The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 12

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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 12. The Maid, Catherine (2)

“What are you doing not getting up?”

At my words, the maid jumped up from her spot.

“Um, you’re the new nanny, right?”

She clasped her hands together, blushing as she glanced at me repeatedly.

“Why ask when you already know?”

“Th-thank you for helping me!”

“I never helped you.”

“What? But…”

“I only gave those women a warning not to run their mouths carelessly about me.”

I originally dislike gossip, and their words were extremely grating on my ears, so I scolded them.

It absolutely wasn’t taking out my frustration about the housekeeper.

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

“But I’m alive thanks to you!”

“Think whatever you like.”

“Wait!”

As I was about to leave, the maid called out to me once more.

“Do you have something else to say?”

Despite my consistently cold tone that should have hurt her feelings, the maid’s eyes lit up instead.

“My name is Catherine Bale. I work at the annex.”

Why was she introducing herself when I didn’t even ask?

Instead of answering, I stared at her intently.

She continued speaking with her face still flushed.

“Thank you for helping me. If there’s anything I can help you with, please let me know. I’ll help you anytime.”

So she’s still going on about me helping her when I said I didn’t.

I was about to move with an indifferent expression when I turned my head back.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“Can you cook?”

At my question, the maid blinked her eyes as if confused.

“C-cook?”

* * *

“It’s delicious!”

Edwin and Emilia.

The royal siblings looked over here with shocked eyes.

“What is this? This is the first time I’ve eaten something this delicious besides banquet food!”

“Right! It’s so, so delicious!”

The two seemed even hungrier because their meal time had been delayed.

“It’s j-just ordinary fish stew, Your Highness. You’re too kind.”

To think Edwin, who’s such a picky eater, would eat food so enthusiastically.

Instead of Edwin, I gave praise to the woman standing beside him.

“Making ordinary dishes taste delicious is also a talent.”

“But it’s really nothing special. Thank you for the compliment, Nanny.”

The tall woman standing there with a shy, blushing face was the maid, Catherine Bale.

She was the woman I had unintentionally saved from the other maids’ bullying.

She had said to tell her anytime I needed help.

Since I happened to need help, I didn’t refuse her offer.

“Are you really sure this is okay?”

“Pardon?”

Catherine tilted her head at my question.

“The housekeeper said absolutely not to help with my work.”

When I added the explanation, she winked and smiled lightly.

“I’m not helping you though?”

“What?”

“I simply brought food because I was worried that His Highness the Prince and Her Highness the Princess, who are the masters of this palace, might go hungry.”

It was quite a pleasing, cheeky answer.

She shrugged and added,

“Besides, the main building maids eat separately and have no interest in this side.”

“The maids eat separately from each other?”

“Yes. Most of the main building maids are from pure noble families.”

Catherine continued with a bitter smile.

“But annex maids like me are from noble families who bought their titles with money or from commoner households. It’s an uncomfortable relationship between us.”

So that’s why that woman who claimed to be from a count’s family made such a fuss earlier.

“So no one will care where the leftover food goes. The housekeeper won’t know either.”

“I see.”

Then Edwin put down his spoon and stood up from his seat.

The food must have been really delicious as he had quickly emptied his bowl.

Edwin grabbed the door handle and shouted at me.

“I want to take a walk with Emilia.”

“Go ahead.”

I answered without thinking, but I felt a piercing gaze.

“What’s wrong?”

Edwin’s eyes were already shining to an overwhelming degree.

“I want to go outside.”

The boy seemed to have interpreted what I said to the housekeeper as he pleased.

As if it meant he could go outside anytime as long as I was there.

“Ria wants to go out too!”

To make matters worse, Emilia also grabbed her brother’s hand and threw a tantrum.

Did we really have to go outside?

As I hesitated due to the annoyance, Catherine pushed my back.

“Then hurry up and go. I’ll clean up the dishes.”

“No. I’ll clean those up myself.”

“They’re dishes I brought from the annex anyway. Let’s go out together.”

Catherine quickly gathered the empty dishes on the tray.

She followed us outside and saw us off.

“Then be careful and come back safely.”

“Let’s go!”

The prince held his sister’s hand tightly and walked ahead of us.

In the end, I had no choice but to sigh and follow behind them.

* * *

“Ria, that’s the Imperial Palace Library over there.”

Edwin, who had left the palace, held his sister’s hand and pointed to various places.

“The one attached next to it is the palace where First Prince brother lives. Do you remember what I told you before?”

“Yeah! Ria knows everything!”

“Really? Then you could find your way alone?”

“Yeah! Ria is smart so she won’t get lost!”

“Really? Who does our princess take after to be this smart?”

“I take after brother!”

Edwin smiled brightly looking at his sister who knew how to give such endearing answers.

‘They’re really playing well together.’

I’d thought this before, but Edwin was nothing short of an angel when it came to his little sister.

‘What amazing sibling love. Or should I say brother-sister love?’

I followed behind the pair of chick-like siblings like a shadow.

Though this was the Imperial Palace of the Empire, aside from the 3rd Prince’s Palace, these were all places I knew well. It had once been a place I frequented like my own home.

At that moment, Edwin suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Oh, is that Papa?”

From Emilia’s words, I could understand why he had suddenly stopped.

The Central Garden spread out wide before our eyes.

Someone accompanied by a line of attendants was slowly strolling between the flower beds.

It was the Emperor, Cabellius III.

And beside the Emperor stood a man.

Even for me, who knew the personal details of all the Empire’s dignitaries by heart, this was someone I’d never seen before.

‘Who is he?’

Jet-black hair and jet-black armor.

Golden eyes that gleamed brilliantly as if they had absorbed all the light in the world were noticeable even from a distance.

‘To stand beside the Emperor in full armor.’

I began observing the man out of habit.

His disciplined gait and attitude that was polite but not servile.

‘A knight? No, that would be too simple to say…’

The man walked alongside the Emperor while maintaining an expressionless face throughout.

A mere knight couldn’t possibly walk side by side with the Empire’s Emperor.

‘He must hold considerable rank. A newly appointed lord perhaps?’

That’s when it happened.

The man suddenly turned his head in this direction.

Before I could even be surprised, our eyes met.

Normally, I would have looked away without a care.

But this time, I couldn’t do that.

‘Did he just… smile?’

It was only for a brief moment, but it was clear.

The instant our eyes met, there was a hint of a smile playing at the man’s lips.

I wondered if it was just my imagination, but when the man turned his head back toward the Emperor, his face was expressionless.

‘Why on earth?’

I was flustered.

A man I’d never seen before in my life had smiled at me.

‘Why did he smile when he looked at me?’

Surely he couldn’t know me, and it certainly wasn’t him making advances.

‘Oh, could he actually know the real Rachel?’

Though the status difference between that man and Rachel seemed enormous for that to be the case.

‘Well, you never know with people.’

While I was making various speculations by myself, my skirt suddenly slid down smoothly.

The culprit was Edwin. He was gripping my skirt while looking at the Emperor’s party.

Though he didn’t show it, his face somehow looked frightened.

“Little ant, where are you going?”

In contrast, the spirited Emilia seemed uninterested despite having called out to her father.

The young princess was crouched down next to her brother, watching ants crawling on the ground.

At this rate, we’d be stuck here until the Emperor disappeared into the distance.

“Your Highness, shall we return?”

Edwin looked up at me with a surprised face at my words.

“…Don’t I need to greet Father?”

“Why are you asking me that? If Your Highness wants to do it, then do it. If you don’t want to, then don’t.”

Edwin stared at me with his mouth agape, then soon lowered his head.

“What would you like to do?”

He pondered for a long while before hesitantly opening his mouth.

“…I want to go back.”

“Let’s do that then.”

I was about to turn around without regret when Edwin suddenly grabbed me.

“I, I’m telling you in advance!”

He shouted loudly as if making an excuse.

“It’s absolutely not because I don’t want to greet Father, but because he looks busy! Got it?”

Nobody even asked.

Children really are hard to understand.

“Yes. I understand.”

When I answered briefly with an indifferent face, Edwin stared at me intently.

“Why are you like that?”

He glared at me for a while with pursed lips, then turned his head away sharply.

“You’re really strange.”

“Pardon?”

“If it were Emma, she would have told me to greet him no matter what.”

“Then shall we go greet him even now…”

“No! Never mind!”

Edwin quickly shook his head from side to side.

“Then let’s go.”

“…Yeah.”

I hoisted up Emilia, who was sitting on the ground, and turned around without hesitation.

So I failed to notice that he was still gripping my clothes tightly as he followed behind me.

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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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