I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 147

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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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That day, the weather was unusually clear.
I carefully held Kim Beolggwol in my arms.
I checked once more just to be sure, but the heart still wasn’t beating.
“I want to bury him in a place where the sunlight shines brightly. Teacher, will you help me?”
“Of course.”
Yuri Lake had been a truly beautiful place, but it had become somewhere I never wanted to visit again.
The discovery of primordial water felt meaningless to me now.
I covered Beolkkot’s body with the soft cloth Viscount Biatonn offered and held him close.
“Let’s return to the Imperial Palace.”
“Understood.”
I didn’t have to do anything myself.
I only had to say what I wanted, and Teacher Biatonn would take care of everything.
As I tried to board the carriage, my foot slipped and I nearly fell.
Teacher Biatonn quickly caught my hand.
“Steady now, be careful.”
“Thank you.”
My body felt weak.
Sermon sat diagonally across from me, as far away as possible, watching my mood carefully.
He looked somewhat pitiful, but my heart hadn’t softened yet.
Several more days passed.
I returned to the Imperial Palace and found the flower garden where Beolkkot and I used to make flower crowns.
“I want to bury him here.”
Fortunately, the weather was beautiful today.
It was a day when the sunlight was warm and gentle.
“Yes. Shall I dig a hole for you?”
“No. I’ll do it myself.”
I knelt down and began to dig into the earth.
When I was young, I used to play in the dirt here and play hide-and-seek with Beolkkot.
I thought I had cried everything out before, but tears came again.
“Beolkkot had a small body and quick movements, so he was good at hide-and-seek.”
“….”
Digging the earth wasn’t that difficult.
Outside was so warm, but inside the hole, it felt a little cold.
“Teacher. Will you wipe my tears?”
“Yes.”
Viscount Biatonn wiped my tears away with a clean handkerchief.
I bit my lip hard to hold back the tears.
Today was the last day to send Beolkkot off, so when he ascends to the heavens, I want to remember him with a smile.
So I decided not to cry.
I spoke with a forced smile.
“Thank you, Beolkkot.”
I tried so hard to smile, but tears streamed down my face once more.
The heroine’s tears did not awaken the hero—no such fairy tale unfolded.
I held Beolkkot close and whispered softly.
“Every moment I spent with you was a gift to me. I’m so, so grateful. I’ll never forget.”
I had a feeling he might answer me, but no answer came.
Beolkkot slept peacefully.
“Kim Beolkkot was brave, valiant, magnificent, intelligent, and a romantic ratel. You were such a precious friend and family to me. Thank you so much for caring about someone as insignificant as me. I loved you so, so much too.”
Today, Beolkkot felt unusually light in my arms.
“I have one request.”
I laid Beolkkot on the ground and began covering his body with earth.
As the soil covered him, Beolkkot gradually disappeared from view.
“Will you appear as my twentieth birthday gift?”
It was originally my twenty-first birthday, but now it would be my twentieth.
I had been so afraid of the limited time, but perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.
I would meet Beolkkot one year sooner.
“I’ll become an even better friend by then. Let’s meet again on that day. It’s a promise. My twentieth birthday. Don’t get confused. It’s the twentieth, the twentieth.”
I only needed to cover him with one more handful of earth, but I couldn’t do it.
My hands wouldn’t move.
“I was really, truly so happy. It was so good being with you. Thank you. Thank you, truly thank you, and I love you.”
I couldn’t bring myself to cover him with the final earth, so Viscount Biatonn did it for me.
A long time passed.
I cried so much that I lost track of how long.
Then I heard a voice.
“Have you finished crying?”
The person holding me was not Viscount Biatonn.
* * *
Ron did not care for investing time in anything other than sword training.
Cultivating anything besides swordsmanship was a waste of time.
Yet recently, Ron had invited scholars to study with him.
The public was curious about what he was studying and speculated it was deeply connected to recent developments in the Vilotian Empire, but in truth it was “the study of becoming a good father.”
Though it was late, he wanted to become a good father now.
Especially to Isabel.
The scholars had even unanimously told him.
“Discrimination is not good, Your Majesty.”
But his heart did not obey his will.
Though people say all ten fingers ache, in truth Ron had only one finger that hurt.
He was trying not to, but he still did.
And that aching finger was now cradled in his arms, weeping sorrowfully.
“She’s been crying a lot lately.”
I used to hate how emotionless I was.
It broke my heart to always smile like a machine.
But crying like this hurt even more.
‘Time is needed to acknowledge and accept one’s own emotions.’
Ron held me in his embrace and simply waited.
He did nothing.
He became a steady shelter, allowing me to express my feelings freely.
“…Father?”
“Yes.”
Only then did I realize that Ron was holding me, and I threw my arms around him again.
Ron soothed me with his steady embrace.
He didn’t ask too many questions, nor did he try to teach me excessively.
“I’ve heard everything. I know how difficult this is for you. I know how much you’re hurting. Grieve as much as you need to, and sorrow as deeply as you must.”
He didn’t mention that he had completely eradicated everything related to Duke Bladog’s family.
Instead, he spoke of something else.
“Can you tell me about Bumblebee?”
What Bumblebee was like.
What good memories I had with her.
He continued to listen as I shared stories about her, allowing me to open my heart completely.
The sun set and the moon rose.
Ron lifted me into his arms.
“Let me take you to your room.”
“Thank you for listening to so much of my story. I feel like I repeated the same things many times over.”
“Don’t thank me.”
Ron laid me on the bed and tucked the blanket around me.
He checked the room’s temperature himself and closed the window as well.
And with an unusually tender voice, he asked.
“Will you have breakfast with your mother and father tomorrow morning?”
I nodded once from beneath the blanket.
“Good. I’ll wake you at eight.”
“Not seven?”
“The scholars recommended eight.”
To be precise, they didn’t recommend eight.
He had simply taught me some regional proverb about how beauties need plenty of sleep.
Upon hearing that, he pushed breakfast back by an hour.
Ron brought a chair and placed it by my bedside, then sat down.
“Weren’t you leaving?”
“How could I leave you in this state? Let me help you sleep.”
“Really?”
“If you don’t want me to, I’ll go.”
“I don’t hate it!”
Ron gently patted Isabel’s shoulder.
It felt like listening to a heartbeat.
Serna hurried to find the Arena Palace.
“Shh. She’s asleep.”
Serna had heard about Isabel while visiting the First Magic Tower.
She returned home immediately, and it was already this hour.
Time passed and morning arrived.
Isabel felt something strange and quietly opened her eyes.
‘Father?’
Ron was staring at her with his eyes wide open.
From the look of it, he seemed to have kept his eyes open like that without sleeping all night.
‘Mother?’
Serna was asleep, leaning against Ron’s shoulder.
Ron had created a support with one hand to cradle Serna’s head, worried she might be uncomfortable.
Because of this, Ron had been very busy all through the night.
He had to watch Isabel with his eyes, and with his other hand, he had to support Serna’s head.
Seeing this, a corner of Isabel’s heart warmed a little.
It felt like being protected within the shelter of family.
The feeling of belonging to a community called family was truly wonderful.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“Not at all.”
Serna also opened her eyes.
Serna embraced Isabel as soon as she woke up.
“Our daughter, you must have suffered so much?”
“Yes.”
Isabel spoke honestly.
She had decided to be a bit more honest with her mother and father.
“I’ve suffered tremendously.”
“Yes. Of course you have. You must have suffered greatly.”
Serna patted Isabel comfortingly.
Isabel spoke again.
“But I can overcome it. Bumblebee would want that too.”
“That’s right. Bumblebee would want that too. So steel yourself. Rise up strong and later you’ll have fun playing with Bumblebee.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Then shall we go have a hearty breakfast together?”
“Understood.”
Isabel got down from the bed.
Ron held Isabel’s right hand, and Serna held her left hand.
“I must be the first person to receive an escort from both the Emperor and the Empress at the same time.”
It was such an overwhelming sight that every servant I encountered in the palace pressed themselves against the walls in fright.
They bowed deeply, unable to even look at me properly.
Only then did I truly grasp what kind of people the Emperor and Empress were.
After finishing a satisfying breakfast, Isabel asked Ron to teach her swordsmanship.
Ron readily accepted her request, and Isabel diligently swung a wooden sword, perspiring from her efforts.
Isabel made considerable efforts in her own way to overcome her sorrow.
And a year passed until the day Kim Beolggwol had departed returned.
Now ten years old, Isabel returned to the flower garden where she had buried Kim Beolggwol, accompanied only by her maid Yuri.
“Beolggwol. I’m here. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
But something strange had occurred.
‘Where did the grave go?’

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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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