I Was Hired by the Dark Prince for My Life's Worth - Chapter 27

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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 27. The Suspicious Warehouse
We followed the two figures in black robes as they moved through the streets.
Their path was deliberate, almost evasive.
They’d walk along the main road as if at ease, then slip into an alley without warning—the kind of route someone takes when anticipating surveillance.
“Do you think they’ve noticed us?”
“It seems more like habit than anything.”
Tap, tap, tap.
After walking the broad avenue for some time, they ducked into an alley again.
If the earlier movements were meant to confuse pursuers, this was different.
This felt like they were heading toward their actual destination.
I swallowed hard.
The deeper we ventured into the alley behind them, the more the world transformed—the festival preparations and their cheerful chaos gave way to something altogether different.
‘Just moments ago, the streets were filled with laughter and noise….’
Yet within only a few steps, the air had grown stale and heavy.
The smell of stagnant seawater mixed with old wood, and somewhere on the wind came the acrid stench of rotting fish.
I gripped Yuri An’s sleeve tightly.
“…Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“Are we certain we’re not doing something terribly suspicious right now?”
“We absolutely are.”
…He admitted it far too calmly.
I shrank into myself, glancing nervously at my surroundings.
Breno and her attendant were still well ahead of us.
The black robes flickered in and out of the shadowed alley like ghosts.
And yet—
“…Do nobles often visit places like this?”
“People obsessed with propriety wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this.”
As the foot traffic thinned, Yuri An began to shed his courtly facade.
His tone grew sharper, more cynical; his eyes lost their warmth.
The way he looked down at the shallow puddles of filth beneath our feet was almost contemptuous.
“A noble wouldn’t come here personally, no matter the task. They’d send a servant.”
“…Is Your Highness all right?”
“Why? If I said I wasn’t, would you suggest we turn back?”
“That would be—”
I looked up at him carefully and nodded.
Of course it would.
“I belong to Your Highness. It’s my duty to put you first.”
That was the extent of my purpose in all this.
…Though I did seem to forget it rather often.
“I don’t want to do anything that displeases you.”
“Hmm… Is that so.”
Yuri An narrowed his eyes as if trying to read my thoughts, then let out a soft laugh and looked away.
“I’m fine. A saint, after all, must know how to care for the lowliest among them. That’s the true measure of grace.”
“…Ah.”
“Why do you make that face?”
Because you’re hardly a true saint…..
I smoothed away the irreverent expression that had crept onto my face and gripped the hem of his robe.
Yet his words rang true—he really did seem untroubled.
Not even the stench that burned the nostrils could make him grimace; clearly, such places held no strangeness for him.
He walked with the ease of someone out for a casual stroll.
Then it came.
“Shh. Quiet.”
Yuri An stopped abruptly, and I stumbled forward, bumping squarely into his back.
“Ugh.”
“We’ve arrived.”
His voice dropped to a whisper.
At the same moment, his hand curved around my shoulder and pulled me deeper into the shadows.
The sudden closeness made my heart plummet.
“Look there, Vanillin.”
Yuri An’s voice was soft and low, nearly at my ear.
His uneven breathing made the tips of my ears flutter with warmth for no reason.
“Oh. Y-yes.”
I forced myself to focus and craned my neck forward.
In the spot Yuri An pointed to stood a small warehouse building.
It was nestled so cunningly among the surrounding structures that you could miss it entirely if you blinked.
Old, shabby, and somehow devoid of people—a peculiar pocket of space.
Breno opened the door with practiced hands and stepped inside.
The Attendant followed her in, and moments later—
Click.
The door locked.
“…….”
“…….”
I watched the scene unfold in silence.
What on earth…?
Why would they go into a place like that?
“Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t this incredibly suspicious?”
“I quite agree.”
“Right?”
I lowered my voice and spoke in hushed tones.
“What if they’re keeping someone imprisoned down there?”
“Perhaps.”
“Or blackmail, or—”
“You do have quite the imagination, Vanillin.”
“Well, wouldn’t you think so too?”
She’s wearing shackles, covered in wounds, and now they’re dragging her off to this isolated warehouse.
No matter how I looked at it, something was wrong.
And deeply suspicious!
I bit my lip without thinking.
‘What if this is actually dangerous…’
Could I stop whatever was happening before Yuri An got hurt?
I was caught in that worry when—
“Vanillin.”
“Yes?”
“Duck down.”
“Oh!”
Creak.
A small window on the second floor of the warehouse swung open.
If it hadn’t been for His Highness, I would’ve been spotted….
I swallowed reflexively.
Through the gap in the window, I could dimly make out the interior.
What was hanging on that wall was—
“…a map?”
“It appears to be a Nautical Chart, if I’m not mistaken.”
Interesting.
Yuri An murmured that much as he peered upward.
I turned my head to follow his gaze.
Spread across one wall in large format was indeed a sea chart marked with navigational routes, just as Yuri An said.
Currents and ports were marked in red ink, and while it was hard to make out clearly, a thick pile of documents lay scattered across the table below.
“…what could they be doing?”
“Well, one thing seems certain—it’s not the dangerous situation you were imagining, Vanillin.”
He was right.
The Attendant, having cast off his robe, was explaining something intently to Breno, whose face grew more serious by the moment as she nodded along.
The atmosphere was nothing like what I’d pictured.
Not the feeling of victim and tormentor, but rather—
‘like they’re conspiring about something together…?’
There was something there.
When I glanced up at Yuri An, his gaze remained fixed on the window.
His lips, bright and unblemished, curved upward in fig-leaf light.
“This is genuinely intriguing.”
His eyes sharpened with light.
The expression of someone who’d just caught the scent of something fascinating.
I still had no idea what was happening, but had he figured something out?
Being taller than me, he could probably see more from where he stood.
‘Is there something bothering you?’
I was about to ask when it happened.
Clang!
The warehouse door suddenly swung open again.
“Hic!”
I startled so violently I grabbed a fistful of Yuri An’s robe.
Wait—when did she come out?
My breath had caught wrong, and a hiccup escaped me.
Only Breno stepped out into the alley.
She glanced around once, then hurried away and disappeared beyond the alley’s mouth.
Inside the warehouse, only the Attendant remained.
“…She’s gone, then?”
“So it would seem.”
A brief silence fell between us.
I glanced up at Yuri An tentatively.
‘Should we go inside?’
I blinked deliberately to emphasize the suggestion, and Yuri An laughed as though baffled by my audacity.
“What was that supposed to mean?”
“Hehe… would it be all right?”
“You’ve got the face of someone who’s dying to cause trouble.”
“No, no—it’s not like that at all.”
“It absolutely is. Your eyes are practically sparkling with mischief.”
Caught.
“Hmm.”
I averted my gaze and fidgeted with my fingers.
“But isn’t it strange, though? Really?”
“It is strange.”
“Right?”
“Particularly that warehouse.”
Yuri An’s eyes narrowed.
What lay behind them was keen interest.
“It doesn’t belong to House of Breno originally.”
“What?”
My eyes went wide.
“How did you know that?”
“Unlike Vanillin, who’s been playing about at the Mansion, I’ve been conducting my own reconnaissance quite thoroughly.”
“Ugh…”
He didn’t even take me along, and now I feel cheated.
So he meant he’d observed things while conducting his survey.
Yuri An leaned against the wall at his leisure and continued.
“Technically, it’s a closed trading warehouse. According to the Documents, it should be empty.”
“So someone’s using it in secret?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
“But why?”
“That’s what we’ll find out now.”
He gazed at the warehouse, his eyes gleaming.
“This is getting entertaining.”
……
He’s smiling, but there’s something unsettling about it.
It reminds me of that night when he dealt with Dai—the same smile he wore then.
I swallowed hard without meaning to.
“Shall we go inside, then?”
“Let’s do so.”
Thump-thump—my heart hammered with unease.
Would opening this door bring us face to face with the truth?
I held my breath and reached for the door handle.
A small window in the door slid open to the side.
“Who are you? Give the password.”
A man whose very appearance radiated menace growled the words.

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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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