TCNS 19

Chapter 19. A Stormy Night (1)

“Hyah—! Hyah!”

“Heeeying.”

I am a horse.

An animal that runs on four legs, a horse.

“Achel, to the right!”

“Heeeying.”

A horse among horses that would run down a cliff if its master ordered it.

“This time, turn! Spin, spin!”

“Heeeying.”

Right now, I am not a human, but a horse.

“N-Nanny?”

Catherine looked aghast at me, crawling on all fours with the princess on my back.

“Catherine, hello! Say hello to my horse.”

“Oh, uh, hello, Nanny, I mean, horse?”

To think she actually greeted me—she wasn’t ordinary either. Who greets a horse like that anyway?

“Achel, you have to respond when someone greets you!”

How is a horse supposed to respond to a human greeting?

For a moment, I nearly snapped out of my daze, but quickly cleared my throat.

“Heeeying.”

“Nanny…”

Catherine looked at me with pity in her eyes.

Damn it, to think I’d be pitied for something like this. That made me feel bad in its own way.

“Hahahaha—!”

That prince brat, laughing his heart out, annoyed me as well.

After laughing for a long time, Edwin seemed to have come up with a fun idea, a sly grin spreading across his lips.

“Lia!”

“What, Brother?”

“They say your horse can do tricks too. Is that true?”

“Tricks?”

“Yeah, like standing on two legs and waving them around.”

“Of course! It can definitely do that!”

Emilia pulled at both sides of my hair. “Achel, tricks! Tricks!”

Tricks, huh. How dare they ask the leader of an assassin group to do tricks?

“Achel! If you don’t listen, I’ll punish you!”

However, even an assassin leader doesn’t want to get spanked by a child in front of others. I remembered my duty as a horse and raised both my arms toward the sky.

“Heeeying!”

“Nanny…”

Catherine’s pitying gaze burned my face. But my suffering as the prince’s nanny didn’t end there.

‘Indeed, childcare is definitely hard labor.’

Those who say childcare is easier than work should be hung upside down and dunked in a river.

‘I’d rather spend two weeks hiding in a swamp.’

After the horse ride ended, I brought Emilia to the grand bath to bathe her.

“Your Highness, please raise your arms.”

“No! It’s ticklish!”

If we didn’t finish the bath, we wouldn’t be able to have dinner on time. Whether or not she knew the nanny’s concern about missing meal time, Emilia simply shook her head, keeping her arms tight under her armpits.

“No! I don’t want to! Lia just wants to play in the water!”

No choice, then. I had to bring out my secret weapon.

“Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

“Look here.”

I pulled a small candy from my pocket and shook it above her head. The moment Emilia saw the candy wrapper, her eyes sparkled.

“Candy!”

Emilia raised her arms high to grab the candy. I took that moment to scrub her armpits with a sponge.

“Kyahaha! It tickles—!”

Splash—

Thanks to the princess flailing her arms from the tickling, I ended up looking like a wet rat.

“Oh, Achel, you took a bath too! When did you do that?”

“…Just now.”

I squeezed my wet hair once, then dried Emilia thoroughly.

After the arduous bath was over, it was study time.

Edwin had lessons once a week with a tutor, but not Emilia.

It was customary in the imperial family for a nanny to be in charge of a young princess’s education. Only when she turned about twelve would a noblewoman from a prestigious family be brought in to teach her the virtues and studies necessary for a lady.

Thus, Emilia’s education was my responsibility.

“Achel, what does this mean?”

Fortunately, it seemed the previous nanny had done a good job teaching her the Imperial script.

Emilia would often read picture books on her own and then ask me about words she didn’t know.

“Which one are you referring to?”

“This one!”

Emilia pointed to a word at the corner of the book.

[Emperor of the Night]

“……”

“Lia’s dad is the Emperor, so what’s the Emperor of the Night? Are there two Emperors?”

The problem was that she sometimes brought strange books, leaving me at a loss.

I sighed, looking at the title on the cover, [A Night of Burning Flesh and Bone].

“Did you take this from the annex maids again?”

“Yeah! Catherine was reading it, and it looked pretty, so I took it!”

Emilia proudly showed off the colorful cover of the book.

“Your Highness, this book is too mature for you. Let me get another one.”

“Huh? Why? This one is pretty.”

“Let’s go pick another book.”

Of all the books she could choose, why pick an adult romance novel? I couldn’t very well nag Catherine, a grown woman, to change her reading preferences either.

“Hmph.”

Meanwhile, Emilia pouted as I carried her like a sack of flour.

“When will Lia read this book then?”

“Much later.”

“Then what’s the Emperor of the Night? I’m curious!”

“…The Emperor of the Night refers to a man who is strong at night.”

Emilia tilted her head, as if she didn’t quite understand. “Then is Lia’s dad also the Emperor of the Night?”

“…Why would that be?”

“Lia’s dad is the Emperor, which means he’s the strongest in the world, so he must also be strong at night. Right?”

“I don’t know.”

Damn it, how would I know if the Emperor is virile or not? I had no interest, nor did I want to find out. I suddenly felt queasy.

“Why does Achel always say ‘I don’t know’? You’re saying that because you think Lia won’t understand, right? Lia’s not stupid!”

But Emilia, dissatisfied with my answer, puffed up her cheeks. In the end, I had to say something irresponsible.

“Why don’t you ask His Majesty directly when you see him later?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea! Got it!”

I felt like I’d wronged the Emperor, but I didn’t care.

Anyway, by the time the Emperor visited this place, Emilia would have forgotten all about it.

***

A nanny’s ordinary day was busy beyond measure.

While the princess napped, I tidied the room and took the used clothes to the laundry.

After picking up fresh clothes, I had to wake the princess and feed her.

At mealtime, Edwin was always a problem. His picky eating habits seemed to be getting better, only to regress again.

Not long ago, he got in trouble with Catherine for secretly throwing away an expensive raw oyster.

‘I never knew that woman could actually get angry.’

Catherine, who was also the chef of the palace, was very strict about food.

“When I was young, we were so poor that we barely had anything to eat. So, I can’t stand seeing food go to waste.”

A perfectly reasonable explanation.

Ever since Edwin heard that from Catherine, he never left food on his plate when she was around.

It was quite remarkable.

Once the hectic meal time was over, it was time to put the kids to bed.

Edwin was accustomed to sleeping alone, but Emilia wasn’t. She couldn’t sleep unless someone stayed by her side until she drifted off.

She was an unusual one.

If someone watched me while I was trying to sleep, my drowsiness would vanish instantly.

“Achel, pat-pat!”

Just then, Emilia called for me from the bed. It seemed she wouldn’t fall asleep today either until I stayed by her side.

***

As night fell, the weather turned ominous. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and soon heavy rain began to pour.

Emilia, the Empire’s only princess, lay in bed, looking out the window. She seemed uneasy.

Just as her nanny Rachel was about to turn off the lamp to end the day, Emilia grabbed her sleeve.

“Achel, um, can we leave the light on?”

Rachel paused for a moment at the princess’s request.

In the palace, everyone, regardless of rank, had to sleep with the lights off. It was to save oil, but also to prevent potential fires. If a fire broke out and a member of the imperial family died, it would be a disaster.

“Alright.”

Seeing the earnest look on the princess’s face, Rachel withdrew her hand from the lamp. Thanks to her, the lamp continued to emit its warm glow.

Emilia blinked, as if she hadn’t expected Rachel to agree. “Really? But Emma always says the light must be turned off every night.”

“She’s a bit strict.”

“Huh? Neiche, what did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Muttering to herself, the nanny covered the princess with a blanket and patted her chest.

It was a very mechanical action. Yet somehow, the rhythmic patting made sleepiness come over Emilia almost instantly.

As the princess drifted off to dreamland, her nanny whispered softly, “Goodnight, Your Highness.”

With a quiet goodnight, the nanny silently withdrew.

The princess’s room remained lit by the small, bright lamp.

***

Rumble—

With the fierce rain came a flash of blue lightning across the sky.

It was a stormy night.

Swoosh—

The harsh wind brought by the storm reached even the princess’s room. A gust of wind slipped through the crack in the window, snuffing out the lamp. As if waiting for it, a loud thunderclap echoed all around.

“Ugh!”

Startled by the thunder, Emilia’s eyes shot open.

It was pitch dark.

“It’s dark…”

The young princess rubbed her eyes, looking around. The lamp, placed far from the bed, had only a smoldering wick left.

“I-I’m scared…”

Emilia, trembling, climbed down from the bed.

The lively princess was afraid of only two things in the world: the dark and the sound of thunder.

“Hic…”

The sound of thunder at night was especially terrifying. Emilia crouched in the far corner of the room, as far from the window as possible.

“Ugh, Lia is scared alone…”

The frightened princess couldn’t even think of calling for someone.

Just then, there was a knock.

“Your Highness, are you still awake?”

A familiar voice came from outside the door.

It was her nanny, Rachel.