Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 53

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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 53
The dragon, who had been prancing about with such ostentatious pride, froze in shock. Its eyes—large as pearls—widened and fixed upon a single point.
Upon the being who had sent the divine message. Which is to say, upon me.
I gazed up at the dragon with jade-colored eyes that symbolized my lineage as the Jade Emperor’s blood, and smiled softly.
[Who is Unryong?]
The dragon, rigid in its dignified posture, could only gape silently.
“G-g-g….”
Even a fallen mackerel remains a mackerel—and though Gwang-chul had been demoted to a lesser water spirit, he was still the son of a dragon god. The way he recognized my true identity despite this human form proved as much.
[Don’t pretend to know. Keep quiet about my identity and continue as you were. Who are you?]
“Pardon?”
[Don’t reveal who I am. Just keep doing what you were doing. Who exactly are you?]
“….”
Gwang-chul’s golden, saucer-like eyes began rolling frantically as cold sweat poured down his scaled face.
When the dragon suddenly froze and said nothing, the frightened crowd sensed something amiss and began murmuring anxiously. Wan-eon, equally bewildered, turned to his maternal grandfather. The Left Prime Minister furrowed his brow and gestured with his chin, prompting the trembling prince to address the dragon.
“G-g-great Unryong….”
“Silence, human!”
Gwang-chul barked urgently at the human who dared call him Unryong, then cautiously glanced at me. When I merely gazed up at him with a smiling face and said nothing, the dragon swallowed hard through his massive throat and sent a divine message.
[W-why is Princess Cheonmyeong in the Mortal Realm in human form?]
This troublemaker had been trapped in that well and apparently hadn’t heard the news of my descent to the Mortal Realm. I saw no need for detailed explanations and answered vaguely.
[I had my reasons.]
[D-did you perhaps run away from home too?]
Gwang-chul’s face brightened as though he’d glimpsed a ray of hope.
[I won’t tell anyone that you ran away, Your Highness! So please, won’t you overlook my escape from the Heavenly Well?]
This fool was looking at me with the eyes of a co-conspirator in mischief. I let out a derisive snort.
[Who said anything about running away?]
[D-didn’t you run away? There’s no way the Jade Emperor and Yama King would allow their precious princess to descend to the Mortal Realm…?]
[I didn’t run away. I came to the Mortal Realm with proper permission.]
Though technically I’d acted first and sought permission afterward, the important thing was that I had been granted permission, wasn’t it?
After countering confidently, I added with meaningful weight:
[It seems you, on the other hand, descended to the Mortal Realm without permission. And while impersonating the Unryong Divine Official, no less.]
[I-i-i-impersonating? No! It’s a misunderstanding!]
[Didn’t you just proclaim, “I am the great Unryong”?]
I even mimicked his boastful tone as I sent the divine message, and Gwang-chul’s face turned ashen. The color drained from beneath his thick scales so visibly it was unmistakable.
Terror-stricken, Gwang-chul suddenly prostrated himself before me.
[Please, Your Highness! Have mercy!]
[W-wait a moment.]
[If Father discovers I’ve snuck down to the Mortal Realm before completing my three-hundred-year sentence, he’ll flay me alive! I’m certain of it!]
[And you did this anyway, knowing that?]
[Being locked away in that well drove me mad, I think! I’ll do anything—please, just this once, turn a blind eye! Your Highness, I’m truly finished! Just spare one wretched water spirit—no, one pitiful lesser dragon—and I swear I’ll never do this again!]
Unable to continue bowing his head, Gwang-chul clasped his stubby front legs together in desperate supplication. I looked around in bewilderment at the scene unfolding before me.
‘How am I supposed to handle this water dragon suddenly begging like this right here and now!’
As expected, every human eye in the vicinity had locked onto this spectacle. I found it rather amusing watching the Left Prime Minister’s eyes bulge so wide I worried they might pop right out of his skull.
‘How do I talk my way out of this?’
Fortunately, since I was nestled against the Crown Prince, it would be impossible for anyone to tell whether Gwang-chul was prostrating and pleading before me or before him.
‘Fine then. Let me turn this crisis to my advantage.’
I burrowed deeper into the Crown Prince’s back like a frightened child, and swiftly transmitted a psychic command.
[Sihae Gangtchul, if you wish me to overlook your escape, obey my every command from this moment forward.]
The moment I invoked his true name, the jade-green dragon wept openly and kowtowed before me.
[Thank you, Princess!]
[Save your gratitude for later. For now, do exactly as I say. First…]
And Gwang-chul immediately followed my next psychic instruction.
“Hear me, mortals!”
The dragon, who had been prostrate on the ground, suddenly rose to his full height and bellowed with a voice that shook the heavens. Simultaneously, lightning crackled across the mist-like clouds that enveloped the surroundings, and thunder rumbled as a backdrop.
“I am no mere Unryong, but rather a celestial immortal under the Unryong Divine Official’s Bureau—the dragon who governs the Heavenly Well, Sihae Gangtchul!”
Watching him shift from weeping supplication to feigned majesty was almost laughable to me, but the mortals clearly perceived it differently. I could see the previously bewildered crowd shrinking back in fear or tensing with apprehension.
“I have come to test you! To see whether you can distinguish truth from falsehood! Whether you can tell the great Unryong Divine Official from a dragon who falsely claims that title! Whether you can recognize the true descendants of Unryong from those who fraudulently claim that lineage!”
“…!”
“Mortals! You are foolish and immature, unable yet to discern truth from falsehood! You have failed this test! Yet in accordance with the merciful will of Heaven, I grant you one final chance!”
I’d only given him the bare framework to improvise, yet he was embellishing it quite convincingly.
Gwang-chul held his head high and thundered his proclamation with tremendous authority.
“Now witness! See who is truly recognized by Heaven’s dragon, and who is the sacrilegious deceiver who dares to impersonate Heaven’s will!”
His voice carrying across to the far bank, Gwang-chul slowly lowered his massive body and bowed respectfully before the Crown Prince and me.
Even a dragon punished and treated as a mere water spirit would not ordinarily bow so casually to a mortal. Yet before Princess Cheonmyeong, who receives obeisance even from the Unryong Divine Official himself, Gwang-chul could certainly prostrate as often as needed.
In truth, this bow was not directed at the Crown Prince, but at me standing behind him.
‘But to the mortals, it will appear that the young Crown Prince is receiving a dragon’s obeisance.’
This was precisely what I needed.
‘With this, I should be able to dismiss most future complications without concern.’
Finally, some peace and quiet.
I buried my face in the Crown Prince’s robes and smiled secretly.
Having completed his bow, Gwang-chul plucked one of his scales as a token and left it behind. Then he turned sharply toward the dumbfounded Wan-eon and roared with fury.
“You wretches! For daring to insult the solemn Heavens and the dragon, receive your punishment!”
The moment the words left his mouth, the clear sky split open, and a torrent of foul-smelling black sewage cascaded down like a waterfall upon Wan-eon and the Left Prime Minister.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
“…!”
Wan-eon shrieked in terror and promptly lost consciousness. The Left Prime Minister stood motionless as if his soul had departed, staring blankly down at his drenched form. The officials nearby reflexively covered their noses and retreated from him.
‘Isn’t that the sewage from cleaning the Heavenly Well? That scoundrel’s found his best outlet for revenge.’
Gwang-chul, being under punishment, could not harm the mortals of the Mortal Realm without cause—unless he himself had been attacked, or unless a greater deity had agreed to bear the karmic burden and issued the command. Therefore, dumping the accumulated filth from well-cleaning was the finest vengeance available to him in his current state.
Gwang-chul gazed down at the unconscious Wan-eon and the Left Prime Minister, now resembling a drenched, withered tree, and snorted with satisfaction before wrapping himself in clouds and ascending into the air.
“The great Unryong savors your offerings! Do not be swayed by cunning deception, descendants of Unryong!”
With one final flourish of theatrical grandeur, Gwang-chul soared skyward and vanished into the clouds. The mist that had blanketed the surroundings and the clouds that had obscured the heavens dissipated naturally, revealing once more a clear and brilliant winter afternoon.
[An-si, follow that Gwang-chul and see if he causes any trouble after coming down to the Mortal Realm.]
[You wish me to leave Princess Cheonmyeong unattended, Your Majesty?]
[Why would she be alone? The Crown Prince—that little brat—is right beside her.]
[Pardon? How could that tiny human possibly be of any help?]
[…Well, there’s also a charm against misfortune, and Seok-ran is there too, so don’t worry and hurry back. Just confirm that beast returns to Heaven safely.]
An-si distrusted Seok-ran, but she had faith in Cheoyong’s charm against misfortune. Soon, a small, colorful bird fluttered away into the sky where the dragon had vanished.
As Heaven returned to normal, the people of Sacrifice Heaven Island gradually regained their senses.
“What on earth just happened…?”
“Did the dragon just bow to the Crown Prince?”
“Is His Highness truly a descendant of Unryong?”
“Why did the Left Prime Minister receive such a drenching…?”
“An actual dragon descended upon the Unryong Festival!”
As murmurs spread through the crowd, the Crown Prince, who had been standing dazed before me, bent down and picked up a scale that Gwang-chul had left behind. The palm-sized scale shimmered a deep blue-green in the sunlight.
All eyes turned toward it. The fragmented light reflected off the scale scattered across the Crown Prince’s face like a halo—or perhaps like scales made of pure sunlight. It was a sight that felt profoundly sacred.
‘This will become a legend whispered among mortals for generations to come.’

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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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