Fair Trade (1)
“At least twenty or so… wait, what did you say?”
Catherine looked up from counting the gold coins like a woman who had lost her mind, finally snapping back to reality.
“I said I’ll somehow get the horses.”
“What? You, Nanny? How?”
“Somehow.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“If it really comes down to it, I’ll just carry His Highness Edwin on my back and run.”
“…Pardon?”
For a moment, Catherine’s face filled with pure horror.
“I even carried Her Highness Emilia on my back and crawled around. There’s no reason I couldn’t do the same with His Highness Edwin, is there?”
When I said it in such a deadly serious voice, she seemed genuinely confused.
Catherine frowned deeply and stared at me as if trying to bore a hole through my skull.
“…You’re joking, right?”
“Of course I am. No matter how fast I am, how could a human possibly outrun a real horse?”
“Ah, you scared me! When you say it like that, it sounds completely sincere!”
What a strange woman.
Logically speaking, how could a human ever beat a horse?
She seemed like someone far from ordinary, yet she acted like a total klutz in the weirdest moments.
“Anyway, I know someone who can help. Leave it to me.”
Catherine let out a low groan.
But no matter how much she thought about it, it seemed no suitable solution came to mind.
“…Fine. Then I’ll entrust the horses to you, Nanny.”
“One problem solved, then. What’s the other issue?”
“Obviously, it’s finding someone to teach His Highness how to hunt.”
To go hunting, one needed to reach at least a decent level in both riding and archery.
“That problem should be easier to solve than you might think.”
“Really? You have a solution?”
Catherine’s eyes widened into perfect circles.
“What’s the method?”
“I can teach him myself.”
Catherine rested her chin on both hands and slowly blinked.
“…You, Nanny?”
“I am, after all, the daughter of a noble house.”
I didn’t know exactly how much power the Brown Count family held.
Still, they were nobles in name. They would have at least taught their adopted daughter the basics of hunting.
“Hmmmm.”
Catherine seemed to agonize over it once more before finally accepting my offer.
“Alright. We’re hardly in a position to be picky about hot or cold water right now.”
…She didn’t just compare me to cold water, did she?
She walked over to a large chest tucked in the corner of the office.
When she unlocked the padlock, ledgers and various valuables came into view.
“Doesn’t look like you’re living in complete poverty.”
“The budget for the Third Prince’s Palace is pathetically insufficient. Here, take this.”
Previously, Catherine had mentioned that after her father gambled away the family fortune, she had taken over managing the household assets herself.
Perhaps that was why she was exceptionally strict and sensitive when it came to money matters.
Her spending habits were quite frugal, too.
“It’s twenty gold.”
With visibly trembling hands, Catherine handed me a heavy pouch.
“I think that should be enough to buy a horse of at least fine steed quality at the market.”
She squeezed her eyes shut as she looked at the pouch of gold coins in my hand.
It seemed she couldn’t bear to watch so much money leave at once.
“Of course, even if it’s not enough, you’ll have to make it work. That’s the best we can do.”
“Don’t worry. It’s more than enough.”
I answered with full confidence.
After all, running short on money wasn’t going to be a problem for me at all.
“Long time no see. We’re acquaintances, aren’t we?”
I leaned casually against a stable pillar and wiggled my fingers in greeting.
“Y-you… you… you!”
Gail—the page to the Second Prince who used to bully Edwin—dropped the brush he was using to groom a horse’s mane the moment he saw me.
“Crazy bitch!”
Gail looked around frantically before lowering his voice and snapping at me.
“What the hell are you doing here? Get lost right now!”
His head must still be wet behind the ears if he’s already throwing around casual speech like this.
I knew he was rotten from the start, but to act this rudely even when we were alone…
Truly, nobles and their attitudes were something else.
“How surprising. I heard you were apprenticed to the Emperor’s carriage maker. So why are you here grooming manes in a stable? Does a noble really do this kind of work? Or are you being punished for lacking skill?”
At my words, Gail’s face flushed red as he ground his teeth.
“Don’t make me laugh! Apprentices are supposed to start with basic tasks like this—wait, why the hell am I even explaining this to you?! Just get the hell out!”
“I was just asking out of curiosity. Why are you getting so angry? You’re making me feel awkward.”
When I protested as if I’d been wronged, the boy’s face twisted in irritation.
“More importantly, how did you even know I was here?”
Gail finally seemed to realize how strange it was that I had found him and faltered.
“This is the imperial family’s private stable.”
“I know.”
I gave him a wide grin and pushed off the pillar I had been leaning against.
“The reason I came is to make a deal with you.”
“What? A deal?”
Just as Gail was about to yell about what kind of nonsense I was spouting—
“What’s going on, Gail?”
“M-Master!”
Master, huh.
Then that man must be the famous carriage maker.
“Gail, you bastard! Didn’t I tell you I’d kick you out if you caused another disturbance?”
“It wasn’t me, this woman—”
“Woman? Where is there a woman?!”
“Huh?”
Gail looked around with a stupid expression on his face.
“She was definitely here! That crazy woman!”
“Now you’re even seeing women that aren’t there? I told you to stop chasing after skirts!”
“Master! It’s a misunderstanding!”
“You still haven’t come to your senses! That’s it! You’re cleaning the entire stable by yourself until tonight!”
“But that’s not my job, the servants are supposed to—”
“An apprentice who does nothing but eat—shouldn’t you at least do some chores?! Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because your father is a count! Shut up and finish it by the end of the day!”
It was a remark full of the unique pride and temper typical of craftsmen.
Gail’s master shouted angrily and stormed out of the stable.
“Master!”
Gail called out desperately, but the man didn’t even look back.
“Damn it…”
“Is that your master? The craftsman who builds carriages for His Imperial Majesty?”
“Aaaaaargh!”
Gail screamed as if he had seen a ghost.
At his shriek, several startled horses stamped their hooves.
“Be quiet. Don’t you know horses are sensitive to noise?”
When I calmly stroked the agitated horse to soothe it, Gail’s face contorted in disbelief.
“No, you weren’t even here a second ago—how the hell did you—!”
“I’ve been here the whole time.”
Well, I had been hanging from the stable roof for a very brief moment, but that was beside the point.
It was his fault for not noticing.
“Why are you doing this to me?! What’s your angle?!”
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I came because I want to make a deal.”
“What kind of deal?!”
“What kind of deal would we make in a stable?”
I scratched the chin of a horse that had poked its head toward me and grinned.
“A horse trade, of course.”
It took Gail quite a while to process what I had said.
He stood there blankly for a long time before suddenly exploding.
“Ha? What kind of bullshit is that? Every horse here belongs to His Imperial Majesty!”
“I know that.”
I smiled brightly at Gail.
“And isn’t it your family that raises the horses supplied to this place?”
How does a mere nanny know something like that?
Gail let out a hollow laugh as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Hah, so? Are you threatening me right now?”
He approached me with a menacing expression.
How bold. And without a shred of fear.
“Threatening? Don’t make me laugh! What could you possibly do?! A nobody from some insignificant family that only serves that shabby prince…”
Gail raised his voice, spittle flying, before collapsing to the floor.
Lying face-down, he gasped and wheezed as if he were about to suffocate.
It was a natural reaction after taking a clean hit to the solar plexus.
“I just gave you a tiny demonstration of what I can do.”
I lightly brushed off my wrist and asked,
“Now, are you at least a little interested in making a deal with me?”
Gail looked up at me, panting heavily.
His eyes were filled with a mix of suspicion and fear.
“You… you… just what the hell…”
“Of course, if you keep refusing, I’ll keep persuading you until you say yes.”
“W-what?”
“By any means necessary.”
For a moment, Gail’s face grew even paler.
“H-hey! I’m just an ordinary apprentice! Yes, our family does raise horses, but they’re strictly for supplying the imperial family. My father manages them personally! Someone like me—a second son—can’t touch them at all!”
I scoffed at the excuses he rattled off.
“I know you’ve been secretly diverting imperial horses and selling them on the black market. Are you going to deny it?”
At my words, Gail turned deathly pale and clutched his hands together.
He trembled violently, as if he might collapse at any moment.
“H-how… how did you…?”
“Anything with a long tail eventually gets caught.”
Maybe it was because he came from a noble background after all.
For someone who called himself an ordinary apprentice, Gail had quite the nerve.
No matter how much he claimed it was on the Second Prince’s orders, I had already figured him out the moment I heard he wandered in and out of the Third Prince’s Palace like it was his own home.
Catherine, do you happen to know anything about a boy named Gail?
Gail? I think I’ve heard the name before.
He’s the Second Prince’s page and an apprentice to the carriage maker.
Ah, you mean that big noble boy? I don’t know the details, but should I ask around for you?
Catherine, saying she would resolve my questions, went around gathering information about Gail from the people in the palace she was close with.
From servants and maids to the gamekeepers. It was a moment when her sociability—her ability to get along with anyone—truly shone.
“To think you would dare omit horses entering the imperial stables from the ledgers and divert them to the black market. You really have some nerve.”