Because She Had A Time Limit, She Became The Villain’s Daughter-in-law - Chapter 100

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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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“Ugh!”
Evan quickly covered my mouth and nose before ushering me out first.
Following right behind me, he closed the door, but his pupils seemed unstable for some reason.
“Laria, are you alright? Your lungs are already weak—you shouldn’t be inhaling strange smoke like that.”
“I’m fine.”
I cupped his cheek and spoke with concern.
“But you seem to have inhaled some… are you hurt anywhere?”
Evan stared at me intently.
A brief silence fell between us.
The normal Evan would have been embarrassed and avoided my touch. He would have flatly said “I’m fine” and then suggested we leave. It was only when I, feeling somewhat awkward, tried to withdraw my hand from his cheek that it happened.
He slowly grasped my hand and gently pressed it back against his cheek.
“…Evan?”
His eyes had lost focus.
“Why are you pulling away…”
His voice was slow and somehow suppressed, thick and suffocating. It was a damp, decadent tone I had never heard from him before.
“…Worry about me more.”
He had never spoken to me in such a tone before.
My hand, held in his grip, burned.
Even when I held his hand so much as a child, I felt nothing like this.
I was flustered by his suddenly changed tone and touch, unable to respond, when his words continued.
“Caress me more, hold me more, touch me more.”
His pupils were hazy, his voice completely transformed, his movements somehow dangerous.
“Your warmth, your skin… I love it so much…”
What happened next was almost shocking. Evan suddenly distanced himself from me and immediately slapped his own cheek.
“Evan!”
“This crazy bastard!”
“What?”
“Don’t mind it. I’m cursing at myself, Laria.”
Evan breathed heavily without meeting my eyes.
“Wait, let’s stay apart for a moment. No, the Magic Tower is dangerous, so I need to stay with you.”
“Evan, could it be…”
“You said the effective time was thirty minutes, right? I just need to endure thirty minutes.”
I stood there with my mouth open, dazed. Was it really such a potent drug that just inhaling the smoke could cause this?
‘This could never be commercialized.’
A drug with random effects, random targets, and random methods of ingestion—what use could it possibly have? But that wasn’t what mattered. If Evan’s true feelings, which had grown distant at some point, were “worry about me more,” then this was no different from when we were thirteen.
“Evan.”
I was confused and startled, that much was true.
I approached him as he stood at a distance and scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“You don’t need to pretend to be so grown up. If you like it when I worry about you and hold you, just tell me anytime…”
“That’s enough, Laria.”
Evan slowly backed away from me, shaking his head.
“That was nonsense. I’m not a child—why would I like something like that? Let’s just leave.”
He pressed his forehead and let out a sigh.
“I’ll hand you over to the Guard outside, and then I’ll just need to be alone for thirty minutes.”
This was a problem.
‘I haven’t achieved my purpose for coming here yet.’
But…
‘This is it. When things go well, they go like this.’
Right beside the spot where Evan had hastily retreated, there was a simple nameplate that read “Scroll Book.”
“Evan, then…”
I quickly grabbed his hand as he tried to distance himself again and spoke.
“Will you wait here for a bit? I really want to meet the Scroll Book.”
“Laria.”
Evan stared at me with worried eyes.
“The Scroll Book rapidly penetrates the weakest parts of human nature and shows corresponding illusions. There’s no need for you to see your own vulnerabilities.”
“Well, couldn’t you think of it differently?”
I smiled slightly and spoke.
“There are many dangers in the world, and you can’t live your entire life avoiding them. I could even use a simulation to keep my mind healthy.”
To be honest, I was thinking that perhaps an illusion of bankruptcy might appear. But even if such an illusion came, it seemed better than failing to escape in time and dying, so I thought I could overcome it.
“If I haven’t experienced truly painful things yet, wouldn’t practicing beforehand be a great help in life?”
Regardless, my words seemed persuasive enough that Evan couldn’t really counter them.
“No one has died or been injured from challenging the Scroll Book. I don’t know when I’ll come to the Magic Tower again, and I’d regret it if I didn’t go in.”
Evan simply stared at my face.
“I’m going in. You understand? So stop looking at me like that. Take your eyes off me.”
His gaze was so intense that I said something, and after a long hesitation, he answered.
“…I don’t know.”
His voice sounded like something was loose again.
“What don’t you know?”
“How do I take my eyes off?”
“…What?”
“Moving my gaze away from you… stopping looking at your face… I don’t know how to do that…”
I was so taken aback that I replied bluntly.
“But usually you avoid my eyes just fine.”
“Actually, I can’t really see your eyes well.”
He slowly approached, one step at a time.
“My judgment keeps getting clouded, and my mind turns white.”
He stopped at a distance where his breath touched my eyes.
“So…”
My entire body felt strangely ticklish, so I asked somewhat awkwardly.
“You’re not looking at me?”
“I’m not looking away.”
Evan’s gaze, which had barely avoided my eyes, was now fixed firmly on my lips.
“I keep looking, look once more, look endlessly, can’t help but look again.”
“W-where are you looking?”
“Your profile, your back, the tips of your hair, your round ears, your cute elbows, the peach fuzz on your ankles, the hollow at the nape of your neck….”
By the time his words were starting to sound increasingly like anatomical terminology.
I didn’t even have time to react. Evan simply turned around and began slamming his head against the wall. The sound—thud, thud—was so loud my jaw dropped.
“…I’m really going insane…. Ah, I mean me. Me.”
At least that was a relief.
“….”
I had no idea how to interpret this situation.
With his head still against the wall, Evan spoke coldly again.
“It’s nonsense. So don’t mind it.”
The temperature shift was like teleporting between ice water and hot water in an instant.
He sighed and continued.
“If you want to go, then go. But we’re going together.”
“Huh? You said you could already imagine what kind of illusions would appear. Why go? The entrance fee is ridiculously expensive too.”
“I can’t imagine sending you alone. Who knows what might happen.”
“I’d probably end up making a bet with the Scroll Book.”
“Either way, it’s not happening. I can’t let my mind rest.”
“Evan, I’m not a child. This is too overprotective….”
“If you cough, I’ll hand you a handkerchief. If you twist your ankle, I’ll carry you.”
When he pointed out physical weaknesses rather than mental ones, I had nothing to say.
“Let’s go. If I’m conscious of the illusions, it should be fine. But hold my hand.”
Evan sighed and extended his hand.
“…Isn’t it supposed to be me holding your hand?”
When he’d confidently declared he’d take care of me if I got sick, and now he was asking me to hold his hand—I couldn’t tell who was supposed to be the protector anymore.
“I think I need to keep reminding myself that you’re by my side.”
And so, with Evan—who kept saying strange things as his eyes went wild in moments—I entered the Scroll Book’s Room. The entrance fee was astronomical, but simply entering meant I was making a bet with the Scroll Book.
The Scroll Book was a magical artifact with consciousness, and by my judgment, it was a very “mischievous little book.” If you won a bet against it, it would tear out and give you the scroll you wanted, but the consensus was that winning against it was nearly impossible.
Of course, I was determined to win no matter what. After all, if the damage from the Scroll Book was only psychological, it couldn’t be worse than my own miserable death.
―Oh, two humans came in.
The moment we entered the room, the Scroll Book, arrogantly leaning back in a golden chair, even spoke.
―You know why you paid this money, right? You’re betting against me. Of course, no refunds.
I didn’t even have time to answer.
―Then I’ll give each of you an appropriate illusion and a task.
In an instant, the Scroll Book before my eyes vanished, and Evan, who had been holding my hand, disappeared as well.

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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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