I Was Hired by the Dark Prince for My Life's Worth - Chapter 16

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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 16. I just want to let go for one second…!
I couldn’t breathe properly, only blinking my eyes.
My heartbeat was far too loud.
Thump, thump, thump….
It felt like I was beating a drum instead of a heart.
But what could I do.
This was the first time I’d held a man like this since my brother…!
“Ugh….”
I sat frozen, unable to move either forward or back.
Utterly rigid, as if turned to ice.
The moment I tried to shift even slightly, his arms pulled me closer, and my mind began to blur.
A solid frame.
His warmth, subtle but unmistakable.
Even the faint scent clinging to him—sunlight and skin.
Very, very, extremely…!
Difficult….
“Huff….”
This was really too much, truly….
I should run away, I should run away.
My mind screamed it, but my body wouldn’t obey.
And even when I tried to twist slightly and create some space, I couldn’t budge an inch.
What was this, a stone wall…?
“Your Highness….”
I opened my mouth with a whimper.
My voice trembled, thin and fragile as it escaped.
“Your Highness, please wake up. All right?”
At this rate, something—my heart or my mind—was going to break.
I pressed my two hands together against his chest and called to him with desperate longing.
“Your Highness.”
…….
“Your Highness….”
…….
“Yurian, you bastard…!”
You’re so heavy!
I can’t breathe!
Please, just wake up…!
Perhaps my desperate cry got through.
“Mm….”
“…!”
A low sound rumbled from Yurian’s lips.
I snapped my mouth shut immediately.
‘Did he hear that…?’
No, he couldn’t have….
The timing was just… awfully convenient.
‘I shouldn’t have said the last part.’
Yurian’s eyes opened slowly, very gradually.
Between his curled lashes, gem-like irises came into view.
And then….
“…Vanillin?”
Blink.
Our eyes locked directly.
I instinctively stretched my lips into a smile.
The most innocent and harmless smile I could manage.
“Good morning, Your Highness….”
Then I pleaded with glistening eyes.
“Could you let me go, please?”
“Oh.”
Yurian’s eyes widened slightly.
Only then did he seem to realize that his arms were wrapped firmly around my waist.
“My apologies.”
The arm that had clung to me as if it would never let go fell away without hesitation.
“Phew….”
Only then could I breathe properly.
I slipped weakly from the bed and straightened my clothes.
Smoothing out the wrinkles, tidying the disheveled parts.
‘What a mess.’
Even so, I felt his gaze upon me.
Steady. Unwavering.
Those pale yellow eyes regarded me with quiet intensity.
“Did I hold you too tightly?”
“…What?”
“Is that why you couldn’t leave and ended up sleeping here?”
Casual speech again.
Not that that was the point.
I pressed my lips together and gave a small nod.
“Yes… that’s right.”
It wasn’t a lie.
My wrist had been held fast, leaving me unable to do anything but drift off to sleep as I was.
Yurian exhaled softly.
Then he rose from the bed.
“I see. My apologies.”
A neat, understated apology.
“I thought myself free of any troublesome sleep habits — though it appears I was mistaken.”
Perhaps it was the scent.
At his murmured aside, I blinked.
…Wait? Scent?
I tilted my head and cautiously lifted my sleeve to catch a whiff, but detected nothing.
“What are you doing?”
“I was wondering what scent you meant.”
“…You have keen ears indeed.”
Ah. That hadn’t been meant for me to overhear.
I felt a flush of embarrassment.
I scratched my cheek and poured him a glass of water.
“Would you like some?”
“Yes.”
Yurian accepted the glass naturally.
He took a sip of water and spoke without preamble.
“Vanillin carries a comforting scent.”
Oh.
I blinked.
“A comforting scent…?”
“With something sweet to it as well.”
Sweet?
“If I were pressed to name it, I’d say it smells of vanilla.”
…Does it?
I lifted my arm again to check, but couldn’t quite place it.
As for scent, his was the one that lingered pleasantly with me.
I tried not to dwell on it, but the memory surfaced of its own accord.
The closeness of our proximity.
The warmth of his body.
A fragrance somehow reassuring.
‘Stop. Stop it.’
Don’t think about it anymore.
It’ll make everything strange….
“In any case, I slept well thanks to you.”
At his words, I lifted my head.
“You slept soundly?”
“Yes. More deeply than I expected.”
His eyes softened into a gentle curve.
Now I think I might understand something of what lay behind that smile.
A smile brimming with contentment, deeply satisfied.
He’d clearly slept very well.
“That’s a relief.”
I nodded broadly, grinning.
His condition looked so much better that the haggard way he’d been standing these past few days had already begun to fade from memory.
“What will you be doing today?”
“Ah, that reminds me.”
His eyes crinkled.
His smile grew even brighter.
“I’m planning to visit my second brother.”
“…Oh.”
Second brother meant the Second Imperial Prince.
The very same man who persistently sent women around trying to tarnish Yurian’s reputation.
Ding—
A bell chimed from the ceiling.
Yurian had pulled the cord.
Servants rushed in as though they’d been waiting for just this moment.
They tidied the bedding, cleared the room, prepared Yurian’s grooming.
The chamber fell into bustling activity in moments.
“You’ll be coming as well, Vanillin.”
“Oh, me too?”
“Return to your quarters and wait until I call for you.”
Brief, crisp instructions.
I found myself nodding without thinking.
“…Yes.”
And then—click.
The door shut with a sound.
“Should I… prepare something…?”
But what was I supposed to gather?
I moved with a somewhat uncertain feeling.
* * *
‘So meeting the Second Prince meant it was a State Council Meeting day….’
I found myself growing nervous, fidgeting with my clothes between my fingers.
I’d thought we were simply visiting the Second Prince’s residence, but a State Council Meeting?
“Is it all right for me to go to such a place?”
“Why would it matter? You’re my person, Vanillin.”
Yurian said it as though it were the simplest thing in the world.
My person.
No matter how many times I hear those words, I can’t seem to get used to them….
My heart felt oddly ticklish at the sound, and I simply nodded.
“Everyone brings their personal attendants, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“I… see….”
Truth be told, I didn’t quite understand my own position.
A dedicated servant? Or a personal attendant?
The Imperial Court Law was so complicated that I could only nod at whatever Yurian told me to do.
“This way.”
He was resplendent and impeccably groomed as always.
Dressed in white ceremonial robes and a coat befitting the title of Saint, his beauty was dazzling.
I found myself adjusting my own clothes once more.
They were pressed smooth, yet somehow I felt like I looked rumpled….
I’d pressed them so carefully earlier, too.
“The Empire’s Saint, His Highness the Third Imperial Prince, Yurian Ozbalt, arrives!”
An attendant announced our entrance as the heavy, ornate doors swung open.
A marble table stretched across the vast chamber beyond, surrounded by seated figures.
‘Wow.’
My eyes sparkled of their own accord.
The beauty of the Imperial Palace never grew familiar, no matter how many times I saw it.
Intricate columns, decorations that gleamed with obvious value, light streaming through expansive windows.
Every last thing was beautiful….
[Stop gawking and pay attention.]
Right.
I straightened my posture as his voice carved its familiar path into my ear.
Apparently I’d been standing there with my mouth hanging open.
Yurian’s smile deepened.
A laugh steeped in unmistakable displeasure.
Though it wasn’t directed at me.
“Have you arrived, Second Brother?”
“Ah, Yurian.”
A mouth twisted to one side.
Murky blonde hair and eyes the deep blue of a darkened sea.
A man dressed in a black uniform so stark it contrasted sharply with Yurian dropped into the second seat with a heavy thud.
“I’ve heard the rumors—too busy burning through hot nights to spare us much time, are you?”
A thin, rattling laugh.
The sound echoed through the hall like metal scraping against metal.
In every way, he was Yurian’s opposite.
Yurian smiled softly.
“How could that be true, when I overslept just this morning?”
“Oh, is that so?”
“I was praying for your well-being, and the time simply slipped away.”
In Yurian’s parlance, that meant he’d cursed all night for the man’s death.
The words came out gentle, but there was a blade hidden beneath his tongue.
And yet.
This fool is Kitten, the Second Prince.
I lifted my head quietly.
And looked at him directly.
The man who’d tormented Yurian for ten straight days—and who’d ruined my sleep last night.
My small fists clenched tight.
I really… in other words.
‘I just want to land one good hit on him…!’

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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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