Chapter 9
“The loser has to eat all the vegetables?”
“Yes, does that appeal to you?”
I decided to exploit the boy’s desire to get back at me.
Edwin asked again, clearly tempted by the bet’s conditions.
“What will we bet on? No monte.”
He seemed highly wary, recalling yesterday’s events.
He must think he could never beat me at monte.
So he believes he can win with something else, does he?
‘Quite a cheeky idea.’
I dabbed at the corners of my mouth with a napkin and continued.
“How about hide-and-seek?”
Hide-and-seek.
At those words, the prince’s eyes lit up instantly.
“That’s my specialty!”
The boy shot up from his seat as if he might dash outside any second.
“Hide-and-seek? Lia too, Lia wants to play too!”
Emilia, sitting beside him, joined in excitedly, banging her utensils on the table.
I lifted the princess into my arms and went on.
“Her Highness Emilia and I will be the seekers.”
“Kyahahah!”
The thrilled Emilia waved her hands above her head and shrieked.
Meanwhile, Edwin raised an eyebrow with a smug expression.
“Hmph, you’ll regret it?”
“However, the location will be limited to the first floor where the dining hall is.”
“Fine. It would be troublesome if you couldn’t find me.”
Edwin shrugged as if granting a favor.
I looked at him indifferently and added.
“If I find Your Highness, I win. If I don’t, Your Highness wins.”
“The loser eats all the remaining vegetables. Right?”
Edwin confirmed the bet once more and grinned.
“Just don’t regret it.”
* * *
Ventrum Empire’s Third Imperial Prince ‘Edwin Anaxinian Ventrum’.
Now eleven years old, he had few chances to play with peers.
No noble would send their child to play with an imperial prince where there was nothing to gain.
He couldn’t mingle with anyone, and aside from the late Emma, no one showed him any attention.
Perhaps because of that, Edwin never easily opened his heart to others, yet paradoxically, he melted helplessly at the slightest bit of interest.
That was why he’d been tricked by Gail’s gang into betting his bracelet on monte.
It was rare for a child his age to invite him to play first.
“Argh, this spot isn’t great either.”
In any case, the prince seemed unusually excited today.
Edwin poked around the storeroom attached to the kitchen.
‘Where won’t that woman be able to find me?’
After much deliberation, the prince selected a large vegetable crate.
The box, half-filled with carrots, was big enough to fit his body with room to spare.
Edwin climbed into the large vegetable crate and closed the lid.
‘Perfect. She’ll never find me here.’
The prince crouched inside the box, stifling his giggles.
Just then, footsteps approached nearby.
The prince peeked through a gap in the box.
Fortunately, it wasn’t Rachel.
“I’m telling you, I’ve never seen anyone so handsome in my life.”
The two maids who entered the storeroom began chattering.
“Really? They say Adamant’s king is that handsome?”
“Yeah! I thought the Wolf King would look scary, but no!”
Hair as black as the night sky, smoothly tanned skin, amber eyes sparkling like stars—
The maid twisted her body, reciting every flowery compliment imaginable.
“And his body! I thought he was a statue that escaped from a temple or something!”
“You should write a poem. A poem. Where in the world is there a man like that?”
“There is! I saw him! I’m telling you!”
The maid yelled at her companion like she was scolding her, then hugged her own arm.
“Ahh, if only I could be held in those broad arms just once, I’d have no other wishes.”
“Get real. Why would a king of a nation even glance at a mere maid? Let’s hurry up and go.”
“You never play along when someone’s talking.”
Grumbling, the maid seemed about to leave the storeroom, but she turned back.
“Oh right, I forgot to put this here. Rats have been bad lately; that could’ve been trouble. Hey, don’t go alone—help me!”
“Acting all fragile!”
The maids approached the box where Edwin was hiding.
Thud—
A heavy sound came from above, and the maids’ footsteps gradually faded.
The storeroom fell silent again.
Edwin, who had been holding his breath with his mouth covered, sighed in relief once he confirmed they were gone.
‘That was close. Almost got caught by the maids first.’
He nearly damaged his pride as a hide-and-seek master.
In the cramped box, Edwin sat still, hugging his knees.
“Ungh.”
How much time had passed?
Even as other maids came and went, his nanny still didn’t appear.
Edwin fidgeted in place, as if ants were crawling under him.
‘This is uncomfortable.’
Breathing was hard, and his legs were going numb.
‘It feels like I’ve been in here a long time.’
Edwin’s face grew darker.
Suddenly, an unpleasant memory resurfaced in the young prince’s mind.
—Want us to let you join?
Lloyd, the Second Prince who resembled the Emperor, with his malicious expression.
The noble children snickering behind him.
In an age when he didn’t even know what malice was, Edwin had simply followed them eagerly.
—Hide here, and no one will find you. Edwin, you hide here.
—What about you, Brother Lloyd?
—I know another spot. So you stay here, and if you’re found, yell to let me know. Got it? That way ‘we’ win.
Lloyd placed a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder, who looked up at him with admiring eyes, and smirked.
—But absolutely don’t come out until the seeker finds you. Otherwise, it’s your fault we lose.
Whether because the chest was in such a remote spot, or because Lloyd’s group hadn’t told anyone,
For hours, not even the seeker came looking for Edwin, let alone anyone else.
Because of Lloyd’s threatening plea, Edwin couldn’t bring himself to open the chest and come out.
If his nanny Emma hadn’t heard late and rushed over, he might have spent the night inside that chest.
—Your Highness!
The chest opened, and Emma’s tear-streaked face appeared.
But what caught the young prince’s eye first wasn’t her face.
It was the faces of the servants behind her.
The ones summoned in the middle of the night held torches.
Thanks to that, Edwin could read every emotion reflected in their eyes.
‘A nuisance kid who bothers everyone.’
‘A dim-witted prince.’
‘A selfish brat.’
That day, Edwin’s pride as an imperial prince was utterly shattered.
Recalling the past, the prince bit his lip.
‘…This isn’t fun.’
It was just as he was about to open the box lid and climb out.
Clunk, clunk.
The lid made a loud noise but wouldn’t open.
“W-What’s this?”
Edwin panicked.
The box lid wouldn’t budge, as if someone had placed a heavy rock on it.
‘No way, those maids from earlier?’
Remembering the loud sound from above, Edwin’s face turned pale.
Come to think of it, they sometimes placed heavy stones on storage boxes to keep rats or cats from ruining the ingredients.
‘Then I can’t get out?’
Edwin’s small heart began pounding fiercely.
It roared so loudly in his ears, it was like his heart was right there.
Edwin squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears.
There was no Emma to come find him now. No one even knew he was here.
‘No, they might not even know I’m gone.’
He might be trapped here forever this time.
As the terror from his past began to swallow him whole,
The box lid suddenly flew open.
“There you are, Your Highness.”
Above him was his nanny, Rachel’s face.
Indifferent expression, indifferent tone, indifferent demeanor.
Why did Emma’s image overlap with this person who had no warmth whatsoever?
The moment he recalled the face of the person he missed,
Tears poured from Edwin’s eyes like rain.
* * *
‘Kids are so unpredictable.’
Why on earth was this boy buried in a pile of carrots, crying?
I was inwardly flustered but forced a calm expression.
“Then the bet is mine…….”
It was just as I was about to declare my victory in the bet.
Edwin suddenly wailed loudly.
“Why, why so late! You idiot! Waaaaaah—!”
He really was beyond comprehension.
He’d avoided me so much yesterday, and now he was throwing a fit because I was late.
“Oppa, why are you crying? Don’t cryyy!”
On top of that, even Emilia on my back started sniffling at the sound of her brother crying.
‘This is driving me mad. What does he expect me to do?’
I sighed inwardly and slipped my hands under his armpits to pull him out of the box.
“Both of you, stop crying.”
It was ridiculous how he was bawling for me to go in and get him out alone.
Meanwhile, Edwin kept shedding tears even after escaping the box.
‘This is awkward.’
Adults quiet down with a little threat, but children don’t.
That’s why kids had always been hard for me. I couldn’t understand or grasp beings that didn’t respond to words.
‘No choice.’
I was hopeless at soothing, but I had no option.
If I let him keep crying and he got dehydrated, I’d be the one held responsible again.
After hesitating, I wiped his tears with my sleeve.
“I’m sorry for being late.”
Along with an awkward apology that didn’t sound comforting at all.
