Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 191

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

This was quite the predicament. I rushed toward Gerth while cradling Apet in my arms. Gerth remained seated at the table with an eerie stillness, his eyes completely motionless as though his eyelids had sealed shut and he’d lost consciousness.
“His heart is still beating, right?”
「His heart is beating! He’s just not breathing! But he hasn’t breathed for five whole minutes!」
I knew Gerth could hold his breath underwater for roughly ten minutes, but that was when he remained conscious. The prospect of him not breathing while unconscious filled me with dread. The nearby hospitals were undoubtedly overflowing from the townhouse collapse, and the healers had likely been monopolized by the nobility already.
“Right then!”
I cried out loudly, then tore away the elongated train of my wedding dress and rolled Apet up in it, hoisting her onto my back. With my right arm, I scooped up Gerth, and with my left, I gathered Seian.
“Everyone, meet at the Crown Princess Palace!”
A healer without other obligations could be summoned freely, and if I needed a quiet place, the Crown Princess Palace where Cecilia resided was ideal. It was so serene that you couldn’t hear a pin drop there.
Since everyone seemed startled, I insisted we go and have some tea to calm ourselves. I conjured a motor using free-form ice crystallization and soared into the sky. The Duchess Neftis bolted off cradling Evan’s Father, while the Department Head Professor gathered his students and transported them using gravity magic—quite a heartwarming sight.

◇ ◆ ◇

The moment I arrived at the Crown Princess Palace, the Bachelor was the first to greet me—by smacking my head enthusiastically. He bellowed that stupidity might be contagious and ordered everyone to maintain at least twenty paces from Her Highness Cecilia, all while demonstrating his deep loyalty.
“So you dragged all these people to Her Highness’s palace just for tea?”
“Tea isn’t the only thing we need. We also need a healer.”
Cecilia herded our entire group into the Outdoor Theater and took her tea on the terrace. She’d chosen the outdoor venue because she didn’t want to let people inside the palace proper, yet was perfectly content to use us as entertainment.
Everyone was still dressed in their wedding finery, so we looked quite theatrical.
“This is the residence of the Crown Princess—first in line to the throne of the Crowell Empire, in the Capital of Crownpolis, within the Imperial Palace itself. This is not a street-side café.”
“We didn’t come solely for tea, but functionally speaking, this place serves the same purpose as a café.”
At my remark, the Bachelor acted as though I’d suggested he kill himself, pummeling my head repeatedly. His agitation was rare enough that Cecilia on the terrace watched him intently, her expression unchanging yet clearly amused.
“At a maid café, maids serve tea. At a butler café, butlers serve tea.”
“What’s your point?”
“Here, Seian Mark Two and Three serve the tea. It’s a Seian café.”
The Bachelor put me in an armlock. As I collapsed onto the grass in pain, I tapped his calf twice in submission, but he refused to release the hold. Isn’t two taps the universal sign of surrender? Why does everyone here ignore basic grappling etiquette?
“If you don’t let go, I’m using magic!”
“You apologize to Her Highness first, you idiot!”
“I apologize for barging in so suddenly, Cecilia! If you call a healer, I’ll tell you something entertaining!”
Fresh gossip from my wedding ceremony today—the kind you’d never learn about since you couldn’t attend for safety reasons. As I dangled this bait, Cecilia nodded and the Bachelor released his hold. The attendants promptly set the table, and Seian Mark Two and Three brought refreshments.
So it really was a Seian café.
“I’m most curious why Seian is lying unconscious.”
“That’s likely because Apet and I are already married on paper.”
“Why is Sera here?”
“Sera came to the wedding to sing a congratulatory song.”
Cecilia made a thoughtful sound and showed interest. Fortunately, if I told the story well enough, I wouldn’t be thrown out. I became Scheherazade spinning tales to the Sultan, preserving Gerth and Seian’s lives through narrative alone.
This is the story of one woman who endured five catastrophic events, whose house collapsed, whose family shattered, and who fled to the Crown Princess Palace.
From my confrontation with the Sung King over Apet to the emergence of Samryong, I recounted everything except the parts involving Ilyong and Iyongi. By the time I finished, the healer had completed his examination and restored both Gerth and Seian to health.
Seian had been gasping and pale as death mere moments before, as though trapped in a nightmare, but his breathing had stabilized considerably. Gerth’s eyelids snapped open and he rose, surveying his surroundings. Healing magic truly is supreme—it had restored Gerth to perfect health despite him not breathing for over fifteen minutes.
“Is that man the Dragon King I’ve only heard about?”
“Yes, yes! That’s correct!”
Why is he using formal speech with Cecilia? He never used it with me even when he was terrified, and he spoke casually to Sera despite her being from the Imperial Family just like him, yet now he’s using the most deferential language with Cecilia, who’s bristling with authority. Both Ilyong and Iyongi asked why, and Samryong mumbled something about how she resembled that woman’s mother.
“Now that you mention it, there is a resemblance.”
“Especially in the unfathomable depth of her gaze.”
So the Goddess Mother must indeed have those bottomless eyes.
I’d been feeling an eerie chill since earlier—apparently it was because of the Crown Princess. Watching Ilyong and Iyongi converse, I felt oddly unsettled. Today I’ve witnessed the Duchess’s human side several times. Or perhaps she only acts like a psychopath when dealing with me. Does she speak normally with everyone else?
It’s infuriating.
I could have lived an ordinary life too, yet I feel cheated out of it, my blood boiling on and off, when Cecilia tugged sharply on my hair.
“Mothers are difficult beings to understand.”
“What you fail to understand isn’t limited to mothers, is it?”
“That applies to you as well.”
Don’t make me laugh—I empathize with people and receive empathy in return, living well among humanity. I even get praised for my excellent social skills, I’ll boast. Cecilia just said “haha”—not really laughing, just making the sound.
“If it’s mimicry, I can do that too.”
“Yet such a person lives alone in a gloomy palace with gloomy attendants.”
“Because there’s no need to pretend anymore.”
Cecilia said something cryptic about understanding once I reached the top. Anyway, she’s been quite talkative today—did seeing so many people lift her spirits?
Come to think of it, despite living alone so gloomily, Cecilia held parties frequently. She must enjoy observing people. Is it like watching ornamental fish?
“I, I became Apet Neftis?!”
Apet finally woke up. The man must have heard the whole story from Sung King, because he clung to me begging me to say it was a lie. But what’s done is done. I couldn’t call the truth a falsehood.
“Apet. You signed the marriage registration yourself, didn’t you?”
“When did I ever!”
“The marriage registration was hidden beneath the estimate for the wedding venue renovation work that you signed.”
Placing carbon paper and copying a signature beneath another document is a common fraud technique used in contracts. Apet’s fatal mistake was not noticing how many layers of paper there were. It’s the contractor’s duty to examine the papers if they seem unusually thick.
“You swindler!”
“Nobility has always lived by deceiving others.”
The Royal Family even more so. Look over there.
I affectionately gripped Apet’s shoulder and showed him Cecilia, and the man covered his face, lamenting how the nation was falling apart.
“Do you understand? Once Sera ascends to the throne, there will be no time for that band nonsense ever again.”
“Oh! So you’re saying the Land’s Heart must withdraw from the succession struggle for the band to reunite!”
Look at that—this filthy Royal Family member conveniently omits that Sera will be executed by any means if she abandons the succession struggle, and instead manipulates the clueless dragon. Eugene has no choice but to overlook Cecilia’s actions since the Northern Region’s damage must be minimized. Later, when Samryong is manipulated into merely pretending to fight, it’ll be an opportunity to witness Eugene’s resourcefulness in whether they can even conclude a treaty.
“This, this marriage is void! Isn’t this fraud!”
People who speak such rigid truths are exhausting to deal with. Whether it’s fraud or not, what matters is that Apet and I are husband and wife right now. If he’s unhappy about it, he can try changing imperial law. Or perhaps he could form an alliance and aim for an invasion of the Empire.
“The Seong Kingdom Alliance—there will be those who rejoice at a war after so long.”
Generally arms dealers and newly risen nobles without opportunities for merit would welcome it. When war breaks out, commoners die, but those above gain much. Recruiting demi-humans could actually become a brilliant strategy. By sending sturdy demi-humans to the battlefield instead of humans, I could gain tremendous support from the human majority among the populace.
Of course, I’ll stop things before they reach that point. But spreading rumors that demi-humans are being sent instead of humans to win the people’s hearts seems like a good method.
“Ugh! I, I never wanted to use this method!”
Judging that the method of taking Apet away and marrying her had become impossible, Sung King suddenly dropped to her knees before Apet. And she brought up a topic that would move the heart of Apet, who couldn’t bear to see people suffer.
“Elder! Isn’t there a small nation called Durab next to the Seong Kingdom! They say half the nation’s territory turned into a land of death overnight!”
I’d heard in passing at the Nobility Council that a plague was spreading there, but this was my first time hearing that half the territory had become a land of death. Both Sera and Apet looked shocked, and Cecilia… well, her lips curved up slightly, so she must have already known.
“This is a crisis! The Empire must dispatch personnel!”
“Crowell decided in the council meeting not to mobilize.”
So that was why Cecilia found it so amusing. Her expression betrayed her delight at having fresh ammunition to tease her younger brother with.
“If it were Aten Polat, he would have attended the meeting, but it seems my brother was kept in the dark.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————