The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 15
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 15. One Who Knows Gratitude (1)
“Prince Edwin.”
Perhaps she hadn’t completely lost her reason, as the Housekeeper politely greeted Edwin.
The maids followed her lead and bowed to the prince.
“I was merely punishing someone who dared to disturb the order of the Prince’s Palace.”
At the Housekeeper’s kind explanation, Edwin, who had been standing quietly, turned toward her.
“Who disturbed the order?”
“…Pardon?”
Those were words no one had expected.
Wasn’t this the same prince who couldn’t say a word when the attending maids bullied him, when the Housekeeper scolded him, just reading the room?
But suddenly he had such an authoritative attitude.
The startled Housekeeper’s eyes widened beyond measure.
Though I was surprised by the unexpected situation, I could tell.
That the fists of the kid who had made such a spirited entrance were clenched so tightly they had turned white.
That his large pupils were also trembling slightly.
‘Why?’
The kid was clearly terrified.
Yet Edwin stood there.
I couldn’t understand the reason at all.
“The one who disturbed the order wasn’t this woman, but you.”
Edwin glared at the Housekeeper and continued speaking clearly.
He lacked the commanding presence of royalty, but he didn’t look easy to deal with either.
“Your Highness, how can you say such things…”
“I’m the master of the Prince’s Palace. Even the Housekeeper knows that, right?”
At Edwin’s question, the Housekeeper could only move her lips.
Her face showed confusion about why this little brat was suddenly acting this way.
“So everything here originally belongs to me. Right?”
“…That is correct.”
“The maids are the same. Aren’t they?”
“That… is correct.”
At the Housekeeper’s affirmation, Edwin quietly glared at her and continued.
“But I don’t need those maids. They were never ‘my’ maids from the beginning anyway, they were ‘your’ maids.”
The hall fell quiet at Edwin’s words.
There was no one here who couldn’t understand the young prince’s meaning.
At his words, the maids seemed very tense, and the Housekeeper stood still with a hardened expression.
“But this woman is different.”
“…Pardon?”
“This woman is mine and Ria’s caretaker. Do you understand what that means?”
At Edwin’s words, the Housekeeper’s face crumpled even more.
But the prince spoke without caring about her reaction.
Like a young king announcing an important fact.
“It means my caretaker is mine. No one except me and Ria can touch her.”
“That’s right! Catherine belongs to big brother and Ria!”
Emilia, who had been quietly hiding behind her brother until then, also claimed her ownership.
Edwin gripped Emilia’s hand tightly.
“If punishment is to be given, I’ll give it, and if rewards are to be given, I’ll give them. So.”
The kid spat out his words through gritted teeth.
“From now on, if you lay a hand on my caretaker, I won’t stay quiet anymore either. Housekeeper.”
That was the first counterattack the prince had launched against the world surrounding him.
* * *
“Catherine, does it hurt a lot?”
“No.”
Emilia was in my arms with teary eyes.
“But it looks like it hurts?”
“I’m fine.”
“No. Ria will blow on it for you. When Ria blows on it, it gets better quickly.”
Emilia blew ticklish breath on my cheek.
The young princess didn’t seem to know yet that warm air on a struck area would make it sting more.
I was just mindlessly letting Emilia blow on it when it happened.
Edwin, who had been looking out the window the whole time, turned to me and shouted.
“You idiot—!”
When the kid suddenly shouted, Emilia flinched.
“Do you know what happens when you fight that demon hag? You don’t!”
“Please lower your voice. You’ve frightened Princess Emilia.”
Edwin looked at his frightened sister’s face and bit his lip.
“I don’t know what I did because of you.”
The kid muttered to himself in a much lowered voice.
“That demon hag will definitely go to the Second Consort and tell her everything. She’ll tell her everything.”
It seemed the one Edwin feared wasn’t the Housekeeper or Countess Katrina, but the Second Consort.
“Then why did you step forward?”
“What?”
“You’re a coward, Your Highness.”
“Wh-what?”
An ‘young and incompetent Third Prince’ should not have stepped forward in a situation like before.
Nevertheless, I was curious about the psychology of the kid who stepped forward after seeing me get slapped.
Edwin seemed to have been hit where it hurt, opening and closing his mouth for a while.
Then he soon shouted with a face full of indignation.
“Y-yes, I’m a coward!”
I didn’t expect him to admit so easily that he was a coward.
The kid shouted boldly at me with surprised eyes.
“But I’m not despicable! I promised Emma that I wouldn’t become a despicable person!”
Not despicable?
I raised my eyebrows at the kid’s answer.
“You helped me because you’re not despicable?”
“Yes! And since you helped me, I just helped you too.”
The kid showed off the bracelet hanging on his wrist.
The bracelet I had retrieved from Gail’s gang.
“I’m someone who knows gratitude!”
One who knows gratitude.
‘Who would have thought such admirable words would come from that cunning little brat’s mouth.’
I stared at the prince’s bracelet and let out a chuckle.
“I see.”
“Why, why are you laughing?”
“It’s nothing. I think the same way as Your Highness.”
I touched my slightly swollen cheek and tucked my disheveled hair behind my ear.
“If one receives a favor, it’s proper to return what was received.”
I showed my teeth and smiled at Edwin.
“I’m also someone who doesn’t forget gratitude.”
* * *
That evening.
Catherine got up to change out of her disheveled clothes.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong, Catherine?”
“My maid uniform is gone. That was my only spare.”
Catherine showed a tearful expression to her roommate.
Then her roommate slapped her knee as if remembering something.
“Ah, I forgot to mention. The Caretaker borrowed your maid uniform.”
“What? The Caretaker?”
“She said she’d return it clean.”
“Really? She didn’t have anything to wear right away? Why did she specifically borrow a maid uniform?”
Catherine scratched her cheek with a troubled expression and thought of the new caretaker.
Kind features that didn’t match her cold expression.
Actions that seemed indifferent yet gentle.
Catherine chuckled to herself as she thought of such a caretaker.
“She’s really a strange caretaker.”
“Right, strange isn’t she? I also think that caretaker is strange.”
“Huh?”
“I mean the new caretaker. Isn’t there something a bit off about her?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like what she was asking us earlier.”
Catherine recalled the questions the caretaker had asked the annex maids during the day.
“Why is that strange?”
“Well, it’s a bit odd, isn’t it? Asking about the relationship between the Housekeeper and Countess Katrina, when the Housekeeper goes out, and such.”
The maid muttered as if she didn’t approve.
“She questioned every detail of the Housekeeper’s daily routine from start to finish.”
“She might have been curious.”
“Well. That could be possible.”
The maid agreed with Catherine’s words but soon shuddered.
“Still, that atmosphere of hers is somehow… ominous. Isn’t it a bit scary?”
“Huh?”
“She looks so gentle, but her eyes look like they could kill several people.”
Catherine frowned at the maid’s words.
“Don’t make such jokes. She’s someone who helped me.”
When Catherine became serious, the maid shrugged awkwardly.
“Right. Well, anyway, there was quite a commotion in the main building over this incident.”
“What? A commotion?”
“Well, they say the Housekeeper slapped the caretaker.”
“What did you say?”
Catherine screamed in surprise, and the maid shushed her.
“Don’t be so loud. You’ll wake the other girls.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Anyway, they say Prince Edwin stepped in and resolved it well.”
“Prince Edwin did?”
“Yes. The same person who couldn’t say a word when Mrs. Conrad went through such things.”
At the maid’s words, Catherine quietly lowered her head.
“What’s wrong, Catherine?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Catherine blinked for a moment then smiled brightly.
“I just feel like something big is going to change.”
“Change? What?”
“Just. Everything.”
“Do you have divine power or something? Are you seeing the future?”
“No, I just have that kind of feeling, hehe.”
Catherine, who was an utterly ordinary human, didn’t know at that time.
The fact that her premonition would soon become reality.
* * *
The Housekeeper of the 3rd Prince’s Palace was busy working her abacus today as well.
“This month is quite disappointing.”
She rolled the pen in her hand and muttered irritably to herself.
“This is all because of serving the wrong master.”
Just as the Housekeeper, who had been looking at documents for a while, was drawing a line over some numbers.
A knock was heard from outside.
“Housekeeper, it’s time for you to go.”
“Is it already that time? I should go.”
The Housekeeper hurriedly hid the documents, put on her outer garment, and left the office.
For her, it was just another ordinary routine.
Perhaps that’s why.
The Housekeeper failed to notice.
That the tightly closed office door opened silently.
That a shadow slipped through the gap and disappeared.
* * *
The Housekeeper’s office smelled of expensive perfume.
It was quite a luxurious scent for a mere baron’s wife to use.
Let’s see.
I began searching here and there very naturally, as if I were the owner of this room.
I had to finish my business quickly while the Housekeeper was at the 2nd Imperial Consort’s Palace.
‘As expected, it was just as the annex maids said.’
The first virtue of an assassin.
Thorough preliminary investigation.
Combining the information I gathered from the annex maids with the results of observing her for several days, the Housekeeper would return at least an hour after going to the 2nd Imperial Consort’s Palace.
I pulled out books from the bookshelf one by one and skimmed through them.
After searching for a while.
A gold necklace fell out from one of the books.
The ornate necklace, clearly belonging to royalty, sparkled brightly as if it were polished daily.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————