I Was Hired by the Dark Prince for My Life's Worth - Chapter 18

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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 18. What if we tried it this way…?
The moment I opened my eyes, I felt warmth emanating from the space beside me.
“Mm…”
It was an unfamiliar sensation.
Last night, I’d finally fallen asleep in the same bed as Yulian.
And I’d slept far deeper than I could have imagined…
Even as I lay down, my whole body had been rigid with tension.
I’d been certain I’d stay awake all night, but I was wrong.
“Open my eyes and it’s already morning.”
Had I grown accustomed to it already?
I yawned widely and blinked drowsily at nothing in particular.
When I turned to look beside me, Yulian was stretching slowly at my side.
“Good morning, Vanillin.”
“Yes… good morning.”
His neck stretched languidly, his hair falling softly into disarray, his face impossibly refreshed.
He’d clearly slept well.
“Did you sleep soundly?”
“Refreshingly so.”
He answered briefly and plainly, loosening his body.
“So I have my uses, then.”
His smile looked far too satisfied, and I blinked at him.
Uses.
Come to think of it, my goal had been to become useful to him so that even if he discovered the secret of the Sacred Contract, he wouldn’t discard me.
I leaned slightly closer to him and asked,
“Then you must have come to love me a little, haven’t you?”
“…What did you say?”
“Even if you found a way to kill me now, you wouldn’t do it? Because I’m useful?”
The drowsy eyelids that had been falling away seconds ago flew open, and his eyes gleamed brightly.
I’m useful?
So now you won’t kill me?
How sweet, isn’t it?
Those questions must have shown on my face, because Yulian pushed my shoulder back firmly.
“Vanillin, you need to study the definition of love again.”
“Not denying it means…”
“It means denying it. Very clearly.”
“Th-this?”
“And you could stand to study the speech patterns of the nobility as well.”
Sigh.
He added this with a shake of his head.
“Love is not an emotion about what can or cannot be abandoned.”
“Then… what is it?”
“I’m not sure.”
Yulian tilted his head slightly, then gazed at me and smiled.
“Perhaps it’s an emotion in which one cannot harbor resentment even if abandoned.”
“Even if… abandoned?”
“In short, it’s far deeper than what you’re imagining.”
Mm… I didn’t quite understand what he meant.
I tilted my head in confusion, not following his words.
My brother, the books.
The things I’d loved seemed to have given me nothing but happiness—there was no deeper meaning to them, I think.
“Well, never mind. What’s important is―”
His eyes crinkled slightly as he laughed with amusement.
“Why you’re asking such a thing in the first place.”
“…Yes?”
“Did you find a loophole in the contract?”
“…Gulp.”
Terrifying… terrifying!
I must have been out of my mind.
To think, even for a moment, that I’d received his love.
I swallowed down the hiccup that was forcing its way past my lips and shook my head frantically.
“No, it’s… there’s nothing. I was just making things up.”
“You know I can look inside Vanillin’s head, don’t you?”
“…You have to read my mind?”
There really is nothing.
I don’t know anything like that….
I drooped my head sulkily and tried to clear my thoughts.
‘This is really unfair. Being able to read minds is too much!’
“Heh….”
“……?”
I thought I heard laughter from above my head, but Yulian was only wearing his usual smile.
Had I misheard?
He regarded me for a moment, then surprisingly, he smoothly changed the subject.
“In any case, your fiancée should be arriving today.”
“Oh.”
Thank goodness….
Grateful for the topic’s smooth passage, I quickly nodded.
“Is she coming already?”
“The 2nd Prince has an impatient disposition.”
Yulian rose from the bed and stretched lightly.
The bed rippled softly as his weight lifted away.
I too scrambled up and poured myself a glass of water.
“Do you have someone in mind?”
“Likely the young lady of House of Viscount Reta.”
“Wh… how did you know?”
“She ranks lowest among my brother’s retainers.”
Thank you.
He took the water glass I offered and nodded in acknowledgment with a glance.
I laughed awkwardly in return.
I was a little taken aback.
Being assigned to Yulian because she ranks lowest.
Truly a simple and cruel reason, wasn’t it.
The resolve to utterly suppress her seemed to come through nakedly.
“There’s nothing much to worry about. Becoming betrothed to one of my brother’s retainers means being under observation, true—but—”
He looked at me and smiled brightly.
“From another angle, it’s the same as placing one of his weaknesses directly into your hands.”
“Ah….”
So accepting this absurd betrothal hadn’t been for nothing after all.
I nodded as though entranced.
Come to think of it, that man had always been like this.
He never retreated from any situation.
…Rather, he turned it to his advantage.
His gentle, composed face came into focus.
Was it because he was always so calm?
When I was with Dai, I hadn’t been able to think at all, only to follow orders, but now I felt as though I’d finally caught my breath.
“Those people will be watching for His Highness’s weakness, won’t they?”
“I imagine so. They were planted there precisely for that.”
Then.
“What if… we tried something like this?”
Carefully, but with clear intent.
I laid out the strategy I’d been turning over in my mind all along.
Quietly, softly.
I continued my explanation in a low voice.
After hearing me through to the end, Yulian slowly closed his eyes.
“I’ve thought it before, but Vanillin is quite ruthless, aren’t you?”
“Ah, ruthless…?”
That’s a compliment, right…?
I looked up with an ambiguous expression, unable to decide one way or the other, and he smiled wryly.
“I like it.”
It was a short phrase, but it carried a more certain affirmation than any praise could.
* * *
Lib Reta had recently developed the habit of chewing the inside of her lip frequently.
The eldest daughter of House of Viscount Reta.
Fiancée to the Third Prince, renowned as a Saint.
By name alone, she ought to have shone with perfect elegance—
“…Sigh.”
Yet her breath carried an anxiety wholly unsuited to her station.
Her objective was singular.
Uncover a weakness in the Third Prince, Yulian.
Hand it over to the Second Prince, and in exchange, her father would gain a dukedom.
And she herself would become a duchess.
“…A duchess.”
A sweet smile settled at the corners of her mouth.
The thought alone made her feel as though sugar were dissolving on her tongue.
Winning Yulian’s heart and becoming a princess consort wouldn’t be unpleasant, but she had never cared for men who were too virtuous.
She found far more appeal in the prospect of becoming a duchess and marrying into a respectable house where she might keep several lovers.
She had been given precisely one month.
She had resolved to accomplish everything flawlessly within that time.
“…Why can’t I find anything?”
Lib Reta’s brow furrowed.
The Third Prince was far too perfect.
Gentle, kind, and tender.
A man seemingly sculpted from the very word “Saint” itself.
His flawlessness was enough to shake even her composure.
‘This… makes no sense at all.’
How could a person be like this?
A week—short if you didn’t think about it, long if you did.
Throughout that time, she had found nothing.
That reality was slowly festering into anxiety.
…And yet today.
“……?”
The air in the Prince’s Palace felt subtly different from usual.
Unlike its customary brightness and clarity, it hung heavy and damp, as though weighed down by something unseen.
Lib Reta’s footsteps slowed.
“Again today?”
Her ears pricked up at the hushed voices.
“Yeah… Amy hasn’t been seen for days.”
“The last time she was around was when we saw the Third Prince.”
“Is she… dead?”
“Shh! Keep your voice down. What if someone hears?”
Lib Reta’s gaze fixed on the maids huddled together in clusters.
Their faces were etched with unease and worry.
Reta’s eyes narrowed.
‘…A maid is dead?’
In the Saint’s palace?
The juxtaposition was far too incongruous.
Which is precisely why it intrigued her.
“You there. Is that true?”
Tap-tap.
She approached the maids and tilted her chin upward as she questioned them.
The maids flinched and bowed their heads sharply.
“Oh! L-Lib Reta, honored daughter of Viscount Reta!”
“Who died?”
“Ah, well, that is….”
The maids pressed their lips shut and glanced nervously at one another.
They seemed to be debating whether they should speak.
“Oh, no, it’s nothing. Just a baseless rumor, miss.”
“That’s right. What sort of person is the Third Prince, after all?”
“Such a thing could never happen.”
Quick denials and rehearsed responses.
With that, they murmured something about needing to clean and hurried away.
Lib Reta’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile.
‘Something’s off.’
There was a scent in the air. A sharp, unmistakable one.
For the first time, the thread she’d been grasping for seemed within reach.
She quickened her pace.
Down the corridor, up the stairs—
At last, outside the 3rd Prince’s office.
She raised her hand to knock, but a voice came from within.
“That child—you haven’t dealt with them yet?”
It was a voice entirely different from any she’d heard before—neither soft nor warm—yet she recognized its owner in an instant.
‘The 3rd Prince.’
Unmistakably the 3rd Prince.
Her heart began to pound violently.

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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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