The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 240

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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 240. Karma (4)

“Hah, haah…”

Helena collapsed to the floor as if falling.

She looked up while clutching the cheek The Empress had struck.

“Are you finally coming to your senses?”

“Y-you just slapped my cheek…”

Melanie touched the palm that had struck The 2nd Empress’s cheek.

“Though it was something I had to do, I should apologize first.”

“Don’t lie to me!”

Perhaps it was because of her expressionless face.

The Empress didn’t look sorry at all.

Helena shouted angrily at that sight.

“It’s not enough that you suddenly barged in to interrogate me, but you even hit me! Even if you are The Empress, don’t you think this is too much? The rudeness The Empress has shown me just now will definitely be formally protested…”

“…I thought you were quick-witted, but apparently not.”

“What did you say?”

Cracks slowly appeared on Melanie’s face, as if covered with a transparent film.

“Don’t act spoiled in front of me, 2nd Empress.”

The contemptuous light in her gray eyes deepened.

“In this subjugation campaign, my son was injured in the shoulder because of the mutant monsters created by the conspiracy between House Redcliff and The Holy Kingdom.”

In fact, The Empress’s anger had reached the top of her head before entering this room. She just hadn’t shown it.

“When my child, who was told from birth that he wouldn’t live long, returned on a stretcher with a splint on his shoulder, what do you think my feelings were.”

Melanie spoke as if chewing and spitting out each word.

The face of The Empress, who always showed only calm and composed appearances, was twisted painfully.

“I am standing here restraining myself from wanting to cut off your neck right here and now.”

Helena tightly gripped the dress hem scattered messily on the floor.

Her tear-filled red eyes glared venomously at The Empress.

“…So, do you want to receive my apology?”

“Hardly. Would I have come all the way here for such a trivial thing.”

“Then what exactly do you want…”

“Confess everything to The Emperor.”

The Empress had already returned to her usual indifferent face.

She continued speaking quietly in a calm voice.

“Your father, The Marquis of Redcliff, admits to the fact that he conspired with The Holy Kingdom to help create mutant monsters, but claims he only supported it for magical research and biological weapon development purposes.”

The Marquis’s claim was that it was never his intention to harm the peace and security of The Empire and The Continent.

“He’s making excuses that the appearance of mutant monsters in the subjugation operation area was all an unintended mistake.”

It was rhetoric befitting a man who had continued to serve as chairman of the council among the council nobles, where showing weakness made survival difficult.

“And.”

The Empress paused to catch her breath.

Her voice became even lower and slower.

“Regarding Prince Lloyd’s birth, he says he has nothing more to say.”

He made no statement about his grandson’s issue?

Why on earth? The Marquis is the person who most wants to make Lloyd emperor.

Helena looked at The Empress with wide eyes.

“If the rumors circulating in high society are true, then it’s his fault for not properly educating his daughter, so he said he would follow only what The Emperor commands regarding the punishment of you and The 2nd Prince.”

“What does that…”

“You’re not as clever as you look, Helena.”

I thought she was at least a cunning woman who used her head well.

To think she was just an unfortunate and pitiful woman with many fears but also many desires.

A light of pity briefly crossed The Empress’s face.

“What The Marquis of Redcliff is saying means that if you forgive the marquess house’s crime of conspiring with The Holy Kingdom, he will give up on you and The 2nd Prince.”

Give up? Who is giving up on whom?

Helena rolled her eyes around anxiously.

‘That can’t be, that absolutely can’t be, father would never do that, I too, Lloyd too must be absolutely necessary to that person.’

Helena had been told her whole life that she must become empress.

If she couldn’t become empress, then at least the son she bore should become emperor.

“D-don’t lie to me! As if I would fall for such a shallow trick…”

“It seems like you’re the one lying.”

“You keep making me repeat the same thing! I keep telling you I’m innocent! I don’t know anything…”

The conversation stopped with a humming sound.

It was a sound from a small orb The Empress had taken out from her sleeve.

Though it was too quiet for people outside to hear, it reached Helena’s ears clearly.

[So, how did things go?]

Helena’s own voice, all too familiar to her, flowed from the orb.

[What matter are you referring to?]

Soon after, The Man answering her spoke playfully as if making a joke.

[Are you referring to the matter about The Prophet? Or the matter about The 2nd Prince?]

[Viscount Miller, I’m not sitting here to play word games with you.]

When exactly was this recorded? More than that, when did The Empress bring such a magical device into her palace? She had always told The Maid Captain to manage whether suspicious objects were brought in. Could it be that The Maid Captain is a spy planted by The Empress?

[…I will find The Prophet by any means necessary, so you don’t need to worry about that. I will definitely secure The Prophet before the 1st Prince’s side.]

Helena froze in her kneeling position with her hands outstretched.

[No dangerous monsters will appear, so you can rest assured. As for the areas that the other princes are in charge of…]

There was no need to hear more.

Melanie cut off the magical device’s power.

“Viscount Ian Miller. A close associate that your father, famous for not easily trusting people, brought in relatively recently.”

She had known the name Ian Miller for quite some time.

It was a name that frequently appeared in the intelligence reports sent by spies planted to monitor and check the movements of House Redcliff.

“Such a person frequently visited your quarters so often that the threshold wore thin, yet you claim to know nothing.”

Her tone suggested she should try continuing to make excuses.

Helena unconsciously made a tearful face and stammered.

“Em-Empress…”

“Only I know about the existence of this recording orb. For now.”

The Empress slowly bent down to meet Helena’s eye level.

“Helena, I’m trying to give you a chance.”

Utterly graceful fingertips stroked Helena’s face.

“The Emperor has already drawn his sword and is planning to use this incident to completely bring the marquess house to its knees.”

Of course, the council would resist fiercely, and The Marquis of Redcliff wouldn’t fall easily, but The Emperor would definitely do so.

“He’s someone who stained his hands with the blood of his own siblings to reach his current position.”

Melanie continued speaking gently as if soothing a child.

“In that process, you and The 2nd Prince won’t be safe either. The 2nd Prince is even under suspicion of not being of imperial bloodline.”

“Lloyd is…!”

“Helena.”

The Empress placed her index finger on Helena’s lips as she flared up.

“Tell The Emperor about the crimes your father committed. Confess all the circumstances and evidence you know.”

Melanie whispered quietly with her eyes half-lowered.

“If you accept my proposal, both you and Lloyd will be safe. At least you won’t be offered as sacrifices for the marquess house.”

“…How can I.”

Thin streams of water were flowing down from Helena’s eyes.

She trembled while looking straight at Melanie’s face and asked.

“How can I trust the promise The Empress makes? The Empress wouldn’t trust me anyway…”

“The Emperor wants to verify Lloyd’s bloodline once more.”

Helena’s eyes shook violently for a moment.

She moved her lips as if wanting to say something.

“But if you accept my proposal, I intend to persuade His Imperial Majesty that no verification is necessary.”

In truth, having the Holy Kingdom re-verify a prince’s bloodline would be tantamount to admitting there were shameful secrets within the Imperial family.

“As one who cares for the Imperial children, I have already acknowledged and accepted Lloyd as an Imperial child, so if I request that matter be covered up, it could pass quietly.”

However, doing so would place Lloyd far from the line of succession. While he could continue to be recognized as a prince publicly, no one would want to serve an emperor whose origins were unclear.

“…Does Her Imperial Majesty not hate me?”

Helena raised her eyes, trying to stop her tears.

“Then why are you trying to give me this opportunity?”

“…Because you are a mother to a child, just like me.”

Taking a mother away from a young child would be a cruel act.

So this was the last mercy Melanie was showing Helena as one mother to another.

“So think carefully and make your decision. What choice you should make for yourself and your precious child.”

* * *

Thump, thump, thump.

Someone came running up the stairs noisily.

Then they burst open the door.

“Caretaker! Caretaker!”

I stopped braiding Emilia’s hair and turned my head.

The person who rushed in with a flushed face was none other than Catherine.

“The Marquis of Redcliff, The Marquis of Redcliff…!”

She shouted while breathing heavily.

“He’s been executed!”

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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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