Limited Extra Time - Chapter 174

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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 Doomed Extra’s Time

A long romance fantasy novel by Ja Eun-hyang

A Doomed Extra’s Time

Side Story, Episode 30

“It’s beautiful!”

“Flowers will bloom here soon.”

Unable to venture far, Carina Leopold spread out a blanket and sat in the flower garden on the hill behind Leopold Manor, explaining softly to Seren.

Spring had only just arrived, so only tender green shoots dotted the earth, but when summer came, vibrant blossoms would paint the landscape.

“Here, eat this.”

“Mother, why aren’t you eating?”

“…I’m not particularly hungry. Just watching you eat fills me with satisfaction.”

Seren grabbed a sandwich and a wooden sword, then dashed off somewhere with eager footsteps.

The sight of him rolling through the sprouting grass looked genuinely joyful. It was an outing without a large entourage.

“Carina, you…”

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“It’s strange. I’ve never felt this light in my entire life, yet today I feel so unburdened. I couldn’t sleep last night, which is peculiar, isn’t it?”

“…You didn’t sleep?”

“I couldn’t. There were things to do, but if I slept… I wondered if I would wake up.”

“…Are you dying?”

At the sound of his voice—strained and aching, weighted with suppressed emotion—Carina Leopold, who had been waving to the child, slowly turned her head.

Millaiyen stood with his head bowed, his teeth clenched, his fists trembling violently. Carina Leopold placed her hand over his.

“I….”

A tear from Millaiyen fell onto the back of her hand. The warmth of it made Carina Leopold’s eyes widen.

“I wanted to smile for you when you left.”

His voice trembled, saturated with tears.

Carina Leopold couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat. Watching Millaiyen’s lips move desperately, she closed her mouth.

“I even practiced… We promised to part… smiling together. I tried to keep that promise… but I can’t… I can’t….”

Millaiyen grasped her with his other hand.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can keep that promise… It hurts so much. It hurts… It hurts, Carina Leopold… Don’t go… Don’t die….”

At the sound of his heart breaking, Carina Leopold’s face contorted. Seeing his anguished expression, she couldn’t even part her lips.

“Don’t leave me… Don’t leave me and Seren… Please… Please….”

Watching Millaiyen cry like a child, her throat ached. It felt as though someone had driven their fist deep into her chest, leaving it gaping open.

“Please, Carina Leopold… I don’t want to never see you again….”

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His true feelings finally burst forth, and the anguish he had suppressed for so long made her chest ache.

Watching the man crumble before her, desperately clinging to her shoulders, Carina Leopold found herself unable to speak.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry….”

Tears streamed down Carina Leopold’s face. Millaiyen stared blankly at the droplets falling silently.

“Because I didn’t cherish myself

Yes. I, I….”

Carina Leopold embraced Millaiyen.

If I had only glimpsed further into the future and valued myself more… perhaps there might have been a different ending. If I had overcome that moment of impulse, perhaps there would have been more time than now.

“I don’t want to die. The truth is… I want to see Seren and you so much more. There was never enough time….”

Millaiyen’s eyes widened as he

wrapped his arms around Carina’s trembling form clinging to him. The sincerity touching his skin terrified him. Every sensation against his skin made him realize this was real.

“I’m afraid of leaving you behind. I’m afraid of dying….”

“…Carina.”

“I’m afraid our shared memories will disappear. What if Seren forgets me? You, you….”

“I won’t forget. I will never forget. How could I possibly forget? I… Seren

and you… how could I ever forget you.”

Millaiyen held her tightly as he spoke.

“We never did make it to the Winter Mountain Range, did we?”

“…You’re right. I should have gone. I should have tried this and that.”

“…Mom? Dad?”

Seren had drawn near, gazing at the two of them with anxious eyes. Carina wiped her tears with her sleeve and opened both arms wide.

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Carina lifted the child onto her lap and held her tightly.

“Seren. Seren….”

“Yes?”

“I love you so much, Mom. I’m sorry. I wish I could be with you longer.”

“Mom… Are we going on a trip today?”

“…Perhaps.”

Watching Seren smile with a distorted expression, Carina Leopold gripped Millaiyen’s hand tightly.

As Seren’s gaze turned forward, Carina Leopold

pressed a kiss to the child’s crown.

“Seren, do you know a place called the Winter Mountain Range?”

“Yes! That’s where Azi lives!”

“Right. Beyond it, there’s something truly beautiful. Look ahead.”

“Ahead?”

“Yes.”

Gripping Millaiyen’s hand firmly, she slowly closed her eyes. She carefully painted in her mind what she had heard from Azi Dahaka about beyond the mountain range—

what lay beyond those peaks.

She meticulously sketched in her mind what she had deliberately avoided imagining, drawing only from stories she’d heard.

“Carina Leopold…!”

Leaning against a tree, Carina Leopold slowly blinked open her eyes. A faint smile crossed her face at the vista spreading before her.

Beyond the towering mountain range lay vast, verdant grasslands where countless varieties of Magical Beasts frolicked and played.

Though no humans inhabited it, flora and fauna she had never seen before

thrived there, and spring bloomed everywhere.

In the heart of it all, three figures sat together. It was another small world unto itself.

Behind that incomparable beauty lay what might well become another treasure of the Northern Territory.

In the Northern Territory, where plants struggled to take root, fertile soil was a rarity. Countless nameless fruits overflowed in abundance, and all manner of medicinal herbs and vegetation filled every corner.

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“Wow… how beautiful.”

“Your mother secretly… carved a passage through the Mountain Range, so later… you should visit it with your father….”

“Really?”

“Really.”

All strength drained from my body.

Despite the overwhelming exhaustion, I managed to lift my hand and stroke the child’s hair. Thud—my hand fell limply to the ground.

My vision blurred.

I blinked slowly.

With each blink, the child’s figure grew hazier and hazier.

I turned my head slowly.

“Carina Leopold….”

“I really wanted to go there with you….”

“Yes. Yes….”

“Truth is, I thought about the old days a lot. Ah… what if things had been different…. What if I hadn’t possessed this power….”

Millaiyen listened to my voice growing fainter and forced himself to smile.

As he nodded, he saw me struggling to lift my hand. Millaiyen took my hand and placed it against his cheek.

Feeling my trembling hand, Millaiyen drew in a breath.

She blinked slowly. Her vision darkened. The sensation faded from her fingertips. A creeping dread seized her heart, and she parted her lips.

“…Millaiyen, are you there?”

Watching her struggle to focus despite her eyes being open, Millaiyen bit down on his lip.

The metallic taste of blood bloomed across his tongue.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Mother…?”

“I love you, Seren. Millaiyen.”

“Yes, I do too.”

“Seren too!”

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Millaiyen reached out desperately to catch her, but her body went limp as though all strength had drained from her muscles.

“I love you…”

Watching Carina Leopold’s lips move even in her final moments, Millaiyen turned away.

The illusion she had woven, the landscape of the Winter Mountain Range, was slowly dissolving.

Seren gazed blankly as the vision faded like mist into nothingness. When Millaiyen turned back to Carina Leopold, her eyes were already closed, as though she had fallen into a deep sleep.

“…Mother?”

“…”

“Father, Mother…”

“Dad, Mom…”

The child grasped at Millaiyen’s sleeve, then bent forward at the waist.

“Mommy, the white light and the red light are both gone….”

Seren tapped Carina Leopold’s chest in alarm.

The two lights that had always shimmered faintly within her heart had vanished completely. Seren remembered seeing the red light fade away not long ago.

But now there was nothing.

Tears welled up instantly in Seren’s eyes as I gazed upon the hollow heart.

Fat tears like chicken droppings fell one after another.

Millaiyen remained silent even as the child burst into tears.

As if time itself had stopped, I sat there in a daze, staring at her for a long while.

Strangely, though she seemed as though she might rise and move at any moment, she remained utterly still.

“Daddy!”

The child finally burst into sobs and burrowed into his embrace.

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Something’s wrong, something’s wrong, the child kept crying, and Millaiyen held the child tightly in his arms while stroking her back.

“Seren….”

“Yes…?”

The sight of the child sobbing was utterly heartbreaking.

“…Your mother has already gone on a journey.”

Millaiyen cradled the child and tilted his head back, murmuring softly.

The sky was such a brilliant blue—truly, as she had said, it was perfect weather for an outing.

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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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