I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 102

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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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Michael seemed to be in a foul mood over a rather peculiar point.
“Well, I… uh…”
I couldn’t quite understand why my excitement bothered him so much.
“Is it because my brother is stronger than me?”
“…”
Now I could see it clearly.
Michael’s pride had been wounded.
“That’s not it…”
“What do you mean it’s not?!”
A gust of wind shot from Michael’s nose.
The breath was white in color—quite a curious sight.
I could actually see the breath of air…
‘How is that even possible?’
Every time I felt it, Michael was the very embodiment of “how is that possible.”
Michael clenched his fists tightly.
“This time, I’ll win. Just you wait and see.”
Michael burned with renewed determination.
* * *
To put it bluntly, Michael lost again today.
Michael huffed indignantly and raised his wooden sword, but soon—thump!—he collapsed.
His strength had given out, and he fell.
“Oh, Brother!”
I gasped in surprise and rushed over to Michael.
“Snore… snore…”
Michael was in a disheveled state, deeply asleep.
‘Is this really happening…?’
Was it truly possible to fall into such deep sleep so suddenly after fighting with all his might just moments before?
And the people around us just accepted it as if it were natural?
A prince had collapsed from exhaustion?
‘Well, I suppose it could happen.’
I decided to think of it comfortably.
If I were startled by every little thing like this, my heart would give out.
I lifted my head and looked at the Third Prince, my brother Kaman, standing before me.
‘Michael still looks like such a little kid…’
In my heart, Michael was always just Michael.
No matter how I thought about it, he didn’t feel like an older brother.
Vilotian bodies grow far more rapidly than others.
Yet despite being twelve years old, Michael still looked like a ten-year-old child.
This very phenomenon was so mysterious that even the Imperial Palace scholars were studying it.
But Kaman was different.
‘Wow…!’
The brilliance was dazzling.
At fifteen years old, he looked completely grown to me, trapped as I was in this eight-year-old body.
The relatively youthful Kaman I’d seen during the selection ceremony was nowhere to be found.
‘It really is blinding.’
His neatly trimmed silver hair gleamed as it caught the sunlight.
That was the most distinctive feature of my brother, the Third Prince Kaman.
Silver hair as flowing as rippling water.
It was a rather clichéd description, but his eyes—calm as a still lake—gazed down at me.
For fifteen, his expression was remarkably world-weary, yet it carried the melancholic air of a wandering poet steeped in sorrow.
My eight-year-old body betrayed my true feelings without my consent.
“You’re really handsome.”
And before I could stop myself, I clapped my hand over my mouth.
Oh no, how embarrassing. Why did the child penalty have to activate here of all places?
Fortunately, my brother seemed not to have heard me.
“….”
Kaman was the complete opposite of Michael in temperament.
He was the type who spoke only when absolutely necessary, and after staring at me blankly for a moment, he turned and began to walk away.
No, I can’t let him leave like this!
“Brother!”
“….”
Kaman stopped in his tracks and glanced back at me.
I apologize to Michael, but I left him behind and rushed toward my brother instead.
“Do you remember me? My name is Isabel, and I’m your sister.”
“….”
His expression seemed to ask why I was stating something so obvious.
His face was filled with lethargy and ennui.
“What do you want?”
“I didn’t get to greet you properly before, so I wanted to say hello.”
Kaman seemed unable to comprehend me.
“Is there a reason why you and I need to greet each other?”
“Well, we’re family, aren’t we?”
But there was no particular change in Kaman’s expression.
Looking at that face, I could certainly see a resemblance to my father.
It was sudden, but I suddenly missed my father.
“….”
Kaman turned away again, as if he’d wasted enough time on this pointless exchange.
I watched his retreating back and smiled softly.
‘I said hello.’
My heart was racing.
The character I found most heartbreaking in 【When the Vilotian Villainess Dies】 was none other than the Third Prince, Kaman.
Though his screen time was minimal, he left a considerable impact with even those brief appearances.
‘I used to cry whenever Kaman appeared.’
Meeting that character face-to-face made me viscerally aware that I had possessed this body.
I cupped my hands around my mouth and spoke loudly.
“I’ll visit your barracks later! Let’s have dinner together!”
* * *
Ten years ago.
Five-year-old Kaman stared intently at his diary.
[What is obvious to some may be desperately needed by others.]
Children of the Vilotian Royal Family typically matured quickly, but Kaman matured even faster than most.
His mental development was particularly precocious, giving him far greater depth of thought than his peers and a remarkably rich vocabulary.
[That was what family meant to me.]
Five-year-old Kaman burned his entire diary.
He watched the diary turn to ash and disappear with an impassive gaze, deciding to turn away from all his emotions.
‘Since I was born a Vilotian, this is the right path.’
The world Kaman dreamed of did not exist here.
The Vilotian Royal Family was not the beautiful place he dreamed of. Children were merely tools for succession, and the royal family existed only as a means for Villorian’s prosperity.
His mother, Serna, was the only one who loved him as family.
But Serna was far too busy.
Significant trade conflicts had erupted between the Mirotell Magic Federation and Villorian at that time.
Four of the Seven Kings were entangled in it, making the web of interests extraordinarily complex.
Serna spent far more days away from the Imperial Palace than within it.
She had never slept more than three hours a day and could not spend time with Kaman.
Precocious as he was, Kaman completely understood his mother’s circumstances, yet apart from understanding, he grew increasingly lonely.
Though rare, the time he spent with his mother was so sweet.
That happiness was like a mirage, too fleeting, and it only tormented Kaman further.
After that, Kaman devoted himself entirely to swordsmanship and began achieving rapid progress.
He pushed himself beneath rigid rules and discipline, refining his swordsmanship like a machine.
There was only one reason he cultivated his swordsmanship.
‘If this is what brings Mother and Father joy….’
And ten years passed until today.
A young child appeared, spouting nonsense.
‘Well, we’re family, aren’t we?’
Was there any word more meaningless to the imperial family than ‘family’?
That child clearly lacked too much experience of the world.
The child had spouted nothing but useless words.
‘I’ll visit your barracks later! Let’s have dinner together!’
* * *
If I recall correctly, Kaman appeared in the original work exactly three times.
One time, she burned a diary she’d kept for years while crying her eyes out.
There’s a comedic moment here—she probably remembers staring at the burning diary with a composed expression.
And another time was when Mother passed away.
‘Ah, I don’t even want to think about it.’
Ugh.
I shuddered.
That scene where Mother, who had been tormented by Isabel’s villainy in the novel, ultimately died young.
It would never happen now, but just thinking about it was horrifying.
Anyway, in the novel, after Mother died, Kaman didn’t speak a single word for an entire year.
That was Kaman’s way of mourning Mother’s death.
‘And the final scene was when the Vilotian Empire fell at the hands of the awakened male lead Arun… probably?’
At that point, Kaman confronts Arun.
By the way, Kaman was the last surviving member of the Vilotian Royal Family.
“Drop your sword and surrender. The Emperor is already dead, and I have finished my revenge. I hold no grudge against you, so I will spare your life.”
Before Arun, Kaman does not drop his sword.
Kaman approaches his father’s cold corpse and bows twice.
“I still loved you, Father.
After speaking those words he’d buried in his heart his whole life, Kaman took his own life.”
…That was what the novel contained.
In truth, most of the focus in “When the Doomed Villainess Dies” was on the male lead Arun and the female lead Aselia.
Kaman, the Third Prince of Villorian, was merely one supporting character passing through.
Yet the reason it resonated so deeply with me was probably because Kaman’s circumstances were similar to mine.
“What is obvious to some may be desperately needed by others.
Family was that for me.”
It was the same for me.
I had no family either.
I recalled the novel’s content and pictured Kaman’s face.
‘I just… want to comfort him somehow.’
It’s not because he’s handsome, really.
Right now, I genuinely felt something like an older sister’s heart.
…I’m serious.
I bolted upright from the cot I’d been lying on.
“Where are you going?”
Yuri asked.
“I’m going to visit Brother Kaman.”
“Didn’t you say you’d go in the evening? I haven’t even finished preparing dessert yet…”
“It’s fine. I’ll be back by evening, so do your best, Yuri.”
“Understood.”
I left the barracks and searched for Brother Kaman.
‘Why is this place so vast?’
This won’t do. I need to ask for directions.
The soldiers moving about were traveling with strict military discipline, and I felt a bit intimidated about approaching them.
Of course, they would listen to whatever I said, but this was simply a matter of preference.
‘I should ask that gentleman who looks a bit kinder.’
But then, I spotted a familiar face.
“Huh? Captain Lucain?”
Captain Lucain of the Erbe Mountains Seventh Boundary Outpost.
Captain Lucain, who had visited the Imperial Palace before, was here.
“W-Your Highness, is that you?”
Captain Lucain was walking while commanding roughly ten soldiers under him.
Captain Lucain shouted loudly.
“All units, attention! At ease!”
Snap! Snap! Snap!
The soldiers moved with sharp precision.
‘Oh, no, wait a moment!’
A terrible premonition washed over me.

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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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