Limited Extra Time - Chapter 47

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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 ——

“…Ah, should I not have discarded it here?”

As dark smoke suddenly billowed up, Carina Leopold turned to Millaiyen with a slightly flustered expression and asked.

Millaiyen regarded her silently for a moment, then shook his head.

It doesn’t matter.

“Oh, then that’s a relief.”

Carina approached the sofa again and settled into the seat across from him.

With her seated, silence descended once more. She tilted her teacup with an expression of resignation but did not speak.

I need to go see Herta.

What came to mind amid that suffocating feeling of being completely blocked was a living creature I could hold in my arms.

I wanted to tell him everything. He doesn’t answer or give advice, but somehow he still understands me.

Do you know when what you created will disappear, Carina Leopold?

It depends on the situation, but on average it was about a day.

Does a day mean 24 hours?

Periael stroked her smooth chin and asked back.

After a brief moment of thought, Carina Leopold nods. It was indeed about 24 hours, not just a single night’s sleep.

But that’s not always the case. Some of them disappeared in less than a few hours.

I vaguely suspected that it might differ depending on the effort put into the painting, but I wasn’t certain.

Since there were no accurate indicators, Carina Leopold was just making an educated guess on her own.

I see.

Let me go…!

At the piercing scream, Carina Leopold jolted to her feet in alarm.

A sharp pain lanced through her heart. The cry—almost a wail—was laced with agony.

Carina’s face drained of color as she rose from her seat. She bolted reflexively from the Reception Room.

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Leopold Manor trembled violently. Chaos erupted on all sides, and the metallic ring of drawn blades echoed throughout.

Steel scraped against steel, that distinctive clang piercing her sensitive ears.

“A beast is rampaging!”

“Kill it at once!”

Carina pushed urgently through the Knights. Millaiyen Pestellio, following behind her, seized her waist and pulled her back while drawing his blade.

At that sharp killing intent, Carina shook her head in alarm.

“Millaiyen, wait.”

“That’s dangerous. Step back, Carina.”

“It’s not dangerous. It’s just….”

Despite her words, Millaiyen remained unmoved, his gaze fixed on Herta, who was radiating murderous intent.

She could never overcome his honed strength.

“Millaiyen.”

“If you won’t help, step back.”

Millaiyen warned without turning to look at Perial, who had approached from behind. Perial shrugged.

“Release her and call off the Knights.”

“….”

At Periel’s low voice, I finally turned around while holding Carina in my embrace.

The blade still spewed sharp killing intent, but my momentum had noticeably diminished.

“Why?”

“Since she gave life, she can take it back without needing to see blood.”

I finally looked at Carina, whose eyes darted anxiously between Periel and Herta.

I exhaled deeply and released my arm from around her waist.

“If anything happens, I’ll protect you. If you have something to do, go and do it.”

I whispered softly near Carina’s ear, then gestured for the Knights surrounding the Demon Beast to fall back.

The Knights looked bewildered but obeyed my command and retreated.

Carina walked slowly through the gap, with Periel and me following behind her.

“What’s suddenly happened?”

“The Soldiers took this opportunity to probe for weaknesses and stabbed their swords into Herta in various places.”

“…I clearly told them to leave it alone.”

Hearing the Knight’s report, I spoke in a fierce voice.

Herta was still raging wildly. She stomped her feet and lashed her enormous tail mercilessly in all directions.

Carina showed no fear of that ferocious killing intent. She quietly approached Herta and slowly stroked the horn on her snout with her small, delicate hand.

“It’s alright.”

Carina murmured softly, as if soothing Herta.

She closed her eyes and brought her forehead to rest just below Herta’s horn.

She moved with reverent grace, as though receiving sacred blessing from a priestess. With an almost holy reverence, she extended her arm and gently stroked Herta’s nape.

“Thank you for telling me.”

Carina Leopold whispered softly.

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“You’ve done well. You may return now.”

A low rumble escaped from Herta.

Far calmer than before, Herta lowered her massive head slowly to gaze at Carina Leopold. More precisely, at her golden eyes.

Herta’s colossal form began to glow with a soft golden luminescence.

Herta’s enormous body gradually dispersed into particles of light and began to fade. Carina Leopold watched silently as Herta vanished bit by bit.

“…I’m sorry.”

At the trembling voice, Herta’s eyes narrowed as she regarded Carina Leopold once more before releasing a low cry.

Thereupon, Herta’s form transformed entirely into a radiant glow as she soared high into the sky.

Carina Leopold remained with her head tilted back, watching Herta disappear for a long while.

After seeing Herta off, the first thing Carina Leopold did upon returning to her room was to retrieve stationery and grasp a pen in her hand.

The moment she saw the letter, she understood. That it was no longer worth investing her emotions in them.

That even seeing those cold words no longer drew a single tear or a hint of sorrow from her.

That her heart was finally ready to leave that place behind.

And Carina Leopold no longer denied it.

‘…I will be happy even without them.’

She had met someone kind.

I met people who recognized my abilities.

I met people who didn’t doubt me for being ill, who wrapped me in kindness.

Everything was a new world.

Scratch, scratch—

After organizing her thoughts, Carina Leopold began writing on the stationery without hesitation.

There was no tremor in the letters she wrote so fluently and decisively.

Carina Leopold had little to say. This was simply a farewell.

“Carina Leopold, what are you doing? I’ve been calling you.”

“…Millaiyen?”

In the middle of writing sentence after sentence, Carina Leopold’s eyes widened at the voice from behind.

She quickly set down her pen and turned around.

“Yes, what are you doing?”

“…I’m writing a letter.”

“A letter? To whom?”

“To people who are now nothing to me.”

At Carina Leopold’s calm words, Millaiyen easily grasped the answer.

“Surely someone will mock you for being unfilial.”

“Filial piety is a feeling held toward parents. If a parent’s role is merely to raise a child, then simply throwing money at the house and showing love would make even a scoundrel grow up right.”

Millaiyen spoke with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall beside the desk. Carina Leopold looked at him, tilted at an angle.

“A child’s birth is the parent’s desire. If they desired it, they must bear the responsibility—

—— Page 4 ——

it was only natural.”

If I hadn’t done so, I would have had no right to speak of filial piety. Millaiyen’s gaze drifted downward.

Her hands had turned pale as snow. I could tell without asking how tightly she had been gripping the pen.

“If it’s something you desire, I will support you.”

Millaiyen extended his arm and grasped both of her hands firmly with one of his own. Warmth spread slowly between them.

“So believe in yourself.”

“Yes.”

Carina Leopold smiled at the warmth transmitted from his fingertips.

After their conversation ended, the soft rustling of paper resumed once more.

Millaiyen simply remained at her side in silence until she had sealed the letter in its envelope.

***

The day after burning Count Leopold’s letter, Millaiyen appeared unexpectedly.

He asked if I had time, then seized my hand and led me with long strides to a space like an attic studio at the very top of the manor.

“…What is this?”

“It’s an art studio for you. I’ve had all the

basic supplies prepared already. Is there anything else you need?”

Though it was called an attic studio, it was remarkably spacious, with windows opening wide to the front. Above all, it was filled with all manner of art supplies, including easels.

My eyes widened.

“Good heavens…”

She covered her mouth.

She had said it was fine, repeated it countless times that it was fine, yet he had still given her

an art studio as a gift.

Moreover, it was a spacious room bathed in the most brilliant sunlight. She stood dazed, gazing into the studio, then let out a bitter laugh.

“…But I said it was fine.”

“Think of it as a gift from me to you.”

“I haven’t given Millaiyen anything in return.”

“….”

Upon hearing Carina’s words, Millaiyen’s

lips pressed firmly shut.

He wanted to say such things were unnecessary, yet simultaneously, if he answered that way, he sensed he would be unable to escape the question of why he had prepared this studio in the first place.

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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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