Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 157

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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 157
“What, a test? Ugh, I came here to escape from studying for exams, and now I have to take another one!”
Yi Yeon-ju grabbed her head and complained, while Yi Yeon-jo let out a long sigh beside her.
“I just got scared out of my mind, and now I’m trapped here having to take some bizarre test. I swear I’m not going to live a normal life because of you, sister.”
“Hey, Yi Yeon-jo, why are you suddenly blaming me?”
“Because you brought it up first! You said we should come here!”
“And you agreed it was a good idea!”
“I only went along with it because you talked me into it!”
“That’s your fault for being so easily swayed!”
While the twins bickered back and forth, Yun Ra-sa grabbed Je-gal Pyo and jumped down. Once all the children gathered on the wide bookshelf, the Crown Prince opened his mouth.
“It seems we have two options now.”
“Two?”
At Yi Yeon-jo’s question, the Crown Prince counted off on his fingers.
“First, we use the Sejodae to send a distress signal to the instructors. Second, we challenge the mysterious ‘first test’ that Imugi mentioned and escape on our own.”
“The first option is absolutely out of the question!”
Yi Yeon-ju cried out in alarm. Je-gal Pyo nervously fiddled with his glasses as he spoke.
“If the instructors find out… we’ll all get in serious trouble. I might even fail the course….”
“Failing is absolutely unacceptable! I can’t be thrown out naked by my master!”
Sa Young-jun also jumped in alarm and shouted. Yun Ra-sa frowned and muttered.
“I don’t want the director to find out I got caught up in this childish game. Absolutely not.”
Right, everyone. We can’t give up here.
I quickly came to a conclusion.
“Decision made. Let’s take on the test!”
“And, and the Imugi asked earlier if we were challengers trying to become the master of the divine object. M-maybe if we p-pass this test, we might g-get some amazing t-treasure…!”
Je-gal Pyo spoke with barely contained excitement. At those words, Yi Yeon-ju’s eyes immediately sparkled.
“A divine object! Treasure! I’m excited about anything! Let’s do it right now!”
“Master of a divine object—that sounds incredibly cool!”
Unlike the children who quickly became excited, the Crown Prince glanced back at me with a reluctant expression. I quickly matched Yi Yeon-ju’s enthusiastic expression. The Crown Prince sighed briefly and then spoke.
“Then first, we need to figure out what this means: ‘Find the path that cannot be read within the maze. At the end that my fragments point to, there is a path.'”
“You memorized that after hearing it just once? Your Highness the Crown Prince is impressive.”
At Yi Yeon-ju’s admiration, the Crown Prince shook his head.
“The Lady would remember it better than I would. Lady, is my memory correct?”
“Um, yes?”
To be honest, I was so worried about whether my Imugi specimen actually broke that I didn’t properly remember what it said. Why is the Crown Prince suddenly looking at me with such infinite trust?!
I urgently called out to the creator.
[Gwang-chul, my husband’s memory is accurate, right?]
[It is accurate. However, Princess, if you get used to that form of address, the Yama King might not let your ‘husband’ off easy. Be careful.]
Why would my father care? I was puzzled, but I was too rushed to answer the Crown Prince, so I just moved on.
“Yes, ‘Find the path that cannot be read within the maze. At the end that my fragments point to, there is a path.’ That’s correct.”
“The Crown Princess is also remarkable. I can’t even memorize it after hearing it again now.”
When Yi Yeon-ju praised me as well, the Crown Prince smiled with satisfaction.
‘Hmm? He didn’t ask to verify accuracy—he deliberately asked so I’d hear the praise too? Why would he go out of his way…’
He was such an upright person that it seemed he didn’t want to be the only one remembering, and apparently felt embarrassed receiving praise alone.
Je-gal Pyo pulled out the notebook and fine-tipped brush he always carried, wrote down what the Imugi had said, and showed it to us.
“Th-th-those fragments of mine… don’t you think they’re the scattered blue lights from earlier?”
“Those?”
Yun Ra-sa pointed below the bookshelves. Between the corridors of the Library, among the drifting blue ghostly flames, white and faintly glimmering orbs of light floated suspended. They were unmistakably the same round lights like fireflies that had burst from the Imugi.
“I think those are right, but didn’t a ton of fragments scatter earlier? Do we have to find all of them?”
Yi Yeon-jo muttered as if troubled. The Crown Prince responded.
“He said ‘at the end of pointing,’ so let’s follow that light first. The next fragment shouldn’t be far from it, right?”
“There’s one there too.”
Yun Ra-sa pointed to a spot somewhat distant from the first light, then indicated a corridor that bent to the right from there.
“And there too.”
“You find them well, Yun Ra-sa. You have excellent vision! Is it because you’re good at archery?”
At my words, Yun Ra-sa whipped her head around and grumbled.
“Excellent is pushing it. I just trained a lot in target-finding since I was young, that’s all.”
She’d denied it before when I said she was good at the basics of Chakyo, so this girl clearly wasn’t used to receiving praise. Yet when she spoke about herself, she acted so arrogant as if she knew everything… she really was an amusing one.
“Yun Ra-sa, would you mind finding the fragments ahead for us? I think that would work better than splitting up to search. I’ll follow behind you.”
“Damn, what a hassle…”
Yun Ra-sa’s body moved immediately, but her mouth was about to complain again when she suddenly turned back to me and changed her words.
“…No, fine, whatever. You’re my ‘friend’ after all.”
“Thank you!”
I answered with a bright smile, and Yun Ra-sa whipped her head around again. The girl strode ahead with long steps and spoke in a gruff tone.
“Hey, be careful when crossing between the bookshelves. You’ll lose your footing if you’re not careful.”
“Got it!”
We all walked across the tops of the bookshelves, following Yun Ra-sa in the lead.
As we crossed between the bookshelves and chased the fragments in the corridor below, we soon encountered a perplexing situation.
“Th-th-the light is on b-b-both paths…”
Je-gal Pyo looked back and forth between the two sides in confusion. At both the left and right of the fork, round, glimmering orbs of light floated suspended. Yun Ra-sa frowned.
“Which way do we go then?”
“Right… hmm, should we split up and follow both?”
Yi Yeon-ju suggested. The children looked at each other and, after a moment of deliberation, split roughly in half.
“Let’s follow them, but keep an eye on where each other is heading. If we get too far apart, we stop. Scattering seems dangerous.”
Following the Crown Prince’s suggestion, we crossed the uneven bookshelves again while checking on each other.
Je-gal Pyo, Yi Yeon-ju, Yi Yeon-jo, and Sa Young-jun went left, while the Crown Prince, Yun Ra-sa, and I went right. As we moved forward split into two groups, the children on Je-gal Pyo’s side suddenly stopped, and Sa Young-jun waved his arms broadly at us.
“Over here! Again! There are light orbs on both sides of the fork again!”
Sa Young-jun shouted. Another fork? We looked at each other in bewilderment.
“Damn it, what is this! Are there really true paths and false paths?”
Yun Ra-sa grumbled with furrowed brows. The Crown Prince gazed intently at the glimmering fragments below the bookshelves, lost in thought. From Je-gal Pyo’s side, they seemed to be discussing something, and Sa Young-jun shouted again.
“We’re four people! So! We’ll split up and explore further!”
I watched as Yi Yeon-ju, Yi Yeon-jo, Je-gal Pyo, and Sa Young-jun split up and headed down different paths. The Crown Prince, gazing down at the orb of light, touched his lips thoughtfully and murmured.
“Find the unreadable path within the maze… What does ‘unreadable path’ mean? Is that the clue to distinguish between real and false paths…?”
As I observed the Crown Prince’s contemplation, I recalled the words Imugi had left behind.
‘An unreadable path? I suspected it referred to a treasure map written in cipher that couldn’t be read. Since the children are meant to find it, that must be the goal of this trial.’
But could there be another hidden meaning? Perhaps. Since Imugi’s words were a riddle created by Gwang-chul, the clues to solve it must be contained within those words themselves, right?
‘A riddle, clues… Wait.’
An unreadable path within the maze. Within the maze—is it an unreadable path?
A sudden thought struck me, and I lifted my head. I saw the ghostly flames drifting in the air and the high ceiling above.
‘Could it be?’
I descended into a trance state, formed wings of divine power, and rose into the air. The Crown Prince and Yun Ra-sa looked up at me in bewilderment.
“Lady?”
“Hey, where are you going?”
“Just a moment! Just a moment!”
As I suddenly soared upward with my wings, the other children who had been walking nearby and observing us stopped in shock.
I continued ascending without hesitation, until I nearly touched the ceiling. Until the maze of the Library lay spread beneath me in perfect clarity.
From that dizzying height, looking down not from within the maze but from outside it, I could see it all at once—the enormous image formed by the white, glowing fragments scattered throughout the Library’s maze, bathed in a pale blue light.
“Ah, so that’s why… they said it cannot be read from within the maze.”
At my murmur, Gwang-chul sent a message with evident delight.
[Correct, Princess! You grasped it quickly!]
[Well, I already knew the purpose and intent behind your riddle.]
After landing on the platform, I called down to the children below.
“Everyone, come back here!”
The hesitant children soon climbed onto the platform one by one.
Yun Ra-sa threw a grappling hook from somewhere, caught it on the railing, and climbed up using the rope, while the Crown Prince inflated his shadow and created stairs to ascend.
Then Yun Ra-sa lowered her grappling hook rope for Yi Yeon-ju and Yi Yeon-jo, while the Crown Prince used darkness to create stairs for Je-gal Pyo and Sa Young-jun.
Once all the children had gathered on the platform, I pointed toward the Library’s maze and explained.
“Everyone, try connecting those scattered glowing fragments like dots and see what picture forms. You’ll see something.”

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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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