The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Plague Village, Luxen (1)

How long had we traveled?

In the distance, a towering stone wall came into view.

The massive barrier that separated the village from the outside world was the symbol of Luxen.

Two small figures wavered in front of the gate.

They seemed to be the gatekeepers of the village.

I quickly brought the carriage to a halt.

“Ugh, we’re already here?”

Edwin got off the carriage and scowled.

“What the heck, we still had a long way to go.”

I ignored Edwin’s complaints and hauled the luggage down from the carriage roof.

“Your Highness, please sit here.”

“What for?”

“We’re going to disguise you.”

“Disguise me? Why?”

When I pulled several medicine bottles out of the luggage bundle, Edwin looked troubled.

“Children aren’t allowed to enter the plague village unless they’re infected. And I can’t just leave Your Highness outside alone, can I?”

“Still…”

“Besides, Your Highness tends to attract attention. We’re sneaking in. Now, bow your head.”

He reluctantly lowered his head.

“Pleh! What is this stuff?!”

“Hair powder. It’ll temporarily change your hair color.”

“Hair powder? Why are you sprinkling this junk on my head!”

What a fussy child.

Be grateful it’s not charcoal.

I diligently sprinkled the powder over his fine hair.

“Wait, my eyes sting!”

“Perfect. If your eyes are bloodshot, you’ll look even sicker. Now let’s apply this to your arm.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s plaster mixed with resin.”

Once the disguise was complete, Edwin hung his head in despair.

“Do we really have to go this far?”

“Yes. That’s the only way to reduce the risk of getting caught. And don’t forget what I told you earlier.”

“I still think this is too much…”

After shoving the grumbling boy back into the carriage, more time had passed than expected.

‘I need to hurry.’

I pulled out the robes from the bag.

It was an old cleric robe I’d gotten through Catherine.

***

“Huuuwaaah~”

Peterson, the gatekeeper of Luxen Village, yawned wide enough to split his face.

His helmet slid down askew.

Who would bother with appearances when no one ever came to this village?

He yawned again and called to his companion. “Hey, were there any expected visitors today?”

“Hmm, not that I know of. There weren’t any the day before yesterday, or yesterday, so probably not today either.”

“Yeah? Then what’s that carriage over there?”

“Huh?”

At Peterson’s words, his partner furrowed his brow.

“Where’d it come from?”

The carriage approached the gate at a pace neither fast nor slow, then stopped.

With a cautious gait, Peterson approached the driver’s seat.

“Halt! Identify yourself!”

“May the blessing of God be with you.”

The one on the driver’s seat wore an old cleric robe.

“I’m Cleric Benedict.”

A hoarse, raspy voice—like someone with a cold.

The hood was pulled so low that not a trace of the face was visible.

But judging from the voice, it sounded unmistakably like an old man.

At the mention of being a cleric, the gatekeepers immediately grew more cautious.

“Um, excuse me, Cleric. Would you mind lifting your hood for a moment? It’s protocol to check the identity of anyone entering.”

“I’m sorry, but I’d rather not show my face. You see, I once suffered from Scale Disease.”

Scale Disease.

Just hearing the name made both gatekeepers flinch and step back.

The cleric gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “Hoho, of course, thanks to the Lord’s grace, I’ve recovered. But as you know, the scars from Scale Disease can’t be healed even with holy power.”

“Ah, yes. Of course. That must’ve been difficult.”

Peterson waved his hands as if to say he understood.

“Then may we confirm the identity of the person inside the carriage?”

“Of course. But be careful. The child is infected.”

“Ah—!”

As they were about to open the carriage door, Peterson and his partner recoiled at the sight of the child through the window.

The black-haired boy wore a gloomy expression.

His skin, visible between his collar, had already blackened and festered, oozing fluid.

“He is my disciple, Johannes. He caught the illness while assisting me.”

“Goodness, how tragic.”

The gatekeepers covered their mouths in genuine pity.

“Right now, all clerics capable of using holy power have left the capital on pilgrimage.”

“Ah, so he couldn’t receive treatment.”

“Exactly. And as you know, plague victims cannot remain in the palace. Until those clerics return, I intend to keep him here.”

“There’s a cleric lodging within the village. The young cleric can stay there. No others are using it at the moment.”

“Thank you. May the blessing of God be with you.”

“May the blessing of God be with you.”

The gatekeepers hurried to open the gate.

Thanks to them, the carriage entered the village without any resistance.

“What a shame. That young cleric still looked so very young.”

“Sigh, seriously. Why is it always the good ones who suffer?”

The gatekeepers watched the carriage disappear into the village with pitying eyes.

Unaware of the sneer that briefly crossed the old cleric’s face beneath the deeply pulled hood.

***

“Whoa. How did you change your voice like that?” Edwin muttered as he leaned against the window next to the coachman’s seat.

“Just one of the little tricks I learned long ago.”

“Then if I learn it too, can I change my voice?”

“It’ll take time, but if you work hard, it should be possible.”

“Then teach me someday!”

He was clearly fascinated that I had spoken in an old man’s voice when we passed through the gate.

I ignored Edwin’s repeated requests to teach him how to disguise a voice and kept scanning the surroundings.

‘Nothing’s changed.’

Dressed in cleric robes, I was greeted by the same hostile glares and foul stench as before.

‘Counting the time since I came back to life, it’s been about four years, hasn’t it?’

I slowly looked around.

The alley was filled with crudely built stone houses.

People whose bodies were rotting wandered between them.

‘Surely that old man hasn’t died in the meantime, right?’

If he had, I’d really be in trouble.

Meanwhile, the temple the gatekeepers had mentioned wasn’t far from the entrance.

I parked the carriage in the stable beside the temple and opened the door.

“Your Highness, from here, we’ll have to go on foot. The road is too narrow for the carriage to pass.”

“Hey, Rachel, do I really have to go?”

Edwin’s voice was trembling.

Only then did I notice how frightened he looked.

‘Right. He must’ve seen everything through the window too.’

Even if he’d grown up neglected, he had only ever lived in the imperial palace—this was not something he was prepared to handle.

“Your Highness, if you’re scared, you may wait here. I can go alone.”

“What? Where are you going?”

“The person I’m looking for is deep inside the village.”

“Can’t we take the carriage? Why walk?”

“The roads are too narrow from here. We’ll have to walk.”

“But what if we catch the disease?”

His eyes looked ready to cry at any moment.

“Your Highness, Scale Disease isn’t as easy to catch as you think. If it were, why would clerics or doctors volunteer to come here?”

“That’s because clerics are fine! They can protect themselves with holy power! But we can’t!”

Even with all my explanations, Edwin shook his head in fear.

“Then please stay right here. I’ll be back soon.”

I figured it was best to find the person quickly and took a step.

That was when Edwin tugged at my hood.

“N-no! I’m coming with you!”

Edwin clung to my robe, sticking close behind me.

“We’ll have to go quite a ways inside the village. Are you sure you can handle it?”

“I hate being alone even more! I’m coming with you!”

I sighed at Edwin’s stubbornness. “Then stay right next to me. The paths are complicated.”

***

The inner village was more orderly than expected, but the stench was even worse.

There were many people in such terrible condition it was hard to look at them.

“Hey, why are their arms and legs missing? Does Scale Disease make you lose limbs too?”

Edwin was horrified at the sight of a villager who had lost a leg.

“In severe cases, yes. At first, the decaying flesh hardens like stone, and then it crumbles at the slightest impact.”

That’s why Scale Disease was also called ‘weathering disease.’

By the time the body was fully rotted, it would disintegrate in the wind—vanishing from the world completely.

“That’s why there are no graves in this village. There are no corpses to bury.”

This was another reason the disease was known as the ‘Devil’s Curse.’

In the Ventrume Empire, where funerals were sacred, to leave no body behind was to be denied eternal rest.

“What? No graves? Then how do their families visit them?”

“The people here have been abandoned by their families. Even if there were graves, no one would come.”

“…Then where do those who disappear like that go?”

“They turn to dust and are either blown away by the wind or washed away by the rain.”

At my answer, Edwin fell silent and walked without a word for a long time.

His silence lasted all the way to the end of the alley.

“Your Highness, we’re here.”

“……”

“Your Highness? Prince Edwin!”

“Huh? What? What is it?”

Even after calling him several times, Edwin remained dazed until I raised my voice.

“We’ve arrived.”

“Oh, okay.”

He looked puzzled to see the house in front of us looked no different from the others.

“So, this is the house where the person who’ll be my teacher lives?”