Chapter 53 : Feigning Ignorance

“Mmph!! Mmph!!!”

“Why is this damned girl so strong?!”

The man covered Jill’s mouth even harder, annoyed.

It wasn't that she was so strong that she was struggling like this.

It was just that she had seen with her own two eyes the fate of her friends who were dragged away by these guys.

‘Seya knew how to kick to make them all fall.’

Jill tried her best to move her feet, imitating Seya, who even the adults in the neighborhood couldn't handle, but it was nothing more than flailing.

Her strength was gradually draining.

With the stamina of a child who hadn't even eaten watery gruel, she could at best only slow the man's movements.

Jill moved her feet one last time with all her might.

Smack!

“Keuak!”

A sound louder than the feeling of the impact on her foot was heard along with the man’s scream, and the hand covering her mouth slowly loosened.

Did it work?

Am I actually talented in fighting?

While her oxygen-deprived head was thinking up nonsense, a voice she had missed dearly rang out from a distance.

“Hey! You crazy bastard!! Let go of Jill!!!”

Jill shot her head up at the sound of the voice calling her.

The man who had been dragging her was clutching his head and doubled over.

And next to him, a crude stone of a size impossible to ignore.

The moment her eyes took that in, Jill smiled at the strong force pulling her arm.

This time, there was no need to resist, saying she wouldn't go.

Jill dragged her trembling legs with difficulty and ran powerfully, led by the round head.

“Seya!”

As long as the mad dog of this neighborhood was on her side, there was nothing to fear.

***

While the man couldn't recover from the shock of being hit by the stone, the two were able to hide their bodies inside a narrow alleyway.

Jill, who had caught her breath, slapped the back of Seya, who was holding her hand and looking around.

“Hey! What happened? Are you alive? How are you alive? No, how did you get here?”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

Seya, scratching his stinging back, brought a finger to his lips.

“You be quiet!”

Jill, who hadn't recovered from the excitement of reuniting with the friend she thought was dead and the shock of surviving a near-death crisis, retorted roughly.

Still, she wasn't so unaware of the situation that she couldn't lower her voice.

The child substituted the emotions she couldn't vent, which were as small as her quieted voice, by hitting Seya's back.

“If you were alive, you should have said you were alive. Both you and Mir disappeared, I was so! So…….”

Seya, who had been quietly taking Jill's hits, snatched both of Jill's hands at those words.

“Mir disappeared? Looking for me?”

“Yeah! My younger brother caused a huge fuss, saying you were gone.”

“You should have stopped him!”

“Do you think I had the chance?! He doesn’t listen to me when you’re not around.”

Feeling dizzy, Seya clutched his head.

He himself had been lucky, meeting a kind-hearted young master and surviving, but it was obvious Mir would have gone straight to the food distribution center.

I thought he might, but I didn't think he'd move this fast.

If I chase him now, can I catch up?

If he was already captured, there was no way to get him back.

At least, not as far as Seya could think.

‘But the fact that Mir went in on his own means he has a way out.’

Thud.

“Shh.”

A footstep caught Seya's sensitive hearing as he was organizing his thoughts.

Seya looked down at his friend, who still hadn't realized what was happening.

Her eyes were clear, as if she had regained her energy, but it looked obvious that her legs still had no strength.

Jill might be able to move her legs through sheer grit, but even so, she wouldn't get far.

Thud. Thud.

The footsteps finally grew loud enough for even Jill’s ears to hear.

“This son of a bitch. I’ll definitely catch you and kill you as painfully as possible.”

The malice-filled voice was a bonus.

Jill silently gripped Seya’s sleeve tightly.

Slightly trembling legs, breathing still not fully under control.

In the first place, it didn't make sense for a kid who grew up not even eating watery gruel to evade adults.

Jill had clearly used up all her stamina in the confrontation and ran from the man.

Seya's stamina was clearly better than Jill's, but he wasn't in good shape either, having run all over the place to ditch Jack today, plus rolling head over heels after jumping from the carriage.

He could get himself out somehow, but there was no way he could pull Jill along too.

Would they both be caught, or would one choose the path of certain safety.

“Jill. Can you run?”

She wanted to answer that she could run all she wanted, but Jill knew herself too well for that.

“Just a little. If I rest just a little, I think I can go fast.”

So don't leave me.

He wasn't so dense as to not read the desperation filling her eyes.

Seya squeezed Jill's hand once, tightly.

When you don't like the options, find other options. This, too, was something Mir had taught.

Because there was also the path of one person's certain safety versus two people's uncertain retrieval.

“Right. Rest just a little.”

“What?”

Seya, who had spoken quickly, shot to his feet.

Jill, who had been planning to run after recovering her stamina, was terrified by her friend's sudden action.

“Hey! Are you crazy?!”

“Rest a bit, and when that guy and I are far away, run immediately!”

Jill hurriedly tried to grab Seya's hand, but Jill was too ordinary and weak to catch the hand of the child who was like a wild horse.

Her hand, grasping at empty air, was the only thing frantic.

Seya's doll-like figure quickly disappeared between the alleys.

Jill sat blankly, tears streaming down her face.

“You bastard, don't you dare stop there?!”

“Only an idiot would stop just because you said so!”

When a few shouts had passed and finally the sharp sound of blades clashing rang out, she ended up covering her ears with both hands.

Jill, who had been lowering her head with a pained groan, soon came to her senses.

This was the chance Seya had made.

She couldn't waste it by just crouching here.

As soon as the trembling subsided, the child got up and ran in the opposite direction Seya had gone.

The shadow cast by the tall temple spire across the alleyway concealed Jill.

She staggered here and there, feeling like someone would call out and chase her at any moment, but she didn't stop.

Thump!

But the moment she turned right at the very next side street, the child collided with something huge and fell backward.

Jill's eyes stung from hitting it so hard, but she could be certain it was a man with a much larger build than the one who had caught her.

And that he was reaching his hand toward her.

“Kkyaaaaaaaaaak!”

Jill screamed without even opening her eyes.

“Hey, kid. Calm down a bit.”

Jack, standing in front of Jill who was screaming, unaware she was safe now, had to break into a cold sweat at the appearance of yet another kid.

***

“His Highness is a little strange, isn't he?”

Anna tilted her head at the line, which sounded very familiar.

Lin, who worked as a maid with her, was doing laundry with a very serious expression.

“Uh, I wonder?”

“No, I'm serious, he’s definitely strange. The other day, I brought him his breakfast, and he smiled.”

“He always smiles, though. Like this.”

Anna raised one corner of her mouth crookedly.

“No, no! Not just one side like that, he raised both sides like this.”

At Lin’s words, Anna clapped her foam-covered hands together and smiled as if she understood.

“Like this?”

This time, she pulled in her chin and stretched both corners of her mouth wide.

With badness added to the crookedness, her impression became even grimier than when she'd raised only one side.

“Anna……. You can look pretty harsh when you smile like that, too.”

Lin let out a pure exclamation of admiration and shock, but soon came to her senses and waved her hands.

“No! That's not it, he really just smiled! He grinned like this, sshik! And by himself, too!”

“Well, if you say it wasn't one side, and it wasn't both sides, then I guess it just wasn't!”

Anna, deliberately pretending to be sulky, finished rinsing the foam-covered hands and laundry.

“There’s a subtle difference that can't be expressed in words. Really.”

Anna shook her head, still not seeming to understand.

“Maybe you saw something wrong? It's not like anything particularly good happened, so there's no reason for him to suddenly smile. I'll go hang this up.”

Anna, having reached a conclusion, picked up the basket piled with finished laundry and moved.

From behind, Lin's voice could be heard shouting, ‘You really don’t get it?!’ but Anna pretended not to hear and quickened her pace.

In truth, the quick-witted Anna had also sensed that the 7th Prince's atmosphere had changed.

If other people noticed, there was no way Anna wouldn't know.

He spent more time with an expressionless face than before, but in return, he also scowled less than before.

It seemed like he was excited about something, but in other ways, it seemed like he was worried about something…….

The reason she'd pretended not to know what Lin said was small retaliation against her for not believing her in the past, and a bit of loyalty that had bloomed from being someone who knew the 7th Prince's little secret.

Anna knew that one person had recently inserted himself into his daily life.

Cellos Abalan.

The 7th Prince's younger brother, right below him.

She had heard he had come by to torment the 7th Prince every so often in the past, but last time was the first time she had seen it herself.

She had also gotten strangely tangled up with him, despite vowing never to cross paths with him again in her life.

In any case, people tend to soften up when they have a close sibling.

Anna thought that the change in the 7th Prince's atmosphere seemed to have happened after his relationship with his younger brother had gotten a little closer.

But she had no intention of going around blabbing about it.

It was clear His Highness didn't seem to want it known, either.

Wasn't that why he had sent her so secretly to the 8th Prince's Palace, just to send one squirrel?

Seeing as the 8th Prince wasn't committing wicked acts here as she'd heard, she judged that their relationship must have improved.

He must have, seeing as he sent over that squirrel he cherishes so much!

The misunderstanding piled up, layer by layer, just like the laundry stacked in the laundry basket.

***

“Isn’t it about time you revealed your identity?”

Mocking Anna's delusion, the squirrel was caught in the 7th Prince's hand, rolling its big eyes and avoiding his gaze.

The small creature, grabbed out of nowhere while happily eating breakfast, fiddled with the nuts stuffed in its mouth, as if it didn't know what was going on.

“I’m trying to have a conversation right now.”

“……Squeak?”

Only then did the creature raise its head and meet the eyes of the human in front of it.

Bewilderment and suspicion lingered in those black eyes.

He delivered the final, conclusive words.

“If you want to talk, you need to return to a state where you can speak human words. Like you did in the forest last time.”

A single chestnut, held preciously in the creature's tiny hand, went tumbling and fell under the desk.

***

-Calm down, I said I was sorry before. You stepped on my tail once, didn't you? Let's just call it even.

On that day he had hidden his body in the tree hollow after using excessive power, surprisingly, Ran Abalan had been holding onto his faint consciousness.

Though his body was so heavy he couldn't budge.

This meant he had heard the voice of a person talking to the wolf, and it also meant he had realized the squirrel I had been carrying was not just an animal.

The options he could choose could be roughly divided into two.

First, cascade him with questions like, who are you that you can turn into a squirrel, why are you following me, and was the 'waiting' by any chance referring to me.

In other words, reveal that he knew the squirrel's identity.

Second, pretend not to know anything, as if nothing had happened, just as he had been doing until now.

It wasn't a very difficult choice for him.