I Was Hired by the Dark Prince for My Life's Worth - Chapter 20

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 20. Just now… you were really cool.
“What… what did you say?”
“I had some trouble rescuing it.”
Trouble, my foot—he looked like he’d been waiting for this moment all day.
I stared at the Second Prince, who was grinning with barely concealed delight, unable to contain my admiration.
Did he realize what he was so eagerly digging into was his own weakness?
‘…He’s almost pitiful, isn’t he?’
Why did I have to touch this man? Why did I have to provoke him?
Yurian rose from his seat with composed ease.
“Well then, shall we be going now?”
“…Pardon? Right now?”
“Yes.”
He draped his coat over his shoulders without the slightest concern.
“It is my Duty as a Younger Brother to help ensure my elder brother faces no difficulties.”
“Ah, Duty as a Younger Brother….”
How could he be so brazenly shameless?
I mumbled while avoiding his gaze.
I had no confidence in hiding the corners of my mouth, which trembled ever so slightly.
Yet Yurian had already seen my expression and tilted his head a little.
“Why that look? This is hardly inhumane treatment.”
“…This is?”
“It’s better than killing him, isn’t it?”
…Is that what a human being should say?
Now that I thought about it, His Highness had precious little reverence for life.
I’d always known it, yet seeing that face made me forget and mistake it for something pure.
If that counts as a talent, then it is one.
“Sigh….”
I brushed off my backside and followed after Yurian.
Once I’d draped the Umbrella over him, Yurian strolled through the Garden with unhurried grace.
He blocked the Second Prince’s path with that sickening righteous expression of his.
“Elder brother, please do not.”
“Too late, Yurian.”
“Excavating my quarters’ Garden without permission is not a wise choice.”
Yurian raised his eyebrows slightly.
His face held the look of someone caught harboring a grave secret that must not be exposed.
At that, Kitten grew even more confident.
“Don’t resent your elder brother too much for this, Yurian. If you are a Saint, shouldn’t you lay to rest the resentment of the maidservant who died unjustly?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Hah, your pretense won’t last much longer!”
Some things only get worse the more you try to stop them.
That prince surely knew that….
‘No, he came here deliberately to egg it on, no doubt about it.’
A devil….
I’ve sold my soul to a devil.
I’ll never see heaven.
“Might it not be best to stop here?”
“Nonsense! Dig to the end!”
I hung my head low.
It’s finished.
Everything’s already gone over the edge.
“…! Something has come up!”
A cry bursts forth at just the right moment.
What emerged from the earth was a box sealed with great care.
The Second Prince’s mouth curled upward sharply.
“Open it.”
“Elder brother.”
“Open it at once!”
Click.
The lock came undone.
The lid of the box opened, and everyone held their breath.
And so.
“…What is this.”
“…….”
“What is this!”
What lay inside was not bone, but a ledger.
A thick, weighty ledger of corruption.
The Imperial Investigation Bureau descended on it at once.
“This is… the Second Prince’s, isn’t it.”
“But the flow of funds….”
“Just a moment, this part here….”
Through the sound of rain, their whispered words carried clear and distinct.
I lifted my eyes slightly to look at the Second Prince.
His face had twisted like that of a demon.
“I was only trying to protect you.”
It was then that Yurian opened his mouth, his expression ambiguously amused.
“I obtained it by chance, you see. I meant to bury it and make it disappear… but things have turned out this way.”
“…Shut your mouth.”
Indeed, the man truly did have a terrible temperament.
Yurian’s eyes curved with satisfaction as he rubbed salt into the open wound.
Then he turned and greeted Lib Reta, who had been standing in anxious silence.
“So you’ve come as well, Miss Lib Reta.”
She flinched.
In that instant, Kitten’s shoulders tensed.
His bloodshot eyes fixed on the Count’s daughter.
“How did this happen, Lib Reta?”
“I, Your Highness. That is….”
Her eyes were filled with confusion.
“Something has gone wrong! I was certain that…!”
“What’s gone wrong is your head.”
The Second Prince’s eyes flashed white with fury.
“What is the meaning of this!”
“That is…!”
Her gaze turned toward the maidservants of the Third Prince’s residence.
Her eyes turned sharp in an instant.
“It was you lot, wasn’t it! You said Amy seemed to have died!”
“A, Amy…?”
The maidservants exchanged bewildered looks with one another.
“Amy is a cat we feed from time to time.”
“We were merely worried that a wild beast might have gotten to her….”
“Don’t be absurd!”
Lib Reta’s face drained of all color as she cried out in desperation.
“You said yourself that the Third Prince would never allow such a thing to happen!”
“That was….”
“His Highness treasures Amy so dearly that we were certain he would not let her perish that way.”
“And indeed, he helped her.”
As if to prove those words, a cat was cradled in the maidservants’ arms.
The Count’s daughter shook her head.
“A lie! And who are you trying to deceive now…!”
“Enough.”
But the Second Prince’s voice fell cold and sharp.
“That hardly matters now.”
His gaze returned to the ledger.
“What matters is that you have humiliated me before all these people.”
“I, Your Highness….”
“The Count’s House will pay the price for this.”
He ground out the words between clenched teeth.
Then, without giving the young lady a moment to defend herself, he turned sharply and strode away, his feet kicking up dirt.
The Count’s House could no longer function as the Second Prince’s instrument.
Yurian smiled faintly.
…It was a perfect victory.
* * *
Clink—
The glasses met lightly.
Inside them, a thirty-year white wine.
“Am I really allowed to drink something like this…?”
“Would you prefer I take it back?”
“No! …I’m grateful.”
Before he could reclaim it, I brought the glass to my lips.
The sweetness bloomed across my tongue—intoxicating, dreamlike.
“Wow….”
My eyes widened.
A bright fruit aroma unfolded with an almost unbelievable sweetness.
And the cheese paired alongside it—what need was there to speak?
It was a symphony of flavors I’d never known before.
“I’m happy….”
“Take your time. You deserve this, Vanillin.”
Yurian slid the platter toward me, his eyes crinkling as he smiled.
He looked genuinely pleased.
“His Majesty was amused, I noticed.”
“Was he?”
“Vanillin should have seen the contorted face he made.”
Yurian’s eyes narrowed as he recalled the moment.
His mouth curved upward with satisfaction.
A personality ruined, truly.
I took another sip of wine.
Mmm, delicious indeed….
“We’ve agreed to settle this matter by granting you one of my lands.”
“Ah… which one?”
“Valenta Island.”
I’d never even heard of it.
Was that supposed to be good…?
As I just blinked at him, he laughed.
“It was quite a favorable trade.”
“…Was it?”
“A land too fine to remain in a fool’s hands.”
I see.
I took another sip of wine.
That single remark told me everything.
From the start, this land was the true prize he’d been orchestrating for.
He’d donned the mask of a Saint, made a show of stepping back, and secured exactly what he wanted.
It was predictable, really.
“Hehe….”
I felt good.
Working with Dai, I’d never felt this way before… why was this different?
A buoyant, proud, happy feeling that made my heart lift.
“Vanillin.”
“Yes…?”
“Are you all right?”
Eh?
“I feel all right, but also not all right….”
A giddy laugh kept bubbling up.
I took another sip of wine.
The crisp sweetness filled my mouth completely.
“Your Highness, this stays between us.”
I gripped the glass tighter without thinking.
My fingertips felt warm.
Hehe—a laugh slipped out.
“Just now… you were really magnificent.”
“You’re drunk.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I laughed, repeating back the very words he’d spoken to me moments before.
“Protect you? What protection, when you’re the one who buried them?”
“…Vanillin.”
“How can you be so terrible? You’re really something.”
“Do you actually want to die?”
“No, I meant it as a compliment…”
I forced my heavy eyelids open, struggling to focus on him.
My body swayed pleasantly, adrift.
“If I could be like that, I’d have dealt with Dai long ago.”
“Who is Dai?”
“Someone. A dead person.”
But such finesse and skill—they were never my strength.
So there was no help for it; Yurian, possessing all of it, could only appear magnificent.
“Your Highness is truly remarkable… magnificent.”
“Say that one more time, and I really will be angry.”
“Hmph.”
I meant it sincerely, truly.
My swaying body tilted sideways, flowing gently.
Sleep crashed over me; every limb grew heavy and languid.
Ah, I couldn’t hold on much longer.
“Vanillin.”
Thud.
Just as I was about to fall, an arm caught me.
I felt a broad hand circle my waist, steady and warm.
“Your Highness.”
So warm…
Without thinking, I buried my face against his chest.
Then I asked him.
“Tonight too… we’re sleeping together?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————