Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 148

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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 148
A sharp crack echoed through the night sky, reminiscent of ice fracturing beneath tremendous pressure. The barrier shattered completely along the trajectory of the enlarged Dark Spirit Sword.
My jaw dropped.
‘No… it actually worked like that…?’
What kind of crude method did Young-jun teach the Crown Prince?
‘That’s remarkably practical. I’ll have to praise him for it later.’
Simply destroying it through brute force—neither the Crown Prince nor I would have easily conceived of such an approach. We would have fixated on dismantling the barrier instead.
‘This is something I should learn from. So this is why everyone has something to teach.’
I was inwardly reflecting on how I’d dismissed Young-jun as a fool when the Crown Prince approached me.
“Perhaps we should signal the instructors first, Your Majesty. Using my—”
A deafening explosion cut off his words. I spun around in alarm to see one side of the Mountain Peak engulfed in flames.
‘That’s where the instructors’ quarters are!’
I understood instinctively. The remaining assassins must be engaged with the instructors. The Crown Prince’s expression hardened as he sensed something amiss.
“That seems far too dangerous to be part of the examination. Surely…?”
“Let’s head over there, now!”
The Crown Prince hesitated, looking at me. He seemed torn between the worry of taking me along and the worry of leaving me behind. I quickly made a pitiful expression.
“You’re not thinking of leaving me here alone, are you?”
“Of course not. I’ll take you to where the other students are—”
“But I feel much safer when I’m by your side.”
“…”
The Crown Prince closed his mouth and pressed the back of his hand against his lips, then without hesitation came forward and carefully lifted me into his arms.
“Tell me if you feel any discomfort or pain.”
The boy whispered softly, then leaped onto the trees with me cradled against him. He bounded from branch to branch, reaching the canopy before launching himself upward once more into the upper reaches of the Forest.
The dark night forest sprawled beneath us like a carpet. In the next instant, as the Crown Prince fell in a parabolic arc, his shadow—which had pooled between the leaves—rose up to become a foothold beneath his feet.
He pushed off from his own shadow and launched upward again. Repeating this motion, he ascended the Mountain at a speed indistinguishable from flying.
I asked, my mind reeling.
“When did you learn such a technique…?”
“I’ve been formally training in Dark Spirit Art for nearly three years now. This much should be manageable.”
I mean, honestly, Dark Spirit Art is essentially a technique you created from nothing. Even if someone handed you something that already existed and told you to learn it, pulling off such tricks in just three years shouldn’t be easy. What kind of aptitude does this boy possess…?
‘My lord truly is a genius.’
While I marveled, we arrived near the Mountain Peak where the explosion had occurred. Dark clouds had gathered overhead in the meantime, pouring rain that extinguished the flames.
‘Summoning rain—that’s impressive Taoist magic. Whose technique is it…? Wow, it’s our instructor!’
The Taoist Priest sending water vapor skyward to create rain was Bae So-wol, our class instructor. It felt strange seeing someone who always looked drowsy now with eyes wide open and blazing.
‘She’s fierce when fighting.’
In the Clearing just below the Mountain Peak’s summit, assassins and instructors clashed fiercely. Fortunately, the advantage lay clearly with the instructors. The explosion seemed to be the assassins’ final desperate gambit.
Bae So-wol, the Plum Blossom Class instructor, fired water arrows at the assassins while managing the explosion’s aftermath; Ki Ho-cheol, the Bamboo Class instructor, pressed the apparent assassin leader alone; Princess Onseol, the Orchid Class instructor, sat at the center commanding spirits from the Underworld to support the others; and Ju Sung-chan, the Chrysanthemum Class instructor, surrounded the entire Clearing with a barrier to prevent the assassins’ escape while hurling talismans in all directions.
‘The specialized subject instructors are one thing, but the liberal arts instructors are incredibly strong too? They really did hand-pick them.’
A white-bearded Mathematics instructor struck an assassin’s head with an abacus wrapped in dragon force, while a Literature instructor with her hair pinned up wielded a brush infused with Taoist power, flinging ink like throwing knives—a surreal sight.
The Etiquette instructor beat the assassins with a bamboo cane she normally used to correct students’ posture, while the Self-Defense instructor broke assassins’ spines with spinning kicks.
Only the teaching assistants were nowhere to be seen—all except one. Sung Jeong-sim, the director, had remained at Seongsul Academy, so her absence made sense, but I thought all the teaching assistants had come for this examination.
‘Only the Bamboo Class instructor remains. I can see a medical instructor attending to them, so they must be injured somewhere.’
Where did Bae So-wol and Heo Gye-gyo go? Ah, perhaps they were sent to protect the cadets? Since assassins have infiltrated the examination grounds, it’s no longer safe—that must be it.
‘Still, there are more assassins than I expected. If they split into two groups, there should be around fifteen in each, but this is clearly thirty or more.’
There must have been assassins entering from other locations besides the ones Gwang-chul and I encountered. Or perhaps they were lying in ambush nearby all along.
Seeing the assassin group appear to have grown rather than split, I finally understand why Gwang-chul couldn’t have anticipated that an additional group would go after the Crown Prince.
‘Still, he deserves a scolding for this.’
How could someone of Dragon King descent fail to distinguish whether the assassins he was pursuing were part of the original group or reinforcements that arrived mid-battle? He must have been careless or simply wasn’t paying attention.
“Even to the instructors…!”
I heard the Crown Prince grinding his teeth above my head. Surely he wasn’t blaming himself for this too?
Before I could even comfort him, the Crown Prince landed behind the instructors while still holding me. The instructors jumped in surprise at our sudden arrival, and upon recognizing us, they didn’t relax—they looked even more alarmed.
“Your Highnesses, how did you come to be here…!”
Instructor Ju Sung-chan, so startled that he’d forgotten to treat us as cadets, came rushing over in a flustered state. Princess Onseol’s eyes widened in shock as she bolted upright.
“Your Highness!”
“Aunt.”
As the Crown Prince set me down and briefly explained what had happened to the instructors, I exchanged a telepathic message with Gwang-chul, who was hiding nearby.
[Wait? Your Highness? What brings you here?]
[Gwang-chul, what were you doing here?]
[The humans were fighting so well that I didn’t need to intervene, so I was just enjoying the show. All it needs is some alcohol and snacks, and it would be perfect… Huh? Wait a moment, Your Highness, why is your robe hem so red?]
[Well, my protective charm shattered, and I got wounded again.]
[What? Y-y-you were injured? Your Highness? How did that happen? Where? Are you alright? Come over here! I’m not very skilled at healing magic, but if you come this way―]
[It’s fine, I’ve already healed it myself.]
[No, what kind of bastard dared to harm Your Highness!]
[The group of assassins you forgot about.]
[Pardon?]
[Remember when they split up and went in different directions?]
[…Gasp.]
[They were waiting in an ambush targeting the Crown Prince. So your suspicion that he was their target was correct, wasn’t it?]
[Eeeek! W-wait a moment, Your Highness! I was confused because there were so many of them―]
[We’ll talk about this later, Gwang-chul.]
I left a gentle telepathic message and turned my attention back to the humans, ignoring Gwang-chul’s anguished cries and excuses.
The explosion from earlier must have been the assassins’ final gambit, because the instructors had already dealt with all of them. Ki Ho-cheol was dragging the assassin leader—somehow kept alive—across the ground.
In the meantime, the Crown Prince had finished explaining to Ju Sung-chan, Princess Onseol, and Bae So-wol, who had arrived at some point, about the assassins who had attacked us.
He cleverly concealed details about Eonduk-seoni’s nature and instead framed it as Dark Spirit Art practitioners being vulnerable to intense sunlight.
‘His packaging has become quite skillful.’
The Crown Prince had completely internalized my earlier advice—to explain things in familiar frameworks that humans could easily accept, and to present unfamiliar beings in ways they could comprehend.
“A spy.”
The moment the Crown Prince finished speaking, Bae So-wol blurted it out. Princess Onseol’s complexion turned cold.
“Someone who can track the cadets’ positions in real time and allow so many assassins to enter this place… There’s a spy among us.”
As the instructors gathered after the battle, suspicion flickered across their faces as they regarded one another.
‘If the spy had revealed themselves while cooperating with the assassins during their ambush, it would have been easy to eliminate them. But it seems they didn’t.’
Rooting out a spy from among the instructors would require complex and troublesome work. A spy bold enough to orchestrate something this massive wouldn’t be careless, and having failed, they’d be even more cautious, conserving their strength for the next opportunity.
‘Using the Heavenly Eye would simplify matters, but that would drain my already precarious lifespan further.’
Perceiving the flow of spiritual energy was within the capabilities of my human form as Se-ru-hwa, but glimpsing the entirety of a human’s life required the divine power of Princess Cheonmyeong Sang Ra-hee-yo. I couldn’t burden my true self, which my parents had only just stabilized by dividing their own lifespans with me.
Yet I couldn’t simply leave the spy who’d nearly killed the Crown Prince to be found by humans at their own pace.
‘If Ki Ho-cheol’s captured assassin talks freely, that would be fortunate…’
Glancing over, I saw Ki Ho-cheol gagging the leader of the assassins, who was attempting to bite down on something—likely poison. Would someone so eager to die the moment they’re captured willingly divulge information? It seemed unlikely.
‘I can’t wait any longer.’
I’d expose the spy right here, right now. Not through the Heavenly Eye, but through another method that demanded less of me. There was something I’d conceived of the moment I realized a spy was present.
‘It’s been quite some time since I developed this concept, but this will be my first time actually using it.’
I closed my eyes slowly, then opened them as I channeled my divine power. From the lifeforce cord flowing with my true self’s spiritual essence, I gathered the portion bearing the nature of earth.
Like soil in which seeds are sown, a force that makes all things yield according to what is planted. The concept I inherited by birth—from my mother who dispenses heavenly punishment in this world, and my father who administers karmic retribution in the next.
‘Judgment.’

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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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