Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 139

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 139
Heo Gye-gyo had been practically coerced into volunteering for the Jagyogapsa because of rumors that the Taoist Priest had spread—that the Crown Princess would grant him the lost ancestral techniques he sought. Yet from the very beginning, he harbored no illusions about the exorcism ritual. What difference would it make now, even if the curse were lifted? He would still be alive.
‘A child who devoured his parents clinging desperately to life… isn’t that a sin? It would be better to simply die beneath this curse.’
The facts he learned after joining the Jagyogapsa only deepened his despair. Many had already earned merit and received information about the lost techniques from the Crown Princess. Records remained of his ancestors who had participated in the war of the straw hats a hundred years prior.
‘Se-ru-hwa cannot lift my curse. This curse was never meant to be lifted—there was never a method to begin with.’
So there was no point in hoping. Even if he somehow won favor, earned merit, and gained an audience with the Crown Princess… he would only hear that no such method existed. He would end up disappointed and despairing.
‘Even if by some miracle the curse could be broken, what then? Would I shamelessly live well alone, abandoning the father I killed and the mother I drove to madness?’
It was right to die naturally like this. That was fitting punishment, the fate that had been given to him.
“But you want to live, don’t you?”
“Gye-gyo, no one can blame you for wanting to live.”
The words the Taoist Priest had spoken suddenly echoed in his mind. Heo Gye-gyo bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, hidden from view.
‘Sir, there’s no one like you—a complete fool.’
There was no method to lift the curse. The curse should not be lifted.
Even as he thought this, Heo Gye-gyo continued to watch the silver-haired girl with his eyes.
As if searching for a thread of hope in her uniqueness. Unable to define whether he wished to hope or wished not to hope. And with each glimpse of her, he felt a complex, bitter displeasure.
‘…She’s going to throw another rock, it seems. She’s maintained the possession for quite a while now—is she really all right doing this?’
Dropping rocks was a simple but effective attack. It seemed he would need to replenish his soldiers soon.
Heo Gye-gyo stared intently at Se-ru-hwa and reached into the pouch at his waist, grasping a handful of beans.
So he did not notice. His attention was entirely consumed—by Se-ru-hwa, by the rock she lifted, by replenishing his bean soldiers. His heart was unsettled and his mind was tangled.
With a thin whistle, a needle-like projectile pierced through from beside him, skewering the boy’s wing.
* * *
The plan Je-gal Pyo had proposed placed great importance on my role. First, I would lift a new rock with one side of my wing-garment.
“If, if, if you throw another rock, th, th, then you’ll have to replenish your soldiers just like b, b, before, so the in, in, instructor won’t be able to help but pay attention.”
By drawing Heo Gye-gyo’s attention with the rock, I would simultaneously extend the opposite side of my wing-garment as far as possible, stretching it skyward. With Yun Ra-sa, bow in hand, riding at its tip.
‘Arrows shot from the ground won’t reach that height. Aiming would be spotted immediately, and dodging would be easy.’
But if she shot from the sky, closer and undetected, that would be a different story. It was a viable plan.
“C, c, can you do it? B, b, both of you?”
“Lifting a rock or lifting a person—there’s not much difference. The issue is controlling both simultaneously and whether the length is sufficient… hmm, I think it’ll work.”
“H, hmm… hey, try extending that this way. Over here, so the instructor doesn’t notice.”
Yun Ra-sa gestured as she slipped into the shadow cast by the overhanging rock like a roof—a spot that wouldn’t be easily visible from above. I stretched the tip of my wing-garment in that direction while checking on Yi Yeon-jo’s condition.
“Yi Yeon-jo, can you hold on?”
“Huh, hah, h… I, I can’t hold on much longer….”
“I, I, I’ll help a bit. I’m n, not good at sorcery, but I’ve p, placed plenty of talismans.”
Je-gal Pyo pulled out a bundle of talismans and rushed toward Yi Yeon-jo, then stopped short and handed one of them to me.
“Th, this one.”
“Huh?”
“It m, m, makes a person transparent for h, half an hour. It’s r, roughly made so it’ll show if you l, look closely, but it’s b, better than nothing… g, g, give it to Yun Ra-sa.”
A transparency talisman? It didn’t look like an easy charm to craft, yet he had prepared this too? I accepted it with admiration.
“You’re really capable, squad leader.”
“…!”
Je-gal Pyo’s face flushed crimson. The boy mumbled his thanks in a mosquito-like voice before bolting toward Yi Yeon-jo like a frightened rabbit.
If he could craft talismans this skillfully, did it really matter if he couldn’t perform sorcery directly?
I’d once wondered what distinguished a Shaman’s talismans from a sorcerer’s talismans. Later, while studying Shamanism under Baek Tam-sol, I learned the difference.
A Shaman’s talismans were mostly for warding off misfortune or exorcising demons, while a sorcerer’s talismans served far more diverse purposes.
A Shaman’s talisman channeled divine power to block other spirits’ approach or drive away impurities. A sorcerer’s talisman, by contrast, contained various spells pre-inscribed within it, allowing them to activate magic quickly and effortlessly.
I’d heard that talismans consumed far less spiritual energy than casting spells directly—was that why Je-gal Pyo studied talisman-crafting so diligently?
The drawback was that they were tedious to create and their effects were weaker than the original spells. But if the effect was weaker, couldn’t you just use multiple talismans together? Unless the difficulty of creation made that impractical? I didn’t know enough about sorcery to say.
In any case, as I turned away with the transparency talisman in hand, I felt something settle onto the hem of my winged robe.
“Hey.”
Yun Ra-sa crouched in the shadow of a boulder, her weight pressing down on my winged robe. The delicate fabric sagged under her body.
I approached her and shot the girl a sideways glance.
“It’s Se-ru-hwa, not ‘hey.'”
“I told you I wasn’t interested in playing friends. Doing such soft things will rust my skills.”
“Does calling someone by their name make you friends with them?”
“What are you talking about? Who said that?”
“You just did. You said if I called you by your name, that meant we’d be friends.”
“I never said that! Shut up and look at this!”
Yun Ra-sa barked loudly and pointed at the winged robe beneath her feet.
“Can you make this taut? Stiff enough for me to stand on?”
“Huh? You want to stand on this?”
On a scrap of fabric no larger than my palm? Why would she attempt something so reckless?
At my bewildered stare, Yun Ra-sa’s expression darkened.
“You’re thinking of wrapping me like a rock and lifting me up, right? But then I won’t have anywhere to plant my feet, and my body will keep swaying. How am I supposed to shoot an arrow properly like that? Especially when I only get one chance.”
“Ah.”
True—even maintaining proper form made archery difficult, so shooting while dangling helplessly wrapped in my robe would be nearly impossible. And she’d only have one opening to exploit Heo Gye-gyo’s weakness.
“But can you really stand on such a narrow piece of fabric and shoot? What if you fall?”
“Ha, what do you take me for? I can shoot while standing on tree branches—this is plenty spacious. I won’t fall. Of course, that’s only if you can make this stiff enough for me to stand on.”
“…I’ll try.”
The Sang Ra Palace Celestial Maidens hardened their winged robes into blade-sharp edges to slice through demon necks.
I couldn’t achieve that level, but surely I could make it taut enough?
Recalling what the maidens did, I drew up my spiritual power and crammed it densely into the hem of my winged robe. Pouring in roughly twice my usual spiritual energy, the fabric’s edge became rigid as a plank.
It worked.
“How’s that?”
I held the winged robe at waist height and asked. Without a word, Yun Ra-sa leaped up and planted her feet on the fabric. The girl rolled her feet lightly to test it, then broke into a grin.
“This’ll do. Let’s go—before that lump of earth collapses, I’ll shoot down his trainer for you.”
“Use this first. It’s a transparency talisman the class representative made. It lasts about half a quarter hour.”
“…A transparency talisman? So he can actually make talismans?”
Yun Ra-sa took the talisman. I stepped out from the boulder’s shadow and spoke.
“I’ll lift the boulder while simultaneously raising this winged robe. You need to be careful not to fall. If it looks like you might―”
“Hmph, don’t worry about me. Just do your part.”
Yun Ra-sa snorted, clamped a talisman between her teeth, and drew her bow into position.
I made my way toward where the Bean Soldiers and the earthen figurines clashed in fierce combat. Placing my hand on Yi Yeon-jo’s heaving back, I channeled a trickle of healing divine power into him, and color gradually returned to his face.
“Ah… wow, I thought you could only heal injuries, not this?”
“Yeah, it seems fatigue gets ‘healed’ too. Though the efficiency is pretty terrible. But why are you using formal speech again?”
“Oh, sorry, no, I mean, my apologies—it’s just habit.”
“It’s fine. You’ll get used to it with practice.”
After healing Yi Yeon-jo and turning back, Je-gal Pyo—who had been plastering talismans all over the earthen wall—pointed beyond the gate.
“L-look, look, look! I found another one over there! A rock!”
“Thanks, Je-gal Pyo. You’re really helping out a lot.”
“U-ugh…”
The boy had turned red again. Hmm, I’m starting to understand how I should praise him going forward.
As I lifted the rock with my winged robe, the side where Yun Ra-sa rode stretched toward the sky.
‘It feels like doing two different things with both hands at once. This is hard. I need to focus…’
This was my first time doing something like this, so it was giving me a headache, but somehow I felt I could manage it.
The moment we emerged from the rock’s shadow, I saw Yun Ra-sa tear the talisman with her teeth. The transparency spell was crude and its outline was clearly visible, but since it was the dark of night, it didn’t show much and looked reasonably convincing.
‘The problem is… the winged robe is far too conspicuous.’
I glanced up at Heo Gye-gyo in the sky. He didn’t seem to have noticed the winged robe creeping up behind him yet, but…
‘The sparkling winged robe shows up even more clearly at night.’
How could I darken it? As I pondered this, something suddenly came to mind.
‘That’s right—Ki-yeon’s divine power had a yin attribute, didn’t it?’
I quickly imbued the divine power composing Yun Ra-sa’s winged robe with the concept of ‘Ki-yeon.’ The robe, which had been shimmering with a translucent jade luster, darkened like a shadow swallowing light, taking on the color of night itself.
‘Perfect!’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————