The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 77

Chapter 77: LOVE & POISON (1)

The night the hunting competition ended.

The Third Prince’s Palace was filled with a rare, cheerful atmosphere.

“Nanny!”

As I was about to quietly enter my room to rest after the day’s work, Catherine grabbed my wrist.

“Since His Highness won first place at the hunting competition for the first time, we should at least have a celebratory drink!”

“No, I’m fine…”

“Then I’ll put Emilia to bed. You all go enjoy yourselves.”

Edwin, whether he knew my thoughts or not, smiled like an adult pretending to be mature and stepped back.

“I’m tired today, so I’ll go in first with Emilia.”

“Your Highness!”

“See you tomorrow!”

Don’t suddenly act considerate only at times like this, you little chick!

I reached out my hand toward Edwin as he disappeared, carrying Emilia on his back.

But it was useless.

“Come on, let’s go, let’s go!”

Catherine pulled me into the group of maids with the strength of an ox.

Damn it, isn’t this woman secretly from the back alleys too?

“Everyone, gather in the dining hall! Let’s drink until the food runs out!”

“Waaah!”

In the end, I had no choice but to follow the cheering crowd to the dining hall and raise my glass.

“Cheers! Cheers!”

Though I was tired, the rare festive mood wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

I ended up laughing and raising my glass.

The celebratory drink after so long was unbearably sweet.

***

“…Phew.”

I fanned my flushed face as I walked.

“I am never going to an after-party with those women again.”

By the time Catherine, on her second bottle of wine, suddenly started dancing a ridiculous dance, I had no memory of how I managed to stay there.

Clunk.

Barely making it back to my room, I threw myself onto the bed, and memories of the hunting grounds surfaced before my eyes.

‘Breath of the Angel, the familiar face of a low-ranking assassin, Ian.’

Thinking about what happened during the hunting competition, curses slipped out on their own.

“Damn it…”

I raised my arm and covered my face.

Ian’s face kept coming back to me, but I forced myself to shake it off.

What mattered now wasn’t useless sentimentality, but an accurate assessment of the situation.

‘From the circumstances, it is almost certain it was instigated by the Second Consort.’

I recalled Jerome’s conversation with the Emperor, and the past history between the Second Consort and Edwin.

‘The only one who regards Edwin as a thorn in the eye is the Second Consort.’

Besides, didn’t she already have a history of ordering assassinations?

‘I definitely saw the Second Consort that day.’

I recalled seeing her once at the organization.

She had come with a nameless middle-aged man and had certainly ordered an assassination.

‘Come to think of it, was Ian involved in that mission?’

At the fragments of memory that surfaced, my brows furrowed.

I was sure the former leader and Ian had both been part of that mission.

‘Then did Ian take on the Second Consort’s order again this time?’

A foreboding premonition struck me.

Ten years ago, on that day Ian joined the mission, did something happen between him and the Second Consort? An uncertain but vivid suspicion filled my head.

‘I’ll have to find out.’

I asked myself:

‘Then what is it I should uncover?’

That the Second Consort was the one who ordered Edwin’s assassination?

Or that Ian was involved in this incident?

Which should I reveal first? Which is more important?

Suddenly, my head throbbed as if being squeezed.

‘Either way, after today, there will surely be more aiming for Edwin.’

I let out a deep sigh.

Like before, merely blocking those who came would no longer solve anything.

Now it was time to seriously search for the one behind it.

‘I had planned to from the start anyway.’

Then why was I hesitating?

Was it the alcohol? Or was it that I had grown complacent in this peaceful life?

Both my body and mind felt heavy, unable to move.

‘I don’t know either.’

In the confused night, I fell asleep alone.

As I always had.

***

The Imperial Hunting Competition ended in great success.

Perhaps because he had won first place.

Surprisingly, Edwin was no longer called the Shabby Prince, but the ‘Third Prince.’

It was a small, trivial change, but the impact it created was huge.

Among some nobles, there were already opinions circulating that the number of crown prince candidates had increased.

But Edwin himself was completely unaware of the change.

“Cough!”

That day too, Edwin was eating under my watch in the calm Third Prince’s Palace.

“You must eat more.”

I silently watched Edwin slowly empty his plate.

At my words, he lifted his trembling hand and took another spoonful of soup.

Then his complexion suddenly turned pale.

“Urgh!”

Edwin clutched at his chest and let out a groan.

“How do you feel?”

“M-my stomach feels hot, my chest is tight. My skin feels itchy too.”

“Powdered poison from a toxic mushroom known as the clown mushroom was added.”

It had already been quite some time since Edwin began training to build resistance to poison.

But because I kept feeding him new poisons every time, he hadn’t adapted, and each passing day only taught him new agonies.

“It is usually used to make truth serum, but if ingested in a lethal dose all at once, it can cause death from respiratory failure…”

I was nonchalantly spouting my knowledge from my assassin days before shutting my mouth.

No ordinary nanny would go around memorizing such things.

“…That’s what it says in the herbology book.”

Fortunately, Edwin wasn’t paying much attention to my words.

All his focus was on enduring the effects of the poison.

“Your Highness ingested only the appropriate amount, so you will return to normal in thirty minutes.”

“U-ugh.”

Edwin scratched at his skin and nodded.

Perhaps because the young prince seemed unusually exhausted today, I asked indifferently, “Is it very difficult for you?”

“N-no, it’s not that…”

“Then that’s enough. There’s nothing more unfair than dying to poison, so endure it as much as you can.”

“But I think dying during training would be just as unfair…”

“Don’t worry. I am an expert in this field… no, as good as an expert.”

I answered firmly, then wiped the corners of Edwin’s mouth with a napkin.

“It’s almost time for training. I have prepared everything, so you should head out right away.”

“Mm.”

Though the poison hadn’t worn off yet, continuing with daily life while intoxicated was also part of the training.

“Then I’ll be going.”

Dragging his heavy body, Edwin left without fuss.

‘Hm?’

Watching him leave the palace, my eyes narrowed.

Somehow, his back looked a little broader than when we had first met.

***

“Your Highness, your face is red. Are you all right?”

“Ah, I’m fine.”

Edwin, participating in knightly training, worked hard to explain himself to the Third Unit knights who worried for his well-being.

“It’s just, a little hot.”

He fanned himself with his shirt hem.

Though his face was flushed because of the poison, it was also true that it was hot.

The fever from the intoxication and the heat from training had combined.

His condition was not good, but since he had repeated this often, Edwin had grown used to it.

‘If anything, I think I have more strength during training than before?’

Edwin recalled Rachel’s words.

“With your body temperature slightly higher than usual, your body’s functions are more active.”

He couldn’t quite understand what she meant, but anyway, Rachel’s belief was that training while intoxicated was more effective for building stamina.

“By the way.”

During a short break between harsh drills.

Edwin realized that, unlike usual, Jerome was nowhere to be seen in the training grounds.

Even when he wasn’t directly supervising, Jerome would often observe from a window or a corner.

But today, he hadn’t appeared even once.

“Sir Jerome isn’t here. Did he go out?”

“Ah, the commander went on an expedition with the First Unit knights.”

“An expedition?”

“Yes, recently the frequency of monster appearances near the capital has increased. He went to investigate the cause.”

Monsters.

Edwin unconsciously recalled the monster he had first seen in Luxen Village.

‘They said the one I saw back then was a mutant, right? Then are the monsters appearing lately all mutants too?’

The thought suddenly struck him.

After pondering briefly, Edwin asked the knights a question.

“By any chance, are the monsters that have been appearing lately different from the ones before?”

“What difference do you mean, Your Highness?”

“Ah, like in their appearance…”

“Not particularly. There are just more of them.”

Edwin nodded silently, then blinked.

He realized he had never actually seen an ordinary monster before.

“Um, excuse me.”

The young prince sat closer to the knights who were quenching their thirst and asked, “Have you ever seen a wolf-type monster?”

“Do you mean a Lycan?”

“Yes!”

Normally quiet, the prince suddenly bombarded them with questions about monsters.

Though puzzled, the knights couldn’t resist the look of expectation in his eyes.

“Lycans are scariest when they attack in packs.”

“Right. Alone, they’re not that frightening.”

At their words, Edwin’s eyes widened.

The mutated Lycan he had seen in Luxen had been plenty dangerous on its own.

“Lycans are small for monsters. Not that smart either. They only overwhelm with numbers.”

“To knights who can wield aura, they’re nothing more than meat.”

Edwin simply nodded quietly.

It seemed ordinary monsters and mutated ones were completely different beings.

Indeed, the mutated Lycan from Luxen was far from the Lycans they described.

‘Would Sir Jerome know about mutated monsters?’

He was always at the forefront of subjugation, so of course he would know.

‘But what if he hasn’t encountered one yet?’

Worry filled Edwin’s large eyes.