I Was Hired by the Black-Minded Prince for My Life's Ransom - Chapter 8

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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 8. Paying the Price of Life
I’d expected him to head for his office, but instead Urilian walked directly into the Fifth Palace.
“This is a restricted area.”
His footsteps moved without hesitation, as if he’d been here many times before.
I followed behind him nervously.
This is… frightening.
They said a terrible curse had fallen on this place, that everyone had died and it was sealed off.
The air was cold and oppressive because of it.
When I’d come in looking for the pen earlier, I’d been too distracted to notice, but now the sight of clothes still hanging casually on their racks terrified me all the more.
I drew closer to Urilian, trembling slightly.
“Would it be all right if I held onto your sleeve…?”
“If your life isn’t precious to you, try it.”
His tone was cynical and cold.
He seemed to have abandoned the pretense of wearing a mask in front of me.
I exhaled with relief and grasped the hem of his robe.
“……?”
Urilian stopped and turned to look at me.
“What are you doing, Vanillin?”
His expression made it clear he thought this was absurd.
But… well.
I answered hesitantly.
“You can’t kill me, can you, Your Highness….”
“…….”
“So that was permission, wasn’t it…?”
He’d clearly said to grab hold if my life weren’t precious to me.
In front of him, my life didn’t feel precious at all.
“…Sigh.”
Urilian exhaled, his expression suggesting he had no idea where to begin explaining this.
“How does something like this end up rolling in….”
Yet he didn’t brush away my hand.
Instead, he opened the door to what appeared to be the most luxurious room.
“Mmm….”
I shrank back.
A chill ran down my spine.
Urilian drew the curtains and turned on the light without any apparent concern.
I cast anxious glances around the room.
“This is….”
“The First Prince’s chambers.”
Snap—
Holy Magic flared, and the room brightened.
That made things feel slightly better.
“The First Prince, you mean….”
“You’re quite curious, Vanillin.”
Urilian brushed off the mahogany desk a few times, then continued.
“The sole survivor of the cursed palace.”
“Ah… there was a survivor?”
“Yes, unfortunately.”
Unfortunately….
I pressed my lips together firmly.
Now that he mentioned it, I remembered what Dai had told me.
That four princes were locked in a fierce succession struggle… he’d definitely said that.
“Of course, he remains gravely ill. They say he’s improving, though I’m not so sure….”
He smiled kindly and pulled back my chair for me.
“It would be nice if he recovered after the Crown Prince is decided.”
In other words: stay out of the succession struggle.
‘His personality really is terrible.’
I shook my head and sat in the chair he’d offered.
Urilian settled across from me, smiling with an almost sacred grace.
I’d secretly kept the Sacred Contract tucked away, thinking he’d want to discuss it, but he shook his head.
“Before that.”
A man leaning deep into his chair, tapping his toes restlessly.
“There’s something I’d like to confirm.”
Eyes devoid of warmth fixed themselves on me with unsettling blankness.
“Why does Vanillin want to make a deal with me?”
The question caught me off guard.
I blinked.
“I… sorry?”
“Why haven’t you run away? Why do you stay?”
The man’s brow furrowed as though he genuinely couldn’t fathom it.
“You don’t seem to have any reason to cling to the Imperial Family.”
He narrowed his eyes, tapping his fingers against the desk in measured rhythm.
“When I couldn’t kill you, you could have simply fled. So why did you come begging for a deal?”
……
“That’s what troubles me.”
A chill crept through the room.
I felt the temperature plummet and swallowed hard against a dry throat.
This was a deeply suspicious person.
I could sense it without a word being spoken.
Unless this doubt of his was resolved, he would never trust me.
“I was working as an assistant to a Back Alley solver, bound by an unfair contract.”
“……?”
“I wanted to investigate my brother’s death.”
Urilian’s eyebrows rose at this sudden shift in topic.
But I pressed on calmly.
All that mattered now was honesty.
“I was raised by my brother, but one day—without warning—these vicious people broke into our home.”
As I spoke, the memories crawled back up, unbidden.
Strangers storming in without a word, swinging blades.
“I ran desperately, but my brother died. He hid me before they got to him.”
“A common enough tale.”
“I suppose it is.”
Common it might be, but no less tragic for that.
Especially not for a child of five.
“And your point?”
Urilian crossed his legs, his tone ice-cold.
His expression said: tell me something worthwhile, or I’ll kill you where you sit.
I lowered my head, speaking quietly.
“There was no peace waiting for me anywhere I fled to.”
……
“I lived in constant terror of being hunted down, never knowing when they might come for me.”
Even as I took beatings from the solver Dai, I hadn’t left that place—because I was afraid.
Afraid that the moment I stepped outside, I’d be caught.
“So I couldn’t run away again.”
Because if I did, I’d simply live in the same terror all over again.
‘There must be methods of murder I’ve forgotten about.’
Or perhaps,
‘By now, he’s probably found a way to kill me.’
Living under such anxiety had become… unbearable.
So I met Urilian’s gaze steadily.
“I don’t want to repeat the same mistake.”
“So instead of hiding, you’re choosing to face things head-on. Is that it?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Those golden eyes looked down at me in silence.
A brief pause stretched between us,
“I like it. You pass.”
Urilian’s mouth curved into a long smile.
“Now tell me—what can Vanillin do for me?”
……!
I… passed?
My mouth fell open.
“Are you serious…? This time it’s really happening, right?”
“I despise people who are uselessly moral.”
Click.
The man drew an elegant-looking pen from his Pen Case.
“I liked that your reasoning was personal. You’re far more petty than I expected, Vanillin.”
“…That’s a compliment, isn’t it?”
It sounded more like an insult.
While I fidgeted nervously.
Urilian began writing out the Contract terms in fluid, elegant script.
“There’s one fundamental condition. Vanillin cannot betray me. Do you understand?”
“My soul is already bound anyway….”
“Which means you must function entirely as my person.”
Entirely Urilian’s person….
Pushing down the strange feeling that rose in my chest, I nodded.
It was something I’d resolved to accept.
“And I’ll be implementing Location Tracking.”
“Location…Tracking?”
Such a thing was possible?
When I blinked blankly, Urilian spoke in a calm tone.
“So if you’re thinking of running away, now would be a good time to leave.”
“You wouldn’t let me go anyway….”
Smiling wordlessly, he wrote: “Oswald Urilian will be able to know Vanillin’s location in real-time.”
Can’t betray. Can’t run away.
‘I’m paying quite the Price of Life for this….’
I’d barely escaped the Contract with Dai, and now here comes another one.
Almost as if this were my destiny.
And yet this time….
It felt different somehow.
I quietly raised my hand.
“Then may I add just one thing as well?”
“Hmm. Have you thought of some other method of assassination we haven’t covered?”
“No…! It’s nothing like that.”
What a bloodthirsty thing for this man to say.
I jerked my head back in alarm.
Then, carefully, fidgeting with my fingers, I spoke.
“Could you…be entirely on my side as well?”
It wasn’t an impulsive thing I’d just blurted out.
It was more like…how to put it.
As if I’d been wanting this for a very long time.
To have someone I could trust completely, like a brother.
But.
“That’s an unreasonable request.”
Urilian cut me off as though the suggestion wasn’t even worth considering.
He spoke without even looking at me.
“A Contract isn’t meant to contain such abstract terms in the first place.”
“…And you, Your Highness?”
“I’m different.”
Tap.
He set down his pen and leaned back in his chair.
His gaze turned slowly toward me.
“I am a prince. You are a commoner.”
“Ah….”
What garbage.
I pressed my lips firmly shut.
Otherwise harsh words would spill out.
‘What was I expecting.’
I let my head drop.
Of course it was a ridiculous request.
Perhaps it had been too much for a mere commoner to ask of a prince.
A request it would be strange for him to accept.
He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then continued.
“But here’s what I propose.”
Tap, tap.
His fingers drummed slowly against the desk.
“What if we did this instead?”
His warm, gentle gaze turned toward me.
“Rather than some uncertain promise―”
A gaze that met mine directly.
“I will find out what happened to Vanillin’s brother.”
I stood there dumbstruck, my mouth falling open.

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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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