The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 85

Chapter 85: LOVE & POISON (9)

‘As expected, no one seems to have noticed my absence.’

I leaned against the corridor wall of the Empress’s Palace main building, watching the outside.

Judging from the view of the rear garden through the window, it seemed the banquet still had some time before it would end.

‘But why is that boy bowing his head again?’

In the distance, the golden head of hair drooped in dejection.

Did something happen while I was gone? But the atmosphere around him seemed fine.

‘I feel a bit sorry for leaving him alone, but…’

There was no way I could waste this rare chance to visit the Empress’s Palace without gaining anything.

‘It’s possible the one who sent the assassin after Edwin wasn’t the Second Consort.’

My eyes narrowed.

‘The one who tried to kill Edwin during the hunting competition belonged to an organization.’

If this was related to Breath of the Angel, if Ian was involved, I needed to investigate far more thoroughly.

‘I must find out for sure who the mastermind is.’

I stepped away from the window and walked deeper into the corridor.

The Empress’s Palace main building was a massive three-story structure in the shape of an E.

I was currently at the far left end of the second-floor corridor.

‘As expected of the Empress’s Palace, there are many people.’

Knights and maids walked back and forth constantly, but none noticed my presence.

Before they came close, I erased my presence completely and hid behind walls or pillars.

If I hadn’t once been an assassin, it would have been impossible.

‘Nothing here either.’

I wandered the Empress’s Palace like a silent ghost. Most of the countless rooms were empty guest rooms.

While I slipped unseen from room to room, I opened a door in the middle of the third-floor corridor.

‘This must be the Empress’s bedchamber.’

One glance made it obvious.

The only bed covered with golden and red blankets was neatly arranged.

I closed the door quietly and looked around the room.

On the wall opposite the massive bed hung a sacred painting depicting the founding myth of the Empire. Between them stood a luxurious-looking desk and chair.

‘A desk in the bedchamber? Is she a workaholic?’

Approaching the desk, I carefully flipped through the documents without leaving a trace.

‘All are administrative papers.’

Unfortunately, all the documents on the Empress’s desk were related to palace affairs under her jurisdiction.

‘Well, the less important things are often left out in plain sight.’

I returned the papers to their original positions and checked beneath the desk.

There were three drawers, and the last one was locked.

“Hmm.”

I pulled out a small hairpin, bent it, and stuck it into the lock.

Though I was skilled at picking locks, even recognized in the back alleys, this one didn’t budge.

‘Which means this isn’t an ordinary lock.’

When I reached down and felt the bottom of the drawer, I noticed grooves carved into the wood.

From the ornate engravings, I sensed faint currents of magic.

It was a magic inscription.

‘To inscribe magic on furniture… what extravagance.’

Though magicians were common, few had the skill to engrave magic inscriptions into objects.

Only the imperial family or high nobles with both wealth and power could inscribe such magic into the desks they used.

‘In the end, they’re usually just hiding some shameful records.’

People’s minds are all the same.

If that was the case, perhaps the Empress too was hiding something like the dismissed head maid.

‘If so…’

My lips curved.

‘Then I have even more reason to open it.’

Information is valuable, and the secrets of the highborn are the most valuable of all.

How could I resist when I had the chance to obtain something priceless for free?

“I never thought I’d have to use it like this.”

I gave a self-mocking smile and once more placed my palm on the drawer handle.

Concentrating all my focus into my fingertips, I pulled on the drawer again.

This time, it opened smoothly.

‘They all fell for it because they didn’t know. They couldn’t believe an assassin would be able to use mana.’

Mana, the source of magic, was a kind of energy present in all living beings.

But very few could even sense the mana within their own bodies.

Those who could control mana often became magicians, while the rest became knights. A girl born as an orphan in the back alleys, however, could become neither and had no choice but to become an assassin.

‘Well, in any case, it’s fortunate I can use mana even in this body. It makes the work easier.’

Even the ‘special’ quality of my mana was the same as when I was Kyla.

What a curious coincidence. Perhaps it was precisely because this body carried the same type of mana that I had come to possess it.

I let go of the idle thought and frowned.

‘They’re all letters.’

The locked drawer was filled with letters.

All of them from the same sender.

‘He used initials instead of a name. Must be one of the Empress’s agents.’

Every letter was signed with the same initials in identical handwriting.

I quickly skimmed through their contents. Most were reports about the movements of noble families supporting the Second Prince. Countless names of houses flashed by.

They were families whose names I had heard countless times before in the past.

Then one unfamiliar name caught my eye, and I stopped.

‘Viscount Miller?’

It was a noble family name I had never heard before in my life.

‘Strange, until now all the houses mentioned in the letters were at least count or higher.’

The sudden appearance of a lowly viscount’s house.

‘A newly risen noble, perhaps?’

I carefully read through the letter.

Then a familiar name leapt out at me.

“…Ian?”

I had read the letters aloud without thinking and frowned.

Unpleasantly enough, the Viscount of Miller’s name was Ian.

‘It must just be someone with the same name…’

Still, facing the name of the ex-lover who killed me like this made me feel strangely unsettled.

As I stood there holding the letter, the hurried sound of footsteps echoed up the stairs.

I quickly shoved the letter back into the drawer and shut it.

Just as I was about to hurry out of the room, the presence had already reached the door.

‘Damn it.’

It was my mistake for letting the name Ian distract me.

The doorknob turned with a creak, and I panicked.

In the end, without hesitation, I threw myself out the window beside the desk.

***

‘I survived because of the terrace.’

I hadn’t noticed earlier, but the Empress’s bedchamber had a terrace.

Thanks to that, I avoided falling helplessly straight out the window.

Holding my breath, I clung to the terrace railing as the door opened and someone entered the room.

‘The Empress. Why has she returned?’

Leaning against the outer wall, I peered back through the window.

The Empress looked unusually pale.

She hurried to a cabinet beside the door and flung it open.

Inside, dozens of glass bottles filled with transparent crimson liquid were displayed.

‘What is that?’

I watched her closely with suspicious eyes as she took out a bottle, uncorked it hastily, and drank the potion. Her movements were natural and practiced, as if she had done it many times before.

After drinking, the Empress looked relieved.

‘Is she suffering from some chronic illness?’

In any case, with her inside, leaving the way I came would be impossible.

As I considered climbing down the outer wall connected to the terrace railing—

Thud.

A heavy sound came from inside the room.

Instinctively, I turned my head and saw the Empress collapsed on the floor.

Foam at her lips, convulsing.

It looked as though she might die any moment, and I was stunned.

‘Poison?’

I grabbed the window handle, about to climb back inside, but stopped.

I hesitated for an instant.

‘If I go in now, I’ll be suspected.’

A nanny of the Third Prince caught inside the Empress’s Palace? There could hardly be a more suspicious situation.

But if I did nothing, the Empress could truly die.

I hesitated briefly, then opened the window and slipped inside.

The Empress lay half-unconscious on the floor.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”

I shook her lightly and slipped my fingers into her mouth to force her to vomit the poison.

She recoiled at the sudden intrusion of my finger, clearly displeased, but eventually vomited.

‘Good, it’s out.’

Fortunately, it seemed she had vomited before the poison was fully absorbed.

Her pulse was steady, and her breathing wasn’t too bad.

I looked down at the Empress lying on the floor.

‘Now what?’

I felt no presence nearby.

Which meant if I left quietly now, no one would know I had been here.

“Ugh…”

Just then, the Empress groaned in pain.

Even if she had vomited it out, some of the poison must have been absorbed. She wouldn’t be fine.

After a moment’s thought, I laid her flat on the floor.

Then I grabbed a vase from the table.

Splash.

I doused my face with the water from it, then flung the door open and bolted out.

“Her Majesty the Empress, Her Majesty has collapsed! Someone help!”

Shouting at the top of my lungs, I ran down the corridor.

Knights and maids came rushing.

In an instant, the Empress’s Palace was thrown into chaos.