The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 114
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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 114. The Knight King and the 3rd Prince (1)
“Your Majesty the King?”
Edwin reflexively hid his wooden sword behind his back.
He felt embarrassed thinking his skills had been exposed in front of the person called the Knight King.
“Wh-what brings you all the way here…?”
“I was just passing by and saw Your Highness, so I thought I’d offer my greetings.”
Kaiden approached the young prince with leisurely steps.
He looked down at the crown of Edwin’s head as the boy shuffled his feet with reddened ears.
After standing in silence for a moment, he finally spoke again.
“…Who taught you swordsmanship?”
“Pardon?”
Edwin’s eyes widened.
He never expected the King of Adamant to be curious about him.
Though it was just a trivial question about who taught him swordsmanship.
“Ah, well…”
He wanted to answer well somehow.
In an instant, all sorts of thoughts flashed through Edwin’s small head.
‘The fact that I’m learning swordsmanship from someone is still a secret. What if I say something and it gets out, causing trouble for Philip, the Count or other knights?’
Then, as if reading the young prince’s mind, Kaiden changed the subject.
“Well, whoever taught you, how important could that be.”
He smiled warmly at Edwin.
“What’s important for a swordsman is how well they can wield a sword.”
Kaiden quietly looked down at Edwin.
The sweat-dampened bright blonde hair and the startled rabbit-like eyes looking up at him were so remarkably similar to his sister. It was as if his sister, who had already died and left this world, had appeared before him as a child.
‘Even parents and children are ultimately strangers, so how can they resemble each other this much?’
Is this why everyone tries so hard to have children?
Hoping that someone infinitely close to them will continue living in this world even after they die and disappear?
“What an amusing reason.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing.”
Kaiden shook his head dismissively and changed the subject.
“Prince Edwin.”
Edwin’s body tensed at the sound of his name being called.
His stiff posture resembled that of a new recruit, almost making one want to laugh.
“Let me ask differently. How long have you been practicing swordsmanship?”
Finally, a question he could answer.
Edwin opened his mouth with a bright expression.
“Ah, it’s been just over a month now.”
“…Pardon?”
That skill from just a month of practice? What he just saw?
Kaiden recalled the prince’s sword technique from moments before.
‘He doesn’t know how to put his full strength into it yet, but it was a clean vertical slash without any unnecessary movements.’
It didn’t feel like the swordsmanship of a beginner who had only been holding a sword for about a month.
“So I’m still very clumsy. I’m embarrassed to have shown Your Majesty such poor skills.”
Edwin scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
Seeing this, Kaiden seemed to contemplate for a moment before drawing his sword.
Swoosh.
The blue luster that could only be seen on sword blades refined from Adamant to the extreme caught his attention.
Edwin looked at Kaiden with bewildered eyes.
“Y-Your Majesty?”
Surely he wasn’t thinking of swinging that sword?
Edwin’s gaze trembled slightly with faint anxiety.
But contrary to his worries, Kaiden stuck the drawn sword into the ground and held up the empty scabbard in one hand.
“Since coming to the Empire, I haven’t been able to spar with my subordinates, so my body has grown dull.”
Kaiden stretched his lips into a long smile.
“If it wouldn’t be rude, would Prince Edwin be my sparring partner?”
A spar all of a sudden?
Edwin’s pupils trembled slightly.
‘Me spar with the Knight King?’
Moreover, his opponent was Kaiden Ram, the Knight King who had achieved victory in countless wars.
Being offered a spar by him was nothing short of an honor.
‘But…’
At the same time, worry came first.
What Edwin had learned over the past month was the very basic Imperial swordsmanship that the 3rd Knight Division learned. It was the most basic of basics, without a single applied technique.
‘Could I face this person with that?’
But there was no more time to hesitate.
Kaiden had pointed the scabbard he was holding at the prince’s slender neck.
“If you don’t want to, you can refuse right now.”
Apart from being scary and frightening, this was an opportunity.
Edwin recalled something Rachel had once said.
– There are stages you must go through to become strong. One of them is to face the fear within yourself directly.
Her philosophy was that no matter how scary and frightening it was, you had to be able to face it directly to either confront it or avoid it.
– People fear the unknown most. That means if you can identify the true nature of fear, there’s no fear in this world that cannot be overcome.
The true nature of fear.
Suddenly, Edwin thought of the girl he liked most.
The girl who had bravely resolved to keep snakes close and observe them because she was afraid of them.
‘Bridget also faced the fear within herself.’
Edwin looked straight up at Kaiden, who stood like an insurmountable wall.
Certainly, he was a much more nerve-wracking opponent than the monster he had faced in Ruxen Village.
It seemed to be because of his overwhelming build and the golden eyes that shone brilliantly in the center of his face, shadowed with his back to the sunlight.
‘Then.’
Edwin’s eyes narrowed slightly.
‘If I spar with this person, won’t I be able to understand him better too?’
Seiji had also given him the task of finding out how to capture Adamant Kingdom’s castle. Perhaps he could find a clue through this spar.
“Do you still need time to think?”
“…No.”
Edwin finally gripped the wooden sword he was holding properly.
A strong will was burning in his blue eyes.
“Then I’ll be in your care.”
“Not at all.”
Kaiden slightly lowered his center of gravity as he answered.
He smiled with his eyes as if telling him to come at him anytime.
“Start whenever you’re ready.”
* * *
Thud.
Edwin gritted his teeth as he felt the texture of grass stinging his cheek.
He couldn’t even count how many times he had been slammed to the ground.
The pure white shirt he had been wearing had long since turned a dirty green color from crushed grass stains.
‘Why.’
He struggled to get up and looked back at his opponent behind him.
Kaiden was smiling without even a change in his breathing.
It was a leisurely, confident smile.
‘He hasn’t landed a single hit.’
Edwin had also experienced quite a few sparring matches.
Philip, who taught him, often served as his sparring partner, believing that practical experience was more important than theory.
‘When I sparred with Philip, if I was lucky, I could at least graze him once.’
Of course, Philip had probably gone easy on him, but even so, he couldn’t hide his surprise whenever he received Edwin’s counterattacks.
‘This man is truly different.’
Kaiden had absolutely no openings.
It didn’t seem like he was taking him seriously either, yet it was mysterious how he showed no gaps whatsoever.
“Oh my, surely you’re not giving up already?”
“N-no, I’m not.”
“Then get up quickly.”
Kaiden continued speaking while letting the scabbard he held drop to the floor.
“If you show your back like that on the battlefield, Your Highness’s head would already be rolling over there.”
It was a horrifying thought just to imagine.
Edwin frowned and got up from his position.
The arm holding his sword and both legs supporting him on the ground trembled mercilessly.
Kaiden clicked his tongue at the sight that was worse than a newborn fawn.
‘For someone who’s supposedly a prince, he’s nothing but skin and bones. Don’t tell me they’re starving the child?’
No, that couldn’t be it.
Kaiden shook his head, thinking of Rachel, the prince’s caretaker.
With such a caretaker by his side, who would dare starve the prince?
‘Did he inherit his frail constitution from Idis?’
The Emperor was a man of strong bones, even if he looked small and weak.
So those limbs that looked like they’d fly away in the wind must have taken after his mother, Idis.
‘He inherited even the useless traits.’
He had hoped the resemblance would be limited to just the face.
Kaiden looked at Edwin, who had barely managed to stand, and spoke.
“If you’re tired, we can stop here…”
“No!”
Kaiden’s eyes widened slightly at the answer that came without hesitation.
Edwin was breathing heavily as if he might collapse again at any moment.
However, the fighting spirit in the boy’s eyes remained intact.
“Hmm.”
At least unlike his mother, he seemed to have some venom and tenacity.
Kaiden raised one corner of his mouth in a crooked smile.
“Your Highness.”
He raised his scabbard toward Edwin, who was standing with difficulty.
“From now on, if you can land even a single blow on me, I will grant you any one request you make.”
“…Pardon?”
It was a sudden and unexpected proposal.
When Edwin looked at him with surprised eyes, Kaiden shrugged.
“Don’t you want to?”
“N-no!”
He had nothing to lose anyway.
Edwin gripped his sword even more tightly.
He couldn’t let this obvious opportunity slip away helplessly.
“Hyup!”
Edwin immediately rushed toward Kaiden.
It was the same clean vertical slash he had attempted several times before.
But it was also the same attack that had failed several times before.
‘No improvement.’
Disappointment flickered in Kaiden’s eyes at the attack that was no different from before.
He deflected all of Edwin’s attacks with a bored expression.
That was the exact moment.
“Hyap!”
The moment when Kaiden felt briefly bored—a gap, if it could be called a gap.
Edwin’s movement changed dramatically.
‘That’s right, what I learned wasn’t just Imperial swordsmanship.’
The young prince pretended to charge straight ahead, then immediately lowered his body and leaped upward.
“Haa!”
The sword tip that had been pointing straight was now aimed downward.
A strike that cut not from top to bottom, but from bottom to top.
Kaiden’s eyes wavered slightly as he faced the young prince’s attack.
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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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