Target (2)
“Hah.”
Sage stared at the prince’s answer with his mouth hanging open in a daze.
“Master? What’s the matter?”
Edwin asked in a puzzled voice, apparently finding his master’s reaction strange.
“No, it’s just… unexpected. I never imagined those words would come out of a timid fellow like you.”
Sage stroked his beard, visibly amused.
“It’s also an ambition far too grand for the current you to utter.”
At his master’s pointed remark, Edwin’s face quickly fell into dejection.
“Well, it all depends on how one defines ‘strength,’ I suppose.”
With his arms crossed, Sage looked down at his young disciple.
“What kind of ‘strength’ is it that you want?”
Edwin answered his master’s question without hesitation.
“I want to become strong enough to defeat monsters by myself!”
“Hmph. That’s not my specialty.”
Sage snorted in clear displeasure at the prince’s reply.
“And I doubt you want to learn how to swing a cane from an old man who’s already got one foot in the grave.”
He picked up a random book with a bored expression and began flipping through its pages.
“You’ll need to find a different master for that sort of training.”
The moment he heard he would have to find yet another master, worry clouded Edwin’s face.
Who in the world would willingly become the teacher of a worthless shabby prince?
Even the Sage standing before him might never have been accepted as a master if he hadn’t been a condemned criminal.
They probably took someone else as my brothers’ masters long ago.
Edwin lowered his head with a timid expression.
At that, Sage raised his voice as if he had seen something unbearable.
“Hey, you brat!”
“Yes?”
“You’re still wet behind the ears—what are you worrying so much for! Don’t fret. It’s a problem that will solve itself.”
Sage gave the prince a mischievous smile that somehow told him not to worry.
“Isn’t that right?”
In that instant, Edwin realized the smile wasn’t meant for him and turned his head.
Standing at the door was his nanny, Rachel.
“What is it you wanted to tell me?”
Only Sage and I remained in the library.
He had told Edwin to leave first, saying he had something important to discuss with me alone.
Edwin, perhaps deciding to obey his master without question, left the library without a word of protest.
“I’m a busy woman. Please keep it short and get to the point.”
I leaned against the bookshelf and waited for Sage to speak.
“It seems you and I still have quite a lot to talk about.”
Sage narrowed his eyes and stared straight through me.
“Don’t you have something to explain?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
When I played innocent, Sage laughed as though he found it entertaining.
“Look here, Miss Nanny. What are the chances that an ordinary nanny could defeat a monster with a single rusty dagger?”
Instead of answering, I furrowed my brow.
I never said I defeated the monster with a dagger. How did he know?
The only person who had witnessed me killing the monster was Edwin.
Could it be that the boy had—?
“Edwin told me.”
Just as I suspected.
I should have warned him more firmly never to speak of it anywhere.
“He said you saved him. Monsters are persistent creatures; you couldn’t have escaped without killing it.”
I frowned at Sage’s words.
After arriving here, he had never once brought up monsters or the name Kyla Angel, so I had thought we could quietly move past it.
Apparently not.
When I simply glared instead of answering, Sage continued.
“I realized long ago that you aren’t an ordinary woman. It’s clear from your speech and mannerisms.”
The great sage’s voice rang with absolute certainty.
“As far as I know, there are only three kinds of people who can single-handedly bring down a monster. Knights, mages, and…”
Sage’s sharp gaze pierced me.
“Highly trained assassins.”
It seemed Sage had concluded I must be some subordinate of Kyla Angel.
Well, that was probably the limit of a normal person’s imagination.
Even I hadn’t known I would die and possess another person’s body.
“You’re the same sort of human as Kyla. Aren’t you?”
“Whatever you’re imagining, I—”
“Or perhaps… you.”
I was about to offer a vague excuse when he added one final question.
“Are you Kyla?”
A suffocating silence descended over the library.
Yet despite the oppressive atmosphere, my mind was in complete chaos.
Where did he notice it from?
How did he figure it out?
Is it really that easy to see through me?
Finding out I was an assassin was one thing, but Kyla?
…Kyla, of all things.
I stood rigid as a plaster statue until Sage finally spoke again.
“No answer. So my ridiculous guess wasn’t entirely ridiculous after all.”
He stared at me for a long moment before suddenly bursting into laughter.
It was such a refreshing roar that I briefly wondered if the old man had finally lost his mind.
“Puhahahahaha—!”
“What are you suddenly—”
“Of course you wouldn’t die that easily! Just look at you. Is this an undercover job this time, Kyla Angel? Well, the disguise is surprisingly convincing for you, not at all like your usual—”
I clapped my hand over his mouth before he could shout my old name any louder.
“Do not call me by that name. I am Rachel Brown.”
“Yes, yes. Lady Rachel Brown. This is too absurd.”
Sage collapsed into a chair with an utterly hollow expression.
I couldn’t begin to understand his reaction.
Wait a moment.
There had been a strange sense of dissonance in what Sage said earlier.
I frowned and blinked slowly.
“…Have you heard that Kyla Angel is dead?”
I had never told him that Kyla had died.
I had only said I came to collect the price of life as Kyla’s proxy.
So how does he know?
To my question, Sage frowned in return.
“I was about to ask you the same thing. Why did you tell some knight I’ve never met where I live?”
A knight? What knight?
“The first time I saw him, I thought he was a monster. He came reeking of blood and smashed down my front door.”
“Who exactly are you talking about? What is his name?”
“I don’t know his name. He was just a knight wrapped in black rags. He appeared out of nowhere and asked if I had killed Kyla Angel.”
Not is she dead, but did you kill her.
It was the kind of question that suggested he already knew I had been murdered by someone.
Sage rubbed his arms as if the memory alone made his legs go weak.
“So when I asked whether Kyla was dead, he stood there for a while, said ‘Not you,’ and vanished.”
“What did he look like? Did he have any distinguishing features?”
“His hood was pulled low, so I couldn’t see clearly, but his eyes were ferocious. Like a wild beast.”
“Something more specific than ‘vague beast-like feeling,’ please.”
“Hmm… He carried an enormous greatsword. A black blade as tall as he was.”
A giant knight with a black greatsword and beast-like eyes?
Who could that be? Had I ever met such a person?
The only knight whose name I remember is Duke Jerome Crown.
There was no way that busy man would have traveled all the way to Luxen just to find me.
Besides, he wouldn’t even know I’m dead, so I can rule him out.
As I turned the memories over in my mind, Sage continued.
“Because of that bastard, I genuinely believed you were dead.”
“You believed the words of a complete stranger? You?”
“Well, he had the eyes of someone who looked ready to tear a person apart.”
Sage rolled his eyes and added briefly.
“Like a man chasing his mortal enemy.”
Someone who saw me as an enemy? There were too many possibilities for me to guess.
At any rate, I had no way of identifying the knight with the black greatsword.
Which is fortunate, in a way.
It was truly a relief that Sage had learned of my death through someone other than the assassination guild.
…Ian is a thorough man.
I had never spoken of Sage to anyone, but one could never be too sure.
If he had killed me, he would have tried to erase everything connected to me.
Everything he already knew, and everything he didn’t.
He would have wiped it all away as if the person called me had never existed in this world.
That was Ian Angel’s method of ‘murder.’
“What’s wrong, Kyla?”
“…It’s Rachel.”
“Ugh, that name just doesn’t sit right on my tongue.”
“You’ve been calling it perfectly fine until now. What are you talking about?”
My head was a mess, but I forced myself to remain calm.
“So was that all you wanted to say?”
“No. This time I have something to say as the prince’s master.”
With his arms still crossed, Sage asked.
“What exactly do you plan to do with Edwin from now on?”
What did I plan to do?
I quietly met Sage’s eyes.
“That child said he wants to become strong. Did you know?”
Of course I knew.
How could I not, when I had promised with my own hands to make him strong?
“Yes, I know.”
“Hah.”
Sage raised one eyebrow, looking utterly astonished.
“Do you understand what that means?”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Look here, Kai— I mean, Rachel.”
The great sage placed both hands on his hips and spoke in a grave voice.
“When a prince seeks to build his own power, it is no different from declaring he will participate in the struggle for the throne. Surely you’re not going to tell me you didn’t know that?”