I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 96

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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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“And then he said he wanted to save the Princess.”
“Me?”
“I’m not entirely sure what that means either. He just said it.”
Kiruen exhaled a long sigh.
In truth, she had known that Biatone would visit this place today, and she had deliberately sought out Karin at this hour.
‘How can you understand the Princess less than me, who has barely seen her a few times?’
Kiruen had always felt sorry for Karin.
That’s why after work, she paid close attention to her and spent time together like sisters (though Karin found Kiruen burdensome, so it was only from Kiruen’s perspective that they were like sisters, but Kiruen didn’t concern herself with such trivial matters).
‘Do you really think the Princess would hate you for something so minor?’
So she had to show her.
Why Isabel was called the Sunshine of the Empire. Why the people of the Kingdom of Alpea would break into beaming smiles whenever they saw Isabel.
‘See it with your own eyes. What kind of person the Princess truly is.’
Kiruen finally spoke.
“In the end, all the attackers have been eliminated. Officer Karin judged that this was the best course of action for safety, and I concur with that decision.”
“Stop…!”
Tears streamed down Karin’s cheeks.
She had told Isabel everything, and now she believed she could no longer approach her.
A murderer stained with filthy blood could not stand beside Isabel. Isabel’s pure and spotless heart would become tainted.
Karin took a step backward.
As if fleeing somewhere.
The obsession and compulsion to escape this place had broken through Biatone’s elementary binding spell.
But then Isabel’s voice reached her.
“Are you hurt?”
At those words, Karin’s body stopped as if by deception.
“…Yes?”
“Teacher, are you hurt?”
Tears glistened in Isabel’s large eyes.
In truth, Isabel herself did not understand her own heart.
‘Why am I so sad?’
Karin is the final mastermind.
All of this could be fake, could be an act. Yet my heart ached so much.
That figure trying to flee from me was so heartbreaking.
‘I don’t know.’
I decided to follow my emotions in this moment.
‘I’m just a child, after all.’
Children don’t weigh things carefully. If they want to cry, they cry. If they want to laugh, they laugh.
That is a child’s privilege.
Isabel decided to be a child for a moment.
“Do not come closer.”
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
Perhaps she had been severely injured and found it difficult to return to the Imperial Palace—the moment that thought crossed my mind, I grew worried about Karin.
Kiruen answered in her stead.
“Fortunately, she has no physical injuries. It seems her heart has been wounded quite deeply, however.”
“Because of the assassins?”
“No.”
Kiruen shook her head.
Karin’s eyes held a sorrowful gleam.
Please, stop speaking.
I wanted to cry out those words, but my voice wouldn’t come.
“It’s because of the Princess.”
“My heart was wounded because of me?”
“Karin seems to believe she is unclean. That is why she thinks she has become someone unworthy of standing beside the Princess, who is so pure and spotless.”
I fell silent for a moment, at a loss for words.
Countless thoughts rushed through my mind, but I stopped thinking and simply acted.
“You’re not unclean at all, Teacher.”
“….”
I stepped closer to Karin.
Karin’s back pressed against the wall.
With nowhere left to retreat, Karin forced her lips open with difficulty.
“Don’t come closer.”
My uncleanliness will rub off on you. Please, stay away.
“I’m coming closer.”
“….”
My steps were faster than I expected.
Stripped of her magic, Karin was helpless and could not escape from me.
I suddenly pulled Karin into my embrace.
“I’m so relieved you weren’t hurt.”
“….”
“I was so worried.”
“….”
I suddenly realized how thin Karin had become.
I wanted to comfort her.
“You’re not unclean at all, Teacher.”
“….”
“Even if you were, it wouldn’t matter.”
They attacked first. In other words, what you did was self-defense.
“If that’s what you call being unclean.”
I lifted my face from where it had been buried in Karin’s chest and looked up at her.
Tears were streaming down my own cheeks as well.
“Then be as unclean as you wish. That’s an order.”
Biatone chimed in from beside me.
“So you’re planning to punish Karin if she refuses your orders, Your Highness!”
“That’s right!”
“How do you intend to punish her?”
“Very, very terrifyingly.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
How was I supposed to punish the final mastermind?
I honestly had no idea.
“I’ll cry!”
The tears I’d been holding back burst forth.
When I let out a genuine wail—waaaaah!—Karin’s face went deathly pale.
* * *
In the end, Karin returned to the Imperial Palace.
Over the following days, I was able to organize and soothe my own heart.
‘I should remain cautious, that’s the right thing to do.’
All of this could be Karin’s scheme and a mask. The “final mastermind setting” doesn’t just disappear after all.
In this world, the author’s settings are incredibly important. They’re fixed destinies for characters, just like how I can’t overcome my limited time.
‘But settings do change sometimes, don’t they?’
Just like how my biological father, who only saw me as a successor, now cares for me as his child. Just like how I myself, set as a villainess who committed all sorts of atrocities, am living a different life.
I sipped the Citron Ade that Yuri had made and opened my mouth.
“Why did you go so far for me, Teacher?”
“…What do you mean?”
“You betrayed the Mirotell Magic Federation. You lost all your magical power too.”
“It was not for Your Highness.”
Karin took a sip of the Citron Ade.
I clearly saw it.
‘Karin’s eyes widened!’
So, so.
That ade was made from homemade citron syrup that my sister Yuri had personally prepared!
A sense of pride blossomed unbidden in my heart.
“Then what did you do it for?”
“For the truth.”
Karin drank the Citron Ade again.
After one sip, then another, the glass was empty.
“….”
“….”
An awkward silence fell between Karin and me.
In that moment, I stared intently at Karin. She subtly avoided my gaze.
“Not for my sake?”
“….”
More time passed.
After maintaining silence for so long, Karin finally opened her mouth.
“The Citron Ade was simply too delicious.”
“Pardon?”
It was a meaningless statement.
Just an excuse she blurted out without knowing what else to say—a hasty deflection before revealing her true feelings.
“Perhaps it might have been intended for the Princess after all, or so it seems.”
“So you’re saying it was meant for me?”
“It appears that I am currently in the process of making a rational judgment that it might seem that way, or perhaps not, and I find myself contemplating this assessment.”
Karin’s earlobes had flushed slightly red.
When Isabel clapped her hands once, the door opened and Midwife Luluka entered carrying two more glasses of Citron Ade.
Luluka placed the Citron Ade from the tray onto the table and spoke in a gentle voice.
“Drinking too much will upset your stomach, Princess.”
“I understand. I’ll stop after this one!”
Karin picked up the refilled Citron Ade and sipped it slowly.
The refreshingly sweet carbonated beverage filled her body with a pleasant sensation.
Isabel asked.
“Why did you go so far?”
Her mana circuits had been sealed, and she had lost her mana.
For a mage to lose her mana was akin to a healthy person losing their limbs.
For Isabel, it was incomprehensible.
“I don’t understand.”
Karin was the final mastermind.
No matter how many schemes the final mastermind harbored, without mana, she could accomplish nothing.
Playing the role of final mastermind required mana.
In her current state, she would lose even against Kim Beolggwol.
“You possessed so much, Teacher, and you will possess even more.”
Isabel needed to understand Karin’s true intentions.
Emotionally, it was true that Karin seemed pitiful, pathetic, and worthy of gratitude, but still—there were matters that needed to be addressed.
Karin was undoubtedly an awakened final mastermind, and to discern that mastermind’s intentions, Isabel had even employed the subtle tactic of two glasses of refreshing Citron Ade.
‘I must uncover some clue.’
I needed to discover what the final mastermind Karin was truly thinking. Only then could I prevent the downfall of the Vilotian Royal Family.
“I’m curious why you made such a choice, Teacher. I’ll keep it secret. Please tell me.”
I am harmless—
I am a harmless creature—
Like that tiny doll over there—
Isabel smiled brightly as if casting a spell, probing Karin’s resolve.
Karin met that smile for a long moment.
“That is….”
Karin touched the glass of Citron Ade in her hand. The glass remained pleasantly cold, and the citrus scent lingering in her mouth was sweet and slightly bitter.
My heart grew strangely soft and fluffy, and I felt as though I could afford to be honest today.
Perhaps I was even slightly hypnotized.
‘I’m simply intoxicated by the Citron Ade, that’s all.’
Because the Citron Ade was so sweet.
Because the Citron Ade tasted so delicious.
Because I was so intoxicated by the Citron Ade.
So today, I felt I could be honest.
“Because spring has come to me as well.”
“Pardon?”
Because the Citron Ade was so sweet.
Because the Citron Ade was so refreshing.
This was simply the Citron Ade’s fault.
Because this child before my eyes, sharing this Citron Ade with me, was so precious.
Because I didn’t want to carelessly let slip away the spring that comes but once in a lifetime.
Isabel tilted her head in confusion.
“…But it’s November right now?”
Moreover, today the temperature was far below average due to the influence of the cold continental high-pressure system… but she didn’t voice that thought.

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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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