I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 2

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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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My Mother would look at me and apologize, sniffling constantly.
Today was no exception.
“Mya-mya!”
I reached out my hand.
“Mya-mya.”
I flashed a bright smile to show her not to worry.
But the more I did, the harder my Mother sobbed.
Pat, pat.
I lifted my short, chubby arms and patted my Mother’s arm gently.
Ah, these sausage arms are heavy.
“Isabel, are you comforting Mother?”
I nodded.
Though I couldn’t speak, body language was said to be a universal language.
My Mother was startled.
“You understand what Mother is saying?”
I nodded again.
This wasn’t the first time I was sending this signal.
“Now! Mow ow ow ee-eo (I can understand what you’re saying)!”
My Mother turned and asked Luluka, my nursemaid.
“Does this child really understand what I’m saying?”
“I believe so, Your Majesty.”
Luluka lowered her voice.
“In truth, I haven’t told anyone. I was certain I’d only be ridiculed for speaking such nonsense.”
“But… Isabel really does seem to understand our words.”
“I believe the Princess is a genius.”
The baby’s body reacted intensely to such transparent praise.
Without thinking, I clapped my hands.
“Kyaha!”
“Look at that—she loves being praised.”
My Mother held me close in her arms.
“Even if you’re not a genius, that’s fine. Just grow up healthy and strong.”
A few more days passed.
Once my speech began to develop, my pronunciation gradually became more accurate.
* * *
The Vilotian Royal Family had one tradition.
It was called the “Selection Ceremony”—in South Korean terms, it was something like a first birthday celebration where one chooses their destiny.
And today was that day.
Luluka knew that I understood language, and she whispered to me.
“Your Highness, you need only select the sword you desire most.”
“Mm.”
“I can already imagine how shocked everyone will be.”
Luluka’s eyes gleamed with pride.
She looked like an enthusiastic parent boasting about their accomplished child.
“I shall open the doors to the Banquet Hall.”
The attendants opened the doors, and Luluka and I stepped inside.
Oh, it’s so bright.
At one year old, my eyes were quite delicate, and I still wasn’t accustomed to the brilliant light radiating from the chandelier.
In the distance at the head table sat my father and mother side by side.
Behind them stood Viscount Biatonn, my father’s aide and closest friend, and beside my mother sat my four brothers in a row.
‘Oh, heavens.’
This was the first time I was seeing Viscount Biatonn and my brothers in person.
This place was surely heaven.
‘I express my deepest gratitude for this possession.’
From my father to the aide to my brothers—I wondered if I was truly allowed to see these faces for free.
Even passing by on the KTX, they would certainly be unmistakable as handsome men.
That such beautiful visages existed in this world….
The nursemaid set me down.
The floor beneath me felt plush and soft.
‘Oh, a red carpet!’
A long red carpet stretched out before me.
On both sides of the red carpet stood the knights of the Villorian Royal Family in a neat line.
They had drawn their swords and crossed them with one another, creating the impression of a forest made of blades.
“Wow.”
How magnificent.
The solemn atmosphere that permeated the space was truly befitting of the Villorian Royal Family’s knights.
‘Are they models or knights?’
This world was a very peculiar one.
Not only were the knights impressive—even the attendants serving them far exceeded any average I had known.
It was a place teeming with beautiful men and women.
In a world where the average standard of beauty transcended imagination, I could indulge my eyes for twenty-one years until I grew weary of it.
‘At the end of the red carpet, there must be swords planted, right?’
The great sword symbolizing Villorian—’Hail’.
And ten other lesser swords besides.
‘Throughout the generations, the princes of Villorian have chosen Hail, or so I’ve heard.’
It supposedly proves the bloodline of Villorian.
‘Everything is fine. Everything is wonderful, but….’
The problem was that I had to overcome my first brush with death today.
In Villorian, there exists an institution called the Sword Guardians.
It is composed of members from founding families who provided tremendous assistance in Villorian’s establishment, and it wields considerable power as a governing body.
Among them were hardliners who refused to acknowledge the princess of Villorian.
They would not tolerate a girl incapable of learning Villorian swordsmanship wielding “Hail”.
‘So the scenario is that an assassin jumps out the moment I touch Hail, right?’
According to the novel’s narrative, I had survived by being “fortunate.”
The blade had missed by the width of a single sheet of paper, or something like that.
But I am not Isabel from the novel.
Surviving by luck means dying if luck runs out.
‘I absolutely cannot die.’
I will not die under any circumstances.
I clenched my fists tightly.
How could I possibly die with such a grudge, leaving those faces behind?!
‘What about milkis? Macarons? Meat! Tteokbokki!’
This is far too unjust.
I will make the most of my twenty-one years.
‘I need to create variables.’
So I must deviate somewhat from the novel’s progression.
The more variables I introduce, the more the situation will change.
Crawl, crawl.
Walking was still impossible, so I crawled forward with determination.
‘Variables!’
Small stones called mana stones appeared scattered throughout.
They were traps that caused small explosions when touched.
The infants participating in the selection ceremony had to navigate around these traps to reach their destination.
“Ebe-be. Jiji.”
I decided to pass by such things without a second glance.
Eventually, I arrived at the destination where over ten swords were planted.
In the selection ceremony, this place was called the “Hall of Swords.”
My father’s voice reached my ears.
“Choose a sword.”
I sat for a moment and considered my options.
‘The moment I grasp a sword, an assassin will emerge.’
Right. I won’t grasp it.
If I take Hail, the assassin appears.
If I take any other sword, I lose my qualification as a princess.
‘This is where clichés come in.’
If I take the first emperor’s sword here, that wouldn’t be a proper web novel.
In a proper web novel, I should naturally choose that cold and aloof father of mine.
I don’t really understand all this business about swords symbolizing the royal family!
I decided to fulfill the cliché—the cute daughter chooses the magnificent yet fearsome father.
The justification wasn’t bad either.
After all, my father was the greatest swordmaster in the empire.
“Waaah!”
Yet my body wouldn’t move properly.
It was the terror of an assassin who could strike at any moment.
‘I have to forget about the assassin for now.’
An infant’s mind could only hold one thought at a time.
Thinking of the assassin filled me with such dread that I couldn’t move.
So I had no choice but to sing.
“Geh-meh, spul, jee-nah-suh-ung. Uh-ung, uh-ung, gee-uh-suh-ung.”
Through the Hall of Swords, through the forest, onward we go. Crawling, crawling, let’s crawl forward.
An infant’s body could only focus on one thing before completely forgetting another.
Singing allowed me to forget the fear, and only then could I move.
‘Wow, these stairs are incredibly tall.’
Designed for adults, these steps were far too high.
Fortunately, the assassin never appeared.
“Uh-buh! Uh-buh-buh!”
‘I will, I will climb, to the summit!’
Spring forth, my courage.
I gathered strength in my hind legs.
Hup!
I climbed one step.
Thrashing, thrashing!
My raised leg flailed in the air.
I strained both my left and right arms.
Hngh.
I conquered one step.
‘I did it!’
I had climbed an entire step all by myself.
‘Ah, I’m exhausted.’
Let’s see—about twenty-one steps remained ahead.
‘I need to rest.’
Perhaps from exerting such tremendous effort, drowsiness began to overwhelm me.
‘This is… so… sleepy…’
My vision grew hazy.
* * *
Snore, snore.
The Sword Guardians scholars participating in the Selection Ceremony stared at the sleeping Isabel in stunned silence.
Empress Serna covered her mouth with both hands.
‘What on earth…’
Adults were forbidden from interfering in the Selection Ceremony.
Everyone simply gazed blankly at Isabel, unable to comprehend the absurd scene before them.
Ron gazed at his sleeping daughter with emotionless eyes.
He transmitted a quiet message to his adjutant, Biatone, using his magical power.
[Is this what a girl is like?]
In Villorian, a girl had never been born.
Not in five hundred years, so there was no information about girls.
[I’m not entirely certain myself.]
Biatone was such a formidable swordmaster within the Villorian Royal Family that few could match him except for the Emperor himself.
They had been close friends since childhood and still treated each other like brothers.
He was one of the few people Ron could speak with candidly.
[Earlier, she was muttering something strange. What was that?]
Biatone pondered for a moment and reached a conclusion.
[It’s highly likely an instinctive magical incantation.]
Creep, creep, let us crawl. Through the Hall of Swords, through the forest, let us go.
It was certainly a sound with a consistent rhythm and melody.
[You’re claiming a one-year-old child recites magical incantations?]
[Rare, but it is indeed a documented phenomenon. The Mirotell Magic Federation calls this phenomenon innate incantation.]
[Nonsense.]
[My own mother performed innate incantation at that very age.]
[A most intriguing phenomenon indeed.]
Biatone’s mother had been a brilliant mage and had looked after Ron well since his childhood.
Ron likewise revered Biatone’s mother as a second mother.
At the mention of his mother, Ron took a step back.
Still, he wasn’t entirely convinced.
[This child carries Villorian blood. How could the princess of the Sword Art Empire recite innate incantation?]
Then Biatone’s response was quite remarkable.

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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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