Limited Extra Time - Chapter 192

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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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Millaiyen Pestellio instinctively pulled her into his embrace.

…Ah, Carina Leopold.

He buried his face hurriedly against the nape of her neck, murmuring softly.

Caught unexpectedly in Millaiyen Pestellio’s arms, Carina Leopold blinked slowly.

Despite her neck flushing hotly—her hand awkwardly gripping a sword—he showed no sign of releasing her.

Have you… been well?

At Carina Leopold’s question, Millaiyen Pestellio seemed to regain his senses, startled, and slowly withdrew from her.

…Forgive me. Have I been well? No, I have not. I was consumed with worry for you.

I’m sorry—I was accidentally kidnapped… so I escaped… but why are you here?

If someone kidnapped you, they must face the consequences.

Ah… about that.

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Carina Leopold’s eyes moved slowly.

The people of the Underground—I stripped their powers from only those who desired it, without forcing anyone. I spoke with them. I made them confront the reality that their powers would vanish. Some refused adamantly, while others, exhausted and weary from the long wait, nodded in agreement.

In truth, most resisted at first, yet I explained to them nonetheless, relentlessly.

“This will become poison if you keep it. In time, it will rot your bodies, and perhaps it will ruin the lives of your children, and the children they bear. From what I can see, this Art Nation is wrong. But I’m not saying that everything you’ve lived through is a lie. There are far more pleasant things in this world than art. Art cannot be your entire existence. This is… not happiness.”

And it was true. In the life where I saw only paintings, there would surely have been far more happiness and joy. Things the me in that dream could never have done. What was the difference between the me in that dream and them here now?

“Art is not something you can do simply because it’s this powerful and not even enjoyable. Have you ever enjoyed sculpting? Have you ever thought of art as something joyful? Have you ever created your own work, one that doesn’t need recognition from others? Are you truly happy right now?”

None of them could open their mouths at Carina Leopold’s words. They had all undergone the same training and

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They were people who had lived their entire lives receiving the same education.

People who believed that a small well was the entirety of the world.

Just as Carina Leopold had lived that way, so too had they. In their world, there was nothing to console them except for art itself.

I understand that you were the same. I know you could never have let it go. Even if it gnawed away at your very life, even if it was the cause of your lifelong ruin, there was no other choice.

And yet, they—we—must change.

We must acknowledge that the path we have walked until now was not the right one.

I am not saying you must walk only the righteous path. But… I wished that whatever path you chose, you would walk it by your own volition.

“This blade strips away the power of those afflicted with art sickness. If there are those who wish it, please use this blade to pierce them. Then perhaps this matter will be resolved.

Though more will refuse than accept. There are simply too many for me to persuade them all myself.”

“Very well. I shall have people do it.”

“However, there is one person who must be dealt with first.”

There was someone whose power had to be stripped away by force before anything else, to resolve this entire crisis. If I left this blade behind, they would surely find some way to use it.

Before Carina Leopold could even open her mouth, a hand reached out from the gateway she had created

and seized both of us.

“…Ah!”

“Carina Leopold!”

“Did you do this?”

It was Karsan Erha.

With a face twisted into something menacing and fierce, he no longer appeared as the carefree man he once was.

He looked like a pitiful beast trapped behind bars, conditioned to think this way through education alone.

“Who are you to disturb my nation

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like this? Who are you to steal their power so recklessly?”

Millaiyen, who had been about to draw his sword, furrowed his brow as he watched Karsan Erha use Carina Leopold as a shield.

When Carina Leopold gave a quiet signal with her eyes, Millaiyen tightened his grip on the short sword he had received from her.

Who are you! My nation is fine as it is. A woman like you has no right to meddle with it! Wherever you go, your life isn’t without misfortune, is it? No one understood you, and no one knew your loneliness. Why don’t you realize that we, who are exceptional and superior to others, can only understand each other?

Who do you think you are! My Art Nation is fine as it is. A woman like you has no right to mess with it! Wherever you go, you’ll live an unhappy life

Isn’t that right? No one would have understood you, and no one would have recognized your loneliness. Why don’t you realize that we’re more exceptional and talented than others, so the only people who can understand us are each other?

Carina Leopold’s face darkened in an instant.

He possessed not a shred of qualification to be a sovereign. His Art Nation was already so festered and corrupted that it had become a complete mess.

Lonely people meeting each other only deepens their loneliness even more.

Hey. We don’t know how to be loved and we don’t know how to love, so in the end we’ll just end up eating each other alive again.

Carina Leopold hadn’t heard the details about Karsan Erha, but she could roughly sense that he must have spent a great deal of time in solitude and loneliness.

I sensed that his behavior ultimately stemmed from a desire to be recognized by others.

You really love sculpting, don’t you?

What?

That seems to be the case. When I see what you’ve carved, I get that feeling. So I’m apologizing in advance. I’m sorry. I respect everyone’s opinions, but I can’t respect yours.

Karsan Erha’s artistic affliction will surely bring about his death.

It was too precious to lose what he had carved and what he had loved.

And that death was also the price for trying to wield others as he pleased.

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did it.

“I wish you had instead seen the world and carved many different things.”

Carina Leopold received the dagger from Millaiyen in an instant, spun around, and drove the blade into his heart.

Karsan Erha’s eyes widened at the unexpected attack.

“Even without divine power, you could surely create beautiful works.”

A pure white light spread outward, instantly enveloping his body.

Karsan Erha shook his head repeatedly, his face drained of all color.

At the sight of his expression twisted in what seemed like terror, Carina Leopold took a hesitant step backward.

“Don’t do this!”

At his voice—almost a wail—Carina Leopold held her breath.

“Pay no mind. This is merely the price for laying hands upon you.”

Millaiyen embraced her from behind, whispering against her ear. The physical intimacy felt far more natural than before their separation, and

she scratched at her cheek self-consciously.

“And if you are the lord of a nation, don’t call it ‘my nation.’ Women are not your tools. The concubines who served you were all remarkable women—I don’t understand why you treated them with such contempt…”

He could have received affection in abundance if only he had known how.

Watching Karsan Erha crumble, Carina Leopold turned her head away.

“I’ve become utterly useless now

…”

Her murmur was saturated with despair.

But now, it was no longer her concern.

The Art Nation would change. It had to change, whether in small ways or large. Once I resolved this with the sword, no more forced divine powers would emerge.

“If you wish to change, you can. I left that small household precisely because I wanted to change too.”

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Carina Leopold murmured softly.

Had it been otherwise, she would still be like her dream-self—enduring painful season after painful season, accumulating wounds, only leaving that household on the brink of death.

But now, Carina Leopold had Millaiyen Pestellio by her side. The one who had crossed this vast Desert to find her. And the affection she had received from him.

So she too would change.

Risking her life as she had in her dreams—

she would no longer obsess over painting. She would live in coexistence.

To find happiness, as he had said.

“Let us return, Carina Leopold.”

“Yes.”

Eventually, even this change would become familiar with time.

In truth, had she not been abducted, she would have lived her entire life never knowing what transpired in this Art Nation.

Once the God of Art’s divine power vanished, they

would strive to survive through other means.

‘Perhaps it truly could become a nation of art.’

An Empire founded by the God of Art’s first and only believer—how beautiful that would be.

But perhaps in the end, it was the God of Art’s intervention that created the problem.

“A miracle like this would have been better left ungranted.”

Had he merely bestowed his blessing,

the people would have lived in gratitude. Of course, he must have wanted to give his beloved child everything.

“I hope to see your work somewhere someday, Karsan.”

“…!”

Carina Leopold gazed down at the collapsed Karsan Erha, then turned away.

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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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