I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 66

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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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Biatone gazed at me with warmth in his expression.
He knelt on one knee, meeting my eyes as he spoke.
“It’s alright even if something isn’t quite right. Your Highness is only seven years old, after all.”
His expression and tone carried such unwavering conviction that I found myself reassured.
Viscount Biatonn was always someone who emanated a peculiar sense of calm.
“You’re still at an age where you’re learning so much—there’s no need to blame yourself.”
“…Really?”
“What you just did was indeed not quite right.”
Viscount Biatonn gently pointed out my misstep, yet there was no trace of reproach or condemnation in his manner.
“I’m sorry.”
“Even if something wasn’t quite right, your world just now was filled with miracles.”
“…What?”
Oh, my resistance to despair.
Thanks to Biatone’s words, I was able to regain my composure instead.
“Your Highness’s joy is a miracle to me.”
“…Th-thank you for saying that.”
For someone who had lived in the modern era, such expressions still felt unfamiliar.
Yet Viscount Biatonn’s sincerity came through completely.
His words may have lacked refinement, but his heart did not.
“Shall I sing you a lullaby?”
“Yes, please.”
Viscount Biatonn tucked the blanket around me and sang a lullaby in a clear, gentle voice.
Sleep began to drift over me.
I fell into an almost dreamlike state.
“I’m glad I’m only seven years old.”
I didn’t even fully understand what I was saying.
I seemed to have just said something, though it felt like I was murmuring in a dream.
In my drowsiness, I heard Biatone’s voice.
“Seven years old…”
Huh? It sounded like Viscount Biatonn said something…
“…is.”
But my body surrendered to sleep.
He definitely said something just now…
I couldn’t remember it.
When I opened my eyes, it was morning.
* * *
Biatone kept watch beside Isabel for a long while after tucking her blanket around her.
He heard Isabel’s sleep talk.
“I’m glad I’m only seven years old.”
Biatone smiled softly.
“Truly, her depths know no bounds.”
I wanted to mutter to myself, but I didn’t want Isabel to wake because of it, so I channeled my mana.
I gently covered Isabel’s ears so my murmuring wouldn’t reach her.
“You don’t need to carry such heavy regret.”
She could allow herself a little joy. She could lose herself in that happiness and forget, for a moment, those who had been hurt.
The Princess was only seven years old now—there was no need for her to weigh every consideration and feel such burdens.
Even if she were filled entirely with joy, she had only fourteen years left.
But then Isabel spoke in her sleep again.
“…don’t…”
Biatone observed Isabel carefully. And he was quite shocked.
‘Is she having a sad dream?’
Tears were streaming down Isabel’s cheeks.
He strained to hear what she was saying.
Her voice was too faint and her pronunciation unclear, so Biatone used magic to amplify her voice and correct her articulation to understand her words.
Isabel’s words became clear.
“I don’t want to be hated.”
Biatone stared at Isabel, frozen like stone.
Isabel had clearly said she didn’t want to be hated.
“I’m just sick, that’s all.”
Biatone bit his lip slightly.
Yes.
Isabel was simply a little ill, destined to die sooner than others.
“I’m sorry.”
Isabel was a genius with an innate gift for mana sensitivity.
The mana attuned to Isabel’s emotions fluctuated wildly.
Biatone was an exceptional mage-swordsman, and through that mana, he could directly perceive just how much fear Isabel was experiencing.
“What frightens you so?”
In that small seven-year-old body. What experiences had she endured, what imaginings occupied her mind?
How could she harbor such profound terror…?
“What could possibly frighten the Princess so?”
Isabel’s unconscious mind always returned to her past life.
In her past life, she had received much support and encouragement, but she had also endured considerable hatred and abuse.
-She’s just an emotional manipulator.
-Prove you’re actually sick lol lol lol This is all fake.
-If you’re that sick, how do you study? You’re just performing for sponsorships, right? Disgusting, ugh.
Her posts had been filled with countless supportive comments, and alongside them came a considerable number of malicious ones.
Though the malicious comments were relatively few compared to the supportive ones, it was mostly the cruel words that had burned themselves into her memory.
Because of this, as a child she would often hide under her blankets and cry bitterly.
‘I’m scared. I’m so scared, teacher.’
When gripped by extreme terror, she couldn’t even hear her doctor’s words.
I could barely fall asleep without being administered sedatives.
The mass media and public eye were countless watchers, and such scrutiny was far too overwhelming for her to bear as a child.
“Someone is chasing me. Terrifying monsters are watching me.”
As she grew older, such anxiety symptoms improved considerably, but they remained deep within her heart, profoundly shaping her sense of self.
Biatone drew forth warm, comforting mana and enveloped Isabel’s entire room with it.
It produced an effect similar to modern sedatives.
“Your Highness. It’s alright. No one is chasing you.”
Through her turbulent mana, Biatone saw through Isabel’s psychological state.
Her mind was filled with churning waves.
“There are no terrifying monsters.”
Biatone gently stroked Isabel’s head with his large hand.
He could never be her father, but at least in this moment, he wanted to become the most dependable father’s touch in the world.
“And if there were any, I would defeat them for you.”
After some time passed, Isabel gradually regained her peace and fell into deep sleep.
Biatone remained by Isabel’s side throughout that dawn.
His gaze was deeper than ever before.
‘She’s not just a child as bright as sunlight.’
I had misunderstood Isabel all this time.
I had only thought of her as a princess with a deep heart and excessive kindness.
Deep within that heart lay an incomprehensibly vast fear.
‘Yes. That’s only natural. That’s far too natural.’
Even as an adult, I fear when I think of death. How much more must this seven-year-old child fear?
‘I’m happy,’ ‘You’re a gift’—all those words were, in fact, different expressions of ‘I’m scared,’ ‘Please protect me.’ That’s what they had been.
Biatone, who could not possibly know Isabel’s past life, concluded thus.
He made a resolve in his heart.
‘I must find a way.’
A curse that humanity has never conquered.
A way to overcome the ‘Mark of Narbidal.’
* * *
Rahela, one of the Seven Kings, furrowed his brow.
“What? The Princess?”
Within the world of “The Villainess Dies After Her Time Limit,” the Emperor and Kings were nearly equal in standing.
The setting was that they were partners bound by strategic alliance.
Originally it was so, but Villorian, led by the current Emperor Ron and Empress Serna, had become so overwhelmingly powerful that now a clear hierarchy of superior and subordinate had solidified.
In any case, the Emperor and King were cooperative partners, and by rank, the King stood higher than the Princess.
“No, why that little thing? What could a mere seven-year-old possibly do?”
“However, being born with Villorian blood, she would be fully capable of fulfilling the role of several adult men.”
“No, what exactly is she going to do? If she comes as a volunteer, we have to guard her, attend to her needs, and I don’t know how many personnel would need to be mobilized?”
“That is why she wishes to proceed with volunteering while concealing her identity. She desires to be treated exactly the same as ordinary volunteers.”
“Ah, that’s easier said than done—her mother and father are the Empress and Emperor.”
However, since there was no valid reason to prevent the Princess from volunteering, Rahela ultimately granted her permission.
A few days later, the Princess arrived at the royal palace of the Kingdom of Alpea, which Rahela ruled.
“You came quickly.”
“Yes, I used the Teisabel Teleportation Gate.”
Rahela exchanged a few words with Isabel.
From just a brief conversation, one could discern much.
‘A child without wrinkles, bright and warm’—everyone would surely think this.
‘But I must not forget that this child is also of the Vilotian Royal Family.’
That demeanor was likely thoroughly calculated.
Moreover, this child was a prodigy who had achieved the youngest top ranking in the Olympiad, and a genius who had created the Teisabel Teleportation Gate.
‘Therefore, that child’s clarity must be a mask.’
She believed the decision to participate in volunteer work also stemmed entirely from political calculation.
‘I must abandon the thought that she is merely seven years old.’
She had to treat her the same as she would an adult. That was Rahela’s assessment.
Since they had come here with all their political strategies already devised, she too needed to obtain whatever she could in kind.
She asked casually.
“Isabel. Do you remember the first day of the last Royal Conference?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then you must also know that the Royal Conference ended far more quickly than usual.”
At that time, Empress Serna had posed a question to the kings.
That mystery remained unsolved.
“On that day, at midnight, could you tell me what happened?”
“…Pardon?”
Rahela wanted to discern the true intentions of the Emperor and Empress through the Princess.
‘The coming midnight is a day His Majesty eagerly awaits. And a day he most wishes to be exhausted.’
It was an absurd statement from the start.
So naturally, she believed it was some kind of coded message hiding true meaning.
“What could it mean that His Majesty the Emperor, who possesses a body of steel and a body that could never tire, wishes most to be exhausted on a particular day?”
Isabel’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Did Biological Father really say that?”

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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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