Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 153

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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 153
Yun Ra-sa stared at me with a blank expression.
“…You’re saying you’ll play the role of my friend?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Well… because we were in the same group? You took on the most dangerous role back then and even got hurt.”
“That’s nothing. We each just did what we could. Getting hurt was my own mistake, and you treated me anyway.”
Yun Ra-sa continued speaking with an expression that suggested she genuinely couldn’t comprehend.
“Why would you help someone as unlucky as me?”
“….”
For a moment, words escaped me. Ra-sa… you knew how others perceived you all along. That’s truly unexpected.
Perhaps my bewilderment showed on my face, because Yun Ra-sa let out a small laugh.
“I know my language is crude. How could I not notice when everyone’s expression sours the moment I speak?”
“…Then why do you keep acting that way?”
“Because speaking pleasantries doesn’t help you survive. And regretting it after you’re dead is too late.”
The girl muttered this with a cold expression, then added:
“And I have no intention of playing at friendship. There’s no need to look good in front of others―”
“But you need to make friends now. To complete the assignment the Director gave you.”
“….”
Yun Ra-sa’s expression wavered. The confusion written plainly across her face was so transparent I nearly laughed.
‘I can’t laugh here.’
I barely suppressed the urge and opened my mouth.
“Why do you hate making friends so much?”
Those feline eyes fixed on me, and she spoke bluntly.
“Do you know what my name means?”
“Huh?”
“I originally had no family name. I was just Ra-sa. And my sisters’ names were Ra-ga, Ra-na, Ra-da, Ra-ma, and Ra-ba. I was the last among the ‘Ra’ generation.”
Rather than names using a generational character, they felt more like sequential identification markers. Shadows fell across Yun Ra-sa’s face.
“From the moment I can remember, we were always together. We were all orphans, all trained the same way. And one by one, we died during training.”
“…What kind of training was it?”
“Training to kill people. Training to become assassins.”
“….”
“Ra-da died first among us. She was the kindest, the gentlest―she couldn’t even kill a rabbit. They said a personality like that was useless… so she was used as teaching material for the ‘Da’ generation above us and died.”
“That’s….”
“Ra-na died next. She was clumsy. Always falling behind in training, so I secretly helped her. I always had the capacity to spare. When Ra-na cried and apologized, I told her it was fine. I’d help her… but I shouldn’t have.”
Yun Ra-sa continued with an expressionless face.
“Ra-na made a mistake during training when I wasn’t there and died. If I hadn’t helped her from the start, if I’d let her train alone, if I’d pushed her to manage on her own instead of comforting her when she cried―maybe she wouldn’t have died then.”
“….”
“The rest of them died at the hands of my ‘friend.'”
“Your friend…?”
“Foolishly, I believed a Demon Beast was my ‘friend.'”
“A Demon Beast?”
“The higher-ups kept one locked away, claiming they’d tame it. It looked almost human. Every day it was beaten bloody with whips and starved. I felt sorry for it, so I shared my evening meals with it a few times. It thanked me, and later said it waited only for me to come. I thought… I had become its friend.”
Yun Ra-sa twisted her lips.
“I was caught up in playing at friendship. Without understanding what it truly intended.”
“Surely that Demon Beast didn’t…”
“It asked me to break its chains. Said it would die like this, begged me to help it escape. I stole the key and freed it. It was starving, and the moment it broke loose, it filled its belly with the easiest prey. My sisters.”
“…”
“My entire generation was devoured. Once it had eaten its fill, it rampaged and destroyed everything around me. Thanks to that, the Baekui Division stormed in… and I was rescued.”
Yun Ra-sa lifted her head. The girl whispered, her eyes dark and lifeless, her face deathly pale.
“My sisters all died because of me, yet only I was saved.”
“…Yun Ra-sa.”
“So at least I have to take revenge. That Demon Beast escaped in the end. The Castle Lord said that to find and capture it, I’d need to join the Jagyogapsa.”
“…So that’s why you want to join the Jagyogapsa?”
“Yes. So I don’t have time to dawdle here. I have to go to the Jagyogapsa! I must find that Demon Beast and kill it with my own hands!”
Yun Ra-sa cried out as if possessed, then suddenly buried her face in her hands. The girl sighed deeply and muttered as if bewildered.
“…Why am I even telling you this?”
Perhaps it was because I am a god.
It felt similar to when I was with Baek Tam-sol. Without peering through Heavenly Eyes, at some moment the human simply unraveled their story of their own accord. Like listening to a human’s confession.
To listen, to observe, to understand, and finally to love humanity. Perhaps that is the most divine act—more so than wielding great power.
I opened my mouth slowly.
“I decided to become your friend, so that’s why you told me.”
“I said I had no intention of making friends.”
“I understand why you don’t want to make friends. But you need one now, don’t you? You can only go to the Jagyogapsa if you complete the Director’s assignment, and you can only take revenge on that Demon Beast that devoured your sisters if you join the Jagyogapsa.”
“…”
“You only need to show the Director. You don’t actually need to become real friends. Just pretend to be friends.”
“…Just pretend to be friends?”
“Yes. And let’s find two other children to pretend to be friends with you too. Then you can finish your assignment.”
Finding children to pretend to be friends with—in the end, what’s the difference from actually making friends?—but Yun Ra-sa seemed intrigued. The girl, who had been watching me quietly, asked.
“Why are you helping me like this?”
“Just because.”
“What kind of answer is ‘just because’?”
“Just because I like you?”
Yun Ra-sa’s mouth fell open in disbelief, and her face flushed red.
“What kind of nonsense is that? What have you been listening to? Why would someone like me appeal to you?”
“Don’t I appeal to you?”
“…I don’t dislike you. You’re surprisingly strong.”
“Huh? What does being strong have to do with it?”
“Weak things die easily.”
Ah. Now I understood why I found Yun Ra-sa so easy to comprehend.
‘This child… bears a slight resemblance to Heuk-yeon.’
The sharp edges within her heart resembled his. Though Heuk-yeon packaged his far more skillfully.
‘She doesn’t want to be hurt. She’s terrified of losing someone again, so she refuses to grow close to anyone.’
And because she recognized her own jagged nature, she sharpened her edges further.
What had been vague crystallized into clarity. Now I understood Yun Ra-sa. Why she’d become this way, why she acted as she did.
Suddenly, the dense pine trees surrounding us came into focus. Countless trees, all pines yet no two shaped alike.
Why did one grow straight while another bent, even though they were the same species? Not to be felled simply for failing to grow upright, but to be understood—to comprehend why it became that way.
To listen and observe. To come to know. As I had done with Choi Ja-myeong, Seol Deung-hwa, Cheon Gyeol-u, Yi Do-hyung, Baek Tam-sol, and Je-gal Pyo, and now with Yun Ra-sa.
The virtue of divinity.
‘Understanding.’
In the forest thick with pine needle fragrance, a new concept grew quietly like a tree. It was the sixth concept.
‘…It truly emerges in unexpected places, through unexpected circumstances. It never manifested when I struggled so hard for it.’
Now I only needed to find one more. Besides Baek Tam-sol, there were no other candidates to bestow divine gifts upon, but it was still a significant achievement.
“Why are you standing there blankly?”
Yun Ra-sa asked with puzzlement. I blinked, then smiled gently.
“It’s nothing. Let’s go inside and study together now.”
“Together, what?”
“You were studying for the exam too, weren’t you? Let’s study together.”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her along without hesitation, and Yun Ra-sa flinched.
“Stop! I don’t need this!”
“You won’t pretend to be my friend?”
“No, that’s not what I meant! There are other people in there!”
“Oh? So you were watching us?”
“I wasn’t trying to watch! I just happened to see!”
“Alright, alright, then let’s all study together.”
“Why would we study together like this isn’t even a group project?”
“I need two more people to pretend to be my friends besides you, don’t I? To find people willing to do that, I need to spend time with the others. Isn’t that right?”
“…You’re the strange one. Besides you, there’s no one else who would do such a thing. I’m different from the other children! I am—”
“Everyone is different from each other originally.”
Songrim Library came into view. I paused and turned back to look at Yun Ra-sa.
“Yun Ra-sa, have you ever been so desperately, unbearably in pain that you tried to end your own life?”
“What?”
“I have. And it wasn’t just once.”
Yun Ra-sa’s eyes widened. The girl looked at me with disbelief written across her face.
“You…? You’re the Crown Princess of this nation. You’re born of the Pyeong Empire’s imperial bloodline…”
“You know nothing about me. And nothing about the others either. Just as the others don’t fully know you, you don’t truly know them. You can’t assume you understand everything when you know nothing.”
“…”
“Everyone is different originally. No two people are the same. You’re not the only one who’s different, so don’t jump to conclusions or be afraid.”
Yun Ra-sa fell silent. I pulled the contemplative girl back through the side door we’d come from.

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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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