Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 90

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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 90
Wrapped in an azure aura, the girl moved with frantic speed, positioning her body to shield Yi Yeon-jo sprawled beside her, and glared at the creature with a serpentine hiss.
Watching this display, Geuseon-dae let out a pleased rumble of laughter.
“Exquisite delicacy indeed. Truly exquisite. I must raise it well before consuming it.”
The girl’s instincts screamed at her: I can’t win. I can’t defeat this. Run.
Yi Yeon-ju’s mind, foggy and disoriented, formed a single thought: I can’t win, but I can’t run either. I have to protect Yeon-jo. It ate the butterfly. Poor butterfly. Yeon-jo will be devoured by this thing too. No. Not my brother as well? Never.
Geuseon-dae advanced with heavy strides. Yi Yeon-ju’s eyes widened as she bared her teeth in a snarl. The creature paid no heed to the girl’s threat and seized the boy’s ankle.
“The delicacy can wait. This one first. First. I’m hungry.”
A shriek tore from her throat!
The girl, her ears formed of blue smoke now flattened horizontally, leaped upward. Just as Myotusa had done, Yi Yeon-ju opened her mouth wide and bit down with all her strength on Geuseon-dae’s wrist. Blue energy erupted from her jaws like serpent fangs, pressing against the creature’s flesh, yet not even a scratch marred its wrinkled skin.
“Hungry, so hungry….”
Geuseon-dae ignored the girl’s assault and muttered to itself, yanking Yi Yeon-jo’s ankle forcefully toward itself.
“Aaaaah!”
In that instant, the boy who had been lying limp suddenly surged to his feet with a roar, and drove what he held in his hand downward into the creature’s approaching eye.
“…!”
A sharp shard of pottery lodged itself in the eye socket. Geuseon-dae flinched in genuine surprise for the first time.
Yi Yeon-jo, who had lost consciousness briefly after being hurled into the rice storage and suffocating, had regained awareness quickly. But he had deliberately remained still, feigning unconsciousness, searching between the storage bins for fragments of broken pottery, gripping them quietly and waiting for his opening.
The boy breathed heavily, his shoulders heaving as he watched the creature. Did it work?
A guttural sound.
Geuseon-dae, momentarily stunned, growled and hoisted Yi Yeon-jo’s ankle upward.
“Ugh!”
Suspended upside down by his ankle, the boy found himself staring into Geuseon-dae’s eye—a furnace-like socket with the shard embedded within it.
“Wretched little thing. How ferocious. How very ferocious.”
Geuseon-dae, who had remained composed until now, descended into fury. Killing intent surged forth.
“How dare you. How dare you. I will kill you!”
Terrified by the murderous aura, Yi Yeon-ju released her bite and threw her entire body against the creature’s arm, hanging from it with all her weight.
Geuseon-dae, with the girl dangling from its arm, swung the limb gripping the boy’s ankle downward, intent on smashing him against the ground to kill him.
“Aaaaah!”
“Kyaaaah!”
Emitting a bestial cry, Yi Yeon-ju threw herself onto the ground to catch her swinging brother, driven by a single desperate will: to prevent his head from striking the bare earth and killing him.
“…?”
The girl, who had squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of impact, opened them cautiously when she felt nothing, bewildered.
A translucent jade-colored cloth, extending from somewhere, had wrapped around Geuseon-dae’s descending arm and held it fast.
“Wh—what?”
As the creature turned in confusion, absolute darkness seeped through the gap in the door like mist, and with it came a black blade that rose upward from below, cleaving through Geuseon-dae’s elbow.
The monster’s flesh, which would normally be covered in shadow and impervious to cutting, parted like tofu against the black blade with a clean, sickening sound. The severed shadow scattered like seaweed in a current, and the creature’s massive forearm fell to the ground. The boy, still gripped by that arm, was gently lowered to the floor by the jade cloth.
“Kraaaaaaah!”
Geuseon-dae shrieked belatedly, black blood cascading like a waterfall from the severed stump of its elbow as it writhed in agony. As the massive creature thrashed at the doorway, the door frame tore away and the earthen wall collapsed inward. Dust billowed forth, and the shadows that had filled the corridor poured in like water through a breached dam.
“…!”
Yi Yeon-ju recognized with bestial instinct that touching those shadows meant catastrophe. The girl scrambled on all fours, dragging her brother back toward the rice storage.
In that moment, someone burst through the door, cleaving through the shadows that poured down like a tidal wave. Silver hair that gleamed incongruously with the dark, gloomy abandoned mansion fluttered like a tail. A translucent jade-colored winged garment billowed ethereally, as if worn by a celestial maiden.
The silver-haired girl shimmered with a faint luminescence. The shadows retreated in fear, following her every movement.
“Are you alright?”
A worried voice reached them.
Yi Yeon-ju, who had been bristling with a bluish aura like a cat with its fur standing on end, realized that the approaching person was someone she knew—the young Crown Princess.
“Sister, wait, wait a moment, I can’t breathe!”
Yi Yeon-jo, who had been pinned beneath Yi Yeon-ju’s body, thrashed about. Only then did his sister move aside, releasing him from her protective grip.
“Let me see—are you hurt anywhere?”
Se-ru-hwa approached and examined the twin siblings with her strangely luminous eyes, then fixed her gaze on Yi Yeon-ju.
“Yi Yeon-ju.”
“…?”
The girl responded not with words but by perking up her bluish cat ears. Se-ru-hwa let out a slight sigh.
“Suppress your spirit energy. If you keep this up, you’ll truly become a demon.”
“Meow?”
Spirit energy? What is that?
Yi Yeon-ju tried to ask, but instead of human speech, a cat’s cry emerged from her lips. It was the same sound as Myotusa’s meow.
“Meoooow!”
Startled by her own cry, the girl shrieked even louder and jumped in place. Se-ru-hwa sighed once more, her expression softening as she extended her hand.
“Come here.”
Her voice was gentle and coaxing. A subtle, sweet fragrance emanated from her. Yi Yeon-ju found herself sniffing toward Se-ru-hwa without realizing it.
“I’m trying to help, so come here.”
Her hair shimmered like fish scales. Her eyes sparkled like polished jade orbs. A beautiful child, luminous as if sculpted from sunlight itself, called to her.
Yi Yeon-ju approached as if entranced, and Se-ru-hwa placed her hand on the girl’s forehead. Enveloped by the pleasant fragrance and refreshing energy, the girl half-closed her eyes and made a contented purring sound.
“…Sister?”
Her brother’s voice reached her, expressing alarm as if witnessing something bizarre, but Yi Yeon-ju paid no mind. Everything felt irrelevant. She simply wanted to purr. She wanted to push her head forward for more caresses, to meow and mew….
“Huh?”
Suddenly, her mind cleared. Yi Yeon-ju realized she was now lying with her head on the lap of the Crown Princess, who was smaller than her, her body twisted like a cat intoxicated by catnip.
Behind Se-ru-hwa’s relieved expression, she could see her brother’s face contorted with disapproval as he looked down at her.
“Sister, have you truly lost your mind?”
“Who’s lost their mind? Is that how you speak to your elder?”
Yi Yeon-ju sprang to her feet in indignation and realized that human speech was flowing from her mouth once again.
She turned to look at the Crown Princess in bewilderment.
“Crown Princess, what exactly just…?”
The mysterious child in the winged garment smiled softly instead of answering.
“You were frightened, weren’t you? You can feel safe now.”
At those words, strength suddenly drained from their legs. The twins collapsed where they stood.
* * *
Thank heavens. I successfully suppressed the rampant spirit energy from Myotusa that was running wild in Yi Yeon-ju’s body with my divine power. All that effort in instilling the concept of “healing” has borne fruit.
‘This is precisely why it’s dangerous for ordinary humans to keep demons close for extended periods.’
No matter how benevolent a demon may be, corruption remains corruption. Keeping one nearby inevitably taints a person with spirit energy, increasing the risk of committing demonic acts. The saying about being bewitched by demons didn’t arise for nothing. In severe cases, humans have been known to transform entirely into demons.
‘If someone has the aptitude for sorcery, demonic energy accumulates within their body, making it even more dangerous.’
Once I’d extinguished the immediate threat, I could finally see the state the children were in. Fortunately, most of their injuries were superficial abrasions—nothing critically severe.
That was a close call. Far too close.
I applied healing divine power to their wounds like salve and rose to my feet.
“You two wait here for a moment.”
Using my winged garment as a brush and divine power as ink, I drew a protective ward around where the children huddled.
‘Now that I can wield divine power, I can draw wards without needing tools or materials.’
When I opened the Underworld gate beside the Queen, I’d needed all manner of implements. It’s quite moving, really.
As I finished the ward and turned to leave, the twins looked up anxiously.
“W-where are you going?”
“To help the Crown Prince.”
“The Crown Prince?”
“He’s fighting Geu-seon-dae right now. I need to get there quickly.”
While I rescued the children, the Crown Prince had planned to lure Geu-seon-dae into the Corridor. I’d explained the compatibility between Geu-seon-dae and Doo-eok-sini, as well as how to fight Geu-seon-dae, on the way here.
‘The ambush succeeded, and luring him to the Corridor seemed to go well.’
Still, I’m uneasy. I need to hurry.
Though the Crown Prince, being Doo-eok-sini, has a natural advantage against Geu-seon-dae, I cannot rest easy knowing an inexperienced young human Doo-eok-sini is facing such a formidable creature.
At my words, Yi Yeon-jo responded in a dazed tone.
“Geu-seon-dae?”
“That’s the name of the demon from before.”
“A-and the Crown Prince is fighting that thing? Isn’t that dangerous?”
Yi Yeon-jo went pale. Yi Yeon-ju turned white and cried out.
“Myotusa!”
“What?”
“That monster swallowed Myotusa! Myotusa was trying to protect me, and—!”
Yi Yeon-ju burst into tears.
Geu-seon-dae swallowed Myotusa? No wonder I hadn’t seen her around—the child was covered entirely in Myotusa’s demonic energy.
‘If it swallowed her whole, she might still be alive inside Geu-seon-dae’s belly.’
But standing before Yi Yeon-jo, who was shedding tears, I couldn’t guarantee Myotusa’s fate. She might already be dead.
“…In any case, both of you stay here! Don’t move carelessly—it’s dangerous!”
I gave the children a stern warning, then rushed into the shadows. I pushed through the darkness as though parting undergrowth, scaling over a half-collapsed wall.
Entering the Corridor, I saw shadows spiraling and flowing toward a single point. At its center, the one-armed Geu-seon-dae was reabsorbing the shadows it had scattered, seemingly to recover from its wounds.
‘Where is the Crown Prince?’
The young Crown Prince stood before the colossal demon, smiling, the Dark Spirit Sword held firmly in hand.
‘He’s unharmed.’
A child grinning and wielding a blade before a creature several times his size looks somewhat mad, but since he’s winning, does it really matter?
Geu-seon-dae growled as it mended its wounds with shadow.
“Human Doo-eok-sini…!”
“Yes, I am Doo-eok-sini.”
The Crown Prince’s smile vanished in an instant. As if that were a signal, the boy’s shadow—the darkness within it—swelled monstrously vast, completely engulfing Geu-seon-dae’s shadow.
“I was born in the night of Heaven. I emerged from shadow—do you not fear me?”
Following the boy’s whisper, darkness surged from the shadows, crawling up Geuseon-dae like a spider’s web. The shadow that had enveloped Geuseon-dae’s entire body swelled and thrashed in desperation.
“Gaaah! I am not afraid! I am not afraid!”
All the remaining shadows in the vicinity were sucked into Geuseon-dae. Swollen into a massive tangle of fur, Geuseon-dae trembled and thrashed, desperately trying to shake off the darkness that bound him.
“A mere human shadow-being means nothing! Doo-eok-sini is far more terrifying! Doo-eok-sini is worse! I am not afraid of shadow-beings!”
The Crown Prince gazed at Geuseon-dae with an expressionless face and declared:
“No. You will come to fear me.”

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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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