The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 85
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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 85. LOVE & POISON (9)
‘As expected, it seems no one noticed that I slipped away.’
I leaned against the corridor of the main palace of the Empress’s Palace and observed the situation outside.
Looking at the garden visible through the window, it seemed like it would take a bit more time for the banquet to wrap up.
‘But why is that guy hanging his head down again?’
The golden head visible in the distance was drooping dejectedly.
Did something happen again while I was away? Though the atmosphere around him seemed fine for that to be the case?
‘I do feel a bit sorry for leaving him alone.’
But I couldn’t waste this rare opportunity to visit the Empress’s Palace without any gains.
‘Maybe it wasn’t the 2nd Empress who sent the assassin after Edwin.’
I narrowed my eyes.
‘The one who tried to kill Edwin at the hunting competition was someone from the organization.’
If it was related to Breath of the Angel, if it was related to Ian, I needed to investigate even more thoroughly.
‘So I need to find out for certain who the mastermind is.’
I moved away from the window and walked deeper into the corridor.
The main palace of the Empress’s Palace was a massive E-shaped structure with three floors.
I was currently at the far left end of the 2nd floor corridor.
‘There are certainly a lot of people here since it’s the Empress’s Palace.’
Knights and maids constantly passed through the corridors, but no one noticed my presence.
That’s because I completely erased my presence and hid behind walls or pillars before they got close.
This would have been impossible if my previous profession hadn’t been an assassin.
‘Nothing special here either.’
I wandered through the Empress’s Palace like a soundless ghost. Most of the countless rooms were empty guest rooms.
After secretly rummaging through room after room like this, I opened the door to a room in the middle of the 3rd floor corridor.
‘This must be the Empress’s bedroom.’
It was obviously the room the Empress used.
Gold and red bedding was the only thing neatly arranged on the bed.
I quietly closed the door and carefully looked around the room.
On the wall opposite the massive bed, there was a sacred painting depicting the Empire’s founding myth. And between them, an expensive-looking desk and chair were placed alone.
‘A desk in the bedroom? Is she a workaholic or something?’
I approached the desk and carefully skimmed through the documents, being careful not to leave any traces.
‘They’re all administrative documents.’
Unfortunately, the documents on the Empress’s desk were all administrative papers related to inner palace affairs under the Empress’s jurisdiction.
‘Well, the less important things are usually kept in visible places.’
I returned the documents to their original positions and then examined under the desk.
There were three drawers attached below, and the last one was locked.
“Hmm.”
I pulled out a small hairpin, bent it, and inserted it into the lock mechanism.
My lock-picking skills were recognized even in the back alleys, but this time it didn’t work.
‘That means it’s not an ordinary lock mechanism.’
When I reached out and felt the bottom of the drawer, I could feel some kind of indentation.
I could sense a faint flow of mana from the indentations of the ornate pattern carved into the wood.
It was a magic formula.
‘Carving magic formulas into furniture. The financial sense of those in high positions.’
Mages were common, but mages with the skill to carve magic formulas into objects were rare.
So only royalty or high-ranking nobles had the wealth and power to carve magic formulas into the desks they used.
‘Though all they usually hide are their account books.’
People’s thoughts are all similar.
Then wouldn’t the Empress also be hiding something similar to the expelled housekeeper?
‘If that’s the case…’
I stretched my lips into a long smile.
‘All the more reason to open it.’
Information is expensive, and the secrets of those in high positions are the most expensive of all.
How could I not be tempted when I could get that expensive thing for free right now?
“I never thought I’d use it this way.”
I smiled self-deprecatingly and brought my palm back to the drawer handle.
After concentrating all my attention on my fingertips, I pulled the drawer again.
Then the drawer opened smoothly, unlike before.
‘Everyone was fooled because they didn’t know. They wouldn’t have wanted to believe that a mere assassin could use mana.’
Mana, the driving force of magic, was a kind of energy that all living beings possessed.
However, those who could sense the mana within their own bodies were extremely rare.
That’s why half of those who could control mana chose to become mages, and the other half chose to become knights. An orphan girl born in the back alleys couldn’t become either and had to become an assassin instead.
‘Well, anyway, I’m fortunate that I can use mana with this body too. It makes things easier.’
Even the ‘special’ nature of the mana was the same as when I was Kayla.
It was quite a coincidence. They say similar things attract each other. Maybe I possessed this body because we had the same nature of mana?
I stopped having idle thoughts and frowned.
‘They’re all letters.’
The locked drawer was full of letters.
All the letters were from one person.
‘Judging by the initials instead of a name, is this the Empress’s spy?’
At the bottom of all the letters, the same initials were written in the same handwriting.
I quickly skimmed through the contents of the letters. Most were about the movements of noble families supporting the 2nd Prince. The names of various families flashed by in an instant.
They were prestigious noble families whose names I had heard countless times in the past.
Then an unfamiliar family name caught my eye and I stopped.
‘Miller Lordship?’
It was a noble family I had never heard of before.
‘Strange, all the families mentioned in the letters so far were at least count families or higher.’
The sudden appearance of a humble lordship family.
‘A nouveau riche noble?’
I carefully read through the letter.
But then familiar letters caught my eye in the letter.
“…Ian?”
I unconsciously read the letters aloud and frowned.
Most unpleasantly, the name of the Miller Lord was ‘Ian.’
‘It must be someone with the same name, but…’
Encountering the name of my ex-lover who killed me in this way made me feel unpleasantly uncomfortable.
As I stood still holding the letter, I heard someone urgently climbing the stairs.
I quickly stuffed the letter back into the drawer and closed it.
And just as I was about to hurriedly leave the room, the presence had already approached right in front of the door.
‘Damn it.’
It was my mistake to be distracted by the name Ian.
My heart raced as I saw the door handle turning with a creaking sound.
I ultimately threw myself out the window next to the desk without hesitation.
* * *
‘I’m saved because there was a terrace.’
I hadn’t noticed, but the Empress’s bedroom had a terrace attached.
Thanks to that, I could avoid the situation of falling out the window defenseless.
As I held my breath and hung from the terrace railing, someone entered with the sound of the door.
‘It’s the Empress. Why did she come back?’
I leaned against the outer wall and observed inside the window.
The Empress who returned to her room looked somehow unwell.
She approached the display cabinet next to the door and hurriedly threw it open.
Inside the cabinet were dozens of glass bottles containing transparent crimson potions on display.
‘What is that supposed to be?’
I watched the Empress’s movements with suspicious eyes, and she took out one of the glass bottles, hurriedly opened the cap, and drank the potion down. Her movements were natural and practiced, as if she had been taking it regularly.
The Empress who had drunk the potion looked relieved.
‘Does she have some chronic illness?’
In any case, since the Empress had entered the room, it would be difficult to go back the way I came.
I was contemplating for a moment and about to climb down the outer wall connected to the terrace railing when it happened.
Thud.
A dull sound came from inside the window.
I reflexively turned my head and saw the Empress collapsed on the floor.
She was convulsing with foam at her mouth.
Her appearance, as if she might stop breathing at any moment, was extremely alarming.
‘Could it be poison?’
I grabbed the window handle and hesitated as I was about to enter the room.
I was momentarily uncertain.
‘If I intervene here, I might become a suspect.’
The fact that the 3rd Prince’s caretaker had entered the Empress’s Palace was already a perfect situation to be suspected, wasn’t it?
But if I just stayed still like this, the Empress might lose her life.
After contemplating for a moment, I eventually opened the window and went inside.
The Empress collapsed on the floor was already half-unconscious.
“Your Majesty the Empress, Your Majesty!”
I gently shook the Empress and put my finger in her mouth to make her vomit up the poison.
When my finger suddenly entered her mouth, she seemed displeased and shook her head, but eventually retched.
‘She’s vomited it all up.’
Fortunately, it seemed the poison hadn’t been completely absorbed yet.
The Empress’s pulse was normal, and her breathing wasn’t too bad either.
I quietly looked down at the Empress who had vomited up all the poison.
‘What do I do now?’
I couldn’t sense any other presence nearby.
That meant if I quietly left now, no one would discover that I had been here.
“Ugh…”
Just then, the Empress let out a pained groan.
Even though she had vomited up the poison, she would have absorbed some of it, so she wouldn’t be completely fine.
After contemplating for a moment, I laid the Empress down on the floor.
Then I picked up the vase on the table.
Splash.
I splashed the water from the vase on my face, then opened the door and rushed out.
“Her Majesty the Empress, Her Majesty the Empress has collapsed! Someone please help!”
As I shouted at the top of my lungs while crossing the corridor, knights and maids came running up frantically.
In an instant, the Empress’s Palace became chaos.
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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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