The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Hide and Seek of Tears (2)

“Please stop crying.”

I sighed as I watched Edwin, who showed no sign of stopping his sobbing.

“I’m sorry for being late, but I found you, didn’t I?”

“Sniff—!”

I had no intention of letting him blow his nose, yet he did it on my sleeve. Seeing the sticky snot smeared on my sleeve made my face twist involuntarily.

Hiding my sleeve behind my back, I continued, “Please stop crying. I was delayed because the head maid stopped me on the way here.”

On my way, I had run into the head maid, who had given me an earful, asking how I could be leisurely strolling around while the prince was nowhere to be found. I could clearly recall the incredulous look in her eyes when I mentioned I was playing hide-and-seek with the prince.

Edwin, still teary-eyed, looked up at me.

“…Why did you even bother to find me?”

Why did I bother? Isn’t the whole point of hide-and-seek to find the hidden person?

It was a truly baffling question.

“Well, I had to find you to finish the game.”

I responded as if it were obvious, and Edwin bit his lip.

What kind of answer had he been hoping to hear?

I stood Edwin up, then rose myself, gently patting Emilia’s bottom. Unlike her crybaby brother, Emilia quickly stopped crying.

“Anyway, since I won, you have to eat all the vegetables.”

At that moment, Edwin, who had been on the verge of calming down, turned as white as a sheet.

***

“They’ve gone cold! How am I supposed to eat this! Vegetables taste even worse when they’re cold!”

Back in the dining room, Edwin frowned at the mound of vegetables on his plate.

“I’ll have them reheated.”

“No, forget it!”

After glaring at his plate for a while, he scooped up a piece of vegetable with his spoon and tried to feed it to Emilia. The princess, unlike her brother, happily munched it down.

“A bet is a bet, Your Highness.”

When I pulled Emilia away from him, Edwin glared at me.

“Do you enjoy tormenting me?”

“Torment? Vegetables are good for you.”

“What’s the point if they’re healthy! They’re disgusting!”

“Your Highness, the world of competition is always ruthless. No matter how disgusting it is, a loser must honor their word and eat it.”

Edwin, frowning at the word ‘loser,’ eventually put the vegetables in his mouth.

“Ugh—!”

He shook all over in disgust, looking utterly pitiful.

After much ado, the prince finished his meal and ran straight to the garden without looking back.

“Brother, wait for Lia!”

Watching the siblings run across the green lawn, one would never guess Edwin had been crying earlier.

Standing quietly with my arms crossed under the shade of a tree, I remembered what had happened that morning.

“She died.”

Edwin had said that his former nanny had died.

‘Judging by how the attendants avoid mentioning her, it probably wasn’t an honorable death.’

I looked at the young prince running around the garden.

‘He seemed to have been quite close to her, judging by the way he talks.’

It was hard to understand how he could be so carefree after losing someone close to him.

‘Maybe it’s just his nature, or maybe he just doesn’t think about it.’

Then, something glimmered on Edwin’s wrist as he lifted his arm towards the sky.

It was the bracelet I had retrieved from those insolent attendants. Even under the sunlight, the pale pearl bracelet seemed oddly familiar.

Why did it keep catching my eye since the first time I saw it?

‘It’s a common enough piece of jewelry.’

Yes, it was a cheap trinket you could find anywhere. The real question was why a prince would treat such a common piece like a charm.

Unable to quell my curiosity, I decided to ask Edwin directly, which was unlike me.

“Your Highness, may I ask a question?”

When I approached him, Edwin turned to me with a sulky look on his face. It seemed he was still upset about having to eat the vegetables earlier.

“What question?”

“That bracelet—it’s precious to you, isn’t it?”

Edwin paused for a moment at my question, then raised an eyebrow and asked back, “Why do you want to know?”

“You’ve carried it around so preciously, even before.”

Edwin remained silent, so Emilia spoke up on his behalf. “That bracelet was Emma’s! Emma gave it to Brother!”

“Lia! You don’t have to tell her that!”

Edwin scolded his sister, looking flustered. But the princess simply put on an innocent expression, as if she didn’t know anything.

Edwin sighed, then turned his head towards me. After staring at me for a moment, he finally spoke in a curt voice, “Yes. It’s very precious to me. It’s Emma’s keepsake.”

He fiddled with the bracelet around his wrist.

“That was Emma’s final wish.”

“A wish, you say?”

“Yes. Emma said she hoped I would be happy. That was probably her last wish.”

Wishing for someone else’s child to be happy at the end of her life?

‘She reminds me of that woman… their way of thinking is so similar.’

Suddenly, someone tugged at my hand. It was Edwin.

“Here, this is a gift.”

He held out his clenched right fist to me.

Just moments ago, he looked angry, and now he was offering a gift? Still, it was commendable for a child to know how to respect elders.

“Thank you.”

Just as I was reaching out with a thank-you, Edwin suddenly grinned mischievously.

“Hahaha, it’s revenge!”

He placed a large green object in my hand. Long and slender—it was none other than a grasshopper.

“……”

Edwin looked at me, excitement clear on his face. He seemed to expect me to scream or faint in shock. But I had no intention of reacting as he hoped.

“I’m not particularly fond of insects, so I’ll return it to you.”

With that, I grabbed the grasshopper by its hind legs and placed it gently on top of Edwin’s head.

Both Edwin and the grasshopper looked at me in bewilderment.

“Agh! What are you doing!”

Once he realized what had happened, Edwin shook his head wildly, breathing heavily.

“This isn’t funny at all! I’m going to my room!”

“As you wish.”

“Emilia, come here! Let’s play inside!”

Edwin took his sister’s hand and headed inside the palace.

Just as I was about to follow them in, I felt a prickling sensation on the back of my head.

I quietly turned around. Behind me stretched a long wall, along with trees and shrubs.

‘Even for a Shabby Prince, it seems someone is always watching.’

The imperial family really is needlessly suspicious.

I fixed my gaze on the distant treetops, a faint smile tugging at my lips.

‘Well, whoever it is, they don’t seem to be particularly skilled.’

I stood there for a moment, staring, when a shrill voice called out.

“Hey, why aren’t you coming!”

Edwin and Emilia were both staring at me, their innocent eyes wide open.

“I’m coming.”

There was no point in worrying about minor details when I wasn’t planning to stay here for long. I straightened my clothes and lightly turned on my heels.

***

‘Just my luck.’

As I was walking with the imperial siblings, we ran into the head maid.

The head maid seemed to ignore my presence entirely. She looked at the prince, gave him a curt bow, and then scrutinized him sharply.

“Your Highness, did you leave the palace yesterday?”

Edwin recoiled at her question, looking just like a frightened fawn.

‘He calls her an evil hag in front of me, but here he’s completely different.’

After a long pause, he finally muttered under his breath, “N-No, I didn’t…”

“Please tell the truth. Did you leave or not?”

The head maid’s cold tone made Edwin look even more terrified.

“Lying is wrong, Your Highness.”

“W-Well…”

“One of the attendants said she saw Your Highness at the stables yesterday. Is that not true?”

Ah, the maid who had brought the washbasin earlier. Now that I thought about it, I had mentioned the stables in her presence.

‘She reported it already? Quite a loyal one, isn’t she.’

I clicked my tongue at the unknown maid’s unwavering loyalty.

“I’ll ask one more time, Your Highness. Did you leave yesterday or not?”

“I just…”

“If that’s true, then I suppose I should reprimand the maid who gave a false report.”

At that, Edwin hurriedly spoke up, “I-I just stepped out for a bit! I only went for a walk!”

Why was he so afraid? I couldn’t understand his reaction. This was the same boy who had boldly confronted the huge stablehands—why was he cowering now?

The head maid’s expression grew colder at his answer.

“A walk? I’m quite sure I told you not to wander off without permission.”

“He went with me.”

The head maid’s brow furrowed as I interjected. Edwin, too, looked shocked that I was standing up for him.

“What do you mean, Lady Brown?”

“His Highness was feeling confined in the palace, so I took him out for a walk.”

A suitable response for a nanny, if I do say so myself.

I was quite pleased with my answer, though the head maid’s face contorted even more. She looked even more displeased than when she had come to fetch me on my first day here.

“How absurd.”

The head maid glared at me, her eyes narrowing.

“Lady Brown, by what authority did you take His Highness outside?”