The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations Chapter 65

Looking once at the city gates entering the capital in the distance, and once at the faces of Ratel and the child, Jing sighed.

In conclusion, Jing, Ratel, and even the child all came out safely through the group of mercenaries and knights surrounding them.

And that too, without a single injury.

It was neither their swordsmanship nor quick footwork that allowed them to come out so unscathed.

"You crazy bastards! Do you know what you've done right now?!"

Jing looked down with a complicated feeling at Gael, the primary contributor to their escape, who was screaming at the top of his lungs.

With his limbs bound, he, perhaps unable to properly grasp the situation, was glaring at Ratel and Jing as if to kill them, demanding to be released.

***

-They are the sinners who stole the power of the Imperial Family and the bastards protecting him! Catch the child alive, and do whatever you want with the rest, kill them or let them live!

At Gael's command, everyone surrounding Jing and Ratel gripped their respective weapons and took postures ready to pounce at any moment.

Everyone who had been trying their best not to get involved with Ratel had finished preparing to attack them without hesitation.

-It seems difficult to deal with all of them while carrying the child. Ratel, I will break through one side, so you take the child and flee in the meantime.

Jing whispered to Ratel standing beside him.

-There is no need for that.

Although it was a kindness from Jing to take on the difficult task, Ratel's refusal was firm.

-Then what do you mean to do? Do not spout crazy talk that you will fight with the child on your back.

-I know that much too. I won't do such a crazy thing.

Leaving behind Jing who wondered what he meant to do then, Ratel moved forward without hesitation.

-Aaaack!!! You crazy bastard! Let go of this!

And without hesitation, he showed a crazy-yet-not-crazy act of snatching Gael and using him as a shield.

Although there were many things to say, since the effect was excellent, Jing had no choice but to hold back his nagging and follow behind Ratel.

***

He, who had been dragged here without being able to resist even once, kept screaming as if his throat didn't even hurt.

"You psychopaths! This is the first time I've received such humiliating treatment! How dare you treat me, how dare you……!"

At the words of Priest Gael who couldn't quite continue his speech, Jing deeply empathized.

It must be so.

Living as a priest of the temple in Abalan, there would have been no occasion for him to receive such treatment.

So even in this situation, he probably couldn't imagine that they would harm him.

"If you want your mouth torn, keep screaming like that."

Nor would he have ever heard such rough threats.

At Ratel's recommendation full of sincerity, Gael finally stopped screaming.

"Do, do you think you guys will be fine after doing this? Touching a priest is a felony. It means you have nothing to say even if you die right now. Soon the temple knights will come to find me, and then you are all dead meat!"

Although stopping screaming didn't mean he shut his mouth.

Jing, watching Ratel who looked like he would realize his warning right away, cut off his words.

"Priest Gael, we didn't bring you to harm you either. Although things turned out like this because the situation was so urgent……."

Even though Jing spoke politely, the anger did not subside in Gael's eyes.

"What on earth is the reason for doing this? Even if you kidnap me and demand money, in the end, wanted orders will be posted everywhere for you guys, and you'll live as fugitives for the rest of your lives! Do you want to live without a single place to set foot in the country?"

He, who had only a handful of experiences hearing unpleasant words from others thanks to his status as a priest of a small village despite being irritable and neurotic, threw a tantrum without reading the room.

"It's fascinating."

Although he was quickly cut off by someone's calm voice.

Gael looked at Ratel who was looking down at him with his head tilted stiffly.

"You are tied up so you can't use your limbs, and there isn't a single person to help you."

Ratel, who pinpointed Gael's situation as if it was truly fascinating, tilted his head crookedly to the side.

"Where on earth does such courage come from?"

Thanks to Ratel who softly taught him that he could kill him without anyone knowing, Gael shut his mouth completely.

However, Jing also agreed to some extent with Gael's opinion.

"Ratel, there is nothing wrong in what this priest is saying. Can we not keep running away like this? We should also return this child to his family's embrace."

"There is no need for that. Anyway, since for guys who know nothing, catching this guy and the child would be the priority. They will come to catch us without going to that village. And, you."

At Ratel's call, Gael flinched and raised his head.

Faithfully keeping even his command to keep his mouth shut.

"Usually when children like that appear, where do they take them?"

When Ratel pointed to the child on Jing's back with his chin, Gael rolled his eyes and opened his mouth.

"Th, that is……, everyone knows to take them to the temple in the capital. They go there to examine various things, judge whether they really stole the power or not, and then…… dispose of them……."

"Wait, then you mean there are more cases like this?"

"Didn't I tell you. That this world is full of only fabricated things."

Ratel answered nonchalantly, but for Jing, it was a story he was hearing for the first time in his life.

The fact that there isn't just one commoner child born with the power of god, and that the temple disposes of all of them, were all stories he was hearing for the first time.

Since when? Since when on earth were things outside my common sense happening as a matter of course?

"Therefore, it means there is no change in our destination."

Ratel cast his gaze towards the capital's fortress walls visible in the distance for a moment.

Jing thought that his eyes were somewhat alien.

Even when looking at the same thing, different things are bound to be reflected in people's eyes.

Usually, new things are bound to be captured larger.

Whether that is a more beautiful form or a more overwhelming form would differ for each person, but.

However, the capital Ratel saw seemed to be neither of those.

"We will enter the capital. Because it won't be much different there from other villages."

***

"You may wait here."

The priest, maintaining a blunt attitude, spoke as if giving an order.

The Little Duke, who changed into the clothes he handed over, moved his steps into the room.

The things he wore coming from the ducal mansion had already been taken off.

Now, the only thing left for the child was a pair of gold rings that Tollin had handed him carefully.

As per Tollin's request to keep at least this if possible, the Little Duke did not hand over the pair of rings hung on a necklace to the priests.

The child checked the location of the room the priest guided him to once again.

As Tollin said, it was the second place away from the prayer room.

There was a high probability that his clothes collected by the priests and the luggage Tollin packed were stored in the room next to it.

It meant Tollin's advice to defend at least the rings if possible was also correct.

The Little Duke fidgeted with the rings hidden tightly inside his clothes without realizing.

It was an ordinary action that could also look like adjusting his clothes, but the problem was that it bothered the eyes of the priest who was about to leave after guiding him.

Whether his persistent gaze chasing the successor of the sinner Piteos family was faith, or an inferiority complex left by his past as a noble, was unknown.

"What is that? Did you perhaps hide something inside your clothes?"

He, who spoke sharply, roughly snatched the nape of the neck before the Little Duke could even answer.

The Little Duke, flustered by the rudeness he couldn't even imagine, roughly slapped away the priest's hand without realizing, but the priest had already discovered the necklace hanging on the child's neck.

"Did you not hear that you cannot wear anything before the ritual? Did the sinner Piteos also commit the sin of not teaching his son even such a thing?"

He spat out abusive language with a somewhat excited air.

The Little Duke felt fire rising in his eyes.

He was a person who maintained an unnecessarily sharp attitude even towards Tollin from the moment they first met.

The Little Duke calmed his anger and opened his mouth.

"This has been passed down through the family for generations, so it is like one body with me."

"Are you saying you will not follow the temple's rules right now? As expected, a sinner……."

"I understand that the reason for changing clothes before performing the ritual is to keep away dirty things before being reborn as a citizen of Abalan. The successors of the Piteos Ducal Family have all performed the ritual with these rings. Are you saying right now that the heirloom of the Piteos family is something dirty, and that the priests who performed the rituals for the ancestors until now performed dirty rituals?"

Fortunately, the lie prepared by Tollin flowed quite naturally from the Little Duke's mouth.

He seemed offended that the Little Duke refuted his words without being pushed back by his spirit even a little.

Seeing his glaring face turning increasingly red, it also seemed like he was embarrassed because he simply couldn't find words to refute.

If he said it was right, it would be exposed that he was nitpicking for no reason, and if he said no, it would be like admitting the previous priests were wrong.

"It does not matter what the Piteos family did before. The important thing is that from now on, there will be no occasion for the Little Duke to receive such special treatment. Give the rings here right now."

Eventually, what he chose was illogical obstinacy.

His voice, heightened with excitement, rang loudly.

He wanted to refute a bit more, but a commotion was not the result the Little Duke wanted.

The child slowly untied the necklace from his neck as the priest said.

And watching the joy filling the priest's eyes, he took one of the two rings off the string.

The priest chased the movement of the golden ring shining brilliantly with his eyes as if possessed.

Reading the greed coloring his face, the Little Duke held out the ring in front of him.

"What are you doing right now?"

He, who came to his senses belatedly, asked.

"I will entrust one of the two to you, Priest."

"What absurd obstinacy are you showing? Hurry up and hand over the remaining one too."

He snorted and snatched one ring from the Little Duke's hand.

"Since I said I entrust it to you, Priest, it does not matter whenever you return it."

When the Little Duke spoke, his body, which was reaching out to take the remaining ring, flinched.

"The only person inside the temple who knows the fact that I possess it is you, Priest. It means that whenever you return it, there is no one to blame."

An heirloom passed down for generations in 'that' Piteos family. It couldn't help but appeal to his greed.

"I also cannot concede more than this."

The Little Duke's face, distorted as if bitter, also gave him gratification and satisfaction.

The priest pondered for a moment.

Very briefly, enough that the word moment was a waste.

Because deep in his pocket as he left the room, a high-quality gold ring was secretly twinkling.

***

As the door closed, Flinn Piteos, left alone, slumped onto the chair placed in a corner of the room, drained of strength.

"There was a lot I didn't know……."

A sigh came out automatically at the feeling of elasticity as if all strength in his body had drained out.

Since Duke Piteos passed away, Tollin did not let the Little Duke go outside if possible, except for minimal external activities.

Therefore, the Little Duke was not used to such explicit gazes of loathing.

The priest's eyes glistening with greed were also quite shocking.

The priests in his memory were always kind, noble, and people with restrained emotions.

The Little Duke looked down at his attire which became much lighter after giving up one ring.

His body became lighter, but his heart was heavy.

The despair that flashed across his face as he chose his clothes and accessories with a serious expression came to mind together.

Priest Vesper called Tollin a sinner.

If it was a sin of the Piteos family, the one who should naturally take responsibility was himself who inherited Piteos' blood.

But the person bearing all obligations since his father passed away was Tollin.

The one who had to return to the mansion to receive judgment was actually himself, not Tollin.

But even if there was no coercion from Priest Vesper, he couldn't know if he would have truly been of help.

Perhaps he might have ruined things more.

Because he had repeated too many mistakes until now.

Himself giving the wrong answer in front of the 2nd Prince, himself always just relying on Tollin and Jack, himself where everything was a mess overlapped continuously.

He couldn't defend even one of the rings Tollin handed him last.

Judging by how rough the treatment was, it didn't seem like they would treat the clothes or ornaments taken by the priests properly either.

The Little Duke, recalling the whereabouts of the things Tollin picked out for him last, slowly rose from the chair at a question that suddenly came to mind.

Why did Tollin emphasize the structure of the temple so much?

It was a part he just passed over in the succession of events rushing frantically.

Rather than the order of the ritual or etiquette, he repeatedly recited the structure of the temple to the Little Duke.

There was a time when Tollin or his father emphasized something similarly to this.

So it was like, like…….

……Like a day they made him memorize the escape route in the ducal mansion preparing for an unexpected moment.

Flinn moved his steps towards the door as if possessed.

No, he tried to move.

Tap!

Tap! Tap!

If only a small sound hitting the room's window didn't catch his feet, he would have done so.

Like a child startled while doing something naughty, the Little Duke turned around stiffly and checked the identity of someone who knocked on the window.

Although his pulse relaxed upon discovering an existence ambiguous to be called someone.

A small squirrel was tapping on the window with its tail.

"Squeak!! Squeak squeak!!!"

Somewhat nervously.