I Was Hired by the Dark Prince for My Life's Worth - Chapter 54

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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 54. Between Affection and Scheme
A slow, measured tone—calm if one chose to see it as calm, despairing if one chose to see it as despair.
Yurian’s eyes narrowed.
“Kyle.”
“Sir, I’m done with all of this.”
A long exhale.
Kyle still worked the cigarette between his teeth, exhaling smoke through the gaps.
“I know well enough that I’m not the one who’ll claim the Imperial Throne.”
His body sagged as though he’d abandoned all resistance, melting into limp submission.
He tilted his head back, eyes half-closed.
“I don’t want to die.”
“You don’t want to die?”
“If the Second Prince becomes emperor… will he spare me?”
At that question, I looked toward Yurian.
He was still smiling gently.
If the Second Prince became emperor, would he let the other princes live?
Everyone in this room already knew the answer.
‘No. Never.’
“That place is my refuge.”
He nudged the chair with the tip of his foot.
It teetered backward as though it might topple, then caught itself.
As if playing, his bound body swayed back and forth.
“I have… quite a strong will to live, stronger than you’d think, despite appearances.”
His eyes alone rolled lazily to regard Yurian.
The room fell silent.
Was what he’d said true—that he cared nothing for the Imperial Throne and sought only to survive—or was it a lie?
Click.
Yurian caught the swaying chair and stilled its motion.
Then he leaned his head closer to Kyle and spoke low.
“So. You were planning to flee underground if the Second Prince became emperor?”
“A space that size is enough for one person to live… and I’ve stockpiled plenty of provisions.”
“Why did you leave the Mysterious Criminal alive?”
“Ah… precisely for a situation like this?”
Kyle blinked slowly.
His gaze turned toward the bookshelf—or rather, the secret passage that lay beneath it.
“If a conflict broke out between you and the Second Prince, I’d still need to be alive to escape, wouldn’t I?”
“So you meant to cast him loose, use the chaos to slip away. An attempted murder within the Royal Family is a capital crime, after all.”
“I didn’t expect you to find him first, though…”
As though everything were finished, he exhaled deeply.
His face bore the look of someone who’d lost all will in mere minutes.
“It’s done. I’m tired of playing the charlatan apothecary anyway… I’ll just go underground and live, or whatever.”
“And you’ll hand the Mysterious Criminal over to me?”
“Haven’t you already spirited him away?”
Not yet.
The Mysterious Criminal was still locked away somewhere in the dungeons below.
But Yurian neither confirmed nor denied this, his gaze sharpening instead.
He was saying: think whatever you like.
‘What will you do?’
I tugged gently at Yurian’s collar, signaling that I was sending a Telepathic Transmission.
Blink, blink.
As I gazed up at him and blinked hard, he looked down at me.
Then his mouth corner lifted in a soft smile.
[You needn’t appeal so earnestly. I’m listening.]
‘Will you let him live in the underground?’
[Well now…]
Yurian trailed off, looking down at the Fourth Prince who did nothing but smoke away, puffing steadily.
His eyes grew slitted.
Languor settled over his pale gaze.
[I don’t particularly favor keeping dangerous elements alive.]
‘…You mean to kill him?’
I wonder if that might be the case.
‘…….’
Hmm.
My body trembled at the answer—so rational, so devoid of hesitation.
Yes, this was exactly the sort of person he was.
The kind who could kill a single human being without the slightest compunction.
I looked down at the Fourth Prince’s crown.
The reason he’d laid bare all these truths to Yurian was likely because he believed Yurian to be a saint.
He’d convinced himself that Yurian would graciously allow him to go on living in the Underground Chamber.
Unaware, of course, that Yurian was a Demon descended upon this mortal world.
‘He doesn’t seem like a bad person, exactly.’
Though he had kidnapped me, bound me tightly, and threatened to kill me.
…Which makes him a bad person, doesn’t it?
‘Hmm….’
It was a strange feeling—my thoughts suddenly multiplying.
I knew that desire to survive better than anyone.
I had crawled beneath Dai’s boot and endured abuse for the sake of survival, and it was I who had made a contract selling even my soul just to live.
He did not truly desire the Imperial Throne.
He only wished to survive.
Perhaps because I felt kinship with him, I found I couldn’t bring myself to tell him to do as he pleased.
‘So there’s only one path forward, then.’
“Your Highness.”
I slowly lifted my gaze.
Then, with deliberate care, I grasped his large hand in both of mine.
His fingers stilled in surprise, but I pressed on without pause.
Like a sandcastle built grain by grain, a plan layered itself together in my mind.
“…Vanillin?”
“Your Highness, you see…”
Now that I was about to speak, I felt afraid.
My fingers fidgeted with nervous habit.
Perhaps it tickled—Yurian’s hand curled slightly around mine.
It felt almost as though he were the one holding my hand.
“What are you trying to say that requires such suspense?”
He tilted his head slightly.
The gentle smile at the corner of his mouth seemed somehow more tender than usual.
[Are you trying to coax me? To beg me not to kill?]
“N-no, that’s not it…”
[How unfortunate. If that were your intention, I might have actually considered it.]
Was he teasing me?
‘Should I change my approach now…?’
All I had prepared was a brilliant plan.
I hadn’t even thought of flirting….
Suddenly my mind went blank.
Flustered, I found I couldn’t release his hand—instead, I let my cheek rest against the back of it.
“…….”
His forefinger twitched upward, as if in surprise.
The long, slender digit brushed lightly across my cheek.
‘Oh….’
It was cold.
His palm was warm, but his fingertips felt as though they’d been dipped in ice water.
Curious at the sensation, I leaned my cheek against his hand a little more.
Yurian’s fingers moved slowly, trembling.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, that’s right. About that…”
I was in the middle of explaining, wasn’t I.
I hurried to collect myself and looked up at him carefully.
His yellow eyes—darker than usual, it seemed—looked down at me.
The habitual smile he wore had grown faint, and instead his pupils held me entirely.
“…….”
Was it an illusion?
His index finger moved slowly, rubbing my cheek.
A gentle motion that suggested he had no intention of withdrawing his hand.
‘…A silent pressure to speak quickly?’
Though for such a thing, his touch was oddly careful.
I pressed slightly harder against his hand and spoke cautiously.
“I have a thought that might work better than killing me or locking me in the Underground Chamber. Would you hear me out?”
Yurian could shake off the stigma of attending a pleasure party, the Fourth Prince could guard the Underground Chamber, and the Second Prince could deal with the drowning method.
“What if we made use of the Mysterious Criminal locked below?”
* * *
Click.
The sound of a lock opening echoed through the vast Underground Chamber.
I stared into the open prison cell.
The Mysterious Criminal stood dazed, looking up at the light pouring down before him.
A world beyond the solitary cell after months of confinement.
“I’m out… I’m out! Damn it, I’m out!”
“We made a promise, did we not.”
Yurian smiled gently.
The Mysterious Criminal stumbled out, tears streaming down his face in disbelief.
The way he crawled forward frantically, almost on all fours, spoke to his desperation.
He must have truly hated it down there.
I hesitantly held out the bread I’d been clutching.
“Here… please eat.”
“……!”
Snatch!
The Mysterious Criminal nearly snatched the bread from my hands.
Without another word, he shoved it into his mouth.
He swallowed barely chewing, like a starving beast.
“Damn, this is delicious.”
Thick tears streamed from his hollow eyes.
He grasped Yurian’s leg.
“Your Highness… for you to treat someone like me with such kindness….”
His hands trembled.
He continued stuffing bread into his mouth, his whole body shaking as he wept.
“From now on, I will live righteously for the rest of my life. I will never do anything wrong again and will atone for my sins.”
“Do not cry. Eat slowly.”
His sobbing looked so genuine, as though he truly were a man seeking redemption.
‘Is he genuinely remorseful, or does he simply say anything to survive.’
[We shall see soon enough.]
Yurian whispered with amusement.
Then, with tenderness, he knelt on one knee and met the Mysterious Criminal’s eyes.
“Food brought down from the party upstairs—I’m glad it suits your palate.”
“Party…?”
“Yes, a party.”
Yurian picked up a piece of bread that had fallen to the ground and pressed it into the Mysterious Criminal’s hand again.
“Right now, some of the wealthiest patrons in the Imperial Capital have gathered for an event.”
Then he smiled, radiant as always.

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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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