Chapter 8.

I’m Paying the Price for My Life

I thought we were going to Yulian’s office, but instead, he went straight into the Fifth Detached Palace.

“This area is off-limits to visitors.”

His steps were confident, as though he had often used this place.

I followed behind him hesitantly.

Ugh… I’m scared.

I had heard that everyone here had died after being afflicted by a terrible curse, and that the palace had subsequently been sealed off.

Perhaps because of that, the atmosphere was cold and eerie.

When I had come inside earlier to look for the pen, I had been too distracted to notice, but now the sight of clothes that had once been worn, still hanging around as though nothing had happened, was even more frightening.

Trembling, I moved a little closer to Yulian.

“Would it be okay if I… held onto your clothes for a little while…?”

“If you don’t value your life, go ahead.”

His tone was cynical and cold.

It seemed he had decided to stop bothering with putting on a mask in front of me.

I let out a sigh of relief and grabbed the hem of his clothes.

“……?”

Yulian stopped and looked back at me.

“What are you doing, Vanillin?”

He looked utterly bewildered.

“But….”

I answered hesitantly.

“You can’t kill me, Your Highness….”

“…….”

“So doesn’t that mean you gave me permission…?”

He had clearly said to go ahead if I didn’t value my life.

And around him, I really didn’t value my life at all.

“…Haa.”

Yulian sighed with an expression that suggested he had no idea where to even begin explaining this.

“How did something like you end up here?”

Yet he didn’t shake my hand off.

Instead, he opened the door to what appeared to be the most luxurious room.

“Ugh….”

I shrank back.

A chill ran down my spine.

Yulian calmly drew the curtains and turned on the lights.

I nervously darted my eyes around.

“This is….”

“The First Prince’s room.”

Click.

Holy magic activated, illuminating the room.

Only then did I feel a little more at ease.

“The First Prince….”

“Vanillin certainly has a lot of questions.”

Yulian dusted off the mahogany desk a few times before continuing.

“He is the only survivor of the cursed detached palace.”

“Oh… There was a survivor?”

“Yes. Unfortunately.”

Unfortunately?

I firmly shut my mouth.

Come to think of it, I remembered hearing about this from Dai.

He had said that the four princes were fiercely competing for the throne.

“Of course, His Highness the First Prince is still seriously ill. They say his condition is improving, but who knows….”

With a gentle smile, he pulled out a chair for me.

“It would be nice if he recovered only after the Crown Prince has been decided.”

He was basically telling me not to get involved in the struggle for the throne.

‘He really has a terrible personality.’

I shook my head and sat in the chair he had pulled out for me.

Yulian sat across from me, wearing a saintly smile.

Thinking that we were about to discuss the contract, I pulled out the Divine Contract I had secretly kept with me.

But he shook his head.

“Before that.”

The man leaned back deeply in his chair and idly tapped the tip of his foot.

“There’s something I want to confirm.”

His unsmiling eyes stared blankly at me.

“Why does Vanillin want to make a deal with me?”

It was an unexpected question.

I blinked.

“Um… What?”

“I mean, why didn’t you run away?”

The man frowned as though he genuinely couldn’t understand.

“You don’t seem to have any particular reason to remain attached to the Imperial Palace.”

He narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingers against the desk.

“When I couldn’t kill you, you could simply have run away. So why did you cling to the idea of making a deal with me?”

“…….”

“I find that very suspicious.”

Eek….

I swallowed nervously as I felt the temperature around me turn cold.

He was an extremely suspicious person.

I could tell without him even saying so.

Unless I satisfied his doubts, he would never trust me.

“I was living under an unfair contract as the assistant of a back-alley fixer….”

“……?”

“I wanted to investigate my brother’s death.”

Yulian raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of subject.

But I calmly continued.

The only thing I needed right now was honesty.

“I was raised by my brother… but one day, some frightening people suddenly barged into our home.”

As I spoke, those memories slowly began to surface.

The men who had stormed into our house without saying a word and swung their knives around.

“I ran for my life, but my brother died. He only managed to hide me.”

“That’s a common story.”

“…Is it?”

It was tragic precisely because it was so common.

Especially for a five-year-old child to experience.

“So? What are you trying to say?”

Yulian spoke coldly as he crossed his legs.

His expression practically said that if this story had nothing to do with him, he would kill me.

I lowered my head and murmured,

“There was no paradise waiting for me after I ran away….”

“…….”

“I was constantly anxious, wondering when they might come after me again.”

The truth was, even when Fixer Dai mistreated me, one reason I had never left that house was because I was afraid.

Afraid that the moment I went outside, they would find me.

“So… I couldn’t run away again.”

Because if I did, I would spend the rest of my life trembling with that same anxiety.

‘There must definitely be some method of killing me that I forgot about.’

Or—

‘Maybe by now he’s already figured out how to kill me?’

Living while constantly worrying about things like that had become a little… exhausting.

So I quietly met Yulian’s gaze.

“I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”

“So you would rather confront it head-on than live in hiding?”

“Yes…. Exactly.”

Golden eyes quietly looked down at me.

After a brief silence—

“Good. I like that.”

Yulian’s lips curved into a long smile.

“Tell me what you can do for me.”

“……!”

D-did I pass…?

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.

“Really…? You really mean it this time?”

“I dislike people who are uselessly moral.”

Click.

The man took out an elegant-looking pen from its case.

“I liked that your reason was personal. You’re more devious than I expected, Vanillin.”

“…That’s a compliment, right?”

It sounded like an insult….

While I fidgeted nervously,

Yulian began writing the terms of the contract in elegant handwriting.

“There is one fundamental condition. Vanillin cannot betray me. Understood?”

“Your soul is already bound to me anyway….”

“You must function entirely as my person.”

Entirely as Yulian’s person….

I shook off the strange feeling and nodded.

It was something I had already prepared myself for.

“And I’ll be able to track your location.”

“Track… my location?”

That was possible too…?

As I blinked blankly, Yulian spoke in a calm tone.

“So if you have any intention of running away, it would be better to do it now.”

“You’re not going to let me go anyway….”

Without saying a word, he smiled and wrote down:

‘Oswald Yulian can know Vanillin’s location in real time.’

I couldn’t betray him.

I couldn’t run away either.

‘I’m really paying quite a price for my life….’

Just when I thought I had finally escaped my contract with Dai, here I was, entering another one.

It was almost enough to make me think this was my destiny.

But this time….

It was a little different.

I quietly raised my hand.

“Then… could I add just one thing too?”

“Hmm. Did you think of another method of killing me that you forgot to write down?”

“No…! It’s not that!”

What a terrifying thing to say!

Startled, I shook my head.

Then, carefully, fidgeting with my fingers, I said,

“Could Your Highness… also become completely on my side?”

The words had not slipped out impulsively.

It was just… how should I put it?

I think I had wanted this for a long time.

To have someone I could trust completely, like my brother.

However—

“That’s an unreasonable demand.”

Yulian dismissed it without even considering it.

Without looking at me, he continued,

“A contract isn’t meant to contain such abstract terms in the first place.”

“…Then what about you?”

“I’m different.”

Tap.

He put down his pen and leaned back in his chair.

His gaze slowly turned toward me.

“I’m a prince, after all. And Vanillin is a commoner.”

“Ah….”

What a load of crap….

I firmly shut my mouth.

Otherwise, I might have said something much harsher.

‘What was I expecting?’

I lowered my head.

Of course, it was an unreasonable request.

Perhaps asking a prince for something like that was simply too much for an ordinary commoner.

It was the kind of request that would have been strange to accept.

Then, after thinking for a moment, he continued.

“But, all right.”

Tap, tap.

His fingers slowly drummed against the desk.

“How about this instead?”

His warm, gentle eyes turned toward me.

“Instead of some other uncertain promise—”

His gaze met mine directly.

“I’ll find out what happened to your brother.”

I stared at him blankly, my mouth falling open.