Dry Drowning

Chapter 19

When he arrived at the training ground the next day, the atmosphere was different than usual.

Ian, who had made up his mind to hit at least one bag of laundry today, found Fred sitting on the floor with nothing piled on it.

This Fred was not the Fred Ian knew. Normally, Fred would walk up and start a nonsensical quarrel as soon as he saw his face, but it didn’t happen. In fact, he didn’t even look at him.

What are you up to?

Fred, who felt Ian’s sharp gaze, with his mouth protruded to the eastern entrance, did not respond. It was then, Daniel who approached Ian.

“Let’s stop now.”

He was a man who always hung out with Fred, but he never had a direct conversation with him. At first glance, he had a friendly smile and pretended to stop Fred from time to time, but then he realised that he was intentionally fanning him more.

In the strange atmosphere, Ian took his eyes off the two and looked around once. Other knights who had been looking this way with a sideways glance, made awkward gestures while smirking.

Daniel sighed exaggeratedly at Ian’s behaviour. As if looking for something, he opened his mouth.

“If you keep doing this, you’ll find someone walking around naked.”

At first, he was just half-joking and half-serious.

It was true that no one could stop Fred, who took the lead in excitement to tease the high-nosed prince and smash his nose onto the lawn. He was proud of himself for doing it openly. It didn’t matter how the enemy country was, as this opponent came from a royal family, and because he entered under the orders of the Grand Duke, somehow he felt uncomfortable.

The problem was that this prince did whatever he was told to.

One day passed, two days passed. Even after a week had passed, seeing Ian doing laundry like a machine, the knights, who were watching, felt a strange eerie feeling.

What…. is he?

Otherwise, it couldn’t have been like that.

As Fred said in the first place, it was rare for someone from a royal family to get their hands wet. The more he remembered the words of those who had been to the procession* belatedly, the more uncomfortable it became.

[T/N: *This procession is probably where Ian was thrown stones at.]

However, unlike those who began to defend themselves, Fred, who risked the honor of the imperial people, did not stop. It was already late when some people, who didn’t intend to do this, secretly began to distance themselves.

Stop it, you idiot!

The madness of Fred, who frantically searched for more laundry, led to a number of people who had no clothes to wear.

They ended up walking naked while trying to make Ian do more laundry

“Fred, you should apologize, too. It’s true that it was too much.”

In fact, it was not that Ian was forced to come in. The Knights’ Templar would have been the only place he had no choice but to agree to the command of the Grand Duke, but from the point of view of that prince, he would never want to come.

Furthermore, today was the day when general manager Schwartz returned.

Unlike Claude, who just ignored others whether they kill each other or not, Schwartz did not like to cause an unnecessary uproar. In particular, he thought it was not honorable to harass the weak, so it was clear that if this incident went into his ears, it would not end with only a simple scolding.

Daniel, who quickly grasped the atmosphere, tried to deal with the situation by tapping Fred who didn’t say anything, but it was rather counterproductive.

This was because Fred, who was holding back his anger, jumped up and pointed at Ian.

“You! Are you crazy? Why did you wash them all?”

He said a lot, saying if he didn’t want to wash it, he wouldn’t have to wash it.

Ian, who was cursed at for doing what he was told to, looked at the shouting Fred.

“Why are you standing up to me if you don’t mind complaining?”

“Fred!”

“Am I wrong? This punk keeps…!”

“That’s what I’m saying…. Why is our prince so upright in everything? Tuk~ It makes me want to break it!”

…….?

Not only Daniel, who tried to stop Fred but everyone else around him looked questioningly at the sudden sound. It was such a familiar voice. So it was even scarier. But Kyle peeked out of Fred’s back to see where the hell he came in.

“I heard you bullied my prince while I was away?”

“Argh!”

Fred, who got goosebumps at his breath on his ear, screamed and jumped forward.

“What the f*ck?”

As Ian looked back urgently, he saw a face that he had not seen for a while, shooting a wink at him.

When did that b*stard come back?

“You didn’t order him to do laundry in this cold weather and leave all the blankets that no one uses, did you?”

He got it right.

Fred was speechless for a moment at Kyle’s words, who had not been in the mansion for weeks. Kyle shook his head as if he knew it, and approached Ian’s side and frowned comedically.

“Look at how your beautiful hands are all ruined.”

The last time I saw him was before it got cold.

Since then, I haven’t seen him once, so I thought he must have been stabbed in the back with a knife.

Even though he managed to come back alive, Ian almost showed a tired face without knowing. But Kyle, who didn’t care about that, stared at his swollen red fingers. Ian was wondering what was wrong when Kyle grabbed his wrist. While he was caught off guard Kyle put Ian’s messed up hand in front of Fred.

Let it go.

“Don’t you know that a Roxian’s skin is their life? God, you’re like torturing the royal family, don’t you know how scary this is? Why don’t you date when you have so much gut?”

“Why all of a sudden…”

“Oh, don’t be mad. I heard something. Is that true?”

“What…”

“That you purposely made people wash their clothes, so much so that they had nothing to wear.”

There was obviously a conversation going on, but there was no context. Kyle suddenly turned serious, sighed and said,

“Fred, if you want to see your colleague’s naked body, you have to be fair.”

Kyle quickly turned Fred into an unscrupulous person, looking genuinely sorry. Even though everything he spat out was bullsh*t, he had a strange talent of attracting attention. Fred, face reddened by the ridiculous insult, opened his mouth.

But it was interrupted by Kyle, who opened his mouth faster than that.

“Of course, what I miss the most is my perfect body. But Fred, I’m not going to let go of those who show this kind of meanness to my prince.”

“Huh….”

“Ask the maids.”

In the end, it was said not to make him wash it himself.

Ian couldn’t understand if he was stunned by Kyle’s audacity to proudly tell a story that had nothing to brag about, or was he speechless because he was so angry? By the time Fred, who had been silenced, barely began to spit out swear words, it was already when he was dragged out of the training ground by Daniel and other knights.

“…….”

Something passed by.

Ian, who only blinked his eyes at the situation that had ended in an instant, slowly turned his head. As he glanced at Kyle, who was waving his hand towards the outside, Kyle felt a gaze and immediately turned to this side.

The smiling face was still clean. When their eyes met, the way he spoke as if he was waiting was a little different from before.

“Prince, I heard you’ve been through a lot of hardships while I was away. If I had known this would happen, we would have stuck tight together. Right? Huh?”

“…….”

“Um, you’re really angry. I’m sorry?”

Also, he didn’t just respond to his nonsense and ranting, but he seemed to think differently. He let go of his hand. When he shook his arm lightly because he was annoyed that it had been held for a while, he relaxed as if it was a pity.

But was it because of the mood?

I think the tattoo on the left cheek got darker…

“Have you made any friends? Did you look around?”

Ian, who was staring at Kyle’s face, turned to a sudden whispering voice as if sharing a secret. He did it on purpose, he knew it couldn’t be. After he had just said that he had been doing laundry the whole time, let alone making friends, it wasn’t a comfortable situation to do that in the first place.

Ian, who shook his head as if he didn’t want to deal with him any longer, turned around. It seemed like everything was ruined anyway, so he was just going to go back to his room today.

“Ah, ah!”

However, as soon as he turned around, what he could see was the frizzy hair. The child, who was running back and forth from afar, flapped his hands when he spotted Ian. Kyle, who approached him after seeing him, chuckled and added.

“Wow, you made friends.”

“……..”

“Huh? It’s cream puff.”

Without knowing Ian’s heart, who was worried about seeing his beaten up face because he was made fun of, Kyle recognised the child, waved and whispered to Shyu, who was gradually approaching. He looked at his hair and eyes. That’s chocolate cream puff.

He was crazy.

“Come to think of it, how do you two know each other? Do you know each other’s names? You don’t know, right? You probably don’t know. Because both of you can’t talk.”

Kyle, who looked at Shyu and Ian, who were just around the corner, muttered as if he was curious. It was also an ability of his, to say rude things casually. Fortunately, the child who was busy breathing, didn’t seem to have heard it.

Good!

Kyle clapped his hands as if he was determined, opened his mouth, pointing to Shyu with his fingertips.

“He’s Shyu. You should know his name even if you’re not interested.”

He seemed to be determined to exchange names. It was useless meddling, but it didn’t seem to be the case for Shyu, who shook his head while panting.

It was a face full of anticipation. In fact, he was even more curious because he didn’t know anything about Ian’s name, age, or Ian himself. Kyle, who noticed that sparkling eyes were pouring on him, Kyle smiled affectionately and opened his mouth.

This is our prince. What’s your name? I wonder why I can’t even call you?”

“……..”

[T/N: And awkward silence prevailed.(≧▽≦)]

He was a talented person who could easily win the championship if he participated in a Nonsense Contest without malice.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ