How to Hold On to a Nanny
"...She's not going to be our nanny anymore? She's quitting?"
"Uh-huh. What are we gonna do? Lia likes Naychel! Lia doesn't want Naychel to go!"
Edwin looked stricken for a moment, but his expression soon hardened and he lay back down.
"Tell her to do whatever she wants."
"What? Wh-y-y?! Are you happy if Naychel leaves, Brother?"
"If she doesn't want to stay, what can we do? Let her do as she pleases." Edwin pulled the blanket over his head and mumbled, "...A woman like that can leave for all I care."
Beneath the quilt, he clenched his fists tight at the memory of the nanny. Her voice, cold as a blade, laying bare his utter insignificance. Just thinking of her now sent a painful surge rising from the depths of his chest.
"Eeeek! You're a dummy, Brother!"
Furious that her brother wasn't giving the reaction she wanted, Emilia hurled a cushion beside her.
"Naychel is the best! She gives me yummy treats, hugs me all the time, and protects Lia!"
The little princess pummeled Edwin through the quilt with her tiny fists.
"I hate you, Brother! I hate you, hate you, hate you!"
After raining blows on Edwin for a while, Emilia huffed and scrambled down from the bed.
"You're a big dummy!"
She shouted with all the bravado she could muster, but paused with her hand on the doorknob, glancing back at her brother.
Ever since that encounter with the Second Prince in the garden, Edwin had remained in this state. Aside from mealtimes, he spent all his hours curled up silently in bed. Even when he looked at Emilia, his only response was a faint, weary smile—none of his former warmth remained. In fact, every time his eyes fell upon her, his face twisted in torment.
Normally, the moment his only sister grew sulky, he would have scrambled after her to cheer her up. But today, he made no move to follow.
Emilia's lower lip jutted in a pout, but then she pressed her lips tight and marched out the door.
"Just you wait. Lia won't let Naychel go."
A fierce, solemn determination burned in the young princess's round blue eyes.
"...What is this?"
"It's Naychel's!"
"Mine?"
I stared down at the piece of gold Emilia had shoved into my hands. Set with intricately carved opals, the gold bracelet was unmistakably meant for a toddler.
"Yup! It used to be Lia's, but Lia's giving it to Naychel."
"No, Your Highness. How could I possibly accept your possessions—"
"No! Take it!"
When I tried to return the bracelet, Emilia stomped her foot and shook her head furiously. As I reluctantly yielded and kept hold of it, color rushed back into her chubby face.
Then, without warning, she dashed to the corner of the room and came dragging back a wooden chest nearly as big as her entire body. It was brimming with all the toys the little princess treasured most.
"Lia gives all of this to Naychel too!"
"All of this? Every bit?"
"Uh-huh! They're Lia's most favoritest things in the whole world, but I'll give them all to you!"
Emilia pulled dolls from the chest and began stacking them around me. Before long, I found myself entirely besieged by the princess's prized stuffed companions.
"Your Highness, I do not need any of this. Besides, aren't these all your dearest treasures?"
"It's okay! Lia likes Naychel way better!"
Scrambling over the miniature army of dolls, Emilia climbed onto my lap and threw her arms around my neck.
"Naychel likes Lia too, right?"
She blinked her big, watery eyes slowly.
Even to my cynical gaze, she looked undeniably adorable. With this much charm at such a tender age, whoever ended up marrying the princess in the future was in for a lifetime of trouble.
"Naychel, why aren't you answering?"
"...Yes, I am fond of Your Highness as well."
"Then you'll stay with Lia forever and ever, right?"
If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have let her overhear my conversation with Catherine. I let out a quiet sigh.
"Your Highness, no one in this world can stay together forever."
"Nuh-uh! Lia is gonna stay with Naychel until Lia becomes a grandma!"
This was troublesome. We hadn't even known each other for a month—why was she so attached to me?
It isn't like I was exceptionally nice to her.
This was precisely why one shouldn't get involved with young children. Show them a shred of decency, and they latch onto you with all their heart.
I lifted Emilia from my lap and set her down on the floor.
"Your Highness, by the time you become a grandmother, I will already be a skeleton."
"A skeleton? What's a skelly-ton?"
"...Someone much older than a grandmother."
"Huh? But Naychel is already older than Lia! So it's okay!"
Well, I doubted an actual pile of bleached bones would be quite so acceptable. I had glossed it over because I couldn't bear to explain rotting flesh and bones to a five-year-old, but that had clearly backfired.
"Naychel, Lia gave you everything Lia loves, so you're staying with Lia, right?"
"..."
"Hurry, hurry! Pinky promise!"
Emilia squirmed her tiny finger across my palm, scribbling imaginary letters.
"Lia wrote her name, so it's a promise, okay?"
"Princess Emilia."
"Promise! Promise! If you don't promise, Lia's gonna cry all day!"
The princess flopped onto her back on the carpet, thrashing her arms and legs wildly.
"Promiiise—!"
"Your Highness, I do not make promises I cannot keep."
I lifted Emilia back onto her feet.
"Therefore, I cannot give you that answer. I am sorry."
My refusal must have come as quite a shock. Staring blankly at me for a heartbeat, Emilia burst into torrential sobs.
"Waaahhh—! I hate you, Naychel! Waaah!"
"Your Highness, please do not cr—"
"Uwaaaaahhh—!"
Right then, the door swung open and Catherine hurried in, her eyes wide with shock.
"Your Highness? Nanny, what on earth happened?"
"Catherine, the thing is..."
I had no time to offer an explanation. Emilia sprinted over and buried herself straight into Catherine's skirts.
"Cathewin! Naychel... Naychel is... uwaaah!"
"Yes, Your Highness. Tell me, what happened?"
Catherine wiped away the princess's fat, rolling tears, soothing her gently.
"What could have possibly happened to make our precious princess cry so sorrowfully?"
At the tender tone, Emilia finally let out an aggrieved shriek.
"Naychel says she won't stay with Lia! She says she's gonna leave! Even though Lia gave her all my favoritest things—!"
"What? Oh, that can't be."
Patting the princess's back, Catherine shot a look in my direction—a gaze that practically screamed, Why aren't you comforting her right this second?
"Nanny is going to stay in the palace for a long time. Isn't that right, Nanny?"
Catherine was plainly begging me to play along and offer a harmless white lie.
"Nanny?"
"...It is a fact that I will be leaving this place."
"N-Nanny!"
I pushed past the magic circle of stuffed animals Emilia had constructed and stood up.
"I will say it once more: I do not make promises I cannot keep." Looking squarely at Emilia, who was clutching Catherine's skirts, I spoke with firm finality. "I will be leaving. Therefore—"
"I hate Naychel! I hate everybody!"
Her little face flushed scarlet with fury, Emilia darted past us and bolted out of the room.
"Your Highness—! Oh, heavens, Nanny, why would you say such a thing and make such a scene?!"
"Should I have lied and claimed the truth was false?"
"Her Highness is just a baby! Did you truly have to be so harsh with a little child?"
"It is precisely because she is a child that I must be blunt."
"Pardon?"
I knelt and began gathering the dolls scattered across the carpet.
"Children believe the promises of adults without a single doubt."
Never guessing it was all a lie, clinging to it with desperate, fragile hope.
"I have no desire to tell empty falsehoods from which no one gains a thing."
I picked up the final rag doll from the floor. Its hair, spun from golden yarn, looked remarkably like its owner. I stared at the little rag doll for a long, quiet moment before tossing it back into the wooden chest. Slumped limply amidst the pile, the doll looked extraordinarily pitiful.
"I hate Naychel."
Hidden behind a marble pillar, Emilia sniffled and wiped her tears with the back of her sleeve.
"Naychel is a dummy. A stupid-head."
The princess rattled off every terrible word in her limited vocabulary.
"Poop-dog, dog-poop, poop-dog, ant, seaweed—!"
Though, having quickly exhausted her repertoire of insults, it had essentially turned into a game of word association.
"Lia doesn't need Naychel anyway, humph!"
Puffing her cheeks, Emilia turned on her heel and stomped away.
"Lia has Edwin, so there!"
The young princess marched straight toward the Third Prince's chambers.
"Brother, Lia's here!"
Flumping open the door without knocking, Emilia trotted over to the bedside. Sure enough, Edwin was still lying under the covers.
"Brother, Lia said she's here!"
The bed, built to the proportions of an imperial prince, was far too tall for the little princess. Emilia stood on tiptoe, straining to peer at Edwin's face.
"Brother, Lia's here, I said!"
"Mngh..."
Yet something about Edwin's complexion was terribly off.
"Brother?"
Sensing something amiss, Emilia called out once more, but no answer came.
"Haa... haah..."
The prince, his face flushed a burning scarlet, was merely panting in shallow, feverish gasps.
"What should we do?"
Catherine placed a damp cloth over the prince's forehead, her expression pinched with worry.
"It looks like a severe cold, but his fever is far too high. We should summon an imperial physician."
At her words, Emilia turned to me, her face crumbling into tears once more.
"Naychel, is Brother gonna die?"
"...Human beings do not die so easily. Do not fret."
Catherine shot me an appalled glare before stroking Emilia's hair with gentle hands.
"Do not worry, Your Highness. He is unwell right now, but he will recover very soon."
"Really?"
"Of course. Nanny, I will run to the medical bureau. In the meantime, please watch over His Highness..."
Just as Catherine moved to rise and fetch a doctor, a weak hand reached out.
Edwin had caught the hem of her sleeve.
"N-No..."
He mumbled in a cracked, parched voice.
"No... physician. You can't."
"Your Highness, but you must—"
"They won't... come anyway... cough, cough!"
Edwin couldn't finish his sentence. A violent fit of coughing wracked his frail body, and he lapsed into unconsciousness.
"Your Highness! Prince Edwin! Heavens, please wake up!"
"Brother—! Don't die! Lia was wrong! Lia doesn't hate you!"
Between the frantic maid and the wailing child, the room dissolved into sheer pandemonium.
Calmly, I tended to Emilia first.
"Princess Emilia, Prince Edwin has not passed away yet. Please cease your crying."
Patting Emilia on the back to settle her trembling frame, I turned my eyes toward Catherine.
"Do you happen to know why His Highness insisted on not calling a physician?"