Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 129

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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 129
“I suspect the other Black Phoenixes will simply pretend they don’t know anything. They’ll claim they’ve never guarded the borders. It seems like something they’re keeping secret from me, and from my Mother and Father as well.”
“Well, if Heuk-yeon were reluctant about such work, I believe we could persuade him to come. That brother of yours is quite… something.”
An-si pouted her lips as she spoke. Understanding why she was making that expression, I could only laugh awkwardly.
‘While everyone else fawns over me, only Heuk-yeon doesn’t.’
I hadn’t understood why Heuk-yeon was so cold to me before, but now I understood it in my own way.
‘It’s because I’m weak and powerless.’
As a divine beast who had lost her god, I was a precarious existence who could die at any moment—and that’s what he disliked about me.
But precisely because of that, he wouldn’t hide anything for my sake or tell comforting lies, so in cases like this, we’d actually communicate well.
“…It seems the Black Phoenixes are taking turns guarding, so go wait there and try speaking with Heuk-yeon alone for a moment.”
“Understood. By the way, I’ll leave Gwang-chul as your escort.”
An-si released Gwang-chul from her wrist and glared at the small dragon with fierce eyes.
“Guard the Princess well. If you cause any more trouble, I’ll tie you up in knots!”
“I told you I’m not sneaking off anymore!”
Gwang-chul protested in an aggrieved tone, coiling around my wrist like a bracelet.
“Then I’ll pack my things and be on my way!”
An-si left immediately.
After that, as I listened to Seok-ran recount the events that had occurred in Pyeong in greater detail, afternoon arrived before I knew it.
“Crown Princess, you must now prepare for your entrance ceremony.”
Kim Sang-gung came to find me and reported this.
I sent Seok-ran away and, with the help of the court ladies, removed my formal robe and changed into martial attire.
‘The uniform designated by Seongsul Academy was a dark blue surcoat worn over martial clothes.’
The students of Seonghak Academy, who devoted themselves to scholarly pursuits, wore what they called “blue-gold robes”—wide-sleeved blue garments. Taking inspiration from this, Seongsul Academy designated a darker indigo with short sleeves as the official uniform, calling it “indigo-blue robes” for ease of movement. The martial attire worn beneath the surcoat was unrestricted, likely because the students were all supernatural beings with wildly different temperaments and preferences, so they were allowed to wear whatever felt comfortable and familiar to them.
‘Taoist priests prefer wide sleeves, while warriors bind theirs as narrowly as possible, so it would have been difficult to standardize everything.’
I simply wore a jade-colored martial robe with narrow sleeves that allowed for easy movement. The martial robe I’d worn during my first sword training had become too small, so this was a newly tailored one.
‘Seeing my clothes become too small makes me feel like I’m actually growing, and I like that.’
I draped the Seongsul Academy-designated surcoat over my new martial robe and picked up a thin decorative cord wrapped in paper.
‘This is what distinguishes the classes, I believe.’
I’d heard that the Plum Blossom Class received red cords, the Orchid Class white, the Chrysanthemum Class yellow, and the Bamboo Class green.
‘Since the Crown Prince and I were both in the Plum Blossom Class according to the student roster, it should be red, right?’
But when I unwrapped the paper, what emerged was a black cord.
‘Black? There’s no black class.’
Looking more closely, I noticed several transparent beads strung near the tassel, and they were densely covered with tiny gold-leaf characters—whether inscribed with incantations or not.
‘This doesn’t seem like an ordinary cord.’
Tilting my head in confusion, I asked one of the court ladies.
“This was definitely sent to me from Seongsul Academy, right?”
“Yes, it was wrapped in paper with your name written on it, so there’s no doubt.”
“That’s strange…”
[Gwang-chul, this doesn’t have some kind of malicious curse on it, does it?]
[Let me get closer, please. Hmm… there’s quite a lot of various things here, but I don’t sense anything particularly ominous. Hehe, if you’d just give me a cup of wine, my mind would work better and I could analyze it more thoroughly… Ack!]
Without thinking, I struck the back of Gwang-chul’s head as he gripped my wrist. Ah, so this was why An-si was always hitting Gwang-chul.
‘In any case, it sounds like there’s no conspiracy or trap involved. So what Seongsul Academy prepared is correct.’
The materials I had reviewed were the final report regarding Seongsul Academy’s selection process that had been submitted to the Chief State Councillor. Could something have changed since then?
‘I heard the director of Seongsul Academy raised objections to the curriculum, but did they end up modifying it on their own?’
I had no idea. I would find out once I got there.
After tying on a black silk belt, I found the Crown Prince waiting for me, also wearing an identical black silk belt.
‘Could they have changed only the Plum Blossom Class cord color to black?’
I left the Palace with that question lingering in my mind.
Although Seongsul Academy was near Unryong Palace, it was still outside the Palace grounds, so the court ladies and Crown Prince’s Guards accompanied us, but they only escorted us to the academy’s gate before departing.
‘Since the Crown Prince and I decided to commute rather than board, they’ll come to pick us up this evening.’
Normally the Crown Prince’s entrance ceremony would be conducted separately from the regular students, but this time the Crown Prince and I would undergo a genuine entrance ceremony rather than a formal one, so we had decided to gather at Seongsul Academy with the others.
The moment we stepped through the main gate, the wide courtyard was bustling with children dressed in indigo robes.
‘Even though what they wear underneath varies so much, since their outer robes are all identical, you can tell they’re Seongsul Academy students.’
And every single student was wearing a black silk belt.
‘Did they decide to distinguish between classes using something other than the silk belt? What on earth is it?’
Anyway, with roughly a hundred children gathered here between twelve and sixteen years old, it was truly loud.
With so many people around, I was beginning to feel anxious. A large crowd itself was fine, but having this many strangers in such close proximity that they could bump into me… it made me uneasy.
‘I’m remembering what happened back then…’
Quietly, I grasped the Crown Prince’s sleeve beside me. He glanced back at me slightly, then naturally shifted to position himself in front of me.
‘Ah, now I feel a bit more at ease.’
Half-hidden behind the Crown Prince, I comfortably surveyed my surroundings. Among the chattering children, I spotted several familiar faces.
‘Sa Young-jun and the Chief State Councillor’s twin grandchildren…’
Sa Young-jun, who took sword lessons with Ki Ho-cheol alongside the Crown Prince, didn’t seem much different since I saw him occasionally, but the twin siblings Yi Yeon-ju and Yi Yeon-jo, whom I hadn’t seen in nearly two years, had clearly grown considerably.
‘Wow, they’ve gotten so much taller. Is this how Seok-ran felt when she saw me after a long time?’
Baek Tam-sol wasn’t visible among the children since she was an instructor, and Ki Ho-cheol and Princess Onseol, who had become martial arts and shamanism instructors respectively, hadn’t appeared yet.
‘Come to think of it, I heard that the shaman who was present when the Pyeong Empire’s envoys tried to verify the Crown Prince became the shamanism instructor. Well, if she’s skilled enough to represent Yun Kingdom when dealing with Pyeong, she must be an exceptionally talented shaman.’
Since I didn’t see any adults or even young people around Baek Tam-sol’s age, it seemed none of the instructors or assistant instructors had appeared yet.
‘Kim Cho-ryeong, a medical attendant from Jesaengwon, was definitely on the student roster… but since I only know her name and not her face, I can’t find her.’
The medical sister of Choi Ja-myeong, who became a medical attendant after being cured thanks to me. Like the Queen, she was a life saved because of me, so if she later had children when she grew up, there could be problems with her destiny.
So I planned to become acquainted with her beforehand while we were both entering Seongsul Academy.
‘Before she falls ill, I’ll need to connect her fetal destiny right away with Ki-yeon and So-mang.’
While I was making that resolution, an elderly woman with a stern expression and a rigid posture appeared at the top of the stone steps leading to Seongsul Academy’s main hall, deeper within the courtyard.
She slowly surveyed the children gathered below. Her gaze lingered quite long on the Crown Prince and me, and her expression seemed somehow displeased.
‘She seems to be the academy director, but why does she look like that? Is it because of our status? Does she think we’ll attend Seongsul Academy carelessly?’
After scrutinizing us for a while, the elderly woman finally turned her gaze away from us and opened her mouth toward the children.
“Everyone.”
Though her voice wasn’t particularly loud, it struck the ear with clarity. The noisy children gradually lifted their heads and looked up at her.
“I am Sung Jeong-sim, who said I would gradually retire from Baekui-bang and have now taken on the position of director of Seongsul Academy.”
“Wow, Baekui-bang!”
“Baekui-bang? Really?”
At the director’s first words, the students immediately began murmuring among themselves.
Baekui-bang was the oldest civilian demon-hunting organization in Yun Kingdom and operated with a select few. Before Jagyogapsa was established, Baekui-bang was considered the pinnacle of demon subjugation in Yun, to the point where the Court would commission them whenever dangerous demons appeared.
Because of this reputation, Baekui-bang was initially skeptical and lukewarm when Jagyogapsa was founded. They only began cooperating after independently confirming that the Court was serious and that Doo-eok-sini had truly appeared.
‘Once Baekui-bang joined forces, Jagyogapsa’s performance skyrocketed.’
For students aiming to join Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin and Jagyogapsa, they could only admire such an organization. So the Chief State Councillor had brought such a remarkable person as director—this woman before them.
Regardless of the students’ chatter, the director, Sung Jeong-sim, continued speaking calmly.
“Upon becoming director of Seongsul Academy, my colleagues asked me to train you into at least somewhat less troublesome recruits than the current batch of headache-inducing novices. Specifically, to make you practical enough for immediate field deployment.”
The director suddenly held up a thick stack of documents.
“To achieve that, we cannot use such naive methods conceived by desk-bound bureaucrats. Dividing twenty-five students evenly into balanced classes? That approach may constitute ‘education,’ but it will never constitute ‘training.'”
She crumpled the thick sheaf of papers in one hand and hurled it down the stairs. Then, with a cold expression, she declared:
“Therefore, I will begin by reorganizing the class divisions from scratch.”

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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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