Limited Extra Time - Chapter 157

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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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What, an Imperial Palace party? Me?

Yes. I’m not sure what it’s about, but an imperial decree has been issued commanding all nobility in the Capital to attend.

That’s unusual. For an imperial decree to be issued like this.

Millaiyen Pestellio exhaled a deep sigh and nestled into Carina Leopold’s arms like a petulant child.

His large frame felt remarkably childlike cradled against her small body.

Pa!

By the way, Seren seems to be in a good mood today.

Millaiyen Pestellio spoke while gently stroking Seren’s cheek with his index finger.

The child burst into delighted laughter and quickly grasped Millaiyen Pestellio’s hand.

At the sight of the child’s beaming expression, a smile naturally bloomed across Millaiyen Pestellio’s lips.

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“So… should I attend as well?”

“Well, you’re nobility as the Duke’s wife.

But if you’d rather not go, you don’t have to. I’ll find a way to manage it.”

“I’ve said it before, but I hate putting Millaiyen in a difficult position.”

At Carina Leopold’s words, Millaiyen Pestellio’s lips pressed firmly together.

The fact that he didn’t offer reassurance again suggested this imperial decree was awkward for him in multiple ways.

“It would be strange to wear a mask when this isn’t even a masquerade, wouldn’t it…?”

“…A mask is a bit much.”

Millaiyen Pestellio shook his head with a faint smile playing at his lips.

He reached out to caress Carina Leopold’s cheek before carefully pressing his lips to her forehead.

“A veil would be acceptable, I suppose.”

“….”

What was the difference between a veil and a mask, really?

Wouldn’t a mask actually be slightly preferable to a veil?

As these thoughts occupied her mind, Carina Leopold’s eyes narrowed. She regarded Millaiyen Pestellio with a peculiar expression.

“That’s acceptable to you?”

“Truthfully, I have no desire to display you before the other nobility.”

“Why is that?”

“Because there are certainly those among them whom you would find distasteful.”

Millaiyen Pestellio pressed his lips lightly against Carina Leopold’s nape. She laughed at the ticklish sensation.

Carina Leopold stroked his hair gently.

“So, how do you feel about purchasing the apple orchard?”

“You’re not still going to hold that against me, are you…?”

Millaiyen Pestellio spoke with an exhausted expression.

Upon hearing from Peng that Seren favored apples, he had thoughtlessly decided to purchase an apple orchard

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without further deliberation.

Afterward, he had received quite the scolding from an astonished Carina Leopold.

‘Of course, even her anger is endearing.’

If I said that aloud, she would surely grow even more upset.

Millaiyen Pestellio pressed his forehead against her shoulder, adopting the most melancholic and sorrowful expression he could muster.

Even though Carina Leopold knew full well that Millaiyen Pestellio was feigning weakness, she clamped her lips shut.

“Do you realize it’s already been a year and a half, Carina?”

“Yes.”

“It all feels like a dream to me. As though I’m caught in some endless reverie. This moment seems as though it will last forever.”

Millaiyen Pestellio settled her onto his lap, and as he held her close, the warmth of her soft skin suffused through him.

It seemed as though she would always remain by his side, as though this moment would stretch on eternally.

“Sometimes I find it hard to believe you’re afflicted. Since that day, you’ve suffered neither seizures nor pain.”

“…Yes, that’s true.”

Carina Leopold answered softly, extending her arms to embrace Millaiyen Pestellio in return.

Millaiyen Pestellio exhaled a quiet sigh.

Seren, who had by now grown quite adept at maintaining balance, sat upon the bed and gazed at the two of them with quiet contemplation.

“How have you been lately, Carina?”

Carina Leopold lifted her gaze to meet Millaiyen Pestellio’s eyes.

Though her lips still curved in a smile, her eyes had grown clouded with sorrow.

“Still feeling as though death looms before you?”

“Millaiyen, Mill…”

Carina Leopold cradled Millaiyen Pestellio’s face gently between her hands.

Millaiyen Pestellio’s face contorted,

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his fists clenching so tightly they trembled. At the sight of his expression twisted as though he might weep at any moment, Carina Leopold simply smiled.

“I’m not looking at death. What I see right now is you and Seren.”

“…”

“Because I would spend my days worrying about the future, fearing it, crying over it—the time given to me is far too precious to waste that way.”

Carina Leopold spoke with quiet composure.

Millaiyen Pestellio always wore an anxious expression. Whenever she so much as ventured a step away, he would worry excessively, as though watching someone he would never see again.

“This time I can spend with you, this present moment where I can hold Seren in my arms—that is both my present and my future.”

“That’s true….”

“Death will inevitably come before me someday, but we’ve already faced it. We’ve already… promised to walk through that agonizing pain once more together.”

It was a future they had decided upon together. She could scarcely imagine how agonizing it must be for him to hold someone he must let go. If he could prevent her departure simply by crying out that he didn’t want her to leave, he would do so.

“Let’s stop dwelling on that. Don’t torment yourself by constantly revisiting it. I’m… alright now.”

She had already seen the end. She had faced death and returned. By then,

her heart had made all its preparations. Now, all that remained was to savor this life.

Watching Seren grow was the final gift of life granted to her.

“I may not be able to pass everything on to Seren in the time I have left… but I’ll certainly fill in what you lack, so it will be alright.”

Carina Leopold, still seated upon Millaiyen Pestellio’s lap, pressed her lips against his.

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As their lips met, Millaiyen Pestellio slowly blinked before carefully letting his tongue meet hers.

Carina Leopold accepts his advancing tongue willingly, pulling him into a tight embrace.

Millaiyen Pestellio, who had been hesitantly nibbling at his own lips, soon tenderly caresses the inside of her mouth with his tongue, licking away the saliva that spills forth.

As Carina’s breath grows labored and her tongue retreats hastily, Millaiyen Pestellio pursues it, capturing it firmly.

He draws deeply, sucking with enough force to make the base of her tongue ache, and her arms instinctively wrap around his neck.

He draws her tongue deeper into his own territory, sucking it in profoundly.

Only when Carina Leopold grips his shoulders tightly does he carefully pull away from her.

She gazes at him with a reluctant pout, exhaling a bright breath.

“Haah….”

A heated, breathless voice spills between her parted lips.

Millaiyen Pestellio’s throat undulates visibly from the intensity of their long-awaited kiss.

Her lips, flushed a deep crimson and swollen plump, are utterly enticing.

With eyes brimming with desire and hunger, Millaiyen Pestellio gazes at her lips, and with reluctance, he licks them once or twice with his tongue before slowly withdrawing.

“Carina Leopold, if you’re free tonight….”

“Ma!”

Seren has placed his small hands on Carina Leopold’s knees, his voice rising insistently.

The flushed expressions that Carina Leopold and Millaiyen Pestellio had been sharing simultaneously darken with disappointment.

“….”

“….”

“Pa!”

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The two of them regarded each other in silence before finally closing their mouths. Carina Leopold fanned her flushed face with her hand before gathering the child into her arms as though nothing had happened.

Next time, then.

I’m sorry.

No, it seems Seren was lonely with just the two of us together.

Millaiyen Pestellio spoke gently while carefully caressing the child’s cheek.

Even so, his eyes lingered on her full lips with unmistakable longing, yet he made no further attempt to kiss her.

But does Seren have to attend that Imperial Palace banquet as well?

It was an assembly of all nobility residing in the Capital, regardless of gender or age.

How peculiar.

Carina Leopold tilted her head thoughtfully.

At her gesture, Seren gazed intently at her from within her embrace before mimicking her, tilting his head to the side with a soft tilt.

At the sight of such endearing charm, Millaiyen Pestellio’s lips curved into an involuntary smile.

Do you know the reason?

Hmm. It appears the Heretic Sect has been conducting missionary activities in various places recently. They call it a gathering to praise a new god, but their influence seems to have grown considerably.

At Millaiyen Pestellio’s words, Carina Leopold’s brow furrowed.

The way he spoke suggested this was a matter of considerable gravity. The Empire believed in a single god, and directly beneath that god stood the Emperor. While the Temple received divine revelation and conveyed it to the world, it was the Emperor’s authority to enforce it directly. Therefore, the Empire could not tolerate another god.

There exists someone who calls themselves the vessel through which a god has descended into this world.

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It seems.

Is that so?

Carina Leopold’s expression turned distinctly uneasy. No matter how she considered it, the narrative was so childishly absurd that she wanted nothing more than to laugh it off.

A vessel for a god descended upon the world? The very notion was almost too ridiculous to even smile at.

“Well, it’s rather difficult to refuse, you see…”

Millaiyen Pestellio exhaled a weary sigh.

Under ordinary circumstances, he would have dismissed any imperial decree without hesitation, treating it as weightless.

For Carina Leopold and Seren’s sake, he was willing to endure considerable pressure without complaint.

“But a problem has arisen, hasn’t it?”

At Carina Leopold’s perceptive observation, Millaiyen Pestellio nodded in acknowledgment.

“Those heretics claim that since the god who once protected the Empire has grown wrathful, a new deity is now needed to safeguard the world. They’ve turned their focus to the Northern Territory.”

“Why the Northern Territory?”

“They say the sudden disappearance of an enormous mountain range, the emergence of a colossal creature hovering above the Northern Territory, and the countless magical beasts dwelling there are all signs of divine wrath.”

Millaiyen Pestellio furrowed his brow and shrugged his shoulders, his tone conveying his own bewilderment at the absurdity.

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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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