Limited Extra Time - Chapter 131

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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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A Limited-Time Extra’s Hours by Ja Eun-hyang — A Full-Length Romance Fantasy Novel

A Limited-Time Extra’s Hours Chapter 131

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She descended the Staircase in urgent haste and entered Millaiyen’s Room. Winston was occupied with something.

He drove a sharp needle into Millaiyen’s skin, repeating the motion over and over.

“Are you well, Carina Leopold?”

“Yes, this is a potion. If it’s insufficient, I can draw more. Should I…?”

“It should be sufficient. I’ve heard it works particularly well for Millaiyen.”

“I see…”

As Carina Leopold answered in a low voice, Periel Kalos gave her back a subtle nudge.

Carina Leopold turned to look at Periel Kalos in surprise.

“You haven’t even greeted him, have you?”

At Periel Kalos’s words, Winston nodded his head.

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She then walked slowly toward Millaiyen, who lay in a sleep as deep as death itself. As she carefully extended her hand, the tips of her fingers brushed his cheek, and a chilling coldness emanated from his skin.

“…He’s so cold.”

She carefully traced her gaze across Millaiyen’s eyes.

His eyelids remained firmly shut, showing no sign of opening. As she slowly scanned his face, Carina Leopold withdrew her hand.

Her tightly closed eyelids showed no sign of opening. Carina Leopold, who had been slowly scanning his face, withdrew her hand.

Tightly sealed lips and closed eyelids—

even the faint sound of breathing, all of it made her heart race faster.

After gazing down at him in silence for a long while, she turned away.

“I’ll be in my room. Please give one to Goreden as well.”

“…Understood. Are you truly certain?”

“Yes.”

The answer came without hesitation, which only deepened his concern. Winston, who had sutured Millaiyen’s most severe wound, rose from his

seat.

“Miss, Duke Pestellio will be fine. I give you my word.”

“Yes, I’m counting on you.”

Carina Leopold offered a faint smile and bowed her head. She turned and left the room, then slowly climbed the Staircase.

Her pace, which had been sluggish at first, gradually quickened. By the end, she was nearly running.

‘I have to… paint.’

Her mind grew increasingly consumed by compulsion. Her breathing quickened, and her chest tightened.

She burst into the Studio, shut the door behind her, and leaned against it.

Her gaze fixed blankly upon the dragon on the canvas.

Only lines revealed its existence. Once she added color, cast shadows, and breathed life into it, it would become animate and quiver with vitality.

Until just moments ago, it had not occurred to her at all—

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the silhouette of the dragon she had been sketching flickered before her eyes.

I simply had to surrender myself to this and move the brush.

I wanted to complete it.

If I completed it, I could achieve what I desired.

In Carina Leopold’s pale blue eyes, flames seemed to surge upward. Crimson fire consumed her in an instant.

I felt my sense of self being eroded. This sensation was familiar.

It was no different from when madness had stolen my identity.

“I’m sorry, Millaiyen.”

I murmured softly and walked slowly toward the wooden palette, squeezing paint onto it. I grasped the brush and dipped it in color.

It was fine to be selfish. Even if he lost hope and fell into despair, there was nothing I could do about it.

It was fine if I couldn’t stay by his side for long. If the time I had left with him was short, that too was unavoidable.

It made no sense for the living to sacrifice themselves for the dying.

More than anything, I didn’t want to lose him. If I could just avoid that one thing, I could do anything.

Once Millaiyen recovered, he would surely return to the Forbidden Forest. Goreden had assessed it as a Magical Beast that humans could not face.

That meant Millaiyen could be hurt again.

– Then wouldn’t it be simple to eliminate his reason for returning to the forest?

Someone whispered that in my mind.

All I had to do was kill the leader Herta and every Magical Beast under his command.

And I already knew and understood the mightiest race that had vanished from the world.

My hand moved swiftly. My slightly unfocused eyes were drenched in madness.

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It shimmered. Color bloomed across the pristine canvas in an instant. Life kindled in those vacant eyes, and the dragon’s scales—once pure white—gleamed with razor-sharp brilliance. The relentless march of time, the sun’s descent painting the sky crimson, the hushed serenity of encroaching night—none of it registered in her vision. Only the canvas existed within those deep blue eyes.

‘Just a little more….’

Golden shimmer began to rise slowly within eyes as clear as an unblemished sky. The luminous gold spread gradually, its territory expanding until it began to consume Carina Leopold’s irises entirely.

“One more stroke….”

A hollow voice escaped Carina Leopold’s lips. Her eyes blazed with intensity. She dipped her brush in paint once more, the painting’s completion tantalizingly close.

She extended her arm with deliberate care. Knock, knock—the sound halted her brush mid-stroke. At the sudden intrusion, Carina Leopold’s brow furrowed. That exquisite golden light greedily consumed two-thirds of her blue eyes. As she turned her head, the doorknob twisted, and the door swung open.

“Carina Leopold, Millaiyen has… woken up… Carina Leopold?”

“Ah… Periel.”

Carina Leopold’s lips moved vacantly, her eyes half-lidded and dazed. Periel Kalos, who had entered the Studio, froze at the sight before him. How could he not? Such terrible, terrible beauty unfolded before his eyes. Carina Leopold’s surroundings were in complete disarray. Spilled water, paint and brushes scattered recklessly, the painting mere moments from completion—

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—and her eyes were nearly consumed by that golden light.

Beautiful yet cruel, that gold. It summoned greed and selfishness, transforming a person into something inhuman.

It stimulated the desires of those afflicted with artistic madness, driving them to insanity.

Carina Leopold’s eyes met Periel Kalos’s, and she smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners.

It was a radiant smile, yet one that seemed as though it might dissolve into obscurity at any moment.

As if she were offering a final farewell.

“Carina Leopold, what on earth are you….”

“I can’t think of a way to stop Millaiyen. I wish he wouldn’t be hurt. It’s the first desire I’ve ever truly possessed.”

She tightened her grip on the brush and slowly raised her hand, bringing it toward the canvas.

“Carina Leopold, do not do this.”

“Millaiyen is mine. That person… he can’t be hurt.”

“Carina!”

Even as Periel’s voice pierced the air like a scream, Carina’s hand moved.

It was a motion so divorced from intention that she couldn’t tell if it was voluntary or compelled.

Carina’s lips twisted savagely. Periel was certain—absolutely certain—that this was not Carina.

Her eyes flooded completely with gold as the canvas erupted with light. It was so blindingly intense that her vision blurred.

It wasn’t a leg bursting from the canvas. It wasn’t a dragon.

From the canvas came only an enormous mass of radiance. The colossal light that tore free shot across the sky and vanished through the window.

Carina stared after it in a daze.

She had poured her deepest wish into that painting. Whatever form it took, it would fulfill her desire.

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Thud, roll, roll—

Her vision blurred and objects doubled before her eyes.

As the world tilted beneath her, Carina’s head lolled to one side.

‘What…?’

She forced her eyes to focus, but the blurred world refused to sharpen.

“Ah…?”

The world was tilting.

“Carina!”

Periel, rushing toward her, was tilting too.

Only then did I realize—it wasn’t the world that was tilting. It was me.

She blinked vacantly.

All strength drained from her body. She couldn’t move a single finger. Simultaneously, darkness descended upon the world.

Periel Kalos rushed forward and caught Carina Leopold’s collapsing form.

His eyes widened as he caught her. Her breath was shallow, her breathing erratic. He didn’t need to examine her closely to know. Her condition was critical.

And her body—so cold. Along with the pain in her chest came

a raging fever, yet the symptoms were distinctly different from the relentless heat she’d endured until now.

“Damn it!”

The dragon in her painting had vanished without a trace. Only fragments of the background remained. Yet the dragon hadn’t materialized before his eyes either.

Periel Kalos clenched his teeth.

‘What in the world is happening?!’

Periel Kalos rushed down the Staircase, cradling Carina Leopold in his arms.

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This was Artist’s Blight.

The aftereffects of Artist’s Blight. And her breath was on the verge of extinguishing.

Because of the Leopold Family he was born into, Periel Kalos had encountered more Artist’s Blight patients than most. Some had deteriorated beyond treatment.

He’d never encountered a Creator in such a state, but he knew the moment when art’s breath ceased better than anyone.

He’d witnessed the radiant soul of art slowly extinguishing on multiple occasions.

He knew that feeling—the moment before it vanished—better than anyone alive.

He knew better than anyone the feeling of something disappearing.

And now Carina Leopold sensed the same feeling emanating from them. The meaning behind that sensation was simple.

“…I’m dying.”

Carina Leopold’s artistic soul was, quite literally, life itself.

The flame of life she possessed was her soul. It was fading away.

That realization sent alarm bells ringing through Periel Kalos’s mind.

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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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