Chapter 9

Rexid was speechless as he looked at me with an awkward smile.

“You said I can take anything.”

“Wait, how did you hide all of this when you were right behind me the entire time?”

“Don’t ask for my trade secrets.”

“Oh geez…”

Rexid was taken aback but continued to lead the way after a laugh.

The Lyprose contract was being stored carefully in the deepest part of the vault.

All of the gems scattered across the floor were extremely valuable, but if he kept the contract separately like this…

Sure enough, it seemed that the value of the contract wasn’t something that could be converted into money.

I asked because I started feeling slightly guilty, which was unusual for me, “You might need it for something more important later on… are you really going to use it for me?

“It’s okay. I don’t have any use for it.”

I’d sensed this before, but Rexid seemed like a man without any desire for power or wealth. He might even have enjoyed the life of a commoner who lived from hand to mouth if he didn’t have noble status from birth.

For somebody with so much, he didn’t seem to covet anything.

Mmm…

Wasn’t he the perfect target for a swindler like me? But then, why did a person like him suddenly aspire to become an emperor?

That was the heaviest question weighing on my mind.

“Come here.”

Rexid gestured at me and took out 3 stiff pieces of parchment paper that the contents of our contract had already been copied onto.

The parchment wasn’t just an ordinary piece of paper.

It seemed like some sort of a magic tool and just as I thought, the paper and the Lyprose contract had to be used together.

“So this is how it looks like.”

There was a stone tablet placed on top of a very tall, one-legged table.

The tablet itself was probably a magic stone.

The price of magic stones varied widely depending on their use case. One that could enforce a contract that used someone’s life as collateral… must really be priceless.

There was a square hole carved into the tablet where the contract should be placed.

Rexid placed the parchment in the hole and took out a small dagger.

“To activate the contract we have to fill this hole… with the blood of each party signing the contract.”

It seemed like quite a large amount of blood was required to fill the hole. I opened my hand and told him to pass me a dagger. However, he didn’t hand me anything and kept staring at me.

“You’re not getting cold feet, are you? I didn’t expect this from the grand duke…”

This contract was a form of insurance for my freedom. Suddenly, I worried that Rexid might have had a change of heart for some reason.

Rexid frowned, then shook his head. “No, it’s not that…”

“Then?”

I didn’t know why, but his eyes were fixated on my pale hands.

“The cut would have to be pretty deep to fill up a hole this big… wouldn’t it bother you… if there was a scar left on your body?”

“…What?”

‘What happened to the black wolf of the battlefield?! Where did the crazy hound go?!’

As expected, rumors should not be believed so easily.

What was the one redeeming quality I thought he had after hearing about his ambitions to become emperor? It was the fact that he was cold-blooded, merciless, and chopped off the heads of any enemies that got in his way.

I was thinking that that one quality was fortunate.

“Your Highness, I thought you were going to become the emperor.”

“I am.”

“That’s not a position easily acquired by killing soldiers or knights on the battlefield….”

“…”

“…And it will be even more difficult if your enemies figure out that you’re such a soft-hearted person.”

I stared at him witheringly as I took the dagger from his hand.

“There’ll be situations that will require you to kill not only women but children and elders too. Will you be as hesitant as you are right now?”

“That’s different. I assure you I will not hesitate in those situations.”

Rexid snatched the dagger back as I tried to slash my palm.

“But I don’t like to see the blood of ‘my’ people. It’s just in my nature.”

After he spoke, he immediately cut his forearm without blinking an eyelid. The flesh of his arm split open, and blood started pouring into the hole of the tablet.

“Come to think of it, it doesn’t need to be a 50:50 ratio.”

“Ah…”

Rexid reached out his hand after filling most of the hole with his blood.

When I gave him my right hand, he grabbed it.

Unlike how he boldly cut his forearm, his touch was gentle.

Eventually, I felt a prick on my index finger, and a single drop of my blood fell into the hole.

Drip-

As soon as my blood mixed in, the magic of the stone tablet activated with a small flash of light.

As the light that was shining brightly in the dark underground vault started to dim, the tablet became whole, as if there was never a hole to begin with.

“It’s done.”

With his arm still bleeding because he wasn’t putting pressure on it, Rexid knocked on the stone tablet twice.

He looked satisfied.

“Even though it’s expensive, the contract is made through such primitive methods.”

Rexid bled so much that I would have gotten dizzy if I were in his shoes.

He shrugged, acting like he didn’t notice how I was looking at his bloodstained forearm.

“Now do you believe that I’m not trying to use you as a slave?”

“Yeah… sure.”

“I would also like to be able to trust you as well if possible. Even though Owen said never to trust you, even if the sky tore in half.”

“Your butler is certainly intelligent. He’s a necessary asset for someone like you.”

Rexid frowned when I agreed with him and added. “Let’s try to work together since we’ve signed a contract that puts our lives on the line. I’m choosing to trust you, so don’t deceive me.”

“Who is going to say ‘no, I’m going to deceive you.’ in a situation like this?”

“What did you say?”

“I’m saying I won’t. Whether you believe it is or not up to you.”

“I will believe it. You’re not hiding anything else, right? Tell me the truth while I’m giving you the chance.”

“Ah…!”

Rexid was startled as I clapped my hands and looked at him.

I had no choice since he’s gone this far for me. I couldn’t keep deceiving him since I would have to stay in the castle from now on.

“What is it?”

After smiling at Rexid who questioned me anxiously, I touched the corner of my eyes softly.

When I pulled my skin with my nails, the soft leather started wrapping around my finger.

Rip, snap-

The fake skin covering the upper part of my nose, eyes, forehead, and scalp came off.

I was surprised when Rexid tried to pull on my cheeks in the carriage as if he was well aware of the rumors about how I used special makeup.

Thankfully, I was only using a half wig that covered my eyes and hairline, if not, I would have been caught on the spot.

Well, I decided to reveal everything, so it didn’t really mean anything.

Plop-

The blonde hair that was connected to my fake skin dropped to the ground.

Instead of a wig, my short, pink hair fell down to around my neck and fluttered.

This was the appearance of the real Viper.

Rexid’s expression as he saw me was truly a sight to see.

I awkwardly laughed at the way he blinked and his mouth hung open in shock.

“I look prettier, right? The color of my hair and my eyes.”

“You…”

“I try to make my face look prettier, but I fail every time.”

Rexid was taken aback and scoffed as I shrugged my shoulders calmly.

Rexid asked, looking as if he’d been let down somehow.

“Are you even a woman?”

“Would you like to check for yourself?”

Rexid got scared as I acted boldly and tugged at the part of the dress covering my cleavage.

“Are you crazy?! Check what?! You can just tell me!”

“I am.”

“Whew!”

For some reason, Rexid turned around, he couldn’t even look me in the eyes.

It seemed he was furious that he’d been deceived again. His earlobes were red.

“Are you angry?”

“No.”

“Come on, you’re angry. Relax. It took a lot of courage to decide to show my real face! I haven’t shown anyone since the age of six, Your Highness.”

“You’ve lived like this since you were six years old?

As Rexid was leaving the vault, he sighed and turned around toward me.

“It was preparation for the future. My face would change as I get older so I needed to hide it from then on…”

“So you could comfortably hide your identity and con others?”

I laughed because it didn’t feel right to outright admit it.

“Haha…”

“It was a big decision! Did it improve your trust in me?”

“No, if anything, I’m even more suspicious that you’re hiding something else.”

“No… I’m not hiding anything else. This is my real face and…”

Aha!

Rexid’s eyes narrowed as I paused.

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

I completely forgot about this one. I pulled down the lower part of my eye with my middle finger and pulled out a green color lens with my thumb and index finger.

Contact lenses hadn’t been invented in this world, so I made some myself at the young age of 10.

The color lens that I made by getting Pleaon which was similar to plastic and adding color was very useful for my disguises.

The real color of my eyes was a clear, bright blue.

Seeing my real identity, Rexid was at a loss for words and let out an empty laugh.

“I’m sorry. I forgot because I’ve had them in for so long.”

“Come here.”

Rexid lifted his arms and suddenly pinched my cheeks.

“Ow!”

As he pinched and stretched out my cheeks, it hurt so bad that they went numb.

“Aha! Aha!”

“You really, truly aren’t hiding anything else, right?”

Rexid rudely fiddled with my cheeks for a while.

“You swear?!”

“Y-yes…”

Ugh, it hurt so much that I teared up.

I was barely able to murmur the words as my lips could barely move, glaring at him as I begged him to believe me.

“Itz drue…”