The Nanny's Gambit
“I’m still considering it.”
Sage frowned at my answer.
“The subjugation battle is right on top of us and you’re still considering it? If you need one that badly, should I drag in a wizard I know?”
“If I hired anyone using your name, I’d be hauled off to the execution grounds before we even left for the front.”
“Then what the hell are you planning to do?”
The old sage crossed his arms, his face a perfect picture of disbelief.
“You’re not seriously thinking of marching into a monster subjugation without a single magician, are you? No matter how skilled you are, that’s too dangerous. Too reckless—”
“I have a plan, so there’s no need for you to worry.”
“Oh, sure. Of course the great Kayla would handle something like this on her own.”
Sage stretched out across his chair as though he had expected exactly that reply.
“So Edwin’s ultimately joining under the Gloria Knights after all?”
“Yes.”
While the other two princes rode out at the head of noble private armies backed by their maternal relatives, Edwin would enter the fray as a member of the Gloria Knights.
It had been the emperor’s command.
“Our emperor really is a strange one,” Sage muttered, tilting his head again and again. “He acts like he doesn’t give a damn about his own blood, yet at moments like this he suddenly steps in. Makes you wonder if he’s not completely rotten after all.”
He wrinkled one side of his brow, clearly unable to make sense of it. “But why the captaincy of the Third Division in particular? Because Edwin’s been training with them?”
“I requested it.”
“You… requested…”
Sage stared at me, eyes wide.
“Wait, what? You actually petitioned the emperor yourself?”
“Not directly.”
I had simply found the right person to deliver the message. I continued calmly, “I asked Duke Crown.”
“You asked that man? And he actually agreed?”
“It appears so.”
I recalled the last time I had stood face to face with Duke Jerome Crown.
—Well, well. If it isn’t the Third Prince’s nanny.
He had looked thoroughly displeased at my sudden visit to his office—the expression of a man who had discovered an uninvited guest sneaking into his banquet hall.
—To what do I owe the honor of the nanny visiting the Knight Commander’s office?
—I have a favor to ask.
—A favor? What sort of favor?
—Please allow His Highness Edwin to participate in the subjugation battle as a member of the Gloria Knights.
It had been less than an hour since the joint subjugation operation was officially announced.
Jerome had simply stared at me in silence for a long time.
—Do you truly believe I will grant this request?
—I do.
—On what grounds?
My confident attitude seemed to irritate him; his brow furrowed deeply.
—You think that because I allowed His Highness to join knight training before, I’ll easily grant this as well? If so, you are gravely mistaken. Return at once—
—I once saved Her Majesty the Empress’s life.
Jerome let out a hollow laugh the moment the words left my mouth.
—Hahaha, so that’s the angle you’re taking? As I recall, Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress already rewarded you generously for that service. Are you now asking me to pay the interest?
—Your Grace knows better than anyone who attempted to poison Her Majesty.
It was a gamble.
This time, I had decided to play a bold hand.
—If you grant my request, I will reveal that person’s fatal weakness.
For an instant the temperature in the office seemed to plummet.
Jerome glared at me with eyes sharp as frost-covered blades.
—What exactly do you mean by that?
—Exactly what I said.
I kept my hands neatly folded and answered in a courteous tone.
—I will give you a weakness so lethal that the Second Empress—no, the entire Radcliffe Marquisate—will never rise again.
—You had better not be joking with me.
—Do I look as though I am?
A heavy silence fell.
Eventually every trace of laughter vanished from Jerome’s face.
—What is this weakness?
—As I said, I will tell you once you have granted my request.
The moment the words left my lips, a familiar chill brushed the back of my neck.
Jerome’s sword was already at my throat. The movement had been so fast it was invisible.
—What if I demand to hear it this instant?
—I can tell you immediately.
I kept my gaze locked on his eyes and added, —Provided Your Grace grants my request first.
Jerome’s expression twisted in confusion.
Any ordinary person would have collapsed to their knees in tears the moment a sword was drawn, yet here I stood without so much as blinking.
—Those eyes tell me you would rather die than speak.
—You read them correctly.
The sword returned to its sheath.
Jerome slowly closed the distance between us.
—From the first time I saw you, I thought you were strange.
A man nearly two heads taller than me stared down with a gaze that could cut stone.
—Rachel Brown. Just what are you?
—You already know the answer.
I slowly lifted my chin and met the piercing eyes of the empire’s strongest knight.
—I am His Highness Edwin’s nanny.
The duke’s expression at my simple self-introduction was a sight worth remembering.
“Good heavens,” Sage muttered, mouth agape after hearing the full story. “So you’re telling me you blackmailed the duke?”
“Blackmail? I merely offered a transaction.”
“And? Did you actually tell him the Second Empress’s weakness?”
“No.”
“I knew it!”
The old sage slapped the desk lightly, as if he had predicted exactly this. “Of course you didn’t! There’s no way you’d hand over something that valuable for free. Getting more than your due is your specialty, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t tell whether he was praising or insulting me. Just what did this old man think I was?
“I did reveal a portion of the truth,” I said.
Facts that were not the whole truth. Not certainty, but suspicion.
“I told him that a suspicious noble seems to visit the Second Empress’s palace frequently. And that when I was young, I often saw that same noble in the back alleys.”
Who wouldn’t feel uneasy hearing that a young noble who frequented the Second Empress’s residence reeked of blood in the back alleys?
Jerome’s face had turned to ice the moment he heard it.
Ian gained his noble title through Marquis Radcliffe’s favor. Jerome will uncover that fact soon enough.
Thus the blade of suspicion would point at both the Second Empress and Ian.
Exactly as I wanted.
“You saw him often in the back alleys?” Sage’s eyes filled with worry. “What if the duke starts suspecting you after hearing something like that?”
“The duke already knows I’m a commoner whose origins are a mystery. He also knows I’m an adopted daughter of House Brown.”
There would be no way to verify stories from before my adoption. Not even the great Duke of Crown could manage that.
“Did he believe you?”
“About half, fortunately. He was furious, though.”
“Of course he was furious! It wasn’t proper information.”
I shrugged. “So I promised that once the subjugation battle ends, I would reveal the Second Empress’s real weakness.”
To prove such a weakness, tangible evidence was required—not mere suspicion or conjecture. Unfortunately, that evidence was not currently in my possession.
“Hold on. Why the captain position specifically?” Sage asked, still puzzled. “I thought you only asked for Edwin to participate as a regular knight.”
“That must have been the emperor’s own suggestion.”
The Gloria Knights answered directly to the emperor. For Edwin to assume even a temporary captaincy, imperial approval was mandatory. Duke Crown could not have granted such a post on his own.
Since the duke accepted the emperor’s proposal, this must be a form of pressure.
I have done this much. Now you must deliver a reward that matches my efforts. A silent, threatening expectation.
Come to think of it, it seems the one doing the threatening is Duke Crown, not me.
“Hah.” Sage let out a deep sigh and rose from his seat. “Both the duke who accepted your proposal and the emperor who issued an even heavier decree—they’re all impossible to understand.”
He frowned and muttered, “Does this mean the emperor’s expectations for Edwin are far greater than we thought?”
“Who can say?”
Even I could not guess the reason. Why would the emperor send a prince who had not yet come of age to the front lines with a temporary captaincy?
What I can be certain of is that it is not out of special affection for Edwin.
If he truly cherished the boy, he would never have pushed his young children into a monster subjugation in the first place.
Then the emperor’s decision is either capricious consideration… or a special test meant only for Edwin.
Whatever his true intentions, we had only one path.
“We simply do what we can right now.”
I picked up the medicine bottles on the desk one by one and placed them neatly into the basket I had brought.
“While I am away with His Highness at the subjugation battle, please look after Her Highness Emilia.”
“Huh? Why are you leaving that furball’s safety to me? There are maids everywhere. Didn’t you just hire new ones?”
“…I don’t trust what I haven’t seen with my own eyes.”
In that regard, Sage was one of the few people I could rely on. His personality was prickly, but he was kind and possessed a conscience.
“One more thing.”
I paused at the cabin doorway and looked back at him.
“Do not neglect your research on the mutant monsters. Understood?”