The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 336

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

Special Prelude 1. The Shape of Love (1)

“Prince Kaiden.”
Oliver, Vice-Captain of the Knight Order of Adamant Kingdom, watched his sovereign’s back.
White wisps of steam rose from his body, drenched in the scalding blood of monsters.
The knights who followed him dared not approach him in that savage state.
“It’s finished now.”
“…Finished?”
Kaiden turned slowly, still gripping the great sword, his golden eyes blazing with an eerie light.
His black hair, matted with blood and sweat, clung to his savagely handsome face. He looked like a warrior crawled straight from hell—the image was terrifyingly beautiful.
“Yes, the Subjugation appears to be concluded. We’ll handle the cleanup ourselves, so please retire to the Encampment. We’ll depart for the Palace at dawn tomorrow…….”
Oliver was delivering his report in a tone tinged with relief when suddenly a horse’s neigh sounded beside him.
“Your Majesty?”
Kaiden had already mounted his black horse and was preparing to ride off at once.
“Your Majesty! Where are you going!”
“Home.”
“I beg your pardon?”
It was the middle of the night, not even early morning.
To cross the Monster Forest and return to the Palace when dawn was still hours away was madness—even for someone who had just annihilated the creature swarms in this place.
“No, wait! Your Majesty! You mean to go alone? At minimum, you should take two knights as escort…….”
“You’re luggage. I’ll depart ahead.”
Kaiden wiped his face roughly, then grabbed the horse’s reins.
“See you at the Palace.”
“Your Majesty! Prince Kaiden!”
Oliver rushed to pursue his lord, but no matter how quickly he ran, he couldn’t outpace a horse. He watched Kaiden’s receding silhouette with bewildered eyes.
“Um, Vice-Captain?”
“Should we give chase?”
The other knights, who had been watching the situation while clearing away the monster corpses, gauged Oliver’s reaction.
“Ah, forget it.”
Oliver pressed his forehead and sighed, shaking his head.
A wry smile played across his face—one of resignation.
“Who’s going to stop a pair of newlyweds, right?”
Though it had been over three years of marriage.
The knights all wore expressions suggesting they had plenty to say.
“Besides, the Queen is carrying their first child—his anxiety is understandable.”
The King and Queen of Adamant were famous for their devotion to each other, yet they had been without a child for years. Though the sovereign’s most vital duty was to produce an heir and secure the kingdom’s succession, the man himself seemed utterly indifferent to it.
‘Honestly, it’s nothing short of a miracle.’
Queen Rachel had been nearly infertile.
Even the royal physicians had cautiously concluded that her prolonged use of strong contraceptives made natural conception impossible.
– Congratulations, Your Majesty! The Queen has conceived!
So the Queen’s sudden pregnancy had come as a surprise to everyone.
Yet even as all celebrated, the King’s expression remained far from bright.
‘I’ve never seen such excess before.’
In the days after learning of the Queen’s pregnancy, Kaiden had been utterly ferocious—like a rutting beast. Oliver had even dared to scold him to his face, asking why he was in such a state when it was the Queen who was pregnant, not him.
‘Those were truly hellish times.’
At one point, Kaiden had grown so unwell sympathetically experiencing the Queen’s nausea that the entire Palace was thrown into upheaval. Unable to keep even water down, rumors had spread beyond the kingdom’s borders that the young sovereign had contracted an incurable illness—what pains Oliver had taken to suppress such whispers.
‘Even when my wife was pregnant, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as this.’
Once Rachel entered her second trimester, Kaiden’s own physical condition improved.
But another trial awaited him: Separation Anxiety. Whenever he was parted from the Queen’s side for long, his nerves grew as sharp as a drawn blade. As a result, Oliver—who essentially acted as his advisor, managing his moods—found himself ground down daily.
“Come now, let’s tend to our duties.”
So this sort of sudden departure no longer surprised him.
Oliver smiled good-naturedly and clapped his hands lightly.
“Still, as you said, we should send at least two knights as escort even now…….”
“Didn’t you hear? He called you luggage.”
All the knights fell silent at the Vice-Captain’s words.
The King of Adamant’s martial prowess was legendary not only within his own realm but across the entire Continent. Today alone, he had cut down hundreds of monsters single-handedly.
“All right, everyone back to your stations!”
Oliver took command of the scene with practiced ease, as if accustomed to the King’s absences by now.
“Let’s wrap this up quickly so we can head home too, shall we?”
“Yes, sir!”
The night deepened slowly to the resounding reply of the knights.

* * *

“Good heavens, His Majesty the King?”
Olivier, the Housekeeper of the Queen’s Palace, stared in astonishment.
She had come out to scold the maids for admitting a visitor to the Queen’s quarters at this ungodly hour without permission, only to find that the guest was the King himself—who had set out on a Monster Subjugation four days prior.
“I heard you had departed on campaign. How do you come to be here at this hour…….”
“I returned moments ago.”
Kaiden answered curtly.
For someone who had supposedly just returned, his clothes were immaculate, and his body carried the scent of jasmine. His hair was still damp, not yet fully dry.
“Where is the Queen?”
“She retired to her bedchamber a short while ago.”
At the mention of the bedchamber, Kaiden’s expression darkened slightly, but it passed almost immediately.
Yet experienced Housekeeper Olivier caught that fleeting shift.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll inform the King that you’ve returned. She’ll be ready in no time…….”
“Never mind. Why wake someone already asleep?”
Kaiden stopped Olivier, who was about to rush toward the Queen’s bedchamber, with a single gesture.
“I’ll only look at her face and leave. Don’t worry yourself.”
“But…….”
“Let no one inside. Understood?”
Before the Housekeeper could even respond, Kaiden had already vanished up the staircase.
As if nothing else mattered but his purpose here.

* * *

The door to the Queen’s bedchamber opened and closed without a sound.
The King had ordered it replaced with a silent door because she, her senses heightened with pregnancy, could not sleep well otherwise.
Kaiden approached the bed with a ghost’s footstep, silent and measured.
There lay the woman who was his entire world, sleeping soundly—curled up as if the soft goose-down bed were an uncomfortable field cot.
“…….”
A very small voice echoed softly in the darkness.
Gazing intently at her sleeping form, Kaiden slowly reached out his hand.
Gently, he brushed back the strand of hair that had fallen across her forehead, and her familiar features came into view.
Looking at that peaceful sleeping face, the exhaustion from days without proper food or rest seemed to melt away in an instant.
“…Rachel.”
Her sleep had grown lighter than it used to be.
Rachel’s eyes fluttered open immediately.
The black silhouette looming above her caught the moonlight, its outline barely visible in the silver glow.
“…Kaiden?”
She murmured, her voice tinged with concern.
She thought the Extermination Forces weren’t due to arrive until tomorrow or the day after.
Recalling what she’d been told, Rachel rubbed her eyes and raised herself up slightly.
“You’ve pushed yourself again and returned early. Why didn’t you send word ahead? Then I could have gone to meet you…….”
“Lie down.”
“But…….”
“I thought I’d arrive late, so I didn’t send word. I assumed you’d be sleeping.”
Kaiden gently eased Rachel back down onto the bed.
His touch was tender, as if handling a child.
“Go back to sleep. I’ll leave once I see you rest.”
There he goes again.
Rachel stared at Kaiden, who sat at the edge of the bed patting her shoulder, as if speaking to a child.
“Kaiden.”
Instead of answering, his darkened golden gaze met hers.
“Stay and sleep here.”
At her words, the large hand that had been patting her shoulder stilled.
His eyes, already darkened to molten gold, trembled finely—like stones cast upon still water.

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