Chapter 158 - Fight between Father and Mother

Passing under the massive tree roots, climbing over rocks, and dashing through bushes and thickets that were only as tall as us…

“… Uhnnn, whoaah!”

“Ah, Prince?! Why is he… Aaah!”

“Eek!”

From somewhere I didn’t know, something suddenly grabbed onto my ankles, and I was frozen in place, looking quite silly.

As Yuri heard my scream and turned around, he, too, fell into an amusing state.

At the same time, Danyl, who was right behind us, let out a scream.

For a moment, I thought we were caught in some trap or snare, but it wasn’t the case.

“Kyaaaah!”

Something of unknown origin that tightly held onto our legs started pulling us along, and screams burst forth as if we were going mad.

Thrashing around was useless due to the speed, and as the bushes brushed against our faces, we felt a prickling sensation and a dizzying feeling as if we were about to vomit.

Although we were left looking utterly disheveled, worrying about our clothes seemed to be the least of our concerns.

Amidst our cries mixing with the curses of the old men behind us, the cacophony of noise quickly faded as they moved further away.

“What is this… aaah!”

“I don’t know… aaah!”

Suddenly, the surroundings turned pitch dark, as if it were night, and I jme entity that had been dragging us along at a fearsome pace came to a brief stop.

Very briefly. Just as I was gathering my courage to reach out to the vine-like thing wrapped around my calf, it started moving again, jerking us sharply.

“Whoaah!”

In an instant, the surroundings brightened again, and this time, our bodies were lifted into the air.

Higher than the tall trees, soaring higher and higher toward the blue sky.

And just as suddenly, the grip of the vine monster on my leg was released, and in that moment of realization that my leg was suddenly free, we fell helplessly downward.

It was an incredibly brief moment, but numerous thoughts flooded my mind.

If we were found dead here, like broken chunks of cheese, what would the adults say?

Feeling a bit sad, I thought they might say, “I knew these troublemakers would end up like this sooner or later,” while slithering their tongues.

Or maybe, like those idiot parents did during fights—although I can’t remember who yelled, “Who do you think you are?” first—they might end up fighting among themselves.

I’d never seen my Father and Mother fight, but still, the thought of them fighting over me made me sad.

Please, just this one time, let us survive, I thought as I was about to pray to the Virgin Mary. But suddenly, my rear end felt cold, and I was buried in something.

Why did my ears feel so heavy? Thinking about it, I finally realized that we were all screaming like lunatics.

Immediately, the screams stopped.

And then, my nose started itching.

Where in the world were we? Are we in a thicket?

I sneezed while wiggling my arms and legs.

“Ugh! Is everyone okay?”

“…Ah, Prince?! Where are you?”

“Yuri?! I’m over here, over here!”

“Hold on a bit, my rival! I’ll save you soon!”

After a while, I learned that the only thing Yuri did to help me was to brush off feathers and bits of fluff.

Nevertheless, Yuri had quite a determined expression.

In any case, I was relieved that we survived.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Where on earth are we?”

“I don’t know.”

We looked around, raising our heads in unison.

I had truly never seen such a landscape before.

The surroundings were covered with enormous feathers and piles of fluff, making us feel as if we were saved from being crushed like crumbled cheese.

Above us, it seemed like a cliff, and on one side, a faint rainbow hung over a stream passing by our location.

“Danyl?”

“Over there. But when I called, there was no response.”

Danyl sat with his back turned, a bit away from us.

Was he hurt?

As I approached, trying not to lose my balance, I heard a rustling noise.

Why did Danyl keep getting in trouble more than us?

“Hey, why are you like that again?”

“…I lost it.”

“What?”

“I lost my watch.”

Danyl’s face, as he glanced at us with a sniffle, was very pale.

In addition, Yuri asked a pathetic question.

“What watch? You don’t mean your dad’s pocket watch, right?”

“Is there anything else to lose other than that, you blockhead?”

Danyl scolded with a pitifully weak voice.

Yuri also retorted without yielding.

“Why make such a fuss? It’s not such a big deal to lose a watch!”

“It’s not a big deal for you, but it is for me!”

“What should we do then? You shouldn’t have taken it secretly in the first place, you cowardly kid!”

If it was Yuri who had stolen his dad’s watch and then lost it, he probably wouldn’t be so upset.

Even though Father could sometimes be foolish, he probably wouldn’t get so angry over something like this.

If it were me, I wouldn’t be that upset either.

While Father was often childish—like when he pretended to be tired just to avoid playing with me or when he tried to take away Mother—he wasn’t the kind to get upset over such things.

Honestly, losing one piece of jewelry wasn’t as big a problem as our adventure being ruined.

Now, the knights had spotted us, and I had no idea where we were.

Our clothes were all messed up, and it was hot, and I was hungry.

And yet, Yuri and Danyl were still arguing.

“All because of you!”

“Look at this cowardly kid! He begged to follow us, and now he’s blaming us? Alright, you can go home by yourself! I won’t play with you anymore!”

Even if you want to go home, don’t you need to know how to get there?

I was about to shout for them to calm down, but Danyl suddenly burst into loud sobs, so I missed the chance and shrunk back.

Yuri seemed even more fired up for some reason.

“Why are you crying and making a scene again? Aren’t you too old for that?!”

“I…I can’t go home now! No, I won’t go!”

“What? Why?”

Danyl sobbed and wailed, saying he didn’t care since nobody would look for him anyway, and that people would be happy if he disappeared.

He didn’t make any sense, so I asked if he was just doing this because he was afraid of getting scolded.

Instead of answering, he claimed that his dad would be fed up with him once he found out how corrupt he had become, and he would get kicked out anyway.

Is losing a watch such a big sin?

I looked at Yuri with a puzzled expression.

Yuri, with his arms crossed, gave me a grown-up look and retorted firmly.

“It’s a mistake, not corruption.”

“Stealing is corruption! You even called me a thief earlier!”

“I said that in jest, you idiot! And it’s not a sin for a child to touch their parents’ things!”

It was a very reasonable argument, but Danyl persisted that he was in the wrong because he had picked it up, and that was stealing.

I felt a bit upset for no reason, even though I had no idea who was arguing with whom about what.

“Stop it! If we all explain together, nothing bad will happen, because your parents also work for Alyosha! Isn’t that right?”

Yuri shouted confidently and looked at me with a determined expression.

I blinked.

That was a reasonable thing to say, but it surprised me that he came up with it.

The fact that my friends’ parents worked for me was a difficult topic for me.

Moreover, Danyl’s dad and his friends seemed to not listen to Mother very well either.

They always complained to her about Father being a dictator.

Should I become a dictator too? To be honest, I didn’t really know what a dictator was.

Anyway, Danyl’s sobbing stopped.

It did stop, but now he started whining about being hungry.

I was hungry too.

Just as I was rummaging in my pocket, Yuri complained that he also ran out of gum.

Chewing gum probably wouldn’t have helped much, but it was disappointing.

Was there anything to eat around here? Looking around, there was nothing but feathers and fluff.

“Yuri, have you ever seen such big feathers before?”

“No. Hey, could this be a nest? Maybe a very large bird lives here.”

“Is there really a bird that big? I can’t see any baby birds or eggs.”

“The mother bird could have hidden them.”

We stood up and began to look around at the enormous nest.

Come to think of it, on one side, there was an unusually thick layer of fluff, which caught my attention, so I went over and started to rummage through it with my hands.

As pale yellow feathers scattered, I kept sneezing.

At that moment, Danyl, who had been muttering to himself beside me, suddenly shouted.

“Wow, seriously! Look at this!”

“What is it, a baby bird?”

“No, it’s an egg!”

It was indeed a real bird’s egg!

However, as I rushed over to get a closer look at the egg, I was somewhat bewildered by what I saw.

Although I had found new nests while playing in the palace courtyard, I had never seen such a large egg before.

Its size was almost the same as ours.

Moreover, the color was a bit strange.

What kind of egg is a spotted purple color?

“Is this really an egg? What kind of egg is like this?”

Yuri, who had brought a long piece of fluff with him, poked the strange egg’s shell with a *cuckoo* sound.

Even though he was the one who claimed there would be an egg.

“Stop it, what if it breaks?”

“Can’t we just eat it?”

“You can eat an egg like this?”

“I don’t know, but that’s how it’s usually done in books.”

Certainly, adventurers in books seemed to do that.

However, no matter how hungry I was, I didn’t want to eat a strange egg that might have a baby bird inside.

“I said stop…”

I stopped there.

Danyl gave me a questioning look, but I couldn’t make a sound.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe properly.

Instead, I reached out and grabbed Yuri’s arm, who was still poking at the egg.

Yuri looked at me.

I gestured silently to behind him.

Gradually, we all turned to look at it.