The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 136
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 136. The Owner of the Golden Goose (5)
“…There is.”
I knew better than anyone that the 2nd Empress had commissioned an assassination from the organization.
I shook my head firmly.
“I want other information, excluding anything related to the organization.”
“Hmm, well then.”
Somnia narrowed her brow and clicked her tongue.
“There’s one piece of information that’s too valuable to give away for free.”
She pondered for a moment, then struck her palm with her fan as if being generous.
“Fine, I’ll take a loss to commemorate the return of the reaper I thought was dead.”
Somnia stretched her lips wide to both sides.
“Do you know that the 2nd Empress’s marriage partner wasn’t originally the Emperor?”
Oh no. I’m not particularly fond of melodrama.
I looked at Somnia with a frown.
“There was once a rumor that the daughter of the Marquis of Redcliffe had a man she truly loved.”
Rumors are sometimes more accurate than facts.
Somnia grinned like a mischievous clown, showing her teeth.
“Aren’t you curious about the most foolish mistake that star-crossed young lovers can make?”
* * *
‘Could it really be true.’
On the way out from the Golden Goose headquarters.
I mounted my horse while carrying a fairly heavy bag.
The bag contained various magical tools and gold coins.
Since we were going to work together anyway, these were bribes I had extorted from, no, received from Somnia in advance.
Clop, clop.
Rain was falling on the streets.
I rode my horse slowly.
My deeply pulled hood gradually became soaked with rain.
– Twenty years ago, Cabellius III, who had nothing, was able to ascend to the throne essentially thanks to the Marquis of Redcliffe.
Somnia’s words echoed in my ears.
– The world knows that the ruthless Emperor slaughtered his siblings alone and ascended to the throne. But what are the odds that the youngest prince could ascend to the throne without anyone’s help?
It was a kind of deal.
Cabellius III’s agreement to accept an empress from the Redcliffe family.
– Originally, Empress Helena was destined to become the Empress. But she got caught up in strange scandals at just the wrong time and had no choice but to become the 2nd Empress.
The unmarried marquis’s daughter was blinded by love and invited a strange man to her bedchamber, or she lost her purity before even holding the ceremony with the Emperor.
When she became embroiled in all sorts of gossip, the Marquis of Redcliffe couldn’t be stubborn about it.
In the end, Helena Redcliffe became the 2nd Empress instead of the Empress.
‘And the 2nd Empress gave birth to the 2nd Prince Lloyd less than a year after marrying the Emperor.’
The birth of a prince should have been cause for celebration.
But Cabellius III reportedly showed a lukewarm response at the time.
– The Emperor suspected it too. Whether Prince Lloyd was truly his bloodline.
How desperate must he have been to send a statement directly to the Holy Kingdom asking them to prove that Lloyd and he were father and son.
But when judged by divine power, Lloyd was definitely the Emperor’s child.
It was a fact proclaimed in the name of the Holy Emperor.
– After that, no gossip about Lloyd’s origins ever surfaced again. Even though the Emperor remained cold toward the 2nd Empress, he began treating the 2nd Prince quite warmly.
Humans were weaker toward their children than their spouses.
After all, affection for blood-related beings was naturally different.
– But Kayla, no, Rachel.
Somnia spoke while fanning herself with a languid expression.
– Can we absolutely trust the Holy Emperor’s certification?
No, absolutely not.
I knew the current Holy Emperor well.
Judging by the timing, the Holy Emperor who verified that Lloyd was the Emperor’s legitimate child was that bastard I knew very well. The old man who still holds the position of Holy Emperor, living in idleness.
‘The Holy Kingdom, the Marquis of Redcliffe.’
Certainly, those mercenary bastards I saw at the Great Temple said they had taken commissions from both the Holy Kingdom and the Marquis of Redcliffe simultaneously.
‘As expected, those two seem to be connected.’
Then since when have they been connected?
For what reason did they become entangled?
I couldn’t make sense of it yet.
– Hey, Rachel. You said you’d make the 3rd Prince emperor, right?
I recalled Somnia’s smiling face.
She pointed at me with her ornately decorated fingernail.
– Then you’ll have to show the Emperor clearly. That the 3rd Prince has the power to crush the Marquis of Redcliffe.
It was perfectly reasonable.
After all, wasn’t the reason the Emperor wanted to put the 1st Prince on the throne because the Crowner family was solidly backing him?
‘House of Crowner is currently the only major noble family that can stand against the Marquis of Redcliffe.’
By that logic, Edwin truly had nothing.
No matter how much talent I brought him, the power to support them came from the recognition of those born nobly.
‘But he’s only just been recognized as a prince by the Emperor.’
There wasn’t enough time to win the favor of other nobles as well.
‘Well, we can work on that gradually.’
I stopped my horse for a moment.
Because I remembered Somnia’s last words.
– And I’m telling you this because I feel I should.
What followed was truly shocking.
– The Breath of Angels has disappeared.
– …What did you say?
– Just as I said. The entire organization was annihilated.
It was incomprehensible to me.
Hadn’t I just recently met someone claiming to be from the Breath of Angels at the Imperial Hunting Grounds?
‘The old information broker in the back alleys did say tracking was impossible.’
I never dreamed it was because the organization called the Breath of Angels had disappeared.
– About three months after you died? They suddenly vanished without a trace.
From around that time, the number of assassins hiding in the Golden Goose also decreased significantly.
At the same time, Ian’s whereabouts also disappeared.
– Is he… dead?
Ian probably wasn’t dead, but I asked just in case.
But Somnia only gave an ambiguous answer.
– I don’t know. He just disappeared as if he didn’t exist in this world.
Disappeared? But why?
When he killed me like that, I thought he was planning something grand.
‘What exactly did you want, Ian.’
I haven’t even figured out why you killed me yet.
And now I have to find out why you suddenly disappeared too.
‘Then and now, what makes me happiest and what hurts me most….’
I looked up at the sky and smiled bitterly.
‘It’s all you.’
The rain intensified as if to wash away my troubled heart.
I caught my breath for a moment and pulled the reins.
It seemed I should hurry and depart before the weather got worse.
The distance from here to the Prince’s Palace was quite considerable.
* * *
Creak, jingle.
A clear bell sound rang out along with the sound of old hinges.
I stepped into the inn, leaving the thunderous roar behind me.
‘So it comes to this after all.’
I had intended to go straight to the Prince’s Palace, but the weather wasn’t cooperating.
Rain alone would have been manageable, but the fierce wind made the roads dangerous.
At times like this, it seemed better to spend a night at an inn.
“Damn, you should have seen that wench’s face.”
“I’m telling you. Back in the day, I took down several Great Wolves by myself…”
Perhaps it was because this was a shabby inn between villages.
Or maybe it was because the weather was particularly bad today.
The inn was bustling with rough-looking fellows who spoke in coarse language.
‘This isn’t a place to stay long. I should leave as soon as the rain stops.’
I sipped the warmed liquor I had ordered upon entering.
Thanks to my deeply pulled hood, no one seemed to realize I was a woman.
That worked in my favor.
Creak, jingle.
There seemed to be many people in the same situation as me, as customers kept coming.
Just then, the door opened and three men wearing dark hoods appeared.
The inn, which had been deafeningly noisy just moments before, became somewhat quieter.
Everyone seemed to be watching the newly arrived men.
“What should we order?”
“Something strong. We have a long journey ahead.”
They ordered drinks and gathered at an empty corner table.
After placing their order, they conversed without making any sound.
‘Wait, those guys are…’
Why did I only notice now?
From their appearance and presence, they were clearly well-trained assassins.
I suppressed my presence even further and tried to read their lip movements.
‘This won’t do.’
One of the men moved his lips.
‘The Guardian is quite cunning, so if we can’t find the Prophet like this, we’ll be the ones in trouble.’
Guardian? Prophet?
More troublesome terms had appeared.
I pondered deeply about what these unfamiliar words might mean.
But then another man’s lips formed words that shouldn’t be spoken.
‘We must find the Prophet first.’
The man moved his lips with a serious expression.
‘The Angel is furious, so we must hurry to breathe life into them.’
I gripped my glass, forgetting even to breathe.
According to the mythology described in the Kingdom of Leon’s sacred texts, when an angel breathes into the dying, their soul departs, and finally the dead can find eternal rest.
In other words, on this continent, there existed a belief that angels were beings who brought death to humans.
‘Breath of the Angel.’
Someone had once commented that it was too poetic a name for an assassin group.
But it was just one of many unremarkable names taken from stories.
And the members of ‘Breath of the Angel’ used to refer to their leader, The Captain, as ‘Angel’, or simply ‘The Angel.’ In my previous life, I too was often called by the alias ‘The Angel.’
‘Is this just a coincidence?’
My hands holding the glass trembled slightly.
‘What the hell is going on?’
I had just heard from Somnia that ‘Breath of the Angel’ had disappeared, and I was on my way here.
Yet those men were casually talking about Breath of the Angel.
They were discussing things that only those belonging to Breath of the Angel could know about.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————