Wishes and Promises (Part 2)
"I'll make my second wish right now too."
Emma took my hand, her expression tinged with sorrow. Looking up at me—now grown so much taller than her—she forced a faint, gentle smile.
"If what you're doing ever becomes too unbearable, come back anytime. Kyla, you know that, right?"
Even though she knew I could never return, she said those words anyway.
"Even if we don't share blood, we're family."
Yes. She was my only family. The one and only person in this world I truly considered as such.
Emma patted my shoulder with a playful grin.
"I'll have to save the last wish for later. Who knows? You might just disappear without a word again."
Glancing toward the sinking sun, she gasped softly and spun around.
"Look at the time already."
Sprinting toward the cottage, she paused mid-stride and looked back over her shoulder.
"Kyla, won't you stay for dinner? I just made that stew you love so much."
That day, beneath an unusually breathtaking twilight, at Emma's simple invitation to stay and share a bowl of stew, I wept for the first and last time in my life.
"Ky-Kyla? What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Why are you crying all of a sudden?"
I had no choice but to cry.
Because even though she knew I was a living weapon, she still offered me dinner—and I had to turn my back on someone like that and walk away. Because I knew in my bones that as Kyla Angel, I could never stay by her side again.
That was the inescapable fate of those who lived by taking lives.
Those who walked in the dead of night could never dwell alongside those who basked in daylight. Just like the fleeting twilight where day and night briefly crossed paths, we were permitted only to brush past one another in passing.
Before the dusk faded completely into black, I parted from her. I had to return to the shadows where I belonged before the night claimed everything.
"To spend your final wish like this... you became quite cunning while I wasn't looking."
It was truly absurd. It felt almost as if she had saved that last wish all along, knowing things would turn out precisely like this.
"......"
I clenched my fists tight.
Truthfully, I could simply ignore the dying request of someone already gone. It wasn't even a favor for her own sake to begin with. Why should I waste my precious time on some brat who had nothing to do with me?
Damn it.
But that was a lie. Neither Edwin nor Emilia were strangers to me anymore. In the end, they had become people who mattered.
—You can just protect me! You're my nanny!
—Lia likes Rayche!
My head spun. When I squeezed my eyes shut against the dizziness, the question the little princess had asked me not long ago resurfaced in my mind.
—What are you scared of, Rayche?
What was I afraid of?
Things like this.
When I opened my eyes again, Edwin's face lingered before me. The image of the boy tossing in a fever after losing the people dearest to him.
In the end, the most terrifying thing of all...
Was the affection one human harbored for another. Emotions that cold reason could never master.
"......Haah."
A deflated sigh slipped from my lips.
Regardless, a promise was a promise. Emma, if your final wish was for the Third Prince to find happiness...
I looked down quietly at the memory of Edwin clinging to my hand like a lifeline.
If that is all it takes.
Then I had no choice but to grant it. Even if it meant putting my revenge on hold for a little while longer.
"Nanny, really?!"
Catherine sprang out of her chair the instant the words left my mouth.
"You mean it, right?!"
Her eyes practically sparkled with unbridled joy.
"You're truly not quitting as nanny, right?"
"I just said so, didn't I?"
"Goodness! What a wonderful decision!"
Darting around her desk, Catherine threw her arms around me in a crushing embrace. The hug caught me so completely off guard that I didn't even have time to dodge. Freezing stiff for a second, I grimaced and firmly pushed her away.
"I can't breathe."
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
She stepped back with a sheepish grin, then immediately thrust out her right hand.
"I look forward to working with you from now on!"
After a brief hesitation, I took her hand.
"Still, Nanny, didn't you say you had something urgent you needed to take care of? Is that going to be all right?" Catherine asked with genuine concern, enthusiastically pumping my hand up and down. "You aren't giving that up because of this, are you?"
"No, nothing like that."
Just because I was staying on as their nanny didn't mean I had any intention of abandoning the hunt for Ian. Instead, I had simply adjusted my approach. I would establish my base right here in the palace, venturing out into the city to gather intelligence first. Facing Ian that way actually felt far safer anyway.
Even for someone like Ian, directly infiltrating the imperial palace carries immense risk.
Just as I was contemplating when I should slip out to dig into Ian's whereabouts, Catherine piped up again.
"By the way, Nanny, have you told the young Highnesses yet?"
"Told them what?"
"That you're staying!"
"Do I really need to announce it separately?"
"Of course you do! They still think you're leaving any day now!"
Having announced my departure with my own mouth, turning around now to say I wasn't going anywhere felt somewhat embarrassing.
"Prince Edwin seemed to have heard something from Princess Emilia too, because he's convinced you're walking out on them!"
Two days ago, after finally shaking off his fever and getting back on his feet, Edwin had taken to flat-out ignoring me. As if he had nothing more to say to someone who would soon be out of his life.
"Then Catherine, why don't you tell them for me?"
Catherine's eyebrows arched high at my suggestion.
"Naaanny, what was it you told me the other day?"
"What did I say?"
"Didn't you claim you're someone who takes full responsibility for her duties?! Then you need to see this through properly to the very end!"
Despite my sour expression, Catherine refused to yield an inch.
"You're the one who told Princess Emilia you were leaving, so you should be the one to break the news. Understood?"
"Wait, but—"
"Now, now! Hurry along and deliver the happy news! Nanny, mobilize—!"
In the end, Catherine practically shoved me out the door. Once again, I found myself nursing a mild pang of regret over having rescued her from that storage shed.
Today, Edwin was once again pouring all his energy into ignoring my existence.
Or rather, instead of ignoring me, it was closer to him being agonizingly, hyper-aware of my presence. He sat dead center in the rear courtyard, deliberately positioned as far away from where I stood as possible.
"Oppa, can Rayche play with us too?"
"No."
Edwin was busy weaving clover stems to make a flower crown for his little sister. Emilia watched her brother's busy hands with a pouty frown.
"Why not? Lia wants to play with Rayche too."
"She's going to abandon us and leave tomorrow anyway. Why would you want to play with a woman like that?"
Emilia's face fell at Edwin's sharp tone.
"Don't worry. Lia has me. We don't need someone like her."
"B-But Oppa is weak."
"...What?"
"It's twue."
Completely oblivious to the dark look creeping over Edwin's face, the little princess chattered on. Emilia was young, but she was sharp for her age. She simply lacked the vocabulary to express herself delicately.
"Oppa always gets beaten up by the bad guys. But Rayche always saves Lia."
On that stormy night, and on the day the demonic Second Prince had tormented them. The one who had shielded the princess hadn't been the prince.
"And Oppa is always sick. You're weaker than Lia. You can't pwotect Lia."
In truth, there wasn't an ounce of malice in her words. She was merely stating the plain facts as she saw them. Yet it was more than enough to tear what little remained of the prince's battered pride to shreds.
"Waaaah—!"
"Your Highness!"
Listening from a distance, I dashed forward the moment I saw Edwin shove Emilia by the shoulder. Caught off balance, Emilia tumbled backward onto the grass with a thud.
"Uwaaah—! Rayche—! Oppa pushed me!"
I quickly scooped the crying princess into my arms and whipped around to look at Edwin. It was the first time he had ever laid a rough hand on his sister. What on earth had gotten into them, when usually they would split a single pea between them?
"Your Highness, why on earth would you—"
The reprimand died on my tongue.
Tears were pouring down Edwin's cheeks.
"I don't... I don't need someone like you either...!"
His face flushed bright red, Edwin bit his trembling lower lip hard. In that frantic breath, his eyes snapped toward me. The moment our gazes collided, Edwin took the bundle of clovers in his fist and hurled it straight into my face.
"I don't need someone like you, either—!"
Having screamed out his piece, he spun on his heel and fled across the garden as fast as his legs could carry him.
Wait a minute. Did that little brat just throw weeds into my face and run away without an apology?
"Ptooey."
Grimacing, I spat out a stray leaf that had flown into my mouth. Meanwhile, utterly devastated by her brother's rejection, Emilia began wailing even more sorrowfully.
"Huwaaaah—! Oppa said he doesn't need Lia—! I hate you, Oppa—!"
"Nanny, what on earth happened—?!"
Drawn by Emilia's deafening vocal cords, Catherine came bursting out of the office in an absolute panic.
"It's nothing serious. Please watch Her Highness for a moment."
"Pardon? How can it be nothing serious when the princess is crying her eyes out?!"
I dumped Emilia into Catherine's bewildered arms and adjusted my boots.
"Nanny?"
"I'm going to bring him back."
"Eh? Bring who back?"
Who else? That insolent little prince.
Instead of answering, I kicked off the flagstones and rocketed forward.
"Nanny! Wait! Where are you going?!"
"I told you, I'm going to retrieve His Highness—!"
"Wait, that doesn't look like going to retrieve him at all! That looks like you're going to beat the daylights out of—heavens, what am I saying! It looks like you're hunting him down...!"
Leaving Catherine's frantic squawking behind in the wind, I sprinted across the grounds.
All to catch that adorable little prince who still didn't even know how to throw a proper tantrum.