Revenge Alliance (3)
I thought to myself, He was someone I could never reach.
So it wasn’t even a romance. It was nothing more than a bitter, one-sided love.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Ordinary love is already miserable enough. Who in their right mind goes and falls into unrequited love?
It was completely beyond my understanding.
To give your heart to someone when you know full well it can never be returned…
But who was this woman the man loved? I’ve never killed a woman with my own hands in my entire life.
I pondered it carefully, then suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.
Could it have been a man?
My head was suddenly spinning.
The number of men I had killed directly was so vast it was impossible to count.
Let’s put complicated matters aside for now.
After all, there was no way I could figure out who Kaiden had loved right this moment.
I quickly shoved Kaiden’s love story out of my mind.
Still… he said he would destroy Angel’s Breath?
Hearing him declare, right to my face, that he would wipe out the organization I once belonged to should have been unsettling.
But for who I was now, it was something to welcome.
If Ian is leading the organization, I can’t handle it alone.
In that case, having even one powerful ally would make my revenge far easier.
Of course, once Edwin became crown prince he might be able to help, but did I have the luxury of waiting until then?
“Your Highness Kaiden.”
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
If we shared a common foe, there was no reason not to join hands.
Even if that person happened to be the king of another nation.
“There is something I wish to tell you.”
I laid my hidden trump card before the dangerous man sitting across from me.
“The truth is, not long ago I encountered members of Angel’s Breath inside the imperial palace.”
Kaiden froze with the glass still at his lips.
A pair of golden eyes glared straight at me.
“…You encountered members of Angel’s Breath?”
The king slowly lowered his glass.
“Where?”
“In the imperial hunting grounds.”
Kaiden seemed to think for a moment, then narrowed his eyes.
“The imperial hunting grounds… and not long ago. So you ran into them during the imperial hunting competition, is that what you’re saying?”
“…Yes.”
“I received no reports of any imperial family member being attacked by an assassination squad?”
His tone carried absolute certainty that if such a thing had happened, he would have known about it immediately.
Planting spies in other countries to grasp the continent’s political situation was basic common sense. Yet the opponent was an empire. The fact that he could still speak with such confidence—should I call it overwhelming self-assurance, or sheer arrogance?
“…I saw them with my own eyes.”
“You saw them yourself?”
So that was what she had meant by “encountered.”
Kaiden blinked slowly two times.
“In other words, Lady Rachel Brown, you came face to face with members of an assassination organization and still returned alive?”
Well, it was hard to believe. A mere nanny to a prince—and a commoner woman with nothing to her name at that—surviving an encounter with the continent’s greatest assassination guild.
Even I wouldn’t have believed it.
Of course, that would only be true if the woman’s true identity hadn’t once been the leader of that very guild.
I did my best to look doubtful as I continued.
“It seemed they were aiming for a moment when His Highness Edwin was alone. But they were discovered by me and fled in panic.”
At my words, Kaiden’s expression grew increasingly strange and distorted.
It looked as though he found it utterly unbelievable that a mere nanny could have interfered with an assassin’s work.
In times like these, mixing a bit of truth with the lie was far more effective.
“The man said, right in front of His Highness the Prince, that Angel’s Breath would reach him.”
Of course, those words had actually been spoken directly to me, not Edwin.
The assassin who delivered them had taken his own life and was no longer of this world.
“If I may venture a guess.”
I lowered my head slightly, pretending to watch Kaiden’s reaction.
“It seems there is someone inside the imperial palace connected to Angel’s Breath.”
Though I phrased it delicately, it was essentially the same as saying that one of the imperial family members had hired Angel’s Breath to assassinate Edwin.
“I understand that even an attempted assassination of an imperial family member is treated as high treason.”
Kaiden stared at me intently and asked,
“Why didn’t you report it to the emperor? If you had, it might have been easier to catch Angel’s Breath.”
He clearly didn’t understand.
Angel’s Breath had survived for so long by parasitizing the shadows of the powerful.
After all, only the wealthy and highborn can afford to hire assassins for personal revenge or gain.
In exchange for guarding their employers’ dirty secrets, the organization received unimaginable wealth and privileges. The right to trade in human lives.
It’s a kind of symbiotic relationship.
A truly filthy, sticky symbiosis.
Like grime stuck to the bottom of a shoe that refuses to come off.
The emperor is no exception.
No matter how much he treated his children like chess pieces, he would not have personally commissioned Angel’s Breath to kill the Third Prince.
Even if I had told him the truth, nothing would have changed.
Edwin’s position was still far from secure.
The emperor was merely considering him as a candidate for crown prince; he did not truly cherish him as a beloved son.
Until now, the emperor has completely neglected Edwin. There’s no way he would suddenly step forward to help.
On the contrary, revealing the mastermind would likely create far too much noise.
For example, the culprit might confess first and beg the emperor to overlook it. Or Angel’s Breath might directly petition the emperor themselves.
After all, those were methods I myself had used many times.
Thinking back on the past left a bitter taste in my mind.
When I was young, I didn’t know any better. When I grew a little older, it was to survive. And when I grew older still, it was simply because it was what I had always done.
…There was a time when I used every excuse to commit all sorts of dirty, vile acts.
Perhaps the reason I had been so miserably killed by the lover I cherished was the price I paid for living so thoughtlessly.
The price for surviving with both hands drenched in the blood of others.
“Your Highness Kaiden.”
I spoke slowly, in a grave manner that would not seem reckless to anyone watching.
“…It has not even been a full year since I arrived at the Third Prince’s Palace.”
And in that short time, one thing had become crystal clear: the imperial palace of this empire truly operated according to the law of the jungle.
And the Third Prince I served—Edwin Anaxinian Ventrum—belonged to the weakest faction.
“In a place like this, even crying out that you’ve been wronged requires someone willing to listen.”
That should be enough for Kaiden to understand.
The fact that Edwin still could not openly appeal to the emperor even if his life was threatened by other members of the imperial family.
“…Well.”
Fortunately, Kaiden reacted exactly as I had predicted, quickly showing signs of acceptance.
He let out a sigh as if in regret and turned his gaze elsewhere.
“I suppose that’s possible.”
The emperor’s reputation for being cold even toward his own blood was known to everyone on the continent.
After all, he was the ruthless man who had seized the throne by stepping over his own siblings.
Kaiden displayed a somewhat uncomfortable expression and tapped his fingertips.
I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
But this seemed like the perfect moment to persuade him.
“I believe this is an opportunity, Your Highness.”
“An opportunity?”
“Yes. Haven’t they already failed once?”
Angel’s Breath was famous for never failing a single mission.
The reason was surprisingly simple. They continued their assassination attempts until the target’s life was ended.
Those who commission murder rarely abandon the request after a single failure.
Instead, they would pay even more in advance fees and hire even more assassins if necessary, all to ensure the target’s death.
“They will certainly attempt it again.”
I looked at Kaiden, whose expression remained unreadable.
“Before they make their second attempt, they will show movement inside the imperial palace. If we follow the twitching tail, we may reach the body—or, if we’re lucky, even the head.”
Assassination was far more delicate and labor-intensive than it appeared.
It might seem like nothing more than sneaking in at night and slitting the sleeping target’s throat, but that was far from the truth.
To break in at night, one had to memorize the exact number of guards and servants, their shift changes, and their patrol routes. To silently cut the target’s throat, one also had to know exactly when he fell into deep sleep.
Since they missed the perfect chance during the hunting competition, the next attempt will most likely come right after the Founding Festival ends.
The Founding Festival, when many foreign envoys visited, carried too many variables to be suitable for an assassination attempt.
Instead, they would strike right after the envoys left, during the chaotic period when the palace was being cleaned up.
“So right now—”
Kaiden narrowed his brows and twisted one corner of his mouth.
He still wore an expression of utter disbelief.
“Are you saying you will personally track down traces of Angel’s Breath and report them to me?”
“Yes.”
Kaiden lightly swirled the glass in his hand.
“…Well. I already have eyes and ears planted all over this imperial palace.”
His thick, straight eyebrows rose sharply.
“What if I say I don’t need your help?”