I Was Hired by the Dark Prince for My Life's Worth - Chapter 5

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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 5. Vanillin, Come Here
I forgot the situation entirely as a chill ran down my spine.
‘That smile….’
Even after hearing his mother’s curses directed at him, he remained utterly unmoved.
The corners of his mouth still curved softly, and his eyes held not a flicker of disturbance.
That was what terrified me most.
He was clearly human, yet something about him felt inhuman.
‘Now that I think about it, he was exactly like this when the Heaven Person’s Dao Qi nearly shattered.’
In the moment when everyone held their breath, he alone remained serene.
As though he had known this would happen all along.
“Your Highness, you know so little of how the world works. Why exactly do you refuse to marry my daughter?”
“There are many eyes watching. I would not have you… make matters worse.”
“…Answer me!”
Bang!
Marquis Desmond brought his foot down hard against the floor.
Gasp!
I… I jumped.
My thoughts scattered entirely.
In mere moments, the situation had spiraled to an extreme.
“Playing the virtuous one, the righteous one….”
The Marquis, his eyes bloodshot with rage, shoved the Third Prince’s arm away roughly.
“It sickens me. Wipe that smile from your face.”
Crash!
The wine glass in the Third Prince’s hand flew through the air and shattered against the floor into a thousand pieces.
His slurred words and the pointing finger showed clearly that he had passed beyond the point of reason.
The Third Prince sighed and gestured to the knights.
“Escort the Marquis outside. He appears to be quite intoxicated.”
Though his voice was quiet, the knights moved the instant his words fell.
There was no hesitation, no question.
It felt as though they had been waiting for this moment alone.
“I know well the sort of people like Your Highness. Gentle before witnesses, scheming depravity behind closed doors!”
The Marquis’s struggles proved useless.
Everyone already understood.
Who stood at the center of this gathering.
“Enough! Is this the conduct we show at the Foundation Celebration Banquet?”
“Let me go! You’re all being deceived! Deceived by that hideous smile!”
“I will tolerate no further disturbance! Take him out!”
Clang!
The knights dragged the Marquis away with some force.
Fortunately, it was in the opposite direction from the door where I stood.
Of course, Dae was no exception either.
“You should go as well.”
“What? No, wait! I—”
“Yes, we’ll discuss it outside.”
His flailing arms could do nothing to stop them.
Dae was also dragged out behind the Marquis.
“I will expose everything! For the sake of the Empire!”
The Marquis shouted to the very end, but no one listened to his words.
And then, boom.
The door closed with a heavy sound.
Every nobleman looked to the Third Prince, gauging his mood.
“Your Highness….”
“Are you unharmed?”
“My, my.”
The Third Prince laughed as though troubled.
“I wish I could say I’m fine….”
He lowered his eyes sorrowfully.
“Today, I seem to have had poor fortune.”
As he spoke, he smoothed his sleeve, and naturally all eyes followed to that spot.
Looking closely, a vivid red stain had spread clearly across his pristine formal robes.
It was the trace of a Wine Glass that Desmond, the Marquis, had thrown down just moments before.
“That mad bastard…!”
“Your Highness, your clothes…!”
“I shall call an attendant at once.”
Vulgar wretch to the very end…!
The nobles’ faces were etched with undisguised hostility.
The Third Prince glanced down at his sleeve for a moment.
Then he shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
He forced a smile, though his long lashes fell with a fragile weariness.
“I’ll just step away for a moment. Please, enjoy yourselves.”
With a polite but resolute bow.
And so the Third Prince left the banquet hall as well.
Only then did I exhale the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“Phew….”
The Imperial Palace was something else.
It wasn’t all beauty and refinement, that much was clear.
There was drama enough to keep one’s eyes riveted—disaster after disaster, each one barely concluded before the next erupted.
My legs gave out beneath me and I sank to the ground.
Though there was something I’d forgotten….
‘Oh right—Dae!’
He’d been thrown out, come to think of it.
Only then did reality set in.
Ah… what do I do now.
‘I need to head to the meeting point…’
Right.
I should have chased after him sooner.
I sighed and hurried forward in quick, clipped steps.
* * *
‘Why is this place such a maze…!’
I’d lost my way I couldn’t count how many times.
“Sniffle….”
I swallowed back tears.
The Imperial Palace’s abandoned gardens.
They said it lay within the Fifth Imperial Palace, a place struck by such a terrible curse that everyone had died and it was sealed off from the world.
No one in their right mind would set foot there, which made it—paradoxically—an excellent place for petty thieves to conduct business.
‘Dae… he’ll come, won’t he?’
He has to.
I let out a long, tremulous sigh.
It had been quite the day.
An interview as a Palace maid, stealing a useless Sacred Contract.
Obtaining the Heaven Person’s Dao Qi, watching the spectacle unfold at the banquet….
‘And I met the Third Prince.’
Beautiful and utterly terrifying.
Shiver.
Just thinking of him made my skin crawl.
‘I doubt I’ll ever see him again.’
A midsummer night’s dream, concluded with this single day.
There was no reason to think I’d cross paths with the Third Prince again in what remained of my life.
I had no idea when—or if—I’d ever be allowed back outside.
Crunch.
I trudged forward, my footsteps hollow against the stone.
Dae was a complicated figure in my life.
He was the benefactor who’d taken me in after my only family—my brother—died, leaving me alone in the world, but he was also a cruel master who beat me whenever he pleased and demanded I earn money for him.
In exchange for investigating my brother’s death, I’d never been allowed outside; I could only work.
It had started when I was very young—five years old.
Rustle.
A small sound pulled me from my thoughts.
Looking around, I found myself at the entrance to the Fifth Imperial Palace.
In the distance, I felt the presence of someone.
It must be Dae.
I quickened my pace.
But as I drew closer, voices grew audible.
‘Is he with the Marquis?’
I couldn’t make out the words clearly, but they were definitely men’s voices.
Tap, tap.
I walked faster.
“…you must forgive my keen eye….”
“…please, spare me…!”
The fragmented words I hadn’t been able to hear before became increasingly distinct.
The content was rather strange, but….
‘What on earth…?’
I continued moving forward.
And finally, when I cautiously turned the corner.
“Repent your sins through death.”
Those words came with a voice somehow familiar — sweet in its tenderness, almost gentle —
Slash!
and my eyes met the Third Prince’s as he carved through Desmond’s chest.
“I…?”
No… wait a moment.
The Third Prince?
I stood frozen, my eyes darting frantically.
Desmond, bearing a deep wound, bleeding profusely —
and further back, Dae, crumpled on the ground in the same state.
My thoughts came to a halt.
‘This can’t be… surely not…?’
I rubbed my eyes carefully.
But the sight before me remained unchanged.
Two men lying fallen…
and the Third Prince regarding me with a long, steady gaze.
‘The Third Prince…?!’
Yes, it was the Third Prince.
The one who could brush aside insults with wisdom,
who laughed it off when wine spilled on his robes —
the Empire’s Saint, beloved by all.
He broke into a brilliant smile.
“Vanillin?”
At the sound of his voice, my mind snapped into focus.
‘This is ruined…!’
A vulgar curse escaped my lips unbidden.
Tears welling in my eyes, I glanced down at the blade in his hand.
In the moonlight, the sword gleamed sharply, its edge soaked dark with blood.
“Ah, so it is you, Vanillin.”
His voice, as always, was gentle, serene, and warm.
…But why did such a cold wind sweep around me?
Sniff.
I swallowed hard, fighting back tears, and spoke as harmlessly as I could manage.
“If I told you I was blind and deaf, would you believe me…?”
Whimper.
With a reddened nose, I pleaded — and the Prince laughed, eyes crinkling shut.
“Of course.”
“Really…?”
“Does it sound like I mean it?”
No…..
Sniff.
I shook my head through my tears.
‘This is ruined….’
No matter how I looked at it, this was far beyond anything I should have witnessed.
My gaze shifted once more to the figure sprawled on the ground.
“Marquis Desmond….”
And Dae…!
What manner of abuse must I suffer because of those wretched men.
As I trembled, a voice descended upon me with such tenderness.
“How strange—they said you couldn’t see or hear?”
Yet you seem to know exactly who I am.
The Third Prince glanced at Marquis Desmond, who was bleeding from his chest, then turned his gaze to meet mine.
And then,
Shwip.
With a serene expression, he flicked the blood from his blade.
“Vanillin.”
A smile bloomed like flowers in full blossom.
“Come here.”
It was the smile of one who had spotted their prey.

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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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