Limited Extra Time - Chapter 86

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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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My mouth hung open like a shell, unable to close. Periel Kalos seized my shoulders and turned me around. His usually composed face was now etched with anxiety and urgency. As my body pivoted helplessly, our gazes tangled in the empty air. My eyes remained serene—confusion and bewilderment flickered beneath the surface, but nothing else stirred within them.

A chill raced down Periel Kalos’s spine, and he furrowed his brow as he demanded, “Answer me! Have you ever created a person using miracles?” He shook my shoulders again, his voice rising. I said nothing. I simply turned my gaze toward the canvas with a quiet smile playing at my lips. “…I see now. That explains why you have so little time remaining,” Periel Kalos murmured, pressing his palm to his forehead.

Barely two hundred completed pieces, he had said. Even accounting for some margin of error in memory, it wouldn’t exceed five hundred. Especially since most of my miracles were trivial things. I thought this way about everything except Herta. “…It was because you created a person.”

Creating a person is forbidden. It is forbidden because the act of creating human life itself challenges the domain of the divine and violates the causal laws of the world. Life born from within paper? It defies all reason. The same applies to sculpture. The union of two living beings is the only method by which new life can be created. I broke that law.

“…That’s why I told you beforehand—I was going to die.” I hadn’t meant to reveal it, yet the words spilled out. I covered my face with my hands. I could not blame anyone despite knowing death awaited me, because it was my own misfortune, born from ignorance in those distant days. “It was the day Mother scolded me severely. I was very young,” I said softly.

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“It was the first time I was struck, the first time I felt pain, and the first time I thought… perhaps I was not needed by them.” That day when my cheek was slapped, that day when I was told I would be cast into the Slums, that day when I could only repeat apologies over and over—as always, I took up my pencil and brush and sank to the floor. That voice, which seemed to blame me for being healthy, was so sorrowful. I hated how it whispered as though being born healthy were a sin.

So, as always…

I lost myself in the only drawing that truly understood me. “That day, as I picked up my pencil to draw, an image formed in my mind—something I needed to create. I had only recently learned about miracles and didn’t understand them well,” I explained. In truth, I didn’t fully comprehend even when Periel Kalos explained it to me. I didn’t know there were forbidden acts. If ignorance itself is a sin, then there was nothing to be done about it.

“My hands needed to move, and I wanted kind parents. When I came to my senses… I had already finished. The same face, the same voice, yet their actions carried the tenderness I had so desperately desired. A life born from paper possessed warmth. It was astonishing. “And shortly after my miracle manifested, I lost consciousness… When I opened my eyes, I was lying on a Bed. Empty sheets were scattered all around.”

“You were lying on a Bed…?”

“Yes, it was likely done by the two people who emerged from the drawing.”

I had wanted kind parents who would sleep beside me and stay close. I obtained what I desired, but the price was steep. I didn’t know it then, but perhaps my body began to deteriorate slowly from that moment onward. “I cannot resent the version of myself from that day.”

I remember how desperately I was driven to the edge of that cliff. Even now, the memory surfaces vividly whenever I close my eyes. Because of that memory, even if my family relationships improve, I will spend my entire life doubting them. It would have been better to leave. They filed a death report for me, and I chose to forget them as well. I had no capacity to forgive. I never even expected them to seek forgiveness. If they at least recognize their own wrongdoing, that would be fortunate enough. “Why?”

“Because otherwise, I likely would have strangled myself.” My breath was already suffocating, unable to flow freely. A child cannot leave the house, and if they do, they face unspeakable horrors. There was nowhere to escape.

“Adults are truly frightening.”

“What do you mean?”

“For children, parents are everything, and what parents provide is everything. But when a child doesn’t behave as the parent wishes, or when the parent grows angry, they use it as leverage to coerce. They say things like: if you don’t obey, there will be no food; if you don’t obey, you’ll be cast out; if you don’t achieve good results next time, you won’t receive allowance.”

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If we could sit down and have a proper conversation, perhaps it might have become a better story—but adults always require hostages.

They believe the other party will perform well only if intimidated by a hostage.

“I could have understood without such words.”

If only I had been embraced with tenderness, if only a single apology had been offered, if only ten minutes had been spared—there would have been nothing I could not understand.

Regretting it now changes nothing.

“But a single mistake born of ignorance cannot be undone.”

“…”

Ignorance did not absolve the sin. Ignorance did not change what was forbidden. The consequences would not spare him.

Periel Kalos ran an impatient hand across his face in frustration.

“When did you return?”

“About three seconds before I grasped Carina Leopold’s hand.”

“If you’d been even a step later, it would have been catastrophic.”

“You understand, then. Try not to paint the picture alone if you can help it. I will find a way to save you, no matter what.”

At Periel Kalos’s words, Carina Leopold’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Periel Kalos was tender too. Deep shadows beneath his eyes spoke of his frantic running about, yet he betrayed nothing of it.

“Still, it is remarkable.”

“Remarkable?”

“From what you say, Carina Leopold has brought two people to life, has she not?”

“Yes.”

“According to records, most have given life to only one human being. The oldest record is merely five minutes.”

Carina Leopold’s eyes widened.

To gain life for merely five minutes, only to lose both arms in exchange?

Periel Kalos nodded as he observed the shock reflected in Carina Leopold’s dilated pupils.

“However, according to what you said… you managed to have quite a conversation with them, did you not?”

“Yes… we talked for about ten minutes, and then I lost consciousness. When I woke up this morning, there was still warmth lingering, so…”

I assumed they must have stayed beside me for quite some time.

In the end, that day I fell asleep beside someone as I had always longed for. Even if they were fabricated parents I had conjured.

“I believe they were there for quite a while.”

“Your potential truly seems… boundless. I wish we had met a little earlier.”

At Periel Kalos’s words tinged with regret, I smiled silently. Some things cannot be helped. Even so, meeting now had not been easy.

“Do not perform miracles carelessly from now on.”

“…I am trying.”

“I will save you no matter what. I will be desperate in my efforts. So please, Carina Leopold, wish to live as well.”

At his words, my eyes widened to their fullest.

Looking at Periel Kalos, who had grasped my hand, I nodded with a bitter smile playing at my lips.

“I want to live. Never in my life have I wished for anything

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with such desperate longing.”

That is enough.

Periel Kalos’s eyes crinkled beautifully as he smiled.

To him, it was merely a smile, yet Carina couldn’t shake the sensation of a halo radiating behind Periel Kalos.

A knock sounded, and the door swung open.

Carina Leopold, we should begin preparing soon….

Millaiyen’s body, entering the room,

froze entirely.

Carina Leopold’s face brightened considerably. Periel Kalos’s eyes, still holding her hand, narrowed to slits.

…What are you doing?

Ah, Periel Kalos has just returned, and we were having a conversation.

At Carina Leopold’s cheerful reply, Periel Kalos swiftly pulled her into his embrace.

Yes, I’ve missed you. Carina Leopold.

Yes…? Well, I’ve missed you too.

Carina Leopold patted Periel Kalos’s back a couple of times.

She wondered if he’d truly been that delighted, then realized she could exaggerate her gestures deliberately to avoid raising Millaiyen’s suspicions.

Ah….

Indeed, if she maintained an overly serious demeanor, Millaiyen might grow suspicious.

I’ve waited for you so long.

At his added words, Millaiyen’s face hardened like stone.

A glacial gaze, as though a bitter northern wind were sweeping through, pierced toward Periel Kalos. Periel Kalos trembled.

That murderous bastard.

The killing intent radiating from him was truly as if he meant to end a life.

Only then did Periel Kalos release Carina Leopold, whom he had been holding briefly, and step back a couple of paces.

Millaiyen strode forward with long steps and positioned himself before Carina Leopold.

Millaiyen?

At Carina Leopold’s call, Millaiyen extended his arm and drew her firmly into his embrace.

His smoldering gaze remained fixed upon Periel Kalos.

Caught off guard, Carina Leopold’s face flushed crimson in his arms.

What is this…?

What is happening?

This was not how he ordinarily held her—

he was simply pulling her tightly against him.

Her face, turned slightly to the side,

was buried against his chest.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The steady rhythm of his heartbeat was strangely soothing. Carina Leopold held her breath, frozen in place.

Why are you doing this…?

Thinking it uncharacteristic of Millaiyen, Carina Leopold asked carefully, and he parted his lips.

His lips opened, but no sound emerged. Carina Leopold tilted her head further in confusion.

I missed you.

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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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