Chapter 156 - What on earth happened this time?

Moreover, it looked very precarious.

We both approached the gardener under the ladder and stared at him intently.

“Your Highness, if you stay there like that…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“You might get hurt, so it’s better to go somewhere else and rest.”

“Why would I get hurt?”

“The branches might fall. I can’t work if you stay here.”

“Why are you cutting the branches? It’s pitiful!”

The gardener remained silent for a moment, only flaring his nostrils.

Due to Danyl pulling my arm, I decided to forget about the pitiful branches.

“Sir, is there an underground passage beneath here?”

“Of course, there is. With all these fountains around, it’s natural.”

Of course!

I admired Danyl’s imagination.

Now the remaining problem was finding the entrance to the underground passage.

We scattered around the garden, holding the map once again, searching for a picture similar to the messy staircase.

It was surprisingly easy from then on.

We just needed to find something resembling the staircase.

Between the waterfall fountain and the rose bushes, there was a small stone staircase. As we went down, a large door hidden beyond the yellow flowerbed appeared, exuding a secretive aura.

My heart began to race intensely.

We exchanged glances, dry swallowing our saliva.

Could this be real?

We cautiously crouched down, grasped the thick iron handle, and lifted it slightly to make no noise.

Then, a staircase leading down and dim lights below greeted us.

“There are stairs…!”

Ha, a secret passage connecting a secret garden to a secret spot, how childish!

Regardless, we finally discovered the secret passage!

We burst into laughter, unable to express our excitement and exhilaration.

Laughing heartily, we rolled around the garden, and then, whirring past beneath the gardener, we rushed out.

There were loud thumping noises from behind, and it seemed like the gardener was shouting something, but we couldn’t hear it.

After running wildly for a while, we finally reached the stable and decided to calm down and prepare for the day of confrontation.

From what I’ve observed so far, Father and Mother rarely went on secret dates, but they always disappeared the night before a banquet was held.

So, we had to do it before that.

That way, on my birthday, I could have Mommy all to myself.

“Sneaking out at night is much more difficult, right? How about we quickly go during the day before my birthday? The adults will be busy then…”

“That’s brilliant! It seems like a good idea!”

When I enthusiastically suggested the plan, Yuri also responded with twinkling eyes.

Everything was going well, and it would have been great if Naeil hadn’t suddenly become hesitant.

“But what if someone sees us when we go there? What do we do then?”

“It’s the King’s secret place; who’s going to see us, scaredy-cat!”

“Still, there’s a secret military base over there. The map just says “hideout”, how do we know exactly where it is?”

Danyl and I glanced at each other for a moment.

Danyl seemed frightened, as expected.

Yuri retorted in an offhand manner, “Hey, if you’re so scared, you can back out, chicken! I told you not to get involved from the beginning!”

However, we wouldn’t have discovered the passage without Danyl.

So, I decided not to get angry.

“If you’re scared, you can back out. I won’t end our friendship over it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Swear on the Virgin Mary?”

“If you chicken out on this, I’ll really end our friendship, you scaredy-cat!”

* * *

My swordsmanship teacher, Sir Andymion, is really kind.

He never reports to our parents even when we skip our swordsmanship classes or do other sneaky things.

How wonderful it would be if all teachers were like Sir Andymion!

When we mentioned that, Sir Andymion laughed loudly and said that teachers, in general, were unlikable.

“But I don’t dislike you or the history teacher. I hope the others won’t come to my birthday party.”

“Oh, is that so? I guess the classes are really not enjoyable.”

“And I won’t invite Fedor and Anton either.”

“Weren’t you reconciled with them? Did you fight again?”

Seeing Sir Andymion laugh so comfortably, I felt a bit annoyed.

So, I clenched my fists and shouted, “We didn’t reconcile! We’ll be enemies for life!”

“Oh dear, those kids must have caused quite a problem.”

“I’ll never forgive them. No matter how much they beg, I won’t let them attend my classes again!”

“I see. But why did you fight in the first place?”

“They keep talking about an abandoned child on the street!”

Sir Andymion laughed heartily, as if even a three-year-old kid wouldn’t fall for such a joke.

I was frustrated and tapped my chest.

“It wasn’t me; they said that to Danyl! Who are they to criticize him like that!”

Sir Andymion stopped laughing.

Instead, he let out an exaggerated sigh and asked when I had found out about it.

I was taken aback.

Did he really think we were oblivious to it?

Sometimes, adults can be so scheming. They only pick and choose the actions that they don’t understand.

Why did Danyl’s dad bring him home when he was a “street urchin”?

What did it matter if Danyl never got married?

When I asked that question, Sir Andymion hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand and admitted he didn’t really know.

Since he would have pretended not to know even if he did, I got angry and scolded him.

“I-It I was like him, a child found on the streets, would they say the same to me?”

I said it out of anger, but as soon as I said it, I became scared.

I knew the likelihood of me being a child someone picked up was close to none.

It was evident to anyone that I was just like my parents.

But what if, one day, I suddenly had a younger sibling?

What if Danyl also became a slave overnight as soon as he had a younger sibling?

If I had a younger sibling, my friends would ignore me, and Mommy would only care about the younger one?

Then, I would be totally finished.

Father would undoubtedly play war games with my younger sibling, and even the relatives would only care about gifts for the younger one.

Grandfather would stop putting me on his lap and telling me old stories.

Oh my, it sounded so miserable!

“Why do you have such absurd thoughts? When you were born, both of you were so happy. You can’t even imagine how happy everyone was for you,” Sir Andymion said.

Is it really so?

I had resolved not to be easily deceived, but my mood improved compared to earlier.

Sir Andymion patted my head and praised me for fighting for my friend. He said such a temperament was undoubtedly similar to Amamama’s.

It would be nice if that were true, but I couldn’t be sure.

The reason I fought back then was simply that their actions annoyed me.

“But what would Father have done?”

“Hmm, wouldn’t he have kicked them all out, saying they’re annoying? Haha!”

Ah, I’m in trouble!

I guess I really resemble my childish Father!

* * *

With an excited and anxious heart, I prepared for the day of the decisive battle.

Tomorrow would be my birthday.

Moreover, the day before the party, we didn’t have any classes.

The adults were very busy, so they left us alone to play as we pleased.

I begged Father to let me and Yuri have lunch and play in the garden.

Mother laughed and permitted us, saying she would be grateful if we played quietly.

Things were going smoothly, and I felt delighted.

I didn’t know exactly what the final destination looked like, so I couldn’t prepare anything specific.

But wherever we went, graffiti was a must, so I packed a few colourful oil pastels in my pocket.

I also brought the pocket knife and candies that Grandfather gave me as a Christmas present last year.

Of course, I didn’t forget the map.

After making all the necessary preparations, Yoori and I headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

Unexpectedly, Danyl was there too!

He said he would not come, so what happened?

“He wants to join us too,” Yoori said.

I looked at Danyl with curiosity.

Danyl, who was stirring the soup dish vigorously, looked unusually melancholic today.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. My awful relatives are at home.”

“So you want to play with us? You said you hated the idea of it earlier.”

Three was much more fun than two.

But it annoyed me a bit to put him back in the group.

Yuri burst into laughter.

Danyl slammed the spoon down loudly and glared at me. Then tears welled up in his eyes.

“You said you wouldn’t break the friendship!”

“I haven’t broken off the friendship yet, you slowpoke!”

The old people warned us not to make noise while they were eating, saying it would upset their digestion.

Anyway, since there were many listening ears around, we filled our stomachs and stopped there.

A large strawberry pie was served for dessert, and Yuri flicked a strawberry towards my head. So, I did the same to him.

Danyl followed suit. The white tablecloth was quickly covered in splotches.

The attendants, who had been cautioning us not to play with our food, suddenly looked very tired.

Deciding not to play any more pranks, we quietly sat down. But the pie, with all the strawberries gone, had an incredibly creepy appearance, and we let out a shriek.

“Gross!”

“What is this?”

As we all screamed and complained together, the nearby palace guards rushed over in a panic.

“Your Highness?! Oh my goodness, what on earth happened this time?”

I thought the attendants would start crying like us, but they didn’t shed a tear, probably because they were adults.

In the end, we abandoned the pie and dashed towards the water garden with ginger cookies in hand.

There were guards stationed around the garden, but they didn’t pose much of a threat.

We could play hide-and-seek or tag inside here without much trouble.

So, pretending to play as usual, we sneaked into the secret place when no one was looking.