The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 45
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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 45. The First Test (5)
‘That’s only natural.’
If they released the cure, there would be war with the Holy Kingdom, and if they freed the people from the Plague Village, the Empire’s citizens wouldn’t stand for it.
“Haaaaah, that’s right.”
Edwin let out a long sigh after hearing my answer.
His expression was full of worries and concerns, unusual for a child.
“Why are you sighing?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
What kind of useless thoughts is he having with that little head of his?
I glanced at Edwin’s complexion and turned my head away.
“I’ll pick up the pace. We need to get inside before the gates close.”
I cracked the reins forcefully, and the carriage’s speed increased.
Long shadows stretched behind the carriage wheels as dust scattered.
Today had been an unusually long day coming to an end.
* * *
Leaving the village was no trouble at all, but the problem came after arriving at the 3rd Prince’s Palace.
“…Huh.”
Catherine showed a shocked expression the moment she saw Seiji.
It was understandable to be surprised when someone who had gone out saying they’d bring back a person to be the Prince’s teacher returned with what looked like a beggar.
“Well, well, you said you had nothing, but you live in quite a nice place, huh? Even so, since it’s the Imperial Palace, all the furnishings are high-class too?”
Really, how does he look like a sage at all? He’s just a worn-out old ruffian from the streets.
Seiji swaggered around the reception room carelessly.
“Hmm?”
Just then, the door opened and Princess Emilia entered.
The moment Seiji’s eyes met the Princess’s, he flinched and took half a step back.
“Grandpa? Who are you?”
“…Huh?”
Seiji pointed at Emilia with his finger and turned his head toward us.
“What’s this puppy?”
“Whaaaat? Ria’s not a puppy! I’m a person!”
“Huh, the puppy talks.”
“Ria’s not a puppy!”
“You are though? A little puppy? No wait, at this level should I call you a golden puppy?”
“I’m not!”
Emilia threw a tantrum when this unknown old man who suddenly appeared called her a puppy.
“I’m not! I’m not!”
“What, what aren’t you?”
“Not a puppy!”
“Then what are you?”
“Ria is a person! I’m a Princess!”
“…A Princess?”
Seiji frowned, then opened his eyes wide as if something had occurred to him.
Then he quickly crouched down to match Emilia’s eye level.
“Oh my, so you’re that 1st Princess! Emilia Luce Ventrum!”
“Excuse me!”
Catherine raised her voice as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“How dare you carelessly speak Her Highness the Princess’s name! Show some respect!”
“Honestly, why do I need to follow such useless etiquette when I can’t even call a little kid by her name?”
“What, what did you say?”
Seiji seemed not to listen to Catherine’s words at all.
Instead, he lifted Emilia up with both hands as she stared at him.
“Kyaaaah, Your Highness Emilia!”
Catherine screamed as if she might faint when the outsider laid hands on the Princess’s body.
“There, there. Our Princess, nice to meet you. Just call me Grandpa. Got it?”
“Uh…”
Emilia looked at Seiji with wide eyes, apparently surprised.
Then she saw the abundant beard flowing down below Seiji’s chin and suddenly her eyes lit up.
“Clouds!”
“Ugh!”
Emilia grabbed Seiji’s beard tightly with both hands and started shaking it wildly.
“Kyaaaa! It’s clouds! Clouds!”
“Cl-clouds?! This is part of my body, you little! Let go!”
“Ria wants to try eating clouds!”
“Aaaaah, don’t put it in your mouth!”
Seiji tried belatedly to put Emilia back down, but he couldn’t.
Emilia was gripping his beard firmly and wouldn’t let go.
“Oh dear, my beard will be completely plucked out before all my hair falls out!”
“Ehehehehe! High, high!”
“What’s high about this! Let go of this, you little puppy!”
“Ria’s not a little puppy!”
“Ah, ah! Okay, okay! I got it, so don’t pull so hard!”
Seiji ended up inadvertently playing with Emilia, bouncing her up and down.
At a glance, it looked quite heartwarming, like a kind grandfather playing with his mischievous granddaughter.
“…Caretaker.”
Catherine whispered quietly in my ear while maintaining a forced smile.
“So who exactly is that homel— I mean, that gentleman?”
“Didn’t I tell you? He’s the person who will be His Highness the Prince’s teacher.”
“Hohoho, yes you did. Certainly.”
Catherine’s mouth twitched as she watched Seiji running around holding Emilia.
Just then, Seiji declared defeat to Emilia’s hands and sprawled out on the sofa without permission, causing veins to pop on her forehead.
“But no matter how I look at him, he doesn’t seem like a noble, and he doesn’t seem to be a person of high learning either.”
“He may look like that, but he’s an amazing person, so don’t worry too much.”
“Amazing? What’s amazing about him?”
Catherine was glaring at Seiji with eyes full of suspicion.
He was directly feeding Emilia the refreshments the maids had brought to get her to leave him alone.
“You weren’t swindled outside, were you? I know you’re not the type of person who would fall for that, but…”
“Contrary to appearances…”
I didn’t care if Seiji was treated like a crazy beggar, but I couldn’t tolerate having my own abilities questioned.
I was about to reveal to Catherine that the beggar old man’s true identity was the missing Great Sage, but I closed my mouth.
‘If I say something unnecessary and problems arise later.’
It would probably be better not to mention that he’s the Great Sage himself.
“Caretaker?”
Catherine looked puzzled when I stopped speaking mid-sentence.
“Contrary to appearances, what is that gentleman like? Is he perhaps some great person I don’t know about?”
“…Have you ever heard the name Seiji Rill, the Great Sage?”
“The Great Sage? Of course I know him!”
Seiji’s fame was more incredible than I had imagined.
Even Catherine, a commoner-born noble from the borderlands, knew his name.
While the fact that he developed the cure for scale disease wasn’t publicly known, his achievements were diverse in other areas as well.
“I heard he suddenly went missing one day, but why do you suddenly ask about him?”
“Actually, that person.”
I pointed at Seiji with a solemn expression.
“Is a distant relative of the Great Sage.”
“Whaaaat? Really?”
“It’s true.”
I whispered quickly in a voice only Catherine could hear.
“It’s not widely known, but the Great Sage’s relatives are also called geniuses, no less than the Great Sage himself. That person is one of them.”
“Is, is that so?”
Catherine seemed flustered but appeared to believe my words.
After thinking for a moment, she suddenly asked me with a puzzled look.
“But why would such an amazing person agree to be Prince Edwin’s tutor?”
“…Yes, well, that’s how it turned out.”
“W-wait a moment.”
Catherine pressed her forehead as if bewildered.
“But isn’t Lil Viscount a criminal with a bounty on his head across the entire continent?”
“That’s correct. But since he’s been declared missing, he shouldn’t be pursued anymore.”
“Ah, no, this still won’t work. Even if he’s not the Great Sage himself, if we let a relative of a major criminal stay here…”
Catherine looked at me with a terrified expression.
“But how on earth did The Caretaker bring a relative of the Great Sage here? They say no one on the continent knows where the Great Sage, let alone his family, disappeared to…”
“…I have very personal connections.”
“I, I see.”
Catherine seemed to accept my words obediently, but couldn’t hide her worry and concern.
“Caretaker, I’m so worried. Is it really okay to have that person stay at the Prince’s Palace? I don’t think this is right.”
“Catherine.”
I quietly turned around and took Catherine’s hands in mine.
Catherine blushed and showed a flustered expression.
“C-Caretaker?”
“Actually, the Great Sage is a very close acquaintance of my adoptive parents.”
“What? R-really?”
“Yes, and he made a request to me through my adoptive parents.”
“Wh-what kind of request?”
“To help that poor person who has been wandering and fleeing across the continent for over ten years just because he shares blood with him, who no longer has the strength to run away with his aged body.”
With my single statement, Seiji, who had been living quite well in the Plague Village, instantly became a frail and pitiful old man.
‘It’s all lies, but I have no choice.’
It wasn’t my adoptive parents but my past self who was the connection, and Seiji wasn’t the Great Sage’s relative but the man himself. But I couldn’t honestly reveal those facts.
The story of dying and waking up in someone else’s body was already hard to believe, so how could anyone believe I was a former assassin?
I’d be lucky if I wasn’t treated like a madman.
“Ughhh.”
Catherine held her head and agonized before finally letting out a sigh.
“Alright. Then I guess there’s no choice.”
“Thank you, Catherine.”
“Caretaker, but…”
She crossed her arms and looked at Seiji with worried eyes.
“How do we introduce him to other people? We can’t say he’s the Great Sage’s relative. If we say he’s Prince Edwin’s tutor, his status needs to be clear…”
“Don’t worry about that.”
I stood up and straightened my clothes.
“The Founding Festival will begin soon, won’t it?”
Catherine’s eyes widened at my words.
“Huh? Oh, that’s right. But why bring up the Founding Festival suddenly?”
“Our palace needs to prepare to receive guests too.”
Catherine furrowed her brow as if trying to understand the meaning behind my words.
“Preparing to receive guests means…”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but the 3rd Prince’s Palace seems too barren.”
The garden was spacious, but all that was planted were a few flower trees and some common plants.
I looked at Seiji, who was still bickering with Emilia, and raised the corners of my mouth.
“Don’t you think it’s time we hired a gardener?”
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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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