Limited Extra Time - Chapter 143

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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 ——

“I’m busy today, so I won’t be able to come during the day. I’ll visit you tonight. I hope you’re having pleasant dreams.”

Carina Leopold had been dreaming for a long time.

A dream so prolonged that I could no longer distinguish between illusion and reality—a dream in which I frequently heard the voice of someone I longed to see.

A dream in which my eyes refused to open, no matter how desperately I willed them to.

A dream that doesn’t come true.

“I believe you’re slowly returning to us. Rest if you must, but please don’t stop trying.”

I could not answer in affirmation.

How could I, when my eyes refused to open and I remained utterly motionless, unable to take even a single step?

I had no sense of how much time had passed, or what moment in time it was now.

The countless times I heard Millaiyen’s weary voice allowed me to infer the passage of his days.

—— Page 2 ——

I wanted to wake up…

But I didn’t know how.

My entire body felt heavy and ached as though pinned down by invisible chains. I drew in a breath with agonizing slowness.

Wake up.

I tensed my lips, then my fingers.

There isn’t much time left.

I groaned inwardly, struggling against my own inertia for what felt like an eternity.

It was as though I were bound by unbreakable shackles, unable to move even slightly.

‘Please…!’

Something massive seemed to press down upon my body.

It was pure desperation. I thrashed my body in every direction. Suffocating frustration made me want to strike myself wildly.

My unresponsive body bewildered me beyond measure. After struggling for some time, I abandoned the effort to move.

Deciding to open my eyes first, I concentrated all my awareness there.

Fortunately, after a long moment, I managed to pry open my eyelids, which felt as though glued shut.

Expecting absolute darkness, my pupils dilated as I opened my eyes.

‘What is this…?’

Golden threads filled everything around me.

Luminous golden threads bound me tightly. They looked as though they would snap easily with scissors.

I moved the few fingers I could still control and gently plucked one of the golden threads.

Light bloomed across that thread, and a colossal screen materialized before my eyes.

-If I could only draw better, surely you would look at me again.

-Wow…! How beautiful.

My eyes widened in shock.

—— Page 3 ——

My enlarged eyes gradually returned to their normal size. It was the memory of the day I first witnessed a miracle.

The day I first drew with longing in my heart.

The brief scene ended, and the golden thread I had touched vanished in an instant.

The finger bound by the thread gained slightly more freedom. I carefully moved my loosened finger. As I reached toward the nearest thread

Another scene surfaced before my eyes.

“I hate my siblings! You’re the only ones who understand me.”

A memory of the day I felt jealous of the twins.

“I want to be loved too.”

The day I drew pictures while crying from the ache in my heart.

The day I did it.

“That man has such a personality—he’ll surely live a free life.”

Memories of the day I first saw Millaiyen unfolded vividly before me. One hand broke free, and with that liberated hand, I began to unravel another thread, then another.

I gave it.

Everything was memory.

Though painful memories far outnumbered the rest, my recent memories were all the kind that brought smiles to my face unbidden.

All of my memories with you were ones that naturally brought a smile to my face.

Hundreds of threads of memories—of drawing pictures and creating miracles—intertwined and unfolded before my eyes one by one.

The threads that had bound her scattered like breaking glass, scattering into the darkness like starlight.

—— Page 4 ——

“Sigh.”

Millaiyen, worn down by exhaustion, furrowed his brow.

He paused before turning the doorknob, composing his expression.

Carefully turning the knob, he spoke as he always did.

“Good night, Carina Leopold.”

There should have been no answer to hear,

as there always was.

Yet Millaiyen felt a gaze upon him. The moment he lifted his head—something he always bowed to do—

“Yes, good night, Millaiyen.”

That voice he had waited for so desperately pierced his ears.

Millaiyen froze, forgetting even to close the door behind him.

His eyes widened immensely. It was Carina Leopold, sitting upon the bed and bathed in the cascading moonlight.

She who possessed color in her cheeks and voice.

He could scarcely believe the figure before him. With his own hands, he pinched the back of his hand firmly. Mercifully, the pain was real.

“Carina Leopold…?”

“Yes, Millaiyen.”

“Carina Leopold, Carina Leopold…”

Millaiyen rushed toward her urgently. He drew her into his embrace.

Carina Leopold’s lips trembled softly as she slowly caressed his back. Such a beloved person.

“I missed you.”

“I… no, I missed you too.”

I could not fathom how much I had missed her.

My vision blurred countless times before clearing again. I wanted to meet her eyes—eyes I had not seen in so long—again and again.

As I examined every detail of Carina Leopold’s face, her eyes

—— Page 5 ——

My gaze halted before me.

In eyes that had once resembled the azure Sea, a peculiar shimmer of golden light now flickered into view.

“…Your eyes have changed slightly.”

“Ah… Is something wrong? Could it be a side effect…?”

She tilted her head, murmuring softly.

Millaiyen shook his head. He pressed his lips to hers with urgent tenderness.

“Nothing is wrong. No matter what you look like, you are Carina Leopold… you are simply you to me.”

At Millaiyen’s words, Carina Leopold broke into a radiant smile.

I had missed his firm embrace, his gentle warmth—all of it. I pulled him close, wrapping my arms around his back with all my strength.

‘…I’ve finally returned.’

Carina Leopold’s expression brightened.

It was not absolute darkness. It was a space where the moon existed, where Millaiyen existed. A place where no darkness could ever frighten me.

“I’m home.”

“Yes…, thank you for coming back to me.”

The two of us touched our lips together gently.

Carina Leopold’s lips curved upward once more as she smiled brilliantly, nestling into his embrace like a child seeking comfort.

Millaiyen caressed her back for a long moment as she clung to him, then slowly kissed the nape of her neck before drawing her away.

“Carina Leopold.”

“Yes.”

“…Will you marry me?”

Millaiyen withdrew a small case from his inner pocket and held it out to me.

He had wanted to say this all along. He had hoped for the moment when she would open her eyes. At his sudden confession, Carina’s pupils dilated.

“Millaiyen, I…”

—— Page 6 ——

“It doesn’t matter how much time you have left. A week, a day, a year… I want to be by your side.”

Millaiyen cut off Carina’s bewildered words and continued speaking.

The resolve burning in his hardened gaze revealed that he had wrestled with this decision for a long time.

“I’m not unafraid of the end. There were moments when merely thinking about it made me want to weep.

But even so, I

love you. I cherish you enough to endure all of it.”

“….”

“So let us be together. Allow me to remain by your side until that moment when your final hour comes again.”

Millaiyen bowed his head and pressed his lips to the back of her hand.

He remained bent at the waist, his hand resting upon her thigh. As Carina watched his lips move tenderly, she found herself momentarily speechless.

It wasn’t there.

“You will continue to feel anxious whenever you look at me.”

“That’s fine. I’ll be happy beyond measure.”

“I will continue to feel guilt toward you, Millaiyen.”

“That is… I’m sorry.”

Millaiyen did not say that she need not feel that way.

I know that even if I told her she didn’t have to do this, she would never listen.

A bitter smile flickered across Carina Leopold’s lips before fading away.

“Perhaps we may be too exhausted and worn to ever find happiness.”

“…Even so, I’ll stay by your side. I won’t let you feel anxious.”

At Millaiyen’s words, Carina Leopold gazed into his eyes.

Those unwavering eyes had remained the same since the moment they first met. From the instant I beheld those crimson irises, burning like scarlet flames—

—— Page 7 ——

I had already fallen in love.

“Yes, I’ve already defied providence anyway. What’s one more fate to defy… I won’t be punished for it.”

Carina Leopold spoke quietly.

“I love you, Millaiyen. Will you marry me?”

She placed her hand over the ring case as she spoke. Millaiyen’s eyes widened before slowly closing. He drew her into his embrace.

He pulled her into his arms.

“Yes, gladly.”

Millaiyen claimed her lips. Spring had arrived after a long winter.

【End of Main Story】

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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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