Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 19

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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 19
I exhaled slowly and retrieved the Eight Trigrams Bell. Using the third chime to unlock the treasure vault, I had An-si bring forth a lacquered box.
“What purpose do you intend for the Three Corpse Worms, my lady?”
“I’m going to turn that wretch into someone incapable of lying.”
Before dragging him to the Office of Interrogation, I planned to make him confess his crimes directly to the Crown Prince with his own mouth.
The Three Corpse Worms were three parasitic insects dwelling within the human body, monitoring human thoughts and actions before returning to the heavens every sixty days to report to the Jade Emperor.
My mother once listened to the Three Corpse Worms’ reports and rendered judgments—shortening human lifespans according to the severity of their crimes, adding karmic debt in the afterlife, and so forth. However, as humans devised various methods like the Sixty-Day Vigil to evade the worms’ surveillance, their usefulness gradually diminished, and nowadays the Heavenly Realm rarely employs them.
‘That’s why Mother gave me a few to play with.’
Through handling the Three Corpse Worms in this manner, I had mastered several techniques.
Opening the box, I found three semi-transparent, pale white butterflies contentedly nibbling flower nectar. These creatures instinctively obeyed the Jade Emperor, and as her bloodline, they followed me just as readily.
“Tsk, tsk.”
At the sound of my tongue clicking, the Three Corpse Worms erupted into the air, scattering light like fireflies. I pointed toward the eunuch, who still hadn’t regained his senses and was retching.
“Enter that human. If he tries to lie, bite him hard.”
The Three Corpse Worms fluttered their butterfly wings in intricate patterns, circling around me.
“If he lies, can you eat a mouthful of his organs? Yes, you may.”
In the distant past, before my mother became the Jade Emperor, the Three Corpse Worms didn’t report to her—instead, they would devour human organs the moment a crime was committed. Apparently, this proved too cruel for humans, so it was eventually forbidden. However, the Three Corpse Worms’ inherent nature didn’t vanish entirely with the prohibition.
“Still, don’t eat so much that he dies. Stay there until I call you back.”
I released the three Three Corpse Worms. The semi-transparent butterflies scattered light as they flew, burrowing into the eunuch’s body—one in his head, one in his chest, one in his abdomen.
Since ordinary humans couldn’t perceive such creatures, the eunuch, still dazed, never noticed anything entering his body.
After waiting a moment for the eunuch to regain some clarity, I spoke.
“I heard from the Crown Prince that you planned to help me escape the Palace.”
“Y-yes…?”
“Did you truly intend to help me flee?”
“I did intend to… AAAAHHH!”
The eunuch clutched his abdomen and writhed on the floor. I remained seated on the veranda, resting my chin in my hand.
“How unfortunate. You never learned that lying brings divine punishment, even at your age.”
“Ugh… ugh… w-what…?”
“You said you’d help me escape the Palace, but you actually planned to kill me and frame the Crown Prince for it, didn’t you?”
“No, my lady, how could you misunderstand such a thing—ARGH! AAAAHHH!”
The eunuch, gasping in horror as he protested, now clutched his head and thrashed about. I let out a cold laugh.
“Your capacity for learning is quite deficient.”
“Ugh… why…?”
“Because you keep lying.”
“If I lie… it hurts…?”
“Yes. Keep this up and pain will be the least of your concerns.”
“What have you done to me? What… what did you do?”
“Who knows.”
I shrugged and added,
“I’m simply helping reduce the punishment you’ll receive in the Afterlife.”
“Why would I receive punishment in the Afterlife—AAAAHHHHH!”
“You know it yourself, don’t you? Whether you deserve punishment in the Afterlife or not.”
Still, I suppose you’re aware that you’ve done something wrong. I’ve heard the Underworld is full of humans who committed terrible deeds while believing they were doing the right thing.
“Hah… *gasp*, *gasp*….”
“Now, can you be honest with me?”
I smiled sweetly at the eunuch who was clawing at his chest, and he looked up at me with eyes as if seeing a ghost before lowering his head in despair.
“Y-yes….”
I proceeded to ask him several questions to verify that he was speaking only the truth.
He’d become remarkably obedient.
“That’s enough. An-si, go bring the Crown Prince here.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
An-si dashed toward the inner chamber and soon returned with the Crown Prince. He emerged wearing gloves and a silk veil draped over his crown, layered so thickly he could barely see ahead.
‘This was that eunuch’s doing too. Something about how he’s cursed and can’t face people with his bare face exposed.’
The twilight of day is relatively safe. As long as there’s no direct skin-to-skin contact, it neither summons darkness nor triggers fear. So this excessive precaution is unnecessary.
The boy was wrapped up like a bundle of misfortune, unable to see anything in front of him.
I approached with slight irritation and grabbed the Crown Prince’s veil.
“My Lady?”
“You don’t need to wear this, Your Highness.”
“Wait, please, my Lady!”
I ignored the Crown Prince’s startled call and yanked the veil away. He quickly covered his face with his gloved hands. I sighed and grasped his hands.
“There’s no need to hide.”
“But Manager Jang said it was dangerous….”
“That was all a lie.”
“What?”
“The danger of Your Highness facing others with a bare face—that eunuch fabricated it.”
“…Is that so? How did you discover this?”
“Something seemed suspicious, so I pressed him on various points, and he eventually admitted it was a lie.”
I turned to the trembling eunuch and asked.
“Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, yes! It was a lie! I made it up out of fear that Your Highness might grow close to others!”
The eunuch poured out his words in desperation. The Crown Prince’s eyes twitched behind his gloves.
“Suddenly, what are you saying?”
“…I have been deceiving you all this time, pretending to serve you. I deserve death for this sin….”
The Crown Prince slowly lowered his hands. A pale, refined boy’s face was revealed.
“You’ve been deceiving me? Since when?”
“S-since the first time I met Your Highness. I beg your forgiveness….”
“From the very beginning?”
His pupils, dark as a midnight lake, glistened with moisture as they blinked.
“Why? For what purpose?”
“The L-Left Prime Minister… I received payment from him.”
“The Left Prime Minister.”
The Crown Prince accepted my words slowly, lowering his gaze.
“I see. I understand.”
His expression bore less surprise than hurt.
So he hadn’t been entirely ignorant. Even with suspicious elements, he’d simply chosen to believe—or rather, wanted to believe. Because if he didn’t, there would be no one left around him.
The Crown Prince, who had been quietly observing the kneeling eunuch, spoke softly.
“Then your promise to help the Lady escape was also a lie.”
“…Yes.”
“In that case, rather than…”
The Crown Prince clenched his teeth firmly, then turned to me and bowed his head.
“I apologize, Lady.”
“What? No, I mean…?”
“I promised to save you, but because I was foolish, I nearly caused you harm instead.”
“It’s all right. Your Highness didn’t do it intentionally.”
I shook my head and added to my words.
“I never intended to flee in the first place, Your Highness.”
“But you said you were attacked just today? It’s dangerous to remain in the Palace.”
“I’ve already caught the one who attacked me.”
As I pointed to the trembling eunuch, the Crown Prince’s expression hardened.
“Are you saying this was also his doing?”
“Yes. It will become clearer once the Uigeum Bureau investigates, but…”
“…Ah.”
The Crown Prince let out a hollow laugh and dropped his head.
“I knew I was being watched constantly, that my life would be in danger if the Lady survived after the wedding night… and yet I trusted the very person I should have suspected first.”
Negative emotions—self-reproach, betrayal, self-recrimination—rippled across his youthful face. If an eleven-year-old could consider and suspect all of that, it would be far stranger.
His intelligence prevented him from living in ignorance; he’d already tasted life’s bitterness too early to maintain childlike innocence; his inherently virtuous and upright nature meant he couldn’t blame the world or others—so in the end, he could only blame himself.
Why does looking at this child make my heart ache so?
“Your Highness.”
The moment I opened my mouth to comfort him, the boy lifted his head again. The shadow had already lifted, his face now composed.
“First, we must send him to the Uigeum Bureau. The Left Prime Minister won’t be shaken by a mere eunuch’s testimony, but the judge of the Uigeum Bureau is a loyal man and won’t openly cover this up.”
…Why is this small one so mature? This is a situation where he’d be allowed to cry.
Rather than cry, the Crown Prince continued in his characteristic calm voice.
“Then someone is needed to escort him to the Uigeum Bureau, but since there’s no one to order now, I’ll go directly…”
“No, just have An-si do it. An-si.”
“My Lady, no, rather, I should stay by your side…”
An-si protested, reluctant to leave me, so I gestured slightly toward my waist and gave the order again.
“It’s fine. Go and return.”
“Yes! I’ll go and return at once!”
An-si, realizing I still carried Cheoyong’s protective charm, shoved the eunuch out. The Crown Prince watched with concern before heading toward the veranda’s edge.
“Where are you going, Your Highness?”
“Nain is still just a girl, isn’t she? I’m concerned she might be hurt if Manager Jang resists.”
“There’s no need to worry about An-si. She is….”
I couldn’t openly reveal that she was a phoenix. I hesitated for a moment, then recalled Kim Sang-gung’s misunderstanding and offered a suitable excuse.
“She’s my shadow guard.”
“A supernatural being?”
“Something like that.”
Apparently satisfied, the Crown Prince, who had been about to descend to the courtyard, stopped in his tracks. I tugged at his sleeve.
“Let’s talk for a moment, Your Highness.”
The Crown Prince followed obediently. We entered a room beside the main veranda, closed the door, and sat facing each other.
“Is there something urgent you wish to discuss?”
Dark eyes, still holding a hint of moisture, gazed at me intently from across the room. He maintained a composed expression, yet couldn’t entirely conceal the marks of his wounds—his wet eyes trembled slightly.
A child who had lost everyone he could trust and rely upon. Watching him, my words caught in my throat.
‘And here I am, deceiving him.’
Who I truly was, what purpose brought me here. I had even conducted our wedding ceremony as a fabrication using the Vermillion Bird’s power.
My original plan was to brush past the truth and persuade him as I had the King—that Seol Deung-hwa and I intended to rescue the Queen using the Xue Tribe’s power. Once he could breathe easier, I would ask him not to flee, to survive this palace alongside us. Whatever darkness dwelt within him, we would work together until he could control it himself.
‘How is this any different from that eunuch from before?’
I had declared that lying would bring divine punishment, yet here I was, about to weave falsehoods.

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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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