Chapter 127

Chapter 127: Between Those Who Share the Same Dream (5)

“…Really?”

Catherine stared at me with a half-dazed face.

“Do you really mean I can step away if I want to?”

“Yes. But then you’ll have to leave the Third Prince’s Palace.”

Thinking of the gold and jewels piled up in the Prince’s Palace storeroom, I said, “And I’ll make sure your severance pay isn’t lacking. Enough that you won’t have to worry about money for the next twenty years.”

Catherine stared at me blankly with her mouth open.

‘Did I offer too little?’

Just as I was about to say I’d make sure she wouldn’t have to worry for thirty years instead of twenty, clear streams suddenly spilled from Catherine’s eyes.

“C-Catherine?”

I was so flustered I even stammered, unlike myself.

Catherine opened her mouth in a trembling, tearful voice. “You’re too much, Nanny.”

“Yes? What did I….”

I was saying I’d take care of her thoughtfully, so what was too much about that?

Confused, I looked at Sage, but he only shrugged, like he didn’t have any better answer either.

“You’re telling me I don’t have to cooperate, you’ll just give me money, so I should get out! Do you have any idea what kind of resolve I came here with!”

Catherine covered her face with her hands and started crying bitterly.

“No, Catherine. Catherine, please, look at me for a moment.”

“Waaah, Nanny, you’re so mean!”

It was a more intense reaction than I expected.

I hurried over to Catherine’s side and soothed her.

“I don’t know what it is, but I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I just wanted to respect your choice….”

“When it’s like this, you’re supposed to say we’ll risk our lives together and see it through!”

Catherine, listening to me, suddenly shouted.

Her eyes were red and swollen, and with a bit of snot peeking out, she looked just like Emilia.

“You’re not pushing me away so you can live well on your own!”

“But Catherine, you have a family too….”

“My life doesn’t only have my family in it!”

Her pale but clear eyes stared straight at me.

“There are colleagues I met here, and His Highness Edwin, and Her Highness Emilia too!”

She snatched my hand and shouted, “And you too, Nanny!”

This time, I stared blankly at Catherine.

“So, so….”

Catherine spoke while gripping my hand tightly.

She sniffed and swallowed her tears and snot.

“Please tell me we can all survive together to the very end.”

The long, slender fingers holding my hand were trembling faintly.

“Catherine, I’ve accomplished most things I set my mind to. And I did them exceptionally well.”

I lifted her hand, still clasping her white one.

“So believe me. What you’re worried about will never happen.”

“…Never?”

“Yes. Never.”

It was a statement some might call arrogant.

Catherine was looking at me with more earnest eyes than ever.

“Yeah, yeah. Seems like our nanny’s thought everything through, so let’s trust her for once. She’s an incredible woman in every way, isn’t she?”

Sage, smooth as ever, smacked Catherine’s shoulder again.

“That hurts!”

Catherine started to snap, then glared at him with displeasure.

“But Gardener, sometimes you talk like you know Nanny very well.”

“Of course I know her very well! If we’re talking about Lady Brown, then I’ve known her for a very long time….”

That damn old man.

When I glared at him with killing intent, Sage hurriedly changed the subject.

“Well, we do go back a long way, don’t we?”

“Then let’s get back to what we were saying.”

I cleared my throat and steered the conversation back.

“I’m curious. You said that, excluding the Emperor, you have to obtain the consent of the other three in order to become the next emperor. If even one person opposes it, does that mean you can’t take the throne?”

“In principle, it’s impossible, but it’s not like there’s no way.”

At my question, Sage’s eyes lit with interest, and he grinned.

“If it really won’t work, you just change the person sitting in that seat.”

To say something like that outright in front of an assassin.

Seems old Sage’s personality has changed a lot after being trapped in Luxen.

‘Then again, he’s the one who sent Edwin to a place with monsters, saying it was to test him.’

Still, I’d completely forgotten about that method too.

Even though I know better than anyone how vile and brutal nobles’ power struggles are.

“But that method should be kept as a last resort. If you do it without proper preparation, you could end up facing an unnecessary backlash.”

“W-wait a second! What does that mean?”

Catherine, who’d been listening to the conversation all along, cut in with a face drained of color.

“Change the person sitting in that seat, you say? You just promised that the kind of thing I’m worried about will never happen. So why are you saying such terrifying things!”

“Terrifying things? What did we even say. Right, Lady Brown?”

I’m pretty sure just a moment ago we were talking about how, if it really came down to it, we might have no choice but to resort to assassination.

“…Don’t worry, Catherine.”

To reassure her, I nodded with a calm expression.

“We can take measures so it doesn’t come to that stage.”

“No, I mean don’t say scary things like that at all!”

Catherine vigorously rubbed her forearms and shook her head hard.

Seeing that, Sage clicked his tongue, stroking his beard. “Our head maid has a lot of nerve, but she’s easily scared.”

“You two are the ones who are way too fearless! And I’ve told you how many times you shouldn’t casually spit out such irreverent things!”

“My, you’re very cautious. That’s why noble young ladies raised delicately are….”

“I wasn’t raised delicately! I guarantee I grew up rougher than you did, Gardener!”

I watched the two of them bicker and sank into thought.

‘Hm, persuading the Holy Emperor can wait until later.’

For generations, the Holy Emperor tended to back the prince most likely to become emperor.

That was why it was practically the Holy Kingdom’s custom to hold to neutrality until the Crown Prince was decided, then send him official support.

‘What matters right now is….’

Bringing the Speaker of the Senate and the Commander-in-Chief over to our side.

But the Marquis of Radcliffe, the Second Prince’s maternal grandfather, would never support us.

So if there was even a slim possibility, it would be….

‘Duke Crowner.’

Of course, he too stood on the Empress and the First Prince’s side, so he had no reason to support us.

But there was a variable within the First Prince’s camp.

“Hey, Lady Brown.”

Just then, maybe he’d gotten tired of bickering with Catherine, Sage addressed me.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

Catherine, her face red as she huffed, also turned her head toward me.

“I was thinking about how we can bring Duke Crowner over to His Highness Edwin’s side.”

At my words, Catherine’s mouth fell open like she couldn’t be any more shocked, and Sage’s expression turned grave.

“Well, from what the Duke’s done so far, it doesn’t look like he’s completely uninterested in Edwin.”

With his arms folded, he went on, “But even so, I doubt he’ll withdraw his support for his nephew, the Emperor’s eldest son.”

“…That’s not impossible.”

“Hm? How can you be so sure?”

Because I heard it myself.

I recalled the conversation between the Emperor and the Duke that I overheard at the Gloria Knights’ quarters.

Duke Crowner had clearly implied, in a roundabout way, that he didn’t want the First Prince to ascend the throne.

“It seemed like the Duke doesn’t particularly welcome the First Prince taking the throne.”

“Hm, why would that be? If he’s the Empress’s eldest son, it’d be easier for him to claim the throne than the other princes.”

Then Catherine added in a voice lower than before, “Maybe it’s because the First Prince is so frail.”

“I knew that too. But isn’t he still just a child? His Majesty the Emperor was frail from a young age too, but didn’t he still take the throne in the end?”

“But a ruler with a weak body is always attacked by the noble faction. Even His Majesty the current Emperor keeps having his qualifications questioned because people say he’s weak.”

At Catherine’s words, Sage kept his arms folded as the skin around his eyes tightened.

“Well, that’s true too.”

“Nanny, I don’t know much about politics, but personally, I think it’s right for the eldest son to ascend the throne according to the natural order. I think that’s the most peaceful way.”

With an unusually serious face, she continued, “Then what if we support the First Prince first? I’ve heard there have been cases where people secured their safety by helping another prince ascend early, before anyone else did….”

“That’s not a bad idea either. But aren’t we people who serve His Highness Edwin?”

Sage looked toward me.

“More than anything, His Highness’s will is what matters. His Highness said he doesn’t just want to survive, he wants to become Emperor, didn’t he?”

At his words, Catherine looked like she’d been struck on the back of the head, then let out a deep sigh.

“I really don’t know. Why would His Highness suddenly say he wants to become Emperor?”

“That’s….”

I brought up what I’d heard from Edwin before.

“According to His Highness, the First Prince himself didn’t seem all that interested in the throne.”