I Was Hired by the Dark Prince for My Life's Worth - Chapter 41

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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 41. A Delicious Scent
Questioning eyes turned toward me.
“The Imperial Library, you say.”
“Yes, well…”
I swallowed nervously.
As I clenched my skirts, they rustled softly.
“Is it… not possible?”
“There’s no reason it shouldn’t be.”
Yurian tilted his head slightly.
His gaze remained fixed on me—casual yet relentless.
“It seems the Unauthorized Incident Records didn’t contain anything useful.”
…Damn.
I reflexively closed my mouth and looked away.
That was true.
During these past few days of rest, Yurian had given me the Unauthorized Incident Records.
I’d examined them meticulously, until my eyes burned, but found nothing.
There wasn’t a single incident that resembled what I’d experienced.
In the end, every thread led back to the Langslot Ducal Clan.
That fact deeply unsettled me, but…
I forced a carefree smile.
“It’s just that I became curious about something.”
“Curious, you say. About your brother?”
“Could you please… not press me on this?”
Swallow.
I asked, swallowing back tears, my voice barely audible.
To be honest, those piercing eyes terrified me.
As if he could see straight through me…
‘…Right. He already does, doesn’t he.’
In any case, this was difficult. Questions like that.
I wasn’t ready to tell him yet—and I knew I couldn’t lie to him.
“Hmm.”
Yurian’s eyes narrowed.
He looked ready to press further.
But then.
“Well, it’s not my concern.”
Scratch, scratch.
To my surprise, he simply wrote out the library access permit without resistance.
Asking nothing further.
“Use my name to enter.”
I blinked blankly.
This easily?
I’d expected more questions.
“…You’re really just giving it to me like this?”
“Didn’t you ask me not to pry, Vanillin?”
“Well… I suppose you did make that point.”
But somehow it felt worse this way…
I glanced sideways at Yurian’s face—soft and gentle as always.
No… surely not.
‘He hasn’t figured it out, has he…?’
I couldn’t tell if he was staying silent because he already knew, or if he simply didn’t care.
I just clutched the permit tightly.
For now.
“Thank you.”
With a respectful bow, I began to back away slowly, when Yurian laughed.
Then he called out to me in a languid voice.
“Vanillin.”
I flinched.
I turned carefully to look back.
The man was still watching me from his chair.
Leaning back, motionless.
He smiled brightly, his eyes crinkling shut.
“The Imperial History Book is in the deepest part of the Archive.”
“…Pardon?”
“Simply put, that’s where it is.”
…….
A chill ran down my spine.
How could he have known I was planning to search for the Imperial History Book first…?
“I-I’ll keep that in mind.”
I nodded, hiding the tremor at the corners of my mouth.
Then I practically fled the office.
The library pass in my pocket suddenly felt unbearably heavy.
‘…I haven’t been found out, have I?’
No.
Found out or not, I still have no certainties.
My hand drifted unconsciously to the back of my neck.
An inexplicable prickling sensation.
‘But if I really am a descendant of the Langslot Clan…’
And if he—Yurian—were to discover that.
…….
Yurian had certainly grown kinder lately.
He smiled more often than before, and though he feigned annoyance, he quietly looked after me.
Now it almost seemed as though he truly regarded me as one of his people.
And yet.
‘But he’s still the Prince, after all…’
He was the sort of man who could discard a person with a smile if necessity demanded it.
I shook my head and quickened my pace.
So then—I wouldn’t tell him anything until I was certain.
I’d verify it myself.
And after that… well, I’d figure something out.
“Sigh…”
I didn’t even know anymore.
I swallowed my tears and pushed open the doors to the Imperial Library.
* * *
The library was beautiful.
Pure white bookshelves stretched upward as if to touch the ceiling, extending endlessly in every direction,
and soft sunlight filtering through the translucent stained glass of the ceiling cast patterns of shifting colors across the floor.
I drew a deep breath.
‘The smell of paper…’
Something stirred in my chest.
Childhood memories surfaced—worn, falling-apart fairy tale books I’d barely scraped together from garbage bins.
Would books like those exist here too?
With this many books, surely they would.
“Ah, a permission slip from the Third Prince.”
When I handed the library pass to the Librarian, her eyes widened.
Then she bowed respectfully.
“If you’re looking for anything specific, I’d be happy to help you find it.”
“Oh, that’s all right. I’ll look myself.”
Was this what bearing his name was worth?
Even though we were both servants, her demeanor had shifted dramatically—it felt strange.
“The deepest part of the Archive, you said.”
I began to walk.
Dust motes drifted and glimmered between the shelves, greeting me as I passed.
It wasn’t so much neglected or unclean as it was paper dust stirred up from old books floating through the air.
“Ah, here it is.”
Just as Yurian had said, a thick imperial history volume sat on the shelf at the deepest corner of the Archive.
…But how on earth did he know?
‘He must have just guessed…’
He had to have.
I sank down onto the floor and carefully opened the book.
Crackle.
The stiff, starch-stiffened scent of paper wafted up sharply.
The first page was filled entirely with records of the Great Demon War.
‘I’ve been seeing the word “demon” rather frequently lately.’
Back then, I’d never even thought of such a thing existing.
I blinked and continued reading through the contents.
—————————-
Centuries ago.
The demon invasion reduced the human realm to rubble.
They possessed powerful bodies, regenerative abilities, and magic so formidable that no human sorcerer could match it—and even those who wielded Divine Power found themselves without recourse against such overwhelming force.
【Bow before us! Humanity shall be laid beneath the feet of demons!】
In that moment of despair.
Celestial Beings, answering humanity’s prayers, descended to earth.
—————————-
“…Celestial Beings.”
Langslot came to mind naturally.
Had the first clan head also descended to the mortal realm at that time?
I read the next passage as if entranced.
—————————-
The blood of Celestial Beings possessed a power that seduced demons, and they themselves became bait to draw the creatures together.
【Demon legions, do not drink of Celestial Blood! It is poison…! Cough!】
But the demons could not resist that sweet temptation.
Humans and Celestial Beings fought together, and at last succeeded in driving the demons back.
Afterward, humans who wielded Holy Magic took the lead in founding the Oswald Empire.
And on the day that long war ended.
Along with magnificent celebration, the Celestial Beings presented porcelain as a token of congratulations.
And as a symbol of peace between heaven and earth, they resolved to leave but a single Celestial Being behind on the mortal plane—
—————————-
“That was none other than Langslot. The Imperial Court granted him a name and a ducal title, promising to be his steadfast ally for life….”
I closed my mouth.
If I truly was descended from Langslot, could my blood also seduce demons?
‘…This is rather frightening.’
It felt strange to have become something alien—no longer entirely human.
I trembled and turned the page again.
Though interesting enough to read through to the end, it wasn’t what I sought.
‘I want to see the records of the Langslot Clan Extinction.’
If this was an Imperial History Book, that account surely must be recorded here as well….
As I was flipping through the back sections with that thought,
A chill ran down my spine.
Suddenly a cold presence swept across my back.
An uncanny sensation I couldn’t quite describe.
My nape went cold as if dipped in ice water.
‘……?’
Not a single shadow of another person in the Archive.
Surely no one was here… so what was this strange feeling of being watched?
‘Could it be… a ghost…?’
“A delicious scent.”
The moment fear took hold, a cold breath grazed the back of my neck.
And a scratching voice whispered past my ear.
“…Eek!”
Crash!
I shuddered and threw myself forward, stumbling.
‘What—what—what is this? What just happened?’
My heart hammered wildly.
The hair on my arms stood on end.
I turned my stiff neck with difficulty, creaking slightly.
Standing there was not some gaunt, snow-white specter, but rather
“You carry a delicious scent.”
“W-who… who are you?”
A man of noble bearing.

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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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