Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 83

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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 83
The Crown Prince’s startled turn and my downward glance happened almost simultaneously. In the shadow cast by the lantern light the Eunuch had brought, a grotesque black hand stretched forth and seized my ankle.
‘A shadow? Geu-seon-dae’s Shadow?’
Before I could complete the thought, my body lurched forward. With my ankle gripped, I was pulled into the shadow as if being sucked into a vortex.
“…!”
Shock robbed me of even a scream. The Crown Prince, seeing my panic, urgently seized my flailing hand.
“Lady!”
The Crown Prince held firm for a moment. But the force dragging me into the shadow was so overwhelming that he too began sliding forward.
“Your Highness!”
“It’s a monster! A monster has appeared here!”
Yi Yeon-jo rushed over and clung to the Crown Prince’s arm. Yi Yeon-ju shouted urgently to alert those outside, then grabbed her brother’s waist to resist.
[Damn it.]
A curse echoed from beneath my half-submerged body. Then, as if the previous struggle had been mere play, a terrifying force wrenched me downward with brutal strength.
“Lady!”
“Your Highness!”
“Ahhhhh!”
With that momentum, the Crown Prince holding me, Yi Yeon-jo holding him, and Yi Yeon-ju holding Yi Yeon-jo were all dragged along like dried fish on a string.
‘This can’t happen!’
At this rate, they’ll all be dragged away! I have my protective charm and Seok-ran, and my parents as formidable backing, but these are just human children!
‘It would be better if only I were taken!’
I desperately tried to wrench my hand from the Crown Prince’s grip. Instead, he seized my wrist with a fierce expression, as if he would never let go no matter what.
“Let go!”
“I cannot!”
While I struggled with the stubborn boy, my head plunged completely into the shadow. The shadow, thick as water, suffocated my breath and emanated a strange odor—a scent that gradually clouded my consciousness.
‘Damn charm, it won’t activate for a simple abduction like this… Are the conditions for its protection really this restrictive…?’
As the Crown Prince and the children clinging to him were pulled into the shadow, my vision faded to black.
* * *
My eyes snapped open. Rotted rafters hung overhead, so decayed they could collapse at any moment.
‘Where am I?’
As I jolted upright in alarm, a voice like scraping metal echoed from a distance.
“I only meant to capture the Xue Tribe child, yet strange things came trailing along. Trailing along.”
The voice drew closer, accompanied by the shuffle of dragging feet.
‘A demon!’
It was undoubtedly the creature that had seized my ankle and abducted me. Likely Geu-seon-dae’s Shadow. Against someone like An-si, a phoenix, it would be nothing, but by ordinary standards, it was a formidable demon. Even accounting for the rain, to infiltrate in broad daylight and abduct someone through shadow spoke of considerable strength among its kind.
I reflexively closed my eyes and feigned sleep.
“Is this half-breed really the fox’s backer from the Xue Tribe…? So young. So young. Did Gu Jang-saeng point to the wrong human? Did Gu Jang-saeng simply target someone who irritated him….”
The creature’s unpleasant voice continued its rambling nearby.
Wait—Gu Jang-saeng?
‘That’s the Chief State Councillor’s name. Did that human command Geu-seon-dae’s Shadow? When on earth?’
I had placed the Three-Time Messengers and continued observing, confirming no suspicious activity….
‘Did he do something whenever I wasn’t looking? No, wait—that would mean the Chief State Councillor noticed someone was watching him?’
Noticing the Three-Time Messengers? That’s impossible for a human-level Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin. Even for a yokai or minor spirit….
‘Once I escape from here, I need to investigate this immediately.’
Geu-seon-dae creaked across the veranda, circling around me.
“Hmmmm, if it’s real, then I just drag it to Lord Doo-eok-sini, right? If it’s real? Then the mission is complete? Mission complete?”
…Doo-eok-sini?
The terrifying name of that fox spirit suddenly burst forth—the one Mother had told me not to worry about and I’d nearly forgotten. I struggled to hide my shock.
“If it’s fake, my head will explode. If it’s fake, my head will explode. I need to be careful….”
Geu-seon-dae muttered fearfully, then clapped his hands together.
“Right, let me deal with what I’ve brought first, then think about this slowly. I need to be careful. Very careful.”
What he’s brought—the Crown Prince and the Right Prime Minister’s twins? Deal with them? What is this creature planning to do to them?
“The others are just humans, young humans. But one of them smelled like a shadow-being—a human shadow-being? Never seen one before. First time. Gu Jang-saeng said the human Crown Prince became a shadow-being, and it was true. It was real. Why did a human become a shadow-being? A shadow-being, what should I do? Can I eat it? Will it be edible? If I can’t eat it….”
The muttering and shuffling footsteps gradually faded away.
‘What is that creature planning to do with the Crown Prince?’
Cold sweat beaded on my skin as I waited for Geu-seon-dae’s presence to vanish completely.
‘Is he gone?’
Hearing nothing, but still uneasy, I recalled Ki Ho-cheol’s lessons and drew up my ‘spiritual sense’ to check if any yokai remained nearby.
‘…What is this?’
My sharpened senses detected no yokai presence. Instead, I felt the strangeness of the space itself.
I opened my eyes and rose to my feet, looking around.
‘What is this….’
I stood on a creaking, dilapidated main veranda. Judging by its size, this mansion must have once been enormous and magnificent, but now it resembled an abandoned house, decayed and crumbling.
Yet the size of the mansion or its abandonment hardly mattered. The problem was that beyond the veranda and windows, I saw only writhing shadows.
‘This isn’t nightfall. It’s different from the darkness that falls from a shadow-being’s sky. This is earthly darkness… shadows.’
This mansion-like structure was submerged in shadow with neither ground nor sky. As I racked my brain recalling Geu-seon-dae’s characteristics, the truth became clear.
‘Inside Geu-seon-dae’s shadow. A trap where Geu-seon-dae swallows prey, and a refuge where Geu-seon-dae hides.’
The amount and range of shadow Geu-seon-dae could swallow depended on his power and capacity. If he could swallow a mansion this vast in shadow, just how strong was this Geu-seon-dae?
A chill ran down my spine.
‘The Crown Prince! The twins!’
Honestly, I wasn’t too worried about myself. Being inside Geu-seon-dae’s shadow—neither on earth nor beneath sky—would make it harder for my parents to notice immediately, but if he tried to harm me, my protective charm would activate anyway. Seok-ran would come after me too.
‘Besides, from what he was saying, his purpose is to drag me away alive. Until then, I’m safe.’
From the fox’s backing, Doo-eok-sini, and talk of completing the mission—it seemed that helping Seok-juk-i escape after encountering Doo-eok-sini had become the thread connecting everything to me, the Crown Princess of Yun Kingdom. This Geu-seon-dae was acting under Doo-eok-sini’s orders. He didn’t know my identity yet, and judging by the circumstances, I seemed suspicious enough that he intended to investigate.
‘I’m safe for now. I can wait long enough for my parents or An-si to come rescue me.’
The problem was the children dragged along with me.
This is maddening.
‘Geu-seon-dae said he’d eat a shadow-being? Normally that would be impossible… but the Crown Prince is just a human child.’
Anxiety seized me. I fumbled through my clothes and pulled out the Eight Pillar Order.
“…Ah.”
The bell connected to the Treasure Vault showed no response. The reason became immediately clear.
‘Because I’m inside Geu-seon-dae’s shadow.’
Neither the Mortal Realm, the Heavenly Realm, nor the Underworld—this hideaway existed within a demon’s shadow, so the Eight Pillar Order’s channels didn’t connect properly here.
‘This means I can’t contact Mother and Father either. And the ancestral rites… there aren’t even materials to prepare an offering table in the first place.’
I tucked the Eight Pillar Order back into my possession with a heavy heart.
What was I going to do about this situation?
‘First… let me find the children and think this through.’
Fortunately, my body wasn’t bound anywhere, so I rose quietly from my seat and moved forward. As I approached the corner where Geu-seon-dae’s footsteps had faded, a corridor connected to the Main Veranda came into view. The undulating shadows filled it like fog so densely that I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
‘Venturing into these shadows feels like suicide.’
I turned and headed in another direction. Making a full circle, I opened doors connected to the Main Veranda and checked the opposite corridor. All of them were blanketed with thick, fog-like shadows.
‘There was a reason he didn’t bind me and simply left me on the Main Veranda. All four sides were sealed off by shadows.’
A vast mansion filled with shadows so thick I couldn’t see an inch ahead. The Eight Pillar Order wouldn’t connect, and I had no materials to prepare an offering table.
‘What do I do? Should I risk damaging my Heavenly Realm body and use divine power? But I can’t control divine power—all I can do is crudely detonate it with the Heavenly Eye!’
The Heavenly Eye was only useful against humans and malevolent beings; it wouldn’t help in an environment like this. Inanimate objects had neither karma nor retribution. And I couldn’t just recklessly unleash divine power since I didn’t know where the children were—it was too dangerous.
‘I can’t even properly control the amount of divine power, so I might end up hurting the children with my own hands… wait!’
As I fretted anxiously, something suddenly came to mind. The shamanism lessons I’d been diligently attending from Baek Tam-sol recently!
“Shamanism is both a method of polishing the vessel that holds divinity and a way to use divine power well. You remember, don’t you?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Today I will teach you a technique that can accomplish both simultaneously—the easiest yet most difficult, powerful yet dangerous.”
“Easy but difficult?”
“Yes, the method itself is simple, but succeeding at it is difficult.”
“What technique is it?”
Baek Tam-sol picked up a brush and wrote characters on paper. Divine Descent.
“Divine Descent. It refers to the technique of inviting a deity to descend into your body and possess you.”
“Possession…”
It seemed like I was already doing that.
But I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud.

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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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