I Was Hired by the Black-Minded Prince for My Life's Ransom - Chapter 59

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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 59. Chaos
Time seemed to slow.
“Ah…?”
A stupid sound escaped the Assailant’s lips.
He, too, had realized it only belatedly.
A massive shadow plummeting from the ceiling.
An Iron Chain glowing red-hot.
Death pouring down onto his head.
But it was already too late.
Yurian seized my wrist and pulled hard.
The world flipped in an instant.
I had no chance to resist.
When I came to my senses, I was already in his arms.
At the same moment.
Boom—!!
A deafening crash erupted, loud enough to burst the eardrums.
The floor shook violently.
Scorching dust and Glass Shards scattered like a tempest in all directions.
“Eek…!”
A cry escaped me before I could stop it.
Then came a low voice from above.
“Easy.”
It was Yurian.
He wrapped himself entirely around me, shielding me from the Chandelier with his back.
A shield… no.
More like a massive wall.
My heart lurched downward.
‘This can’t happen.’
I could bear being injured.
A few cuts and bruises would be manageable.
But.
‘If he gets hurt, that can’t happen….’
Was it because of the Contract?
Or was it my own selfish desire mixed in?
The warmth enveloping my entire body was too vivid.
The arms shielding my back, the breath that tickled my hair.
It was I who should be protecting him, yet here he was protecting me.
…My heart beat strangely.
“Your Highness.”
“I’m fine.”
He patted my back as if to reassure me.
It was a tender touch. Impossibly tender.
Whiiish—
The deafening roar soon faded away.
The dust that had clouded my vision settled, and the Glass Shards stopped falling.
In their place came silence.
“…….”
The Assailant’s furious cries were gone.
Only profound quiet remained.
Yurian carefully extracted me from his embrace.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine… what about you, Your Highness?”
“I’m also fine.”
Really?
Looking up at him with wavering eyes, he confessed the truth with a smile that suggested nothing was amiss.
“Though I was grazed a little.”
“Grazed…?!”
“It’s nothing.”
He removed his outer coat and shook it vigorously as if the matter were entirely trivial.
Glass Shards tumbled down.
The amount of blood was far from normal.
I quickly examined his back.
And my eyes widened.
“You’re bleeding….”
He claimed it was just a scratch. Liar.
His white shirt was stained deep crimson.
Of course it was.
There was no way he could emerge unscathed from glass shards flying at him like daggers.
He hadn’t dodged them.
He’d blocked every single one meant for me.
“A wound like this is necessary if I’m not to be treated as a virtuous Saint, wouldn’t you say?”
“Such nonsense….”
“But look over there instead.”
Crack.
He casually wrapped the wound with his outer robe as if it were nothing.
Then he pointed to the shattered Chandelier.
I bit my lip hard.
The Assailant mattered little to me.
What mattered was how badly Yurian was hurt.
But he didn’t give me a chance to speak.
“Come now.”
His hand gripped my shoulder and forcibly turned me around.
As my gaze shifted, I saw the fractured Chandelier through the haze of smoke.
The ornate gold decoration was crumpled beyond recognition.
Beneath it lay the Assailant, motionless.
Yurian spoke calmly as he gazed at the unmoving man.
“It’s finished.”
I looked up at his face, smiling with such warmth and gentleness.
Emotion surged up inside me.
“You knew, didn’t you? That the Chandelier would fall.”
“Fortune merely favored us. The heavens watched over us.”
His yellow eyes curved faintly in the flickering firelight.
He neither affirmed nor denied it.
He simply brushed the ash from my shoulders with his fingertips, gently.
“Then you should have dodged it yourself instead of shielding me….”
“If I had, he wouldn’t have come this way.”
“You didn’t even need to use the Chandelier. If you didn’t want to handle it yourself, I could have done it…!”
“How could I let your hands be stained with blood?”
“…!”
My words died in my throat.
I looked up at him, my mouth opening and closing uselessly, unable to find anything to say.
Why.
“When we first made our Contract, I told you—if there was anyone you disliked, I would handle them.”
“And did I ask you to?”
“That’s…!”
“Vanillin.”
He smiled as he always did, his face warm and radiant.
Then he slowly passed by me and stood before the Assailant.
“This is merely an accident.”
After checking several times whether the Assailant was dead, he lifted the body onto his shoulder with ease.
“I told you, we were testing fortune. This man was simply unlucky enough to be struck by the Chandelier and perish.”
“….”
“That I was hit by Glass Shards is merely an unfortunate accident as well.”
Step, step.
He approached me and smiled.
“So in times like this, you simply must say thank you.”
“…That’s.”
I pressed my lips together tightly.
“I’m grateful. Truly, I am.”
How could I not be grateful.
But my eyes kept drifting toward his back.
That wound might have been mine instead.
My heart grew heavy.
Why was Your Highness so gentle with me?
Was it only because I belonged to him?
‘Don’t stain your hands with blood.’
Who says such things to a maid?
“We need to leave now, Your Highness. Any longer and we’ll be in real danger.”
Oblivious to my thoughts, he dragged me by the wrist.
My wrist burned where his lukewarm hand gripped it.
We walked toward the exit, leaving the crumbling Manor behind us.
The intensifying flames brought down pillars in places all around.
The moment we stumbled outside, cold night air brushed against my face.
Crash!
Right on cue, the sound of the Manor collapsing behind us echoed through the darkness.
“Theatrical timing, wouldn’t you say?”
Yurian laughed and pulled me along by the wrist.
“Oh!”
Outside was pandemonium.
Nobles who’d barely escaped the flames were scattered everywhere, coughing and gasping.
Their faces were blackened with soot, and silken garments that had surely been tailored in the finest ateliers were now caked with ash and dust.
The absurd thing was that despite looking like that, they all kept their faces hidden and tried desperately to distance themselves from the Manor.
Some frantically called for their servants; others barked orders for carriages to be brought at once.
Their actions differed, but their purpose was identical.
To hide, by any means necessary, the fact that they’d been here tonight.
The moment word spread that they’d attended an Indulgence Party, their family honor would be irreparably tarnished.
And yet.
“The Saint of the Empire, His Highness Yurian Oswald, 3rd Imperial Prince, has arrived!”
If only the world bent to our will so easily.
The Imperial Guard came thundering up on horseback, right on schedule.
The frantic movements of those waiting for carriages froze.
The gazes of every noble snapped toward us in unison.
“Your Highness the Saint….”
“Your Highness, please save us!”
People began surging forward.
I stepped back and watched Yurian quietly.
He walked toward them with the Assailant’s corpse draped across his shoulders.
His pristine robes were smudged with ash and soot, yet he remained beautiful still.
He looked like a Saint who had emerged from those flames, leading the people to safety.
Someone asked, voice trembling.
“That man….”
“He only did as the organizer commanded, I’m told.”
Yurian slowly laid the Assailant down on the ground.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them with an expression of regret.
“I tried my best to save him, but the Chandelier fell and….”
He shook his head slightly.
“His purpose was to kill everyone inside this building.”
Boom!
Another explosion erupted, right on cue.
The Manor collapsed completely with a deafening roar.
The lips of the watching nobles trembled.
With rage.
“The 4th Imperial Prince….”
“He’s just a puppet anyway. But whoever’s behind him….”
“Hush—don’t speak carelessly, or we’ll be dragged into this too.”
Eyes watched one another warily.
Not one of them doubted Yurian.
Instead, they all gazed upon him with reverence.
Anxious eyes turned toward him.
The one who had saved their lives.
And so—
“Your Highness….”
“You’ll pretend you know nothing of the Indulgence Party, won’t you?”
“Please. If Father finds out, I’m finished.”
The only person who could bury tonight’s truth.
‘Remarkable, as always.’
Not a single lie had been spoken.
Only the truth, edited and delivered.
With two words, he had preserved his own honor while casting the 2nd Imperial Prince and 4th Imperial Prince as villains.
‘Our prince truly is something else.’
Pride was just beginning to bloom in my chest when it happened.
“Your Highness, are you hurt?”
A member of the Imperial Guard in black uniform approached and bowed respectfully to Yurian.
“We were greatly concerned when you insisted on going alone.”
The Knight Commander at the front bore a long scar that split one eye.
Red hair, gray eyes, broad frame.
…Familiar.
‘Wait…?’
I found myself staring at her as if enchanted.
My breath caught in my throat.
My heart hammered wildly against my ribs.
A face I could never forget, no matter how hard I tried.
“Vanillin?”
Yurian’s voice reached me as though from a great distance, muffled and unreal.
Without thinking, I hid behind him and gripped his sleeve tight.
It was her.
“The one who killed my brother….”

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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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