The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations Chapter 60

Mir slowly circled the damp, cold room that had no windows.

What lit the dark, narrow room was the light from candlesticks placed in each corner of the walls.

If not for those, the children would have had to tremble in fear in a dark room, on top of being cold.

It was a situation where they were captured without knowing why, being eaten away by the fear of their friends disappearing one by one.

Thinking that those precarious candle flames were like the lives of the gathered children, Mir looked around at the children who were sitting powerlessly or collapsed.

A few of the children were holding small cups filled with water and a lump of small, old-looking bread.

Seeing as they were providing food and water, it seemed they didn't intend to kill them yet…….

Capturing children who had nothing but their bodies.

In other words, it meant that what was wanted was the children themselves.

Mir shivered slightly, recalling the faces of his two comrades who had disappeared and then returned.

It was a sight he never wanted to see again.

They said no child similar to Seya had come in.

If I came in before Seya, should I wait a bit longer?

If Seya wasn't here, he didn't want to stay in this damned place for even a moment longer, but if, by chance, Seya was dragged in later…….

“Why are you so calm? Were you really captured?”

The child who had been glancing at Mir as he walked around cautiously approached and spoke to him.

“What's it to you?”

Mir answered curtly, thinking that he couldn't understand why the kid, who'd said he didn't even want to talk earlier, was suddenly showing interest.

“Did you really come in on purpose?! Why? Don't tell me, to find that kid named Seya?”

Mir didn't bother to answer this question.

The kid had already decided the answer before asking, and he didn't feel the need to answer.

It wasn't hard to predict the reaction that would come back, either.

“Really? You're not in your right mind either, are you?”

It was always this reaction.

In an environment where everyone was busy just feeding themselves, moving in a group was to increase the probability of finding food and to lower the probability of dying.

The probability of success in thievery rose when done together.

When running away, the probability of being caught was lower with many than alone.

But that also meant that they were comrades who would abandon someone without looking back, even if they were caught.

The groups formed by street children mostly had this nature.

It was just that the children gathered in the back-alley secret hideout were unusually bonded to each other.

But to Mir, Seya was especially precious, even among them.

If someone asked why, like that kid, he didn't have much to say.

Just because it's Seya.

“Just because.”

It was the moment he turned his back, answering curtly, not wanting to explain at length.

Slam!

What interrupted Mir's thoughts was the sound of the door opening violently, with no consideration for the people inside.

The locked door opened, and one man dressed in black entered.

Though he was different from the other guys who came and went, in that he was more tattered.

Mir quickly hid his body among the children.

“This worthless vagrant bastard!”

He neurotically threw the one child he had been carrying on his shoulder to the floor.

Fine spatters of blood flew.

A few of the kids standing, blocking Mir's view, let out small screams.

“This brat is driving me crazy!”

“Ugh. You've taken your anger out enough, what more do you want. Since you're so narrow-minded, you're just a lackey in a group that captures weak kids.”

Mir, who was hiding his body among the children, flinched at the voice that hadn't lost its aggressive defiance, even at the moment of capture.

“This brat, really!”

The angry man grabbed the nape of the fallen child's neck and forcibly pulled him up.

The hair, caked with dirt and blood, fell back, revealing the face.

Mir sucked in his breath.

It was Seya.

Seya, who glared back at the huffing man, roughly slapped away the strong hand clamped on his neck.

“Really what? I heard you can't even kill me 'yet.' So why don't you save your strength? Huh?”

That appearance, not losing his spirit even in this situation, was unmistakably Seya.

What should I do?

There was nothing as meaningless as running out right now and standing between them, so Mir clenched his fists and watched the situation.

Seya was growling at the man who was trying to hit him again.

“Your fingers might really get cut off this time, are you okay with that?”

That threat must have been menacing enough that the man pulled his hand back without realizing it.

Seeing as his hand was full of bite marks, it seemed he had already confirmed firsthand that those weren't just empty words.

A sneer hung on Seya's face, which was covered in blood crusts, at that pathetic sight.

The man’s face crumpled for a moment, then he smiled a vile smile.

“You damned brat. ‘Yet’ means I can kill you right away if I think you're not suitable. Just wait. After the selection, I'll deal with you myself.”

At the cruel words, all the surrounding children sucked in their breath.

Among them, there was also a kid whose eyes welled with tears.

But it was not enough to kill Seya's spirit.

“You take good care of your fingers, too. I'll be sure to rip one index finger off before I die.”

“This bastard……”

“Hey! That's enough, come here. He shouldn't bleed too much.”

The man, who was reaching for Seya again, clicked his tongue at the voice of his colleague calling him from outside.

“Just you wait.”

With those words, he kicked Seya's shin once and went out the door.

Mir, who had been preparing to shoot up from his spot and dash out from the moment the man's hand was about to move, didn't wait any longer and ran to his friend.

“Seya!”

The child, who was rubbing the shin the man had kicked, shot his head up at the voice of his friend calling him.

“Mir!”

Mir's face gradually clouded as he approached his friend, who was greeting him gladly.

The closer he got, the more his disheveled appearance, which didn't match his bright expression, came into view.

Swollen eyes, hair matted with dirt and blood, and blood was dripping steadily from a long cut on his forearm.

“Glad I found you! I was worried something really bad happened.”

It seemed like nothing could be a bigger problem than this, but in front of Seya, who was purely happy about their reunion, Mir just nodded his head.

“I have so much to tell you. You'll be surprised when you hear what I went through today!”

Mir grinned in front of Seya, who was chattering excitedly.

Because he was overflowing with vitality, so much so that it was laughable to have thought Seya had disappeared from the world.

“Ah, right. And this.”

Seya fumbled in his back pocket for a moment, then took out something wrapped in a paper envelope.

“Aish, that bastard crushed it all.”

What was in the hand of Seya, who was glaring at the closed door, was cold street food.

Now, its shape was hard to even recognize, having been crushed here and there while being beaten senselessly by the man.

“It looks like this, but it's all the same meat, so just eat. You haven't eaten anything all day, have you. Ah, I brought this too. They said it's honey.”

Seya, who had been scratching his head sheepishly, took out the small bottle he had swiped from the ducal mansion from another pocket.

At that sight, Mir bit his lip tightly, then picked up the skewer and put it in his mouth.

The corners of his mouth went up as the cold, cheap meat felt warm.

See, Seya is Seya.

My friend, who needs no other explanation.

***

As soon as the Little Duke came out of his father's bedroom, he changed into the most neat and clean clothes under Tollin's direction.

“Don't forget to put a brooch on his chest. Not one that's too flashy, but one that is as frugal as possible, yet costs a lot. It shouldn't be too heavy, either.”

Attaching and detaching all sorts of ornaments to his body, which he wouldn't normally wear, was quite a draining affair for the Little Duke as well.

Pale, who knew that the Little Duke didn't have the personality to complain just because he was tired, stood behind Tollin, fidgeting.

“Tollin, please calm down. Anyone would think the Little Duke is getting married. There are more urgent matters than the Little Duke's attire……”

Pale finally spoke up cautiously.

“What are you talking about right now?”

Though he quickly shut his mouth at Tollin's murderous gaze.

“If it were a wedding, of course it would have to be a hundred, a thousand times more splendid.”

While Pale was at a loss for words at his serious nonsense, Tollin continued.

“Whatever way it is, it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, and the day he gets closest to God Abalan until the day he dies. It can't be done half-heartedly.”

There was no part of his words that was wrong, so Pale put his tail between his legs and retreated again.

“Just let him be. Tollin must be distraught. The temple won't rashly harm the Little Duke, but this is definitely a warning.”

Jack, who was watching Pale, lowered his voice and said.

Pale, who was about to say something more, confirmed that Jack's face, as he said that, was also wretched, and shut his mouth tightly.

Tollin had said this was a warning of sorts.

A warning not to think of meddling in the capital's affairs any more than this.

The Little Duke didn't even know that the street child, who had stirred up the ducal mansion, had been captured.

Until the ritual was over, no, perhaps even after the ritual was over, the Little Duke would not know what happened to the child.

One day, he would realize that all the adults around him whom he trusted had hidden secrets from him, and he would be forced to understand.

And that day would be the day the child's infinite trust in the adults of the Piteus mansion would be broken.

With a bitter taste in his mouth, Pale furrowed his brow and silently burned the image of the Little Duke, who was being adorned by Tollin, into his eyes.

***

Finally, Tollin's delicate, in other words, meticulous, examination ended.

The Little Duke, looking as if money had been plastered all over his body in a way that wasn't flashy, boarded the carriage with a slightly awkward gait.

This time, Tollin also boarded the same carriage as the Little Duke.

The rare tribute offerings to be given to the temple were also with them.

Pale, who knew how sensitive Tollin had become about this issue since the last incident, saw the two off without raising any questions.

“I'll be back. Please take care of the mansion while I'm gone.”

Pale showed a faint smile at the composed answer.

“Don't worry. I'm not Tollin, but I am one of the people who has worked at the mansion for quite a long time.”

Tollin gave a bitter smile at his words, but no one noticed him.

Thus, with Pale's faint smile seeing them off, the carriage departed.

Pale watched the back of the carriage, as it crossed the garden and grew distant, for quite a long time.

He prayed earnestly in his heart, with the wish that the Piteos family's trial would stop here.

***

However, if the world's affairs could be resolved as one wished through earnest prayer, the world's hardships would have all disappeared long ago.

Not long after the carriage carrying the Little Duke and Tollin had left, one more letter arrived at the Piteos family.

One impressive for its hurried, scrawled handwriting.

Pale, who read it, had to send news to Tollin, who was heading for the temple, as urgently as the handwriting.

The letter was concise.

It was news that the fifth young master of the Selby family was missing.

At the same time, the two princes at the Imperial Castle, who heard the news, both gave a vile smile.