The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 140

Chapter 140: In the Rain (4)

“Y-yes?”

Whatever she was imagining, Catherine’s face went white. Her voice trembled like a goat’s.

“On the way here, I ran into a group of robbers. Looks like their blood got on me. I thought the rain would’ve washed it all off.”

How short-sighted of me to come here wearing blood-stained clothes.

If I hadn’t run into those organization bastards, I wouldn’t have made such a rookie mistake.

I clicked my tongue softly as I looked down at my bloodstained clothes.

“N-no! Robbers? Are you okay?”

Catherine, startled by the word “robbers,” looked completely at a loss.

“Are you hurt anywhere? I knew this would happen, seriously! I told you to take an escort with you!”

“I told you I’m fine.”

I snatched the towel from the flustered Catherine and roughly dried my hair.

“More importantly, has His Highness Edwin not returned yet?”

“I heard the knight order is returning to their quarters around this evening. I think His Highness will come back then too.”

Good.

At least Edwin didn’t have to see me like this. If it were him, he would’ve reacted even worse than Catherine.

“Then I should wash up first. I can’t show His Highness myself in this state.”

“Good grief, look at you.”

I was wondering why he hadn’t shown up. I narrowed my eyes at the appearance of yet another nag.

“It’s been a while, Gardener.”

“Where did you roll around this time?”

Sage, the wise man and the Third Prince’s Palace gardener, recoiled when he saw me.

“A brat says she’s going on leave, and what did you do outside to end up like….”

“Um, Gardener?”

Then Catherine raised a hand as if to stop him.

“Could you talk later? I think the nanny needs to clean up first. His Highness Edwin should be back soon too.”

At her words, Sage scrunched his face. Then he let out a deep sigh and waved a hand.

“Tch, tch. Fine, fine. The stench is unbelievable. If you don’t want to go around reeking of blood, wash your clothes properly first.”

Sage pinched his nose and walked past me.

“Nanny, go wash in the grand bathhouse. Like the Gardener said, if you just rinse off, I don’t think the blood smell will come out.”

The moment he disappeared, Catherine grabbed my hand and tugged me along.

“I’ll scrub your back.”

“No, that’s a bit….”

“Oh, don’t refuse.”

Why is she so excited?

I stared at the back of her head with suspicious eyes. But Catherine only charged ahead, excited like a new recruit receiving her first mission.

***

Shhhaa.

Hot steam filled the grand bathhouse.

I sank into the bath and rolled my neck this way and that.

Outside, Catherine had hiked up her skirt and was bustling around here and there.

“Catherine, it’s really fine. I can wash myself clean on my own.”

“Come on, don’t worry and leave it to me. Believe it or not, before I came into the Imperial Palace, I even had experience helping noble ladies bathe.”

“I’m not a noble lady, though….”

In the first place, I didn’t remember ever being waited on by someone in my life.

And it was uncomfortable.

“Then should you wash with me, Catherine?”

Reluctantly, I offered an alternative.

Catherine’s eyes went wide as she looked at me. “Really? That’s okay?”

“What’s so new about it? We washed together last time.”

“Back then, I thought you allowed it because Her Highness Emilia was with us too.”

I shrugged and gestured toward her with my chin. “It’s fine. And you got pretty dirty too.”

“Ah.”

Maybe it was because she’d been holding towels used to wipe away blood and dirt. Catherine didn’t look very clean either.

“Mmm, then should we? Honestly, I was feeling gross too.”

They say there’s no one in the Empire who hates bathing.

Catherine beamed as she looked at the grand bathhouse with warm steam rising.

Then she boldly tossed off her clothes and stepped inside.

“I’ve been thinking.”

Watching Catherine, I said something.

“Catherine, you really have no sense of propriety.”

Catherine, sprawled as if melting into the water, gave me a playful smile at my words.

“Oh, you mean I’m not ladylike?”

“Yes. It’s a compliment. Being ladylike is an insult.”

“What? Ahahaha!”

Catherine burst out laughing at my words. Then she leaned her back against one side of the bath and stretched.

“Mm, I think I just turned out like this because I’ve always been in an environment where I had to live while mixing with other people.”

Catherine’s household fell apart after her father gambled away their fortune.

Even so, the reason the family could keep going without starving was largely thanks to Catherine’s strong survival skills.

“My mother was ill, so I had to take care of all the housework. So from a young age, I had to deal with lots of people. Starting with creditors, all the way to market merchants I had to beg for credit every time.”

Catherine looked my way and smiled brightly.

“That’s when I realized one thing, that there’s no asset in the world as precious as people.”

People are an asset? That mindset might actually be similar to mine.

I looked at Catherine without a word.

“So I try to like people. If you like them, you can treat them sincerely. And I also want them to like me back.”

“If you like them, you treat them sincerely?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Catherine started inching closer toward me.

“In that sense, I hope you’ll like me too, Nanny.”

With her hands folded over her chest, she pretended to cry like she was sad.

“I know you’re a good person, but… how should I put it, it still feels like you’re keeping a wall up against me.”

“…I’m sorry,” I answered indifferently as I looked at Catherine.

“You’re not even denying it?”

“Because it’s true.”

There was a time when I liked people too.

A time when I tried to treat them sincerely.

‘But.’

I clenched my fist tight.

Water spilled out between my fingers and ran down.

‘It was all pointless.’

My trust in people was negligible from the start, but the betrayal of the one I loved and trusted most changed everything.

I used to think there was at least one person in the world I could trust completely, but even that thought had long since turned to ash and disappeared.

“For me, there’s nothing harder than trusting someone completely.”

At my words, Catherine let out a sound like she felt sorry for me.

Then she shook her head from side to side and clenched her fists.

“No, I can still see hope.”

“What hope are you seeing?”

“That if I just try a little harder, I think you’ll truly come to like me.”

“…How can you be sure?”

“Because if it were before, you never would’ve been the one to suggest we bathe together first!”

Catherine’s eyes sparkled.

“So doesn’t that mean there’s still hope? Right?”

She really is ridiculous.

I made a face like I’d been hit, then let out a quiet snort.

“Isn’t that something you say when you’re trying to seduce a man?”

“Oh, come on. Getting someone’s heart doesn’t have anything to do with whether they’re a man or a woman!”

Catherine winked one eye and picked up the sponge that had been outside the tub.

“Looks like you’ve warmed up enough, so shall we scrub off all the grime properly now?”

“Catherine, you can just do that yourself….”

“Hey, I told you not to refuse! Put your back to me! I’ll scrub you so well it’ll feel amazing!”

Where does she even learn to talk like that?

In the end, I half gave up and turned my back to her.

“Wow, Nanny! Your skin is really nice. Do you take care of it separately?”

“…You sound like a bathhouse scrubber with great sales skills, Catherine.”

“Oh my, do I? Looks like this occupational habit still hasn’t gone away.”

Catherine scrubbed my body, chattering away with all kinds of banter.

After focusing intently on her task for a while, she suddenly let out an exclamation.

“Oh my, Nanny.”

“What is it?”

“You know that mole Her Highness Emilia mentioned last time?”

Catherine poked near my shoulder blade.

“Looking again, it really is so distinct, like it was drawn on.”

What does it look like for her to make such a fuss?

Without a word, I turned my head to look at Catherine.

Frowning, she continued, “It really looks like a snake biting its own tail.”

“A snake?”

I let out a quiet scoff at Catherine’s words.

‘I like it.’

In the Western Continent, a snake symbolized death and resurrection, and at the same time, it symbolized evil.

‘A snake biting its tail.’

It felt like a brand that represented “Kyla Angel,” my very existence.

***

Knock, knock.

“It’s me, Your Majesty Kayden.”

Aurel, the Adamant royal palace mage, flung the door open with a knock.

Inside the old-fashioned room, there were only the items needed to handle work.

“I didn’t say you could come in.”

“It’s urgent.”

“Ha.”

The owner of the room, who’d been lying on the sofa in the middle of it, slowly sat up.

Kayden, the King of Adamant, lightly patted his shoulder while holding a rolled-up stack of documents.

With a frown, he asked again, sounding irritated, “Urgent? What is it?”

Aurel reported to his lord in an even voice, “We’ve found traces of the angel. In Adamant’s border region, they found a woman with an ouroboros carved into her body.”