I Was Hired by the Black-Minded Prince for My Life's Ransom - Chapter 53

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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 53. We’re Done For
Subduing him was simple.
The moment the door clicked shut, before Kyle could even turn around, I threw myself at his back.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Your Highness…!”
Crash!
A chair toppled sideways in the commotion.
Kyle reflexively drove his elbow backward, but Yurian deflected it with ease.
“Don’t move.”
Kyle’s arms were wrenched behind his back.
“…!”
Thud!
The floor rang out loudly.
I gritted my teeth.
‘I can’t let go.’
He was an adult man.
Right now he was only caught off guard—he was absolutely not weaker than me.
“Help me, Your Highness…!”
“Stop playing weak.”
Yurian chuckled softly as he bound the Fourth Prince’s arms with rope.
I was frantic with anxiety, but he showed no rush whatsoever.
He simply moved forward methodically, as if treading through each step of a predetermined sequence.
“Brother… *cough*. Have you lost your mind?”
“I hardly see how. I never expected matters to unfold like this myself.”
Yurian smiled as though genuinely troubled.
He lied without even wetting his lips—such a natural deceiver.
When he’d orchestrated every detail of the plan from start to finish.
[Open your eyes prettily, Vanillin.]
‘Mm.’
Apparently my eyes had narrowed without my noticing.
I coughed lightly and blinked several times.
In that interval, Yurian had wound the Fourth Prince Kyle tightly to the chair.
“Ah, so you truly didn’t foresee this?”
“What can I do when my servant is so capable?”
Yurian tied the final knot with a bright smile.
“You must have been frightened, yet you managed to cut through the rope and even position yourself for a counterattack. Truly admirable.”
“Brother.”
“I’m not strong enough to defeat Kyle, so I think it’s best we continue like this.”
“Do as you wish.”
Kyle’s body went limp with indifference.
Yet his eyes remained perfectly sharp and alert.
That keenly honed gaze was fixed on Yurian.
The air in the room grew taut again.
I swallowed hard.
‘From this close, the killing intent is…’
I hadn’t noticed before in the chaos, but Kyle’s presence from just a few paces away was suffocatingly sharp.
Had that languid, lulling atmosphere—so enervating it made onlookers drowsy—been nothing but a performance all along?
A chill traced down my spine.
I found myself instinctively stepping backward.
That’s when Yurian lightly caught my wrist and pulled me close with familiar ease.
[Why do you always tremble like that?]
My shoulder pressed against his firm arm.
The killing intent that had been pressing down on me moments before seemed to recede as though it had never been there.
‘…Your Highness.’
[You’re strong, yet you cower like a coward.]
At his playful tone, a sigh of relief escaped me unbidden.
The tension in my fingertips dissolved naturally.
As I stood there, Yurian’s eyes crinkled at the corners.
[Your heart is racing.]
‘…!’
[You were quite frightened, weren’t you?]
A low voice tickled against my ear.
It resonated as though wrapping around my entire mind.
Close as a whisper pressed right against my ear.
‘Uh…’
My mouth opened and closed soundlessly.
I’d meant to answer, but the words wouldn’t come.
My heart had been racing in alarm just moments before, but now the reason felt somehow different.
‘Oh, it’s all right now.’
My ears burned without reason.
He was being unusually tender, which made it all the stranger.
If I kept thinking about it, I’d only end up looking foolish.
I took a quiet step back.
Once I’d put distance between us, breathing became easier than before.
Yet Yurian’s gaze never left me.
If anything, his eyes narrowed as though he didn’t quite like it.
“…Hmm.”
Afraid our eyes would meet again, I deliberately looked down.
Yes, the princesses in fairy tales never let themselves be won over by such small kindnesses.
But I wasn’t a princess.
I had to be careful not to let myself be won over.
‘Don’t read too much into this.’
He couldn’t have meant anything by it.
When I raised my head with that conclusion, he was still watching me.
When our eyes met, his face broke into a smile—wordless, warm.
My heart gave a small leap again.
“…….”
Dangerous. Whatever this feeling is.
I managed to turn my head away.
As naturally as if I’d always meant to, toward the Fourth Prince.
He looked up at me from where he was sprawled back in his chair.
When our eyes met, his head tilted.
“Finished playing?”
“…….”
“Well, I’m curious about something too.”
He blinked slowly.
Yellow eyes, similar to Yurian’s but far darker, turned toward me with lazy deliberation.
“How’d you get the rope off? I tied it pretty tight.”
“…….”
“Was it because you were so sure the Third Prince wouldn’t come? Must’ve really wanted to live…. Right?”
I kept my mouth shut.
Was he genuinely curious?
It sounded like mockery, yet his slow, drooping cadence made it sound nothing like mockery at all.
Looking down quietly, I was transported back to when he’d brought me here.
The desperation with which I’d burned through the rope.
‘That much is true—I did want to live.’
Back then, I never thought he would actually come.
I thought that if I didn’t escape on my own, I would die.
— If the Third Prince doesn’t come, I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you.
— So pray hard. Pray that the Third Prince comes.
That’s what he’d said.
I looked at him quietly.
Then I opened my mouth.
“Because of you, Fourth Prince, I’ve learned that I’m worth more than I thought.”
“Worth…?”
“You said it yourself just now. Truly valuable things can only be obtained by bearing great cost.”
And Yurian came to rescue me.
Bearing the tremendous cost of allowing his saint-like image to crack.
If not for the Fourth Prince, I never would have understood how precious and invaluable Yurian’s heart truly is.
“Thank you for saying that.”
I smiled, baring my front teeth.
The Fourth Prince tilted his head.
“Peculiar, as I thought before.”
“Me?”
“Doesn’t seem like we’d understand each other.”
He turned his gaze toward Yurian as he added this.
Why? What did he mean, we wouldn’t understand each other?
But the atmosphere had grown heavy, leaving no room to ask.
Kyle’s eyes alone moved, looking up at Yurian.
“Shall we get down to business?”
Even bound as he was, he seemed no different than moments before.
Drowsy and weary-looking, yet deep in his gaze lay a chill that had not faded, still and quiet.
Click.
Yurian lit a herbal cigarette and placed it between Kyle’s lips.
“Thought you might get dizzy.”
“Ah… thank you.”
Kyle accepted it without protest.
Inhale, exhale.
Only after drawing the smoke deep did the conversation resume, slow and measured.
“I don’t care for long explanations… exhale. How much do you know?”
“Hmm… I’m not certain.”
Yurian withdrew the cigarette from Kyle’s lips.
He tapped the ash away with his long fingers, then placed it back between Kyle’s teeth.
Something oppressive emanated from that deliberate motion.
“That he disregarded the Second Prince’s order to eliminate you and hid you in the underground prison, I suppose.”
“Ah…”
“I hear that underground prison connects to this room.”
Kyle’s gaze wavered for a moment.
He said nothing, but Yurian caught that subtle shift.
He opened his eyes warmly.
“There’s a lever beneath the bookshelf, they say.”
…….
“Whether that’s true or not, I couldn’t say.”
Though he spoke as if hedging his bets, everyone in the room understood.
That Yurian had already seen through everything.
Kyle’s eyes rolled slowly toward Yurian.
“Did you meet him?”
“You mean the mysterious figure from then?”
…….
“What do you think? Do you believe we met, or was it merely hearsay?”
Yurian opened his eyes wide.
Kyle’s gaze swept across Yurian’s face, tracing every contour.
Eyes warm and gently creased, mouth corners lifted slightly, a composed smile.
“Ah…”
Having reached his conclusion, he tilted his head back.
Tap.
Charred cigarette ash fell across his face.
“Hot.”
He said so without even flinching his head.
As if everything were a bother.
He simply remained there, looking up at Yurian.
Even teeth ground down on the cigarette.
The skin where the ash had fallen flushed red.
Exhale.
He blew out the smoke and spoke drowsily.
“It’s finished.”

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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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