Limited Extra Time - Chapter 126

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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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—— Page 1 ——

Ah, you wouldn’t have seen him.

The Physician arrived when Carina Leopold collapsed, and he’s hardly been noticeable since.

Millaiyen Pestellio nodded lightly as he observed her wide, round eyes.

So, do you know him?

He’s the Leopold Estate’s personal physician.

Hmm, is that so?

Millaiyen Pestellio shrugged his shoulders.

With his delicate, cunning appearance, he was unmistakably a man of the Southern Territory.

He held no particular interest—so long as the Physician kept his distance from Carina Leopold. Fortunately, his attention seemed focused on Winston instead.

Millaiyen Pestellio brushed Nocton from his thoughts without ceremony.

Millaiyen Pestellio knelt on one knee before Carina Leopold. Eye contact had become natural by now. Carina Leopold smiled brightly.

Now that I think about it, did I tell you something?

What did you say?

—— Page 2 ——

“That you are my first love.”

Millaiyen Pestellio pressed his lips to the back of her hand as he spoke.

“So all my firsts belong to you.”

Carina Leopold’s eyes widened in surprise, and she bit her lip gently. She smiled softly and nodded eagerly.

“Yes, thank you.”

“….”

At her rather bland response, Millaiyen Pestellio’s eyes narrowed.

It was advice he’d received from Periel Kalos not long ago, yet the reaction fell short of expectations. She was even subtly averting her gaze.

‘…Periel said lovers typically appreciate hearing such things.’

Millaiyen Pestellio’s expression grew serious.

The thought soon spiraled into wondering if Periel Kalos had been mocking him all along, and his face twisted in displeasure.

“Carina Leopold?”

“Yes.”

“…Why are you avoiding my eyes?”

At Millaiyen Pestellio’s observation, Carina Leopold quickly met his gaze once more.

But it was already too late—his beast-like instincts had already sensed the irregularity.

“…Am I not your first?”

Carina Leopold’s shoulders trembled. Millaiyen Pestellio’s eyes widened dramatically.

His mouth fell open in genuine shock, his expression the very picture of disbelief.

“…Who was it?”

“What?”

“What kind of bastard was he?”

Millaiyen Pestellio shot to his feet and bellowed like a child in a fit of rage.

He looked as though he’d just witnessed his lover with another man.

Even though Carina Leopold had done nothing wrong—

—— Page 3 ——

My conscience pricked at me relentlessly.

Carina Leopold hesitated, her lips parting and closing before she finally sealed them shut.

…If I tell him, Nocton will probably die.

No matter what, I didn’t want my lover to become a murderer. Carina Leopold’s eyes rolled about before she broke into a smile.

It was just… unrequited love.

Unrequited…? What?

Unrequited… love…?

At Carina Leopold’s words—shocking by Millaiyen Pestellio’s standards—he took a step backward.

I didn’t understand what was so shocking about it, but somehow I felt like a great criminal. I quickly closed my mouth.

I love Millaiyen Pestellio more now.

And yet you took my first…

Your…?

Millaiyen Pestellio spoke as though his chastity had been stolen. Carina Leopold’s lips began to tremble.

She lifted her head in protest, but Millaiyen Pestellio’s expression was even more aggrieved than hers.

No… it was when I was young. When I was young.

How old?

What?

If you were under five, I’ll accept it.

At Millaiyen Pestellio’s absurd claim, Carina Leopold’s mouth fell open. My words caught in my throat, and nothing would come out.

Children under five hardly think about whether someone is male or female in the first place.

…You do realize that’s the age of shamelessness, right?

Seven years old.

No, seven is a bit….

In the Northern Territory, seven-year-olds hunt magical beasts.

—— Page 4 ——

Carina Leopold pressed her lips firmly together.

No matter how I looked at it, it sounded like a lie, but since I hadn’t lived in the Northern Territory, I was entirely unfamiliar with its customs.

She glared at Millaiyen Pestellio with eyes full of disbelief.

“I’m serious.”

“…I’m going to ask Peng about this.”

“Go ahead. I’m telling the truth.”

Millaiyen Pestellio answered with complete confidence.

In fact, it wasn’t entirely a lie. Seven-year-olds could hunt magical beasts—the young of magical beasts, or creatures like the young of magical beasts, that sort of thing.

“So who is it? Is he still alive?”

“…What? No, of course he’s alive.”

Not only alive, but he’s here in this house.

I no longer harbored any particular feelings toward Nocton, but I had no desire to drag him into such an affair. Above all, Millaiyen Pestellio seemed perfectly capable of doing it.

“I’m going to go see Periel Kalos right away!”

Carina Leopold shot up from her seat.

She slipped past Millaiyen like an eel and scurried out of the room in a flurry.

“Carina!”

Millaiyen turned around too late, but she had already vanished with a speed that would put a squirrel to shame.

Millaiyen exhaled a long, heavy sigh. At the sight of her disappearance, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“What damned fool is it…?”

Millaiyen’s lips curled back, his eyes narrowing to slits.

There had to be a reason for what Carina was hiding. The fact that I wasn’t her first—that struck me as somewhat shocking.

His crimson eyes gleamed with an eerie, unsettling light.

Following in Carina’s wake, I left the room and strode purposefully toward the Study, yanking the door open and dropping into the chair with rough intensity.

Then I grasped a pen and papers, beginning to work

—— Page 5 ——

—or at least pretending to. My expression was far too dark for the documents to advance to the next page.

Peng, who had been tidying the Study, widened his eyes at the sudden turn of events and regarded Millaiyen’s stern expression with concern.

“Your expression seems troubled, sir. Has something happened?”

“They say a woman’s first love holds great significance for her. Is that true?”

“Hmm….”

At Millaiyen’s question, Peng paused to consider for a moment.

Since it was his master’s inquiry, it wasn’t difficult to discern whom this ‘woman’ referred to.

‘Ah, this is about Miss Carina Leopold. Is he asking about her first love?’

After a brief moment of deliberation, Peng nodded firmly. If that were the case, a gentle nudge in the right direction might prove quite effective.

“Yes, of course. A woman’s first love is truly precious. So perhaps you, Master, should also consider Miss Carina Leopold….”

“….”

Peng, mid-sentence, swiftly sealed his lips. His master’s mood appeared decidedly uncomfortable.

A gaze sharp as a blade, threatening to cleave through flesh itself, descended upon him.

Had something in my words gone awry?

With the keen instincts of a seasoned butler, Peng quickly retraced his words, yet found nothing objectionable.

“…So they say one cannot forget their first love. Is that truly so?”

“Generally speaking, yes….”

“Then what must one do to make them forget it?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I asked how to make that fool forget their first love. Severing their neck like a demon and presenting it won’t make them forget, will it? Carina would be shocked.”

Only then did Peng grasp the situation without difficulty.

—— Page 6 ——

And he realized his counsel had been profoundly, catastrophically misguided. He turned his head with an expression heavy with mortification.

‘…I’ve made a terrible mistake.’

It would have been far better had I answered that it could be forgotten easily.

Peng’s expression clouded with bewilderment. His mind began to race rapidly. He had to escape this predicament somehow.

“If one loves another person, it shall be resolved, sir.”

“…Love another person?”

“Yes, sir. Do they not say that a person’s wounds are healed by another person? If the one you harbored unrequited feelings for comes to love someone else, the matter shall be resolved.”

“Ahem, what if she’s already in love with someone else…?”

Millaiyen Pestellio cleared his throat and posed the question casually.

His hand held a pen and his eyes were directed toward the documents, yet he seemed utterly disinterested in actually processing the work.

“Then that person has already forgotten their unrequited love, sir. If she’s become his lover, that’s all the better.”

Peng delivered his answer swiftly to brush off the irritation. It was a decision he could make precisely because he knew how relentless his master could be.

‘…Miss Carina Leopold isn’t the type to play both sides anyway.’

Peng didn’t trust the rational thinking of the man called Millaiyen Pestellio very much, but he did trust Carina Leopold.

From what he had observed of her, she would never entangle herself in other affairs while devoted to Millaiyen.

‘Though I never knew she had a first love.’

Still, she was someone with such a tender heart.

Perhaps she needed something to lean on—something to hold in that vast, barred prison that felt like a solitary island.

“I see. Then that’s settled.”

“Yes, sir.”

—— Page 7 ——

“Go find out who Carina was in love with.”

“…Pardon? Didn’t you just say it was settled?”

“That’s one thing, this is another. What if he’s still alive and we happen to cross paths by misfortune, and he tries to make a move on Carina?”

Millaiyen Pestellio answered shamelessly.

“Well, if he’s alive, he’s alive. Surely you don’t intend to kill him simply for being alive?”

“There’s no reason for him to remain alive in this Empire—”

There’s no need, is there?”

Peng found himself at a loss for words, watching his master speak as though he were casually dismissing him into the distance.

After going through the motions for some time, Millaiyen Pestellio finally located the urgent documents, signed them with appropriate haste, and set down his pen.

“Make note of things while I’m away. And since the Subjugation is officially concluded, open the Checkpoint soon. As for the documents—handle anything that isn’t critical for now.”

“…You might as well tell this old man to drop dead

instead, sir.”

“You’re still perfectly capable, aren’t you? Why the complaint? You once hunted down a hundred Magical Beasts single-handedly in your prime. Why not keep Winston company for conversation instead?”

Millaiyen Pestellio gave Peng’s shoulder a light pat. Peng’s expression darkened. He’d thought things might finally ease up for a moment, but it seemed he was about to grow busy again.

Millaiyen Pestellio strode forward and was already opening the Study door.

“…I’m already doing so, sir.”

Before the door closed, Peng answered with something like

a sigh.

He’d consulted more than once about the youthful vigor of his young masters. Winston seemed to have his own troubles on account of Periel Kalos as well.

‘I should suggest we have a drink tonight.’

Peng exhaled another sigh as his stomach churned with a sharp sting. Stress continued to accumulate, day after day.

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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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