The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 80

Chapter 80: LOVE & POISON (4)

“Sir Philip, you like Prince Edwin too, don’t you?”

Why bring up the Third Prince all of a sudden?

Philip furrowed his brows, then gave a short reply, “Among the princes, yes. He is intelligent and has perseverance.”

“Then please help.”

“What exactly do you mean by help?”

“Help His Highness attend Lady Crowner’s birthday banquet.”

“How did you even know about that…”

At her words, Philip let out a short sigh.

So it was true. The way Edwin looked at Brigitte had been sincere enough to even reach the ears of a maid.

“…Lady Crowner’s birthday banquet is hosted by Her Majesty the Empress. Without an official invitation, he cannot attend.”

“I know. But if the birthday girl herself invited him, wouldn’t that be allowed?”

Philip thought of Brigitte, his superior’s daughter.

Young, but stubborn, bold, and with a pride that reached the heavens.

She was extremely particular about relationships, keeping only those she personally chose as friends.

Would such a Brigitte ever invite Edwin personally? Could she really?

“Does His Highness Edwin even have any friendship with Lady Crowner?”

“No.”

“Then it won’t happen. Lady Crowner has clear likes and dislikes. She won’t invite someone she barely knows to her birthday banquet.”

“Still, shouldn’t we at least try?”

Catherine looked at him with desperate eyes.

“Sir Philip, I want to protect Prince Edwin’s pure heart. Before being a prince, he is still just a twelve-year-old boy.”

Who wouldn’t understand the heart of a boy wanting to attend the birthday banquet of the girl who had first stolen his heart?

“……”

Philip stayed silent for a while, then finally opened his mouth. “How exactly?”

“With your help, of course.”

“…Me?”

“Yes!”

At Catherine’s confident answer, Philip frowned.

“And how am I supposed to help?”

“Until the banquet, just help the two of them get closer.”

“And how would I even do that…”

“I heard from the knights. Until Sir Jerome returns, Lady Crowner will be staying at the Empress’s Palace, right?”

As always, his subordinates lost their composure around women.

Philip pressed his forehead, recalling the foolish, naive faces of his men.

“Sigh. And?”

“Tell me Lady Crowner’s movements. Her private preferences, too.”

“You’re asking me to give away a guest’s movements?”

Philip raised an eyebrow, then shook his head firmly.

“I can’t. What if she were put in danger…”

“Oh, just help a little!”

But Catherine was stronger than he expected.

She leaned in so close it looked like she might shoulder him, raising her voice.

“To be blunt, what could our innocent Prince Edwin possibly do? He’s not sly enough to plot mischief, nor does he have the political standing for schemes. He was just the shabby prince everyone mocked until recently. Sharing a little won’t cause any great harm!”

To disparage her own master so boldly, just for this purpose.

Philip’s eyes shook uncontrollably with shock.

“All I’m saying is help a little with a child’s puppy love! Is that really such a big deal?”

“Th-that…”

Philip stepped back little by little.

The way she kept barging into his space was overwhelmingly unsettling. Never before had a woman pressed him like this.

“Fine! Fine, I get it, just step back!”

In the end, Philip unwittingly accepted her request, overwhelmed by Catherine’s pressure.

“Oh my, really? That’s wonderful! I’ll never forget this favor!”

Beaming with delight, Catherine suddenly hugged him tightly.

“Then I’ll be counting on you, Sir Philip!”

It all happened so fast that Philip stood frozen on the spot.

By the time he came back to his senses, Catherine had already run far away.

“…Good grief.”

Philip Meyer, vice commander of the Gloria Knights, always calm and rational, stood staring blankly at the place where she had vanished.

***

“Ah, hi!”

Once again, Edwin mustered the courage to greet.

The red-haired girl, Brigitte Crowner.

Brigitte, leaving the knights’ quarters, tilted her head slightly as if she had expected him.

“Hello. We meet often.”

As always, Edwin had been waiting in the central garden where Brigitte often appeared, and once again, he ran into her.

This time, she even spoke to him first.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah, I was looking at the flowers.”

“Which flowers?”

“Uh, marigolds.”

Brigitte gazed at the flowers Edwin pointed to.

“They’re called marigolds?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about that one?”

“Oh, that’s geranium…”

“And that one over there?”

“That’s just a rose…”

Brigitte crouched beside Edwin, firing off question after question about the flowers.

As if determined to learn the names of every single flower in the central garden.

“That’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Most boys don’t care about flowers. But Your Highness, how are you so knowledgeable about them?”

Most boys didn’t even notice flowers existed, let alone know their names.

Brigitte looked at him as if it were truly unexpected.

“…My previous nanny liked flowers.”

At her question, Edwin gave a bitter smile.

“So I naturally ended up memorizing their names.”

“I see.”

Brigitte quietly studied his expression, then soon turned her head.

She looked at the flowers blooming splendidly in the garden and said, “I heard my mother also loved flowers.”

Though she tried to keep her face expressionless, sorrow lingered in Brigitte’s eyes.

Edwin could not say anything. He knew well that the seat of the Duchess of Crowner had long been empty.

“But in the mansion where I live, there isn’t a single flower. My father said it was too painful because they reminded him of my mother, so he had the entire garden removed.”

Some people want to forget their grief, while others want to remember it.

At times, grief alone becomes the entirety of the memories left behind.

For Brigitte, the existence of the mother she lost the moment she was born was such a memory.

“I’m sorry. I ended up saying something heavy, unlike myself. Please don’t dwell on it…”

What should one say in moments like this?

As Edwin rolled his eyes around, he blurted out hastily without even realizing.

“I-it’s fine! I don’t have a mother either!”

After speaking, he grew terribly embarrassed. Edwin’s face flushed red.

‘Fine, what’s fine! Idiot! That was so rude!’

The young prince was seized by the urge to bang his head against a wall. But contrary to his worry, Brigitte only looked at him in surprise.

“Your Highness, you also don’t have a mother? I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, she passed away giving birth to my younger sibling.”

The fact that Edwin had no mother was something the imperial family, and indeed all nobles of the Empire, knew well. Because of that, he had never once had to explain it himself.

This was the first time he had spoken of his mother’s absence directly to someone.

He had thought voicing his own flaw would feel miserable, but it was not as bad as he imagined.

“But even before she passed away, I hardly ever spoke with her. So I don’t even know what she liked.”

The fact that he knew nothing about the one who had given birth to him stung his heart a little.

Edwin’s voice grew faint with gloom. Brigitte, staring quietly at the young prince’s profile, soon answered brightly.

“That’s strange. I think I know.”

“What?”

“What your mother liked.”

How could the Duke’s daughter know something even he didn’t?

When Edwin looked at her in shock, Brigitte smiled.

“Prince Edwin.”

“…Huh?”

“They say there are no parents who don’t love their children. Surely your mother loved you dearly as well.”

Brigitte gently pressed his arm with her slender fingers.

“So what your mother loved most must have been you, Prince Edwin.”

“Ah…”

“Now you know, right?”

Edwin stared blankly at Brigitte, who was smiling at him.

Truthfully, he couldn’t fully agree with her words. Even his father, the Emperor, had no interest in him. How could he be sure his mother had loved him?

But still, with just one word from Brigitte, his heart felt warm. It was the first comfort he had ever received from someone his own age.

“…Yeah, I see.”

Unknowingly, Edwin lowered his gaze with a faint smile.

Brigitte quietly studied him.

Feeling the weight of her steady gaze, Edwin’s face soon flushed again.

“Um, why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face…”

“Your Highness.”

Brigitte stared at him for a moment, then said casually, “Looking closely, you’re actually very handsome.”