I Was Hired by the Black-Minded Prince for My Life's Ransom - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 27. The Suspicious Warehouse
We followed the two figures in black robes through the winding streets.
Their route was deliberately circuitous.
One moment we’d be walking along a main thoroughfare, the next we’d find ourselves in an alleyway—the pattern of someone who anticipated being followed.
“Do you think they’ve noticed us?”
“It seems to be habit.”
Tap-tap-tap.
After some time on the main road, they slipped back into an alleyway.
If their earlier movements had been evasive tactics, this was different.
Now they moved with clear purpose toward their destination.
I swallowed hard.
The moment we entered the alleyway behind them, the world transformed into something utterly removed from the bustling festival preparations beyond.
‘Just moments ago it was filled with laughter and noise….’
We’d scarcely taken a few steps inward before the very air grew thick and stagnant.
The smell of stagnant seawater mingled with aged wood and the faint stench of rotting fish drifting from somewhere unseen.
I clutched at Yuri An’s sleeve.
“…Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“Are we perhaps engaging in something rather suspicious right now?”
“Quite possibly.”
…He acknowledged it far too readily.
I hunched my shoulders and cast nervous glances around.
Brrenon and her attendant were now several paces ahead.
The black robes flitted in and out of view between the darkening alleyway walls.
Moreover.
“…Do nobles often come to places like this?”
“Not the sort who fuss over propriety.”
As people grew scarcer, Yuri An’s true demeanor began to surface.
His tone turned sharper, more cynical; warmth drained from his eyes.
The way he gazed down at the shallow muck pooling on the ground was cold, almost indifferent.
“They’d send a subordinate on such errands. They wouldn’t come themselves.”
“…Does it bother you, Your Highness?”
“If it does, would you turn back?”
“That would be…”
I looked up at him carefully and shook my head.
Of course not.
“I belong to you. I serve your interests above all else.”
That was my duty—to put him first.
…Even if I kept forgetting it.
“I don’t wish to do anything you dislike.”
“I see…”
Yuri An narrowed his eyes briefly, as if weighing my words, then let out a soft laugh and turned his gaze away.
“I’m fine. A Saint must know how to care for the lowliest among them—that is the way.”
“Ah…”
“Why do you make that face?”
Because you’re hardly a true Saint at all….
I hastily composed my expression and gripped the edge of his robe tightly.
Yet what he said seemed to be true. He really was fine with this.
He didn’t so much as frown at the stench that assaulted the nose—clearly, places like this held no strangeness for him.
He moved with ease, as though taking a leisurely walk.
Then it happened.
“Hush. Quiet.”
Yuri An stopped abruptly, and I stumbled forward, bumping solidly into his back.
“Oof.”
“We’ve arrived.”
His voice dropped to a low murmur.
At the same moment, his hand wrapped around my shoulder and drew me closer, pulling me inward.
The sudden proximity made my heart lurch.
“Look there, Vanillin.”
Yuri An’s voice resonated low and near my ear.
His breath tickled my ear, and heat crept up to the tips without meaning to.
“U-um. Yes.”
I forced myself to focus and poked my head out.
Where Yuri An pointed, there stood a small warehouse building.
It nestled so cunningly among the surrounding structures that one could easily miss it in the blink of an eye.
Dilapidated, shabby, and curiously devoid of people—a strange pocket of space.
Brrenon opened the door with practiced ease and slipped inside.
The servant followed her in, and moments later—
Click.
The door locked.
“…….”
“…….”
I watched the scene unfold in silence.
What’s that about?
Why would they go into a place like that?
“Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“This is really suspicious, don’t you think?”
“I quite agree.”
“Right?”
I lowered my voice and whispered for no particular reason.
“Could they be imprisoning someone?”
“Possibly.”
“Or maybe coercion of some kind…!”
“Vanillin, you have quite the imagination.”
“Well, it’s not unreasonable, is it?”
Shackles, bruises on the body, and now being dragged to this remote warehouse of all places.
No matter how I looked at it, something felt wrong.
And deeply suspicious!
I found myself biting my lip hard.
‘If this really is danger, what do I do….’
Could I shield Yuri An from harm?
It was then—
“Vanillin.”
“Yes?”
“Duck down.”
“—Oh!”
Creak.
A small window on the warehouse’s second floor swung open.
If it weren’t for you, I almost would’ve been spotted….
I reflexively held my breath.
Through the gap in the window, the interior was dimly visible.
What was affixed to that wall was….
“…a map?”
“It appears to be a Navigation Chart.”
How intriguing.
Yuri An murmured thus, peering upward.
I too turned my head to follow his gaze.
Spread across one wall in large display was a sea map marked with shipping routes, just as Yuri An had said.
Red pen marked the currents and harbors, and though difficult to make out clearly, documents were stacked in dense piles across the tabletop.
“…What could they be doing?”
“Well, one thing’s certain—it’s not the dangerous situation you were imagining, Vanillin.”
He was right.
The servant, Black Robe cast aside, was explaining something to Brrenon with a grave expression, while she nodded along with equal seriousness.
The atmosphere was entirely different from what I’d envisioned.
Not the dynamic of victim and tormentor, but rather….
‘They look like people scheming something together…?’
There’s something here.
When I looked up at Yuri An, his gaze remained fixed on the window.
His lips, radiant and flawless, curved upward like pale figs.
“This is genuinely fascinating.”
His eyes gleamed with sudden clarity.
The expression of someone who’d just caught hold of something intriguing.
I still hadn’t the faintest idea what was happening, but had he somehow figured it out?
Since he was taller than me, he could probably see more from where he stood.
‘Is something catching your attention?’
I was about to ask him that when—
Click!
The Warehouse door suddenly swung open again.
“Hic!”
I startled and grabbed a fistful of Yuri An’s sleeve.
Wait—when did she come out?
I’d sucked in air wrong, and now I had the hiccups.
It was only Brrenon who emerged from inside.
She glanced around once, then slipped out of the Alleyway with quick, determined steps.
And in the Warehouse, only the servant remained.
“…She’s gone?”
“Appears so.”
A brief silence fell.
I tilted my head up at Yuri An, stealing a glance.
‘Should we take a look inside?’
I blinked at him with poorly concealed excitement, and Yuri An laughed as though caught off guard.
“What’s that supposed to be?”
“Hehe… wouldn’t it be all right?”
“You’ve got the face of someone absolutely desperate to cause trouble.”
“No, that’s not it at all.”
“It most certainly is. Your eyes are positively gleaming.”
Caught red-handed.
“Mm.”
I glanced away and fidgeted with my fingers.
“But isn’t it strange, though? Really strange?”
“It is strange.”
“Right?”
“Especially that Warehouse there.”
Yuri An’s eyes narrowed with keen interest.
What lay within them was profound curiosity.
“It was never originally owned by the Brrenon Family.”
“What?”
My eyes widened.
“How do you know that?”
“Unlike Vanillin, who played about at the Manor, I conducted a thorough Investigation.”
“Ugh…”
He didn’t even take me along, and yet here I am, resentful.
In any case, he’d seen it while doing his Investigation.
Yuri An leaned against the wall and continued unhurriedly.
“It’s currently a defunct Trading Warehouse. By the Documents, it should be empty.”
“So they’re using it in secret?”
“That would appear to be the case.”
“But why?”
“That’s what we’ll find out now.”
He gazed toward the Warehouse, his eyes alight with intent.
“This is getting interesting.”
……
There’s something unsettling about his smile.
It reminds me of that night when he dealt with Dai—that same terrible grin.
I swallowed hard without meaning to.
“Shall we look inside, then?”
“Let us do so.”
My heart raced with nervous anticipation.
Would opening this door bring us face to face with the truth?
She held her breath and reached for the door handle.
A small window cut into the door slid open to the side.
“Who goes there? Give the password.”
A man whose mere appearance radiated menace growled the words.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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