The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 76
Chapter 76: The Imperial Hunting Competition (5)
“Fortunately, there seems to be no objections.”
As no one raised a protest, the Emperor slowly stepped down from the dais.
Then he took Edwin by the shoulder and turned him around.
“Now, look closely.”
As countless gazes converged on him at once, the young prince’s body stiffened.
The Emperor leaned close to his youngest son’s ear and whispered low, “See how they are looking at you.”
Edwin instinctively raised the eyes he had been keeping lowered.
“How is it? Are you still afraid?”
Edwin blinked his large eyes.
At the ambiguous gazes, mixed with envy and expectation, curiously, the feeling of fear began to fade little by little.
“Yes, when you become strong, there is nothing you need fear.”
The Emperor, confirming Edwin’s brightened face, let out a small laugh.
Then he signaled with a glance to the secretary standing nearby.
“The winner of this hunting competition is His Highness the Third Prince, Edwin Anaxinian Ventrume!”
At the secretary’s cry announcing the victor chosen by the Emperor, applause broke out from all sides at once.
For Edwin, it was the first applause he had ever received in his life.
The young prince, hiding his awkwardness and embarrassment, looked only at the tips of his shoes.
“Congratulations, Your Highness the Third Prince.”
“As expected, His Majesty’s sons are all exceptional…”
“I too had been keeping an eye on His Highness Edwin for some time…”
Along with the applause, sweet words rained down upon him, words he was hearing for the first time in his life.
Edwin couldn’t bear how unbearably awkward this situation was. He couldn’t even tell if he deserved such treatment.
Meanwhile, there were eyes watching the Third Prince intently.
“…He has changed a little.”
First Prince Adrian muttered quietly to himself as he watched his half-brother.
Then he soon turned his head away as if uninterested.
Second Prince Lloyd, unable to contain his anger at having victory snatched from before his eyes, had long since stormed out.
Normally, Helena would have stopped him, but this time, perhaps because she too was furious, she left with him.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the Emperor seemed to have no interest in them whatsoever.
“What troubles you, Bri?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Brigitte Crowner, the Duke’s daughter, stared at the Third Prince, who was being showered with praise at the Emperor’s side, then turned her head.
“I am so tired, I want to return to the mansion at once.”
“Very well, then go wait in the carriage. I must remain by His Majesty’s side.”
At her father’s permission, Brigitte quickly rode out of the hunting grounds.
At the last moment, she glanced surreptitiously back at Edwin.
“Th-thank you.”
Edwin continuously returned thanks to the nobles congratulating him.
Thus passed the hunting competition, a mix of countless schemes, intrigues, and unexpected fortune.
***
Right after the Imperial Hunting Competition ended, the hunting grounds grew quiet.
The hunting grounds, desolate in feeling, held only me and Third Prince Edwin.
“Rachel, why did you tell me to stay…”
Edwin began to speak to me, but suddenly froze like someone bewitched.
It was because the beasts loaded in the cart began to stir one by one.
“W-what is this!”
There was no way the dead beasts were miraculously coming back to life, so it was far more reasonable to think they had merely been asleep and were waking.
“They… they were alive?”
Edwin, his already large eyes widening further, turned to me.
“You didn’t really hunt them?”
“…I thought Your Highness would dislike it, so I prepared beforehand.”
In truth, all the arrows I used in the hunt had blunt stone arrowheads.
So that the beasts struck wouldn’t be gravely wounded but would faint instantly, I had smeared a small amount of paralysis poison on the tips.
“Wh-what! You should have told me beforehand!”
Though Edwin protested in a sulky voice, the moment he came to his senses, he smiled brightly as he watched the beasts flee.
As if nothing made him happier than to see the prey escape unharmed.
“……”
I gazed silently at Edwin’s profile.
A sight utterly foreign, unfamiliar, and unseen in the world I had lived in all my life. Yet, it was not something I disliked.
“…It’s fortunate none of them died.”
Edwin, watching the beasts flee safely, slowly turned back.
“Rachel.”
The young prince looked directly at me.
With a clear face, free of any worry or care.
“Thank you. Truly.”
“…Yes?”
“You are really a good person.”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
At the prince’s words, I lowered my eyes halfway.
Did I truly deserve his gratitude?
Could I dare to accept being called a good person?
‘After killing so many people?’
For any reason, an assassin could never become a good person.
Even if one had taken over another’s body, the essence did not change.
Even now, rather than thinking it fortunate the beasts had escaped, my only thought was regret for losing so much meat and hide.
If not for Edwin, I would never have freed them.
“…Only this time.”
I continued in a solemn voice, “Next time, if there’s hunting to be done, then I truly will kill. And of course, I will no longer hunt in Your Highness’s place.”
At my words, Edwin pressed his lips together.
“Sometimes it’s necessary to take a life with resolve. Think of today as practice for that.”
At my stern tone, Edwin too nodded silently as if steeling himself.
“Then let us return.”
I turned without hesitation.
Edwin looked up at his nanny’s face, suddenly cold and rigid, with a sullen expression.
‘Rachel…’
She seemed like someone desperate to prove she was not a good person.
To him, it was something incomprehensible.
‘But.’
Until now, apart from Emma, the only one who had been consistently kind to him from the start was Rachel. To Edwin, no one else was as good a person as she was.
“Let’s go together, Rachel.”
Edwin scurried after his nanny and lightly grasped her hand.
Rachel didn’t shake him off but instead gripped it more firmly without a word.
The young prince smiled faintly at the warmth enveloping his hand.
‘She really is a good person.’
He thought with certainty that his nanny was indeed a good person.
***
“Prince Edwin! Nanny!”
When we returned to the Prince’s Palace, all the maids welcomed us.
Especially Catherine, who was holding Emilia, ran out with delight.
“Did you catch a lot…”
She approached the cart with an expectant face, then shut her mouth. Her pale eyes filled with disappointment.
“Did you perhaps come back empty-handed?”
Catherine tilted her head, murmuring that it made no sense, “That’s strange. I clearly heard His Highness Edwin won the competition…”
“That’s true.”
“Then why is there nothing?”
“…I released them.”
At my answer, Catherine’s eyes grew round like a startled rabbit.
She looked back and forth between the empty cart and me before sighing.
“Hmph, I was hoping to feast a little for once.”
Usually, the game the prince brought back was offered as hides, while the meat went to the attendants.
After all, the imperial family was served the finest meat at every meal anyway.
Hearing Catherine’s words, the other maids also let out disappointed sighs.
“Catherine, Catherine! What does it mean to release?”
Only Emilia babbled on, unconcerned with the gloomy mood.
“It means they were all let go.”
“Ehh? Then Lia can’t eat meat? Hmph.”
When even his younger sister pouted, Edwin looked terribly flustered.
He seemed deeply sorry at the thought that the prey he had freed could have been the attendants’ feast.
He, as a prince, could eat meat at any time, but they could not.
“Catherine.”
Just as the others were about to turn away with disappointed faces, I stopped Catherine.
“Take this.”
“Huh? But…”
Her eyes grew wider at the sight of the three gold coins I slipped into her hand.
They were from the assassin’s belongings I had seized in the hunting grounds.
“Why gold coins?”
“…Consider it like prize money. Use it for the attendants’ meals.”
“Really?”
At the mention of food, Catherine’s face lit up. She jumped in place and hugged me tightly.
“Nanny, you’re the best!”
“Ugh, Catherine, don’t suddenly hug me like that…”
“Everyone! His Highness is treating us to dinner tonight with the prize money! Get ready to eat until you burst!”
Prize money?
Edwin looked puzzled, but the attendants brightened at once at Catherine’s words.
“Thank you, Prince Edwin!”
“Congratulations on winning the hunting competition!”
“Prince Edwin, you are the best!”
Edwin looked flustered as the attendants cheered his name.
He tugged at my sleeve, his eyebrows drooping.
“What are they talking about?”
“Just say nothing. It’s money that is practically your ransom anyway.”
“What?”
At my answer, Edwin frowned.
But he said no more, only showing an awkward smile toward the attendants who praised him.
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midori
thanks! awww rachel, i’m so glad that you didn’t kill the animals! that’s great!
soooo is it just me who despises the emperor? hahaha, i understand his stance, but these kinds of characters just annoy me lawl, i hope he dies faster keke