The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 155
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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 155. An Unexpected Gift (3)
“Why don’t you recruit more maids?”
Exactly 2 weeks remained until the subjugation campaign.
Catherine heard my question and replied with tired eyes.
“If I could recruit them, I’d want to hire about twenty more.”
“Then why aren’t you recruiting them?”
“Because there’s no one to recruit!”
The maids working in the Prince’s Palace basically had to be of noble birth.
In Catherine’s and my case, though we were of commoner origin, we now had noble surnames, so we could work beside the royal siblings.
“But it’s not like only those of noble birth can become maids.”
As always, exceptions existed.
“Among the maids currently working, there are those who don’t have noble surnames. But they were all able to continue working as maids in this palace after receiving permission from Her Majesty the Empress…”
“That was an exceptional case.”
Catherine tucked the hair that had fallen beside her cheek behind her ear and sighed.
“Her Majesty the Empress said she would only make an exception that one time. She understood the circumstances that it would be difficult to find maids to work in the 3rd Prince’s Palace immediately.”
“Then there’s no choice. We’ll have to send notices to noble families…”
“I already tried that.”
Already?
I looked at Catherine with surprised eyes.
Since she was always frantically running around, I thought she wouldn’t have any interest in this at all.
“Caretaker, I am the head maid, after all. Do you know how hard I tried to recruit more maids before Prince Edwin goes to the subjugation campaign?”
Catherine sighed deeply and continued.
“But no family gave a definite answer. Most of them didn’t even send replies.”
I flipped through the letters Catherine handed me one by one.
Half contained politely worded rejections, half of the remainder demanded outrageous compensation for sending maids, and the rest were outright refusals.
‘I thought Edwin’s position had improved somewhat after the hunting competition and Founding Festival.’
It seemed that was just wishful thinking.
Well, the nobility faction with the clear card of the 2nd Prince saw the 3rd Prince as a new rival, and the imperial faction nobles who favored self-preservation wouldn’t support the 3rd Prince over the 1st Prince.
‘And we can’t say we’ve shown attractive enough cards to draw the moderate faction to our side.’
The hunting competition was meant to catch the Emperor’s attention on Edwin, and the Founding Festival was a stage to announce the 3rd Prince’s presence to other nobles and foreign envoys.
‘Then we need to show a decisive blow in this subjugation campaign.’
I frowned and put the letters down on the desk.
“What should we do, Caretaker?”
Meanwhile, Catherine was resting her chin on the study desk and looking at me.
It was exactly like a hungry puppy hoping its owner would throw it a treat.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I was just wondering if you might have a clever solution.”
She seemed to believe I would have a secret plan to break through this situation.
As always.
“…If it’s about hiring new maids, I think I can solve it somehow.”
It would be a bit troublesome, but it couldn’t be helped.
Since the situation was urgent, even if it meant putting everything on the table, I had to use every card available.
“Oh my goodness! Really?”
Catherine let out a joyful scream and jumped up from her seat.
“Yes, I’ll try to find them as quickly as possible. I also need to be away from here following His Highness the Prince.”
“Wow, really? I see, yes?”
Catherine was clapping her hands in agreement when she suddenly stopped.
She tilted her head to the side while keeping her smiling face.
“Caretaker? I think I just heard something strange. Did I mishear…”
“You probably didn’t mishear.”
I never intended to send Edwin to the subjugation campaign alone from the beginning.
I opened my mouth with a nonchalant expression.
“I’m going to the subjugation campaign together with Prince Edwin.”
* * *
Bang.
For hitting the desk with a still-developing fist, it made quite a loud noise.
“Absolutely not!”
Edwin shot up from his seat and glared at me.
“Do you think that makes sense? Even if it’s you, Rachel, absolutely not this time!”
This is unexpected.
I stared quietly at Edwin’s stubborn face.
It was touching to see the kid who always begged to be taken along now getting angry at me for even thinking of following him.
“Why not?”
“Obviously because it’s dangerous!”
Edwin walked out from behind the desk and put both hands on his hips.
“Even if you’re strong enough to defeat a monster single-handedly, absolutely not this time!”
Had he grown taller again in the meantime?
Edwin’s eye level now reached the tip of my chin.
I felt a little sad that there weren’t many days left when I could look straight down at the top of his head.
“The place we’re going has incredibly strong monsters appearing in groups! They’re big and vicious! Worse than the mutant monsters we saw in Luksen!”
“That’s exactly why I want to go with you.”
I answered with an indifferent expression.
“I can’t send Your Highness to such a dangerous place alone. And we need to find an attendant too…”
“That’s not a problem!”
Not a problem?
When I frowned, Edwin lightly tapped his chest and replied.
“Philip, the Count said he could arrange an attendant!”
“…Philip, the Count?”
That bastard, why did he say strange things to someone else’s kid, no, someone else’s prince?
When I made a displeased expression, Edwin’s momentum deflated somewhat.
“S-so you don’t need to worry! And if you leave the Prince’s Palace too, who will take care of Emilia?”
“…That’s not a problem for me either.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Edwin knew well that Catherine alone couldn’t properly take care of Emilia.
“Catherine is busy with head maid duties. The other maids have a lot to do too. Are you planning to neglect Emilia?”
He seemed anxious just thinking about leaving Emilia alone.
“What if Emilia gets hurt or has some accident while she’s alone…”
“If the caretaker is away, wouldn’t we just fill that position with those who can replace the caretaker?”
Edwin frowned at my words.
“What? Are you saying you’ll hire a new caretaker now?”
“Something like that.”
I added a comment in an indifferent tone.
“Since we’ve recruited new maids.”
Edwin’s eyes became as round as pine cones at my answer.
“You recruited new maids? There were people willing to become maids?”
“Yes, they’ll all arrive before we leave for the subjugation campaign.”
The representative of the Golden Goose Guild was someone who always kept his word.
Thanks to that, didn’t he turn distrust about his origins into solid trust?
‘Though I did get some criticism for not being able to pay immediately.’
It didn’t matter much.
In the end, I managed to get a promise from Somnia that she would send me five people suitable to work as maids within a week.
‘Ten would be nice. Even if she dies, she says only five is possible, which is disappointing.’
She’s probably thinking of sending a few maids who work under her.
For someone who’s supposedly the wealthiest merchant guild leader on the continent, she seemed petty, but I understood.
‘Forging ten people at once with noble status would be pushing it.’
I could see it clearly without even looking.
Somnia pulling at her hair while cursing me.
“B-but still, no!”
Now what’s the problem this time.
Edwin spoke in a firm voice as if he absolutely wouldn’t bend his stubbornness this time.
“You! You’re a woman!”
So that was the reason. How absurd.
I raised one eyebrow.
“…Just for that reason?”
“Just for that reason?!”
Edwin shouted with a flushed face.
“No prince takes a woman as an attendant! If you come with Rachel, everyone will obviously talk behind our backs saying I’m bringing a caretaker to the battlefield!”
Hmm, he’s not wrong.
I pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Then it would be fine if I weren’t a woman.”
“What do you mean…”
“Your Highness seems to have forgotten how we went to Ruxen Village.”
Edwin slowly blinked his large eyes at my words.
“…Don’t tell me you’re talking about disguising yourself as a man?”
He’s grown a lot. He understands well and has become quick-witted.
Instead of answering, I shrugged my shoulders, and Edwin’s eyebrows drooped.
“Rachel, do you want to go to the subjugation campaign that badly?”
As if.
The subjugation campaign was also a battlefield.
Who in the world would want to step onto a battlefield where their life is threatened.
‘But in this subjugation campaign.’
I thought of Ian.
That bastard who casually asked if I was okay, standing there in leather shoes and silk clothes as if he had never betrayed and burned his lover to death.
‘Ian, that bastard said he would serve as the 2nd Prince’s attendant.’
The subjugation campaign was both a decisive opportunity to solidify Edwin’s position and potentially the stage where I could realize my revenge.
‘So I must participate in the subjugation campaign.’
I clenched my hands tightly behind my back.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“…Why?”
“That’s…”
“Perhaps.”
Edwin looked at me with his chin lowered.
His uncertain gaze was only reading my expression.
“Is it because you don’t trust 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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