The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations

Chapter 16 : Experiment (1)

Looking around at the tree branches and leaves covering the sky, I flew in between the willow branches, whose stems hung down like curtains.

When I closed my eyes and focused my mind, I could hear faint sounds thanks to my hearing, which had improved compared to when I was human.

The sound of the wind, the sound of leaves rubbing together, and the sound of animals' footsteps.

Good, there are no people.

Relieved, I returned to my human form.

I, having returned to a higher line of sight and slightly poorer vision, pushed the branches aside and slowly looked around my surroundings.

Large trees blocked the surrounding view, but traces of small animal footprints or what looked like homes remained here and there.

This was the small animal zone of the Imperial Forest, where the Hunting Competition was held just a short while ago.

Unlike that day when the tragedy occurred, today I was all alone, and no one knew I was here.

Ah, one person knew.

The 1st Prince, Rasia Abalan.

Since the 1st Prince was the one who cleared the people from this place.

Although he did show a very displeased attitude.

-You want me to empty the Imperial Forest? And make it look like I'm the one entering? Why should I?

At the voice that, while lowered in volume, seemed full of complaint, I answered as if it were obvious.

-Because I need to go in.

-So why make it seem like I'm the one going!! ...is what I'm saying.

He, who was about to raise his voice again, glanced at me and whispered the rest of his words.

-I don't want anyone to know I'm coming and going from there.

-Why?

-I'm visiting for someone's treatment, so it wouldn't be good to attract people's attention, would it?

The 1st Prince shut his mouth tightly again.

-Ah, and just in case, discard any thoughts of attaching people to follow me. I'm as good at reading presences as I am at erasing them.

The 1st Prince, with a startled expression, boasted that he would never do such a thing.

-You'd better. If you attack people, I'll just circle the forest, and that will only delay the treatment.

The 1st Prince glared at me after hearing those words but didn't say anything else.

Even if he puts strength in his eyes like that, the most he could do is probably secretly search my room or send people into the forest tomorrow or the day after.

But there was nothing in my room that could be called mine, and even if he sent people, they wouldn't be able to collect every single stone from the vast expanse of the forest.

He, still just a mere prince, wouldn't be able to turn the Imperial Family's forest upside down as he pleased, either.

Of course, the claim that I was visiting the forest for a cure was only half-true.

About half was a lie.

Because today's real purpose lay elsewhere.

I followed the traces of small animals that could be found in every corner of the forest.

Things like herbivore droppings hidden between moss, small footprints, or half-eaten tree nuts.

Today, I planned to find out about my ability.

Because the black horse incident last time allowed me to hypothesize that I might be able to transform into animals other than a crow.

I thought I could only turn into a crow, but if it was actually a better ability than that, I needed to know to what extent I could use it and how to use it.

That is, if my ability truly was to transform into an animal.

I found the damp ground around an oak tree and placed a small, long cylindrical container nearby.

And I filled it slightly with the tree nuts I had prepared.

If a stupid fellow was unlucky enough to get caught, I planned to experiment on it.

It was good for experimenting multiple times, and above all, I didn't think I could catch a large animal without getting hurt.

Even if I tried to start with a wolf, I'd probably be torn to shreds as soon as I got close.

I planned to start small.

From something very small.

So, well, something like a squirrel.

Peek.

A small figure suddenly popped out from the pit covered with slightly decayed leaves and moss.

A small head, a striped tail, a barley-colored body.

It was unmistakably a squirrel.

“……”

“……”

Both I and the squirrel stared at each other awkwardly.

The squirrel was surprised to encounter a darkish human guarding the front of its house, and I was surprised to suddenly meet my target when I wasn't ready.

“Uh, first, come here.”

Flustered, I stealthily hid the trap I was about to set to the side and slowly extended my hand to the fellow.

I even thought it was absurd.

As if a wild animal would come to me just for that…….

Scurry.

……It did.

Contrary to my expectation that it would run away immediately, the fellow climbed onto my hand with a dazed face.

The fellow even made eye contact with me and twitched its small brown nose.

……Is the 7th Prince really that popular with animals?

“If you keep obeying people like that, you'll get caught someday.”

Even at my words, muttering in disbelief, the fellow tilted its head and scurried around on my hand.

Yeah, at next year's hunting competition, just stay inside your burrow.

***

My original plan was to catch any small animal with the trap I prepared and test the conditions for transformation while it was confined.

If that didn't work, I'd turn into a crow, snatch one, and lock it up.

But then.

“Hold on. Just stay still.”

This restless fellow came into my hands so easily that I couldn't even confine this little guy and had to fumble.

While I was rummaging through my bag with my other hand, the fellow, perhaps now completely recognizing me as its friend, climbed up and down my body.

It was clear that it climbing onto my hand just now was a mere coincidence.

This little squirrel just wouldn't stay still.

“Here, here, look at this.”

I took out my secret weapon.

The fellow finally stopped moving and fixed its gaze on the acorn in my hand, as if mesmerized.

It was the shiniest and plumpest one I had picked out from the tree nuts I prepared.

The squirrel couldn't take its black eyes off the nut.

“Shh. Stay still.”

I placed the acorn in the fellow's tiny hand.

Its eyes widened slightly, and those pupils soon looked at me as if moved.

As I just watched without a word, the squirrel, perhaps reading my intention that it was okay to accept the gift, examined the plump acorn this way and that, then opened its mouth to put it in its cheek pouch.

It was perfect timing.

I quickly snatched the acorn from the squirrel's hand, which had its mouth open.

The fellow, having snapped at nothing, looked back and forth between its empty hand and the acorn in my hand for a moment, bewildered.

Deep betrayal, along with bewilderment, filled the two tiny pupils fixed on me.

Yes, this was it.

I carefully retraced what I had done right before the last two transformations.

The crow whose neck was grabbed on the first day of possession, the black horse that ran away leaving me behind during the Hunting Competition.

The common denominator between the two seemed clear.

A sense of betrayal.

The emotion that filled their eyes was surely the driving force and condition that allowed me to transform.

And there was nothing more betraying than giving something only to take it away.

“Squeak! Squeak! Kkwek!”

As if proving my thoughts were correct, the squirrel, thoroughly provoked by me, started making mouse-like sounds and hitting me here and there with its small paws.

“Alright, alright, I'm sorry.”

I handed the acorn back to the fellow.

The small friend with black pupils, though somewhat dissatisfied, seemed unable to refuse the tempting gift, glaring at me as it took the acorn and quickly stuffed it into its mouth lest I take it away again.

Though the angry squeaking sounds didn't stop.

I kept the calmed fellow by my side and slowly closed my eyes.

It seemed the condition was now met.

It was trembling with betrayal towards me, just like the others, so if my hypothesis was correct, I would be able to transform into a squirrel this time.

Just like when transforming into a crow…….

Hm, what can a squirrel do?

I recalled the fellow that had been climbing up and down on me.

‘I want to climb up and down trees freely.’

I waited for the warm energy to envelop me, as it always had.

“……?”

But nothing happened.

When I opened my eyes, I was still a large human, and the squirrel was just looking up at me with an expression that seemed to ask what I was doing.

***

“I'm pissed, I'm pissed, I'm pissed!”

Rasia Abalan, unable to control his anger, lay in his bedroom and punched his pillow.

Unable to withstand the force, the goose feathers inside burst out and scattered, but that didn't cool his anger.

Lately, only one thing made him angry.

His damned seventh younger brother.

An insect whose name he couldn't even remember.

He was the reason why he was currently in self-confinement in this room, a state unbefitting his status.

-It's been arranged that you, 1st Prince, have gone hunting, so you must not leave your bedroom during that time.

The 1st Prince's anger flared up again as he recalled the face of the fellow who had presumptuously given the order, and he drove his fist into the innocent bed.

It was a loss that couldn't be covered even by a commoner's living expenses for a year, but Rasia couldn't care less about such things.

Wasn't he a guy who used to live prostrate, knowing his place?

No, actually, he didn't remember well.

As far as Rasia remembered, he was always the one destined to be appointed as the Crown Prince in the future.

There was no need to remember each and every one of the lower ranks beneath him.

He vaguely remembered the Imperial Family being abuzz when some black-haired prince was born, right before his Manis was measured when he was young.

When he was a bit older, he heard talk that the prince was, as expected, a half-wit who possessed no power.

But the fellow was gradually forgotten from his memory not long after.

The Emperor's thorough disregard for him played a part in this, but another reason was that the relationship between the Imperial Family members was strictly the law of the jungle.

The higher-ups had no interest in the fellow, and his other brothers and sisters with little Manis despised him for having no Manis despite bearing the Imperial Family's name.

The 1st Prince was in the 'not interested' camp.

But now he had turned to the 'despise' side.

Just you wait.

As soon as the treatment is over, I'll skin that bastard alive and hang his hide on the window of the 7th Prince's Palace.

No, before that, I'll find out where that fellow gets the cure from, by any means necessary.

Picturing a hopeful future, the 1st Prince suppressed his anger.

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door.

“Who is it? I told you not to let anyone in!!!”

“His Highness the 2nd Prince is looking for you, Your Highness.”

When a Knight spoke of the younger brother who had come all the way to the front of the 1st Prince's Palace, the 1st Prince shot up.

Wasn't the 2nd Prince his only true brother, whom he trusted?

He had bolted upright, wanting to lighten his mood by seeing the pleasant fellow, but the 1st Prince lay back down again.

-You must not meet anyone. Because you, 1st Prince, are at the hunting ground. Even if the 2nd Prince comes, you must never meet him. If you break this, I have nothing more to help you with.

It was because he recalled that face that had spoken so obnoxiously.

“Dammit, tell him I'm not here because I went to the hunting ground.”

Rasia eventually relayed those words to the Knight and started punching the pillow on the bed again.

***

“His Highness the 1st Prince has gone to the Imperial Forest to enjoy hunting right now.”

“Oh dear, I've picked the wrong day. Understood.”

The 2nd Prince, Dito Abalan, turned around with a disappointed expression and left the 1st Prince's Palace.

At the smile on his lips, the gatekeeper bowed his head as if apologetic.

The 2nd Prince, who did not erase his smile the entire time he walked out, stopped his steps for a moment and turned back, casting his gaze toward the bedroom window of the 1st Prince's Palace.

He smiled even more deeply, turned his back, and walked down the path again.

“I wonder who taught my foolish older brother how to discern people.”

He muttered cheerfully.

***

Today's experiment ended in complete failure.

Wondering if I hadn't made the fellow angry enough, I tried giving and taking the acorn a few more times, but I only got hit a few more times by the pebble-sized hand.

I was quite bewildered because I had been somewhat confident that my hypothesis was correct.

I couldn't see any other common ground between the two.

Besides, the crow had been in the same space for less than 5 minutes, so there was nothing to compare with the horse.

I sighed and faced the squirrel glaring at me.

And I changed my mind.

The crow was there for a short time, but it also didn't do much.

“Then it should be easy to reenact.”

I took out an acorn again.

This little fellow was going to receive a big reward today.

***

In conclusion, I couldn't turn into a squirrel by the time I returned to the 7th Prince's Palace.

Though I did fly back in the form of a crow.

Unfortunately, the squirrel was much more scatterbrained than the crow or the horse.

I somehow succeeded in stroking the head of the fellow that climbed onto my shoulder, but while I was testing if I could transform by stroking its head, the fellow disappeared with 3 acorns.

It was a squirrel with less ambition than expected.

It was almost time for the lady-in-waiting to bring dinner, so I had no choice but to shoulder my bag again and fly back.

In any case, its home was likely around there, so as a token of appreciation for its hard work, I overturned the container I intended to use as a trap and scattered the tree nuts before coming back.

Hoping for next time, I left the forest without any lingering feelings.

The bag, which should have been lighter than when I came to the forest, felt heavy, but I didn't think deeply about it, figuring I was just more disheartened than I thought.

***

Knock knock.

“Yo, Your Highness, I've brought dinner.”

“Come in.”

Having roughly tossed my bag near the desk and returned to human form, I was thankfully able to let the lady-in-waiting in just in time.

Today's meal duty is Anna, I see.

Even though she had helped prepare the 7th Prince's meal several times already, Anna still stumbled over her words once after knocking.

Following my words to keep dinner simple, the cook sent only 3 dishes: onion soup, salad, and a smoked duck dish.

Anna placed the bowls on the desk with deft hand movements.

By the time Anna finished setting up, I closed my eyes for a moment and leaned my tired body toward the chair.

The cause of today's failure was probably because I didn't prepare a cage to confine the animal.

As I resolved to prepare an enclosure next to the trap before setting it next time, I noticed one strange thing.

Why wasn't Anna leaving?

Usually, after finishing preparations, she should have asked for my leave and exited, but Anna had been quiet for a while.

The moment I, feeling something was strange, opened my eyes, Anna opened her mouth.

“Cu, cute!!”

It was completely different from what I had expected.