I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 146

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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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When Sermon hurled me into the lake.
As my breath grew ragged and my vision spun, I felt the end approaching—my twenty-first death arriving far sooner than I’d anticipated.
This was truly the end.
There was nothing I could do.
Yet it was in that moment of despair that I grasped something with crystalline clarity.
I truly wanted to live.
There was no doubt—I wanted to live.
Even if it were nothing but a fragment of false hope.
Even if it were a counterfeit dream that would shatter into pieces the moment I reached for it.
I wanted to cling to that lie, that illusion.
‘But….’
Looking into Viscount Biatonn’s pitiful eyes, I found I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
When I told Viscount Biatonn that I loved him, it was no mere child’s prattle.
To me, Viscount Biatonn was infinitely precious—someone I desperately wanted to shower with love.
And he was someone who gave me far more love than I deserved.
‘That’s why I can’t say it.’
Not to ease my heart a little more.
Not to indulge in a bit more selfishness.
I didn’t want to burden Viscount Biatonn further.
The weight I carried wouldn’t lighten even if I set it down.
I know all too well how much I regretted it after telling Mother and Father.
The shame of becoming a liar was merely an excuse; what truly tormented me was the agony I’d driven into their hearts like a spike.
‘I can’t repeat that mistake.’
Mother is Mother.
Father is Father.
They are the ones who gave me life.
So even when I burden them with such troublesome selfishness and whining, there’s some understanding to be found.
But Viscount Biatonn was different.
‘I must maintain boundaries.’
Viscount Biatonn called to me again.
“Your Highness?”
His voice was parched.
A voice yearning for a single drop of spring rain.
“I’m truly grateful for your feelings.”
I smiled.
As if to say there was nothing to worry about.
“But I’m truly happy right now.”
“….”
“Because today is the first day of my remaining life.”
Whether water or tears, droplets fell steadily from Viscount Biatonn’s chin.
“Thank you for being with me on that first day.”
Viscount Biatonn didn’t respond.
He was always so tender and warm, but his silence made me feel a little frightened.
“Are you angry?”
“Yes, I am angry.”
I thought he would say he wasn’t angry.
Viscount Biatonn was always someone who smiled, so I was slightly taken aback.
“However, I seem to have contracted a disease where I cannot be angry with the Princess.”
“Such… such a disease exists?”
“Yes. And I’ve also contracted another disease where I attribute all wrongs that occur in relation to the Princess to my own fault.”
“The… the disease names are quite something.”
“So I’ve decided not to be angry.”
Viscount Biatonn smiled again.
“So please promise me this. If someday the distance between me and the Princess grows a little closer, I hope you’ll be more honest with me. I’ll make the effort.”
Viscount Biatonn gently took my hand and brought it to his cheek.
It seemed he was confirming the warmth of my hand.
Thank goodness. So you’re truly alive.
It felt like I could hear those words.
I felt oddly embarrassed and turned my head away slightly.
Only now did my mind become clear, and I began to notice my surroundings.
“But you know…”
Something was wrong.
‘Sermon is collapsed…’
I saw Sermon jump into the lake.
After that, I had no memory.
‘Why is Bumblebee…?’
Bumblebee was collapsed at my feet.
I jolted up in shock.
“Kim Beolkkot!”
Bumblebee wasn’t breathing.
* * *
Viscount Biatonn couldn’t explain exactly what had happened either.
It didn’t seem like he was trying to hide anything from me.
“…However, all miracles come with a price. I believe Kim Beolkkot performed a miracle.”
I called out and shook Bumblebee.
“Kim Beolkkot!”
No matter how much I called, my voice didn’t reach Bumblebee.
A fear far greater than when I met the One-Eyed Giant’s gaze pressed down on me.
“No. This can’t be right?”
Bumblebee didn’t open his eyes.
I checked for a heartbeat, but the heart had stopped as well.
“This isn’t right!”
I finally broke down into tears.
If Viscount Biatonn hadn’t embraced me, I might have thrown myself back into Glass Lake.
A nine-year-old body was terribly impulsive, and my current mind wasn’t mature enough to fully control the body’s impulses.
Before long, the sun began to set.
Like a doll that had lost its soul, I leaned against a tree and sat blankly, watching only Bumblebee.
‘He’ll wake up. No, he has to wake up.’
If I kept watching like this, it felt like he would wake up at any moment and boast, “Kim Beolggwol, making an entrance!”
Viscount Biatonn simply stayed by my side.
He set up a tent for camping and lit a campfire.
He draped a warm blanket over me from somewhere.
Beyond that, he asked nothing of me and simply waited.
Around that time, Sermon woke up.
In that instant, anger surged through me.
‘Wake up or don’t.’
Of course, I had heard an explanation from Viscount Biatonn.
It seemed Duke Bladog’s blood magic had affected Sermon.
He said there was a very high probability that Sermon had been controlled back then.
Even so, I couldn’t forgive him.
Even if I forgave him someday, that day wasn’t now.
“….”
Like a frightened puppy, Sermon watched my expression while cautiously approaching me.
I didn’t give him a glance.
“I’m hun… gry.”
His voice was very small.
Sermon crouched beside me and gently grabbed near my elbow with his hand.
Smack!
I irritably brushed his hand away.
“Please go away. Just leave me alone.”
Sermon flinched in surprise, buried his head in his knees, and trembled.
Something seemed odd about him.
He continued muttering to himself.
“Isabel is angry with me. Isabel is angry with me. Isabel is angry.”
“That’s right. I’m angry.”
“When Isabel gets angry, it’s scary. Isabel is scary. I hate scary things.”
In a shrunken voice, he continued repeating the same words like a person losing their mind.
His pronunciation was also slightly off.
‘What is he doing?’
Not in the mood for jokes, I closed my eyes while suppressing the rising anger.
But Sermon’s reaction was peculiar.
He knelt beside me and spoke.
“Don’t hate me.”
His voice was pitiful.
I opened my eyes slightly and looked at Sermon once more.
‘What?’
Sermon was weeping sorrowfully like a young child.
“I’ll reflect on it. I was wrong. I made a mistake. Please don’t hate me.”
Sermon was sobbing and kneeling before me, desperately pleading.
“…Please. I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“I was wrong, forgive me, I was wrong, forgive me, don’t hate me, please.”
This was far too strange.
No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t Sermon.
“I’ll apologize.”
“Don’t joke around. And right now, I’m not in the mood to accept apologies.”
For a brief moment, a murderous glint flashed in Sermon’s pleading eyes.
“Someone like you isn’t worth living.”
A sharp dagger had appeared in his hand at some point.
He said “you,” but it didn’t refer to me.
Sermon was referring to himself as “you.”
He swung the dagger toward his own throat.
In that instant, Viscount Biatonn suddenly appeared from nowhere and struck Sermon’s wrist with a sharp blow.
Whoosh!
Something spun through the air and embedded itself in a nearby tree.
“What are you doing, Your Highness?”
“Why are you interfering?”
“Does a Chief Advisor allow his prince to commit suicide?”
Sermon had become an entirely different person from when he looked at me. His voice had changed as well.
“Who are you?”
“I am Biatone, Chief Advisor of the Empire.”
“What is that?”
“The first advisor who serves the Emperor.”
“What is an Emperor?”
“…He is your biological father.”
Sermon’s expression remained cold.
“What is a biological father?”
“…”
“Don’t meddle before me. I want to kill you. Get lost.”
Turning toward me, he spoke again like a good child.
“I didn’t kill you.”
His voice changed once more.
He sounded like a child seeking praise.
“I’ll only kill when Isabel tells me to.”
* * *
Incomprehensible, bizarre events unfolded before us.
Kim Beolggwol had wrought a miracle, and paid for it with his life.
Sermon had lost all his memories and become twisted.
In Sermon’s world now, Isabel was everything.
He was obedient and docile toward Isabel, yet toward others he was like a rabid hound, radiating unconditional hostility.
He had transformed into someone with a split personality.
The reason remained unknown.
Isabel, Viscount Biatonn, and Sermon never left the sandy beach of the forest that bordered Glass Lake.
It was because Isabel was consumed by sorrow.
When two full days had passed, Isabel finally rose and brought the soup that Viscount Biatonn had prepared to her lips.
At the sight, Viscount Biatonn was overjoyed, nearly bursting with delight.
And well he should be—Isabel had eaten nothing for those two days.
Yet outwardly, he showed little sign of it.
He had no wish to agitate Isabel, who was now in such a mentally fragile and exhausted state.
“Thank you, Teacher.”
I understood that I could surrender myself so completely to grief only because of Viscount Biatonn’s support.
“How could I ever repay such kindness?”
“I already told you I would make the effort.”
“….”
“Your Highness need only breathe. I will close the distance between us. Someday, in the distant future, repay this kindness by being honest with me.”
And three days passed.

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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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