left.


    Reric, who had said he was going to visit Chermil Pce, was already back in front of his office.


    “Prince, are you going to Wilhelm’s pavilion?”


    “Chermil.”


    Because we kept talking at length all day, a lot of time had passed since we skipped lunch. Since it waste anyway, I felt like I wanted to just let Arsene take care of Wilhelm’s work and get some rest today.


    Therefore, after giving a short answer, nz, who was walking out of Arpia Pce, stopped for a moment.


    This is because I saw a silver-white cat with mismatched eyes sitting like a doll with its eyes closed in the middle of a long, sun-filled road in front of the stairs.


    For no reason, it seemed like it had been waiting for him for a long time. Like Relic.


    “Lucy.”


    “Aow!”


    Lucy stood up immediately at ntz’s call, as if she had really been waiting, and made a sound that sounded like an answer.


    Because I was d for that unfamiliar feeling.


    I’m d to see the front feet exerting a lot of force when stretching, I’m d to see the waist stretching a lot when I’m hugged, and I’m d to see the pink soles of the feet covered in dirt.


    ntz picked up Lucy after she had finished stretching, not caring that the cat’s paw-shaped dirt was stamped on her light sky-colored jacket. And then I moved towards Chermil Pce.


    People who were now somewhat ustomed to the sensitive and bad-tempered Second Prince walking around with cats passed by, paying their respects.


    Relic, who had been following ntz at a slow pace, came a little closer and spoke cautiously.


    “Well… Prince. I have something to tell you.”


    Of course, I wasn’t talking to you to bring up things like how you should refrain from hugging a cat with y paws in front of other people.


    In fact, it was to say that he had received money from Kalian.


    Jan said it was okay, but I felt upset every time I saw nts, so rather than keeping it as an ufortable secret that I would carry with me forever, I thought it would be better to just open up and tell him everything and then apologize for my mistake, regardless of whether I was angry or disappointed. .


    ntz stopped, looked back, and answered.


    “sun.”


    There was something Reric didn’t know yet.


    ntz’s personality is quite impatient, and he doesn’t really care about the time and ce. So if he has something to say, he just listens on the spot. He’s not the type of person who prepares to bring tea and sit down to listen to the story.


    Thanks to this, in an ambiguous ce somewhere between the Arpia Pce and the Chermil Pce, facing nz, who was holding a cat, Reric lowered his head and took out a money bag and showed it to him.


    “Prince, actually, I am…”


    ntz, who was looking down at the bag, turned around again. The same short words followed.


    “It’s okay. I know.”


    Reric said as he continued to follow ntz, who was hurriedly ahead without giving him a chance to say sorry.


    “sorry.”


    “It’s done.”


    “Still. I’m sorry. I won’t. I’ll really try my best.”


    “Aow! Aow!”


    I said it was okay, but I didn’t bother to apologize.


    Even ntz couldn’t figure out how he was going to work harder than this, but he said so.


    The cat was meowing in his arms, Relic was muttering behind him, and nz was in a dazed state, so he couldn’t help butugh.


    “If you go, I will prepare dinner while you rest, prince. Is there anything you would like to eat?”


    “doesn’t exist.”


    Since Lemain had decided to have a meal with Randel, the kitchen would already be busy. Since he didn’t have anything in particr that he wanted to eat, nz gave a cursory answer, and after a while, he added.


    “Let’s eat together.”


    LeMaine decided to have a meal with Randel, and Calian will catch n and eat with him. together.


    “…… yes yes!”


    Feeling sorry and thankful, Reric was so excited that he followed along eagerly, only looking at nts, who was still walking ahead.


    “Then I’ll tell you to prepare two servings, Prince.”


    “okay.”


    “Don’t add bell peppers, just cook the onions well, prince!”


    Of course, it was about eating together, but it didn’t mean that the sensitive, bad-tempered, cat-carrying second prince could act as if he would spread the word throughout the pce about the fact that he couldn’t eat green peppers and unripe onions.


    “Let’s go together, prince!”


    So in the end, I got annoyed again.


    * * *


    Kalian thought like that sometimes.


    One person’s luck may be someone else’s misfortune.


    “No, you have to tell me why you’re doing that! If you tell me everything, will I be surprised or not?”


    Early morning that day.


    At that moment, yman, who was patrolling the northern area outside Siegfried’s outer castle, saw a wizard with unique hair color and a boy who was his student, sword master, future son-inw, and prince of this country standing there.


    Since the two were standing there with no intention of hiding from the beginning, it was only natural that their shadows would stand out too much under the brightening sky.


    so.


    After receiving the report just in time, yman, who had no ns for the day, rode straight up the hill. That was great luck for An and just as much misfortune for yman.


    When the red sun rose and the sky opened, n’s lid, which he had barely closed, opened wide at the words of his beautiful son.


    – Percussion!


    yman, who remembered the bright red fireball disappearing while surrounded by an aura filled with blue light, put down his wine ss a little loudly and looked at n with eyes full of questions.


    “If you want to spar, juste to the mansion!”


    I tried to just quietly go back without meeting yman as much as possible, but when things turned out like this, I had no choice.


    Besides, it would have already been known that the two had left the capital anyway. Since n wouldn’t break yman’s neck anymore, I thought it wouldn’t be a big problem for Den to find out more about whether they came all the way here and returned, or if they met up with yman and talked about it before returning.


    So in the end, I rented an entire small bar in the Siegfried Duchy. As long as they are in the pce guarded by Arsene’s Vulcan, neither Hina nor Lemaine will have to go wrong right away.


    “What on earth is the problem, did you attack first?”


    It was natural for yman to have questions.


    A friend I haven’t seen in a long time sends me a fireball brighter than the rising sun as a greeting, so as a human, I can’t help but be curious.


    “The problem is that you, Chief Elephant, are still alive here.”


    “I’ve lived here from the beginning, why!”


    “Isn’t that what you’re saying, you stupid elephant?”


    After that, there was an argument like this.


    Since they were not wearing silencers, Kalian had to silence the sound just in case.


    That doesn’t mean you can cover up your fighting face, though. Calian said, feeling that if it weren’t for the fact that he had rented an entire bar, there would have been quite a few rumors going around.


    “Please stop it.”


    n had just said, ‘Could you please call me one more time?’ and I was about to say, awkwardly but with great difficulty, the words “Father,” that for the first time in my life I had called him literally without any other meaning, when yman came.


    ‘If you think about it, it wasn’t just luck.’


    For some reason, it seemed like n was getting angrier now because of that, so Calian, whoughed a little, stopped them.


    “I’m hungry, Master.”


    Aren’t these two people who have lived more than twice as long as Kalian, who became a real adult just the day before, showing patience never before seen in his life? Because the argument between the two adults, who would have grown up a long time ago now, did not end for a long time, they were not even able to order proper food other than wine yet, and as I watched them, I said it because I thought it was impossible.


    As soon as Calian finished speaking, n, with a softened face, smiled and said.


    “Please wait a moment. I will finish soon.”


    After hearing those words, yman’s eyes were filled with questions like, ‘Are you saying you’re going to end my life?’ He looked at n and asked, “Why are you starving your child?”, making n angry once again.


    So, if you had gone home quietly, I would have fed my prince something before he got hungry. Isn’t this all because of you elephant? I came to see if my son-inw hade to send me away, but what does it matter to you? Why am I sending my baby to you? Am I crazy? Why is he your kid? It’s a cow kid, not a cow kid. But did you just call my pretty kid a cow kid? Do you really want to die? The argument continued like this.


    “I told you to stop. I did.”


    In the end, Calian couldn’t bear it anymore and opened his mouth again with a smile.


    “You are the weakest here, your social status is not that important, and you are young, so you both don’t listen to me.”


    Only after hearing these cold words, did the two close their mouths.


    Calian, who managed to calm the two down, stepped forward and ordered various foods. I carefully select the meat, removing all the green things that remind me of others.


    After that, he looked at yman for a moment, whose face said ‘I still don’t know why you came here’, then lowered his eyes again and tapped the table, lost in thought.


    After a while, all the various dishes, including steaming beef stew and raw oysters with lemon sauce, were served.


    “Lord Siegfried.”


    “Yes, my prince.”


    Kalian called yman and asked,


    “Have you ever hunted snakes?”


    He smiled brightly and asked once more, “I won’t raise a sword for the Kairis royal family, but what if that opponent is a snake?”