The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations Chapter 61

There was nothing held in his hand that was not precious and there was nothing that entered his eyes that was not beautiful.

Therefore, everything that entered Rasia Abalan's mouth was always the most precious, the most beautiful, and the most safe things.

Even if they were dangerous, they would not have been a threat to Rasia Abalan, though.

From cooking methods meant to bring out the natural taste of the ingredients, to dishes prepared with the effort of combining rare spices to stimulate the appetite, such foods entered Rasia Abalan's mouth every single day.

However, sometimes, very occasionally, there are times when slightly more rustic food appeals to one's taste.

For instance, the meat of a wild beast caught and roasted right on the spot.

Ping---!

The arrow that left Rasia Abalan's hand pierced the neck of a hawk flying in the sky.

"It is a pity, as I intended to tease you soundly if you missed."

In a playful voice, Rasia Abalan turned his head and grinned at Dito Abalan.

"Did I not say that I would feed you until you were full today."

He was willing to accept the childishness of his younger brother who spoke hateful words as much as he wanted.

Because today was truly a day to feel good.

The news that the fifth son of the Selby Count Family went missing was conveyed even to the Imperial Castle.

The location, the timing, the justification, everything fit perfectly.

By tomorrow, the guards would storm into the Piteos Ducal Family.

If it were the past, it would be a scene no one could even imagine, but the story is different now.

Above all, Rasia Abalan could not control the corners of his mouth rising at the joy that he would be able to find what that damned guy was hiding in the Piteos Ducal Family, perhaps something that would become his cure.

"If you smile a little more, your mouth might tear. You must have some good news."

Dito Abalan said with a voice mixed with laughter.

Rasia Abalan glanced sideways at the servant who was roasting the game beside him.

Did he say he was deaf and mute?

Since he was an item brought by Dito Abalan, there would be no risk of useless words spreading.

Rasia Abalan smiled smirkily and opened his mouth.

"Did you not hear it too? That a big incident occurred in the Piteos Ducal Family. At this rate, it would not look strange for the Imperial Castle guards to storm into the house."

"Well...... That would be so, but if you hold them accountable for a crime formally like that, a report would go to His Majesty the Emperor or the Empress."

At Dito Abalan's answer, the corners of Rasia Abalan's mouth rose even higher.

"Rather, it has turned out well. Anyway, if my prediction is correct, those things will have nothing to say even if their seed dries up this time."

Rasia Abalan, who was moving his mouth with his mind at ease, realized his slip of the tongue a moment later.

The corners of Dito Abalan's eyes went up.

"Prediction?"

"Uh, that is......."

Rasia Abalan rolled his eyes unnaturally.

"There must have been something I do not know about."

Dito Abalan, who was watching Rasia Abalan's awkward movements, spoke lightly.

"Uh...... It is nothing special. I just did not like that guy taking on the role of deputy."

Rasia Abalan, swallowing a sigh of relief at Dito Abalan's appearance that seemed unconcerned, answered.

"I do not know what happened, but if they inflicted harm on my older brother, they must naturally receive punishment befitting that. But please be careful. The Piteos Ducal Family has played the role of the dog of the Imperial Family for a long time. If you stir them up too much, you might suffer misfortune."

"Are you saying I would be bested by those mere bastards right now?"

At the warning that could not be let in one ear and out the other, Rasia Abalan's brow furrowed.

At his simple and immediate reaction, Dito Abalan quietly shook his head.

"Do not be too hasty. It will not be too late to achieve everything after my older brother becomes the Emperor."

At the younger brother's words, which seemed to firmly believe that he would become the Emperor, Rasia Abalan's expression relaxed.

But that could not change Rasia Abalan's resolve.

Living while entrusting the safety of one's body thoroughly to another person's hands is a terrible and shameful thing.

It was the same for Rasia Abalan that the gazes of the Emperor or the Empress were burdensome.

Therefore, the opportunity is only once.

He had to seize this one opportunity well and find something that the damned 7th Prince hid in the Piteos Ducal Family, likely that which is his cure.

"You, do not mind it. Since I will take care of this matter myself."

The conversation between the two was cut off for a moment as the appropriately cooked hawk meat was presented just then.

Rasia Abalan inwardly considered it fortunate and tore off the hawk's leg at once and put it in his mouth.

It was tough, dry, and had a subtle gaminess.

No matter how skilled the mute servant was, there is a limit to the taste a wild hawk from the forest can produce.

Rasia Abalan frowned slightly and kicked the brazier where the hawk meat had been roasted with his foot.

The servant, who was hit by the embers without even a moment to dodge, bowed his body as much as possible and began to tremble all over.

"Terrible."

Muttering, Rasia Abalan brushed off his seat and stood up.

"You will have to search the entire Empire to find an animal that suits my older brother's taste."

Teasing his picky appetite, Dito Abalan raised his body together.

"It does not taste the same as before."

Rasia Abalan, who was muttering blankly, turned around and looked at Dito Abalan.

His eyes were sparkling.

As if feeling good just by recalling the past, he spoke dreamily with a comfortable smile on his lips.

"When we were young, there was a time we got lost in the forest."

"I remember. Even then, my older brother suddenly said he wanted to hunt alone, so I got swept up in it."

At Dito Abalan's mischievous rebuke, Rasia Abalan giggled and laughed.

"Right, from then on, you came to be swept up by me frequently. You got swept up very firmly."

It was when he was much weaker than now, that is, when he was young enough that he could not use his power properly yet.

Recalling himself who wanted to catch a bigger game with his own strength and his younger brother who followed tagging along behind him, Rasia Abalan laughed because it was funny that even the critical situation became just an amusing memory.

"I hurt my leg and could not move, and no one could find us, so it was a big trouble."

Although he is saying it laughing like this, it was a big trouble to the point of thinking his life was in danger at the time.

As the ground collapsed, they had to spend several days in a small space under a rock.

The wound healed quickly, but it was the first time he had been hurt so badly, and it was the first time he had bled so much.

What saved him, who was lying down unable to move even a finger, was Dito Abalan who had been following quietly behind him until then.

The fellow put his share of meat into his mouth, personally trickled water in, and stayed by his side for a whole day.

When people found the two, they said Dito Abalan was also lying beside him in a state of exhaustion together with him.

They said the cause was overexerting himself too much before his power had fully bloomed.

That he would have starved while handing over even the little food there was.

Rasia Abalan occasionally recalled Dito Abalan's face looking down at him through his blurry vision.

And that slightly tough meat that was carefully pushed into his own mouth.

Unable to forget the taste of that day, he sometimes came out to hunt and tasted the game, but he has not yet experienced that ecstatic taste of that day again.

"Perhaps you were very hungry."

"What did you say?"

Dito Abalan, who heard the small murmur, asked back.

"I mean that day. The day you first saved me, that day, do you not remember what on earth you caught? Even though it feels like I have caught all the animals in the Imperial Forest at least once, I could not taste the same meat."

Rasia Abalan furrowed his brow and made a complaining sound.

Dito Abalan also examined Rasia Abalan's face closely as if recalling that day.

"......Since we would have been famished. I also only know that it was a small animal because I came running frantically in the rain that day."

"I suppose so."

"Wouldn't it be better not to know? It could have been a ground mouse in the forest."

As if it was regretful, Dito Abalan spoke with a smile to Rasia Abalan who was smacking his lips.

Rasia Abalan, whose stomach was turned, crumpled his face at once.

"Right, forget it. Since there will be no occasion for me to starve like that day in the future."

"When do you plan to visit the Piteos Ducal Family?"

When Dito Abalan changed the subject, Rasia Abalan pondered for a moment.

He wanted to solve this matter quietly, alone.

That is to say, it meant that another Imperial Family member interfering in this matter was not particularly welcome.

No matter if it was Dito Abalan, not for this time.

"Do not mind it. Since I will take care of it."

Thinking it would be appropriate to barge in while the Emperor is busy with a ritual, Rasia Abalan hoisted his body onto the horse saddle.

It seemed everything would work out well.

***

Mir calmly explained the current state, that whether they go out or remain here, they face a crisis of death in both cases, and that they must join forces to survive, in a clear and organized manner.

"So, to summarize, you're saying we are in a very dangerous situation right now."

"Correct."

Mir nodded at Seya's simple summary.

"Is this guy an idiot? That's not what's important...... Aack!!!"

The child who was dragged along for the reason that he had been here longer than the two, and looked smarter than the other guys, muttered a complaining sound, but shut his mouth after being hit on the crown of the head by Seya's fist.

The child fumbled his crown saying it felt like his head was punctured, but Mir ignored him and opened his mouth.

"Even if we all attack together and defeat the guys standing in front over there, we won't be able to get out. Because we don't know the way. We have to aim for the one moment that lets their guard down."

"Hey, was there anyone who went out?"

"To think you'd expect me to answer obediently after suffering like this...... There were four. One guy who was hurt quite badly, maybe because his resistance was severe when being caught, and three others."

At Seya's question, the child who was muttering discontentedly listed the answer obediently when Seya quietly raised his fist.

Although Seya did not stop glaring as if he did not like him.

"What is that? What on earth is the criteria?"

The child stared intently at Seya's face asking him the question, then opened his mouth.

"Kids like you. Guys who resisted severely and got hurt a lot. You were lucky. An incredibly skinny man warned that man earlier because kids kept being dragged out. Telling him not to beat and kill kids anymore, because it's annoying to dispose of them."

At the child's answer, Seya shut his mouth for a moment.

"So just stay still. Don't make things bigger for no reason."

Perhaps thinking that such Seya got scared, the child spoke as if giving advice.

Seya, who was thinking about something deeply, soon opened his mouth.

"So, it means we have to survive as long as possible, and get out as fast as possible."

"Correct."

At the calm answer and Mir's agreement, the child opened his eyes wide.

"Hey, it's not that simple of a problem! Besides, do you think you can leave this place with your strength?"

"Then what can we do? Anyway, it's not like just anyone gets dragged out. If it was like that, they would have dragged me out earlier just as I was?"

"Seya, it's not a lie. Since I have a guess too."

The child, who was listening to Seya and Mir's conversation, crossed his arms and looked at the two alternately.

"Do you believe you can really go outside if just the two of you join forces?"

"Then why would we be putting our heads together and worrying like this? We'll include you specially, so help out a bit."

At the attitude of the child who turned somewhat high-handed, Seya answered as if he was dumbfounded.

At Seya's tone which seemed to ask what obvious thing he was asking, the child seemed to ponder for a moment, then soon opened his lips.

"I will pass."

Along with a firm word of refusal.

"What are you saying? You mean you want to keep staying here?"

At the carefree answer, Seya asked back as if he was dumbfounded.

"How do you think those guys who were dragged out earlier ended up like that? They made a fuss about trying to go out and got beaten until just before death and became like that. If you just stay still, you can live a little longer. If you just stay still......"

"Living in a room where sunlight doesn't even enter with a bread the size of a fist and a cup of water, until when?"

The child's words were cut off by Mir's scathing question.

The child, who was smacking his lips as if he had something to say, soon shut his mouth again.

"There are times when staying still is better. You guys too, don't do useless things and stay still. You never know. Someone might come to save us."

"Are you an imbecile? Did you not hear what that bastard said earlier? That he would kill everyone anyway......."

Mir grabbed the shoulder of Seya who was raising his voice in frustration.

"Seya, just let him do as he pleases."

Seya obediently relaxed his shoulder but did not stop glaring at the child.

"Hey, what is your name?"

"Why my name?"

The child, who was replying sarcastically, hurriedly opened his mouth when Seya slowly raised his fist.

"Nihil!! It's Nihil!!"

Nihil, who remembered the taste of the fist like fire, answered hurriedly.

"Right, Nihil. Be careful not to change your mind. Because then you will pay a very expensive price."

Nihil felt a chill on the back of his neck for some reason at Seya's warning, but the child replaced his answer with a snort with effort.