Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 21

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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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Episode 21
The Crown Prince’s fingertips trembled in my grasp. Finally, some sign of life.
“…I’m listening, my lady.”
“Then answer me, please. I can’t see anything, and it’s driving me mad.”
“Is it only frustration you feel? You’re not frightened, or horrified, or…?”
“I told you I’m not scared. If I were, I would have run away long ago.”
Still asking that question?
I puffed out my cheeks in a moment of petulance, then quickly composed myself. How childish of me. Since I can’t see anything, the Crown Prince keeps forgetting that he can see me.
“Your Highness still seems frightened. The darkness persists, after all.”
“…Yes, I am frightened.”
“Of what?”
“Of whether this is a dream or reality.”
“What?”
“Because you speak only of such wonderful things…”
“You can’t believe it?”
“…No.”
The Crown Prince answered slowly, his voice hollow as he continued.
“I apologize, my lady.”
“Why apologize all of a sudden?”
“Because I cannot trust what you say.”
Like his voice, the hand I held grew limp and slack. I let out a hollow laugh.
“Ahaha.”
“Why do you laugh?”
“We’ve only known each other for two days. It’s natural that you don’t trust me, so why apologize for it?”
And especially when you were just betrayed by an Eunuch you trusted moments ago. How does someone so upright, yet so naive, expect to survive in this harsh world?
‘I’ll have to protect him myself.’
“Your Highness, you needn’t apologize. You can believe after you see the results.”
“Results?”
“The Queen awakening.”
“…”
“Once you see that, we’ll work well together, won’t we?”
“Ah, I understand. But, um… my lady.”
“Yes?”
“Could you… let go of my hand now?”
“Oh.”
I’d been absently squeezing it this whole time.
The Crown Prince’s hand was warm, flushed with heat. Instead of releasing it, I gripped it tighter and answered with petulant stubbornness.
“No.”
“What?”
“Since I can’t see anything, I need to hold onto something. Just bear with it.”
“….”
“Or perhaps you could calm this wretched darkness a bit.”
As I pouted and added my complaint, the Crown Prince let out a low chuckle.
“Ha ha, my lady truly is….”
Before his words could continue, the darkness surrounding us receded like water draining away. As it began to fade, it shrank in an instant and was contained within the Crown Prince’s shadow.
Now I could see the Crown Prince sitting right beside me. His eyebrows drooped softly, and his face bore an expression so beautiful it was almost painful—whether he was troubled or pleased, I could not tell.
Without thinking, I stared blankly at him. The Crown Prince quickly covered his face. I reflexively protested.
“Don’t hide your face.”
“Pardon?”
“Why would you conceal your strengths?”
“My strengths?”
“Setting aside how you look now, surely you heard countless times as a child that you were adorable and handsome? It’s impossible you didn’t. Your ears must have worn thin from hearing it so often.”
As my words continued, the Crown Prince’s ears grew progressively redder. He countered as if in protest.
“If anyone’s ears have worn thin from hearing they’re adorable, it would be my lady’s, not mine.”
“Yes, and that’s why I’ve already made good use of my cute face. So from now on, you should also make good use of your handsome face, understood?”
“What kind of logic is that….”
“In any case, it seems you’re no longer frightened now.”
The Crown Prince, who had been at a loss for words, closed his mouth at my remark and looked around. The sun had completely set by now, but a dusky glow seeped through, making the room subtly bright. Perhaps because my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, even this faint light felt remarkably luminous.
I released the Crown Prince’s hand and lit the lantern. As warm crimson light filled the room, the boy gazed at the candlelight with newly enchanted eyes. I held out the lantern to him and smiled softly.
“I look forward to working with you from now on, Your Highness.”
* * *
In the Heavenly Realm, at Sang Ra Palace.
“What on earth is the Princess doing!”
The Yama King’s voice rang out thunderously.
“She has never coughed up blood like this while sleeping before! Is something wrong with the medicine?”
Slender fingers gently came to rest upon the broad shoulders of the agitated Yama King.
“Calm yourself, Huan.”
“…Surya.”
The Yama King called out his consort’s name with somewhat diminished intensity, then added anxiously.
“Ra-hee-yo continues to cough up blood while sleeping. At this rate, she may stop breathing again….”
“I’ve heard the reports.”
“If Ra-hee-yo dies again, the interval between deaths will be far too short. Blast it, this is truly dangerous. Our daughter…!”
“I know. That’s precisely why we must remain composed.”
The consort, who had been patting the Yama King’s heaving chest, sat down in the chair beside the bed.
On an enormous, luxurious bed draped with gossamer-thin fabric layered like butterfly wings lay a small girl with her eyes closed as if asleep. The girl, who appeared to be no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, intermittently coughed and spat blood.
A celestial maiden standing vigil caught the blood the girl coughed up in white silk. Another maiden carefully wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on the girl’s forehead.
Princess Cheonmyeong Sang Ra-hee-yo. The name had been given with the meaning of “a child who illuminates the entire world with joy”—joy in the character for happiness and radiance in the character for light. True to her name, the child had become their joy and the light that brightened all around her, yet that light, like a star, was burning itself away and fading.
‘Did we choose her name poorly? Should we have named her with the wish for health rather than radiance? Would she not be suffering then?’
Harboring meaningless regret, the consort gazed upon her only daughter, who had not a trace of color in her face.
“…When did Ra-hee-yo begin doing this?”
“It started early this morning.”
A celestial maiden answered while bowing, her form drenched in perspiration.
“She fell asleep merely half a day after awakening, and now she’s coughing blood after only two days?”
The Celestial Empress murmured softly.
Yama King understood all too well how fragile her composure truly was beneath that seemingly composed exterior. He settled beside his lady and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“My dear… it’s absolutely true that one must remain composed in times like these, but please don’t burden yourself by holding everything in. I fear you’ll fall ill as well.”
“When she awakened this time, Ra-hee-yo told me to go, that she no longer hurt. She worried about me, asking if I wasn’t busy.”
The Celestial Empress raised her hand to cover her eyes.
“If I think that might be the last time…”
“No. It won’t be, my dear.”
Yama King shook his head firmly, his rebuttal sharp and resolute.
“My dear, who am I? I am Yama King. How could the ruler of the Afterlife fail to save his own daughter? Even if I must seal the River of Three Paths itself, I will bring Ra-hee-yo back. You need not worry about anything.”
“I’m sorry, Yama King. I told you to stay calm, yet here I am, losing my composure.”
The Celestial Empress rose and placed her hand upon the fevered brow of the blood-coughing Ra-hee-yo, closing her eyes. A soft jade-colored radiance flowed from the child into the Celestial Empress, and the girl’s complexion improved slightly.
“…Ah.”
After a long while, the Celestial Empress released a long breath and opened her eyes. In those jade eyes, identical to Ra-hee-yo’s, a brilliant light had gathered before slowly fading away.
Princess Cheonmyeong, afflicted by an excess of divine power, needed to have that power reduced for her body to improve. Yet simply extracting divine power recklessly would only shock her system further. Instead, a delicate procedure was required—using divine power of similar nature to gently guide and diminish it while simultaneously administering healing. It was an emergency measure akin to bloodletting, something only the Celestial Empress among her parents could perform. Yama King’s divine power was far closer to death than to healing, and its overwhelming force was unsuitable for Ra-hee-yo’s fragile form.
As the Celestial Empress gathered the divine power she had drawn from Ra-hee-yo, a pearl-like sphere of intermingled jade and black light materialized above her palm. The divine power composing the sphere roiled like molten lava. The Celestial Empress’s eyes narrowed at the sight.
“Look, Yama King. Ra-hee-yo’s divine power is churning abnormally.”
Yama King, examining the sphere the Celestial Empress offered, furrowed his thick brows.
“This is… a phenomenon that only appears when Ra-hee-yo draws upon her power directly. What on earth…?”
“Your Highness!”
Someone suddenly burst into the chamber, then froze upon seeing the Celestial Empress and Yama King.
“I, I pay my respects to the Celestial Empress and Yama King.”
The one bowing deeply was Hyang-dan, the chief celestial maiden of Sang Ra Palace.
“Your mistress lies in such a state, yet where have you been? Why do you show yourself only now?”
The Celestial Empress asked coldly. Hyang-dan answered, beads of sweat rolling down her face.
“There is a child that the Princess entrusted to me… I was preparing quarters and caring for them.”
“A child that Ra-hee-yo entrusted to you?”
“Please, look at this first.”
Hyang-dan withdrew an envelope from her bosom.
“It is a letter written personally by the Princess for both of you.”
“What?”
As Hyang-dan approached on her knees and offered the letter, Yama King snatched it urgently.
Hyang-dan spoke.
“In truth, the Princess instructed me to deliver this letter only after at least several years had passed, should you both grow concerned about her prolonged sleep…”
She examined Ra-hee-yo’s condition, buried in the bedding, then squeezed her eyes shut and continued.
“…but given the Princess’s current state, this letter seems intimately connected to it. I humbly beg your forgiveness for disobeying the Princess’s command and presenting it early. Please show mercy.”
“I understand. Should the Princess reproach you, tell her I have granted forgiveness.”
As the Celestial Empress conversed with Hyang-dan, the color drained steadily from Yama King’s face as he focused upon the letter.
“Hweon?”
“….”
“Hweon, what is written in that letter that troubles you so? Let me see it.”
The anxious Sangje snatched the letter from the Yama King’s hands and read it. Her complexion drained of color in an instant.
“Good heavens.”
The Yama King turned to the chief celestial maiden and demanded sharply, “Hyang-dan! This child you’ve been caring for—the one of human origin who was inscribed into the celestial records by the Princess—is that the one?”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty, that is correct.”
“The silver-haired human child we retrieved from the River of Three Paths?”
“Yes, that very child, Your Majesty.”
“Go at once and discover who this child was in the Mortal Realm and what station they held! No—I shall go myself and question them. You will guide me there!”
“Go at once and find out who that child was and what status they held in the Mortal Realm! No, I’ll go and ask myself—just show me the way!”

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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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