I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 140

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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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Aselia?
I wanted to speak, but no words came out.
Aselia leaned close to Isabel and whispered.
“How could you pour out such powerful mana all at once? Did you really think a Villorian body could withstand that?”
Aselia placed her hand on Isabel’s forehead.
She seemed to be discerning something.
Aselia exhaled deeply.
“Sigh. The demon’s talent is consuming your body.”
In Aselia’s eyes, Isabel’s magical talent could not be called human.
The mana Isabel had unleashed was far too powerful for a human body to endure.
“You performed a miracle. But every miracle demands a price.”
A miracle?
Isabel was bewildered.
I couldn’t understand what miracle I had performed.
“The price of that miracle is….”
Aselia lifted Isabel’s wrist and examined Narbidal’s Mark.
“Usually, it’s one’s life.”
Isabel wanted to say something in response, but still no words came.
“You gave Karin a new life, but in exchange, you lost one year of your own.”
“….”
“Through the mana you infused, Karin’s mana circuits will be restored. Well, whether I should call it restoration or creation, I’m not entirely sure.”
“….”
“In any case, remember this. Your last birthday won’t be your twenty-first, but your twentieth.”
The world gradually grew darker.
Aselia’s form faded with the darkness, and Isabel’s eyes snapped open.
‘Huh?’
I saw people laughing around me.
‘What was that?’
Wondering if I had just been dreaming, I looked toward Aselia.
Aselia was smiling brightly as well.
Tesleron blinked his eyes and murmured.
“I knew you were remarkable, but to this extent….”
A wave of mana had erupted so violently that the Royal Family’s Knight Order had mobilized for an emergency response.
‘What on earth happened?’
I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed the infusion of mana had succeeded.
Tesleron picked up the small pill held in Isabel’s hand.
“There, it’s complete. Karin. Eat it quickly.”
“….”
“Hurry!”
Tesleron practically forced the pill into Karin’s mouth, then handed her a cup of water with his rough hands.
‘Anyway, she’s a tsundere.’
Gulp.
Karin swallowed the pill, and at that very moment, a blue light began seeping from her body.
* * *
I didn’t need to look closely to understand what was happening.
I felt a tremendous surge of mana emanating from Karin.
‘Her mana circuits… they’ve been restored?’
It was established doctrine that once mana circuits were damaged, they could never be repaired.
Yet a miracle had occurred.
I found myself breaking into a wide smile without thinking.
“Really? Really, really, really?”
Then, a strange memory surfaced.
‘Through the mana you infuse, I’ll be able to restore Karin’s mana circuits. Well, whether you call it restoration or creation, I’m not entirely sure.’
Once the memory came back, that scene became crystal clear.
It felt as though I’d been pulled into some strange cosmos, and I recalled everything Aselia had said back then.
‘I’m not entirely sure, but… it seems I consumed 1 year of my life to bring about this miracle. I only lost a year because I possess a Villorian body.’
I stood there dazed, staring at Karin.
Karin drew closer to me, and I stepped back.
“Your Highness?”
“…”
A year had vanished.
An entire year of such happy time had simply disappeared.
I felt somewhat confused by that fact.
“Thanks to Your Highness’s miracle, my mana circuits appear to have been restored.”
“That’s truly wonderful.”
I forced myself to smile.
If I said I wasn’t happy, that would be a lie.
But the shock of losing a year as the price of the miracle far outweighed that joy.
Teisleon tilted his head.
“I thought it would be the greatest birthday gift? Isabel, aren’t you happy? The mana circuits of someone you truly love have been restored?”
“I’m happy. Incredibly happy.”
“Hmm. Well, I’m relieved you’re happy.”
I wanted to smile with genuine joy.
The deed was already done, after all.
There was no way to recover the year that had vanished.
So perhaps the right choice now was simply to embrace happiness.
Yet my heart wouldn’t cooperate.
‘Why am I like this?’
When I had decided to give 5 years for Bumblebee, my heart hadn’t felt this heavy.
Today was supposed to be joyful and happy, so why did my heart feel so complicated?
I soon came to understand the reason why.
‘Perhaps one year now feels more precious than five years back then.’
Back then, my life was naturally precious too.
A life without pain, where I could run freely, surrounded by loved ones—it was a gift to me.
Yet it seemed my life had become even more precious than it was then.
Experiencing today made it all the more clear.
With so many people by my side, the thought of this precious time slipping away from me again filled me with dread.
‘I should be happy.’
I should be joyful.
So many people gathered for me.
‘I should be smiling.’
Yet I couldn’t make myself do it.
I felt the urge to run away somewhere.
Then, I heard a voice.
“We’ll call off the celebration.”
It was my Biological Father’s voice.
“…Biological Father?”
My Biological Father stepped closer and stood before me.
As if to shield me from all the unknown things in this world.
* * *
An awkward silence hung in the room.
Only Mother, my Biological Father, and I remained in this room.
“Come here.”
Mother, sitting on the bed, beckoned me with her hand.
As if enchanted, I walked over and sat beside her.
Without thinking, I rested my head on her shoulder.
Mother gently stroked my hair with her warm palm.
“What happened?”
“….”
I hesitated for a moment.
A year has disappeared.
But I didn’t want to say those words.
If Mother heard that my year was gone, she would be devastated.
It was shocking at first, but after some time passed, I felt better.
“Tell me.”
“Nothing happened.”
Mother didn’t press me further and continued stroking my hair.
After a long while, I opened my mouth.
“I’m fi….”
“From now on, you’re forbidden from saying you’re fine in front of me. Do you understand?”
“….”
“Nothing happened.”
“And you’re forbidden from saying nothing happened either.”
“I’m serious.”
Someday she would learn the truth, but I didn’t want to tell her now.
“Really… nothing happened.”
Suddenly, I felt the tenderness in Mother’s hand as she stroked my head.
“Really… yes.”
My Biological Father’s expression as he simply stood there watching me was the same.
So tender and so tender that I felt tears welling up from being intoxicated by that tenderness.
I quickly made an excuse.
“I’m just so grateful. I’m crying because I wonder if I’m someone worthy of being loved this much.”
Then my Biological Father opened his mouth.
“There’s something I still haven’t told you.”
“Yes?”
“You remember what happened when you were born.”
“…Yes.”
“I regret who I was then.”
My Biological Father looked down at me and spoke.
That something useless had been born.
Somehow the angle was similar to back then.
But the expression on my Biological Father’s face as he spoke was very different.
“I still haven’t said I’m sorry. I was sorry. I was not a father then.”
“….”
After a moment passed, I asked.
“Then I’m not useless?”
Mother’s hand stroking me paused for a moment.
Mother spoke to me.
“Isabel is the daughter your mother and father love most in this world.”
I looked toward my Biological Father.
Somehow, it seemed his eyes were slightly reddened.
I asked again.
“I’m not useless?”
“….”
I asked once more.
“Am I a useless child?”
“You are not useless.”
“Say it tenderly.”
“You are….”
My Biological Father seemed to struggle with opening his mouth, pondering for a long while.
“What a lovely child you are.”
“But I haven’t even mastered Villorian swordsmanship.”
“Yet you are Isabel. Whether you master the sword or not, whether you grow stronger or not—you are Isabel.”
“….”
Though the words were rough, they brought me great comfort.
I had thought I didn’t need to hear an apology, but now that I heard one, I realized I was wrong.
Mother spoke to me.
“I know that Mother and Father have fallen short in many ways. I’m sorry. It may feel somewhat distasteful to say this now, but….”
“No, it doesn’t!”
I shook my head vigorously.
It wasn’t distasteful at all.
This was something I had longed for so desperately—how could it ever feel wrong?
“Then tell Mother and Father honestly.”
I nearly spoke without thinking.
That the time we could spend together had been reduced by one year.
“Mother. Will you hold me?”
As if she had been waiting for those words, Mother embraced me tightly.
Just as I had felt when I was a baby, Mother’s arms were truly wonderful.
Father approached silently and spread his large arms, holding both Mother and me at once.
It felt like being protected within the most secure shelter in the world.
“You know…”
This was undoubtedly the safest place imaginable.
Yet an inexplicable anxiety was rising from deep within my chest.
Against my will, my body began to tremble.
“You know, Mother. You know, Father.”
Mother and Father simply waited for me to speak, slowly and patiently.
Holding me close all the while.
The words I had buried so deeply in my heart kept struggling to escape my lips.
‘No. Don’t say it.’
I didn’t want to say anything.
I only wanted to savor this precious moment.
I only wanted to feel the warmth within this safe shelter.
‘No. Don’t say it.’
But I opened my mouth anyway.
“I’m so scared.”
The feelings I had locked away deep in my heart, sealed with countless locks, burst forth.
Against my will, my lips kept moving.
“The truth is… I don’t think I want to die.”
“….”
Once the lock had broken, there was no stopping it.
I told myself every day that everything was fine.
I had always said the same to everyone.
I had even told myself the same thing.
But today, I finally understood.
The more time passed, the more precious each moment became.
The happiness given to me shone so brilliantly that I wanted to clutch it tightly in my fists.
“I don’t think I’m fine.”
Even though I knew there was no answer.
Even though I knew that saying this would shatter my Mother and Biological Father’s hearts.
Still, I could not help but ask.
“What should I do? What should I do?”

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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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