Limited Extra Time - Chapter 201

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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 ——

Millaiyen changed into clothes that would be easier to move in, despite his body’s reluctance to obey.

The massive wound across his back had already darkened to a sickly black, spreading throughout his body like creeping poison.

After hastily dressing, he retrieved his sword and propped it against the wall, then unfolded the final page of the notebook containing the letter.

[Hello, Millaiyen.

So, I’ve finally reached this point. As I write this, two thoughts occupy my mind.

The first is that you’ve safely made it through decades to arrive here. The second is… what if you’ve been forced into circumstances where you must rush through to the final page?

…I’m certainly hoping for the first, but somehow, I can’t shake the feeling that it will be the second.

I don’t think that growing older means you’ll set down your sword or live a leisurely life

—— Page 2 ——

because you’re blunt, yet incapable of selfishness—in fact, you’re even kind.

…Hello, Millaiyen. Have you been well? How much has Serenus grown? Surely he’s become far more mature than the age I lived to. You must have struggled so much alone. Did you resent me for burdening you so heavily? Did it anger you that I seemed to use you for my own desires?

…I always said it was fine, that you’d be living well, but truthfully, I’ve been holding back so much throughout this journey. I’m afraid you might not read this page. I fear that after all this time, your love might have grown cold from the weight you’ve carried, that I might have become nothing to you… that you’ve simply grown too exhausted.

With every page, every single page I wrote, I always wanted to ask: Millaiyen, are you still reading?

But I know that even asking this is selfish. Because there will be more time when I couldn’t love you than when I did. Those six years were my effort to say “I love you” for a lifetime, but the years you’ve lived alone afterward will be far longer. …Even if you’ve given up because it became too much, I’ll understand. I know things can never be the same as before. Perhaps decades have passed.

Now that I’m at the end, I don’t know what to write. I’ve said “I love you” and “I miss you” so many times that I’m at a loss for what else to say.

…Let me just write what comes to mind now. The landscape I’m seeing, the emotions I’m feeling—let me tell you about them now. It’s the sleepless dawn

—— Page 3 ——

right now.

You and Seren have fallen asleep, and I said I wanted to sleep alone just for tonight. Do you remember?

The truth is, once today passes, I have this feeling that I’ll never be able to see the softly glowing moon or the rising sun again. So I thought I needed to finish this quickly.

These thoughts fill my mind so completely that sleep won’t come, and I can’t bring myself to close my eyes.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll surely smile and speak to you as if nothing is wrong, but right now I’m so frightened and afraid.

Yes, the truth is I don’t want to die. I want to live.

I want to run to you in the next room right now, throw myself into your arms, and cling to you while crying, but I know I can’t do that.

Will I die tomorrow?

No, I’ll probably die.

The sensation in my fingertips as I write grows faint.

Pain, suffering, everything feels distant. Even the vague anxiety I always carry is gone. When all sensation fades away like this, it feels like that’s the end.

But what troubles me most isn’t my own death. It’s that you’ll be left alone, and I’m sorry for that. I’m afraid of it.

I’m sorry. The thing I wanted to say most while writing this is this.

Even if you never read this letter, even if you stop loving me, that’s all right.

You did more than enough.

Thank you for everything, Millaiyen.

I have always wished for your happiness. That much was always sincere.]

Millaiyen closed the book slowly after reading through the letter several times.

He never imagined that a youthful love, born in those carefree days of innocence, would bind him for a lifetime like this.

—— Page 4 ——

He had never known such constraint.

“Honestly, I don’t understand anymore, Carina Leopold.”

Millaiyen answered quietly.

“At first, just thinking of you would bring tears, pain, and a sensation like my heart was being torn apart. But now, nothing comes to mind. While reading this letter, I’d expect my chest to ache with thoughts of you, yet when I search my feelings, there’s nothing at all.”

No one listened, but it was a conversation I’d carried on faithfully at this time each year.

“Perhaps, as you said, I too have grown numb now. So please, forgive me. To stand with my feet upon the ground… I have become too old and too weak.”

Millaiyen slowly rose from his seat and placed the notebook on the side table.

The medication was taking effect; the pain had faded to a dull ache. There would be no significant problem moving about.

He straightened his back and walked slowly toward the Garden.

To draw a sword for the first and last time.

“F-first time meeting you, Your Grace, the former Duke.”

“Yes, I heard you were a guest.”

“Ah… Yes! Thanks to Seren’s kindness….”

“Seren?”

When Millaiyen questioned sharply, Haran swallowed hard. It felt as though a massive predator was staring him down.

‘Wasn’t it said he was injured by a Magical Beast…?’

He’d heard the Duke was gravely wounded and in poor health, yet what was this overwhelming presence?

It would almost be preferable to face dozens of Magical Beasts at once.

“I-I am grateful for the Duke’s kindness.”

“Yes, our Seren does have a thoughtful nature.”

“Yes, that’s right! He is very kind.”

—— Page 5 ——

Hmm.

Millaiyen was about to take a light sip of wine when the glass was swiftly switched out—replaced with one filled with clear water.

…Seren.

The healer said you shouldn’t drink alcohol and take medicine together.

…I understand.

Millaiyen gazed at the wine with a look of regret before obediently picking up the glass of water.

After wetting his throat with a few sips of the bland water, he let out a short sigh.

Let’s just have dinner.

Yes!

The previous Duke was injured by Magical Beasts and is in poor health, so the Duke is quite worried.

…Haran, don’t say unnecessary things. If it hadn’t been for those 40 Magical Beasts, Father wouldn’t have been injured in the first place.

Haran’s eyes widened at the disgruntled murmur.

…40 of them?

Yes.

Not just one?

How would Father get injured by just one?

Normally people get injured by one, but they don’t fight 40. Fighting 40 would mean instant death, wouldn’t it?

Seren.

Yes?

There should be Mother’s notebook in the room. Would you bring it?

Serenus blinked at Millaiyen’s words.

Was it because the diary belonged to her mother and he didn’t want it to pass through another’s hands? It was unusual for him to say such a thing, so she showed a puzzled expression, but she rose obediently nonetheless.

I understand.

Serenus entered Leopold Manor.

Left alone in an awkward silence, Haran’s complexion drained to a ghostly pallor.

—— Page 6 ——

“Do you like my daughter?”

“…What?”

“If you don’t, then stop lingering and get out.”

The father who had been gentle and affectionate just moments before had vanished entirely, replaced by this sudden harshness. Haran’s eyes trembled visibly.

‘What is this thuggish tone…’

He drew a deep breath.

“I think I’m dying soon.”

“I…?”

“I can’t afford to keep useless trash around for long. It’s time to use drastic measures. Return to your nation, young prince.”

“What… are you saying?”

Millaiyen rose from his seat and drew his sword.

“Draw your blade, unless you wish to die.”

“No, what on earth… I do not duel with the infirm…”

Before he could finish speaking, a blade came thrusting toward him with lethal intent, sharp and piercing. Haran reflexively drew his sword to parry the strike.

Millaiyen’s eyes narrowed to slits.

“What a shame. If I’d been just a moment slower, I would have pierced his throat.”

“…Gasp, I, I nearly died! This could escalate into an international incident…”

“I was trying to kill him. An international incident? So what. That’s for the Imperial Court to handle.”

Haran’s widened eyes trembled faintly.

Blade clashed against blade in an endless, sharp whistle of air. Even Haran, who had intended not to engage seriously, found himself now fighting with genuine intent.

‘Is this really… the way the Duke of the Northern Territory speaks? No, is he really injured…?’

Haran gritted his teeth as he parried the rapidly advancing blade.

—— Page 7 ——

“A man I cannot defeat has no right to stand beside Serenus.”

“That is…! Not for you to decide, Father!”

Haran, being pushed back by Millaiyen, ground his teeth together. The gentle, puppy-like gleam in his eyes sharpened, and veins rose prominently on the back of his hands.

Clang—!

Thud—

Millaiyen’s blade flew from his hand and embedded itself in the ground.

Millaiyen’s eyes widened as he stared at his own hand. He clenched and unclenched his fist several times before slowly raising his head.

“Huff, huff…”

“When you crouch, your waist and legs are completely exposed. When you raise your head, your upper body is open. Your stance is fundamentally flawed from the start. What do you intend to kill with such a feeble blade? Will you fight with such a weak sword even when my daughter is kidnapped?”

“If Seren is kidnapped, of course I will throw my entire being into rescuing her!”

“Then it would be better to have power rather than live as a wastrel. Or do you intend to cling to my daughter’s power and live as a parasite?”

“That is….”

“I don’t even want to speak of inheriting the throne. That’s too tedious. But I need to possess power comparable to the Duke’s. You can’t obtain what you desire by fleeing to another nation and rolling about in discontent.”

Haran faltered.

Only now did he understand what he was truly saying.

He was precisely identifying and exposing Haran’s escape.

That Haran had fled under the guise of being the Third Prince, despising power struggles and conflict alike.

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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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