I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 174

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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 was honestly a bit surprised.
‘A warp?’
It was far more comfortable and pleasant than traveling through a Transportation Gate.
I had no idea Arun’s magical prowess was this exceptional.
‘He seems far stronger than how he was depicted in the novel….’
It wasn’t something limited to just Arun.
Not only Arun, but everyone around me had become far stronger than in the original story.
While that felt good, it was also somewhat puzzling.
The only variable worth mentioning was me, but I couldn’t understand how everyone became so much stronger just because I happened to be nearby—it’s not like I’m some elixir or a stroke of fortune.
‘Well….’
Since Arun was originally a dragon, it wasn’t unreasonable for him to use magic this proficiently.
But this—this was unreasonable.
“Our actual home.”
I could see many large marble pillars.
It looked more like a Temple than a house.
The floor was also laid with white marble, which appeared cold to the eye, yet the surrounding air felt warm.
A golden chandelier hanging from the high ceiling sparkled brilliantly, casting light everywhere.
“There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to.”
“Someone to introduce me to?”
Arun extended his hand to me.
Without thinking, I took his hand.
‘Ah….’
Settle down, heart.
We were just holding hands, and this was merely an escort, so I couldn’t understand why my heart was racing like this.
But thinking about it again, this hardly qualified as an escort.
“This isn’t really an escort, is it?”
It was closer to how lovers intertwine their hands.
“Dragons do it this way. Since this is the Dragon’s Nest, we follow dragon customs. However, if it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll let go.”
“….”
Ah, that face with that expression is unfair.
Without realizing it, my resolve weakened.
“If it’s the custom of this place, then it can’t be helped.”
I think Arun smiled slightly just now, but I must have seen wrong.
When I looked at Arun’s expression again, the smile had vanished.
I must have seen wrong indeed.
But was there even content about dragons having such customs?
Dragons wouldn’t have had the concept of an escort in the first place.
It was somewhat strange, but it felt awkward to question it.
Arun spoke.
“But you don’t seem very surprised.”
“Where exactly should I be surprised?”
“This is the first time I’m directly telling you about my identity.”
“A ratel suddenly bursts out of the water, and now appears again in human form, skilled in all manner of magic and swordsmanship—what more explanation could you possibly need?”
“….”
Arun exhaled a sigh of relief.
“I’m truly grateful.”
He flashed a radiant smile.
Watching that smile, my heart inexplicably ached.
“…What exactly are you so grateful about?”
“I was worried you might dislike me for being a dragon.”
Through our clasped hands, Arun’s emotions continued to flow into me.
A refreshing wave of relief washed through my heart.
So he truly was worried about that.
I spoke.
“We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Friends?”
A sense of disappointment emanated from Arun.
My resolve nearly wavered once more, but I steeled myself again.
“Yes, friends.”
“….”
I glanced sideways at Arun’s face.
His sharp jawline and graceful neck looked as though they would cut if I touched them.
Without thinking, I swallowed hard.
Soon after, Arun broke into a bright smile.
“For now, being friends is fine with me.”
Arun continued walking while holding my hand.
A large door came into view.
There was no wall, just the door standing alone, which seemed rather odd.
“The door is quite unusual, isn’t it?”
“It’s absolutely gleaming.”
“Yes, he absolutely adores extravagance.”
It was unmistakably solid gold.
And along the edges, it was carved with diamonds—it seemed like it might be the most ornate door in the world.
Arun opened the door.
As we stepped inside, another landscape unfolded before us.
‘Wow….’
This was a large room, but no matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t to my taste.
Most of the floor and walls were covered in gold.
He truly did love extravagance.
‘A crimson carpet….’
And what I presumed to be a large table carved from crystal.
The interior decorations were gold coins from all over the world.
“Quite extravagant, isn’t it?”
“…Yes.”
“You have a bit of a show-off side.”
Arun walked to the center of the space and spoke something.
It was strange words I couldn’t understand, but it seemed to be the language of dragons.
A golden magic circle formed on the floor, and something began to slowly rise up.
‘What, what is this?’
I have a very keen sensitivity to the movement and flow of mana.
I felt intense mana swirling fiercely.
Though invisible to my eyes, it felt like tens of millions of strands of mana were tangled together and rushing in like a storm.
What I saw was a glass chamber.
‘A person?’
A person was lying inside the glass chamber.
I suddenly felt afraid, wondering if it was a corpse, but I could see their chest rising and falling.
They were in a peaceful sleep.
A small note was attached to their chest.
I examined it carefully to see what it said.
[Touch while sleeping and you’re dead.]
* * *
After hearing everything from Arun, I was left speechless.
“So the reason I can stay alive is….”
“Right. My mother transplanted half of her heart to you. That’s why she’s fallen into sleep now, and it will probably take over 500 years for her to recover.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t bring you here to apologize.”
Arun smiled brightly.
But I couldn’t help but feel sorry.
“How could I not be sorry? You said she has to sleep for 500 years.”
“For a dragon, 500 years isn’t that long.”
Arun spoke with an unfazed expression, so very calmly.
It was somehow comforting, as if he was telling me it was truly nothing.
“The reason I brought you here is because I wanted you to know this truth.”
“….”
“My mother wanted you to live. Enough to give her own heart.”
“….”
“And I also want you to live. Enough to give my own heart.”
I was still holding Arun’s hand.
Every word Arun spoke was not a lie.
Everything he said was so true that it weighed heavily upon me.
“So please, don’t give up on your life.”
“….”
“Fate can be changed. But the beginning must come from you.”
Arun suddenly pulled me into his embrace.
As he spoke, his emotions seemed to overflow.
Arun’s arms weren’t just warm—they were burning hot.
“Tell me you want to live.”
“….”
The words wouldn’t come easily from my lips.
Wasn’t I just giving him false hope?
Wasn’t I making him cling too desperately to something impossible?
Did I even have the right to dream such a dream?
What if I dreamed and then came crashing down?
I was afraid, if I was being honest.
“Let me rephrase.”
Arun met my gaze directly.
In those eyes burned a yearning so intense I couldn’t begin to comprehend it.
I felt embarrassed meeting his stare and looked away slightly.
“Tell me you won’t leave me.”
“….”
“In three years, in thirty years—tell me you’ll stay by my side.”
“Arun.”
Tears welled up in Arun’s eyes.
Feeling the sincerity in Arun’s words, my own heart ached so deeply that tears began to form.
“Just stay still. I’ll find a way. So please, just say it—that you won’t leave me.”
“….”
“If you don’t want to, then just tell me—that you want to live.”
Arun’s mana surged into my body like an incoming tide.
Suddenly, I wanted to speak.
That I wanted to live.
‘No. Don’t say it. Nothing will change anyway.’
Speaking would only offer empty hope.
Even with half the Holy Dragon’s heart, all it did was let me open my eyes.
Narbidal’s Mark is divine power that even dragons cannot overcome.
‘I can’t say it.’
But my lips betrayed my mind.
“…want to live.”
Arun’s eyes widened and his body began to tremble.
Tears began streaming down from Arun’s eyes.
“Just once more, say it one more time.”
“….”
“Please, I’m begging you.”
I bit my lip.
The innermost thoughts I had only ever shared with my Mother and Biological Father kept tickling the back of my throat.
Speak.
No, don’t speak.
Speak.
No, you can’t speak.
“…I want to live.”
I couldn’t fathom why Arun was pleading with me so desperately.
Arun pulled me into his embrace again and began to sob.
Even without needing to sense it through mana, I could tell.
Just how sincere Arun was.
After a moment had passed, Arun spoke.
“I won’t ask you to marry me right now. But don’t push me away.”
“I haven’t pushed you away.”
“However, if you come to dislike me, if you judge that I’m not worthy to be your companion, then you may push me away at that time.”
Arun’s face as he spoke those words was so beautiful it felt unreal.
“But that won’t happen. I have worked incredibly hard, and I will continue to work hard. To become a man worthy of you.”
I didn’t know.
What all those things were that Arun meant when he said “I have worked incredibly hard.”
During those seven years I had been asleep, I didn’t know what Arun had accomplished.
That Arun was a far more cunning fox than I had imagined.
Arun held my hand tightly and spoke with determination.
“I will definitely remove Narbidal’s Mark for you.”
Those words all carried weight.
Even I could see hope in them—hope that I might truly be able to live.
Carefully, I asked as well.
“Then what should I do?”
“Isabel has already done so much. You don’t need to do anything more.”
It didn’t seem like I had done that much.
I had only been asleep for seven years.
Yet the sincerity conveyed through mana was so genuine that I felt a bit puzzled.
“Isabel, just be by my side as Isabel. Then I can do everything.”
“….”
“Your existence is my help.”
And he smiled gently at me.
His firm hand still held me tightly.
‘What is this feeling?’
It was a kind of reassurance I had never felt before, not even from my Mother or Biological Father.

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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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