Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Summoning Father
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Since things had come to this, it was better for at least one more person to be safe.
I was already overwhelmed just protecting the First Prince by myself. Guarding Dietrich too in case of an emergency would be impossible.
"Nuwse, Ditwri."
I called out once more and gently shook her. The nurse, who had been sleeping deeply, groggily opened her eyes.
She must have thought I'd come whining from a scary dream. When our eyes met, she smiled and patted the edge of the bed.
"Did our young lady come to sleep with me too? Come up here."
"Not that. Nuwse, gotta go get Dad now."
"Pardon?"
The sleepiness slowly drained from the nurse's face.
I explained the situation as quickly as I could, keeping my voice as low as possible.
The moment I mentioned the assassination attempt on the prince, her face turned pale, starting from her cheeks.
"I'll call the guards right now."
"No."
I couldn't completely trust those people.
"Keep it secwet. You go quick, nuwse."
"What about the young master and you, miss?"
"I can't wide a horse. Take just Ditwri and go."
"But leaving you here alone is too dangerous."
"Come back fast. I'll go to my woom and hide undew the bed. No one knows he's in my woom."
No matter how capable the nurse was, riding a horse with two babies would be impossible. And we couldn't move a carriage at this hour either.
Leading out a single horse could slip past people's eyes, but a carriage would definitely alert any enemies hiding in the darkness.
Realizing my words made sense, the nurse furrowed her brows and rose from her seat.
"Miss, you absolutely have to hide well. Understood?"
"Yeah, I know. Dad's heading to the southern owdew with the men."
"Got it. It's not far, so I'll bring the master back as fast as I can."
There was about a day's difference between Father and the nurse, but Father was marching with his knights, so he'd be slower than the nurse traveling light alone.
Not only would he be hunting monsters along the way, but he'd also have to search for escaped prisoners.
I could definitely catch up.
Only after watching the nurse wake the still-soundly-sleeping Dietrich, prepare quickly, and head out did I quietly return to my own room.
I peeked into the wardrobe connected to my dressing room. There sat the prince, right where I'd hidden him earlier.
The boy looked a little surprised to see me.
"Why'd you come back?"
"It's my woom?"
What was that supposed to mean? I was clearly the owner of this room—why was he asking why I'd returned?
Sensing the bewilderment on my face, the boy slowly added an explanation.
"I thought you wouldn't come back."
"You thought I'd caww bad guys ow sew?"
He didn't answer, so that must've been it.
Some people and their suspicions. If that were the case, I wouldn't have helped him from the start.
Personal likes and dislikes aside, as long as he was the First Prince, I absolutely wouldn't let him die in our house.
I didn't know the full story, but a prince was the emperor's son, right?
If the emperor's son died in our house, the cleanup would be a nightmare.
'I'm gonna live peacefully for a long, long time!'
With Dietrich and the nurse and...
Why was that phrase from the card—"beloved Daddy"—popping into my head at a time like this?
I let out a short, hollow chuckle, closed the wardrobe door again, and returned to my bed to lie down.
Having been so tense and moving around a lot, sleep came over me in no time.
The family physician cautiously glanced around as he slowly descended underground.
The basement where the interrogation room was located reeked of a musty, fishy stench. He trembled as if he might faint but peered through the bars, searching for Knight Stipe.
'Stay quiet while you're in our house. Do nothing and behave, and I'll send you back in one piece.'
Remembering the girl speaking coldly without her usual childish lisp made him shiver involuntarily.
I'd thought she was nothing like the fearsome Leopoldt, just a child. But in that moment of clear warning, she had the exact same face as Leopoldt.
A cunning little devil possessed by a demon.
But he couldn't stay quiet as she'd threatened. Wiping cold sweat, the physician recalled Mariella approaching the monster's membrane.
That place had...
'I almost got caught with the monster pup.'
Mariella, ignorant of demon poison, must have thought the membrane was the source. But it was mere camouflage.
The monster's membrane suppressed the demon poison. That's why it had been disguised as a children's toy and brought into the house from the start.
If they'd discovered the Gigantia pup hidden beneath, he would've been as good as dead.
He'd obtained the Gigantia pup with the strongest demon poison to assassinate Leopoldt as ordered, but things had gone awry.
Knight Stipe, who was supposed to approach in his place, had been caught.
'No choice but to escape now. As fast as possible.'
In his bosom was the jar containing the Gigantia.
He could feel the monster pup thrashing violently inside the specially treated glass jar.
Forced to yield its poison, the creature was in a foul mood. Even as a small pup, it brimmed with killing intent.
But there was no helping it.
Killing Leopoldt had failed, but he had to eliminate the prince for sure.
'By now, he's drunk the water laced with Gigantia's poison.'
A prince of sacred imperial blood couldn't possibly withstand refined demon poison.
'With the prince gone, the master won't hold it against me.'
Stipe was imprisoned in the deepest part of the interrogation room.
Four guards stood watch in front, but thanks to the sleeping potion the physician had slipped them beforehand, they were sprawled asleep everywhere.
He'd laced the wine he'd given the guards for this very moment.
"K-Knight Stipe."
At the physician's call, Stipe, who had been lying facing the wall, lifted his head. The physician gasped at his utterly ruined state and took a step back.
His legs were especially mangled—beyond any healer's skill to mend.
"Well, if it isn't the good doctor."
Stipe's forced smile carried a grating rasp.
Trembling, the physician jammed the key into the lock. After several failures, he finally found the right one.
With a clink, the unlocked shackle fell to the ground.
"H-Hurry and escape. Before the guards notice."
"Ride a horse on these legs?"
"I'll help however I can, meager as it is."
Stipe dragged himself up from the stone floor. He couldn't fully stand—just raised his torso—but the pain still made his vision swim.
Despite his pathetic crawling state, a feral gleam shone in his eyes.
Watching that mad glint, the physician shuddered in fear despite himself.
"The monster...?"
"Got it. Once we destroy this evidence, even Knight Leopoldt can't touch us."
"Hand it over for a sec."
"P-Pardon? Why?"
"Lemme check."
No one could hold out long before those maniacally gleaming eyes.
As the physician shakily offered the jar with the Gigantia pup, Stipe barely curled his broken fingers around it.
Watching the multi-legged monster struggle to squeeze out of the jar's mouth, Stipe slowly asked,
"I hear Gigantias love the blood of humans with Divine Grace the most?"
"Yes. Demon-poison monsters are especially hostile to those with Divine Grace."
"Yeah. That's what I heard."
Stipe glanced down at his utterly wrecked legs.
His life as a knight was over. Even returning to his master's side like this, he'd be discarded.
A discovered spy couldn't survive. He'd known that from the start.
As Stipe fell silent for a long time, the physician grew uneasy.
Gnawing his lip anxiously while eyeing Stipe's face—which seemed to have gone fully mad in just days—he urged,
"Knight, we don't have time to—"
That was the moment.
Stipe smashed the jar against the floor. With a deafening crash, the glass shattered.