Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 122

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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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Chapter 122
After pretending to sleep and sending the people away, I retrieved the mirror divine artifact from the Eight Pillar Order. A round bronze mirror with delicate, intricate patterns etched into its back. Two rings positioned slightly above the center held five-colored cords knotted with beads.
‘If I divide and store Gi-yeon’s divine power here….’
I separated the conceptualized negative divine power and attempted to store it. Unlike my previous attempts when the divine power would immediately return to me, this time it seeped gently into the mirror and settled there.
‘Now it’s holding properly. Though it won’t last long, like a gourd vessel, I’ll need to replenish it periodically.’
As the divine power filled it, the back of the bronze mirror darkened, and each delicate line of the etched pattern began to glow with a soft luminescence.
‘Looking at it this way, it resembles the Milky Way flowing across the night sky.’
When I flipped it over, the mirror’s surface rippled subtly like water. Mysteriously, nothing was reflected in that surface.
What had been merely an intricately crafted bronze mirror transformed once the divine power properly infused it—just as flame patterns had emerged on the white fan Baek Tam-sol held.
‘This isn’t a straw god’s divine artifact… it’s proof that it’s become a true god’s divine artifact, isn’t it?’
The gourd vessel that previously held healing divine power hadn’t changed much in appearance, but its empty interior had filled with divine power like water. That must have been a transformation as well.
I gathered the mirror and, just in case, arranged the other divine artifacts near the connection point between the Treasure Vault and the Eight Pillar Order for easy access. Among them, the gourd vessel might be needed for the Queen, so I took it outside along with the mirror.
‘That completes my preparations.’
I turned back to An-si, who had been waiting for me.
“An-si, I’m counting on you.”
“Your Highness, this An-si finds it most troubling that you undertake such burdensome and perilous tasks.”
An-si sighed pointedly and scooped me into her arms. Nestled against her, I replied.
“This situation arose because of me, so it’s only right that I handle it. You need to start getting used to this.”
“Accustomed, Your Highness? What do you mean?”
“If I become a great god, then you become the great god’s Black Phoenix, right? So let’s both cultivate a heart as vast and compassionate as befits a great god’s Black Phoenix.”
At my words, An-si pouted.
“A great Black Phoenix has no need for such compassion. When the great god acts as a great god should, attending to countless matters, it is the duty of a servant to disregard all else and concern myself solely with my master’s wellbeing and happiness.”
“Who taught you that?”
“Mother, Father, my sisters, my brothers—all of them. Especially my Fifth Brother Heuk-yeon said that a true servant breaks and destroys the ladle whenever the god they serve tries to distribute blessings indiscriminately.”
“Well, that’s a bit….”
I trailed off, unable to finish saying that was a bit much.
An-si’s Fifth Brother, Heuk-yeon, had descended to the Abyss, the deepest part of the Underworld, to make his nest after losing the god he served. The only one among An-si’s siblings without a master—a divine beast without a god.
‘His failure to protect his god must have become his deepest sorrow… Heuk-yeon would have every right to speak that way.’
Unable to argue further, An-si snorted.
“Therefore, An-si shall continue to nag you henceforth, ensuring that Your Highness prioritizes yourself above all else. Though Your Highness must bear responsibility for many things as a god, An-si is Your Highness’s servant and need bear no responsibility whatsoever!”
“I don’t have anything I govern yet, so there’s nothing I’m responsible for.”
“Yet you constantly try to take on responsibility regardless, just as you’re doing now.”
An-si snorted again and spoke with quiet pride.
“You already possess the heart and divine power befitting a great god, so Your Highness will surely become an extraordinarily great and magnificent god!”
Beneath the starlit night sky, my Black Phoenix held me as she flew over the palace roofs.
I gazed up at An-si’s eyes, sparkling in the starlight. I never realized that An-si, always busy worrying about me and crying for me not to die, actually believed I would have a future and become a proper god.
“An-si… do you really think I’ll survive safely and become a true god?”
“Aren’t you making the effort, Your Highness?”
“Hm?”
“An-si knows of the Straw God Plan, but I don’t know what attempts you’re making based on that plan. However, I can clearly see that you’re continuously striving and making efforts to keep living going forward!”
“…How did you figure that out? Just because I carry the Straw God’s sacred artifacts?”
“That too, but… Your Highness has changed, if I may say so.”
“I’ve changed?”
“Before, you didn’t look far ahead and seemed half-resigned… living only in the moment, but these days, aren’t you carefully preparing something for a distant future? You’re positively radiant with vitality now!”
I thought An-si was always dozing or distracted beside me, unaware of what I was doing, but she’d been paying attention all along.
“…You really are my Black Phoenix.”
The bird I awakened from an egg. The first familiar I chose for myself. My only divine beast.
“Is An-si correct?”
“Yes, exactly right.”
“So hope has been kindled in your heart?”
“It has.”
“Do you still not wish to consult with the Jade Emperor and the Yama King?”
“I’m afraid it won’t work out.”
“I suspected as much. Don’t worry, Your Highness—An-si will keep her lips sealed! Even if it kills me, I won’t breathe a word!”
“…Thank you.”
I pulled An-si close, wrapping my arms around her neck as she nestled into my embrace. An-si let out a delighted giggle.
“No matter how many servants Your Highness gathers, surely An-si serves you best, don’t I? Hehe, please tell me I’m your favorite.”
“Of course you’re the best. You’re my favorite.”
Unlike when I’d answered that question before by comparing her to humans, this time I spoke with complete sincerity.
“Hehe. Hihihi.”
An-si released that peculiar laugh of hers, no less strange than Seok-ran’s, and soared over the Central Palace Hall’s outer wall.
The wind completely muffled our voices, so even as we chattered and flew about, the soldiers below noticed nothing.
An-si landed quietly in the rear courtyard of the Central Palace Hall. She seemed quite familiar with the place, having come and gone frequently while playing music for the Queen. She closed her eyes for a moment, sensing the flow of wind, then suddenly opened them wide.
“The Human Queen sleeps soundly in her inner chamber without incident. There are attendants standing watch at the door, but when An-si comes and goes alone, it doesn’t matter… For Your Highness to work comfortably, it would be best to put them to sleep.”
“Wait—how exactly are you planning to put them to sleep?”
“One sharp strike to the neck and they’ll all sleep soundly.”
“That’s not sleeping, that’s knocking them unconscious! If you hit them hard enough to knock yourself out, humans would get injured.”
“At worst, they’d get some bruising. I’ll strike carefully enough not to break any bones.”
“….”
This chick of mine—pretending to be innocent while being openly violent.
I sighed and added my instruction.
“Don’t strike them. Use pressure points to put them to sleep instead.”
“Pardon? Those pressure points humans have in their bodies? Can those really be used to induce sleep?”
“Yes, humans fall asleep when you press those spots with spiritual force like this. It’s a technique called point-striking—Ki Ho-cheol taught me. You don’t have spiritual force, but divine power should work…”
I briefly taught An-si the human martial knowledge I’d picked up during sword lessons. My Black Phoenix, unlike me, was generally skilled at physical techniques, so she grasped the point-striking method quickly.
“I understand the principle. But you’re saying humans just fall asleep from a little poke like that? Human bodies are remarkably fragile, aren’t they?”
An-si shook her head in amazement, then fastened Gwang-chul’s bracelet around my wrist before slipping into the Central Palace Hall, saying she’d go put the attendants to sleep.
Once An-si left, Gwang-chul quietly spoke to me.
[Your Highness, isn’t that Black Phoenix a bit too violent?]
[Hmm?]
[Do you know what that creature’s nickname is in Heaven? Blood Seal! The sacred divine beast of the esteemed Princess Cheonmyeong being called by such a terrifying epithet! Tsk tsk, what a lamentable state of affairs!]
Gwang-chul tattled on An-si to me as if reporting her misdeeds. I gazed down at the black dragon coiled around my wrist with narrowed eyes.
[Gwang-chul, did I seem like I wouldn’t know that nickname?]
[Gasp—you already knew? I thought Blood Seal was something the Princess wouldn’t be aware of….]
[It started spreading once he began guarding me, and became famous after the incident where he had his horn torn out. Such a significant event—there’s no way I, his master, wouldn’t know of it. Besides, An-si did that because of me.]
[Ah, y-you really did know everything….]
I suppressed the urge to click my tongue. This thoughtless water serpent was gossiping and slandering An-si to me in her absence.
‘It seemed An-si disliked it, so I was pretending not to know about the nickname either. And yet he had to bring it up…’
Gwang-chul, flustered and hesitant, cautiously gauged my expression.
[But, as the divine beast of the noble Princess Cheonmyeong, isn’t the nickname Blood Seal far too dreadful?]
[What are you trying to say?]
[Well, I was thinking it might be good if the Princess could perhaps discipline him about using violence so carelessly…especially toward me….]
[….]
[These days when she hits my back with her bare hands, my scales harden and it hurts, so she even brought a club from somewhere and hits me whenever I do anything! How is this a divine beast? He’s a top-tier monster among monsters!]
[What did you do?]
[Pardon?]
[What did you do that made An-si hit you?]
[That… well.]
Gwang-chul, who had been speaking eloquently, broke into a cold sweat. The small dragon’s eyes couldn’t bear to meet mine and rolled about nervously. I let out an obvious sigh and sent my gaze toward him.
[Gwang-chul.]
[…Yes.]
[I thought you were behaving yourself ever since you ran away from Goblin Village. But it seems you’ve done something again?]
[….]
[Gwang-chul, don’t you think An-si is already being quite lenient with you by not telling me what you’ve done?]
[….]
The black dragon on my wrist squeezed its eyes shut.

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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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