The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 110

Chapter 110: Alliance of Revenge (2)

I bowed my head politely at Kayden’s question. “I apologize, Your Majesty. I’m not clever enough to calculate every word before I speak.”

“Being able to speak so freely is what makes someone clever.”

Kayden rested his chin on his hand, gazing at me. A faint, unreadable smile lingered on his lips.

“You must be confident that a king wouldn’t kill a prince’s nanny inside the Imperial Palace, right? Am I wrong?”

He wasn’t wrong.

If word spread that the King of another country had harmed the prince’s nanny inside the Imperial Palace during the founding festival, it would bring him nothing but trouble.

“In any case, if I seemed to disregard His Highness the Prince, then it seems I may have been at fault as well.”

Fortunately, Kayden appeared to have some self-awareness.

His tone remained calm as he continued.

“But it seems there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“Well, I never….”

He scratched his cheek awkwardly, frowning.

“I never disliked Their Highnesses.”

“…I see.”

I thought for a moment before speaking again.

“Then should I thank you for that?”

“…You really are amusing.”

Kayden took a sip of his apple wine before shifting the topic.

“May I ask you a question?”

“Is there something Your Majesty wishes to know about me?”

“You’ve learned something about me tonight, haven’t you? Then it’s only fair that I learn something about you too, don’t you think?”

All I’d done was ask whether he drank often, but he spoke as if it had been something far deeper.

I looked at him quietly.

He squinted one eye slightly, waiting for my reply.

“What could Your Majesty possibly wish to know about me?”

“A lot.”

A lot?

My brow twitched slightly at the unexpected answer.

‘Wait.’

Suddenly, a good idea came to mind.

Before Kayden could speak again, I cut in first.

“Then how about we take turns asking each other questions we’re curious about?”

“Now that’s an interesting proposal.”

As expected, Kayden’s reaction was favorable. His eyes narrowed like a cat’s, glinting with intrigue.

“I didn’t think you’d be that interested in me.”

“…Who wouldn’t be curious about the first King of Adamant?”

It was a simple, personal curiosity, but the man before me was, after all, a mystery shrouded in rumor. Beyond tales of his exploits on the battlefield and the occasional ghost story, little was known about him.

“Then I’ll start.”

Kayden set down his glass.

He crossed his arms and casually crossed one leg over the other.

“Where are you from?”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s not a hard question, is it?”

Yeah, it wasn’t a hard question. Though it was a strange one.

‘Why would he ask that? Is he really curious about a nanny’s hometown?’

I hesitated briefly before replying evenly, “If you mean my birthplace, Your Majesty, I don’t know. As I mentioned before, I was an orphan before being adopted by a count’s family.”

“…I see. My apologies.”

Kayden looked a bit awkward as he took another drink. Then he gave a small nod toward me, a signal that it was my turn.

“…Your Majesty.”

I looked down into my glass of apple wine. His reflection shimmered faintly on the surface.

“Have you ever heard of ‘Breath of the Angel’?”

A thick silence fell over the room. So still that even the faint creak of old furniture echoed loudly.

“……”

I shut my mouth, watching his reflection in the glass. Kayden stared blankly at me, his eyes empty, as if his soul had just been ripped out.

After a long moment, he finally said, “…Did you say Breath of the Angel?”

“Yes.”

I lifted my head slightly and met his eyes.

“I don’t think my question was that hard either.”

“…How do you know that name?”

Just as I expected.

He must’ve wondered how a count’s adopted daughter could possibly know the name of an assassination organization.

“Because the person I loved most in this world was murdered.”

A truth that sounded like a lie. Because I’d been killed by Breath of the Angel, by Ian Angel himself.

“And I never even learned why.”

Why had Ian killed me?

Why had the organization betrayed me alongside him?

I was their leader, so why me?

“I just want to know the reason.”

I clenched my hands on my lap. My skirt wrinkled under my grip, the fabric crumpling between my fingers.

Even the old informant from the back alleys couldn’t tell me anything about Breath of the Angel or Ian, and since then, I hadn’t had another chance to leave the palace.

“I’ve realized my limits. On my own, I’ll never learn why the person I loved died.”

Silence fell again.

Kayden’s expression shifted, as if in thought, before he spoke in a serious tone.

“…You’ve lived quite a turbulent life too.”

He set the glass in his hand back on the table.

This time, he didn’t refill it.

“You asked if I know Breath of the Angel.”

A sigh escaped him, a deep sigh carrying both grief and weariness.

“Yes. I know it. I know it all too well.”

I waited for him to continue. But Kayden said nothing more.

“…Is that your answer?”

“You asked if I knew, and I answered that I do. Isn’t that enough?” he replied with a sly smile.

‘And he calls me sharp-tongued.’

I shut my mouth, displeased.

Kayden chuckled softly and tilted his head. “If you want to ask more, save it for the next round.”

You bastard.

As I silently cursed his evasiveness, Kayden threw the second question.

“Why ask me about Breath of the Angel?”

His golden eyes gleamed sharply, as if they could pierce through anything.

“Why me, of all people?”

Because you seemed to know who I was in my past life.

But I couldn’t say that outright.

I hesitated briefly before lowering my head and answering, “I want revenge.”

It was the truth.

Avenging Ian was my ultimate goal.

“…On Breath of the Angel.”

***

“You want revenge?”

“Yes.”

“Against Breath of the Angel?”

“That’s right.”

At my firm, unwavering answer, Kayden looked dumbfounded, as if I’d just told him something absurd.

His eyes asked, You? Really?

“I’ve heard Your Majesty traveled across the continent. So I thought perhaps you’d know something about Breath of the Angel, whose whereabouts have been impossible to trace.”

The level of information a king had access to was far beyond what a prince’s nanny could ever reach. The fact that he’d even found the secluded reed field near the Imperial Capital proved as much.

“…Is that so?”

Kayden’s gaze turned strange. He stared at me silently for a moment before finally speaking.

“I can’t tell if this is a coincidence or fate.”

“…Pardon?”

“I, too, have my own grudge against Breath of the Angel.”

Kayden smiled faintly, but it wasn’t friendly. It was a smile soaked in fury and grief.

A shiver ran down my spine from the sheer intensity of his aura.

“I don’t know what kind of revenge you want….”

The glass on the table trembled faintly, reacting to his energy.

“But I intend to erase Breath of the Angel completely. Until not even a trace remains on this continent.”

I had only guessed that he might’ve held some emotion toward me in my past life. I never imagined such a violent reaction.

“…So, Your Majesty too….”

I managed to force out the words.

“You lost someone precious to Breath of the Angel?”

“Precious?”

Kayden repeated after me, then smiled bitterly and corrected himself.

“‘Precious’ isn’t enough.”

“Was it family?”

“No. Someone far more precious than that.”

No way.

Please, gods, don’t tell me the person he lost… was me.

Please tell me those tears he shed over my ashes weren’t from frustration that he couldn’t kill me himself.

“…Someone I would’ve given everything for.”

Did he lose his lover?

How strange that the highest man in a kingdom and a woman like me, who’d lived scraping by in the gutters, would share something so similar.

The only difference was that I was killed by the one I would’ve given everything to, while he lost the one he would’ve given everything for.

“You must’ve suffered deeply.”

“…Yes.”

Kayden stared blankly at the glass in his hand and muttered, “Death feels different once it’s close. Even if the person was beyond reach to begin with.”