I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 196

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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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Far to the left corner.
Mother was changing into a crimson dress.
Slightly to the right of that.
My Biological Father was calling my name through tears.
And slightly to the right of that.
I saw Sermon.
‘Why are they all hiding alone in such a dark space like this?’
Outside, the festival was in full swing, people were rejoicing, yet my family was floundering in the depths of sorrow.
My brother Sermon was sitting diagonally on the sofa.
The sharp, crimson gleam that had shone so sinisterly in his eyes had vanished.
He was gazing blankly out the window.
“How tedious.”
Like Sermon when he was a puppet.
He looked like someone whose emotions had been completely worn away.
“Should I kill?”
I couldn’t tell what he meant to kill.
Sermon’s eyes were utterly hollow.
“Or perhaps… should I die?”
I was startled beyond measure.
A rope was prepared on Sermon’s desk.
That rope was undoubtedly the kind used to execute serious criminals by hanging.
“I want to see Isabel so badly.”
Sermon continued muttering with an expression of complete indifference.
“If I die, I think I might be able to see her.”
I screamed that it couldn’t be.
No matter how loudly I screamed, my voice never reached Sermon.
I covered my face and collapsed.
“Why are they like this?”
“Because you are that precious to them.”
“Since I’ve left, they must live with all their might even for my share. That’s what would make me happy.”
“Don’t ask those left behind to bear the weight of your suffering.”
“….”
“Perhaps they carry a heavier yoke than the one who dies.”
The people I loved were suffering so much.
More than I could bear.
“Look at that child. Isn’t he still acting as you wished, despite everything?”
Before long, my brother Sermon’s figure had shifted slightly to the left.
And to the right of that appeared a knight riding a white horse.
Though his entire body was covered in solid armor and a helmet, I could immediately recognize who he was.
“Brother Kaman?”
It was Kaman.
Kaman was heading somewhere, accompanied by numerous knights.
“The empire is lost in celebration. Yet someone must fight fiercely. For peace is forged through strength.”
Kaman led seven entire knight orders on an expedition against the monsters.
He had repeatedly declared his resolve to eradicate the very seed of monsters, and the knights followed in his wake.
“How is it? Doesn’t it look impressive?”
“…No, it doesn’t.”
The Kaman I know doesn’t actually enjoy monster subjugation or swordsmanship to such an extent.
He simply did it because he had to, or because he felt obligated to learn.
He devoted himself to the blade because he wanted to be a good son.
I could see it clearly.
‘He’s…running away.’
Running from the reality of my absence.
If left unchecked, I had an ominous feeling he would become consumed by monster extermination and battle alone.
He was descending into madness in a different way than my brother Sermon.
‘Why are they all doing this?’
My death was already predetermined.
Everyone knew my end.
So why couldn’t they all accept my death?
“If this continues….”
“….”
“If this continues, I won’t be able to leave with peace of mind.”
I too had been endlessly preparing and bracing myself for the end.
Because I wanted to depart gracefully.
Because I still wanted to leave as joyfully as possible.
Day after day, I steeled my resolve and conditioned myself.
“If this continues….”
“….”
If this continues, I’ll fall apart.
I won’t be able to leave.
“Then shall we look at that child?”
Kaman’s figure shifted to the left, and another person’s form began to come into view.
A vigorous voice rang out.
“Ahahaha! I’m exhilarated!”
This time it was Michael.
Michael was bounding across a mountain in rather peculiar attire.
He wore hastily fashioned leather garments draped carelessly about him—barely deserving the name “clothing,” more akin to burlap sacking.
“That place is called the ‘Raining Mountain.'”
I’ve heard tales of it before.
A mountain where rain falls for all 365 days of the year.
It was a place where dangerous monsters roamed, causing humans to avoid venturing inside.
“I have no thoughts at all!”
Michael screamed as he ran through the mountains.
Looking closely, blood was seeping from the soles of his feet.
“Because I have no thoughts, that’s why!”
I couldn’t tell how long he had been running.
I could only feel that he had been running for an extraordinarily long time.
“It’s so much fun! I’m delighted! I’m happy! It’s exhilarating!”
He splashed through puddles of water on the ground, climbed trees, and bounded between rocks with unbridled joy.
Eventually, Michael entered a cave.
His strength exhausted, he leaned against the wall and sat down.
“It’s fun. Hehe.”
He laughed softly—hehe—for a long while.
“It’s fun. Running in the rain is the best.”
Still murmuring, Michael pulled his knees toward him with his arms and crouched down.
“…It’s not fun.”
He buried his face in his hands.
“None of it is fun.”
Michael’s body began to tremble.
“Nothing excites me.”
I bit my lips tightly.
It was as if I were seeing Michael as he was in childhood all over again.
A young child who refused to grow, unwilling to become an adult.
That child was right before my eyes.
Michael pulled a tattered flower crown from his bosom.
“Huh? Isabel?”
Though no one stood at the cave entrance, Michael seemed to be seeing a phantom.
Steam rose gently from Michael’s body.
“Your crown has gotten so worn, hasn’t it? Let’s make a new one together. I’m good at making them now. Want me to show you?”
In a cave devoid of any flowers.
Michael began clawing at the cave wall with his hands.
“I’ll make you a beautiful crown.”
Blood beaded on Michael’s fingertips.
Tears streamed down Michael’s cheeks.
“So just wait here. Don’t go anywhere.”
Before I knew it, I too was weeping as I watched Michael.
More than I had ever imagined, the burden left upon those who remained was far too heavy.
Michael’s figure grew smaller and shifted to the left.
Another person’s form came into view.
It was Yuri, sitting in a chair.
“The Yuri Pastry Shop will be closing its doors.”
She faced considerable resistance from the staff.
Yet Yuri’s resolve remained unwavering.
“There’s no reason for me to make delicious desserts anymore.”
As my maid, Yuri had always presented herself neat and tidy, but now her hair was thoroughly disheveled.
Her clothing was also in disarray.
Steward Dailsa straightened Yuri’s garments for her.
“Yuri. You are a maid of the Arena Palace. Compose yourself properly.”
Even as Steward Dailsa spoke those words, his own buttons were fastened incorrectly.
“If I compose myself, will the Princess return?”
Yuri, who had never once defied Steward Dailsa, raised her voice.
Steward Dailsa, who valued discipline, did not scold her but gently embraced her instead.
“Parting is always difficult, no matter how many times you experience it. Even the second time, you don’t grow accustomed to it.”
He held Yuri close and patted her back gently.
Yuri wept as though the world were crumbling in Steward Dailsa’s arms, and tears streamed down his cheeks as well.
Luluka Midwife, watching from behind a pillar, began to weep openly as well.
The Midwife clutched the blue dress I had favored close to her chest.
As that figure shifted to the left, Narmore came into view.
Narmore lay sprawled across the bed just as he had been when loitering in the slums.
“How bothersome.”
There were documents that needed his signature, but he hadn’t even done that.
“It’s bothersome.”
He seemed to have lost all will to live.
Someone who appeared to be his secretary hurried over and spoke at length about work, but Narmore waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s bothersome. Handle it yourself.”
“Sir, if you continue like this, do you not realize how much Narmore Corporation loses in a single day?”
“What good is any of that? It’s bothersome, so do as you please.”
“Sir!”
“Or take it all for yourself.”
“….”
“It’s bothersome, so get out.”
Narmore pulled the blanket over his head.
Not a trace of motivation could be found in him.
Aselia, by contrast, was the opposite.
She was buried in work, neither sleeping nor eating, only working.
“Ria. You haven’t slept a wink, and you haven’t eaten a single meal. You’ll fall ill.”
“What does it matter if I do?”
Viscount Armitel gazed at Aselia with concern.
“What more could happen than death?”
“Ria. Please. At least have a spoonful of soup.”
“Leave it there. I’ll eat it later.”
“Ria. Why are you going this far?”
Aselia glanced at Viscount Armitel with an air of annoyance, then pulled something from the drawer.
It was the wig she had gifted me after cutting her own hair.
“On this day, I gained my most precious friend.”
She embraced the wig as though handling something infinitely dear, then placed it upon her head.
“That precious friend desires a beautiful world. For that to happen, I must work harder….”
As Aselia spoke those words, her voice faltered, and her body collapsed backward.
“Ria!”
Aselia had lost consciousness.
It appeared to be the result of devoting herself entirely to work without eating, drinking, or sleeping.
Blood trickled from Ria’s nose.
‘This is agonizing.’
The pain was so overwhelming I felt I might lose my mind.
“What thoughts occupy you?”
“I feel as though I’m dying from this anguish.”
“You are already dead.”
“I want to return and embrace each one of them, to tell them I am fine. To assure them that everything will be alright. I want to comfort them. I wish they would all stop crying.”
“Do you wish to return?”
The answer was painfully obvious.
More than ever before, more than at any other moment, life felt precious and invaluable.
I needed to be there beside those who suffered so.
A fierce, burning desire for life blazed within me as never before.
“Do you wish to live?”
I bit my lip and nodded.
Even knowing I was dead.
Even knowing I could not live.
Still, I wished to live.
More desperately than ever.
“Perhaps now is the time, my child.”
Then.
A magic circle materialized above my head, and a figure burst forth from it.

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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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