Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 16

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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 16
I leaned my elbows on the table, resting my chin in my palms as I carefully laid out my thoughts.
“It would be ideal if there were some time between the moment of sensing death and the actual moment of dying. Then you could pour out everything you wish to say, leaving you relieved and him fully understanding why he must perish.”
“….”
“Poison seems like the best method. In a place where you’re alone together, block outside access and administer the poison. Since you’re the Emperor’s concubine, creating a situation where you’re alone with him should be simple enough, yes?”
At my question, Seol Deung-hwa’s expression hardened with resolve.
“If you provide the poison, I will find a way to make him consume it. Even if I must use my own mouth….”
“No, wait, wait a moment. If you die while attempting to kill the Emperor, what good does that serve? You cannot die.”
I panicked and waved my hand to interrupt her. It seemed she had resolved to die alongside the Emperor, but that would be meaningless! Xiao-hua in the heavens would grieve.
“The reason I said to create a situation where you’re alone is so you can freely speak everything you wish to say to the Emperor.”
“Then how would the poison…?”
“There exists a poison that can intoxicate without being consumed. It works even against defensive arts like the Eternal Shield. Of course, there is also a method to protect you from that poison, and the Emperor’s cause of death will appear as a heart attack or seizure rather than poisoning.”
“Really? Such a convenient poison exists?”
“Not in the Mortal Realm, but I possess it.”
I smiled warmly and added,
“After you’ve taken your revenge that way, you can escape the Palace and live a new life. I’ll help with everything from the escape method to arranging a new identity, so just think about what you’d like to do going forward.”
Seol Deung-hwa gazed at me with an expression of disbelief.
Regardless, she would have no choice but to believe. As a member of the Xue Tribe, she would know that I spoke with sincerity.
“You are… sincere.”
“Why would I lie? Especially before a member of the Xue Tribe.”
“Truly….”
With color gradually returning to her complexion, Seol Deung-hwa murmured something indistinct and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Then, after a long silence, she looked directly at me and spoke.
“What compensation should I offer you in return?”
“I’ve already received my compensation—by taking possession of this body and Se-ru-hwa’s life.”
“Wasn’t that transaction concluded when you enrolled that child in the Celestial Registry? This is a new arrangement.”
It was an unexpectedly sharp observation. I regarded Seol Deung-hwa with fresh eyes, then shrugged.
“Xiao-hua made one final request. She asked me to tell you she’s sorry.”
“…That child?”
Seol Deung-hwa’s eyes swelled as though she might burst into tears again. I quickly added,
“That means you are Xiao-hua’s lingering attachment.”
“Lingering attachment…?”
“If one harbors attachments to the human world, they cannot become a true celestial maiden. I promised to make Xiao-hua a celestial maiden, so your happiness is part of my compensation.”
Seol Deung-hwa’s expression became enigmatic.
“That is quite… favorable to Se-ru-hwa and myself. Are you not at a loss?”
“A loss?”
I let out a scoff.
“Should a great deity like myself concern myself with profit and loss in dealings with fragile mortals like you? I have the dignity of Princess Cheonmyeong to maintain. This hardly counts as a loss for me.”
“…Great….”
Seol Deung-hwa repeated the word, then looked down at me with eyes that regarded me as one would a child. I protested strongly.
“It’s only because I’m inhabiting your daughter’s body that I appear small! I am truly an extraordinarily magnificent and vast deity!”
“Your parents were fond of Se-ru-hwa because she was around the same age as you, weren’t they?”
“W-well, that’s because my body didn’t grow as fast as it should have! And from now on, please call her Xiao-hua instead of Se-ru-hwa! If you keep using her human name, she’ll develop attachments!”
“So you truly intend to make Se-ru-hwa—no, Xiao-hua—into a celestial maiden.”
“Of course. She’s my subordinate now. Her name is inscribed in the Sang-ra Palace’s registry of immortals. As a great deity like myself, I must honor my promises and care for my people.”
A faint smile flickered across Seol Deung-hwa’s face.
“Thank you. Then, should I address you as Princess Cheonmyeong?”
“Just call me Princess. Using my formal title would be quite burdensome for the small soul of a mortal.”
“Yes, Princess.”
Seol Deung-hwa’s expression brightened considerably. I felt somewhat relieved, but then she posed another question.
“But Princess, why did you decide to take over Se-ru-hwa’s life?”
“I told you—I was curious about human existence.”
“That’s a lie.”
“….”
I fell silent. I’d thought she wouldn’t notice since there was some truth to my curiosity about human life.
Seol Deung-hwa continued gently.
“There’s a more important reason, isn’t there? I can sense it.”
“…The Xue Tribe’s abilities are more formidable than I anticipated.”
I couldn’t deflect this one.
I exhaled deeply and spoke quietly.
“My original body is very ill.”
“Pardon?”
“I won’t live much longer.”
The truth spilled out abruptly.
Lies won’t work here, but this mortal in the Mortal Realm has no connection to my parents. She holds no special affection for me, and as a weak, insignificant human, she cannot truly comprehend my words or circumstances.
Perhaps that’s why the feelings I couldn’t reveal even to An-si came pouring out so easily.
“I’ve died many times. My parents revive me each time with their power, but even that has its limits.”
“…You’ve died? What do you mean…?”
“The cycles of death grow shorter, and resurrection takes longer each time. I suspect the next one will be my last. It’s merely intuition without proof, but my intuition is rarely wrong.”
“….”
“Before that final moment arrives… I wanted to experience living in a healthy body at least once. I thought it might be better to distance myself from my parents for a while.”
“….”
“So when I met Se-ru-hwa by chance, I saw it as an opportunity. That’s the most important reason.”
Seol Deung-hwa parted her lips slightly, then closed them. With tears still glistening in her eyes, she gazed at me for a long moment before asking carefully.
“You’re saying you’re the daughter of the Jade Emperor and the Yama King?”
“Yes. But why do you ask if I’m sick?”
“…Yes.”
“It’s such a common question. People can’t fathom why supreme deities can’t cure their only daughter’s illness.”
I’d heard it endlessly before. The rumors that if the Jade Emperor and Yama King couldn’t heal this disease, it must be unbelievable—that I wasn’t truly their daughter.
There were lesser spirits who tried to seduce me with whispers that my parents didn’t love me and deliberately refused treatment. Demons spread tales that the Jade Emperor and Yama King had committed sins, and I bore the karmic consequences.
Some even speculated that I wasn’t their daughter at all, but rather some cursed creature they’d created, and the illness was merely an excuse to keep me hidden.
All nonsense.
The rumors and speculation retreated before my parents’ doting gaze, and the muttering minor deities and demons were torn to shreds by my parents’ and An-si’s hands. Now, no one in the Celestial Realm speaks such words.
It’s been a while since I’ve heard words that sadden my parents.
“Mother and Father did their very best. The fault lies with my illness alone.”
I cut the matter short and changed the subject.
“I don’t expect compensation from you, but there is something you must do.”
I retrieved the royal edict I had brought from the King and placed it on the table. Seol Deung-hwa hesitated before sitting across from me and reading the edict.
I waited for her to finish reading, swinging my feet that didn’t touch the ground. Swinging my feet like this used to hurt my ankles, but this body felt nothing, so even such trivial movements brought me joy. My spirits, which had dipped slightly, lifted again, and I smiled as I spoke.
“I will awaken the Queen. You need only pretend to treat her.”
“But that would be stealing the Princess’s achievement.”
“Do I look like someone who would covet achievements among humans?”
I laughed lightly and continued.
“It needs to be your achievement so you can remain in Yun Kingdom longer. There are things you must learn while staying here.”
“What would that be?”
“How to poison the Jade Emperor and escape the Imperial Palace without ever being traced.”
“Pardon? Is such a thing even possible?”
“No one searches for the dead, do they?”
I offered a secretive smile.
“I’ll teach you how to die and come back to life. It’s my specialty, after all.”
* * *
After finishing my discussion with Seol Deung-hwa and leaving the Guest House, Kim Sang-gung was waiting with a new palanquin.
“Lady Mano!”
The moment she saw me, she hurriedly examined my entire body.
“I heard the news. Are you injured anywhere?”
“You’ve already heard about the assassins?”
“Yes, I was startled to hear that an attack had occurred and an investigation was underway. Lady Mano must have been greatly frightened as well—are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m used to such things.”
“Pardon?”
I have considerable experience with assassination attempts. Though I was born with tremendous power and exalted divine status, I was a sickly child who couldn’t protect myself or even control my own body properly.
‘I was a tempting morsel that demons and minor deities salivated over and swarmed toward.’
Even with the Jade Emperor and Yama King—the highest of deities—watching with sharp eyes, if anyone could breach their vigilance and consume me, they would instantly become a great demon that even those gods could not stop.
Though my parents made examples of the attackers through execution and imposed such harsh punishments as to exterminate their entire bloodlines, those blinded by greed could not help but continue appearing.
‘If those creatures could restrain their greed, they would have cultivated the Way instead of continuing to exist as corrupted beings.’
In any case, I have witnessed every conceivable method of attack imaginable.
‘Those using ordinary methods or weak creatures couldn’t even penetrate Sang-ra Palace’s defenses in the first place.’
Those who breached Sang-ra Palace’s obsessively rigid barriers to attack me were naturally either cunning or powerful. Most were stopped by the celestial maidens or An-si before even reaching my vicinity.
An-si grew up with a temperament unbecoming of a phoenix because of what she endured protecting me from such corrupted beings. Compared to those, human assassins using a bit of sorcery are not merely ordinary—they’re tedious.
I deliberately laughed with an indifferent expression.
“Such things are beneath my notice, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Lady Mano….”
Kim Sang-gung gazed at me with a look of sympathy.
Wait? That wasn’t what I meant to convey at all.
‘She seems to be misunderstanding. As if I’ve grown up suffering through constant attacks like it’s a daily meal….’
In truth, I’m a sheltered princess of the Imperial Palace who knows nothing of hardship and has lived in luxury, but the real Se-ru-hwa did grow up struggling and mistreated, so there’s no point in denying it. I wanted to leave an impression of boldness and strength rather than a pitiful child, yet it seems my intentions have gone awry.
‘Perhaps I’m simply too young for that?’
It would have been far better if this body were that of a fully grown adult.
‘I despise being perceived as a pitiable child.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly and hastily steered the conversation elsewhere.

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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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