The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 50

Chapter 50: The Commander of the Knights, Jerome Crowner (3)

“Your Highness, I’m coming in.”

As soon as I left the knights, I headed straight to Edwin’s room.

Seated at his desk, Edwin had Emilia on his lap and was wrestling with a thick book.

“What are you doing?”

“Hm? Homework. Teacher told me to memorize everything about the noble families in the Empire by tomorrow.”

The way Edwin sat at his desk murmuring diligently was quite different from when I first met him.

Not much time had passed, yet he seemed more mature now, as if he’d shed some of his childishness.

“You only have to memorize the family names?”

“No, their characteristics and genealogies too.”

What? That old man Sage, is he planning to teach him imperial studies or something?

What good is it for this kid to know about the noble families in the Empire?

Only after a bit more time did Edwin finally lift his eyes from the book.

“By the way, where have you been? Catherine said you went out.”

“I just got back from meeting Duke Jerome Crowner.”

At my reply, Edwin’s mouth dropped open.

At the same time, the quill he had been holding rolled off the desk.

“Y-you met Sir Jerome?”

“Yes.”

“You really met Sir Jerome? Where? How? What did he say? Did you talk about me?”

What the— Does this kid seriously like Jerome?

It was the first time I’d ever seen him light up like this.

‘Now that’s a bit irritating.’

I didn’t even want to associate with that man Jerome Crowner.

Does he even realize I met that man face-to-face because of him?

“…Your Highness, do you like Sir Jerome?”

“Hm? Of course!”

Edwin raised a small fist into the air.

“He’s cool! He’s the strongest knight in the Empire!”

Cool? That muscle-bound macho guy?

I just couldn’t understand it.

“That’s the only reason?”

“Well, and he’s also the savior of my—no, our lives!”

“Savior of your lives?”

“When I was little, Sir Crowner saved us.”

About four years ago in the summer, the imperial family was attacked by barbarians while heading to a villa.

Edwin’s party, located at the very rear of the procession, was in a particularly vulnerable position.

“I thought I was going to die then. There was no one to protect us.”

“What about the knights?”

“They all went to protect Father and the elder princes.”

The battle against the barbarians only grew fiercer.

In the end, Emma grabbed baby Emilia in one arm and Edwin in the other and bolted from the carriage.

Unfortunately, they ran straight into a barbarian warrior.

“It was a man with a huge cross-shaped scar on his face.”

Clutched in the arms of his nurse, Edwin closed his eyes before the barbarian’s ax blade.

“But then, Sir Jerome appeared and struck him down in a single blow.”

The one who saved the overlooked Third Prince was none other than the Empire’s strongest knight, Duke Jerome Crowner.

“So Sir Jerome is like a hero to me. But I never got to thank him properly that day…”

A hero, huh.

I slowly opened my eyes wide at his words.

“…Some people bust their asses and get called butchers, while others get hailed as heroes. Even though both end up with blood on their hands.”

As I muttered sarcastically to myself, he looked at me with wide eyes.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“No, nothing.”

I continued with a calm face, “I didn’t know Sir Jerome was your savior. If I had, I would’ve shown more courtesy.”

I regretted learning it so late.

I meant it sincerely.

“Did something happen with Sir Jerome?”

“Not at all.”

I shrugged nonchalantly, and Edwin started nervously fidgeting with his fingers.

“Then what did you two talk about?”

“Well, we discussed something that would be beneficial to Your Highness.”

“Something beneficial to me?”

The boy tilted his head with a naïve expression, completely unaware of the world’s workings.

I grabbed his shoulders and smiled brightly. “Your Highness, do you remember the promise I made to you? The one where I said I’d make it so you could ‘choose’ whatever you want.”

He quietly nodded at my words.

“That promise—I intend to keep it, starting now.”

At the word ‘starting now,’ Edwin blinked in surprise.

“And while we’re at it, you can take the chance to thank Sir Jerome properly.”

Even at my meaningful smile, the innocent Third Prince still looked completely clueless.

***

“You went to the Gloria Knights?”

A small cabin tucked in the shadowy corner of the Third Prince’s palace.

It was the new gardener’s home.

“Are you insane?”

Sage, the gardener (and the Third Prince’s tutor), clamped his hands over his mouth at my words.

“You’re insane, aren’t you?”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“That wasn’t a compliment!”

He fixed his gaze on me and let out a defeated laugh.

“…You’re crazy, absolutely crazy. As if barging into the Gloria Knights without permission wasn’t enough, you went and made an outrageous request to Duke Crowner?”

“I don’t think it was particularly outrageous. I just asked if His Highness Edwin could join the knights’ training for a bit.”

“Hey, do you think Jerome Crowner is an ordinary person? What if he found out who you really are?”

“He didn’t, so it’s fine.”

Hearing that, Sage was left speechless.

“…Ha, it really is you, Kyla. This reckless behavior is exactly like Kyla Angel.”

“I told you that name’s forbidden.”

“Is your name important right now?”

Sage rested his interlocked hands under his chin with a grave expression.

“Are you prepared to deal with the consequences?”

“Consequences of what? I just asked to let him join the physical training for a short while.”

“No, I mean why do such a thing? And why the Gloria Knights, of all places?”

“Because the Gloria Knights are the most famous.”

“And why go to the most famous knights on purpose!”

Sage slammed the table with his twig-like arms.

“News of the Third Prince’s nanny visiting the Gloria Knights has likely reached the Second Consort. Do you know she holds a grudge against Duke Crowner because she failed to make him her son’s swordsmanship teacher?”

“Ah, yes. I’ve heard that.”

“You heard, and yet you’re so nonchalant?”

“What’s there to not be calm about?”

“Don’t you know what kind of person the Second Consort is? She’s not going to sit quietly. She might even send assassins to the Third Prince’s palace!”

Sage clutched his head and screamed.

“Then they’ll find out I’m here! I haven’t even done anything yet and I don’t want to die!”

Didn’t he say before he had no regrets even if he died?

Turns out no one really wants to die.

When people say ‘I want to die,’ they’re all lying.

Thinking that, I quietly opened my mouth.

“Don’t worry too much.”

“What do you mean, ‘don’t worry too much’! You should be worrying more…”

“You think the news of me visiting the Gloria Knights only reached the Second Consort’s ears?”

When I smiled calmly with a face devoid of concern, Sage’s expression twisted.

“Wait, don’t tell me…”

Sage finally realized something and looked stunned.

“You did it on purpose? To get the Emperor’s attention?”

He calls himself a great sage but is incredibly slow on the uptake.

Sage shook his head in disbelief as he caught on to my intentions.

“Why would you do that? Are you really trying to drag Edwin into the succession struggle?”

“No, not exactly.”

“If not, then why…”

“I don’t intend to enter the fight for the throne, but that doesn’t mean I plan to do nothing either.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you tell me to build a foundation?”

“I only meant…”

“And isn’t that why you made His Highness memorize all the personal details of the Empire’s noble families?”

Sage fell silent at my words.

It seemed he had no rebuttal.

“In any case, I had no choice but to lay the groundwork too.”

I shrugged and continued, “I’m far too lowly to meet His Majesty the Emperor directly, so I have to make him come find me.”

The Emperor of the Ventrume Empire, Cavelius III.

‘I recall he wasn’t exactly a normal human.’

I recalled the materials I’d read about Cavelius III in the organization.

‘The Emperor of the Empire has two nicknames.’

The ‘Virtuous Monarch’ who ascended the throne at twenty and led a vast empire.

Or the ‘Degenerate’ who massacred his own siblings to claim the crown.

Thanks to that, he was quite famous even within the organization.

‘The assassins who killed the imperial bloodline back then were all from our organization.’

That’s why the Emperor was one of the last people I wanted to get involved with.

‘But for Edwin’s sake, I need the Emperor’s support.’

The fact that the Third Prince’s nanny visited the commander of the Empire’s top knights would undoubtedly reach the Emperor’s ears.

Whether Duke Crowner reported it directly or someone else tattled.

Of course, just as Sage said, the Second Consort and other imperials had likely already heard the news.

‘But that doesn’t matter.’

What matters to me is how the Emperor perceives this incident.

Will he give his one and only youngest son a chance?

Or will he cast him aside once again without mercy?

‘If he deems him worthless and pays no attention, then I’ll just have to show him that’s not the case.’

If only Edwin has the chance to show what he’s capable of, then the Emperor will surely see the Third Prince in a new light.