Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 123

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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 123
When would this child ever grow up? Where had he lost his sense of responsibility to act like this?
I shook my head in disapproval and issued a warning to Gwang-chul.
[Don’t cause any trouble.]
[I, I haven’t caused anything that serious….]
[So you’re admitting you’ve caused trouble? Gwang-chul, An-si may overlook your antics, but I won’t anymore. If you cause one more incident, I’m making an offering to the Dragon God right away.]
[Anything but that! I’ll really die! I promise I’ll behave from now on—]
[Don’t just say it. Actually do it, understood?]
[…Yes.]
Gwang-chul drooped dejectedly, his small dragon form draped limply across my wrist. The sight of him with those tearful eyes and dejected expression was admittedly endearing and pitiful, but given that he was fundamentally a drunken troublemaker at heart, I felt no particular urge to console him.
‘I’ll have to ask later what he did that made An-si prepare a club for him.’
It wasn’t long before An-si returned.
“Since this was my first time using this method, it took a bit longer, but I’ve safely put everyone to sleep! You may enter now!”
“You did well.”
I returned the bracelet to Gwang-chul, then stepped out from the shade cast by the wall and garden trees, walking boldly into the Central Palace Hall.
Court Ladies were sleeping here and there throughout the Corridor, leaning against the walls. From what I could see, there were no signs of injury, so An-si had done her work well.
The Queen lay alone in her spacious Inner Chamber. Contrary to An-si’s report that she was sleeping peacefully without incident, she was perspiring cold sweat even while clutching the Manin Blood Stone in her hand.
‘She’s grown thin.’
Her cheeks were more hollow than when I’d seen her at the last courtesy visit. It was evident at a glance how much she had suffered during this time.
‘Mother must have endured this much hardship too.’
Mother had suffered no less than the Queen, if not more. Yet she never abandoned me and gave birth to me nonetheless.
‘Samshin Grandmother said I had refused my own destiny, that I hadn’t wanted to be born… but I don’t remember any of that at all.’
I couldn’t claim I’d never thought it would have been better had I not been born. In fact, I’d thought it quite a few times—when the pain was unbearable, when my suffering caused everyone else hardship, when I felt sorry toward Mother and Father.
But if asked whether I truly regretted being born, I could answer without hesitation.
‘I don’t regret it. Because I was born, I am who I am now.’
Looking back on my 210 years of life, I had far more cherished memories than painful ones. So perhaps the reason my past self had refused my destiny wasn’t because I didn’t want to live, but because I didn’t want to burden Mother and Father.
‘That’s why I’m grateful my parents didn’t abandon me and gave me life.’
During my darkest moments, I’d harbored dark thoughts, but ultimately this was my true heart. I was grateful to be born, joyful to exist, and I wanted to live longer.
‘Wouldn’t you feel the same way?’
I spoke silently to the child within the Queen’s womb.
‘Do you know how happy your family was when they learned you existed? Everyone welcomed you with joy. You want to be born safely and meet your family too, don’t you?’
In truth, as the Queen’s condition worsened, discussions about abandoning the pregnancy had continued. The humans couldn’t understand why the Queen’s health kept deteriorating, but they could at least discern that the fetus was the cause.
The Court remained silent. The King agreed to abandon the child. The Queen refused. The Crown Prince, who had obtained the Queen with such difficulty, said he absolutely would not abandon this second child they’d barely conceived. The King deemed the ailing Queen more important than an unborn child.
The conflicted couple, after deep discussion, decided to endure as long as they possibly could.
‘Without the Manin Blood Stone and An-si’s sealing technique, we would have already reached the point where we’d have no choice but to abandon the baby.’
Fortunately, the Queen was still holding on.
‘But this can’t continue much longer.’
The Queen possessed no strength or ability, had never been particularly robust to begin with, and had even experienced two years in a comatose state.
‘If I fail today, we’ll have to give up.’
So, little one, be strong too. I’ll do everything in my power to help you.
“An-si, keep watch carefully so no one comes in.”
“Don’t worry yourself, and please don’t overexert.”
An-si leaned against the door frame.
I set down the black ceramic bottle at the Queen’s bedside, then picked up the mirror containing Gi-yeon with both hands.
‘This divine artifact—honestly, I’m still not entirely sure how to use it….’
Recalling my understanding of Gi-yeon’s concept and how I’d treated the Crown Prince, there were methods worth attempting.
‘First, I’ll perform spirit possession.’
I closed my eyes gently, then opened them. From the lifeline connected to my true form—which possessed a terrifyingly vast amount of divine power—I borrowed only as much as this human body could bear.
‘If I could use this freely and reduce my true form’s divine power, that would be ideal.’
But it was like trying to empty the ocean with a spoon—this pittance was nowhere near enough. The meager divine power transformed into delicate jade-colored wings that wrapped around my body.
‘Now, through Celestial Eyes….’
I gathered divine power in my eyes and gazed at the Queen’s abdomen.
‘The child has grown considerably since before.’
The fetus remained perfectly still, curled tightly in its expanded form. As if it understood that any movement would injure its mother further.
I held up the mirror to reflect the baby.
‘Gi-yeon connects the most fitting fortune. So wouldn’t the divine artifact of Gi-yeon reveal the destiny most suitable for the one reflected in it?’
In this case, that would be the blessing from the Celestial Deities that the baby had yet to receive. The most necessary one.
‘…There’s no response?’
I gazed anxiously at the mirror, which showed nothing. Its surface remained as dark and black as a midnight lake.
‘Is merely reflecting not enough? Then….’
I gathered divine power in my hands, infusing it with the concept of ‘Gi-yeon.’ As the divine power swirled and darkened like shadow poured into a vessel, I carefully placed my hand over the Queen’s abdomen.
‘Since the Queen sleeps while gripping the Myriad-People’s Blood Stone, this much should be fine.’
I drew out divine power thread-thin from my fingertips and connected it to the fetus. The divine power that burrowed into the human body created a microscopic wound on the Queen’s abdomen, but the Myriad-People’s Blood Stone gleamed and healed it instantly.
‘Still, I shouldn’t injure her. Let me hurry.’
I withdrew my hand quickly. As intended, a dark divine power visible only to me now connected the fetus’s navel to my fingertips like a thread. It felt as though there were two umbilical cords.
I brought the threaded hand to the mirror.
‘Please let my theory be correct….’
Thus I connected the mirror and the fetus through ‘Gi-yeon,’ then withdrew my hand.
The divine power connected to the fetus sank into the mirror like a fishing line cast upon water. Then ripples spread across the black mirror’s surface in concentric circles.
There is a response! I suppressed the urge to cry out in triumph and peered intently into the mirror.
Divine power stretched long into the mirror’s depths. Soon, strange things began to appear in what had been an empty mirror.
At first, it resembled the Milky Way of a night sky. Within endless darkness, something gathered and sparkled like stars, flowing endlessly.
The extended thread sank into it. As the landscape within the Milky Way reflected in the round mirror, I realized those weren’t actually stars—they were forms of something else.
‘Looking closer, that darkness isn’t a night sky either. Something’s different.’
It was distinctly unlike the clean, clear darkness of night. A churning, roiling marsh—or mist gathering thickly in tangled wisps. Could this be what the primordial chaos was like?
Within that unstable, undulating mass, things emitting various lights drifted here and there. Though their specific forms were indistinct and vague, I could roughly distinguish what kind of beings they were.
Luminous forms resembling both humans and beasts. Their shapes, the colors of their light, their sizes—all varied infinitely, yet they shared one common trait: they were all curled round. Like a fetus in a womb, or chicks within eggs.
‘Are these the fates that the Celestial Deities bring forth?’
I’d need to ask Samshin Grandmother, who oversees bestowing these fates upon newborns, to know for certain, but it seemed likely.
Without my doing anything, the thread of ‘Gi-yeon’ navigated through the chaos on its own. Like a fishing line seeking fish of its own accord. Then it stopped before the form of a small, curled baby, and slipped directly into its navel.
‘Wow.’
I alternated my gaze between the actual infant in the Queen’s womb and the luminous form of the child reflected in the mirror. Divine power infused with destiny connected the navels of both babies like an umbilical cord.
‘Did it work? It must have worked, right?’
Once that ‘fate’ reached the child, the blessing would be accepted, wouldn’t it?
I waited with hopeful eyes. But no matter how long I waited, nothing happened. The connection was established, yet the blessing did not descend.
Out of curiosity, I carefully tugged at the connected divine power, but it didn’t budge. It didn’t seem to be a matter of insufficient divine power or strength.
‘Why?’
As I stared in bewilderment, a sudden realization struck me.
‘Destiny is merely an opportunity given. Seizing it, accepting it, and bringing it to life depends on the person’s accumulated life and will.’
Therefore, while destiny could offer an opportunity, accepting it was another matter entirely. The problem might not lie with destiny or the blessing itself, but with the child.
‘Surely not.’
I stared blankly, alternating between the child and the child’s fate.
‘Is the child… rejecting the blessing?’

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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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