I Was Hired by the Black-Minded Prince for My Life's Ransom - Chapter 41

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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 41. A Delicious Aroma
A questioning gaze turned toward me.
“The Imperial Library, you mean.”
“Yes, well….”
I swallowed nervously.
My fingers clenched my skirt, and it rustled softly.
“Do you think it won’t be possible?”
“There’s no reason it shouldn’t be.”
Yurian tilted his head slightly.
An indifferent yet penetrating gaze fixed on me.
“It seems the records on the Unauthorized Incident didn’t contain anything helpful.”
Ah.
I reflexively pressed my lips together and looked away.
He was right.
During these past few days of rest, Yurian had given me the records of the Unauthorized Incident to examine.
I’d studied them meticulously until my eyes were as wide as a rabbit’s, but the search turned up nothing.
There wasn’t even a single incident that resembled what I’d experienced.
In the end, everything circled back to the Langslot Duchy.
That fact troubled me deeply, but….
I forced myself to smile as though nothing were wrong.
“I’ve just become curious about something.”
“Curious… about Vanillin’s brother?”
“Would you mind not pressing me too hard about this?”
A soft exhale.
I swallowed my tears and pleaded as though crawling toward him.
Truthfully, his piercing gaze terrified me.
It was as if he could see right through me….
‘…Right. He’s already seeing through everything, isn’t he.’
In any case, this was difficult—questions like that.
I couldn’t speak of it yet, but I wasn’t confident I could lie either.
“Hmm.”
Yurian’s eyes narrowed.
He looked on the verge of pressing further.
But then.
“Well, it’s not my concern.”
Scratch, scratch.
He unexpectedly wrote out the Library Access Permit without hesitation.
Asking nothing at all.
“Use my name when you go.”
I blinked blankly.
Just like that?
I’d thought he’d press me further.
“…You’re really just giving it to me like this?”
“Didn’t you ask me not to pry, Vanillin?”
“That’s true, but…”
Yet somehow this made me even more uneasy….
I glanced sideways at Yurian’s usual soft and gentle expression.
Surely not.
‘Could he have figured it out…?’
I couldn’t tell whether he was refraining from asking because he already knew, or whether he simply didn’t care.
I found myself clutching the permit tightly.
For now.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
A bow.
After offering a respectful greeting, I quietly began to back away when Yurian laughed.
Then he called to me in a lazy, drawn-out voice.
“Vanillin.”
A start.
I turned carefully to look back.
Still lounging in his chair, the man watched me.
He smiled brightly and closed his eyes.
“The Imperial History Book is in the innermost section of the Archive.”
“…Pardon?”
“Simply put, it is.”
…….
A chill ran down my spine.
How did he know I was planning to search for the Imperial History Book first…?
“I-I’ll remember that, Your Highness.”
I nodded, hiding my trembling lips behind a forced smile.
Then I practically fled the office.
The Access Permit in my pocket suddenly felt impossibly heavy.
‘…He couldn’t have found out, could he?’
No.
Whether he knows or not, I haven’t confirmed anything yet.
I unconsciously touched the back of my neck.
Goosebumps prickled across my skin for no reason.
‘But what if I really am a descendant of the Langslot House….’
And if His Highness were to learn of it.
…….
Yurian has certainly grown kinder lately.
He smiled more often than before, and despite feigning annoyance at me, he looked after me in subtle ways.
It almost seemed as though he’d begun treating me as one of his own.
…But.
‘Still, he’s a prince.’
The sort of man who could smile while abandoning a single person if it suited his needs.
I shook my head and quickened my pace.
So until I’m certain, I won’t tell a soul.
I’ll verify it myself.
And after that… well, I’ll figure something out.
“Sigh….”
I don’t even know anymore.
I swallowed back tears and pushed open the doors to the Imperial Library.
* * *
The library was beautiful.
Snow-white shelves stretched impossibly high, reaching toward the ceiling, and extended endlessly in every direction,
while soft, muted sunlight filtered through the translucent stained glass above, casting colors of every hue across the floor.
I drew in a deep breath.
‘The smell of paper….’
For some reason, my heart stirred.
I remembered the worn, dog-eared fairy tales I’d painstakingly gathered from trash heaps as a child.
Could books like that exist in a place like this?
With this many books, surely they must.
“Ah, a Library Access Permit from the Third Prince, I see.”
When I handed the Permit to the Librarian, her eyes widened.
Then she nodded with great courtesy.
“If you require any materials, I’d be happy to locate them for you.”
“Oh, that’s all right. I’ll look myself.”
So this is what the prince’s name is worth.
Even though we were both servants, her respectful demeanor felt strange.
“The innermost section of the Archive, you said.”
I made my way deeper.
Specks of dust drifted and glimmered between the shelves, greeting me as I passed.
It wasn’t a matter of grime or poor cleaning—rather, paper dust seemed to float up from the old volumes themselves.
“Ah, here it is.”
Just as Yurian had said, the innermost shelf held a thick Imperial History Book.
…But how on earth did he know.
‘He must have just guessed, right?’
It had to be….
I collapsed onto the floor and carefully opened the book.
Rustle.
The sharp, stiff scent of paper—as if coating it with glue—struck me suddenly.
The first page was filled entirely with records of the Demon War.
‘Strange. Lately I seem to keep seeing the word “demon” everywhere.’
In the old days, it was an existence I’d never even considered.
I blinked and continued reading the text.
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Centuries ago.
The invasion of demons had laid the world to waste.
They possessed powerful bodies and regenerative strength, and magic so potent that no human mage alone could withstand them; even those bearing Holy Power found no means to hold back the tide.
【Bow before us! Humanity shall be placed beneath the feet of us demons!】
In humanity’s moment of despair.
Celestial Beings, answering mankind’s prayers, descended to the earth.
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“…Celestial Being.”
Langslot came naturally to mind.
Had the founding patriarch descended to the mortal realm at this very time?
I read the next passage as if entranced.
—————————-
The blood of Celestial Beings possessed a power to entice demons, and they became baits themselves, drawing the creatures forth.
【Demon legion! Do not drink the blood of a Celestial Being! It is poison…! Gack!】
Yet the demons could not resist that sweet temptation.
Humans and Celestial Beings fought side by side, and at last succeeded in driving back the demons.
Afterward, humans who wielded Sacred Magic became the foundation of the Ozwald Empire.
And on the day that long war ended.
With grand celebration, the Celestial Beings presented pottery as a token of congratulations.
And as a sign symbolizing reconciliation between heaven and earth, they resolved to leave behind but a single Celestial Being on the mortal realm—
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“That one was Langslot. The Imperial House bestowed upon him a name and a dukedom, promising to be his ally throughout his life….”
I fell silent.
If I truly were a descendant of Langslot, could my blood also lure demons?
‘…This is rather frightening.’
It felt strange to have become something inhuman, something alien.
I trembled and turned the page again.
Interesting as it was to read to the end, it wasn’t what I sought.
‘I wanted to see records of the Langslot House Extinction.’
If this were an Imperial History Book, surely that account would be recorded as well….
While I was turning through the back pages with that thought,
A chill swept through.
Suddenly, a cool presence brushed across my back.
An indescribable, alien sensation.
The nape of my neck grew cold as if doused in icy water.
‘……?’
The Archive was empty—not a single shadow of a person.
Surely no one was there… yet this strange feeling of being watched—what was it?
‘C-Could it be a ghost…?’
“A delicious scent.”
As the thought seized me, a cold breath brushed against the nape of my neck.
And there came a scratching, grating voice past my ear.
“…Eeek!”
Crash!
I trembled violently and jolted forward as if tumbling.
‘W-What, what, what? What just—?’
My heart pounded like madness.
The hair on my arms stood on end.
I turned my head stiffly, joints creaking.
What stood there was not a gaunt, ghostly figure, but rather,
“You have a delicious scent about you.”
“W-Who… who are you?”
A man of noble appearance.

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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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