Translator: Nox

Chapter 12

“What are you doing, not getting up?”

At my words, the maid sprang to her feet from her spot.

“Um, you’re the new nanny, right?”

She clasped her hands together, her face flushing as she stole glances at me.

“You know that, so why ask?”

“Th-thank you for helping me!”

“I never helped you.”

“Huh? But…”

“I just warned those women not to speak carelessly about me.”

I’ve always hated gossip, and their words had grated on my ears terribly, so I scolded them.

It absolutely wasn’t venting on behalf of the head maid.

“Then I’ll be going.”

“But I survived thanks to you, Nanny!”

“Think whatever you like.”

“Um!”

As I turned to leave, the maid called out to me again.

“Do you have more to say?”

Despite my consistently cold tone, which could easily offend, the maid’s eyes sparkled instead.

“My name is Catherine Bailey. I work in the annex.”

Why introduce herself when I didn’t ask?

Instead of replying, I simply stared at her blankly.

Her flushed face still bright with excitement, she continued.

“Thank you for helping me. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, just let me know. I’ll help anytime.”

So she insists even though I said I didn’t help.

With an indifferent expression, I started to step away but soon turned back.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“Can you cook?”

At my question, the maid blinked in surprise.

“C-cook?”

---

“Delicious!”

Edwin and Emilia.

The prince siblings stared at me with shocked eyes.

“What is this? Aside from feast food, this is the first time I’ve eaten something this delicious!”

“Yeah! It’s so, so yummy!”

The two were apparently even hungrier because mealtime had been delayed.

“It’s just a plain fish stew, Your Highness. You overpraise it.”

For the picky eater Edwin to devour his food with such enthusiasm.

Instead of Edwin, I directed my praise to the woman standing beside him.

“Making simple dishes taste this good is a talent.”

“But it’s really nothing special. Thank you for the compliment, Nanny.”

The tall woman standing there with a shy blush on her face was the maid, Catherine Bailey.

The woman I’d unwittingly saved from the other maids’ bullying.

She’d said to call on her anytime I needed help.

And since I happened to need help right then, I didn’t refuse her offer.

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Hm?”

At my question, Catherine tilted her head.

“You said the head maid told you never to help with my work.”

When I added the explanation, she blinked one eye and gave a light laugh.

“I’m not helping you, Nanny.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m just serving a meal so the prince and princess, the masters of this palace, don’t go hungry.”

I quite liked her cheeky, composed response.

She shrugged and added,

“Besides, the maids from the main building eat separately and have no interest in this side.”

“The maids eat apart from each other?”

“Yes. Most of the main building maids are from pure noble families.”

Catherine gave a wry smile as she continued.

“But annex maids like me are from noble houses that bought their titles with money or from commoner backgrounds. It’s an uncomfortable relationship, you know.”

So that’s why the woman from the count’s family made such a fuss earlier.

“No one will care what happens to the leftovers. Even the head maid won’t know.”

“I see.”

Just then, Edwin set down his spoon and stood from his seat.

He’d emptied his bowl in the blink of an eye, clearly because the food was that good.

Edwin grabbed the door handle and shouted at me.

“I wanna go on a walk with Emilia.”

“Very well.”

I answered without thinking, but then felt a sharp gaze.

“What’s wrong, Your Highness?”

Edwin’s eyes were suddenly shining with burdensome intensity.

“I want to go outside.”

He seemed to have taken my words to the head maid however he pleased.

As in, he could go outside anytime as long as I was there.

“Leah wants to go too—!”

To make matters worse, Emilia grabbed her brother’s hand and threw a tantrum.

Did we really have to go out?

As I hesitated out of annoyance, Catherine gave my back a push.

“Then go on ahead. I’ll clean up the dishes.”

“No. I’ll take care of that.”

“They’re dishes from the annex anyway. Let’s go together.”

Catherine swiftly gathered the empty dishes onto a tray.

She followed us out and saw us off.

“Then have a safe walk.”

“Let’s go!”

The prince tightly gripped his sister’s hand and hurried ahead.

In the end, with a sigh, I had no choice but to follow behind them.

---

“Leah, that’s the imperial palace library over there.”

Having left the palace grounds, Edwin held his sister’s hand and pointed here and there.

“The one attached next to it is the palace where my eldest brother lives. Remember me telling you about it?”

“Yeah! Leah knows everything!”

“Really? Then you could find your way alone?”

“Yeah! Leah’s smart, so she won’t get lost!”

“Really? Who did our princess take after to be so clever?”

“Big brother!”

Edwin beamed brightly at his sister, who gave such a sweet answer.

‘They sure get along well.’

As I’d thought before, Edwin was an absolute angel when it came to his little sister.

‘That’s some impressive sibling bond. Or sister-brother bond, I suppose.’

I followed the chick-like pair of siblings like a shadow.

Even though this was the empire’s imperial palace, everywhere except the 3rd Prince’s Palace was all too familiar to me. Places I’d once frequented like my own home.

At that moment, Edwin suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Huh, it’s Daddy?”

From Emilia’s words, I understood why he’d halted so abruptly.

Before us stretched the vast Central Garden.

Someone accompanied by a line of attendants was strolling slowly between the flowerbeds.

The Emperor, Kabelius III.

And standing beside the Emperor was a man.

Even I, who knew the profiles of all the empire’s meritorious retainers by heart, had never seen him before.

‘Who is he?’

Jet-black hair and jet-black armor.

His golden eyes, shining brilliantly as if absorbing all the world’s light, stood out even from afar.

‘Standing next to the Emperor fully armed like that.’

Out of habit, I began observing the man.

His disciplined gait and polite yet unservile demeanor.

‘A knight? No, even if he is…’

The man walked side by side with the Emperor, his expression consistently impassive.

A mere knight couldn’t possibly walk abreast with the Emperor of the Empire.

‘Must be someone of high status. A new marquis, maybe?’

That was when it happened.

The man suddenly turned his head toward us.

Before I could be startled, our eyes met.

Normally, I would have casually looked away.

But not this time.

‘Did he just smile?’

It was only for the briefest instant, but it was unmistakable.

The moment our eyes met, a hint of a smile had played on the man’s lips.

I wondered if it was just my imagination, but when he turned back to the Emperor, his face was expressionless again.

‘Why?’

I was flustered.

A man I’d never seen before smiling at me.

‘Why smile at me?’

He couldn’t possibly know me, and it wasn’t like he was flirting.

‘Ah, could he actually know the real Rachel?’

Though if so, the status gap between that man and Rachel seemed enormous.

‘Well, you never know with people.’

As I speculated to myself, my skirt hem suddenly slid downward.

The culprit was Edwin. He was clutching my skirt hem while staring at the Emperor’s group.

His face showed no outward sign, but he looked somehow frightened.

“Ants, where are they going?”

In contrast, the bold Emilia seemed disinterested despite calling for her father.

The young princess had crouched down beside her brother and was watching ants crawling on the ground.

If we stayed like this, we’d be stuck here until the Emperor vanished into the distance.

“Your Highness, shall we head back?”

At my words, Edwin looked up with a startled face.

“…Don’t we have to greet Father Emperor?”

“Why ask me? If Your Highness wants to, do it. If not, don’t.”

Edwin stared at me with his mouth agape, then bowed his head.

“What will you do?”

After agonizing for a while, he hesitantly spoke.

“…I wanna go back.”

“Very well.”

As I turned to leave without regret, Edwin suddenly grabbed me.

“I-I’m telling you in advance!”

He shouted loudly, as if making excuses.

“It’s not that I don’t wanna greet Father Emperor at all! He just looks busy! Got it?”

No one had asked.

Kids are hard to understand, as expected.

“Yes. Understood.”

When I gave a curt reply with an indifferent face, Edwin stared at me intently.

“What’s wrong, Your Highness?”

He glared at me with pursed lips for a long time before whipping his head away.

“You’re really weird.”

“Pardon?”

“If it were Emma, she’d have made me greet him no matter what.”

“Then go greet him now…”

“No! It’s fine!”

Edwin frantically shook his head side to side.

“Then let’s go.”

“…Okay.”

I hoisted up Emilia, who was sitting on the ground, and turned on my heel without hesitation.

So I didn’t notice. That he was still clutching my skirt hem tightly as he followed.