I Was Hired by the Dark Prince for My Life's Worth - Chapter 53

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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 53. We’re Finished
Subduing him was simple.
The moment the door clicked shut, before Kyle could even turn around fully, I rushed up behind him and clung on.
“I-I’m so sorry, Your Highness Kyle…!”
Crash.
A chair toppled sideways in the commotion.
Kyle reflexively swung his elbow backward, but Yurian caught it effortlessly.
“Not a chance.”
Kyle’s arms were wrenched behind his back.
“……!”
Thud!
The floor shuddered under the impact.
I gritted my teeth.
‘I can’t let go.’
My opponent was a full-grown man.
He’d only been caught off-guard just now; he was certainly not weaker than me.
“Please help me, Your Highness…!”
“Drop the act.”
Yurian chuckled and began binding Kyle’s arms.
I was anxious to death, but he wasn’t hurrying at all.
He simply moved through each step of the plan in deliberate sequence, as though checking them off one by one.
“Brother… *cough*. Have you lost your mind?”
“How could I have? I never imagined things would come to this either.”
Yurian smiled as though he found the situation troublesome.
Liar. You didn’t even wet your lips before telling that one.
When you’ve been directing every step of this plan from start to finish.
[Open your eyes wider, Vanillin.]
‘Hmm.’
My eyes must have narrowed without me realizing it.
I coughed softly and blinked several times.
In that interval, Yurian had wound Kyle firmly to the Chair with rope.
“Ah… you truly didn’t foresee this?”
“My maidservant is simply too capable, what can I do?”
Yurian tied the final knot and broke into a satisfied smile.
“You must have been terrified, yet you cut through the rope alone and were even plotting a counterattack—truly impressive.”
“Brother….”
“I’m not strong enough to defeat Kyle, so this way is better for conversation.”
“Do as you wish.”
Kyle let his body go slack, as though bored.
Yet his eyes remained perfectly sharp.
A cold, honed gaze fixed itself on Yurian.
The air in the room tightened once more.
I swallowed hard.
‘This close… the bloodlust is….’
I hadn’t noticed before in all the chaos, but now, standing mere steps away, Kyle’s presence was suffocatingly acute.
Was the languid, enervating atmosphere I’d witnessed before truly nothing but an act?
A chill raced down my spine.
Just as I instinctively took a small step backward—
Yurian caught my wrist lightly and drew me close, as though it were the most natural thing.
[Why must you always be so frightened?]
My shoulder brushed against his firm arm.
The murderous pressure that had been bearing down on me moments before seemed to recede a step, as if it had never been there.
‘…Your Highness.’
[Strong, yet cowering like a coward. What am I to do?]
At his teasing tone, an breath of relief escaped me before I could help it.
The tension that had built in my fingertips naturally melted away.
Yurian, looking down at me, let his eyes curve slightly at the corners.
[Your heart is racing.]
‘……!’
[Quite a scare, wasn’t it?]
A low voice tickled the edge of my ear.
It wrapped around my mind like a gentle whisper.
Close enough to feel like breath against my ear itself.
‘Uh…’
I parted my lips to respond.
But the words wouldn’t come, though I tried.
My heart had been racing in fear moments ago, yet now the reason for its quickened pace seemed to have shifted entirely.
‘No, it’s all right. I’m fine now.’
My earlobes burned for no reason.
The gentleness was so unlike him that it felt strange instead.
If I overthought it, I’d only end up looking like the fool.
I took a subtle step backward.
With proper distance restored, breathing became easier than before.
Yet Yurian’s gaze never left me.
If anything, his eyes narrowed as though displeased by my retreat.
“…Hmm.”
Afraid our eyes might meet again, I deliberately cast mine downward.
Yes, in fairy tales, princesses never surrendered their hearts so easily to small acts of kindness, did they?
But I was no princess.
I needed to be careful not to lose myself to emotion.
‘Don’t read into this.’
He surely meant nothing by it.
With that resolved, I lifted my head—only to find him still watching me.
When our eyes met, he smiled silently.
My heart skipped once more.
“…….”
Dangerous. Whatever this feeling is.
I forced my head to turn.
Naturally, as though I’d meant to do it all along—toward Kyle.
He was sprawled back in the chair, and he looked up at me.
When our eyes met, his head tilted slightly.
“Done playing house?”
“…….”
“Well, I’m curious about something too.”
He blinked slowly.
Those yellow eyes—like Yurian’s, but a far deeper shade—drifted lazily toward me.
“How’d you get out of the rope? I tied it tight.”
“…….”
“Were you so sure he wouldn’t come? Sounds like you really wanted to live, though. Didn’t you?”
I pressed my lips together.
Was he genuinely curious?
It sounded like mockery, yet his slow, drawling tone somehow made it seem otherwise.
Lowering my gaze, the memory surfaced—when I’d been brought here by him.
The desperate reason I’d burned through the rope.
‘I suppose that’s honest at least.’
Back then, I’d never imagined he would come.
I thought that if I couldn’t escape on my own, I’d die here.
— If the Third Prince doesn’t come, I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you.
— So pray hard. Pray that the Third Prince comes for you.
Those were his words then.
I regarded him quietly.
Then I opened my mouth.
“Thanks to you, Your Highness, I realized I’m worth more than I thought.”
“Worth…?”
“You said it yourself—truly precious things can only be saved through great sacrifice.”
And yet Yurian came for me.
Willing to risk his Saint-like Image, a loss so immense it could shatter everything.
If not for you, I would never have understood how rare and precious his care truly is.
“Thank you, for saying that to me.”
I smiled, baring my front teeth in a grin.
Kyle tilted his head to one side.
“Unusual, indeed. I sensed it earlier too.”
“Me?”
“It seems like communication won’t be easy.”
With that, he turned his gaze toward Yurian.
Why? What exactly did he mean by communication not being easy?
But the mood had grown too heavy to ask.
Kyle’s eyes alone moved upward to look at Yurian.
“Shall we move to the main matter?”
Even bound, he was no different from moments before.
Listless and exhausted-looking, yet beneath those eyes lay an undiminished coldness, still and quiet.
Scratch.
Yurian lit the Herbal Tobacco and brought it to Kyle’s lips.
“I thought you might feel faint.”
“Ah… thank you.”
Kyle accepted it without hesitation.
Inhale, exhale.
Only after drawing the smoke deep did the conversation resume, slow and measured.
“I don’t care for long explanations… exhale. How much do you already know?”
“Hmm… I’m not entirely sure.”
Yurian retrieved the cigarette from Kyle’s lips.
He tapped the ash away with a long finger, then placed it back between Kyle’s teeth.
Something like pressure emanated from that slow, deliberate motion.
“Perhaps only that you defied your second brother’s order to kill him and hid him away in the Underground Prison.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I’ve heard that Underground Prison connects to this room.”
Kyle’s gaze wavered for just a moment.
He said nothing, but Yurian caught that subtle shift.
He opened his eyes warmly.
“There’s a lever beneath the Bookshelf, I’m told.”
……
“I’m not certain whether it’s true or not.”
He spoke as if stepping back, yet everyone in the room understood.
Yurian had already seen through everything.
Kyle’s eyes rolled slowly toward Yurian.
“Have you met him?”
“You mean that mysterious figure from before?”
……
“What’s your own sense of it? Do you think we’ve met, or is it merely something you’ve heard?”
Yurian’s eyes grew wide.
Kyle’s gaze swept methodically across Yurian’s face.
Eyes folded warmly, lips curved slightly upward, a neat smile.
“Ah, I see.”
Having reached his conclusion, Kyle tilted his head back.
Patter.
Charred ash from the cigarette fell across his face.
“It burns.”
Even as he said this, he didn’t shake his head once.
His manner suggested he found everything tedious.
He simply remained as he was, looking up at Yurian.
Even teeth ground against the cigarette.
The skin where the ash had fallen flushed red.
Exhale.
He spoke languidly as he exhaled smoke.
“It’s over.”

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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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