Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 72

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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 72
“Keh-hing… what a delicious smell…”
The white fox that had drawn near sniffed the air, its expression brightening before it burrowed into the blanket. I laughed and spoke.
“You can’t eat it just because it smells good.”
“Are you crazy?! I’m not eating it! I want to live a long life!”
The fox yelped and bounded away. I blinked my growing heavy eyelids and asked.
“Can I sleep while hugging your tail?”
“…Was that your goal all along?”
“Yes.”
“Keng, keh-hang, my tail is quite pretty, isn’t it! Do as you please.”
I immediately pulled the fox’s tail, which was swaying beside me, into my embrace.
“Keh-hing-hick, you’re like a baby princess. Just like a baby fox. Keh-heng-hick-hick!”
The fox, laughing in that strange way, curled itself into a ball on the blanket and wrapped around me.
‘So warm and cozy…’
Just as I was about to close my eyes, I gestured to An-si, who was sitting there looking dejected.
“Come sleep with us too.”
“…That is most improper!”
“We slept together all the time when we were young.”
“That was when we were children!”
“So you don’t want to?”
“…”
“Come here.”
An-si, who had been sitting there flushed red, soon transformed into a small bird and fluttered over—a tiny phoenix with colorful head and tail feathers, slightly larger than my two fists pressed together.
“You can sleep in my hair like you used to. Though, since this is a different body now, the feel of my hair might be different?”
“…Chirp.”
An-si, making a small cry, nestled into the loose strands of my hair and settled in like a nest. The warmth of the tiny bird radiated between my hair and shoulders.
Surrounded by the soft, gentle warmth, my heart grew peaceful. The complex thoughts that had been swirling endlessly within me—the seal, the worries, the choices—finally subsided.
The first night after the ten-year deadline began was spent thus, thoughtlessly, warmly, and softly.
* * *
“You let it escape?”
Within the gossamer curtains that hung in layers like butterfly wings, the man buried in the bed slowly lifted his head.
“I apologize, it is that…”
The masked figure prostrate beside the bed stammered out their words. Then the man extended his hand from the bed and gestured upward. At that gesture, the masked figure reflexively looked up and met the man’s gaze.
Through the fluttering silk fabric, eyes met—eyes dark crimson like blood that had pooled and hardened. Those eyes gleamed a vivid scarlet.
“Grrgh.”
In an instant, the masked figure’s head was crushed by something unseen, bursting apart with only a grotesque cry that couldn’t even be called a scream. Blood and flesh scattered throughout the ornate room. Another masked figure beside the corpse trembled like an aspen leaf.
“You continue speaking.”
The man, having withdrawn his hand, spoke leisurely. The surviving masked figure spoke rapidly, his head pressed to the floor.
“We deployed all the demons to pursue it, but suddenly a rope descended from the sky, took that fox demon aboard, and vanished!”
“A rope?”
“That’s right! It was definitely a rope!”
The man rubbed his chin and muttered to himself.
“…Is this the power of the Sun and Moon God? Why?”
“I don’t know! I’ll investigate immediately—”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
The man fixed the masked figure with an irritated gaze. The figure’s head immediately compressed and burst.
“So noisy.”
The man rose slowly from the bed, sweeping back his long hair that had fallen carelessly. White hair like an old man’s, yet his face belonged to a beautiful young man.
“Why would a god from the Heavenly Realm help a fox demon…?”
He muttered to himself as he stepped between two corpses with shattered heads. The hem of his robe, made of precious silk, was stained crimson with blood flowing from the bodies, but he paid it no mind.
“That demon… it was the one that dead Xue Tribe concubine brought back from the Yun Kingdom.”
He grumbled as if annoyed.
“The Yun Kingdom, always the Yun Kingdom? That damned country… This won’t do.”
The man dragged his loosely hanging robe with his chest fully exposed toward the door. Opening it, he poked only his head out to look outside.
“Young-no.”
A large man standing guard outside turned to face him silently. He wore a bright red mask adorned with thick, lion-like golden fur.
“Who’s idle right now?”
“The Ankle-catcher who brought in the divine blood recently is resting.”
“The Ankle-catcher? What kind of demon was that?”
“Geuseon-dae.”
“Strong?”
“To someone like you, Doo-eok-sini, it would be trivial, but among demons, it’s quite formidable.”
“Hmm, compared to you, Young-no?”
“Strong enough to warrant removing my mask in combat.”
“Good then. Send that one.”
Doo-eok-sini said this and tried to close the door, but Young-no, the masked man, caught it by the frame.
“Where to, and for what purpose?”
“Ah, I forgot about that.”
Doo-eok-sini clicked his tongue and continued.
“Send him to that damned country. Have him investigate how that Xue Tribe concubine who killed herself recently happened to meet a fox demon and bring it back. And find out what that fox demon does.”
“Alone?”
“We have several of our people at the Prime Minister’s Residence over there. Have him investigate with them.”
“Understood.”
Young-no bowed his head. Doo-eok-sini, about to turn away, paused and furrowed his brow as he asked.
“But that Xue Tribe concubine… she was beside the Emperor when he died of a heart attack and then killed herself, correct? You’re certain she’s dead?”
“The Royal Physician confirmed it. It seems she ate poison and took her own life, fearing she would be blamed for the Emperor’s death.”
“The body?”
“As punishment for failing to serve the Emperor properly, it was abandoned in the field for beasts to devour.”
“Go check that body.”
“Pardon?”
“If something smells off, that’s when you’ll know.”
“…You mentioned the Xue Tribe’s divine blood showed little effect no matter how much you consumed it, but has the Xue Tribe’s power finally awakened within you?”
“Who knows. Regardless, I have a bad feeling about it, so go check. Make sure that corpse is being properly devoured.”
“As you wish.”
Young-no bowed, and Doo-eok-sini closed the door without hesitation and vanished. The closed door bore the diamond-shaped emblem of the Pyeong Empire, etched in gold leaf.
* * *
I was sleeping deeply and peacefully when something soft and moist poked my cheek.
“Princess, wake up.”
“Mmm….”
“Seok-juk sent word.”
“Already?”
I opened my eyes in surprise, and a white fox’s black nose was right in front of me.
‘So it was her nose that poked my cheek.’
I was thinking blankly when the fox licked my cheek.
“What, what are you doing?”
“Hehe, I didn’t understand why my sister gave birth and raised cubs, but now I’m starting to get it.”
“You had a sister too?”
“We were actually four siblings, hehe. We all have the evening character (夕) in our names—Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, and Bamboo.”
“Those are the Four Gentlemen of the Brush…somehow you have quite the scholarly name for a fox spirit.”
“Mother’s taste, hehehehe.”
The fox spirit made an odd laughing sound and licked my disheveled morning hair thoroughly.
‘This is making it worse somehow….’
Though slightly uncomfortable, I considered it payment for sleeping wrapped in her tail and left her be, surveying the room. It was still early dawn and dim. An-si, who had fallen asleep nestled in my hair, had rolled to my side during sleep.
‘Now that I think about it, where did Gwang-chul go?’
I’d been too preoccupied to remember. I’d have to ask when An-si woke up.
I carefully lifted An-si, who was sleeping soundly for the first time in a while, with both hands and placed her gently on the blanket. Then I tapped the fox spirit’s front paws, which were still licking my hair.
“Didn’t you say Seok-juk sent word?”
“Oh.”
Seok-ran snapped out of her trance-like state. The fox stood up as I did and spat out her fox orb. When the fox raised her front paws to the blue sphere, smoke rose just as it had yesterday.
Before long, Seok-juk’s form appeared on the screen—not in human shape, but as a massive fox, and the setting appeared to be inside a dark cave.
[Yesterday I climbed the rope and traveled to where you are, Master, and rode through the night without stopping. The Master is resting now, exhausted.]
Seok-juk moved the fox orb to show Seol Deung-hwa’s figure. She was leaning diagonally against Seok-juk’s side, covered by his fox tail like a blanket, fast asleep. It seemed that from sleeping rough in caves in the wild hills, she was maintaining body heat this way, and somehow it looked similar to how I had slept wrapped in Seok-ran’s tail yesterday.
“Mother and daughter have the same tastes, hehehehe.”
Seok-ran laughed aloud beside me, apparently thinking the same thing. I started to say that Seol Deung-hwa and I weren’t mother and daughter, but stopped myself.
‘Our bodies are indeed in a mother-daughter relationship. And we look so alike that there’s nothing to say about it.’
Now that I think about it, I wonder how Xiao-hua is doing? I should have met her in Heaven while I was there. I missed so much because I was preoccupied with the Straw God.
‘Once Seol Deung-hwa settles in properly, I should arrange for them to talk.’
I made a mental note of another task to do, then asked Seok-juk.
“Did Seol Deung-hwa succeed in her revenge against the Emperor?”
[The Emperor’s assassination was successful, Master! As for whether the revenge brought her satisfaction, it would be better to ask her directly later.]
“Yes, that’s right. By the way, what was that horde of demons about yesterday? Tell me in detail.”
[I shall explain in full detail, *cough*.]
Seok-juk, who had made that peculiar sound while clearing his throat, began recounting everything that had transpired.

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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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