TPNSIA-09

Chapter 9. Tearful Hide-and-Seek (1)

“A bet where the loser has to eat all the vegetables?”

“Yes. Do you like the idea?”

I decided to take advantage of the fact that he wanted to get back at me.

Apparently, Edwin found the terms of the bet quite tempting, because he immediately asked,

“What are we betting on? I don’t want to play Monte.”

He seemed wary, probably remembering what had happened yesterday.

Apparently, he had concluded that he could never beat me at Monte.

Did that mean he thought he could beat me at something else?

What a cheeky little brat.

I dabbed the corners of my mouth with a napkin and continued.

“How about hide-and-seek?”

Hide-and-seek.

At those words alone, the prince’s eyes immediately lit up.

“That’s my specialty!”

He sprang out of his chair as if he were ready to dash out of the room that very second.

“Hide-and-seek? Lia too! Lia wants to play too!”

Emilia, sitting beside him, excitedly banged her spoon against the table.

I picked up the princess and continued.

“Her Highness Emilia and I will be the seekers.”

“Yaaay!”

Excited, Emilia threw both hands above her head and squealed.

Meanwhile, Edwin raised an eyebrow confidently.

“Hmph. You’re going to regret this.”

“But we’ll limit the hiding area to the first floor, where the dining room is.”

“Fine by me. It’d be troublesome if you couldn’t find me.”

Edwin shrugged as though he were generously doing me a favor.

I looked at him and added indifferently,

“If I find Your Highness, I win. If I fail to find you, Your Highness wins.”

“And the loser has to eat all the vegetables left over. Right?”

Edwin confirmed the terms of the bet one last time before grinning.

“Just don’t regret it.”

Edwin Anaxinian Ventrum, Third Prince of the Ventrum Empire.

Now eleven years old, he had rarely had the opportunity to play with children his own age.

After all, no noble would send their child to play with a prince when there was nothing to be gained from associating with him.

He had never been able to fit in with anyone, and aside from the late Emma, no one had ever shown much interest in him.

Perhaps that was why Edwin rarely opened his heart to anyone.

Paradoxically, however, even the smallest bit of attention could make his defenses melt away completely.

That was also why he had been tricked by Gale’s group into wagering his bracelet in a game of Monte.

It was rare for children his age to approach him first and ask him to play.

“Ugh, this place isn’t good either.”

In any case, the prince seemed unusually excited today.

Edwin peeked around the pantry attached to the kitchen.

Where can I hide so that woman won’t find me?

After thinking hard, the prince chose a large vegetable crate.

Half-filled with carrots, it was more than large enough to fit his small body.

Edwin climbed inside and closed the lid.

Perfect. She’ll never find me in here.

Crouched inside the crate, the prince muffled his giggles.

Then he heard footsteps approaching.

He pressed his eye to a crack in the crate.

Fortunately, it wasn’t Rachel.

“I’m telling you, I’ve never seen a man that handsome in my entire life.”

Two maids entered the pantry, chatting away.

“Really? The King of Adamant is that handsome?”

“Yes! They call him the Wolf King and all that, so I thought he’d look terrifying, but he doesn’t!”

Hair as black as the night sky, smooth skin lightly bronzed by the sun, amber eyes sparkling like stars—

The maid showered him with every compliment imaginable as she practically swooned.

“And his body! Good heavens! I thought he was some statue that had walked straight out of a temple!”

“You might as well write a poem. There’s no man in the world who looks like that.”

“There is! I’m telling you, there is! I saw him myself!”

The maid shouted at her companion before wrapping her arms around herself dreamily.

“Ahh, if I could just be held in those broad arms once, I’d have no other wish in life.”

“Give it up. He’s the king of an entire country. You think he’d spare a glance for a mere maid? Come on, let’s go.”

“You never know how to play along when someone’s talking.”

The grumbling maid started to leave the pantry, only to turn back.

“Oh, right. I forgot to put this up here. The mice have been terrible lately. That could’ve been a disaster. Hey, don’t just walk away! Help me!”

“Stop pretending you’re weak!”

The maids approached the crate Edwin was hiding in.

Thud—

Something heavy landed above his head, and then the maids’ footsteps gradually faded away.

The pantry fell silent again.

Edwin, who had been holding his breath with a hand over his mouth, finally exhaled once he was sure they were gone.

That scared me. The maids almost found me first.

His pride as a master of hide-and-seek had nearly been wounded.

Inside the cramped crate, Edwin sat quietly with his knees pulled to his chest.

“Ugh.”

How much time had passed?

Other maids came and went, but his nanny still showed no sign of appearing.

Growing restless, Edwin shifted around.

This is uncomfortable.

It was hard to breathe, and his legs were beginning to go numb.

I think I’ve been in here for a long time already.

Edwin’s expression gradually darkened.

Suddenly, an unpleasant memory resurfaced in the young prince’s mind.

—Should we let you play too?

The malicious face of Lloyd, the Second Prince who looked just like the Emperor.

The young noble boys snickering behind him.

Back when Edwin had been too young to understand what hostility was, he had happily followed them around.

—If you hide here, nobody will ever find you. Edwin, you hide here.

—What about you, Brother Lloyd?

—I know another hiding place. So you stay here, and if the seeker finds you, shout so I know. Got it? That’s how we win.

Lloyd placed a hand on the shoulder of his younger brother, who was looking up at him with admiration, and grinned.

—But you can’t come out until the seeker finds you, okay? If you do, we’ll lose because of you, Edwin.

Perhaps because the chest was in such a remote place, or perhaps because the Second Prince’s group had told no one about it.

Hours passed, yet neither the seeker nor anyone else came looking for Edwin.

And because Lloyd’s warning had sounded more like a threat, Edwin hadn’t dared open the chest and climb out on his own.

If Emma, his nanny, hadn’t eventually heard what had happened and rushed to find him, he might have spent the entire night trapped inside.

—Your Highness!

The chest opened, revealing Emma’s tear-streaked face.

But the first thing the young prince noticed wasn’t her face.

It was the faces of the servants standing behind her.

They had been summoned in the middle of the night, and each held a torch.

Thanks to the flames illuminating their faces, Edwin could read every emotion reflected in their eyes.

A troublesome nuisance.

A dim-witted prince.

A spoiled brat who only thinks of himself.

Edwin’s pride as a prince had been utterly shattered that night.

Remembering the past, the prince bit his lip.

…This isn’t fun anymore.

He was just about to open the lid and climb out.

Clatter. Clatter.

The lid made a loud noise but refused to open.

“W-What?”

Edwin panicked.

It wouldn’t budge, as though someone had placed a heavy stone on top of it.

Could those maids from earlier have…?

Edwin’s face went deathly pale as he remembered the heavy thud he had heard above his head.

Come to think of it, he had heard that heavy stones were sometimes placed on top of food-storage crates to keep mice and cats from getting into them.

Then… I can’t get out either?

Edwin’s small heart began pounding violently.

It was so loud that it felt as though his heart were beating inside his ears.

He squeezed his eyes shut and covered them.

Emma was no longer here to find him.

No one knew he was inside this crate.

No. They probably don’t even know I’m missing.

Maybe this time he would be trapped here forever.

Just as the terror from his past began swallowing Edwin whole—

The lid suddenly flew open.

“There you are, Your Highness.”

Above him was the face of his nanny, Rachel.

An indifferent expression.

An indifferent voice.

An indifferent manner.

There wasn’t a trace of warmth about her.

And yet, why did she suddenly remind him of Emma?

The moment the face of the person he missed flashed through his mind—

Tears began pouring from Edwin’s eyes like rain.

Children really are impossible to understand.

Why in the world was this brat crying while buried in a pile of carrots?

I was bewildered, but I did my best to keep my expression composed.

“Then I suppose that means I win the—”

I was just about to declare my victory when Edwin suddenly burst into a loud wail.

“Why—why did you take so long, you idiot?! Waaaaaah!”

He truly was impossible to understand.

Yesterday, he had spent the entire day running away from me.

Today, he was throwing a fit because I had taken too long to find him.

“Big Brother, why are you crying? Don’t cryyy!”

And as if Edwin’s crying weren’t enough, Emilia, who was riding on my back, began tearing up too.

This is driving me insane. What am I supposed to do?

Sighing inwardly, I slipped both hands under Edwin’s arms and lifted him out of the crate.

“Both of you, stop crying.”

The sight of him crying because he had crawled in there by himself and now wanted to be pulled out was frankly ridiculous.

Even after escaping the crate, however, Edwin continued shedding fat tears.

This is troublesome.

An adult who cried could usually be silenced with a little intimidation.

Children were different.

That was why I had always found them difficult.

I couldn’t understand or predict creatures who refused to listen to reason.

I suppose I have no choice.

Comforting people was hardly my specialty, but I had to do something.

If I let him keep crying until he became dehydrated, I would probably be held responsible for that too.

After hesitating for a moment, I wiped his tears away with my sleeve.

“I’m sorry I was late.”

Along with an awkward apology that didn’t sound comforting in the slightest.