The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 51

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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 51.

Even in the softly curved shape of his eyes and the seemingly warm tenor of his voice, I could sense the chill lurking beneath—a lethal edge that made my skin prickle.
In that moment, a shiver raced down my spine, and Varcan’s words flickered through my mind like a ghost.
“I always notice it, but you certainly have a talent for creating dangerous situations.”
Much as I hated to admit it, his words had struck true this time.
I drew a short, controlled breath.
If escape wasn’t an option, the only path left was a direct charge.
Show fear or your back in a moment like this, and they’d rip your throat out.
I filled my lungs, let the air out slowly, and opened my mouth.
“You’re a clever sorcerer.”
Ibban’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“Think about it logically. If I were someone who could show my face and move freely, why would I commission such an artifact in the first place?”
Coming to this dark back alley at this hour, paying such an exorbitant price?
“What, there’s no client confidentiality or protection agreement in this business? Is professional ethics just a complete joke here, or what?”
…….
Ibban’s violet eyes narrowed to slits. Without waiting for a response, I shoved my chair back roughly and stood.
“If you don’t want to make this deal, forget it.”
…….
“I’m spending my own money to buy something. I shouldn’t have to sit through an interrogation. There are other sorcerers in the world—you’re not the only one.”
…….
Silence fell like a blade.
The subordinate standing behind Ibban glared at me with the look of someone about to draw steel.
I rose to my feet, and my hand slipped beneath my cloak to grip the packet of Sleep Powder hidden there.
Then Ibban’s long fingers tapped lightly against the armrest of his chair.
……pff.
…….
Then his head tilted back and laughter erupted—louder, deeper, uncontrolled.
Puhahahaha—!
…….
Is he insane?
‘Yeah, he’s definitely insane.’
His hearty laughter swept away the killing intent that had filled the room mere seconds before, as if it had never existed.
“Yes! Ahahaha! That’s it! Khahahaha! If you’re going to deal with me, you’ve got to have this kind of nerve. Don’t you think so, Chet?”
He spoke to his subordinate without breaking his laughter.
Only then did Chet’s hand drop from his sword hilt, and he bowed his head.
Ibban wiped tears from the corners of his eyes and gestured toward the chair I’d pushed away.
“Sit, customer. Let’s make a deal. I won’t ask you to remove that face mask. A client who walks through my door of his own will is rare—I can’t just send you away. Besides, I’ve got Glen to think of.”
…….
His mood had swung from one extreme to the other in a single second. No, this man was definitely not right in the head.
Calling him insane wouldn’t even begin to cover it.
I studied him for a moment, then slowly sat back down, chin held high and arrogant—as though I were deigning to grace him with my presence.
On the surface, at least.
Inside, I was tense as a bowstring.
You didn’t deal with madness—you avoided it.
The moment I settled into the chair, Ibban leaned his torso forward across the table.
Then, just as suddenly, his mood plummeted, and he rested his chin on his hand, fixing me with a sharp, penetrating stare.
“But.”
God, this man. Impossible to read.
I spoke bluntly.
“What now?”
Ibban held my gaze and opened his mouth.
“There’s only one sorcerer like me in the world.”
…….
“Remember that.”
…….
Dealing with an unpredictable madman was draining—exhaustion crashed over me like a wave.
Suddenly, I thought of the House of Escar’s hired men.
‘I think I understand a little now—what it felt like to be on the other side of their scrutiny.’
I nodded quietly, murmuring under my breath.
“……I’d better do this well.”
“What?”
Ibban blinked, asking the question.
“There’s such a thing as self-reflection.”
“…….”
I brushed it off vaguely, my voice tinged with a sigh.
“Now, if you could just show me the merchandise.”
At that, Ibban fished something from his pocket with a flourish and set it on the wooden table.
“Here you are. Your commissioned item, customer.”
“…….”
“Deep blue eyes, hair a pale brown with a dark green tint when touched by sunlight—that right?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ve applied Cognition Reduction Magic so your facial structure and features appear subtly different. Even your closest family wouldn’t recognize you.”
“Oh…….”
Ibban remembered everything I’d requested when I’d taken on the commission.
I lifted the bracelet.
A thin silver bracelet.
There was almost no craftsmanship to speak of, and aside from a small blue gem in the center—tinier than a fingernail—there was scarcely any decoration worth mentioning.
The blue stone set in the middle caught the lamplight and glimmered softly.
It looked neither like cheap trinket nor ornate noble jewelry gaudy enough to draw unwanted eyes.
‘Perfect.’
Worn under a glove, it wouldn’t stand out at all.
‘And if I’m ever found out, I can always claim it’s an accessory I brought from Delmar.’
I turned to Ibban and asked, “Unlimited use won’t be possible, I suppose.”
“Of course not.”
Ibban laughed.
“See that gem in the center? That’s a Mana Stone. The artifact runs on the mana contained within it.”
No matter how sophisticated a magical artifact, once the mana in the Mana Stone is depleted, it becomes useless.
“Press the stone once—click—and your appearance changes. Duration is roughly twenty-four hours. When the mana runs out, the stone will shatter completely, so then you just toss it in the trash.”
Ibban added that pressing it again would revert the Appearance Transformation Magic.
“Then, if I replace the broken stone with a new Mana Stone afterward, can I reuse it?”
If it were reusable, I could swap in stones mined from the Mana Stone Mine in the Lacrion Mountain Range.
Though the mining was still some time away.
At my question, Ibban’s face darkened unpleasantly.
“Can’t do that. This is a delicate piece of work, understand? I’m not responsible if someone starts swapping stones carelessly and—bang!—loses their hand.”
“……Understood. I won’t.”
“Just come find me, customer. Since we’re friends now, I’ll swap out the Mana Stone for half price.”
Suddenly, a chill raced down my spine.
‘What is this bastard talking about?!’
Who was calling whom a friend?!
I swallowed the curses rising in my throat and set the pouch of Gold Coins on the table.
“When the stone breaks, it goes in the trash. Got it.”
“…….”
I’d declined his friendship offer indirectly.
Then, one of Ibban’s subordinates took the pouch and inspected the Gold Coins inside.
But Ibban himself, rather than counting the coins, seemed far more amused by my reaction, arms crossed as he studied me.
The beautiful smile lingering at his lips was positively eerie.
I promptly removed my gloves, slipped on the bracelet, and pulled them back on.
As expected, the bracelet was so thin and its decoration so small that I couldn’t feel it under the glove.
‘Good.’
Now I could visit the Medicinal Herb shop without worry.
‘Why stop there? I could roam all across the realm and no one would recognize me.’
The masked knight searching for me, even if I bumped into Varcan in the Merchant District of the realm—
they would never know who I was.
I let out a soft chuckle and rose from my seat with a lightened heart.
“Good business.”
At my farewell, Ibban smiled slowly, looking up at me.

“Find me another one.”
At his words, I turned and let out a low chuckle.
“If you knock the price down.”
“Puhahaha!”
Ibban’s delighted laughter struck me from behind like a blow to the back of the head.

***

Bang—the sound of the Inn’s back door opening and closing drifted up to the second floor.
Moments later, as Ibban rose from his chair and stretched, his subordinate approached with a question.
“Should I follow them, Master?”
“No.”
Ibban answered curtly, then walked to the window and leaned against the frame at an angle.
“I know who it is.”
“Sir?”
Ibban looked down at the woman below, her hood pulled low over her head.
She glanced about nervously before heading toward another back alley.
Watching her receding figure, Ibban spoke to his subordinate.
“If she comes back, send her straight to my workshop. Don’t be rude about it.”
The subordinate tilted his head in confusion at this instruction before responding.
“Yes, understood.”
The truth was, Ibban disliked stepping directly into the public eye.
His strikingly beautiful and radiant appearance had drawn endless tiresome attention and obsession since childhood.
Particularly from the opposite sex.
There had been a time when he enjoyed and exploited such blind affection and devotion, but that time was long past.
So with this commission too, he had meant to simply have his subordinate hand over the goods and be done with it.
If it hadn’t been for Glen’s request—a man he’d known long enough to share his hideaway with—he certainly would have.
Glen was a man who had never asked for anything or spoken a word of need in all his years.
And yet Glen had personally sent this client.
Ibban found himself unable to resist curiosity.
So he’d used the pretext of the magical device being complete as an excuse to see her face.
He hadn’t expected her to cover herself completely like that, though.
But recognizing her was hardly difficult.
‘The mad princess from Delmar.’
He already knew that Glen worked in the kitchens of the northern House of Escar.
Anyone capable of moving a man as indifferent to others’ affairs as Glen had to be more than just an ordinary servant in the estate.
Naturally, his thoughts turned to the princess who had recently arrived at the House.
He’d already heard considerable gossip about her through the Mage Tower’s network of informants.
‘They say she wrested both land and enormous Imperial Grants from that cunning emperor.’
The rumors said she was mad, and it certainly showed.
‘No sane person would make such demands of an emperor.’
Least of all a princess brought as a hostage from a defeated nation.
But what was truly fascinating was something else entirely.
It was the look in the princess’s eyes when she entered the room.
The moment she stepped inside, she froze.
It was the reaction he’d expected.
Surprise, curiosity, admiration, and desire.
Most people who saw Ibban for the first time reacted that way.
But in the blue eyes visible above her face mask, something entirely different flickered.
Terror.
And an intense, unmistakable revulsion.
It was not the gaze of someone drawn to attraction.
‘Why on earth?’
Ibban tapped the windowframe with his fingertips.
‘Have we crossed paths before?’
Was she one of the women he’d spent a night with long ago?
He didn’t think a princess had been among the women he’d known.
No matter how he searched his memory, no face came to mind.
Especially not one with eyes so clear and deeply blue.
Had she possessed eyes like those, he would not have forgotten.
Ibban watched the princess’s retreating figure and tapped a soft rhythm against the windowpane.
“Still, I wonder how our princess came to swallow such a dangerous man.”
His gently curved eyes, an ethereal violet, pursued her receding silhouette as it vanished into the Back Alley with relentless focus.

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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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