I Was Hired by the Black-Minded Prince for My Life's Ransom - Chapter 58

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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 58. The Chandelier
It was sweltering.
Each breath felt like drawing fire down my throat.
Crash!
A wooden beam from the ceiling plummeted, cutting off my path.
“……!”
I flinched and stumbled backward.
My heart hammered in my chest like it would break free.
“Your Highness!”
Flames roared and consumed the Mansion with greedy fury.
Black smoke kept swallowing my vision.
“Yurian! Your Highness!”
Cough, cough!
I ran, hacking and gasping.
Yurian was supposed to handle the Criminal and then regroup with me.
Capture the ruffian, hand him over to the Imperial Defense Corps that Kyle had summoned in advance—a perfect alibi.
But there had been no explosion in that plan.
This was dangerous.
“Where are you? Please…!”
My voice came out trembling.
One mercy: I was still alive.
Which meant Yurian was still alive too.
Our fates were bound together.
‘So find him.’
I pushed through the smoke and dove deeper into the building.
Past the Corridor, back into the first-floor Hall.
The Chandelier must have been melting—molten gold dripped steadily from the ceiling.
Flames surged and receded in rhythmic waves.
Beyond them, I caught the silhouette of a man.
“…Your Highness!”
Relief flooded through me in a rush of breath.
Hearing my voice, he turned to face me smoothly.
“I told you to wait outside. Yet here you are, defying orders as ever.”
“I’m sorry. I was worried….”
“I suspected as much. Come.”
Though fire consumed everything around him, his composure remained unshaken.
His white coat was streaked with soot, yet his expression didn’t waver for a moment.
He was smiling.
I rushed toward him.
“Are you unharmed?”
“As you can see.”
“But why the explosion…?”
“To burn away his weakness along with the building, I’d wager.”
Kyle’s doing.
To destroy the Basement and everything archived beneath it.
‘How dare he. How dare he betray His Highness.’
My teeth ground together of their own accord.
‘Stay calm. Now more than ever, I must think clearly.’
I bit down hard on my lip.
After a deep breath, I surveyed my surroundings with sharp attention.
“…The Criminal—did you apprehend him?”
“Not yet.”
He shrugged and gestured toward the corner of the Banquet Hall.
“He looked busy.”
I followed his gaze.
There, crawling frantically across the floor, was a man.
Purses of Gold Coins abandoned by fleeing nobles, a Dagger set with Jewels, golden Ornaments and Decorations—
He was stuffing anything of value into his pockets and clothes as fast as he could.
“Hehehehe… hehehehe!”
His fingers trembled, his face blackened with soot, yet his lips curled in an ecstatic smile.
“It’s all mine. I’m rich now… I’m starting a new life!”
An expression smeared with madness and greed.
Pitiful, repellent, vile.
Clang!
Clink-clink-clink.
One of the gold coins he’d been frantically scooping up rolled across the floor.
He dropped to all fours and chased its trajectory.
“No… no. My coin.”
The ruffian was reaching for the gold coin when—
“We keep running into each other.”
Tap.
A boot came down first, pinning the coin to the floor.
The ruffian, his hand arriving a moment too late, looked up.
His clouded eyes darted frantically across the newcomer’s face.
“Your Highness…?”
“What are you doing here?”
“How did you—”
The ruffian’s eyes rolled about nervously.
He seemed to be checking whether Yurian had brought knights with him.
But seeing that he’d come alone, the tension drained from his expression.
“Your Highness… did you come to save me?”
“Save you?”
“You knew I was in this inferno and came to help me!”
I let out a soundless laugh.
‘He’s acting now?’
The arsonist was playing the victim, banking on Yurian’s mercy.
He thought that if Yurian—that beautiful, dignified Saint—saw him trapped here, he’d rescue him again.
But.
“You’re half right and half wrong.”
Yurian smiled gently.
Even engulfed by flame, this man alone gleamed with holiness.
“You’re correct that I came knowing you were in this fire. But my reason for being here is—”
Shing.
He drew his sword.
“—unfortunately, not to spare your life.”
His smile was warm as sunlight.
So reverent, so encompassing, it seemed to embrace all things.
That’s why people deceive themselves.
They believe that smile belongs to a saint, to an angel.
“But to take it.”
No devil was ever this demonic.
I stole a glance at Yurian’s back.
Even caught in this maelstrom of flame, he seemed to shine—and I doubted it was merely my imagination.
The ruffian repeated, his face blank with shock.
“Take… it?”
“You heard me. Don’t make me repeat myself—I’m not fond of it.”
Tap-tap.
He approached the ruffian.
With each step forward, the ruffian shuffled backward.
“Your Highness… wait. You’re joking, aren’t you?”
……
“Hold on, just—”
The ruffian bolted, pure instinct.
Despite the dumb shock frozen on his face, his survival instinct remained.
He glanced between me and Yurian, then screamed and spun around.
“Help me!”
Bang!
Crash.
His foot caught on a splintered table and his body lurched violently.
“Ahhhhh!”
He scrambled to his feet and bolted again.
Yurian watched him go, standing motionless where he was.
He did not give chase, nor did he draw his sword.
He merely smiled and watched the man’s fleeing back.
‘Does he understand, I wonder, how much more terrifying that is?’
He’d never come toward me first either.
‘Come here, Vanillin,’ he would say—that was all.
“…ah.”
“What troubles you?”
“I was remembering something from long ago….”
The blood that had clung so thickly to his blade—even now, the thought sent ice down my spine.
Thank goodness he’s so strong. Otherwise, I’d be the one fleeing like that wretch.
Yurian merely smiled softly, watching the Criminal scramble away.
As though death’s only exit were through this room.
As though one could not escape death without coming to him on all fours.
“Stop running. Come quietly. I do need to leave soon, after all.”
“You… monster! I should have killed you then!”
“How unfortunate. Repent in hell, then.”
“Shut up!”
Bang!
The Criminal, driven to desperation, seized the chair he’d been holding and hurled it with all his strength.
The chair, wreathed in flames, tore through the air toward him, but Yurian merely tilted his head slightly and dodged it with ease.
The chair crashed against the pillar behind him and shattered into splinters.
Sparks scattered in every direction as the flames consumed the wood.
Creak.
A golden liquid metal dripped from the ceiling once more.
I lifted my head without thinking.
The situation was far worse than before.
The iron chain suspending the great Chandelier had turned a vivid red in the heat and was beginning to warp, degree by degree.
Screeeech….
The metal’s cry—barely audible—brushed faintly against my ears.
“…Your Highness, the ceiling.”
“I see it.”
Yurian answered curtly, then turned his gaze back to the Criminal.
The man, meeting that stare, seemed to have lost all sense of reason.
There was nowhere left to run.
The Mansion was engulfed in flames, and its only exit was blocked by Yurian.
The Criminal looked down at the treasures he clutched to his chest.
Jewelry, gold coins, decorations… and a dagger.
“…that’s right.”
His eyes gleamed.
“There’s no such thing as a Saint in this world, is there?”
He let the jewels spill from his arms and seized the dagger with both hands.
A decorative blade, honed razor-sharp.
“I’ll kill you!”
The Criminal shrieked and charged straight at him.
His grip was so fierce the dagger’s point trembled.
“Your Highness…!”
I gasped and moved to block his path—
Screeeech—
The metal groaned again from above.
Both Yurian and I looked up.
The iron chain glowed incandescent red, and the enormous Chandelier swayed with terrible fragility.
“Oh, dear.”
Yurian laughed.
Then he took my hand and pulled me back three paces.
Just far enough to slip past when the Chandelier fell.
I stared, eyes wide.
“Your Highness… surely you’re not…?”
“How much stock do you place in luck, Vanillin?”
He smiled beautifully.
The ruffian lunging forward with murderous fury, the perilous chandelier swaying overhead, my master—as always—utterly composed.
The moment he drew me behind him,
Snap.
The iron chain snapped.

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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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