TPNSIA-13

Chapter 13. Maid Catherine (3)

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Something felt strange.

The sharp looks the maids gave us the moment we entered the Prince’s Palace.

The strangely subdued atmosphere hanging over the place.

What’s going on?

I frowned and looked around.

Edwin watched me curiously.

“What’s wrong?”

“The atmosphere feels strange.”

“The atmosphere?”

Edwin blinked, clearly having no idea what I meant.

Just then, I spotted the maid who had brought the prince’s wash water that morning.

Despite what had happened earlier, she seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood.

Almost as though something pleasant had happened.

“You there.”

“N-Nanny?”

The maid jumped at my voice.

“Why are you so startled?”

“Wh-When was I startled?”

She glanced nervously at me before abruptly changing her attitude.

“Anyway, why did you call me? I’m rather busy.”

I automatically frowned at the subtly condescending tone.

“Did something happen while I was gone?”

“What do you mean?”

“The atmosphere doesn’t seem particularly good.”

“Ah.”

The maid let out a short exclamation, then smiled as though troubled.

“Well, you see. One of the annex maids did something quite insolent and disobeyed the head maid’s orders.”

An annex maid?

A bad feeling came over me.

When my expression changed, the maid’s eyes curved into a smile.

Her mouth, however, wasn’t smiling.

“That lowborn thing dared to serve His Highness a meal without permission. The kitchen says they knew nothing about it.”

At her words, Edwin’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit’s.

“What does that mean?”

Exactly what I wanted to know.

“What happened to that maid?”

“What do you think? The head maid punished her personally.”

The maid kept snickering as though she found the whole thing satisfying.

“She’s probably locked in the food storage room by now. Well, I have plenty of work to do, so I’ll be going.”

She gave Edwin a perfunctory nod and walked away.

The moment she disappeared, Edwin turned on me.

“What did she mean by that? She was punished just for serving me a meal?”

For some reason, Edwin’s voice was unusually sharp.

I didn’t know why, but he looked anxious.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

Only then did I realize that Edwin had been clutching the hem of my dress this entire time.

The little prince’s hand had gone white from how tightly he was gripping it.

His small face had also become pale with fear.

Instead of answering, I slowly removed Edwin’s hand from my dress.

“…It’s nothing serious. Your Highness, please take Princess Emilia and go to your room first.”

“What? What about you?”

“There’s somewhere I need to stop by.”

“Hey! Where are you going? Hey!”

After leaving Emilia with Edwin, I hurried away.

I could feel Edwin’s gaze following me from behind, but I deliberately ignored it.

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After questioning the maids who worked in the kitchen, I finally reached the food storage room.

The door was firmly locked.

“Catherine, are you in there?”

“…Nanny?”

After a brief silence, a faint voice came from behind the door.

It was unmistakably Catherine.

“What happened?”

“Well… the head maid found out that I served Their Highnesses a separate meal.”

“……”

When I didn’t answer, Catherine must have become worried, because she deliberately brightened her voice.

“But the head maid went easy on me. She said she’ll let me out after I spend just one day in here reflecting on what I did. So I suppose I’m lucky.”

I frowned as I listened to the tremor in her voice.

I was the one who had asked her to do something that went against the head maid’s orders.

Which meant this was my responsibility.

“Nanny?”

“Wait a moment.”

“What?”

Clank. Clatter—!

The lock hanging from the storage-room door fell away with a loud metallic crash.

When I pulled open the door, Catherine stared blankly at me, her body bound with rope.

Her hair was half undone, and her lip was split and bleeding.

Judging from the state she was in, someone had clearly struck her.

“Nanny…?”

Catherine still looked completely dumbfounded.

“Nanny, h-how did you…?”

She stared at the chain and lock lying on the floor.

“But the head maid should have the key…”

“You don’t necessarily need a key to open a lock.”

I tossed the bent hairpin onto the floor.

Catherine stared at it in shock.

“W-Wait! Nanny, if you do something like this, you’ll get in trouble too…!”

“Stay still.”

“N-No, you can’t—ah!”

Ignoring her protests, I began undoing the ropes when she suddenly let out a pained groan.

“What’s wrong—”

I couldn’t finish the question.

My brows drew together.

There was blood on her slender back.

This is…

Through the torn fabric, I could see countless long wounds.

Whip marks.

At that moment, my thoughts turned cold, as though someone had poured ice water over my head.

“…Don’t you find this strange?”

“What?”

I continued almost as if speaking to myself.

“Who do you think is the master of this palace?”

“Well, of course, His Highness Edwin…”

“And yet you were whipped and locked in here because you prepared a meal for His Highness Edwin.”

Catherine fell silent.

Surely she knew it too.

This situation was completely unreasonable.

She had prepared a meal for the master of the palace, only to be punished for it.

It made absolutely no sense.

Right. It doesn’t make sense.

Unless Edwin was a prince in name only.

I slowly rose to my feet.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

Catherine looked up at me.

“Why did you help me when you knew this might happen if you were caught?”

Catherine forced a joking smile.

“I wasn’t helping you, Nanny. I was just…”

“I’m asking seriously.”

At the seriousness in my voice, she hesitated before lowering her eyes.

“…Because I was grateful.”

“What?”

“I was grateful.”

Perhaps uncomfortable under my unwavering stare, she kept her head lowered as she continued.

“The main palace maids have been bullying me for a long time, but you were the first person who ever stepped in and helped me. So… so…”

I stood there silently for quite some time.

“Catherine.”

“Yes.”

“I really hate troublesome things.”

“I-I’m sorry. I promised you the head maid would never find out, but…”

Catherine misunderstood, thinking I was blaming her for getting caught, and her face fell.

I looked at her expressionlessly.

“But there’s something I hate even more.”

“What?”

“Things that make absolutely no sense, no matter how rationally I try to understand them.”

Leaving a bewildered Catherine behind, I turned away.

“For now, go back to your quarters.”

“Nanny! Wait—ah!”

Catherine tried to follow me, only to collapse back onto the floor.

“What’s wrong?”

“M-My legs have gone numb…”

One thing after another.

Still, Catherine was in this condition because of me in the first place.

Frowning, I walked over and helped her up.

She looked at me with a touched expression.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“What?”

“You ended up like this because of me. Of course I’m going to help you.”

Catherine stared blankly at me.

Apparently, she didn’t understand what I meant.

I sighed and added,

“I’m telling you not to be grateful to me.”

At that, Catherine let out a small laugh.

She had just been whipped, and she could still laugh?

“Why are you laughing?”

When I asked in genuine confusion, she grinned mischievously instead.

“No reason. Do I need a reason to laugh?”

“If you still have enough energy to laugh, then hurry up and walk.”

“Nanny.”

Catherine called to me abruptly as she stood with one arm draped over my shoulder.

“You’re a very unusual person.”

Her words suddenly reminded me of what Edwin had said earlier.

You’re really strange.

Somehow, I had become both strange and unusual.

“I seem to be hearing that quite often lately.”

“And I think you’re a good person.”

A good person.

For some reason, I nearly laughed.

“Nanny?”

Catherine looked puzzled by my reaction.

“Good people must all be dead, then.”

Calling an assassin a good person.

That was probably the funniest thing anyone had ever said to me.

Catherine, meanwhile, seemed to take my words as nothing more than a joke.

“Oh, Nanny!”

She continued smiling brightly.

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The moment Catherine and I entered the annex, the maids there rushed toward us with shocked expressions.

“Catherine!”

“My goodness! What happened to you?”

“Are you all right?”

“Did the head maid let you out?”

Every one of them looked genuinely worried about Catherine.

“No. The Nanny was the one who got me out.”

“What?!”

At Catherine’s words, every maid turned toward me.

I awkwardly gave them a small nod.

The annex maids seemed just as uncomfortable as I was.

They watched “Rachel Brown” cautiously, almost as though they were seeing her for the first time.

“That’s the new nanny?”

Apparently, the real Lady Rachel Brown had never even bothered setting foot in the annex.

Ignoring their curious stares, I spoke.

“Catherine’s injuries are serious. I think we should move somewhere she can lie down.”

“Ah! This way—!”

Only then did the annex maids seem to snap out of their daze.

Supporting Catherine, I helped her into their quarters.

The moment I laid her down on the shabby bed, the maids began bustling around.

They’re alike.

Watching them rush about for the sake of one person reminded me of the members who had once served under me.

—Captain! Covered in wounds again today, huh?

—Want me to put medicine on them? No? You think I enjoy doing it? I’m only doing this because the whole organization will fall apart if you die!

Remembering the voices of the comrades I had spent so many years with, I quietly lowered my gaze.

For some reason,

a bitter taste lingered in my mouth.