The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 91

Chapter 91: Founding Festival Preparations (2)

The Second Prince’s Palace was excessively lavish, reflecting its master’s personality.

To be honest, it felt a bit gaudy.

“I greet Prince Edwin. Please, this way.”

A servant was waiting for us at the palace gate.

He led us to the rear garden located deep within the palace.

Though they called it a garden, it was in truth a wide, open field perfect for sword practice.

It seemed to have been built intentionally for a prince gifted in swordsmanship.

“Prince Edwin?”

In the garden stood Prince Lloyd and a man I had never seen before.

Unlike Lloyd, who frowned as though he’d bitten into a rotten apple the moment he saw Edwin, the sword dance instructor smiled brightly at us.

“It’s an honor to meet you. My name is Jake, and I’ll be teaching Your Highness the sword dance.”

So this was the sword dance instructor.

I quickly sized him up from head to toe.

His unusually kind impression made me a bit wary, but there didn’t seem to be anything suspicious about him.

‘Three at three o’clock, five at six o’clock. All of them are servants.’

Since we were in the Second Prince’s Palace, I was a little tense, but thankfully, it seemed they hadn’t set any traps.

I bowed slightly to Edwin, who had just finished greeting Jake.

“Then I’ll step aside for now.”

“Oh, okay.”

With Edwin’s permission, I backed away and took a seat beneath a nearby tree.

From there, I could eavesdrop on the maids’ chatter a bit away and also monitor the blind spots Edwin couldn’t see.

“Then, let’s begin the lesson.”

As it was the first session, Jake demonstrated a few simple movements.

“They may look like ordinary horizontal and vertical swings, but you must be able to perform all these movements while jumping on the spot.”

Jake smiled kindly and handed the princes the wooden swords he had prepared in advance.

“First, try imitating the movements I demonstrated, and I’ll guide you from there. Which of you would like to go first….”

“I’ll go first. It’s nothing much.”

Lloyd grabbed the wooden sword as if snatching it away and took his stance.

Though his movements were a bit sloppy for someone so confident, they weren’t bad; he clearly had learned swordsmanship before.

“Excellent, Prince Lloyd. But it would be better if you keep your upper body straight when you leap.”

Jake clapped his hands lightly, then turned to Edwin.

“Then next, Prince Edwin. Ah, have you ever received sword training before?”

“Well….”

Edwin hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

It was a secret that Philip had been secretly teaching him swordsmanship.

“But I can still follow along.”

Jake blinked in surprise at the prince’s reply.

“Your Highness, there’s no need to speak so formally to me. Please feel free to—”

“But you’re my teacher. I believe it’s only right to use honorifics toward someone who instructs me.”

Jake looked flustered at Edwin’s words.

Behind him, Lloyd muttered sarcastically, “Always pretending to be so good,” but it didn’t matter.

At the very least, Jake seemed genuinely moved by Edwin’s respectful attitude toward him as a teacher.

“In that case, do as you please.”

“Yes.”

“Then, would you try the movement once?”

The moment Jake finished speaking, Edwin leapt into the air.

He swung the wooden sword smoothly midair with strength far beyond what was expected for his age.

It was worth all the time he had spent training with the knights.

‘Not bad.’

Meanwhile, Jake began clapping enthusiastically as soon as Edwin finished his swing.

“Prince Edwin! You really haven’t learned swordsmanship before? Your movement was so clean! Your form was flawless.”

“Ah, hahaha….”

Edwin laughed awkwardly at the compliment directed at him.

From where I sat, I could see Lloyd grinding his teeth.

‘Is that Jake guy clueless?’

Praising the Third Prince right in front of the Second Prince?

I raised an eyebrow as I watched the unsuspecting sword dance instructor smiling proudly.

At that moment, I overheard the maids chatting amongst themselves.

“They say that man, Jake, was personally chosen by His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Yeah, I heard that too. His Majesty must have really high hopes for this Founding Festival.”

“Of course he does. It’s the first time the famous King of Adamant is attending the Founding Festival. His Majesty must want to make a strong impression.”

So, he wasn’t chosen by the Second Consort but by the Emperor himself.

Which meant Jake didn’t need to worry about whose favor to curry.

‘That’s good news for Edwin. It means he’ll be judged fairly on skill alone.’

While I thought about that, the lesson continued.

After showing a few applied movements, Jake instructed the princes to mimic them.

How many times had they repeated it when Jake finally spoke?

“Then, shall the two of you try performing together?”

Jake clasped his hands together in front of his chest with a bright smile.

“The sword dance is meant to show two people moving in perfect harmony as they spar. So practicing your coordination is essential.”

At his words, the two princes’ expressions stiffened slightly.

Jake might have lacked social awareness, but his perception wasn’t dull. Seeing their reactions, he gave an awkward smile.

“Of course, if you’re uncomfortable, you may refuse. Honestly, it might still be too soon to practice in sync. I only suggested it because your skills are so exceptional, so please don’t—”

“No.”

Lloyd, who had been silently watching, suddenly raised his hand.

“Let’s give it a try.”

He cast a provocative look toward Edwin.

“You don’t mind, do you?”

“…No.”

In the past, Edwin might’ve hesitated under such provocation, but not this time.

He looked at the sword dance instructor with a serious expression.

“I’d like to try too.”

“Good. Then imagine facing each other as you perform the movements I showed earlier. It’s not too difficult….”

Under Jake’s guidance, the two princes began their first joint practice.

However, regardless of their swordsmanship, they quickly ran into a problem.

And the source of that problem was Lloyd.

Thwack.

Lloyd frowned as his wooden sword kept veering off the intended path.

He couldn’t understand why his sword alone kept bouncing away when he was performing the exact same movements.

He had tried several times, yet the result was the same.

But Lloyd wasn’t the only one getting frustrated.

“Brother Lloyd.”

Finally, Edwin reluctantly spoke up.

“In that movement, you’re not supposed to swing with your wrist. You have to turn your whole body and swing from your back.”

Lloyd’s face flushed bright red.

It was bad enough to keep making mistakes, but being corrected by the Third Prince, the one he had always looked down on, wounded his pride deeply.

Clatter.

The sound of a wooden sword hit the ground.

Lloyd had thrown his own sword.

“Your Highness, please—”

“Fine, you’re so great.”

The flustered instructor tried to calm him, but it was useless.

Lloyd glared at Edwin, grinding his teeth. “If you’re so great, do it alone!”

“What….”

He raised his voice at the bewildered Edwin. “The reason I keep messing up is because of you! Don’t you get it?”

Now he was even blaming others.

Still seething, Lloyd turned to Jake. “You expect me to match steps with someone like this? Are you mocking me? We can just synchronize on the day of the event! He’s the one who needs more practice!”

“Your Highness, please calm down—”

“I’ve had enough!”

Lloyd shoved away the instructor trying to restrain him and stormed out of the garden.

Even the back of his neck was flushed red with anger.

“Oh dear….”

Jake sighed heavily as he watched the Second Prince’s retreating figure.

Thus, the princes’ very first sword dance lesson ended in Lloyd’s tantrum.

***

“About earlier.”

On the way back to the Third Prince’s Palace, Edwin finally spoke, walking in step beside me.

“It’s frustrating. I don’t understand why Brother Lloyd kept messing up. Was it really my fault?”

“Pay it no mind,” I answered indifferently, keeping my gaze forward. “It wasn’t Your Highness’s lack of skill, it was his.”

To be precise, it was because Lloyd lacked strength.

Since Edwin trained his stamina every day, his strength easily surpassed Lloyd’s, so each time their swords clashed, Lloyd’s would inevitably bounce away.

Which meant one thing had been clearly proven today: Edwin was stronger than Lloyd.

“Have confidence, Prince Edwin.”

I smiled at him, who still doubted himself.

“You’re steadily becoming stronger, Your Highness.”

***

Inside the gardener’s cabin of the Third Prince’s Palace, a geography lesson was underway.

Edwin gazed at the world map hanging on the old wall with sparkling eyes.

“At present, the continent is divided east and west by the Gavi Desert. On the eastern continent, there’s an empire called Khan and fifteen small nations, while on the western continent, we have the Ventrume Empire and five kingdoms. There are also small tribal regions, but those can hardly be considered countries.”

Sage lectured passionately, responding to his eager student’s curiosity.

“The kingdom closest to the Ventrume Empire lies northeast—”

“Teacher, I have a question.”

“Hmm?”

Sage lowered the pointer he’d been using to indicate the map.

“Yes, what is it?”

“There’s a region marked in red ink over there. What is that?”

Just as the young prince said, there was an area shaded in red on the map.

Across the red markings, bold letters were scrawled: Adamant.