I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 57

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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 startled and spoke up.
“Father—no, my Biological Father is going to demonstrate it personally?”
Until now, the Transportation Gate had been purely theoretical.
But as theory became reality before my eyes, things I couldn’t see before began to come into focus.
‘What if something goes wrong?’
Watching my Biological Father walk directly toward the Transportation Gate made it even clearer.
I was worried about my Biological Father.
‘What if my Biological Father gets seriously injured because of this system I created…’
Or what if he falls into a dimensional rift and never returns.
At that thought, fear suddenly gripped me and my body trembled uncontrollably.
‘It’s still just theory. I’ve never tested it on a person before.’
Someone had to do it eventually, but I harbored a selfish and terrible wish that it wouldn’t be my Biological Father.
Yet my Biological Father’s expression remained utterly composed.
“Why are you so afraid?”
“Well, it’s just that…”
“There’s nothing to fear. Something like this is nothing at all.”
My Biological Father stepped forward with an indifferent expression and climbed onto the Transportation Gate.
My Biological Father seemed unbothered, but I was terrified.
‘I’m scared.’
My mind insisted it would be safe, but that was beside the point.
It was such a terrible thought, but I wished it were someone else conducting the experiment instead of my Biological Father.
‘Foolish Isabel. Why didn’t you think about the concrete reality that someone would need to test it?’
I had been so absorbed in the fact that I’d actually implemented a Transportation Gate that I’d overlooked everything else.
This was a clear mistake.
It frustrated me—this was the limitation of someone who had only studied theory without practical experience.
‘I should go instead.’
Even if something went wrong, I was already living on borrowed time anyway. So I thought it would be better if I volunteered for the experiment instead.
“Father. I…”
Just as I was about to say I would go, my Biological Father, who had climbed onto the Transportation Gate, let out a long sigh.
Then he came back down and stood before me.
He knelt on one knee to meet my eyes.
“I am simply doing what a father must do.”
My Biological Father’s large hand touched my head.
As if magic dwelled in that hand, it calmed the turmoil in my heart.
“Even if you don’t believe in yourself, I believe in you.”
Looking at him again, my Biological Father had the same face as my Mother.
Though the atmosphere was quite different from my gentle Mother, the heart behind it was the same.
I could feel that with certainty.
“Ah, isn’t it this?”
My Biological Father seemed to remember something and changed his words.
“If I delegate this to someone else, things become far too complicated.”
I would need to accept volunteers first.
I’d have to prove the experiment involved no coercion, establish fair compensation for any potential harm, draft contracts, and so on and so forth.
In any case, there’s simply too much involved.
“This is the most convenient and efficient method. You’re a logical child, so you’ll understand my reasoning.”
“But still….”
“And is there anyone in this country stronger than me?”
That statement essentially meant that if anything went wrong, no one could handle it as well as my biological father could.
“Greater power and authority naturally demand greater responsibility and obligation, so you needn’t worry yourself.”
* * *
Ron withdrew his hand from atop Isabel’s head.
He subtly glanced toward Serna, who was smiling brightly.
The two exchanged words through their eyes alone.
‘Did I do well?’
‘You did wonderfully.’
‘Even if you don’t believe in yourself, I believe in you.’
This was the core of Ron’s true feelings and heart. Everything he said after that was merely logical elaboration in disguise.
He believed that ‘logic’ was necessary to stabilize Isabel.
The Isabel he knew was an extraordinarily rational, mathematical, and logical child.
A child who pointed to numbers even when speaking of sixteen instances of exhaustion.
So he chose to reassure Isabel through logic rather than emotion.
Biatone, watching from behind, began to jeer.
“Wow, that was so impressive, sir! Greater power and authority demand greater obligation! I hope you’ll continue shouldering many obligations. You’ll take responsibility for my dark circles too, won’t you?”
Ron, standing atop the Transportation Gate, looked toward Biatone.
“You’re next, Viscount.”
“…What?”
Biatone flinched momentarily.
Since the Emperor had volunteered first, it made logical sense that the Viscount would undergo the next experiment.
Ron grinned, and seeing that smile, Biatone felt a sudden, overwhelming sense of defeat wash over him.
“This is humiliating.”
He had never felt such defeat even when he lost to the Emperor with a sword.
To be precise, these feelings of defeat were something he was experiencing for the first time since Isabel was born.
‘Why did I flinch again!’
It was only a moment.
Only an instant.
Yet he had still flinched.
Ron had shown infinite trust in his daughter, but Biatone had not.
“It’s not that I don’t trust the Princess, Your Majesty. I was just irritated because it seemed you were dumping extra work on me again.”
Ron’s voice came through.
“That would be the difference in our levels.”
Biatone’s face turned ashen, and at that very moment, the Transportation Gate activated, and Ron vanished.
Then, moments later, Ron returned and spoke.
“Far more comfortable than the previous Transportation Gate.”
Its stability had been proven.
Next, Biatone tested it himself, and he too returned without any issues.
“Indeed. It’s far more stable, isn’t it? There’s far less of that alien, unsettling sensation. The magical consumption of the Transportation Gate is also dramatically reduced. This is a breakthrough!”
The experiment itself was a resounding success.
And days later, Isabel began to understand the true meaning behind Ron’s words.
‘I am simply doing what my father would do.’
It was not merely something Ron had said to reassure Isabel.
The new Transportation Gate system that Isabel and Tesleron had created began to suffer from endless rumors.
[An unverified system created by a seven-year-old Princess.]
The Princess of the Vilotian Empire.
A Princess unable to master Vilotian swordsmanship was a disgrace and shame to the Vilotian Empire.
Of course, she had demonstrated remarkable achievements, such as winning the Olympiad, and as a result, many had begun to praise her.
Yet fundamentally, the people of the Sword Art Empire held the basic belief: ‘How can the royal family of the Sword Art Empire not know how to use a sword?’
“They say it’s a smokescreen to hide her lacking talent.”
“Right. Since she can’t use a sword, they’re just packaging something else as impressive, you know?”
“How can you trust something made by a seven-year-old? And that Tesleron? Isn’t he some deviant expelled from the Mirotell Magic Federation?”
Rumors bred more rumors, and those rumors spawned yet more rumors.
Manipulation was remarkably easy.
The system created by Isabel and Tesleron was named the ‘Tesleron-Isabel Transportation Gate’ after them, yet many harbored doubts about it.
“It’s nothing but a propaganda tool to compensate for the Princess’s shortcomings.”
“How could the Princess and some deviant create what the Magic Tower’s mage-engineers couldn’t?”
“They’re essentially using the Empire’s citizens as test subjects.”
Countless citizens of the Empire opposed the installation of the Tesleron-Isabel Transportation Gate.
“But didn’t they say the Emperor and Viscount Biatonn already verified its stability themselves?”
“Well, that’s only because they have the bodies of the Emperor and Viscount Biatonn, isn’t it? It would never work that way for ordinary people.”
Ron had already anticipated this situation.
He invited Isabel and Tesleron to dinner.
“Tesleron. You’ve already experienced something like this once before, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have.”
These countless rumors had likely been generated by the Mirotell Magic Federation.
They did not desire change.
The privileged few mages were unwilling to relinquish what they possessed.
For that reason, Tesleron had been expelled from the Magic Federation and had conducted his research alone in the Erbe Mountains.
After dinner ended, Isabel spoke first.
“I know Father is working hard for me. Now I finally understand what you meant when you said you were doing your father’s work.”
Beyond the Mirotell Federation spreading rumors, Ron did everything in his power to stop those rumors.
And he thoroughly prevented the malicious speculations directed at Isabel from reaching her ears, shielding her from such harmful words.
I was steadily preparing for the public opinion battle that lay ahead.
“But I’m really fine, honestly.”
Isabel had lived in a world where public opinion warfare was far more developed than this one.
A media world where a few clicks could take you around the globe.
I had stood at the center of that world and received the attention of countless people.
There was much positive attention—encouragement and support among them—but I also received countless malicious comments for reasons I couldn’t understand.
Unintentionally, this situation was all too familiar to me.
Isabel reassured Ron instead.
“People naturally hear bad words more clearly than good ones, and they tend to be swept away by the negative rather than the positive. Especially when it’s the kind of thing that threatens safety or life.”
“….”
“I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I just think it’s natural, as it should be. I haven’t been hurt at all. So please don’t worry.”
Isabel smiled brightly and looked at Ron.
Now I understood.
All the worry that Father carried behind that expressionless mask.
“I’m just so happy knowing there’s one person who truly believes in me. And I’m even happier that it’s you, Father.”
“….”
“I never knew something could be this reassuring. It makes me so happy and grateful.”
Having said that much, Isabel felt a sudden shyness and lowered her head slightly.
Because of that, she didn’t see it, but a smile bloomed across Ron’s face before fading away.
And a few days later, news that would startle the Empire’s citizens began to be announced one after another.

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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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