The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 142

Chapter 142. Traces (2)

“Aah!”

She jumped at the sudden sound of the very person they’d been talking about.

“N-Nanny?”

Behind her stood the prince’s nanny, Rachel.

And she looked utterly exhausted.

“Oh, ahaha. Well, I suppose I meant you and me?”

“What about you and me?”

“Um, well….”

Catherine fidgeted with her fingers, watching me warily.

“Wouldn’t you say we’re friends?”

“I believe I’ve told you before. I don’t make friends,” I answered firmly.

“Oh, come on! We’ve seen everything there is to see of each other! That makes us friends!”

“I said no.”

Catherine pouted a little at my merciless rejection.

Edwin, who’d been watching the exchange, hurriedly intervened.

“I think you and Catherine are practically friends, too, Rachel. Actually, you seem even closer than friends. So let’s get along, okay?”

I watched Edwin flounder, then turned my head.

“So what exactly were the two of you discussing?”

I was curious what on earth they could’ve been discussing for the subject of how close Catherine and I were to come up.

“It’s just that you haven’t looked very happy lately, Rachel,” Edwin answered in place of the thoroughly disgruntled Catherine.

He continued, stealing glances at my eyes, “You seem a little different since you came back from your vacation.”

“Different? Who?”

“You, Rachel.”

Hurt and concern mingled on Edwin’s small face.

“You don’t talk as much as usual, your responses are colder, and you always seem to be thinking about something else….”

“Oh.”

It was true that I’d had a lot on my mind since visiting Paradis.

The news I heard at the Golden Goose Merchant Guild and my encounter with the members of Breath of the Angel had left me unsettled.

It seemed that, without realizing it, I’d become colder than usual as a result.

People naturally have trouble paying attention to what’s around them when they’re troubled inside.

“I’m sorry if I’ve caused you concern.”

I apologized to Edwin.

“I’ve been sorting through my thoughts. I’ll be more mindful from now on, so please don’t worry too much.”

“Sorting through your thoughts?”

Edwin raised an eyebrow at my words.

He was still looking at me with concern.

“Rachel, did something really happen?”

“No.”

There were always plenty of things happening in my life.

The problem was that most of them weren’t things I could go around telling people.

And this was no exception.

‘The Golden Goose Merchant Guild, Breath of the Angel. Knowing about them won’t do this kid any good right now.’

Besides, telling Edwin any of this at this stage wouldn’t get me any help.

These were things I could only reveal once the little fellow before me became the Crown Prince, at the very least.

“I’m truly fine. I’ve sorted through everything now.”

I lifted the corners of my mouth as though nothing were wrong.

“From now on, I’ll focus on my mission, or rather, my duties, as usual.”

The fact that Breath of the Angel was still going strong, and the fact that Ian was alive and leading it.

Neither was particularly important.

I’d already expected as much, to some extent.

‘What I need to do is already decided anyway.’

Whatever Ian, the man who killed me, was plotting, whatever Breath of the Angel was doing, and whatever connection it might have to the House of Radcliffe, only one thing mattered.

‘Giving it all back.’

Revenge.

I had to stake everything I had on paying back the man who took everything from me.

For now, that alone was the only thing driving me to keep living.

***

[Thanks to you, I’ve obtained some useful information.]

The young King of Adamant seemed quite pleased.

He continued languidly in his pleasant voice.

[You certainly are fortunate, though, Lady Brown.]

Kayden’s image rippled slightly in the crystal ball.

He seemed to be smiling.

[To encounter members of Breath of the Angel while on vacation.]

“I consider myself fortunate as well.”

[What amazes me most is that they didn’t discover you.]

His gaze seemed almost to demand an explanation for how I’d escaped detection.

I lowered my head, trying to avoid his eyes.

[You really are too talented to be a nanny.]

Kayden sat still with a smile on his lips.

His gaze seemed to pierce straight through the crystal ball.

[Still, I don’t know why I’m never blessed with such luck.]

His tone was rather self-deprecating.

Kayden continued, tapping his fingers on the desk.

[I’ve been tracking them for over three years, yet I’ve never once encountered any of their members.]

“It’s better not to encounter them.”

Ordinary people lived and died without ever even realizing assassin guilds existed.

And that was precisely what made for a perfectly peaceful, normal life.

“If you do encounter them, your only choices are to kill or be killed, aren’t they?”

[Well.]

Kayden raised both eyebrows at my words.

[That’s an everyday occurrence for me.]

A few assassins attacking wouldn’t make much difference.

Kayden murmured, seemingly to himself, then abruptly changed the subject.

[Still, I’m a little hurt. You could’ve told me before leaving on vacation.]

Mischievous amusement filled his golden eyes.

[You never contacted me, so I spent all day waiting for you.]

Surely being the king of a nation didn’t leave him that much free time.

I did my best to conceal my thoughts and answered politely.

“My apologies. Next time, I’ll inform you before I go away.”

[No, no. Instead of that….]

Kayden tilted his head, looking displeased.

[Couldn’t you simply carry the communication orb with you?]

“It’s not exactly convenient to carry around.”

The communication orb was heavy, conspicuous, and, above all, extremely expensive.

Breaking or losing it while carrying it around would be difficult to remedy.

“So I’m afraid carrying such a valuable magical device around would be difficult.”

[Lady Brown, you and I are allies.]

Why was he suddenly bringing up our alliance?

I stared blankly at Kayden.

[How would you feel if your only ally suddenly stopped contacting you, or you couldn’t reach them for a long time?]

“I’d assume they were dead.”

[…You do come up with unexpected ideas sometimes.]

Kayden looked thoroughly deflated, then gave a rueful laugh.

[Lady Brown, people don’t simply assume someone’s dead and leave it at that. Most ordinary people would ‘worry’ in that situation.]

But you weren’t an ordinary person.

Why would the king of a nation worry about a mere nanny’s well-being?

[As I thought, there’s no point in being subtle.]

Then Kayden spoke, amusement in his voice.

[What I mean is that I worry when I can’t reach you.]

The King of Adamant worried about me?

I blinked blankly.

‘Why is he saying that all of a sudden?’

Kayden’s expression was too serious to dismiss it as mere flattery.

‘How strange.’

Aside from the possibility of someone threatening me into divulging secrets, whether I lived or died shouldn’t matter to Kayden.

‘And it’s not as if I know any secrets worth divulging.’

At most, I knew he couldn’t sleep properly without someone beside him.

But that was a secret Catherine and every other maid in the Third Prince’s palace knew.

[So, Lady Brown, I’d like you to keep the gift I left you with you at all times.]

Kayden raised one corner of his mouth at my bewildered expression.

[Affairs of state already give me enough of a headache. I’d rather not make it worse by worrying about you.]

He furrowed his brow and sighed deeply, as though he were truly suffering.

He looked so perfectly sincere that it was hard to believe he was called the God of War.

[Just recently, one of the nobles serving me tried to deceive me. You have no idea how painful it was to get rid of him.]

Was it really painful?

No matter how I looked at it, he probably found it satisfying.

Kayden smiled at me as I remained silent.

[So, Lady Brown, I’d like you to ease my burdens. Unlike my subjects, you’re competent.]

At this point, it sounded more like a threat than a request.

I stared at Kayden in the crystal ball, then finally nodded.

“Understood. I’ll carry the orb with me from now on.”

[Good.]

Having finally heard the answer he wanted, Kayden smiled brightly.

[Now I won’t have to spend all day worrying about you.]

He really was a strange man.

However I looked at it, I hadn’t done anything to warrant concern, and he had no particular reason to worry about me.

Why did he keep saying he worried about me or was thinking about me?

Those were the sorts of things Catherine would say.

‘At least I can put up with Catherine worrying.’

The inexplicable concern of a man I’d only recently met, one who’d made the worst possible first impression, wasn’t particularly welcome.

Especially when that man was the king of another country.

‘Men usually say things like that when they’re trying to woo a woman they like.’

There was no way the King of Adamant felt that way about me.

Keeping my face expressionless, I considered several possibilities.

‘Does he have some other ulterior motive after all? Is he deliberately trying to charm me into giving him my heart, only to use me and discard me later?’

While I mulled over these possibilities, Kayden busily tidied his desk.

Just as I began to wonder whether he was about to end the call.

[Oh, that reminds me. We’ve discovered something new on our end, too.]

He continued, gazing at one corner of his desk.

[Lady Brown, have you ever heard of mutant monsters?]