Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 154

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

Chapter 154
“Oh, you’re here!”
“Wow, you actually brought Yun Ra-sa. That’s impressive….”
When I returned, I noticed there were more people. Yi Yeon-ju and Yi Yeon-jo, the twins, were sitting side by side next to Sa Young-jun with books spread out before them.
“You two….”
“Yeon-jo came to return a borrowed book, and when I asked the class monitor, he said you were all studying together! Can we join too? Huh?”
Yi Yeon-ju asked with sparkling eyes. Over these two years, she’d accumulated spiritual energy through Myotusa and had become like a lively cat.
‘Or was she always like that two years ago? I think that might have been her original personality.’
I firmly grasped Yun Ra-sa’s hand as she tried to slip away, sat down beside Je-gal Pyo, and nodded.
“Of course you can.”
“…Why are so many people gathering like this? I’m leaving.”
Yun Ra-sa grimaced and refused to sit. I turned to the girl with a smiling face.
“You really want to leave? Even though you’re my ‘friend’?”
“What does that have to do with―”
“If you’re my ‘friend’, you should be here at times like this. If we study separately, would that really look like we’re ‘friends’?”
“….”
When I deliberately emphasized the word friend, Yun Ra-sa sighed dryly and quietly sat down beside me.
“Wow… she really came. Welcome, welcome.”
“You became friends with Ra-sa? That’s amazing! I wanted to talk to Ra-sa too! Yun Ra-sa seems like such a cool, solitary, fierce wolf!”
“Sister, keep your voice down. This is Songrim Library. And what wolf? She’s not a wolf. What strange novel have you been reading now?”
“Do I really have to solve all of these? My head feels like it’s about to split….”
With Je-gal Pyo, Yi Yeon-ju, Yi Yeon-jo, Sa Young-jun, and Yun Ra-sa gathered together, it became quite noisy.
Thirteen, fourteen, fourteen, twelve, and twelve years old respectively. This was my first time doing something with so many peers, and I felt a bit excited.
Though I’m actually 212 years old, not twelve, but my body is twelve, so let’s just say we’re roughly the same age.
“Y-Yun Ra-sa, I saw you keep holding that grammar textbook, and I, I, I have some notes I organized. W-would you like to see them…? If you d-don’t understand something, you c-can ask me….”
“…Don’t I annoy you? Why do you keep trying to help? How are you planning to survive being so naïve!”
At Je-gal Pyo’s kindness, Yun Ra-sa flared up. There were those sisters who died from being too kind. I understand why she’s angry, but….
“Yun Ra-sa, to truly be ‘friends’, you need to be honest.”
“What?”
“You want to say ‘I’m sorry for being rude before. You’re really kind,’ don’t you?”
“….”
Yun Ra-sa stared at me blankly. I leaned in slightly and whispered to her.
“If you want to find someone to pretend to be friends with, you need to get along with them. You know your words are rough, don’t you? Try speaking as gently as you can. You’re not the only one different, so don’t worry too much.”
“….”
Yun Ra-sa, who had been staring at me intently, turned to look at Je-gal Pyo, who didn’t know what to do.
“…Hey.”
“U-uh?”
“Was I annoying before? You can curse at me.”
“….”
“Or do you want me to hit you? I don’t think it would hurt at all if you hit me.”
“….”
Je-gal Pyo fell into a daze. Yun Ra-sa, noticing his bewildered expression, glanced between me and him in alarm before squeezing her eyes shut and stammering out her words.
“…I, I said something unkind before, and I’m s, s… sorry. You’re really k, kind.”
No, I hadn’t meant for her to repeat my exact words down to the particles. I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.
Je-gal Pyo stared at the apologizing Yun Ra-sa for a moment, then broke into a faint smile.
“If, if you’re s, sorry… then help me with the b, basics of demon-catching. It’s a s, subject you’re good at.”
“I’m not particularly good at it—I just learned the same material from the Baekui Division before coming here under the Academy Director, so it only looks like I’m good because I already knew it.”
“W, well, that means you know it w, well either way… I, I just m, memorized some parts I didn’t r, really understand….”
“Which parts?”
Though Yun Ra-sa answered curtly, she leaned toward Je-gal Pyo. I watched warmly as the two of them put their heads together over a notebook, then returned to my own studies.
“Crown Princess, how do you solve this problem?”
“Sister, is that formal speech or casual? Pick one.”
“Ugh! I finished it all! Can I go home now?”
“Sure, next is this one.”
“You really show no mercy… You’re even stricter than my brother, I’m telling you….”
“What’s this ‘stricter’ business? You mean ‘call-and-response poetry’?”
“Damn it, isn’t Seongsul Academy supposed to be training demon-catching soldiers? Why do we have to learn poetry here?”
“B, because the adults d, discussed it and decided on the c, curriculum… If you l, learn it now, it’ll b, be useful for something eventually.”
Studying together was far more enjoyable than reading alone. We lost track of time in our concentration until, at some point, Yi Yeon-ju collapsed dramatically.
“Ugh, let’s take a little break!”
Surprisingly, Yun Ra-sa was holding up fine—Yi Yeon-ju had hit her limit first.
Ah, Yun Ra-sa had undergone harsh training since childhood, so her endurance must be strong. When she decided something needed to be done, she could push through.
Sa Young-jun was an exception—he’d been listless from the start and was only staying put because I was keeping him here.
Yi Yeon-ju, her cheek pressed against the desk as she lay sprawled out, suddenly began giggling.
“You know, Songrim Library is a really old building. It existed long before Seongsul Academy was built, but do you know what kind of palace hall it was before?”
“W, well? Wasn’t it a l, library back then?”
“No, it wasn’t. Apparently, this place used to be a treasure vault for a heretical sect.”
“W, what?”
“When the authorities suppressed and cleaned up the sect, they demolished all the other buildings, but they kept only this hall and repurposed it as a library. The reason they kept it was….”
Yi Yeon-ju glanced around quickly, then lowered her voice to a whisper.
“The basement here is off-limits to students, right? Supposedly, there’s a massive underground vault hidden down there that still hasn’t been opened. Nobody knows what the heretical sect hid inside, so they’re still investigating!”
“R, really? W, where did you hear that…?”
“I overheard Grandfather talking with other people. The heretical sect part might be a rumor, but there’s definitely something in the basement here.”
Yi Yeon-ju’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Don’t you all want to know what’s in the basement of Songrim Library?”
She seemed eager for a treasure hunt to break the boredom. I could feel the children’s interest piquing—especially Sa Young-jun, who’d been the most bored, and Je-gal Pyo, who was the most curious.
And as I listened to her story, an unexpected idea occurred to me.
‘What if I had them discover the Straw God’s sacred object as if they’d found it at the end of an exploration? I could set up a trial to assess their qualifications, like Ki-yeon did, and inscribe it as a treasure that could grant godhood to whoever possessed it….’
That way, it would be easy to identify suitable candidates, and I could naturally hand over the sacred object without revealing my circumstances.
‘Baek Tam-sol was already an adult who’d completed her coming-of-age ceremony, my teacher for years, and had even transformed the heat lines herself, so I gave it to her directly and spoke around the subject… but I’m a bit uneasy about just telling the children outright.’
Unlike Baek Tam-sol, who had become a confirmed candidate for the Straw God, it felt burdensome to hand over a divine artifact as a test while mentioning that I was searching for Princess Cheonmyeong’s retinue.
What if, after giving it to her, the artifact didn’t match her? I couldn’t hand them out one by one and test whether each was compatible.
‘I’ll pass the divine artifact to a promising candidate through Ki-yeon like a treasure hunt, and once it’s certain they’ll become a candidate, I’ll explain the situation then.’
Fortunately, I had an experienced hand who was skilled at plausibly arranging the location where treasure was hidden. When I had distributed Ki-yeon to the Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin before, I noticed Gwang-chul had some talent in that direction.
‘It was the same during the Yongryong Ceremony. Gwang-chul is surprisingly good at pulling off convincing deceptions. Alright, I should have Gwang-chul prepare this.’
While I was planning my Ki-yeon deception, the children, exhausted from studying, had already begun scheming to enter the basement of Songrim Library.
“It’ll be evening soon, so there aren’t many people around already. It’ll be completely empty soon.”
“Oh, the librarian isn’t here today anyway… They said yesterday they were taking a vacation. B-b-but the assistant said they’d be closing Songrim Library….”
“Wow, then today’s our chance! Perfect!”
“The stairs down to the basement seem to be locked though. How are we going to open that?”
“B-b-but we have the exam in a week… Is this really okay?”
“We’re not asking to play all day, just to take a quick look! Isn’t everyone curious about what’s in the basement of Songrim Library that they’ve blocked it off like that?”
“The basement of Songrim Library contains a library archive.”
A calm voice interjected suddenly. Everyone startled and turned around with their mouths shut, and I saw the Crown Prince smiling faintly.
“Uh, uh….”
“My lord!”
While the children who had been secretly planning were taken aback, I alone, lost in thought, rose warmly to greet him. The Crown Prince smiled broadly and held up a large cloth bundle.
“I heard that my lady was remaining to study with her friends, so I brought some refreshments.”

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