The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 106
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 106. The Star of the Founding Festival (1)
“I couldn’t bring myself to ask that day. The Caretaker never talks much about herself…”
Catherine hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice even further.
“By any chance, did The Caretaker face some… difficult situation because of me?”
The kind of difficult situation that could befall a woman who entered the king’s chamber alone late at night was obvious.
“After that day, I asked for other maids to be sent instead of The Caretaker, and they all came back saying they dozed off in chairs all night. So I thought nothing had happened to The Caretaker, but thinking back, I remembered how His Majesty told only The Caretaker to call him by name, and looked at her somewhat… suggestively…”
Catherine seemed worried that I had suffered some humiliating ordeal at the king’s hands because of her.
No wonder she’d been giving me those restless, puppy-like looks whenever she saw me lately.
“Nothing like what Catherine is worried about happened.”
“R-really? That’s a relief, but…”
“Could you please step back a bit?”
“Huh?”
“Princess Emilia is going to get squished at this rate.”
Catherine looked down at my words and was startled.
Due to her pressing close, Emilia’s cheek in my arms had been flattened as if it might burst.
“Oh my, I’m sorry, Your Highness!”
“Mmph, Ria is okay.”
Catherine stopped stroking Emilia’s head frantically and turned back to me.
“Then is there really some other big problem?”
Catherine was looking at me with worried eyes.
“I’ve been concerned because The Caretaker’s expression hasn’t been good these past few days.”
“…I just have some things to think about. It’s really nothing serious.”
Right, it really wasn’t anything ‘serious.’
I hardened my expression while thinking of Kaiden.
‘I still haven’t figured out why that bastard went to the place where I died.’
Ever since that day when I witnessed Kaiden shedding tears at the reed bed where I lost my life.
I had been secretly observing Kaiden closely.
‘There was nothing particularly noteworthy.’
Except that the interest he had shown in me had noticeably decreased.
‘Since that day, he hasn’t left the Prince’s Palace either.’
The young king of Adamant was still smooth-talking, still rudely polite in his behavior, and still appeared leisurely.
Since that night when he went to the reed bed, he had even been having different maids enter his room each day, as Catherine mentioned.
‘Though the nightly rotation of maids wasn’t exactly his choice.’
The fact that different maids entered and left Kaiden’s bedroom every night was a kind of force majeure.
It was because the maids who spent the night in the king’s bedroom all complained of fear, saying they couldn’t even breathe just being in the same space as him.
‘In any case, it became clear that Kaiden knows who I originally was.’
I narrowed my eyes and fell deep into thought.
‘Seeing how he went to the place where I died, did he have some business with me?’
I could understand if he was someone who owed me a life debt.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I had no memory of saving the life of someone like Kaiden.
“Ugh!”
Just then, Catherine suddenly slapped my forearm.
I looked at her with one eyebrow raised.
“Caretaker, no matter how much you have to think about, please focus on Prince Edwin just for today! Today is the historic day when His Highness performs a sword dance before His Imperial Majesty!”
Catherine scolded me with a solemn expression that didn’t suit her at all.
“Just for today, let’s cheer hard so our Prince Edwin can be the star. That’s the only duty we have today!”
“Ria will cheer for big brother too! Yeah!”
“Oh my, how precious, our little princess. Your very existence is encouragement.”
The star.
I looked at Edwin, who was striking various poses on the platform.
I felt strangely moved.
‘When I first met him, he was as pathetic as a snotty colt.’
The lively atmosphere emanating from his properly filled-out frame and muscles.
His clean and noble appearance that made him look like a prince to anyone.
Edwin had transformed into a completely different person from a few months ago.
Enough that it wouldn’t be strange to call him today’s star.
“…You’re right.”
I belatedly responded to Catherine’s words.
As she said, my duty today was to cheer for Edwin.
Right now, I wasn’t Kayla, but Rachel Brown, the prince’s caretaker.
“I apologize for neglecting my main job and causing you worry.”
“No, well, you don’t need to apologize…”
“It looks like everything’s ready. Shall we head out right away?”
“Caretaker, you’re not sorry at all, are you.”
I took a step forward, leaving Catherine grumbling beside me.
Edwin, who had finished preparing, was looking at me with bright, sparkling eyes from the platform.
“Shall we go, Your Highness?”
When I politely extended my hand, Edwin’s eyes widened, then he nodded with a bright smile.
“Yes!”
* * *
The Grand Banquet Hall of the Bentrum Empire, built solely for entertaining distinguished guests.
There, to commemorate the Founding Festival, imperial family members, envoys from various nations, and renowned nobles had gathered in one place.
Normally, lavishly decorated tables would fill the banquet hall at regular intervals, but today was different.
“A circular stage inside the banquet hall? How unique.”
“They must have prepared quite a performance.”
The envoys, not knowing what to expect, began commenting one by one while looking at the large circular stage placed in the center of the banquet hall.
“Your Majesty, what is that?”
Meanwhile, The Envoy from the Khan Empire, who was closest to the emperor, asked with an intrigued voice.
He glanced at the circular stage with curious eyes.
“What do you think it looks like?”
“From its appearance, it seems like a stage.”
The envoy answered the emperor’s counter-question with an amused voice.
“Its shape looks exactly like an arena.”
“Haha, an arena.”
An arena at a celebratory occasion commemorating the Founding Festival.
It could have been considered irreverent, but the emperor just laughed pleasantly.
He slightly lifted his wine glass containing grape wine.
“That might not be wrong.”
“Pardon? Is it really an arena?”
“Isn’t an arena originally a place where gladiators compete?”
The emperor’s thick eyebrows rose at an angle.
He wore a delighted smile across his face.
“There’s no entertainment as fun as watching a fight, don’t you think?”
The envoy kept tilting his head at the cryptic words.
Meanwhile, Empress Helena’s face stiffened slightly.
She clenched her hands that were placed under the table.
“You seem particularly cheerful today, Your Majesty.”
“Haha, how could I not be?”
The emperor turned his head toward Kaiden, who sat to his right, in response to a noble’s question.
“The gift that His Majesty of Adamant brought has moved me deeply.”
Kaiden, who had been silently moistening his lips with wine, gently lowered his eyelids halfway.
“This is the first gift I present to His Imperial Majesty, and I can only feel ashamed that it is so modest.”
“Hahaha, Your Majesty is being far too humble.”
The tributes offered by envoys from various nations were already piled up like mountains.
But even all of them combined could not compare to the gifts brought from Adamant.
‘Ten masterwork swords crafted by dwarves, ten lycans tamed by human hands, ten thousand trions of adamantite ore.’
The masterwork swords made by dwarves and the tamed monsters were also precious gifts that could not be valued in money, but the most valuable was still the adamantite ore.
‘Ten thousand trions is a massive amount, enough to cover part of the walls surrounding the Imperial Capital entirely with adamantite.’
The Emperor brought his wine glass to his lips with a smile.
If he could casually give away ten thousand trions as a mere gift, just how much was hidden away in the Adamant Kingdom?
‘Should I call it reckless, or should I call it arrogant?’
The fallen Kingdom of Lionel had been desperate to hide the value of the continent’s largest adamantite mines that they possessed. They had kept strictly silent about the reserves and limited adamantite mineral exports to minimal amounts.
‘They were afraid other countries would covet it and come rushing in. The Lionel Royal Family were nothing but cowards.’
But the King of Adamant, who had become the new owner of the mines, seemed to think completely differently.
‘In times like these when monsters are rampaging, the value of adamantite has increased even more.’
Adamantite was the optimal mineral capable of destroying monsters’ tough hide and teeth.
At some point, an indescribable greed rippled in the Emperor’s eyes.
‘Indeed, should I have struck the Kingdom of Lionel back then?’
When he received news that strange signs had appeared within the kingdom immediately after the Third Empress from Lionel died, he should have occupied the kingdom right then.
‘Because I hesitated needlessly.’
If he had, that commoner knight of unknown origins wouldn’t be wearing a crown that didn’t suit his station.
A very faint light of jealousy and contempt crossed the Emperor’s face.
But he casually changed his expression and rose from his seat.
“Then let us raise a toast.”
The greed that had been reflected in the Emperor’s eyes had long since vanished without a trace.
“For the peace and prosperity of the continent!”
“Waaaaah!”
Along with the toast, all the people gathered in the banquet hall raised their glasses together.
At the same time, musicians played lively music, and everyone began chattering in excited voices without exception.
It was around the time when the atmosphere of the banquet had ripened about halfway.
“Isn’t everyone getting a bit bored? At times like this, we need entertainment to enliven the banquet.”
Entertainment? Had he prepared dancers or jesters?
The envoys focused their attention on the Emperor while enjoying their drinks and food.
“For the distinguished guests from various nations gathered together after so long, my sons have prepared a small diversion. I do hope it will be to your liking.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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