Limited Extra Time - Chapter 82

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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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“Ah, mmm….”

Carina Leopold’s lips had turned a vivid crimson, glistening with moisture.

Millaiyen traced his own lips with his tongue before pressing them softly against hers.

“Mill… aiyen…?”

Carina Leopold gazed at him in bewilderment. It had been an abrupt kiss.

Unexpected, truly sudden. Yet it did not displease her. If anything, she had been anticipating it.

‘…I never thought this would happen.’

She had believed that drawing closer to him beyond a certain point would be impossible until death claimed her. She had never imagined their lips would meet like this.

“…Yes.”

Only when Millaiyen met the bewildered gaze in her eyes did he realize the mistake of what he had done.

What had he just done? Unable to resist the imp

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ulse, he had pressed his lips against hers.

‘…I’ve lost my mind.’

Madness. He had clearly gone mad from mere imagination.

Or had desire finally caught up with him? What reason would he ever have for such desire in the first place?

“…”

Neither of them spoke first.

Carina Leopold carefully studied Millaiyen before drawing in a breath.

I didn’t want him to realize what feelings were stirring in my heart. The longer we spent time together, the harder it became not to give my heart to him.

‘…I’ve been far too unguarded.’

When I reached for his hand, he would clasp it back, and I loved that. When I ran my fingers through his hair, I savored the warmth, and all those small moments I’d pretended not to notice had somehow seeped into his chest as well.

“What a lovely evening.”

“…What?”

“The evenings in the Northern Territory seem so beautiful. Night falls early, but the sky glows with cascading starlight, so even though it’s dark, it doesn’t feel frightening.”

The weather was a touch cold, there were somewhat more monsters in the area, and mountains and forests surrounded everything.

That was why people avoided it and had no fondness for it. Yet when you actually came here, the Northern Territory wasn’t nearly as harsh or unforgiving as its reputation suggested.

I spoke softly, then turned my head slightly to look at Millaiyen. Our hands were still clasped together, and I could almost hear the beating of his heart.

“The sky looks like it holds a silver river, and the earth is filled with kind people. You’re kind too, Millaiyen.”

“…What are you saying?”

“This is the first time I’ve received comfort like this, but thanks to you, I feel better. Tonight I think I’ll be able to sleep without pain and rest well

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.”

If he hesitated to find an answer, I was more than willing to provide him an exit.

Whether a shortcut or a path I’d have to carve out by force.

“…”

Millaiyen’s mouth closed. His face was still flushed, and I wore a faint smile.

His expression grew sharp and stern.

“Comfort…you say?”

Carina Leopold did not answer Millaiyen’s softly murmured words.

Whether it was comfort or not, whether it was impulse or something else, she desperately hoped he would not recognize what she felt.

Whatever emotion it was. Whether pity or affection born from pity, it mattered not. He should think of her as nothing more than a pitiful, unfortunate former fiancée.

The irony that she, who had torn everything apart, now thought this way

was something she could not help but find absurd and laughable.

“…So it was comfort to you.”

“…I should sleep now. I’m rather tired.”

Carina spoke in a light tone.

It was as good as an order to leave. Millaiyen sat silently beside her, watching her profile as she refused to meet his gaze.

“Very well. Rest for now.”

Millaiyen rose from the bed without protest.

He reached out and gently swept his hand through her hair as he always did, then, as if by ritual, lightly brushed her cheek with his thumb.

“Call for me if you feel unwell.”

“…Yes.”

“Until tomorrow.”

Carina could not bring herself to answer and merely nodded. Millaiyen left without a word, his voice no different from usual as he expressed his concern for her several times more

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before departing.

Carina stared at the closed door for a moment, then pressed her palms against her eyes. They burned with heat, but she had to endure it. She drew in a deep breath.

“It’s all right.”

She tightened her gaze and murmured softly to herself.

What if things weren’t all right?

Would she greedily confess her heart to him and make him understand his own feelings?

And what would remain? Nothing. Unlike herself, who could simply cease to exist, Millaiyen would be deeply wounded.

‘He left without even getting angry.’

She wished he had been angry instead.

The words she’d spoken at the end were meant to provoke him.

She had wanted him to express his displeasure at being treated as though she were nothing.

It would have been fine if he’d been angry, fine if he’d been irritated. Then they could have both grown upset together… and perhaps created an atmosphere that seemed like a rift between them.

‘I just accepted it without thinking.’

She had been swept up in the moment without realizing it. There had been a small measure of greed in her heart—she wanted to lean into his tenderness.

“I love you…”

She carefully spoke aloud a fragment of emotion she had not dared to voice in his presence.

If someone were to ask how she had come to love him, or when his presence had seeped into her heart, she could not explain it.

She simply knew that at some point, she began recalling his voice and turning her gaze toward places where he might be.

“I love you, Millaiyen…”

Her voice, trembling with moisture, echoed softly through the empty room.

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It was a small voice, difficult for anyone to hear—like a candle flame that might be snuffed out at any moment.

Why would she not wish to hear an answer to this confession? What love exists that does not desire reciprocation? Yet Carina could not have it.

Because the time he and I have to live are so vastly different. Because I know better than anyone the end that approaches. Because the reality that I cannot speak honestly about anything to him is unbearable.

These are times that cannot overlap.

Times where one side will certainly suffer.

So I made this my final line. This is the end. Today would be the last time I allowed myself to show emotion like this.

If I do not abandon my own desires, he will be wounded. I only now understood this.

This emotion that has left me in such disarray. I could not even fathom how much pain he—with his strong sense of responsibility—would suffer.

I remained on the bed, my palm pressed against the lingering warmth he left behind, hugging my knees for a long while.

Until the warmth faded and the moon rose high into the sky.

“I’ve never received comfort of this kind before, but thanks to you, I feel better. I think I’ll be able to sleep well tonight without pain.”

As Millaiyen made his way back to his room, her voice echoed in his mind, and he stopped motionless in the middle of the corridor.

As if she were saying farewell without even bothering to hide the

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fervor within her.

“It feels as though I’m witnessing an end.”

It felt as if she were living the world’s final moments alone.

It was different from the feeling of someone standing at a cliff’s edge. She was calmly putting something in order.

The atmosphere conveyed it—as if there were nothing to be done about whatever came.

Yet there was nothing that should be inevitable, and still she accepted it as such.

“Comfort, you say….”

Was what just happened truly comfort?

The moment the question occurred to him, a breathless laugh escaped between Millaiyen’s lips. It was the kind of laughter that slipped out from sheer absurdity and bewilderment.

Comfort? How could it possibly be comfort?

Millaiyen was not someone so meticulous or emotionally sensitive. Above all, he was not the type to offer comfort by pressing his lips against someone he was meant to care for.

And that was something Carina Leopold surely understood as well.

She knew him well enough to speak his thoughts before he did.

Yet despite this, she had said exactly that. Even though she must have known it was anything but the truth.

Why had she done it?

That was the question. Why deliberately provoke him with such words?

Ordinarily, he would have added a sharp remark and made his displeasure known.

The reason he hadn’t was that she seemed to be waiting for his anger.

She appeared to be waiting for him to lose his temper, to show his irritation.

“…I’m going mad.”

It couldn’t be comfort. If not that, then only one conclusion remained.

I care about her.

The person I thought was merely a troublesome charge had somehow

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‘…I care about her.’

To care about someone. It was as though a light suddenly blazed through his mind.

My heart skipped a beat at the thought that he had me on his mind. It felt like a light suddenly flashed in my head.

It was the moment when the identity of my wavering emotions finally surfaced into consciousness. All those countless peculiar phenomena that had lacked a name at last acquired one.

When had I thought myself mad? I truly was a fool. When had I ever regarded her as a younger sibling?

“Damn it.”

Once I’d thought that far, the situation from moments before became even harder to comprehend.

Comfort, she’d called it.

She hadn’t been indirectly saying that my kiss displeased her. I wasn’t the sort of person to speak in such roundabout ways.

That I displeased her? Then she wouldn’t continue to enjoy holding my hand.

“What on earth is the reason?”

Without her telling me, it was difficult to discern.

It would almost be simpler to divine the heart of an enemy. Millaiyen’s face contorted sharply.

‘Let me rest for now.’

It was better to rest and think things through properly tomorrow.

Today had been a shock to me in every way. My mind was exhausted, and my body felt the weight of it.

Millaiyen, who had been standing motionless,

resumed his steps once more.

He hurried back to his room.

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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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