The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 213

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 213. The History of Two People (1)

 

Crackle, crackle.

 

The place where I opened my eyes was a cave.

 

Between Kaiden and me, a small campfire was burning.

 

From the faint sound of flowing water coming from outside, it seemed we weren’t far from the fallen riverbank.

 

‘And in this place…’

 

There were only two people – Kaiden and me.

 

I wasn’t sure if being left alone with someone who knew my true identity was unfortunate or fortunate.

 

‘I can’t let my guard down.’

 

I quickly surveyed the inside of the cave and straightened my posture.

 

Then I swiftly reached for the sword sheath hidden behind my back, but there was nothing there.

 

“Your clothes were all soaked, so I had no choice but to take them off.”

 

Kaiden spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

 

Only then did I realize that what I was wearing wasn’t my original clothes.

 

“My shirt dried the fastest, you see.”

 

The loose-fitting shirt I was wearing belonged to Kaiden.

 

Now that I looked, Kaiden was showing off his upper body without a single thread on.

 

“It’s made of fairly good quality fabric, so I thought it wouldn’t be uncomfortable…”

 

“You haven’t answered my question.”

 

I glared at him with a frown.

 

Ready to fight with a rock if necessary, I picked up a sharp stone rolling on the ground and hid it in my hand.

 

“How did you find out my identity?”

 

After hearing my words, Kaiden turned his back without much reaction.

 

The guy who had made himself comfortable poked at the campfire burning right in front of him with a long branch.

 

“…Seeing how you’re rushing me, it seems you’re not seriously injured anywhere.”

 

“Prince Kaiden.”

 

“Are you still unable to figure out who I am?”

 

There was disappointment in his low voice.

 

Kaiden asked with his back turned to me.

 

“Was I such an insignificant existence to you that it wouldn’t matter if you forgot me completely?”

 

What kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden?

 

I gripped the stone tightly in my hand and spoke.

 

“…I had never encountered Your Highness even once before meeting you in the Imperial Capital.”

 

Kaiden turned his head to look at me.

 

“I came this far because you told me to live.”

 

Jet-black hair, eyes like starlight shining brightly even in the dark cave.

 

A strange sense of déjà vu arose from forgotten memories of long ago.

 

“Kayla Angel.”

 

He called my real name once more.

 

“So this time, you’ll have to take responsibility.”

 

At that very moment, an old cry echoed in my head.

 

– Then I belong to you.

 

Some forgotten time in the past.

 

On my way back after completing a mission as usual.

 

Looking down from a tree, there was some unknown little kid.

 

– So take responsibility!

 

I remembered that small warmth that wouldn’t let go of me until the end.

 

– If you’re going to interfere in someone’s life, take responsibility for it!

 

The image of that kid I recalled after so long was both pitiful and insolent.

 

I forcibly tore away that warmth that clung to me demanding I take responsibility for his life, left him where he belonged, and departed.

 

“No way.”

 

I stared at Kaiden blankly.

 

“…Little brat?”

 

Kaiden burst into quiet laughter at the words “little brat.”

 

He turned his head back toward the fire.

 

“It’s been a while since I heard that. ‘Little brat.'”

 

Shadows fell across his sculpted profile.

 

It was the face of a man so mature it was hard to believe he was that little kid from back then.

 

“…Is it really you?”

 

I couldn’t believe it at all.

 

They say children grow up in the blink of an eye, but I never expected him to grow so much I couldn’t recognize him.

 

‘No, this seems closer to evolution than growth.’

 

The little brat – that is, Kaiden from the past – was so small and frail that the top of his head barely reached my solar plexus.

 

Moreover, his wrists were less than a handful, and I used to worry needlessly whether they might break every time I grabbed them.

 

“…You grew too much for me to recognize you.”

 

I slowly relaxed the grip on the stone in my hand.

 

“I’ll try to understand.”

 

Kaiden shrugged and grinned.

 

“It would be hard to see me as a little brat now.”

 

It was an undeniable fact.

 

Suddenly, his upper body reflected in the flickering crimson firelight caught my eye.

 

“Wouldn’t you say?”

 

His broad shoulders and back were tightly packed and well-proportioned, like someone had added large chunks of clay to steel rebar and sculpted them. The space between the erector muscles in the middle of his back was hollowed out as if someone had carved it with a chisel.

 

Besides that, his skin covered with scars large and small, and the thick veins protruding over both arms were things a little brat couldn’t possess.

 

“…That’s right.”

 

I stared at Kaiden’s back as if entranced, then looked away.

 

“But aren’t you cold? Please put on some clothes.”

 

“You’re wearing my clothes.”

 

“I’ll take them off. Please take them back.”

 

“No. Your clothes aren’t completely dry yet.”

 

Kaiden pointedly indicated my garments hanging by the fire.

 

As he said, water was still dripping from the edges of my clothes.

 

“…We were lucky.”

 

I recalled the cliff we had fallen from.

 

Honestly, from that height, I thought the chances of survival would be slim even if we fell into water.

 

“Yes, we were lucky.”

 

“Yes, really luck…”

 

“If I hadn’t fallen before you, it really would have been a disaster.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

Kaiden pointed with his chin toward the pieces of armor laid out at the cave entrance.

 

“If it weren’t for the protective magic engraved on the armor I was wearing, we both would have died horribly with our bodies shattered.”

 

So he’s saying that because Kaiden embraced me and fell first, the protective magic on his armor activated and saved both our lives?

 

“Why…”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Why did you do that?”

 

I looked at Kaiden with a frown.

 

“What if the protective magic hadn’t activated in time and Your Highness had died or been injured…”

 

“It doesn’t matter.”

 

Kaiden turned his body halfway toward me.

 

“Didn’t I tell you?”

 

Under his half-wet bangs, brightly shining eyes could be seen.

 

“I am yours.”

 

It was an assertion without a trace of doubt or hesitation.

 

That piercing gaze, the feelings contained within that gaze, felt hotter than the flames burning before us.

 

“…I have something I’m curious about.”

 

I deliberately turned my eyes away.

 

Water droplets on the cave ceiling were falling at a steady pace.

 

The hollowed floor beneath had formed a small puddle. It seemed like the triumph of water droplets that had fallen tirelessly for a very long time.

 

“How did you survive?”

 

The Land of the Barbarians is harsh even for children.

 

Knowing this, I had left Kaiden behind because I judged that living an ordinary life among the barbarians would be better than following me to become an assassin.

 

“…How, you ask.”

 

Kaiden listened to my words and quietly gazed outside the cave.

 

“I suppose I’d have to say I somehow survived.”

 

How much meaning could be contained in the word ‘somehow’?

 

Kaiden placed his arms behind him and tilted his head back.

 

“At first, I mixed in with the barbarians and learned how to hunt monsters. Then when I got a bit older, I left the village and lived an ordinary mercenary life.”

 

“An ordinary mercenary cannot become the king of a nation.”

 

I had merely pointed out a fact, but Kaiden laughed lightly.

 

“Right, to be precise, it wasn’t entirely ordinary.”

 

He glanced at me and continued speaking.

 

“The fact that I wasn’t ordinary was something you, Kayla, must have known well.”

 

“…It is rare for an ordinary kid to be chased by assassins.”

 

“So what do you suspect?”

 

“Nothing at all.”

 

If I had wanted to guess, I would have asked Kaiden his name back then.

 

The reason I never asked his name until the end was because I didn’t want to guess his identity.

 

‘In the end, it was a good choice.’

 

When I parted with Kaiden and returned to the organization, I was summoned by The Former Captain and immediately interrogated.

 

It was natural, since I had not only arbitrarily stolen another assassination organization’s target, but also unilaterally massacred those pursuing him.

 

– To stubbornly claim ignorance until the end, how cunning.

 

Even with truth serum, even with torture, Kaiden’s name never came from my lips.

 

The Captain grew tired of me not saying anything until the end.

 

– It’s not that you don’t know, but that you deliberately didn’t ask his name.

 

As expected of a perceptive captain.

 

He immediately saw through my intention and gave up the interrogation.

 

– Take this opportunity to engrave it once more. That weakness of yours will someday take your life.

 

I was only briefly lost in memories I hadn’t recalled in a long time.

 

I couldn’t help but open my mouth at Kaiden’s words reaching my ears.

 

“I was the bastard son of King Lionel.”

 

It was a voice far too plain for the content it contained.

 

“And the deceased Third Empress of The Empire, Idis Lionel, was my half-sister.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————