Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 123

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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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Watching Reina Letem smile with her eyes narrowed like crescents, Evan felt her mind reeling. How could that scheming little snake—someone who’d swallowed a hundred cunning foxes whole—have played “everyone’s beloved sister” in the original story? She wanted back every moment of emotional impact from all those scenes where Reina had comforted others and made sacrifices.
“And even if Cecilia becomes Emperor as planned, there needs to be some turbulence so people recognize how hard we’ve worked.”
This woman really won’t do anything that costs her. Give me back my Reina Letem. Evan cried out in her heart dozens of times as she picked up a trump card.
“There’s nothing more we can do now. Let’s just play.”
“I’m in!”
“N-next time, I won’t lose!”
“Do I have to join in too?”
When Seian hesitated, the mages spoke in unison: “Of course!” According to Reina and Evan, housing and tuition would all be handled by Sera from now on, so Seian sat on the sofa with reluctance despite his reservations.
He decided he’d only play until today and study from now on. But Sera’s resolve and actions moved far faster than Seian’s.

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Two days later, on the weekend, Sera hurried back to the Palace and arranged a breakfast appointment with His Majesty. Reina was the precious club member, the Sunbird’s beloved Reina, but she was also the eldest daughter of Count Letem. Sera knew this fact well. Since she had decided to live as a component for the Imperial Court, she couldn’t simply discard her position as Third Princess.
It was Sera’s stubbornness to want her friends to see her as simply Sera. And her friends, gratefully, had accommodated that stubbornness to some degree. Sera Crowell was Sera, but she was also a princess. She knew that Sunbird and her friends didn’t view her solely as a princess or treat her with excessive deference. Reina’s blunt criticism was strong evidence of that. That was enough.
If she couldn’t relinquish the position of princess, it was more constructive to use it fully to protect her friends.
“Father, you’ve arrived.”
“Yes, I have.”
Sera was about to bow when the Emperor stopped her, so she merely nodded and sat back down. Today wasn’t an official occasion but a family breakfast. Because of this, Sunbird wasn’t present either, and the attendants only brought food without lingering nearby.
“You requested this meeting first? It seems you’re about to throw another tantrum.”
“You see me as nothing but a petulant child.”
“Ha, aren’t you actually young?”
The Emperor of the Crowell Empire felt his entire being lighten the moment he saw Sera.
The ministers and influential nobles had already sided with Cecilia and were discussing the procedures for succession. The imperial concubines had one by one returned to their family homes to survive Cecilia’s grasp. His relationship with a son whose existence was questionable remained awkward. The other daughters had either disappeared or been killed out of fear of Cecilia. No matter what, life had become unbearable because of Cecilia—yet only Sera fulfilled her role as a daughter and treated him warmly.
“Tell me. What do you want this time?”
“I’m not a child!”
“Ha.”
The only time there was anything to laugh about was when Sera was by his side.
It hadn’t been like this ten years ago. Back then, the Empress was still alive, several imperial concubines existed in the Palace, and all the children got along harmoniously.
Then one day, the Empress Palace burned. He suspected who was behind it. Cecilia. But the Emperor chose not to pursue it. His children mattered more than his wife. In fact, he even thought that her strong attachment to what was hers made her suitable material for an Emperor. Perhaps if he gave her everything she desired and made the position of Crown Princess entirely her own, her cruel nature would gradually improve.
It was a miscalculation.
Even when he gave Seian to her, even when he appointed her Crown Princess, Cecilia’s greed knew no bounds and her power grew terrifyingly. If this continued, he would soon be forced by the ministers’ pressure to step down from the throne himself—he who had barely passed fifty—and hand his position to Cecilia. And the ministers and influential nobles had the audacity to call this the virtue of a retiring Emperor and submitted memorials to that effect.
“Father.”
“When we’re alone, call me Father.”
“No, Father. This is a request as a princess.”
“Oh?”
Sera, who rarely invoked her position as princess, was now making a request as one. It was unusual—she who had refused to budge even when given support to counter Cecilia.
“As Third Princess, I wish to sponsor and place Seian under my protection.”
“….”
What on earth had Seian Crowell smeared on himself to make every single daughter in the realm want to claim him? Even the Emperor, his own father, couldn’t fathom his son’s appeal and clutched his throbbing head in frustration.
“Sera, you didn’t keep that Sunbird by your side, did you?”
“Yes, I only love Sunbird, but?”
So why Seian again?
The Emperor, thinking of his son whose exterior was at least presentable, hastily redirected his thoughts. What mattered now wasn’t why Sera wanted Seian. What mattered was the consequence of Sera’s declaration to protect him. Wasn’t this precisely the situation he had long desired?
If Sera fought Cecilia over the throne, the power concentrated on Cecilia would scatter. And the Emperor, forced to choose between the two, would consolidate his authority. He could hand the throne to Cecilia and avoid nagging, stress, and continue ruling for another decade without worry.
“You’re saying you’ll take Seian under your wing?”
“Seian is a precious club member of mine. I want to help him complete his studies without relying on scholarships.”
“Hmm….”
If Sera simply swept Seian away, he was intensely curious what expression Cecilia would wear. The arrows of her wrath would certainly fly toward Sera. Those days of trembling in anxiety, wondering when Cecilia would send assassins to eliminate him and seize the throne—those were finally over.
“That’s acceptable. But there’s a condition.”
I’m sorry, Sera. But I love you, my daughter. The Emperor repeated those words countless times in his heart while his mouth pushed Sera into a corner.
“I’d like you to oversee the ceremony that marks the beginning of this Founding Festival.”
“The ceremony that marks the beginning? You mean the one where they split rocks and water gushes out?”
“That’s the one.”
This was a ceremony honoring the Crowell Empire’s storied fraud. In this capital where not a drop of water flowed, they had brought House Neftis and staged a show, deceiving everyone into believing the Emperor had performed a miracle, thus funneling in manpower and capital to lay the foundation of the great empire. To never forget that the empire’s existence owed to that fraudulent spectacle, successive emperors or heirs to the throne had split rocks and announced the beginning of the Founding Festival.
“However, this should be overseen by Cecilia or Your Majesty….”
“If you won’t do it, then give up on Seian.”
If you don’t, Cecilia will take Seian back. Will you or won’t you—at this rate Seian will wither away. The Emperor continued to dangle Seian before Sera, pressing for her answer. He didn’t know why Sera had suddenly changed her mind, but he couldn’t let go of this windfall. Above all, the Emperor wanted to stop his power struggle with the displeased Cecilia and simply watch the spectacle unfold between Sera and Cecilia from across the river.
“Didn’t you make your request as a princess? Then fulfill your duty as one!”
The Emperor pressed Sera. Just say you’ll do it. Go fight Cecilia already. Spurred on by her father’s goading, Sera clenched her fists and shouted loudly.
“Fine, I’ll give it a shot!”
“That’s my daughter!”
The Emperor rejoiced inwardly and summoned an attendant. Strike while the iron is hot, he commanded—immediately change the Founding Festival schedule and announce far and wide that it would be Sera, not Cecilia, who marks its beginning.
This news reached Sunbird’s ears first, as he waited outside the door for Sera to finish her meal. The moment he heard that Sera would oversee the ceremony marking the festival’s beginning, Sunbird convulsed and collapsed.
The second to react swiftly was Evan Laef. She hadn’t heard about Sera’s festival news, but a notification pinged—the scenario had changed, granting 100,000 plot development points. Evan, who had been sucking on bubble tea, choked on tapioca starch blocking her airway and gasped for breath on the brink of death.

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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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