Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 62

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 62
An-si climbed through the window and spoke.
“Allow me to assist you in changing, Your Highness!”
“It’s fine. I can dress myself now. Just tidy up the clothes I’ve removed.”
As I spoke, my shoulders rose slightly with pride. Being able to change clothes alone seemed like quite a grown-up accomplishment.
In Heaven, I could barely support my own body, and the layered garments were so complicated I never attempted it. But here, the clothing is simple and my body is sturdy enough that I can manage it myself. Formal robes like ceremonial dress are still beyond me, but even adults can’t dress themselves in those ritual garments alone.
‘Is this how one gradually becomes an adult?’
After changing into my practice clothes and looking in the mirror, today my knots seemed particularly well-tied. My lips itched with the desire to boast.
Look, look—I can tie my sash properly now and fasten my garment strings beautifully! I did it nicely, didn’t I?
‘…If I brag like this to An-si, the Crown Princess would surely ask why I’m doing such things myself. Boasting over mere garment strings seems a bit beneath my dignity.’
Then who should I show off to?
‘Should I brag to the Crown Prince?’
He’s already seen me at my worst—from having rice stuck on my face to sobbing uncontrollably.
‘The Crown Prince would probably congratulate me sincerely even for something this trivial.’
Besides, he’s my husband! A married couple should be able to share even these small joys. …Even if it’s a fake marriage.
‘Alright, I’ll show off to the Crown Prince!’
Delighted, I bounded out of Unyeon Hall with a spring in my step. The sky was clear, and the weather was pleasantly mild—perfect for moving about. I impulsively began to run, and An-si, following behind, gasped in alarm.
“You’ll fall, Your Highness!”
“It’s fine!”
I cut across the Garden toward the rear entrance of Jamnyong Hall. The sword lesson was scheduled at the Training Ground in Gyebang Hall.
As I passed through the rear entrance of Jamnyong Hall and headed toward the Main Gate of Gyebang Hall, a door suddenly burst open behind me.
“Your Highness!”
An-si, who had suddenly caught up, scooped me into her arms and kicked something away. The crumpled figure let out a cry.
“Ugh!”
“Huh?”
Held high above An-si’s head, I looked down to see a young boy clutching his stomach and sprawled on the ground.
Oh, so the boy had burst out from the rear entrance and was about to collide with me, so An-si lifted me up and kicked him away?
Wait—kicked him?
“An-si! How could you kick a child!”
I scolded her in alarm. An-si replied stubbornly.
“Had I not acted, Your Highness would have collided with him and fallen. This An-si merely did what was necessary.”
“That was an overreaction! Now put me down.”
The moment An-si set me on the ground, I hurried over to the groaning boy.
“Are you alright?”
“Ugh… Nngh.”
The boy uncurled himself and lifted his head with a whimper.
A boy about my age. With thick eyebrows and sharp, piercing eyes, he had the kind of features that would likely earn him compliments about being handsome when he grew older.
The boy looked me up and down, then spoke with a grimace.
“Who are you? You look so frail.”
This brat?
In that moment, emotions surged and I blurted out whatever came to mind.
“You have such a pouty face.”
“What do you mean, pouty?”
“Like you look.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t have a pout.”
“Not that kind of pout, you fool.”
“Who’s the fool!”
The boy sprang up in anger, then doubled over clutching his belly.
“Ow, ow… it hurts!”
“…You really are a fool.”
An-si hadn’t kicked with full force—if she had, the boy would either be dead or unable to make a sound. She’d clearly held back.
I sighed and asked, “Let me see. How badly are you hurt?”
“Not too bad. I think I just got some bruises.”
The grumbling boy suddenly yanked off his shirt and tossed it aside.
“Wow, that’s quite blue. But did you really kick him that hard? You look so frail, yet you pack quite a punch.”
“…!”
I turned my head away in shock. He was just a child, so it shouldn’t matter, but still—having him suddenly do that was rather awkward.
“Why are you taking off your clothes all of a sudden!”
“You said to look at the wound?”
The boy tilted his head in confusion, then I heard him laugh.
“Why are you turning away? We’re both men—what’s there to be embarrassed about?”
Ah, so he thought I was a man because I was dressed in martial attire. This boy really is foolish!
“I’m not a—”
“What is all this commotion, Young-jun?”
Just as I was about to correct him, a bewildered man appeared and interjected.
“Master!”
The delighted boy didn’t even bother to put his shirt back on, scrambling toward the man with arms flailing.
Wait. Did he just say Young-jun?
‘Could this fool actually be Sa Young-jun?’
Despite the Crown Prince being an only child, he had always cared for me like a younger sibling. Once, I asked if he had experience raising children. He told me then that he had a milk brother two years his junior.
“He was a good and clever child. He followed me everywhere.”
Lady Jeong, the Crown Prince’s former wet nurse, had originally been a slave of the Internal Affairs Bureau. She had suffered a stillbirth, leaving her with excess milk but no child. Because of her virtuous conduct and character, she was selected as the Crown Prince’s wet nurse immediately after his birth and was freed along with her husband.
Two years later, when the Crown Prince turned two, Lady Jeong gave birth to her second child with her husband—Sa Young-jun. Unfortunately, not long after Sa Young-jun’s birth, Lady Jeong’s husband died in an accident.
Since both she and her husband were of slave origin, they had no relatives. With her husband gone, there was no one to care for the newborn Sa Young-jun. The Queen, taking pity on the wet nurse’s circumstances, brought the baby to the Palace so he could be raised together with the Crown Prince, and thus Sa Young-jun became the Crown Prince’s milk brother before he was even a year old, growing up like true siblings.
Then the black liquor incident occurred, and the Crown Prince’s wet nurse was expelled from the Palace along with Sa Young-jun, accused of raising the Crown Prince improperly.
After the Yongryong Ceremony, when the East Palace was being reorganized, the King apparently sought out the Crown Prince’s former wet nurse to bring her back.
“I thought I would never see them again, but thanks to your grace in saving me, I was able to see my wet nurse and Young-jun once more. I am truly grateful.”
I remember the Crown Prince smiling brightly as he said that.
‘Good and clever? That one?’
“Anyway, is that one good and smart? That?”
The Crown Prince has such a kind heart that even that foolish little brat appears good-natured and clever in his presence.
‘And the person that child called his master—could that be the Sword Master Guest who was supposed to arrive today? Were they actually in a master-disciple relationship?’
The Crown Prince had created a sword using “Dark Shadow Sword”—the power of twilight—and had taken a keen interest in swordsmanship ever since. The King was aware of this fact and had brought in a master far more formidable than ordinary military officials or examination-passed swordsmen to serve as his guest instructor.
‘I heard he was a warrior who retired five years ago after serving as the King’s Separate Cloud Sword—the official position of standing guard at the sovereign’s side with a drawn blade.’
In Yun, the title of Separate Cloud Sword was as good as a guarantee that one was the nation’s finest warrior.
‘That man?’
The man listening hesitantly to Sa Young-jun’s chattering appeared to be only in his early twenties at most. With his unkempt hair and slender frame, he looked far more like an inept novice Taoist than a warrior, no matter how I examined him.
‘No, I’ve heard that the more skilled a warrior is, the more their appearance often belies their true ability.’
Besides, it would be pathetic for me, a deity, to judge humans by their outward appearance.
‘I’ve spent months living as an ordinary human without invoking Heavenly Punishment or using Heavenly Fate’s Eye, without divine power—but I’m not truly human either, so I shouldn’t let myself be swayed by what my eyes see like mortals do.’
I steeled my resolve and sent a telepathic message to An-si first.
[An-si, let’s apologize first. The child got bruised, after all.]
[…Yes.]
An-si seemed reluctant but answered obediently nonetheless.
I led An-si toward Sa Young-jun and the man I presumed to be the Sword Master Guest.
“Are you perhaps the guest instructor who came to the Crown Prince’s Educational Institute?”
The man turned to look at me and answered awkwardly.
“Ah, yes, that’s correct, but….”
“First, I apologize. This child is my escort, and when it seemed we might collide with your disciple, I pushed her away in haste and she was injured.”
I apologized first, then gestured to An-si. She bowed her head respectfully. Though she didn’t speak words of apology, for a phoenix to show this much deference to a human who wasn’t even her master was truly her utmost effort.
“I will prepare salve and medicinal herbs for you. Should your disciple not recover well with those, please visit Unyeon Hall.”
“Unyeon Hall… silver hair…?”
The man stared at me blankly, muttering to himself, then suddenly gasped and bowed deeply.
“Unyeon Hwaso! I pay my respects to the Crown Princess!”
“Huh?”
Sa Young-jun, who had been standing beside his master, widened his eyes as he looked at me, then muttered in bewilderment.
“Crown Princess…? Oh, so that means the Crown Prince’s wife…?”
“You brat!”
The man hastily grabbed Sa Young-jun by the back of his head and forcefully pressed him down into a bow.
“How dare you be so disrespectful to the Crown Princess!”
“Ugh, Master! My stomach! Don’t press my stomach! Ow!”
“Now show proper respect!”
“Argh! U, Unyeon what-so?”
“Unyeon Hwaso!”
“U, Unyeon Hwaso!”
“I pay my respects to the Crown Princess!”
“I, I pay my respects to the Crown Princess… but are you really the Crown Princess? The Crown Princess should be the Crown Prince’s wife, so she should be a woman, but no matter how I look at it, you’re wearing men’s clothes, sir?”
“Young-jun, please!”
The man restrained Sa Young-jun almost pleadingly, forcing him to bow properly.
Why does that one keep speaking in such a casual tone? Watching this unfold is nothing short of a farce. The first sword lesson I had imagined was nothing like this atmosphere….
[Your Highness, surely I may kick that stupid, disrespectful little human just once more?]
[No, An-si, you may not.]
[Whimper… Your Highness always takes the humans’ side.]
I suppressed the urge to clutch the back of my neck and gestured for them to proceed.
“Let us go inside. The Crown Prince will be waiting for us.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————