Reflection (2)
‘Insolent bastard.’
Lloyd, Second Prince of the Ventrum Empire, seethed as he recalled the afternoon’s humiliation. How dare that weakling defy him without knowing his place? He despised his half-brother Edwin with every fiber of his being.
‘I hate everything about him.’
He hated the boy’s unnecessarily pretty face, and he hated how obstinately assertive he became despite having no power to back it up. In truth, the only tolerable trait Edwin possessed was that he was timid and quick to read the room; a single threatening glare was usually enough to make him grovel on command, which was always an entertaining spectacle. Yet on rare occasions, Edwin dared to provoke his temper beyond measure—just as he had done today.
‘He thinks having pride makes him special when he’s utterly pathetic. It’s sickening.’
Lunging forward in a feral fury simply because his useless little sister took a strike, scrambling atop Lloyd like a frantic pest—the memory alone made him scoff with disdain.
‘And that woman.’
The image of the woman who had barred his way surfaced in his mind. She had introduced herself as the Third Prince’s nanny.
“Stand down.”
Fearless as Lloyd usually fancied himself, in that singular heartbeat, genuine dread had pierced his spine. Her uncanny green eyes had radiated an aura so chilling that he felt certain she would sever his arm without hesitation if he refused to comply. The woman had displayed not the slightest shred of terror before an imperial prince.
‘Just like that dead old hag. Utterly repulsive.’
The face of someone already dead surfaced in Lloyd’s thoughts: Edwin’s previous nanny, an aged noblewoman. Unlike this new protector, the old woman had been meek and polite, yet whenever Edwin was involved, she had lost her wits and thrown herself into danger with reckless abandon. Which, of course, was precisely why she had hastened her own demise.
‘Her name was Rachel Brown, wasn’t it?’
Lloyd ground his molars together at the thought of her, silently vowing that one day, she too would walk the very same path as her predecessor.
“What could you possibly be pondering so deeply, Lloyd?”
The woman seated across from him broke the silence. Clad in an exquisite pale-pink gown, the golden-haired noblewoman possessed a breathless, striking beauty. Between her sunset-crimson eyes and her sharply defined features, she resembled a brilliant, blazing flame—breathtaking to behold, yet volatile enough to reduce everything in her vicinity to cinders in an instant.
Helena Radcliffe. She was the Second Imperial Consort of the Ventrum Empire and Lloyd’s birth mother.
“I heard what transpired in the gardens,” Helena said, lazily swirling the silver goblet in her hand as her voice dipped with displeasure. “I hear you entangled yourself with that deficient creature once again. Did I not explicitly instruct you never to associate with such filth?”
“Mother, that brat was the one who started it—”
“Are you daring to talk back to your mother?”
“B-but Edwin’s nanny laid hands on me first—!”
Slap!
Before Lloyd could finish his defense, Helena rose swiftly and struck him across the cheek. The blow was harsh enough to startle anyone, but Lloyd merely straightened his head as if long accustomed to such discipline.
“Who gave you permission to argue with me?” Helena glared coldly at her son. “And cease this pathetic whining about a nanny! That half-wit clung desperately to his previous caretaker as well.” She pressed two manicured fingers to her temple in irritation. “He threw such endless tantrums that I personally disposed of the old woman for you, yet here you are, bleating about another nanny?”
Lloyd kept his head bowed in silence.
“I have just returned from an audience with His Majesty,” Helena snapped, her voice rising in reprimand. “He remarked that you lost your composure in the presence of the King of Adamant. To present such an unsightly, disgraceful display before the Emperor! Do you truly consider yourself worthy of becoming the next emperor like this?”
She referred to her son as the ‘next emperor’ even though he had not yet been invested as the Crown Prince. It was a reflection of her absolute conviction that her flesh and blood would inevitably claim the throne.
“…I apologize.”
“Ha! To think I gave birth to such an ignorant fool—!”
Helena slammed her palm onto the adjacent table with a resounding crash.
“Your elder half-brother was summoned by His Majesty today and showered with praise! A mere fifteen-year-old, yet clever enough to present his own diplomatic policies! I told you that your swordsmanship is superior, so you must hone it diligently—yet I hear you skipped your lessons again today?” Helena shrieked in mounting vexation. “When you ought to be amassing merits, you go out of your way to earn His Majesty’s disgust?”
The Emperor was a man who wore an affable, genial smile, yet cut down anyone who crossed the line without a sliver of hesitation. Had he not seized the imperial crown by bathing the palace in the blood of his own brothers and sisters? Helena understood his ruthless nature better than anyone.
“Lloyd. I do not care whether you strangle a cat or butcher a palace servant,” she whispered, her crimson gaze gleaming with dangerous intensity. “Such trifles do not matter in the least. All that matters is that you become Emperor.”
Emperor of the empire. What an intoxicating ring the title held.
Helena gripped the shoulders of her young son, who barely reached her chest, with bruising strength.
“Swear to me, Lloyd. Swear that you will never again incur His Majesty’s displeasure.”
Lloyd stared blankly at his mother’s face before lowering his gaze.
“…Yes, Mother.”
As the Second Prince answered meekly, his eyes appeared strangely hollow.
“N-Nanny… what is this?”
“It is precisely what it appears to be.”
Catherine rubbed her eyes frantically, rereading the document clutched in her hands. The moment she confirmed that it was my letter of resignation, she let out a sharp cry.
“A-A resignation?! Nanny, you’re quitting?!”
“Yes.”
“W-Why? For what reason?!”
“The work does not suit me.”
My resolute reply left Catherine completely flustered.
“B-But when are you planning to step down that you’re submitting this so suddenly…?”
“In one week.”
“What?! In a week?!” Catherine mentally counted the days on her fingers before lunging forward to grasp my hands. “Nanny, won’t you please reconsider? You’ve barely completed a single month! Who on earth resigns like this?!”
“I am leaving precisely because it has been a month.”
“Pardon?”
Exactly one month. It was neither too short nor too long—the ideal window to depart before I became entangled in further complications.
‘Fortunately, a royal nanny’s wages were higher than I anticipated.’
With the gold coins currently stashed in my purse, I was confident I would not starve outside the palace walls. If funds ran low, I could simply earn more; had I not been rigorously training this body’s physical conditioning for that very purpose?
“Even so, to make such an abrupt decision…”
“It is not abrupt. I planned this from the very beginning.”
“How could you…”
The mocking voice that tormented my nights echoed unbidden in my mind.
The pitch-black reed field. The venom coursing through my veins. The sickening smell of burning flesh and ash. Every sensation remained searingly vivid.
“There is something I must accomplish,” I said softly.
I had to leave this place. Vengeance was the sole justification for my existence in this second life. Therefore, I had no luxury to spare on the King of Adamant, who had vanished with a suspicious smirk, nor on the Third Prince and Princess, who trailed after me like helpless chicks, nor on Catherine, who beamed warmly whenever our eyes met.
“Haa… If you are this determined, Nanny, then I suppose I have no right to stop you.” Catherine looked at me with eyes dripping with sorrowful regret. “I truly wished to work alongside you for a very long time.”
“A head maid of your caliber will easily find a nanny far superior to me.”
“Perhaps, but she won’t be like you.” Her expression slumped into a sullen pout. “There will never be another person as strange and wonderful as you, Nanny.”
“Is there a particular reason you felt compelled to include ‘strange’?”
“Well, it’s not as if you’re normal! Who else in the world would stand so boldly before the Second Prince?” She shuddered violently, as if the memory of that garden standoff alone made her blood run cold. “Just thinking back to that moment gives me goosebumps.”
Catherine vigorously rubbed her forearms.
“I was terrified that your arm was about to be cut off!”
“I do not act in ways that would result in losing an arm.”
“How can you say that?! If His Majesty hadn’t appeared in the nick of time, it would have been lopped clean off! Off!”
In the nick of time, was it?
A faint smile touched my lips. It was certainly fortunate that the Emperor happened to stroll near the garden at that precise moment. And it was equally fortuitous that I was the only one present who possessed the senses to detect his approaching presence beforehand. Thanks to that, I had turned the tables on the Second Prince without lifting a blade.
“He arrived in the nick of time, so all is well, is it not?”
“Goodness, whether you are unimaginably daring or utterly reckless, I will never understand you.”
Before Catherine could launch into another lecture, I stood up from my chair.
“Let us conclude our private conversation here. I have duties to attend to, so I shall take my leave.”
“…Nanny.”
Just as I stepped toward the doorway, Catherine called out once more. Her face was clouded with genuine worry.
“Is there something else?”
“Um… how do you plan to break the news to Their Highnesses?”
“About what?”
“About your resignation.” Her gaze softened with deep sympathy. “Both of them have grown so attached to you. If you suddenly leave, they will be utterly heartbroken.”
“Catherine.”
“Yes?”
“Must I concern myself with what happens after I am no longer their nanny?”
At my cold, measured words, Catherine’s lips parted and closed like a fish stranded on dry land, completely at a loss for a retort. It was a harsh response, but it was the undeniable truth. Those who leave are destined to be forgotten, and sorrow inevitably fades with the passage of time. As it always had.
“Farewell, then.”
Leaving behind Catherine, who remained frozen in silence, I stepped out of the office.
Pitter-patter—!
At that very moment, accompanied by the hurried scuffle of small footsteps, the golden hem of a royal garment fluttered around the corridor corner before vanishing into the shadows.
“……”
I stared quietly at the empty corner for a second before turning away. One more week. In exactly seven days, I would bid a permanent farewell to this palace.
“Brother! Brotheeer—! Wake up!”
Emilia shook her older brother frantically as he lay nestled under the bedcovers. Even with a dark bruise still lingering on her shoulder, the little princess was bursting with restless vigor.
“I said, waaaake uuuup—!”
“Emilia… I’m tired.”
“No! Wake up! Wake uuuup!”
Unable to withstand his sister’s persistent badgering, Edwin finally hauled his heavy body upright. Ever since yesterday, a sluggish fatigue had weighed heavily upon his limbs, souring his mood. The young prince spoke in a sullen, groggy voice.
“What is it?”
“Brother, big trouble!”
“Trouble?”
“Naychel says she won’t be our nanny anymore!”
At the princess’s frantic declaration, Edwin’s eyes widened in sheer shock.