Limited Extra Time - Chapter 181

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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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The Time of a Doomed Extra

A Long Romance Fantasy Novel by Ja Eun-hyang

The Time of a Doomed Extra

Special Side Story Chapter 6

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It was just as the evening meal had begun.

It was a day no different from any other—Carina Leopold had skipped dinner to lock herself away in her room, painting.

“…Duke Pestellio? What brings you here so suddenly without any notice?”

Count Leopold, who had hurried out in the middle of his meal, furrowed his brow as he regarded the man whose disheveled appearance was all too evident. It was a visit lacking both propriety and courtesy.

Count Leopold frowned at the sight of the man, whose disheveled appearance was all too evident. It was a visit lacking both dignity and courtesy.

Millaiyen Pestellio swept a cool gaze over Count Leopold, let out a short sigh, and then opened his mouth with a noticeably more composed expression.

“It looks like you were in the middle of eating.”

Count Leopold let out a short sigh as he looked down at the fork he was holding in his hand.

He hurries out due to the sudden visit.

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I even forgot to leave the dishes behind.

Count Leopold quickly handed his dishes to the servant and straightened his clothes.

Millaiyen Pestellio appeared to be speaking politely at first glance, but throughout the conversation, he kept looking around nervously. He seemed quite distracted.

He was a man who was indifferent to worldly affairs and dismissive toward people.

Unlike the Previous Duke, whose personality was openly straightforward, he showed no mercy to anyone who crossed his path. He was a man who deserved the title of the final gateway protecting the iron fortress of the Northern Territory.

But what of now? Though somewhat crude, this description fit perfectly.

‘Like a restless dog, that’s what this feels like.’

Count Leopold found himself entertaining an rather impolite thought. Indeed, the way he fidgeted and paced about looked precisely like that.

“Please, come inside. The family is currently dining. If you don’t mind, would you be willing to join us for the meal and calmly explain the matter?”

“…Very well.”

Millaiyen Pestellio followed him. However, the moment he stepped into the Dining Hall, he had no choice but to stop in his tracks.

The Dining Hall certainly held the Leopold Family gathered together. Save for one person.

The reason he had abandoned the Northern Territory and ridden here for over a fortnight, sparing even sleep, was not present in this place.

His expression darkened immediately. Anger surged before confusion could take hold.

“Did Count Leopold not tell me that the family was all dining together?”

“Yes, that is so, but…”

“Yet my eyes fail to see one person.”

Count Leopold was momentarily taken aback by the sharp,

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frigid tone in Millaiyen’s voice. Just moments ago he had seemed like a restless dog, but now he resembled a rabid beast.

“One person missing? Ah, Carina Leopold must be in her room. Is that who you came to see?”

“Why is she not dining during the evening meal?”

“…Well, that is her own choice. Carina Leopold often skips meals. She is rather introverted, so she rarely joins when the family

gathers together.”

“Your garbage nature never changes.”

He murmured the words in a low voice, then turned sharply and left the Dining Hall. Without Carina Leopold present, there was no reason for me to force myself to remain in this Dining Hall.

I had dreamed a dream—vivid and crystalline. That dream had shown me a future I had not yet lived.

In that dream, I was twenty-six-year-old Millaiyen Pestellio.

A man of no particular distinction—one who loved Carina Leopold and despaired, regretting that I had not met her sooner, had not protected her.

Before Carina Leopold, I was infinitely powerless, utterly incompetent, and always in despair.

All I knew how to do was utterly useless in saving her.

Neither money nor honor, neither the countless buildings and lands I possessed nor even power itself held any value before her—less than scraps of paper.

When I awoke from that long dream, my face was so drenched in tears that I was ashamed to show it to anyone.

I had never wept like that in all my life.

The emotion of losing my one and only companion seeped entirely into me, and I felt my heart constrict, my breath catch, as though I were dying.

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I came to know it was not a dream when I visited the Mountain Range, troubled by an unsettling feeling, and discovered the Dragon’s tomb, witnessing the Dragon’s form.

Millaiyen Pestellio immediately gathered his horse and rode alone toward the Southern Territory. The final memory had embedded itself too deeply in my mind to fade easily.

“I’m sorry.”

When I first saw her at the betrothal ceremony, I thought her a truly insensitive woman. The way she was dragged along with that bored gaze had displeased me greatly.

But now I wanted to punch my former self for such thoughts.

“Please… please, Carina Leopold… don’t apologize to me. You have nothing to apologize for. I… it was all my fault. I’m the one who’s sorry…”

My dream self was weeping.

Weeping and pleading. Begging her to live just one more day, one more hour, even a moment longer. Begging her not to die, again and again.

Even knowing it was a wish that would never come true, I couldn’t bear to keep it locked inside without speaking it aloud.

“If only I had met you sooner, if only I had shown you interest at the engagement ceremony…!”

Yet at this engagement ceremony, Millaiyen Pestellio had felt no particular interest in her. It was something he regretted deeply.

“I shouldn’t have said those things. I should have asked if you were alright. If only I had extended my hand to you then. If only I had met you sooner…. So that I could…

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hold you close. How I wish I had. How I wish…! Then you wouldn’t have had to waste away at your own hand until the very moment of death! We might have had more time together, more ways to be together!”

The man confessing his regrets while weeping bitterly appeared utterly pathetic, small, and powerless. The memories from that time and the emotions he had felt kept surfacing in his mind again and again.

“I…have imagined returning to that moment so many times. If I could go back to that time, I would do this. I wish I had done that. Then things would be different now.”

“Millaiyen Pestellio, I….”

“But when I open my eyes, it’s just a dream, just my imagination. I cannot turn back time, nor can I save you. No matter how hard I try….”

No matter how hard I try, I cannot save her. That fact alone would never change.

No matter how much he wept and struggled, she would die.

And perhaps it was already too late.

Only three years remained before she would find her way to the Northern Territory. If the dream was true, her lifespan was still desperately short.

The moment he realized this truth, Millaiyen Pestellio could not bear to stay here without

rushing to her side.

He climbed to the Second Floor and strode down the Corridor with long steps. It was the dark door at the very end of the Corridor that she had once mentioned.

He knocked lightly on the door, his fist clenched with tension. There was no answer from within. He knocked several more times, but still nothing.

“…Surely not.”

He quickly grasped the door handle.

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She had always been sensitive to the slightest noise, yet there was only one reason she wouldn’t react like this. It was only when she was painting.

Millaiyen Pestellio hastily threw open the door.

“Carina Leopold!”

The urgent voice of an unfamiliar man was something even she, lost in concentration, couldn’t help but respond to. She turned around from where she sat on the floor, painting.

“…Yes?”

He quickly reached out and took the paper to examine its contents. Fortunately, there was no sign the drawing was finished. It appeared to be merely a sketch.

“…Duke Pestellio, Your Grace?”

Her softly murmured voice carried unmistakable bewilderment. Only then did he realize what he had done, his expression shifting to one of embarrassment.

“I, I apologize. I knocked on the door from outside, but there was no response, so I thought something terrible had happened.”

Millaiyen Pestellio bowed slightly as he returned the paper to Carina Leopold.

Her room was spacious in size, yet the furniture and decorations were remarkably small. Even the bed was quite small, and the desk was small as well. It was as if the room had been designed for a young child.

“What brings you here…?”

Carina Leopold carefully rolled up her drawing and asked.

“I came to the Leopold Estate on urgent business, and when you weren’t at the dining table….”

He couldn’t bring himself to tell her about the unfilial words he had spoken to her father, so Millaiyen Pestellio trailed off.

To be honest, he wanted to strike him with his fists, but he was certain that Count Leopold was still someone she wished to receive love from.

“Urgent business….”

Carina Leopold murmured softly.

‘Is there a reason the Duke would visit at this time?’

Even searching through my memories from dreams, I couldn’t find a single instance of something like this happening before.

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“Yes, because I wanted to see you.”

“…Me? But… why?”

Carina Leopold stammered with a dazed expression at Millaiyen Pestellio’s blunt words.

Millaiyen gazed at her—noticeably smaller than the version from his dream memories—before opening his mouth.

“Because you’re my fiancée. Isn’t that reason enough?”

“…No, that’s not… it’s not that.”

The problem was that there had been no interaction between us whatsoever until now.

I couldn’t fathom his true intentions behind such sudden behavior.

“I apologize for bringing this up so abruptly, but would you consider coming to the Northern Territory with me? I’ll prepare everything to ensure you’re comfortable.”

“…What?”

“From what I can see, this Leopold Manor is in complete disarray. The servants lack proper standards, and above all, Count Leopold and the rest of your family don’t seem to care about you at all.”

“…”

Carina Leopold found herself at a complete loss for words.

He had arrived so suddenly, and now my fiancé was disparaging my family—I couldn’t quite grasp what reaction I should give.

Moreover, his words were somewhat misleading.

“The manor is maintained to a high standard, and… from what I understand, all the servants are elite professionals who have completed rigorous training…”

“Then what does it matter if the very people who should be serving their master are leaving you abandoned like this during dinner time?”

“Ah…”

Of course, the servants were skilled, but that assessment applied to everyone except Carina Leopold.

Carina Leopold, who lived as though she were invisible—never properly acknowledged by her family—could hardly expect the servants to treat her with genuine respect.

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There was no reason they would.

“But I simply….”

“This may come out of nowhere, but I cannot bear to see my person suffer. You are betrothed to me, which makes you mine.”

“Yet you showed no interest until now…?”

Carina Leopold struck at the heart of the matter.

He had never written her a single letter, nor did he recall sending any gifts. There had been no correspondence whatsoever—nothing that could be called an exchange between them.

No matter how occupied Millaiyen Pestellio claimed to be, his indifference was far too evident to excuse away.

“I… suddenly realized something. Father said I should protect my lifelong companion with my very body, and besides… I dislike being alone.”

It was a clumsy, makeshift excuse.

Father had never said any such thing, and Millaiyen Pestellio was not someone who experienced loneliness.

Though, admittedly, since the dream, he had yearned for her.

“Come with me, Carina Leopold. This time, I will protect you.”

Carina Leopold’s eyes widened. This was not the Millaiyen Pestellio from her dream.

He was neither imagining nor dreaming. This was reality.

Carina Leopold was alive.

How she wished they had met sooner. Far sooner than this.

She wished she could have embraced her and asked if she was all right.

Merely three years.

It was only three years that had brought forward our meeting.

“Let’s be happy.”

Millaiyen Pestellio extended a trembling hand.

The thought that she might regard me as mad never crossed my mind. I wanted only to make her happy.

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Five years from now, ten years, twenty years, and even fifty years hence—may we remain together in happiness, building upon that joy so that we might share decades more as one.

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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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