I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 13

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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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I thought I’d torn through it a bit.
The knights must have been flustered by my commanding presence.
“Pfft.”
The knight chuckled kindly.
No, this isn’t right. What on earth went wrong?
“My lady, you shouldn’t impersonate the Princess like that.”
“You might receive a terrible punishment. Ahahaha!”
The two of them didn’t seem to believe that I was Isabel.
Well, my face wasn’t particularly well-known, and given my current appearance, I could understand why.
I stopped the Midwife from saying anything and asked her to put me down.
I asked the Midwife to put me down.
I stood with dignity on both feet.
I enunciated as carefully as possible.
“State your affiliation and name.”
The knights ignored my words and turned their gaze toward the Midwife.
Their expressions were quite different from when addressing me.
“The young lady is still a child, so we’ll overlook that, but what are you doing?”
“Take the young lady and return at once.”
I spoke.
“The Princess is speaking, and you ignore her? Is this the custom of Villorian?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking for your affiliation and name.”
Confusion crossed the knights’ faces.
They seemed to sense something was amiss.
“Don’t the knights guarding the Imperial Palace Banquet Hall know the faces of the imperial family?”
“….”
“Will you be punished? If you truly don’t know my face, the proper procedure would be to report to your superior and confirm first.”
“….”
“You’re forgiven.”
In reality, the two knights simply stood there without saying a word.
They seemed quite bewildered.
‘As the Princess, I’ve shown enough presence.’
Many eyes were watching.
My every action would be recorded, and it would become my reputation and image.
So I had to be certain about what mattered and speak clearly about what needed to be said.
I smiled softly.
“But I’ll let it slide. Today is a commemorative day, after all.”
* * *
“In commemoration of the day the sun rose, the founding mage of our Mirotell Magic Federation, Amuriel, personally infused mana to create….”
Serna quietly poked Ron in the ribs.
“Your Majesty, you should offer your gratitude in return.”
The person who had just presented the gift was Wilhelm, the rising prodigy of the Mirotell Magic Federation.
The Mirotell Magic Federation was an absolute power that divided the continent nearly equally with the Vilotian Sword Empire.
Serna whispered softly.
“Your Majesty?”
In truth, Ron’s ears had not registered Wilhelm’s words.
He was already sensing the commotion occurring at the entrance.
His exceptional hearing had caught Isabel’s voice.
“Make way! Clear the path! I am Isabel.”
From that moment on, Ron’s attention was entirely fixed on the entrance.
Everything Isabel said afterward proved to be correct.
‘That’s right. Asking about affiliation and name first was good, and logically rebuking the mistake was proper. Utterly befitting a princess.’
She understood him very well, and she had sensed that his mind was elsewhere.
As the Empress, she performed the role that should have been his.
She opened her mouth.
“We express our deepest gratitude for the precious gift sent by the Mirotell Magic Federation.”
She met Wilhelm’s gaze.
With the bearing of an Empress, she smiled warmly and continued.
“In the future, we shall visit the Mirotell Magic Federation and offer our separate respects to Lord Amuriel.”
Ron’s current behavior was a serious breach of diplomatic protocol.
Yet no one seemed to mind.
The Empress shone so brilliantly.
But then, Ron rose from his seat.
“Listen well.”
His voice was infused with mana.
Like a shot arrow, it pierced through the people and reached the entrance.
The Knights’ bodies stiffened.
“Did you hear?”
“Y-yes, we heard.”
Both turned their gaze toward the interior of the entrance simultaneously.
Their eyes met his stare.
Cold sweat trickled down their backs.
“P-please enter, Princess.”
“We shall escort you.”
I sensed that something had gone wrong.
Their expressions had become rigid.
Isabel took one of the Knights’ hands and walked forward.
Sweat was pouring from the Knight’s palm.
Isabel smiled brightly and spoke.
“It’s alright. I forgive you.”
“….”
“Father only punishes a single mistake once.”
The Knight suddenly felt that the small hand grasped in his own was remarkably immense.
He realized that this child, wearing such a small and beautiful smile, carried the blood of the Imperial House.
“I apologize for my discourtesy. In the future, I shall seek you out separately and beg your forgiveness.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It would ease my conscience.”
“Then buy me jelly. Or ice cream. Jelly is peach flavor, ice cream is chocolate.”
The Knight experienced a peculiar sensation.
He encountered a contradiction—an undeniable dignity coupled with an irresistible cuteness.
Isabel arrived at the seat of honor escorted by the Knight.
Isabel lifted her gaze toward Ron above.
“I prepared a gift for you, Your Majesty.”
The delegation members whispered among themselves.
The remarks were hardly favorable.
Isabel’s current attire and appearance were decidedly unsuited to this banquet.
Several noblewomen were greatly shocked.
“Good heavens. That is the Princess?”
“Her face is covered in soot?”
“How utterly disgraceful.”
They concealed their faces behind their fans.
“They say the Imperial House cast her out. It appears to be true.”
“Even so, one would expect basic grooming to be maintained.”
“I would have severely reprimanded the Midwife.”
Serna, standing directly beside Isabel, presented a starkly contrasting figure.
“The Empress possesses such grace and elegance.”
“Even a young lady from a fallen noble house would appear more refined.”
Isabel paid little mind to the surrounding whispers.
She could scarcely hear them anyway, and with only seventeen years remaining, she had no time for such trivial concerns.
“I have something for you.”
“What is it?”
Ron, who had shown little interest in the Mirotell Magic Federation’s gift, leaned his upper body considerably forward.
“A ring.”
Isabel confidently presented the flower ring.
It shimmered brilliantly, infused with magical power.
“Tada, it sparkles and shines!”
“….”
“Shall I put it on for you? May I come up?”
Everyone stared at Isabel in bewilderment.
They all expected the iron-blooded Emperor to unleash a wrathful rebuke.
Some covered their faces with fans and whispered among themselves.
“I’ve never seen such humiliation.”
“Indeed, you’re right.”
“A half-baked Princess who can’t even master swordplay—she’s completely tarnished His Majesty’s reputation.”
Then, a breeze swept through.
The fans of those speaking negatively about the Princess were torn to shreds.
At the same moment, the Emperor spoke.
“Stay there. I shall come to you.”
Ron, who had been sitting motionless in the seat of honor like a stone monument, rose to his feet.
It was the first time he had done so.
He walked down slowly.
He faced his disheveled daughter.
Then he knelt on one knee to meet Isabel at eye level.
“Did you make this?”
“Yes.”
“And you ended up looking like this while making it?”
“…Yes.”
My voice grew small.
In truth, I had been playing with mud when it happened.
But it was rather difficult to tell him the honest truth.
“This won’t do. I’ll have to scold the Midwife severely.”
“Oh, no!”
“I’m joking.”
Ron brushed back Isabel’s tousled bangs behind her ear.
His touch was unfamiliar, yet not clumsy.
Isabel loved his touch so much that I broke into a wide smile.
The warmth I had never experienced in my past life made my heart flutter with joy.
I leaned forward and whispered into Ron’s ear.
“I like having Father here.”
“…”
“It’s a secret.”
“What’s a secret?”
“That I like Father.”
I covered my mouth with my finger and said “Shh.”
Isabel laughed brightly.
‘I’m a bit embarrassed, aren’t I.’
My face flushed without reason. Still, I wanted to be honest with this emotion and feeling in my heart.
After all, I only had seventeen more times left.
‘That’s right, the gift—I need to give him the gift.’
With my small fern-like hands, I carefully slipped the ring onto Ron’s finger.
Ron’s hand trembled ever so slightly.
* * *
The night drew close to midnight.
Serna, lying in bed, exhaled a deep sigh.
“How could you possibly select a flower ring as the greatest gift? It became such a massive issue. It still is. You’re well aware that Your Majesty’s actions were interpreted as disrespecting the other delegations, aren’t you?”
He had designated the flower ring given by the Princess as the greatest gift.
This was an act of dismissing and insulting the delegations who had prepared their gifts with such care.
“If you’re going to maintain an expressionless face, you should do it consistently. Throughout the entire banquet, Your Majesty kept that blank expression, but the moment your daughter appeared, you smiled.”
“That never happened, Serna.”
“You smiled. Definitely. I saw it.”
“I didn’t smile.”
“Really? Want to bet on it?”
“…”
Cornered, Ron exercised his right to remain silent.
According to his personal physician, the Emperor suffered from a condition where he “absolutely cannot lie whenever Serna is involved.”
His face flushed slightly.
“It was a few years ago… You remember getting angry, saying a ring was hardly appropriate for a swordmaster?”
A swordmaster never adorns their hands with cumbersome things.
It subtly alters the sensation of gripping a blade.
“Yet this time, you accepted a flower ring—one infused with mana that disrupts a swordmaster’s mana flow—and designated it as the greatest gift. In front of everyone.”
“…”
“I’ll be busy managing the aftermath. I may not see you for the next three or four months. Perhaps even longer.”
This was punishment for Ron.
Diplomatic complications were trivial matters, but not seeing Serna was far too grave.
Only then did Ron grasp the true severity of the situation.
“Have I erred so greatly?”
“I didn’t say you were wrong.”
Serna smiled softly.
“I would have made the same choice.”
Regardless, the aftermath had to be managed.
The feelings of many delegations had been hurt, so a long journey would be necessary to soothe them.
It was tedious and burdensome, but that was politics and diplomacy.
And the next day, Ron visited Isabel’s chambers for the first time in ages.

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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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