I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 210

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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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The me from back then.
In other words, before I embarked on my journey to Earth, I believed that “Earth” was my deepest wound.
That’s why I feared this miracle, and I thought I hadn’t fully appreciated this gift given to me.
But when I actually experienced Earth, it wasn’t like that at all.
There were far more people on Earth who thought of me, countless people who regarded me as hope itself, many who cherished me, and many who made efforts for my sake.
I simply couldn’t properly pay attention to it because I was in so much pain.
Earth was not merely a world of suffering.
“The darkness I carry isn’t Earth.”
“Then what is it?”
“Arun. You.”
“Huh?”
Arun’s expression suddenly looked as if the world had crumbled.
Fearing he would collapse like melted cheese if I left him be, I quickly continued.
“That anxiety of possibly losing you.”
….
To a dragon, it might have sounded absurd.
Our future was already determined.
Arun would live far longer than me, and be far healthier than me.
There was almost no chance of him meeting with an accident.
It was a matter of racial characteristics.
I knew this fact well, and Arun knew it even better than I did.
But Arun didn’t mock my anxiety.
A shadow passed across Arun’s expression.
He didn’t say it directly at this moment, but it seemed he probably wanted to say, “I know better. You’ll leave me first.”
However, Arun, who was far more mature and considerate than me, didn’t say those words.
“It seems like this intangible anxiety is the greatest darkness I possess. Isn’t that funny?”
Arun quickly dispelled the shadow and smiled gently.
“It’s not funny at all. And don’t worry. I’ll live longer than you.”
….
“I’ll stay healthy. I won’t have any accidents. I’ll stay right by your side. And I’ll live exactly one day longer than you.”
“…One day, what are you talking about.”
“Right. One day would be tough. If I can last twelve hours, that counts as doing well.”
Looking at his playful smile, my heart somehow eased.
“You’re lying.”
It was then that I realized something again.
It wasn’t merely an intangible anxiety.
‘Ah.’
I,
‘am afraid of being forgotten.’
Compared to my life, Arun’s life would be far longer.
Compared to Arun’s near-eternity, it was truly but a fleeting moment.
“I’m not lying. Without you, I couldn’t even last twelve hours? I’m certain of it.”
“….”
I said nothing, yet Arun read my heart with uncanny precision.
“It’s because of your mother, isn’t it?”
“….”
It was.
This fear was not merely some baseless anxiety.
Arun’s Mother.
That is to say, the self-proclaimed “Black Dragon of Final Termination, Destruction, and Transparency,” Madame Kadelina, and the former Duke Robena had vanished without a trace.
Yet Arun showed no concern whatsoever.
It was more like, “Mother disappeared? Well, these things happen.”
That disappearance likely came with the price of death.
She may have already vanished from this world entirely.
Yet Arun remained unmoved.
Though I could attribute it to the nature of his kind, as Isabel, it was a part I found difficult to accept.
I feared I too might one day be remembered by Arun as a worthless person.
Someone he once loved passionately, but merely a human who passed through his life.
“Isabel. The reason I don’t long for my mother is because I respect her. Not because I don’t miss her.”
Warmth radiated from Arun’s hand.
“Though it’s unfair to my mother to say this, I love you far more than I love her.”
“….”
“You are, in other words…”
Arun deliberated endlessly over the most fitting expression before snapping his fingers.
He had finally found the perfect words.
“You are my rails.”
He became pleased with himself.
It seemed he took considerable pride in borrowing the word from our romantic journey.
“Trains are fascinating creatures. Those heavy, massive chunks of metal run so well. So fast. So far.”
Just then, a shooting star fell across the sky.
People around us were crying out, “Look! A shooting star!”
It was merely a trivial natural phenomenon, yet people were lost in romance.
Even though they knew it wouldn’t grant their wishes.
People clasped their hands together and made their wishes.
“As long as I have rails, I can run anywhere. In any season. In any world. On any day.”
“….”
“But without rails, without you.”
I made a silent wish.
Let our moment become eternal.
Let Arun run forever.
Even knowing it was a wish that could never come true, I still prayed.
“I cannot run on my own.”
In my world, I was the train and Arun was the rails.
I could only move forward by relying on Arun.
In Arun’s world, he was the train and I was the rails.
He said he couldn’t move without me.
We were each other’s train, yet also each other’s rails.
And I believed Arun was by far the stronger, more solid rails.
“It’s okay to be selfish, Isabel.”
I was slightly startled.
Sometimes Arun displayed remarkable insight.
He had noticed faster than anyone that I was currently reproaching myself, thinking “I’m really such a selfish person.”
“You are indeed a selfish person.”
I couldn’t deny it.
Wasn’t I whining to Arun, who was objectively suffering far more than me, saying “I’m anxious”?
It was obvious Arun must be far more frightened than I was, yet I voiced my fear first.
It was the same on Earth.
There were many who helped me, but I was consumed only by my own pain.
“But you’re being ambiguously selfish.”
“….”
“You can be more selfish.”
Arun told me I didn’t need to reproach myself.
He said I should be more selfish to stop blaming myself.
He said I would be happier if I were more selfish.
“I don’t love you because you’re exclusive.”
“….”
“I love you because you’re Isabel.”
And Arun said he would love me even if I became more selfish.
No—he earnestly pleaded with me to become a more selfish person.
Well, but I’m altruistic, not exclusive. You just made a typo with your words.
For the record, if it had been a number instead of a word, I definitely would have pointed it out, but I decided to let it slide for now.
“Never forget this.”
“I told you. If you stop, I stop too. You don’t seem to know—a train that leaves the rails comes to a halt quickly.”
I simply began to cry.
“You have to die later than me. That’s a promise.”
“Yes. I’ll die twelve hours later than you.”
Arun stroked my head gently.
“Perhaps it’s because our rails have an end that we can run even more romantically right now?”
It was a coincidence. Today was a night when many shooting stars fell.
So many stars were falling that one could call it a meteor shower.
Arun continued to stroke my head gently.
Like a young child, I nestled into his embrace.
“Every day was like that for you, wasn’t it, Isabel?”
My life always had an ending.
In any world, I was living on borrowed time.
A train hurtling toward a finish line shorter than everyone else’s.
“That’s why you ran with all your might, Isabel. I can see it. How hard you ran. How painfully you ran.”
“….”
“I understand how precious our running together is.”
If I were to articulate the unspoken words that followed, it would be something like: ‘It feels to me as though I’ll lose you in mere seconds. I’m a dragon, and your time is far too brief compared to mine.’
Then I understood.
It wasn’t I who was living on borrowed time—it was Arun.
“Let’s run together, Isabel.”
“….”
Tears came pouring down.
“I want to savor this running. Because I’m running alongside Isabel.”
He wiped away my tears.
“When we run together, I can truly enjoy it.”
People whispered among themselves.
“Huh? What… what is that?”
“What is that?”
“An event?”
“A great upheaval! Hehehehe, has my time to shine finally come?”
Something was rushing toward us from beyond the horizon.
It was a single-car train.
From that distant place, it came rushing with a pair of eyes gleaming brightly—unmistakably a train.
A mysterious train running without tracks came to a stop before us.
“Let’s go home.”
Arun and I boarded the single-car train together.
The train departed without a single jolt.
Toward the place where I belonged. Toward the place where we must run together.
We who were tracks and train to each other became one and ran forward.
We ran for a long time.
[Ding-ding-ding-ding-]
[Our train will soon arrive at its destination….]

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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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