Translator: Nox

Chapter 25

After the commotion in the central garden.

We safely returned to the 3rd Prince’s Palace.

I immediately checked Emilia’s injuries.

Fortunately, she only had severe bruising on her skin, with no damage to her bones or muscles.

For a boy in his growth spurt to kick her and it end like this was truly good luck.

“Forgive me. I’m so sorry, Your Highness. If only I hadn’t left your side, this never would have happened!”

Meanwhile, Catherine was horrified at the sight of the dark bruises on the Imperial Princess.

She didn’t stop crying until the treatment was finished.

Her puffy-faced, sitting by the bedside, was utterly pitiful.

“Crying won’t heal Her Highness’s injuries. So stop it. You’ll wake Her Highness.”

“N-Nanny…”

Ignoring the sniffling Catherine, I gathered some ointment and a towel.

“Why did you leave your post so carelessly?”

“W-Well…”

“You couldn’t take responsibility if something happened to Their Highnesses.”

At my words, the tears streaming from Catherine’s eyes poured down even more fiercely.

Seeing those large eyes filled with guilt made my heart ache for no reason.

“…As the nanny, my absence was the greatest fault. It’s not just yours.”

“N-No! That’s not true, Nanny has done nothing wrong! It’s because I overstepped and insisted on attending Their Highnesses…”

“Enough. What’s done is done. We just have to make sure it never happens again.”

“Hic, yes! It won’t happen again! Never!”

Catherine wiped her tears and nodded vigorously.

I stood up.

“Then I’ll go check on Prince Edwin. Call a maid to watch over the Imperial Princess…”

“No, I’ll stay here today.”

“What about your head maid duties?”

“They can wait until tomorrow. Children are fragile. What if she gets a fever late, or something else hurts…”

Catherine couldn’t take her eyes off the Imperial Princess.

The tender hazel eyes gazing at the child were soaked in regret and sorrow.

“Understood. Then.”

I quietly left the room.

A good-hearted sinner needs time to atone on their own.

* * *

“I’m coming in.”

I indifferently pushed open the prince’s door, which didn’t respond even to a knock.

Edwin stood blankly by the window.

Before I knew it, a downpour was raging outside.

“Your Highness, your injuries…”

“And Emilia?”

He still stared out the window as he asked.

There was no strength in his voice.

“Her Highness the Imperial Princess has just finished treatment and fallen asleep.”

“Badly hurt?”

“It looks serious on the surface, but it’s just bruises. She’ll recover quickly.”

The prince nodded faintly after hearing me.

“Your Highness needs treatment too.”

“I’m fine.”

“I saw a cut on your face earlier. Ointment…”

I approached Edwin and reached out.

At that moment, he slapped my arm away and shouted.

“I said I’m fine—!”

The medicine box I was holding clattered noisily to the floor.

“Ah…”

Edwin panicked at what he’d done, not knowing what to do.

He shrugged his shoulders and raised his voice pointlessly.

“I said I’m fine, so why—ugh!”

“Doesn’t look fine to me.”

Edwin’s face flushed as I instantly grabbed his chin.

“W-What are you doing! Touching a prince’s face like this…”

“Your Highness, when you realize your own mistakes, you should be angry at yourself. Not others.”

The young prince’s eyes wavered at my cold voice devoid of emotion.

“So don’t blame others like this.”

Edwin’s eyelashes trembled.

He lowered his eyes without a word.

‘Finally behaving.’

Only then could I examine Edwin’s injury.

He’d only taken one punch, yet his lip was split.

“You took a solid hit.”

“O-Ow, it hurts!”

“You said you were fine earlier.”

I held the whining boy still and applied ointment to the wound.

Fortunately, only his face seemed to be hit.

“Prince Edwin made two mistakes today.”

“What?”

“First, going out of the palace with the Imperial Princess without any attendants.”

I released his chin.

“Second, charging at an opponent stronger than yourself with no plan.”

“So I should’ve just watched cowardly in that situation?!”

“The weak must be cowardly by nature.”

Edwin’s eyes widened at my words.

“That’s how they survive.”

Edwin scowled furiously and raised his voice.

“Survival is everything? Even if you’re treated worse than a bug, as long as you survive?!”

“Of course.”

I answered firmly with an expressionless face.

“Nothing takes precedence over survival in life.”

“But…!”

“And rebellion from someone who doesn’t know their place only fuels the opponent’s anger.”

Edwin finally looked hurt at my words.

“So I should’ve just stood there when Emilia was kicked?!”

“You should’ve endured it.”

“…What?”

In an instant, his large blue eyes shook.

“From the start, Your Highness stayed silent when the 2nd Prince compared Her Highness Emilia to an animal. And when he poured tea on her hand, you stayed silent too.”

I asked with an expressionless face.

“Why didn’t you endure until the end?”

“That was, because…!”

“Shall I tell you the answer? The first and second times were bearable. You could just be cowardly for a moment and let it pass.”

Edwin’s face instantly turned bright red.

He clenched his fists and retorted.

“Well, verbal insults can just be ignored, and the tea wasn’t hot…!”

“I’m not criticizing your cowardice, Your Highness. I think you did well.”

I looked down at Edwin with cold eyes.

“The problem was the last time. You were too reckless.”

If he’d only been cowardly, things wouldn’t have escalated.

It became a problem because he acted so recklessly without a plan at the end.

“If it were me, I’d have placated the 2nd Prince, restrained Her Highness Emilia, and somehow escaped the place.”

He might be called cowardly, but for the current Edwin, that was the best option.

“Your Highness, do you remember the promise you made to Her Highness the Imperial Princess last night?”

I continued, gazing into his large, clear eyes.

“A promise to protect someone shouldn’t be made lightly.”

Edwin bit his lip at my words.

“If His Majesty hadn’t stepped in at the right time, no one knows what would have happened to the two of you.”

“I, I…”

Edwin finally dropped his head to the floor.

“You said you wouldn’t live cowardly. But for now, Your Highness, that’s the better way.”

I continued, looking at his dejected crown.

“For Her Highness Emilia’s sake, and for your own.”

Even to my ears, my voice sounded utterly ruthless, without a trace of feeling.

But there was no choice.

‘I can’t keep helping like this time in the future.’

I turned my back to Edwin, who was quietly bowing his head.

It was then, as I tried to leave the prince’s room.

“Wait.”

Edwin was now looking at me with eyes full of questions.

“But how did you know Emilia went through that?”

He frowned, as if it made no sense.

“You showed up when I was fighting Lloyd.”

Sharp for no reason.

I glanced sideways for a moment before answering honestly.

“I arrived there even earlier.”

“What? So you saw everything that happened to Emilia and me?”

Edwin looked up at me with hurt eyes.

“And you just kept watching before coming out?”

“Yes.”

I’d arrived right when Edwin found Emilia.

But I deliberately didn’t step in.

Because of what Catherine, who’d come with them, said upon seeing the 2nd Prince.

• What do we do! The 2nd Prince torments Prince Edwin whenever he sees him!

Her words overlapped with the fear on Edwin’s face.

So I watched on purpose.

To check if he could really handle it alone, even against the opponent he feared.

“Why? You’re my nanny! You said you’d protect me!”

Edwin looked wronged, as if betrayed.

“You’re on my side! So why?!”

He grabbed the hem of my skirt and clung.

“Why didn’t you help? Why did you just watch?”

I looked down at the young prince.

A pure, innocent child.

One who could easily hold words like “protect” or “not be cowardly.”

That’s why I wanted him to realize painfully.

How heavy the words he uttered were.

I slowly pried off his two hands clutching my skirt hem.

“I helped as much as I could.”

Just intervening in the fight between the two princes was a huge risk for me.

A mere nanny meddling in princes’ affairs could get me killed.

In fact, if the Emperor or the King of Adamant hadn’t stepped in, I would have been the one in real danger.

“Your Highness, remember this.”

I earnestly told the young prince.

“That as long as you remain the weak one, you can’t protect yourself, others, or anything without being cowardly.”