The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 109
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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 109. Alliance of Revenge (1)
Creak, thud.
The door closed right behind me.
Unlike the darkness that had fallen outside, Kaiden’s chamber was still bright.
Lanterns lit here and there were dyeing the room in crimson light.
“It seems too early to sleep yet.”
Kaiden glanced back at me and grinned.
“How about we keep each other company?”
Instead of answering, I simply stood quietly with my hands clasped together.
Then Kaiden pointed with his chin toward the sofa placed in the center of the room.
“Sit down first.”
“Thank you.”
I walked quietly and perched on the edge of the sofa.
Kaiden looked at me and let out another chuckle.
“The more I see you, the more interesting you seem.”
What does he find interesting?
When I turned my head with an expressionless face, Kaiden shrugged his shoulders.
“Your behavior is like, how should I put it, a cat.”
He met my eyes and asked in a casual voice.
“Is walking without making footsteps a habit?”
At the unexpected observation, my fingertips involuntarily twitched.
Walking around without making any presence was one of the habits I developed during my assassin days.
‘This is why habits are scary.’
They reveal themselves naturally even without conscious effort.
I bowed my head as if nothing was wrong.
“I apologize if it bothered you.”
“Not at all. Far from it.”
Kaiden, who sat across from me, reached out his arm.
He turned over two glasses that were on the table and picked up a large bottle beside them.
“Do you know how to drink?”
It was a friendly tone as if I were his subordinate or fellow knight.
“…If Your Majesty recommends it, I will drink.”
“I’m not forcing you to drink.”
He speaks well.
Saying he wasn’t forcing me to drink, Kaiden gently pushed a glass filled with alcohol toward me.
“It’s simply a gesture of goodwill.”
And if I refused that glass here, I would become an impudent woman who rejected the King of Adamant’s goodwill.
“Thank you.”
I was politely giving my thanks when I opened my eyes wide at the familiar scent that reached my nose.
The alcohol Kaiden offered was apple wine.
It was famous as a drink that only poor commoners drank, one that nobles wouldn’t even touch.
Perhaps it’s because he’s of commoner origin.
‘Well, it’s fine by me.’
Coincidentally, my favorite drink wasn’t beer, brandy, or fine wine, but this very apple wine.
Before I died, it was a drink I loved so much that I carried it in my canteen instead of water whenever I went on missions.
‘This was actually hard to find in the Imperial Palace. Did he specially request it?’
I silently sipped the apple wine for a while.
Kaiden also leaned back comfortably on the sofa and brought his glass to his lips.
He downed the alcohol in his glass in one gulp, then poured more.
“Alcohol.”
I asked while watching Kaiden lift his second glass.
“Do you drink often?”
“Well, occasionally.”
Kaiden lightly swirled the glass in his hand in circles.
“It feels quite good to drink as a way to end the day.”
“I see.”
“What about you, Caretaker? Do you drink often?”
Do I drink often?
I wanted to drink every day if I could, but I couldn’t.
It would be troublesome if rumors spread that the prince’s caretaker was a drunkard.
“…As someone who must serve His Highness the Prince, I restrain myself.”
“Haha, restraining yourself.”
Kaiden burst into laughter as if my answer amused him.
“Then how much could you drink if you didn’t restrain yourself?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never drunk until I was intoxicated.”
In my previous life, I never got drunk no matter how much I drank.
With this weak body now, probably two or three bottles of wine would be the limit?
“Then, how about drinking until you’re intoxicated today?”
Kaiden suddenly leaned toward me.
A pair of mischievous eyes were staring directly at me.
He seemed to want me to accept his provocation.
‘Not a chance.’
I took a few more sips of apple wine and set the glass down on the table.
“I apologize. I must serve Their Highnesses tomorrow as well.”
When I brought up the prince and princess, Kaiden’s eyes briefly sharpened.
He buried his back into the sofa again and made an expressionless face.
“How old are Their Highnesses this year?”
“Prince Edwin is twelve, and Princess Emilia is five years old.”
“I understand for the princess, but does the prince need a caretaker’s care? He’s already twelve years old.”
“…In the Imperial Palace, it’s customary to have a caretaker until the royal family reaches fifteen, when they undergo their coming-of-age ceremony.”
Kaiden frowned and lifted one corner of his mouth.
“If that’s the Imperial Palace’s policy, then it can’t be helped. So that’s why the princes are immature.”
Princes, plural.
Then the prince Kaiden criticizes as immature isn’t just Edwin.
So there was a reason he deflected Lloyd’s blade during the sword dance.
“Twelve years old.”
I thought for a moment, then composed my voice and slowly spoke.
“Is still too young to be mature.”
Kaiden made a displeased expression at my answer.
As if he absolutely couldn’t agree with my opinion.
“I think it’s better for children to remain children for as long as possible.”
Innocently, naively, without knowing the dirty aspects of the world, for as long as possible.
I met Kaiden’s gaze and spoke in a clear voice.
“Knowing the world early doesn’t make one happy.”
As Edwin was born a prince, he would learn about the world faster than other ordinary children.
But despite his past of being despised and called a worthless prince, he still possessed the sparkling innocence characteristic of children.
I wanted to protect that for as long as possible.
“That’s why I.”
Time was never on a child’s side anyway.
Someday Edwin would also learn how sordid wealth and power could be, and how far humans could fall and become base to possess them.
“I hope Prince Edwin remains innocent for as long as possible.”
The golden apple wine in the silver cup gleamed transparently.
I quietly gazed into the cup, then slowly raised my head.
I felt a piercing stare from in front of me.
“…Prince Kaiden?”
I was a bit flustered.
That was because Kaiden was looking at me with shocked eyes, as if he had seen a ghost.
As if under a petrification spell, he remained frozen in his half-reclined position on the sofa.
“Your Highness?”
“…I didn’t expect there would be another similarity.”
Kaiden muttered incomprehensible words to himself.
The beast-like eyes were fixed entirely on me.
“You really are.”
Had someone strangled him?
Kaiden continued speaking in a half-choked voice.
“…Interesting.”
What exactly was so interesting?
I’d never been told I had a good sense of humor, even before I died.
I nodded indifferently.
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Kaiden stared at me blankly once more, then cleared his throat softly.
He downed the remaining alcohol in one gulp and changed the subject.
“Prince Edwin is truly fortunate to have such an excellent caretaker. The late Third Empress can rest in peace.”
“Is that so.”
Clink.
I filled Kaiden’s cup and placed the bottle on the table with a sound.
Then I gave Kaiden a faint smile.
“How curious that someone who erased Prince Edwin’s maternal family from the map would say such a thing.”
The air in the room instantly turned cold.
Any expression worth calling such had vanished from Kaiden’s face.
“I truly never expected someone like that to mention the late Third Empress.”
“…Rachel Brown Lordling.”
My name flowed from the king’s lips for the first time.
His eyes had turned coldly frigid.
“I’d prefer if you didn’t cross the line.”
“Wasn’t it Your Highness who crossed the line first?”
Edwin and Emilia’s status plummeted even further after the Third Empress died.
The problem became even more serious after Emma, who had cared for them both, died and the Kingdom of Lionel was destroyed.
“I know you don’t look favorably upon Their Highnesses.”
And right now.
The one who had led the destruction of the Kingdom of Lionel was right before my eyes.
“However, the master of this 3rd Prince’s Palace where Your Highness is staying is Prince Edwin, and he is the blood of His Majesty the Emperor of the Bentrum Empire.”
I recalled Edwin’s face from breakfast, when he didn’t know what to do after being subtly ignored by Kaiden.
I also vividly remembered Kaiden ignoring the boy’s efforts to continue the conversation and only demanding what he wanted.
“So even if it’s unpleasant, please treat Prince Edwin as an imperial prince of the Empire.”
I knew.
That my current behavior was no different from that of a madwoman.
For a mere commoner-born caretaker to lecture a king of a nation.
It would be fortunate if I wasn’t dragged away and beheaded immediately.
‘But.’
I couldn’t just remain silent when something made me this angry.
Those young children had suffered because of whom.
‘Since I can’t punch him, I’ll have to beat him with words.’
I maintained a confident expression as if I had nothing to fear.
“Ha, hahahaha!”
Kaiden stared at me silently for a long moment, then laughed as if incredulous.
He covered both eyes with one hand and laughed continuously.
I could feel his gaze watching me through the slightly parted fingers.
“…You really are interesting, I tell you.”
My reflection was clearly visible in his golden eyes tinted with crimson lamplight.
“Rachel Brown Lordling.”
After laughing for a while, Kaiden called my name quietly.
“Did you calculate what impact that statement would have on you before you said it?”
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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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