The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 234

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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 234. Turning the Tables (2)

Wahahahaha.

In the center of the Bentrum Empire’s banquet hall, dancers were performing to beautiful melodies. The nobles invited to the banquet were chatting away, using the dancers’ performances as accompaniment to their drinks.

“Huff, so do you know what happened? The viscount’s second son, who had passed out drunk, was found the next morning in the stable covered in horse manure!”

“My goodness, what a filthy and terrible thing.”

“For someone who got an innocent young lady pregnant out of wedlock and then tried to marry another noble family’s daughter, that punishment seems rather light.”

It was improper etiquette for nobles to expose other nobles’ scandals in public, but tonight’s banquet hall was an exception.

Everyone had agreed that stories told in such places were merely social techniques to liven the atmosphere, regardless of their truth.

“Anyway, all those who can’t control their lower regions should be castrated. Knowing it would bring shame not just to themselves but to their family’s honor, yet acting so brazenly…”

“Still, I heard that foolish viscount’s second son is going through with marrying that other noble family’s daughter after all.”

“Tsk tsk, only that young lady the viscount’s second son touched ended up pitiful. What noble family would take in a woman who bore another’s child without marriage?”

Everyone cursed the foolish viscount’s second son and pitied the young lady who had been used by him and was about to become an unwed mother.

“But I heard they’re going to adopt the child that young lady will bear as the eldest son’s adopted child.”

Not knowing who one’s father was was a disgrace for noble children.

Even if they took their birth mother’s surname, it was difficult to even enter politics or business due to their unknown origins.

Therefore, when a noble woman bore a child of unknown paternity, it was common to adopt the child as a son of the family’s male heir or as the grandparents’ adopted child.

“That would be better. Even if the family tree gets tangled, it’s better than the child’s life getting ruined.”

“Tsk tsk, this is why we need to regulate young people meeting just anyone before marriage.”

“Exactly.”

A countess, heavily drunk, giggled and made a joke.

“Once married, they can meet anyone they want whether they like it or not.”

“Oh my, how improper! Madam, how can you say such things so openly!”

“What’s wrong with it? Which powerful couple doesn’t have at least one lover on the side?”

“That’s right. If one side can’t perform their duties at night, you have to find a substitute.”

“Oh my, it seems your husband’s lower functions have already expired? I know a skilled physician in that area, shall I introduce you?”

It was then that the conversation was gradually turning into lewd talk.

“But isn’t it dangerous to have lovers after marriage?”

Another noblewoman whispered while covering her mouth with a fan.

“What if you end up with another man’s child instead of your husband’s?”

“That’s why you need to practice proper contraception.”

“There’s no such thing as perfect contraception in this world.”

“Then…”

The noblewomen exchanged glances and hesitated to answer.

At that moment, a countess burst into loud laughter once again.

“I’d have to hope the child takes after me rather than my husband, ahahaha!”

“Oh my, oh my, you’re so good at jokes, madam!”

It was vulgar conversation lacking in intelligence and dignity, hard to believe from those born of noble status.

“That’s going too far.”

Then the red-haired woman standing in the center of the women gathered at one table smiled softly.

“If the couple had a harmonious relationship to begin with, there would be no need for lovers, and no chance of bearing another man’s child.”

Countess Pailin Katarina murmured quietly while looking at the noblewomen who followed her.

“Moreover, while it’s common for husbands to bring children from outside, it’s rare for wives to do so.”

“Who knows?”

The other drunk countess objected to her words again.

“There are women who hide the fact that they’re carrying another man’s child before marriage and then get married. If you’re determined to deceive about a child from an affair, no one would know, right?”

“What? There are people who hide their pregnancy before marriage and then get married? Even with another man’s child?”

“Surely not. If they got caught, it wouldn’t just end with a broken engagement or divorce…”

“Well, everyone’s situation is different.”

Pailin swirled her wine glass and drooped her eyebrows.

“Such women would have their circumstances too. Perhaps it was a marriage proposal they absolutely couldn’t let slip away, or they desperately wanted to protect the child in their womb…”

“My goodness, even so, that’s a bit…”

“When you think about it, deceiving your husband by making him think a child from an affair is his is also deception.”

“But isn’t it worse to commit such acts before marriage and then deceive and marry?”

“I think both are similar? Of course, it would be different if the husband was also committing adultery.”

It was a completely unimportant topic.

But the noblewomen engaged in heated debate more enthusiastically than anyone.

“Ah, we’ve been chattering too loudly among ourselves.”

Pailin looked back at the sofa behind the table.

On the sofa sat the 2nd Empress Helena, with a pale, sickly face.

“What do you think, Your Highness Helena?”

Helena bit her lower lip and glared at Pailin.

Her red eyes were burning redder than usual, as if blood might flow from them.

“Which do you think is worse, Your Highness?”

Countess Pailin Katarina was a woman at the center of high society.

Such a woman couldn’t possibly be unaware of the rumors circulating about the 2nd Empress.

‘Pailin, how dare that thing…’

Helena repeated rough breathing with her eyes rolled up.

Blue veins protruded over her hands buried in her voluminous skirt.

‘Is she mocking me?’

Pailin had been a friend who stuck with her since before she became an empress.

She never dreamed that the woman she had cherished and loved in her own way would try to stab her in the back like this.

‘That rumor must have been spread by her too.’

The past events she thought were forgotten had surfaced again and bound her ankles like shackles once more.

The scandal about Helena’s former lover and the 2nd Prince’s origins, which had started spreading at some point, had spread throughout the entire Imperial Capital.

The rumor had spread so quickly that one might suspect someone had deliberately spread it, and now it was beyond the point where she could even attempt to correct it.

‘Damn bitch.’

Normally, she might have stood up immediately and given Pailin a satisfying slap across the face. But she couldn’t do that now.

‘Just how have you been conducting yourself all this time for such ridiculous rumors to crawl out again!’

Helena’s father, the Marquis of Redcliff, had grabbed her by the hair as soon as he returned from the subjugation campaign.

Not only had most of his achievements from the subjugation campaign been stolen by the 3rd Prince, but it seemed the Emperor had also said something to him about those rumors.

‘This lacking thing is also my daughter! I fed, clothed, and raised you to put you in the empress position! Can’t you even manage to just stay still!’

Not even the promised empress position, but an empress consort position. And what was so great about the 2nd Empress position, damn human.

“Your Highness, you’re unusually quiet today.”

Pailin sat beside Helena with a worried expression.

Her appearance of checking on the 2nd Empress’s condition was that of a loyal retainer full of concern, no matter who looked.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“…As if.”

Showing signs of agitation would be tantamount to proving those rumors were true.

“I’m more energetic than ever, Countess Katarina.”

Helena smiled as if nothing was wrong.

The smile of the woman beautiful as a painting was full of venom.

“Prince Lloyd returned safely, and the subjugation campaign was completed successfully.”

“Is that so? Then that’s fortunate.”

Pailin continued in a bright voice while fanning herself.

“I was worried that Your Highness Helena might be unwell and wondered if I should bring you some medicine.”

Damn bitch, I was lenient because we were close, but now you’re trying to climb over my head. Helena glared at Pailin as if to kill her while smiling.

“Don’t glare at me so much, Your Highness.”

Pailin watched the banquet hall while covering below her eyes with her fan.

She murmured quietly without even giving Helena a glance.

“It’s not my fault that the noblewomen are having such conversations, is it? They’re all drunk and saying whatever comes to mind, so please don’t take it to heart.”

Helena also narrowed her eyes while keeping her gaze fixed on the banquet hall.

She whispered quietly, barely moving her lips.

“Shut up, Pailin. Do you think I don’t know your scheme? Since Lloyd’s performance in the subjugation campaign was lackluster and it seems unlikely he’ll be chosen by His Imperial Majesty, you’re thinking of cutting ties with him completely.”

“Your Imperial Highness, you’re being too harsh in your assessment of Prince Lloyd. Just returning safely is an achievement in itself.”

“How disgusting. Do you think I don’t know that you’re the one who spread those scandalous rumors about me?”

“Oh my, our Helena Your Highness is truly so clever.”

“You, shut that mouth of yours…”

“I wonder why someone so clever made such a foolish decision when she couldn’t even handle a single lowly knight.”

Pailin muttered quietly in a voice that seemed to suppress laughter.

“If you were going to play the cuckoo, you should have done it properly without leaving any evidence.”

At that very moment, there was a loud crash.

The 2nd Empress had suddenly shot up from her seat, causing the teapot and glass cups on the side table next to the sofa to fall to the floor.

“Helena Your Highness.”

Pailin snapped her fan shut with a sharp sound and turned her head.

“You really don’t seem to be feeling well, so why don’t you return to your quarters early today?”

The emotion dwelling in Pailin’s eyes as she wore a concerned expression was not worry, but mockery and delight.

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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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