The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Fair Trade (1)

“At least twenty should do… What did you say?”

Catherine, who had been counting gold coins like a deranged person, snapped back to her senses.

“I said I’ll find a horse somehow.”

“What? You, Nanny? How?”

I shrugged. “Somehow. If all else fails, I’ll carry Prince Edwin on my back.”

“…Excuse me?”

For a moment, Catherine looked horrified.

“I’ve carried Princess Emilia before, so it’s not like I can’t do the same for Prince Edwin.”

Speaking in an utterly serious tone must have confused her.

Catherine frowned and stared at me intently. “You’re joking, right…?”

“Of course. No matter how fast I am, how could I possibly outrun a real horse?”

“Ugh, you scared me! When you say things like that, it sounds too real!”

Strange woman.

Logically, how could a person possibly beat a horse?

She’s unusually sharp sometimes, yet completely clueless in others.

“Anyway, I know someone who might be able to help. Leave it to me.”

Catherine let out a long sigh.

But no matter how much she thought about it, it seemed she couldn’t come up with a proper solution.

“…Alright. Then I’ll leave the horse to you, Nanny.”

“Good. That settles one problem. What’s the other?”

“Of course, it’s finding someone to teach His Highness how to hunt.”

To go hunting, he would need at least basic proficiency in horseback riding and archery.

“That, too, might be easier to solve than you think.”

“Huh? Really?”

Catherine’s eyes widened at my words.

“What’s the solution?”

“I’ll teach him.”

Catherine rested both hands under her chin and blinked slowly.

“…You, Nanny?”

“I am, after all, the daughter of a noble family.”

I didn’t know exactly how powerful the Brown family was.

Still, as a noble house, surely they would have taught their adopted daughter how to hunt.

“Hmmm.”

Catherine seemed to ponder for a moment before finally accepting my offer.

“Alright. We’re in no position to be picky about hot or cold water right now.”

…She doesn’t mean I’m the cold water, does she?

She approached the large chest in the corner of the office.

Unlocking the lock hanging from it, she revealed ledgers and various valuables.

“Doesn’t seem like such a poor household to me.”

“With the Prince’s palace budget, it’s barely enough. Here, take this.”

Catherine had told me once that after her father squandered their fortune through gambling, she had taken over managing the family finances.

Maybe that’s why she was extremely thorough and sensitive when it came to money.

She was also frugal.

“Twenty nomas.”

Catherine handed me a heavy pouch with trembling hands.

“That should be enough to get a decent horse—something above standard—at the horse market.”

She closed her eyes tightly while looking at the gold pouch in my hands.

As if she couldn’t bear to watch such a large sum disappear at once.

“Of course, even if it’s not enough, you’ll still have to make it work within that amount. That’s the best we can do.”

“Don’t worry. It’s more than enough,” I answered confidently.

After all, a shortage of money wasn’t a problem for me in the slightest.

***

“It’s been a while. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

I leaned leisurely against the stable post and lightly flicked my fingers.

“You, you, you!”

Gale, the Second Prince’s page who used to torment Edwin.

The boy who had been grooming a horse’s mane dropped the brush in his hand as soon as he saw me.

“Y-You’re insane!”

Gale glanced around anxiously, then lowered his voice and snapped.

“Do you even know where you are? Get lost already!”

Still wet behind the ears, and already speaking informally?

I always thought he had no potential, but acting this rude even when we’re alone?

As expected, noble temperaments really are something else.

“How unexpected. You’re the apprentice of a master carriage craftsman, and yet here you are grooming horses in a stable? Do nobles do this kind of work too? Or are you being punished for lacking skill?”

At my words, Gale’s face turned red and he gnashed his teeth. “Don’t be ridiculous! Apprentices are supposed to start with the basics—wait, why am I even explaining this to you! Get lost already!”

“I just asked out of curiosity. Why get so worked up? It’s embarrassing.”

When I replied as if wronged, his expression twisted.

“More importantly, how did you know I was here?”

Only then did Gale hesitate, realizing it was strange that I’d come here looking for him.

“This is an imperial stable.”

“I know.”

I smiled as I stood up from where I had been leaning against the post.

“I came to make a deal with you.”

“What? A deal?”

Gale was about to shout something ridiculous when—

“What’s going on, Gale?”

“M-Master!”

Master, huh.

Then this must be the famous master carriage craftsman.

“Gale, you rascal! I told you one more outburst and you’d be thrown out!”

“It wasn’t me, it was this woman…”

“Woman? What woman?”

“Huh?”

Gale looked around with a stupid expression.

“She was right here! That crazy woman!”

“You’re seeing hallucinations of women now? I told you to stop chasing after skirts!”

“Master! It’s a misunderstanding!”

“You still haven’t come to your senses! That’s it! Clean the entire stable by tonight!”

“But that’s the job of the servants…”

“You’re an apprentice who eats for free. Doing chores is the least you can do! Just because your father’s a count, don’t think I’ll go easy on you! No excuses, finish it today!”

He truly exuded the pride and temper typical of master craftsmen.

After shouting, Gale’s master stormed out of the stable.

“Master!”

Gale called out desperately, but the man didn’t even look back.

“Damn it…”

“That man is your master? The one who makes the emperor’s carriages?”

“Arghhhh!”

Gale screamed as if he’d seen a ghost.

Several horses startled by the noise stamped their hooves.

“Keep it down. Don’t you know horses are sensitive to noise?”

I calmly patted a startled horse to soothe it.

Gale grimaced. “Just a second ago you weren’t here—how…!”

“I’ve been here the whole time.”

Of course, I had been hanging from the stable roof for a bit.

But it’s his fault for not noticing.

“Why are you doing this to me? What are you scheming?”

“Didn’t I say earlier? I came to make a deal.”

“What deal?!”

“What kind of deal would you make in a stable?”

I smiled as I scratched the jaw of a horse poking its head toward me.

“A horse deal, of course.”

It took Gale a while to process what I said.

He stood dumbfounded for a moment, then suddenly shouted, “What? Don’t be absurd. All the horses here belong to His Majesty the Emperor!”

“I know.”

I flashed a bright smile at him.

“And isn’t your family the one that breeds the horses supplied to this place?”

How could a nanny know that?

Gale scoffed in disbelief. “So what? Are you threatening me now?”

He approached with a menacing look.

How bold, for someone so clueless.

“Threats? Don’t make me laugh! What do you think you can do to me? You’re from some worthless family that does nothing but serve that penniless prince…”

He kept shouting, spittle flying—until he collapsed to the ground.

Gale lay face down, gasping like he was about to die.

A proper blow to the solar plexus. That reaction was expected.

“I just gave you a tiny taste of what I’m capable of.”

I lightly shook out my wrist and asked, “Now, do you feel a little more inclined to make a deal?”

Gale looked up at me, panting.

His eyes were filled with both suspicion and fear.

“Who… what are you…?”

“If you insist on refusing, I’ll just keep persuading you until you agree.”

“What… what?”

“By any means necessary.”

In that moment, Gale’s face turned even paler.

“L-Look! I’m just an ordinary apprentice! Yes, it’s true my family raises horses, but only for the Imperial supply. My father oversees all of that directly! I’m just the second son, I don’t even have access!”

I snorted at his excuses. “I know you’ve been diverting Imperial horses and selling them on the black market. Going to deny it?”

Gale turned ashen and clenched his trembling hands.

He looked like he’d collapse any second.

“H-how… how do you know that…?”

“If you keep your tail too long, it’ll get caught eventually.”

Must be his noble roots. For someone who claimed to be just a regular apprentice, he sure had guts.

Even if it was by the Second Prince’s orders, I’d been suspicious of him ever since he came and went from the Third Prince’s palace as if it were his own home.

“Catherine, do you know anything about someone named Gale?’

“Gale? I think I’ve heard the name.”

“He’s the Second Prince’s page and an apprentice of the master carriage craftsman.”

“Oh, you mean that tall noble youth? I don’t know the details, but should I ask around?”

To help answer my questions, Catherine had asked around about Gale using her connections in the palace.

Servants, maids, even the huntsman. Her social skills really shone.

“To think you dared divert Imperial horses from the records and sell them on the black market. You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”