The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 135
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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 135. The Owner of the Golden Goose (4)
“You’re quite an emotional human being, Kayla Angel.”
Somnia brought her fan up to her face.
With an expression that seemed to pity me deeply.
“…Yes, perhaps that’s true.”
I died by his hands as punishment for giving my heart to Ian.
‘To think that truly loving another human being would cost me my life.’
Suddenly, I thought the price was too steep for making an emotional judgment.
“As you said, let’s stop this useless sentimental talk.”
I set down my wine glass and looked at Somnia.
“You don’t like long preambles either.”
“That’s right, Miss Rachel Brown.”
Somnia pronounced my name clearly, enunciating each syllable.
It seemed she thought this typical young lady’s name didn’t suit me at all.
She opened her mouth with an expression as if suppressing laughter.
“What’s your reason for seeking me out?”
The fan made of peacock feathers stopped in mid-air.
“Judging by your talk of life’s worth, it seems like quite important business.”
“That’s right, I need your power.”
“My power?”
Somnia let out a laugh and tilted her head.
“What power could a merchant of slave origin have? Why not just say you came to extort money?”
“To be precise, I need the information you possess.”
“Hmm, information.”
A suspicious gaze turned toward me.
Her violet eyes once again scanned me thoroughly from top to bottom.
“Strange. From your appearance, you seem to be living as an ordinary person now, but why would you need the information I have?”
Somnia raised both eyebrows.
“The information we deal with here is all too difficult for an ordinary woman to handle.”
“From the moment I mentioned my name, you must have finished investigating me.”
At my words, she wrinkled her nose.
It was a mischievous expression like a child caught trying to play a prank.
“Well, that’s true enough.”
Somnia giggled and swept her hair back.
“That alias-like name was surprising, but to think you’d be working as a caretaker of all things. I was shocked when I heard.”
At her gesture, someone appeared from behind the layers of draped veils.
It was another girl who looked exactly like the one who had guided me here.
They had the same appearance, but different eye colors, hairstyles, and clothing.
“Ah, is this your first time seeing this? It’s a collaborative work I made with great effort with the kids working below. How is it? Doesn’t it look like a real living person?”
“No, I didn’t think it was human.”
“What? For what reason? I thought it was flawless?”
“I could sense magic power, but I couldn’t feel a pulse.”
At my answer, Somnia’s eyes widened as if she had gained some realization.
“A pulse, that’s a problem I never thought of. I’ll have to tell those inventor bastards to come up with a solution.”
As expected of someone who wouldn’t deny being a mage.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
‘Why are all mages without exception mentally strange bastards?’
Somnia wasn’t a formal mage, but she knew how to handle magic power.
She had a hobby of making strange magical tools with several capable mages under her.
Some of them had become popular enough to be sold in the market.
“These aren’t just similar in appearance, they’re all connected. You could call them communication orbs in human form. You know, I have one hidden in the Imperial Capital too?”
To think she had planted such a thing in the Imperial Capital.
How bold of her to casually confess to something that would get her limbs torn apart if discovered.
Meanwhile, Somnia smiled brightly at me, who showed no surprise on my face.
“So I’m curious about something. Why did you choose the position of the 3rd Prince’s caretaker of all things?”
If you wanted to change your fate, you should have gotten a job as a caretaker for a wealthy noble family and earned money comfortably.
Somnia said with a frown.
“You’re not still living with that worthless mindset that there are things more important than money, are you? People from the bottom like us are bound to starve to death if we live with such thoughts.”
“You seem to have forgotten that there’s nothing I hate more than unsolicited advice.”
When I lowered my voice, Somnia’s shoulders flinched.
She sniffed and changed the subject.
“Such a temper. So what information do you want from me as the prince’s caretaker?”
“Everything.”
“What?”
Somnia frowned.
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
I spoke in a calm voice.
“I intend to make the 3rd Prince the Emperor of the Bentrum Empire.”
At my words, Somnia’s face visibly hardened.
“For that, I need your power, Somnia.”
Silence flowed.
Somnia looked dumbfounded, then soon burst into loud laughter.
“Pff, puhahahaha!”
She giggled until her waist bent, then wiped away the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes.
“So you’re telling me to participate in the Empire’s succession struggle? And on the side of the candidate with the lowest possibility?”
“Yes.”
“Listen here, Kayla Angel.”
Somnia became serious.
She slammed the table with one hand.
“I’m a merchant. I don’t make losing deals.”
Her sharply raised eyes glinted coldly.
“Among my long-time clients are many nobles who support the 1st and 2nd Princes. Is there a reason I should abandon them all and side with you?”
“I’ll pay a fair price.”
“My life’s worth? I’d rather you just kill me. That would be more profitable.”
Somnia crossed her arms and stretched her lips into a long line.
“Of course, if you really try to kill me for such a trivial reason, then I’ll stake everything I have to fight back.”
“As if you could kill me.”
“It’s not impossible.”
At my words, Somnia showed her teeth in a smile.
“Your skills don’t seem to have rusted, but you don’t look as good as before, do you? Is it because you’re trapped in that insignificant body?”
“…”
“In the past, you had the organization called Breath of the Angel behind you, but that’s not the case now. The world wouldn’t become noisy just because one caretaker dies, would it?”
They say merchants will do anything if there’s money in it.
Sometimes they were more frightening than those who made killing their profession.
In that sense, Somnia was the most merchant-like person I knew.
“Imperial Merchant Guild appointment, and a count title. Nothing more than that.”
Another silence flowed like before.
But this time it was a silence filled with strange tension.
“…What did you just say?”
Somnia’s face slowly but surely contorted.
With shock and surprise.
“You’ll appoint my merchant guild as The Imperial Merchant Guild?”
“And I’ll grant you the title of Count.”
In a class-based society, one’s birth status was the most important factor of all.
No matter how much money or excellent connections one had, there were limits to advancement if one’s status was lowly.
Moreover, Somnia was a woman of slave origin.
A man could somehow marry a fallen noble woman and inherit a title as an adopted son-in-law of that house, but not a woman.
No matter how fallen, no noble man would take a woman of slave origin as his wife.
‘Even if marriage were possible, it’s not an option that exists for that woman.’
To begin with, Somnia was disgusted by men and had a tendency to enjoy intimate exchanges with beautiful women.
So there was no path to nobility other than receiving a title directly herself.
“I know your status causes problems for your business. That’s why you started the Information Guild. Though no one expected that to be more successful.”
Even though she was lucky and her business prospered, Somnia could only become a big player in the underworld.
No one knew Somnia’s name or her business acumen.
Since she couldn’t reveal the owner’s name, she couldn’t expand the merchant guild’s scale any further.
Without taking on businesses that others were reluctant to touch, there would be no source of income.
“If you become The Imperial Merchant Guild, you’ll receive considerable tax exemption benefits. You’ll earn more than enough to save the tribute money you pay to greedy officials.”
I continued speaking while looking at Somnia.
“Also, no matter how much money you earn, the highest position you can achieve on your own as someone of slave origin is Baron.”
But a Baron from The Frontier Regions was such a humble position that they weren’t even treated as nobility among the nobles of The Imperial Capital.
“This doesn’t seem like a losing deal for you.”
Somnia had been frowning throughout my words.
But she didn’t deny what I said.
“Honestly speaking.”
I said while glancing around.
“Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that the owner of The Merchant Guild has to hide in such a shabby place just because of status?”
“Ha.”
Somnia let out a sigh.
Then she pressed her forehead and burst into hearty laughter.
“My goodness, I feel like I’m doing a lifetime’s worth of laughing today.”
“I wasn’t trying to make you laugh.”
“Well, then you want me to believe that ridiculous empty promise?”
“Rather than that, I’m asking you to trust me.”
I added in an extremely calm tone.
“Trust me, who saved a slave being hunted for killing her master.”
“…How arrogant.”
Somnia bit her lips at my words.
She spent a long time just drinking, seeming to think deeply about something.
Probably calculating whether she should side with me or not.
“Fine.”
How much time had passed?
Somnia finally opened her mouth.
“Living life only once, it wouldn’t be bad to live boldly.”
Her long, narrow eyes curved into a crescent shape.
“Alright, Kayla. I’ll accept your proposal.”
“Thank you. We’ll set a date and discuss the specific details elsewhere. We have someone on our side who’s quite knowledgeable about deals.”
I straightened my clothes and raised one eyebrow.
“And my name is Rachel Brown.”
“Ah, right. Miss Rachel Brown. I made a mistake.”
Somnia offered an apology with a completely unapologetic expression.
Then she squinted one eye and changed the subject.
“Then, to commemorate becoming business partners, I’ll give you one piece of information you want for free. What are you curious about?”
I wasn’t the type to refuse what was being offered.
I pondered for a moment and asked the question I’d been thinking about.
“I’d like to know the weakness of House of Redcliff.”
“Oh my, you’re already asking about such a big fish? I shouldn’t have been so generous.”
Somnia chuckled and swirled her drink.
“Let’s see. The weakness of House of Redcliff. Well, that family does all sorts of things. Don’t you already have some dirt on them?”
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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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