Chapter 93

The three of us went back down to the first floor and started searching the other rooms. At the same time, we also asked the Imperial Knights about the whereabouts of the other children, but as before, everyone kept their mouths shut.

Heh, I guess they’re all imperial knights.

Everyone seemed to be on the side of the prince and princess. So mean!

“So, instead of doing this here, why don’t we go to the outside building? Like, the kitchen.”

Unexpectedly, Cedric suggested a good idea. He was correct. Since we searched the first floor and found nobody, it might have been that the rest of the children were hiding in the kitchen in the annex.

“Good thought! Let’s go!”

I nodded my head and walked forward with a light gait. As we exited the main building, the knights escorted us. After a while, we went into the kitchen, which was beclouded with steam. From the looks of it, the meal was being prepared.

“Hello. Has anyone else come here?”

All of the people who made food in the kitchen here were first-class chefs who had worked for a long time in the Imperial Palace. The maids who helped with chores were also dispatched from the Imperial Palace. They all shook their heads at my question.

“We don’t know.”

‘Is that so……”

I pretended to blur the tip of my words and looked around quickly. In fact, I had already guessed something from their attitude.

‘Clearly someone is hiding here. Even though they had a sudden visit, there was no sign of surprise. Them being too casual is suspicious.’

We don’t normally visit this kitchen building at all. Iit would be normal to be surprised if the workers at the kitchen saw us and would ask us to leave. It seemed that they did not hide in the center of the cooking area, where the chefs had been cooking for a long time. Maybe it was quite normal. We must not interfere with the work of the cooks, and it is a place full of dangerous objects such as hot fires, boiling soup jars, and sharp knives.

‘Hmm, then let’s go to the warehouse…?’

I thought, looking at the door on one side.

There was a sign on the door that said ‘warehouse’.

Suspiciousness abounds!!

“Can I go into this warehouse? I won’t touch anything.”

“……Yes. Please.”

I felt everyone pause for a moment at my words.

I smiled and put my hand on the doorknob.

Alice and Cedric who followed me also entered the warehouse.

The inside of the warehouse was larger than expected.

It was half the size of a classroom.

And inside the warehouse were several bags that looked like they were filled with flour…

Wiggle, wiggle.

I could see something brown moving over the sack.

Yay, I found it!

“Jake, I found you!”

“Ah… I got caught. I have been hiding for a long time, haven’t I?”

Jake grinned, saying he couldn’t stay still since we entered the warehouse.

So our group became 4 people.

The free time was almost over.

“Hmm, is it enough to find the Prince and Princess?”

After leaving the kitchen again, I stopped halfway between the main building and the kitchen, looking around and immersed in my thoughts.

I looked everywhere I could find, and even looked for the bathroom, but I couldn’t find it…

‘There was a saying in my past life that the beacon does not shine on its own base.’

I quickly nodded and completed the reasoning.

Yes. I’m sure the two of them will be there!

“Everyone, go back to the classroom.”

“Huh? We haven’t found the two Highnesses yet. And the free time isn’t over yet?”

The children were bewildered by my words.

I shrugged and persuaded them to go back for once.

Everyone said they didn’t understand why I was doing this, but in the end, they all headed to the classroom as I wanted.

“Did you finish the game well?”

Just before entering the classroom, two imperial knights guarding the classroom door greeted us with meaningful smiles.

“No, I’m sorry, but there are people I haven’t found yet.”

I answered.

Then, among the two, the knight who had not been able to manage his facial expressions well before, had an expression on his lips that looked like he was about to burst into laughter at any moment.

But in the end, his expression regained the poker face.

‘Sir Knight, it’s too obvious that someone is inside!’

With that in mind, I opened the door and entered the classroom.

The classroom was quiet.

There were no signs of presence either.

At least it seemed so.

‘But, behind that bookshelf over there are the shadows of two people who are frozen? I knew you were going to be here.’

I don’t know how they got back here, but both Ninaina and Nicholas seem to have used their heads quite a bit.

Because Nicholas is smart…

In fact, as soon as I entered the classroom, I heard a small sound of inhaling and holding my breath as if trying to reduce their presence.

Even though I knew it, I acted like I didn’t know it.

Pretending to be a coincidence, I approached the bookshelf and found the two of them.

“Everyone is here! I almost couldn’t find you.”

“…I can’t believe you found us already. I didn’t expect to find us until the end of the free time.”

Upon my appearance, Nicholas seemed to be deeply regretful.

But Ninaina was rather happy.

She said her legs hurt because she had been hiding all this time.

“I wanted to find you sooner, but I hadn’t thought of this place before.”

I shrugged.

From what I heard from Nicholas, the two of them said they left the kindergarten immediately while I was counting and hid among the knights.

And after I went up to the second floor, they sneaked back into the room and returned to the classroom.