Limited Extra Time - Chapter 91

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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 ——

Yes. In the Northern Territory, strength becomes the measure of all things, so it’s customary to gift Haron extracted from a Magical Beast one has captured.

Carina Leopold’s eyes widened at Aerial Count’s explanation.

When she glanced at Schlay Leonhardt with an expression asking if this was truly the case, he nodded with an ambiguous smile.

Technically, it’s said to be given with the meaning of wishing someone good health, but it’s not the sort of gift you’d bring when visiting someone who’s ill.

Ah…

I had simply thought it was a gift given to someone who was unwell.

A greeting of sorts that anyone close to them would offer to someone in poor health.

But it wasn’t like that at all.

Haron is commonly gifted to close family or romantic partners. When given to the opposite sex, it usually means… well…

—— Page 2 ——

Marin Aerial rubbed her own arm as she spoke, her expression uncomfortable throughout the explanation, as though she felt a chill.

Carina Leopold’s face slowly flushed crimson.

“But when did you receive it?”

“…Not long after I arrived here.”

Carina Leopold answered hesitantly.

Her neck had turned so red it could not possibly grow any darker. It was enough to make even an observer feel embarrassed.

It was about that much.

At the same time, fear gripped Carina Leopold.

What if Millaiyen Pestellio’s feelings were the same as her own? She prayed they were not. She desperately hoped they were not.

I wished that Carina Leopold loved Millaiyen Pestellio, but that he did not love her in return.

I wanted to bury this emotion deep within myself and carry it alone.

It was a cowardly excuse, despite how desperately I had craved his affection. Deep down,

I had perhaps hoped that he harbored the same feelings for me.

Yet I did not wish for him to truly perceive it.

‘…I wish he hadn’t noticed.’

I prayed it was given without any particular meaning.

And yet… my heart would not stop its frantic beating. Unable to reconcile this contradictory emotion, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Click.

At that same moment, the doors to the Banquet Hall opened once more.

Solai Leonhardt, standing beside me, withdrew his pocket watch to check the time.

His brow furrowed.

“Exactly thirty minutes late.”

Even a seasoned veteran like him, who had weathered countless trials, could not help but let his bewilderment seep into his voice.

Like a bear that had buried honey somewhere, he strode purposefully toward Carina Leopold.

—— Page 3 ——

“Carina Leopold?”

Flinch.

My body trembled violently. Nearly convulsing, I jumped in place and took a step backward.

For each step he advanced, I retreated one. Millaiyen Pestellio’s expression hardened.

“…Carina Leopold, what happened?”

“…”

Carina Leopold stepped back further without answering, keeping her head bowed and refusing to meet my eyes.

My gaze snapped toward the Lords, and a killing intent so palpable it seemed to drip from my stare fixed upon them with naked clarity.

The unspoken question in my eyes—’What did you do?’—was suffocating in its intensity.

Only Carina Leopold in the entire Banquet Hall failed to properly sense my shift in atmosphere.

Baron Cramber quickly shook his head and spread his palm flat, pointing directly at Marin Aerial as if to say he would take responsibility.

My gaze immediately turned toward Aerial Count, and Marin Aerial swallowed hard under the weight of my stare, which burned like falling embers.

‘These bastards, enjoying yourselves together like this.’

Who didn’t know that everyone had been hanging on Millaiyen Pestellio’s every word?

Marin Aerial clenched her fists and swept her burning gaze across those pretending not to notice.

I turned my head back toward Carina Leopold and stepped closer, and as if she’d been waiting for it, she flinched and retreated another step.

“Carina Leopold.”

I eventually gave up on closing the distance.

“…Yes.”

“Why are you like this? What happened?”

I asked in the gentlest voice I could muster, as if coaxing her. It was a careful question.

—— Page 4 ——

Carina Leopold quietly shook her head side to side, and as my heart began to tighten, I clenched my fists. Anxiety gnawed at me, and I bit my lip.

“Did you hear something about me?”

Her actions answered instead of words.

Millaiyen pressed his forehead. He glared at those who remained tense once more.

“…Um, Millaiyen.”

“Yes.”

He answered promptly, as if he had been waiting for Carina Leopold’s hesitant call.

It was a swift response without the slightest delay. The standing Lords clicked their tongues.

“Um…, may I go upstairs?”

“…Why? Weren’t you looking forward to it?”

“I’ve just grown a bit tired.”

My spirits sank.

My own selfishness felt so trivial and ridiculous that I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I had hoped he would never notice, yet in truth I wanted him to see through me. What could I possibly call this contradictory emotion?

I had no confidence in finding any word other than selfishness.

“Understood. I’ll take you there.”

“No, I can go alone, can’t I?”

“…Is it so unbearable that I simply escort you to your room and return downstairs?”

For Carina Leopold with her lowered head, I wanted to drop to one knee. I wanted to strike my frustration with my fist.

The tendons on the back of Millaiyen’s clenched fist stood out prominently.

“…Yes, Carina Leopold?”

She, who had been standing quietly in hesitation for some time, nodded her head.

Millaiyen Pestellio finally closed the distance between himself and Carina Leopold as though he had been granted permission, drawing her into his embrace.

—— Page 5 ——

Millaiyen Pestellio swept his gaze across the assembled Lords before departing the Banquet Hall, issuing commands to the Knights standing guard at its entrance.

“Ensure our guests enjoy the banquet to its fullest.

See that none of them inadvertently leave the Banquet Hall.”

“Yes, understood!”

The Knight, tensing at the chilling and austere tone in Millaiyen Pestellio’s voice, snapped to attention and responded with a resounding affirmation.

Millaiyen Pestellio steadied her back and proceeded toward the Second Floor. ‘How quiet she is.’

Under ordinary circumstances, she would have said something about being able to walk alone. Yet Carina Leopold remained silent—profoundly so. She merely clutched the hem of her dress, her posture rigid and unbending, offering no weight to his support.

“…Carina Leopold.”

“You know, Millaiyen, I think I’m terribly cowardly.”

“There is nothing cowardly about you. I told you—the cowardly one is….”

“I remember every word you’ve said to me without exception.”

Every single word, remembered perfectly. And I will remember them for all my days to come.

Until my dying breath, it will be Millaiyen Pestellio who fills my mind. He is the first thought that surfaces when my episodes begin.

His large hands come to mind first, then his gentle voice, then his bewildered expression. And when I think of Haron, I hold him close in my arms.

“I wish you didn’t love me, Millaiyen.”

“…What?”

“It’s terribly selfish of me to say, but if God would grant me this one wish… I think I would pray for it.”

“Why?”

—— Page 6 ——

“Millaiyen is like the warm spring of my life—the first warm day I ever met. I hope your world is always filled with such warmth.”

She wished for him to be surrounded by kind people, to live freely pursuing what he desired. Even as she spoke these words, Carina Leopold laughed silently at herself.

If she truly cared for him, she could leave this manor immediately. She could simply disappear to some quiet place.

If she genuinely cherished Millaiyen, she would be capable of that.

But she lacked the courage to do so.

Until her final breath, until those precarious moments when only strength for a brushstroke or two remained, she wanted to stay by Millaiyen’s side.

Millaiyen gazed at her in silence for a long moment. Then, slowly moving toward the room, he spoke.

“Must I not welcome spring together with you?”

“I told you. When the time comes, I will leave. I’ve given it considerable thought—perhaps I’ll take a journey.”

“Your health is already fragile. Where would you go?”

“Or perhaps I’ll visit someone I know.”

“Who?”

“It’s a secret.”

One lie snowballs into many. She wished he would always stand there, dignified and steadfast.

She wished to be nothing more than a passing breeze to him.

A tiny tempest, nothing more.

So when the tempest passed, a clearer sky would arrive for him than before. That alone would be enough for her.

Being unloved was familiar.

Unrequited love was equally familiar. She had been wounded countless times, and now the scars were merely a few among many—

—— Page 7 ——

Even if there were more, it wouldn’t have mattered to me.

But Millaiyen Pestellio would certainly be different.

He was someone who had received abundant love. Those around him were filled with people who trusted him. From the beginning, our positions were entirely different.

“Think of me as a troublesome, somewhat bothersome typhoon that visits briefly before departing. The typhoon will eventually pass. I simply wish to remain as nothing more than that to you.”

“…”

Millaiyen Pestellio’s pace slowed. The words whispered near my ear were utterly cruel.

He suppressed his trembling emotions, slowly closing and opening his eyelids. Then he strode forward decisively, settling her onto the bed.

Millaiyen Pestellio gazed down at Carina Leopold quietly.

“A typhoon sometimes leaves many things behind.”

“…”

“It cannot depart without leaving even a whisper of wind in its wake.”

“I won’t leave anything behind.”

“I’m certain I will.”

Millaiyen Pestellio slowly bent forward.

His large palm cradled Carina Leopold’s cheek as it always did. With his other hand, he carefully grasped her wrist.

“Carina Leopold.”

His lips drew closer, nearly

touching her face.

Even as Carina Leopold drew in a breath, she could not pull away from those lips.

Captivated by those crimson eyes, I couldn’t even look away. Even closing them felt like a transgression I wasn’t permitted.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

My heartbeat, which had been steady moments before, suddenly quickened into a frantic rhythm. Carina Leopold trembled involuntarily at the sound of her own heart echoing in her ears.

—— Page 8 ——

“Do you know how you’re looking at me?”

His low voice, his breath mingling with Carina Leopold’s own. It was something he’d only recently come to understand.

As he’d begun spending more time fixing his gaze upon her, the realization had crystallized.

There was an unmistakable difference between how she looked at him and how she regarded everyone else.

“You like me too, don’t you?”

“….”

‘Too?’

Carina Leopold’s eyes widened at Millaiyen Pestellio’s choice of words.

In that same moment, his voice struck at the heart of the matter, and she drew in a sharp breath.

No. It wasn’t like that. She should deny it, should speak the words, yet her lips refused to part.

“You’re looking at me like you want to devour me right now.”

Like you’re desperate to possess me, unable to help yourself.

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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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