I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 167

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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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Arun halted as he was about to leave the room.
‘Hm? Did I see that wrong?’
Just now, it felt like Isabel’s finger had moved.
He examined her carefully once more, but her finger remained still.
‘Sigh.’
Arun returned to Isabel’s side.
He deliberated for a brief moment.
‘If I stay up all night here, the Emperor will throw a fit.’
He used to call him “Hey, twelve-year-old,” but these days it was “Hey, thief.”
He hadn’t stolen anything, so he couldn’t fathom the reason.
In any case, Emperor Ron didn’t particularly approve of Arun lingering too long in Isabel’s room.
‘Still, I’ve grown considerably stronger lately.’
Where once he had no choice but to submit to superior force, that was no longer the case.
Defeating Ron was still difficult, but the gap between them was no longer as overwhelming as before.
Now Ron couldn’t treat Arun carelessly either.
So he simply decided to spend the night here.
‘It’s always easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.’
He grasped Isabel’s hand, the one that had seemed to move just moments ago.
“I’ll stay by your side tonight.”
Time passed.
Arun never released Isabel’s hand.
‘What is this feeling?’
It was as though Isabel’s soul and his own were bound together with tremendous force.
It had been the same during his time as Beolkkot, but his intelligence hadn’t been high enough then to perceive it clearly.
Now, in human form, he felt it far more intensely.
It was the power of the betrothal stone.
The betrothal stone possessed the authority to forge a powerful bond between human souls.
Suddenly, Arun recalled memories from long ago.
[Gem = Betrothal gift.]
[Claimed.]
[Contract established.]
[Irreversible.]
[Absolute contract.]
He hadn’t understood it then, but looking back, those words had all been draconic utterances.
‘Now that I think about it, I invoked a draconic contract back then.’
At that time, through the collaboration of the betrothal stone and the draconic contract, flowers had bloomed throughout the Underground of the Imperial Palace.
Arun smiled softly while holding Isabel’s hand.
“Ah. So it was inevitable, wasn’t it?”
This truly was unavoidable.
“We were destined to marry. Since we made a contract through draconic utterance, there’s truly no way around it.”
Now I finally understood what the Emperor meant.
“So I’m a thief, then.”
To think I only now grasped such a simple and obvious truth.
Arun found himself in surprisingly good spirits.
Marriage to Isabel—it was an unexpected gift beyond imagination.
“Even if you refuse, there’s nothing to be done. We’re bound by a dragon-tongue contract. In the end, the contract must be fulfilled. You agreed to it back then.”
Of course, that contract had been between ‘Kimbeol Honey and Isabel,’ not between ‘Arun and Isabel.’
Strictly speaking, that contract had already ended with Kimbeol Honey’s death.
‘But one could say that overlooking such trivial details is what makes one truly mature.’
“Wake up quickly. We need to get married, after all.”
Suddenly, as the word ‘marriage’ crossed my mind, my heart grew even more desperate.
Isabel had less than three years remaining.
During those three years, I wrestled fiercely with the question of how to give her greater happiness and love.
“I wish you would call my name, Isabel.”
An indescribable yearning surged like a tidal wave, overwhelming Arun’s heart.
A strange, inexplicable impulse churned within him.
He desperately wanted to quell this longing somehow.
Arun knelt on one knee.
He pressed a gentle kiss to Isabel’s hand.
“Open your eyes, please.”
* * *
Marco Yurmiel, the continent’s foremost emotion artisan and gem craftsman, was a remarkably successful man, yet he had been losing sleep every night.
‘What if Servant Deilsa demands I return the engagement stone?’
It was already broken.
Diamonds were leaking from it profusely, and while they supposedly provided tremendous benefit to the imperial family, a contract was still a contract.
He suffered nightmares every evening.
In his dreams, Servant Deilsa appeared in demonic form, whispering in his ear.
‘I consent to its use for research purposes, but such research must be non-destructive. Should you split it, damage it, or compromise its value as an engagement stone, I will demand 1,000 years’ worth of rental fees.’
1,000 years of rental fees amounted to 100 billion Ludens.
The moment this fact came to light, he would be bankrupt.
It was impossible to siphon off diamonds and accumulate emergency funds.
He could not deceive Deilsa’s eyes, and even if he could, he lacked the confidence to withstand the backlash.
Servant Deilsa was the most capable and formidable steward among all stewards in history.
He was the genuine article, having recovered his full martial prowess.
“Sigh.”
In the deep hours before dawn.
He exhaled a deep breath and made his way to the secret chamber where the engagement stone was kept.
‘Huh? What is this smell?’
Yet the corridor was filled with the fragrance of flowers.
Sensing something amiss, he hurriedly unlocked the door.
Upon opening the door, the room was filled with diamond flowers in full bloom.
“Good heavens…”
Marco Yurmiel, the finest appraiser and jeweler across the continent.
He could only marvel at the sight.
“I’ve never seen diamond flowers this beautiful.”
The diamond flowers were crafted with such exquisite beauty that even his considerable skill could not dare to replicate them.
“How is it releasing such a wonderful fragrance?”
Diamonds that emit fragrance.
Such a thing does not exist in this world.
“What is that?”
In one corner, where diamonds had been continuously pouring out until now, a radiant, multicolored light was seeping through.
He rushed over frantically to examine it.
“Huh?”
Huh?
Huh?
Huh?
He discovered a single gemstone radiating with brilliant luminescence.
“The Betrothal Stone!!!”
Somehow, the Betrothal Stone that had been shattered was there.
It now possessed a far more beautiful hue than before.
“The Betrothal Stone has been resurrected!!!”
He clutched the stone tightly to his chest, tears streaming down his face.
“You’ve completely transformed this room!!!”
This phenomenon was an unprecedented miracle that did not exist in any historical records, but none of that mattered.
* * *
I continued moving toward a tiny star shimmering far in the distance.
It felt as though reaching it would end this dark tunnel.
Yet no matter how much I walked or ran, that star never came within my grasp.
Instead, it only grew farther away.
I even felt as though I was circling endlessly in the same spot.
‘I’m exhausted.’
The voice continued to pour strength into me, but it was not enough.
It seemed I would never escape from this dark world.
Then, a pleasant scent came from somewhere.
‘A floral fragrance?’
I had smelled this before.
When flowers bloomed in the Imperial Palace Basement Storage, this scent had filled the air.
The fragrance was so distinctive that I remembered it clearly.
‘What is this?’
Throughout the dark world, light began to shimmer and sparkle.
Tiny fireflies seemed to swarm toward me in clusters.
‘Huh?’
Looking closer, they weren’t fireflies at all.
They resembled flowers crafted from diamonds.
Blossoms began to bloom across the entire world.
And soon, a floral breeze swept around my body.
‘Normally, I shouldn’t be able to see anything at all.’
This was a space devoid of light, so nothing should have been visible, yet I could see the flowers encircling me.
It felt as though a Spirit was tickling me.
I burst into laughter without even realizing it.
The floral breeze that had enveloped me dispersed, and instead carved out a single path.
“Are you telling me to go that way?”
It was a path of diamond flowers.
In the meantime, another voice reached my ears.
“Wake up quickly. We have to get married, don’t we?”
“I wish you would call my name, Isabel.”
Who on earth was that voice?
Why was it calling out to me with such desperation?
And why did hearing that voice always fill me with strength?
Why was only that voice so distinctly clear?
I wasn’t sure how to express it, but it felt as though that voice and my soul were gripping each other tightly and firmly.
‘I can see a path.’
A luminous flower path materialized in the space that had been nothing but darkness.
I walked along that path.
The light, which hadn’t grown no matter how far I walked, gradually began to expand.
The light started to dispel the darkness.
The night that seemed impossible to lift was finally receding from me.
At last, I touched that light.
‘My eyes… are blinded.’
My eyes were so dazzled that I couldn’t see anything.
This peculiar sensation.
I had felt it before.
It was exactly like this when I first entered “The Doomed Villainess Dies.”
This dreamlike feeling, so devoid of reality.
‘Could this also be a dream?’
Or another possession?
I still couldn’t tell.
The sense of reality remained absent, filled only with haze.
I’d never been drunk before, but I imagined this was what intoxication felt like.
‘Back then, I was genuinely amazed by my Biological Father’s beauty.’
That remained true even now.
The blurred form before my eyes was beautiful, even through the haze of my clouded vision.
“He’s really handsome.”
What?
Why did my voice come out?
It was my real voice—something I hadn’t heard in such a long time.
Yet even this felt dreamlike, utterly devoid of reality, and my body still refused to move.
‘Even a glance reveals his beauty.’
Honestly, a face like that would have more than enough plausibility to make someone fall in love at first sight.
His beauty was so striking that even I, someone typically immune to conventional handsomeness, couldn’t close my mouth.
Plink.
Something fell onto my cheek.
It was slightly warm.
‘What is this?’
Plink, plink.
It felt like warm rain falling.
And that rain gradually awakened my consciousness.
‘This doesn’t feel like a dream.’
These seemed to be the tears of that handsome man.
My vision grew clearer bit by bit.
‘Why does he look so familiar?’
Could it be—
“Arun?”

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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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