Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 95

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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 95
“Correct the record? What do you mean, Woo-sang Daegam?”
“The cleanest approach is to erase it entirely. We’ll have the children recant their testimony, claiming they were frightened and mistaken. Then we’ll reconstruct the events that occurred within Geu-seon-dae’s Shadow and present evidence that the Crown Princess never actually received a divine descent.”
This man laid out his audacious plan with a composed expression. I stared at him in disbelief.
“Isn’t that just fabricating the truth?”
“Fabrication? No, merely repackaging it—in a manner that those swayed by superstition can accept.”
“But…”
“If you’ll permit me, I shall handle the matter discreetly. The Crown Princess need only provide minimal assistance. First… what is your current condition precisely? Are you harboring a spirit guardian? Should you require a formal descent ceremony due to the hasty nature of your possession, I can arrange it quietly—”
“Wait, please.”
I barely managed to halt the Right Prime Minister’s seamless flow of words, as though he’d already orchestrated everything.
‘This man is certainly capable. If I left it to him, he’d resolve the problem cleanly without a hitch.’
Much like how I’d previously invoked the convenient excuse of the Xue Tribe to escape a predicament, he would steer the narrative toward my never having received a divine descent.
‘But I can’t do that now.’
Circumstances had shifted. I needed to establish Seongsul Academy and enroll there as a member of Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin to search for candidates to become the Straw God.
‘Becoming a warrior with this clumsy body is absurd, and continuously using my divine power while disguising it as sorcery or shamanism would be equally difficult.’
So remaining as ‘the shaman Se-ru-hwa who channeled Princess Cheonmyeong’ was my best option, but if I pretended not to be a shaman, my entire future plan would unravel.
‘Rather than feigning I never received a divine descent, I need to change the situation so that my channeling poses no problem.’
Altering customs and dispelling superstition would hardly be simple, but what choice did I have? It would be easier than pretending to be a sorcerer or Taoist for the next decade. Besides, searching for ‘a candidate to become a subordinate spirit of Princess Cheonmyeong’ would be far more effective as ‘the shaman of Princess Cheonmyeong’ than merely as a member of Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin.
After rapidly organizing my thoughts, I spoke.
“Woo-sang Daegam, I heard from Princess Onseol before—that in Yun Kingdom, shamans cannot hold any status other than that of a shaman. Supposedly because it might ruin their family.”
“Yes.”
“But is it the same in other nations?”
“…”
“I’ve heard that other countries don’t discriminate against shamans for such reasons. It was the same in the Pyeong Empire where I grew up.”
This was something I’d investigated out of curiosity after meeting Princess Onseol. Shamans being possessed by minor spirits or malevolent entities and harming those around them occurred occasionally in other nations as well. However, the superstition that a family would be ruined if a shaman emerged from it—and the resulting custom of shamans being expelled from their families or forced into religious seclusion—existed only in Yun Kingdom.
‘Something about this feels wrong.’
The Right Prime Minister fell silent for a long moment, his expression darkening as he contemplated something. Finally, he spoke slowly.
“…Your Highness the Crown Princess, you instructed my granddaughter Yeon-ju to learn sorcery, did you not?”
“Yes, I did.”
Why was he bringing up Yi Yeon-ju when we were discussing shamans? I was puzzled, but I pressed on with what had been concerning me.
“Right, I heard that girl was bewitched by Myotusa’s demonic power within Geu-seon-dae’s Shadow. If she has the aptitude to become a sorcerer, she’ll be susceptible to supernatural influence. So even if we don’t cultivate a demon, it would be better for Yeon-ju to learn some sorcery to protect herself.”
“That is not easily accomplished in Yun Kingdom.”
“…Why not?”
“Most of Yun’s Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin have had their lineages severed.”
“Their lineages… severed?”
The Right Prime Minister exhaled deeply before answering.
“Are you aware of the Straw Hat War that occurred in Yun Kingdom roughly a century ago?”
“Yes, I learned about it…”
I began to answer, recalling what Ki Ho-cheol had told me, then hesitated. Something had suddenly occurred to me.
“The Ki-ryeong Sword Family was once a great martial house over a century ago, with countless successors. Now, only I and Young-jun, who will become the next successor, remain.”
What Ki Ho-cheol had said. And what the Crown Prince had said about the Straw God War.
“All I know is that it was a war fought by the Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin against a great demon about a hundred years ago, and that many factions and families of the Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin were sacrificed at that time.”
The Jagyogapsa was disbanded because the damage had been too severe back then.
‘Ah, I see… So that’s why the lineage was cut off.’
I voiced what had occurred to me.
“Is it possible that the damage to the Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin during the Straw God War was so catastrophic that the knowledge and techniques of previous generations weren’t properly passed down and were lost?”
“Precisely correct. Currently, the Yun Kingdom is in a situation where Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin factions or families that maintain their secret traditions intact are extremely rare.”
“…And it would be difficult for other nations to recover what was lost in Yun, since the techniques of the Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin are a nation’s strength and leakage is prevented.”
“Yes.”
The Right Prime Minister nodded and added bitterly.
“Yun lost much through the Straw God War. I myself, as the nation’s prime minister, was unaware that I would be easily influenced by demons unless I learned sorcery.”
“…If the techniques were lost, the number of Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin must have decreased significantly compared to a hundred years ago. And those who remain… would avoid entanglement with the Palace as much as possible, not wanting to be summoned back to the Jagyogapsa.”
“….”
“Most would be hiding in the shadows or out of contact with the Palace, wouldn’t they? Among them, sorcerers are rare. So rare that Woo-sang Daegam struggles to find someone to properly teach his grandson sorcery.”
“…Indeed, Your Highness, you are truly wise. It’s hard to believe you are so young.”
The Right Prime Minister regarded me with a mixture of admiration and astonishment. I pressed on urgently without waiting to respond.
“Then, the discrimination against Shamans also came about because of this?”
“Previously, it was rare for spirits descended upon Shamans to rampage. But after the Straw God War, the number of Shamans who couldn’t properly receive their descent ritual or find teachers increased, and as a result, cases of household spirits growing angry and harming people surged dramatically. As such incidents repeated, this custom eventually came into being.”
I shook my head inwardly at those words.
‘That’s not the household spirits growing angry.’
Rather, it seems the problem stems from the failure to learn from previous generations how to distinguish between false spirits and true spirits.
‘The knowledge to distinguish false spirits was lost, so cases of being deceived increased.’
If a descent ritual went wrong, the spirits simply wouldn’t descend—they wouldn’t deliberately harm people to accumulate karmic debt.
‘Actually, thinking about it, the descent ritual problem makes sense too. When the descent ritual goes wrong, true spirits don’t descend well, and false spirits slip in instead.’
Hearing this story, I began to understand why someone like Baek Tam-sol, who served such a great spirit, had ended up under a charlatan, and why such a charlatan could openly move about and come to teach me, the Crown Princess. However it happened.
‘Yun simply doesn’t have many Shamans from previous generations to teach properly, nor many proper Shamans at all right now.’
The Straw God War could be called a pyrrhic victory.
I was nodding blankly when the Right Prime Minister hesitantly spoke.
“And after that war, the number of people who wanted to become Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin decreased.”
“…Because too many died?”
“Yes. Even I… hoped my grandchildren would not learn and master such dangerous things. I wished they would grow up as ordinary people, living safely and happily without becoming Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin. …Though I nearly lost both my grandchildren because of such complacency.”
The Right Prime Minister lowered his eyes.
“With the possibility of Doo-eok-sini appearing again, I can no longer afford such naive thinking. In Yeon-ju’s case, they say she would be in danger unless she learns sorcery, so I must find a way to teach her no matter what.”
As I listened to this with a sense of melancholy, lightning struck in my mind.
‘Wait, this is….’
Techniques lost because previous generations all died. Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin dwindling and going into hiding. Prejudice arising from the scarcity of proper Shamans. The custom of renunciation that resulted from it. The memorial demanding my deposition.
‘…It’s all connected in the end.’
And the reappearance of Doo-eok-sini that would overturn all of this. A shift in the times.
Laid out like this, I could see a path to solving the reconstruction of the Jagyogapsa, the establishment of Seongsul Academy, and the prejudice problem against Shamans all at once. As a bonus, a way to deal with that Chief State Councillor who seemed connected to Doo-eok-sini.
‘I just need to start with the question of who was behind the Geu-seon-dae attack.’
Before I could fully gather my wits, the court’s attention had fixated entirely on Doo-eok-sini, leaving the investigation into the attack’s mastermind to languish. If the culprit was a demon, there was no point investigating humans—they needed to assemble the Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin first to confront such a threat.
‘Perhaps the Chief State Councillor deliberately steered them in that direction? After all, I’m the only one who knows the Chief State Councillor is connected to Geu-seon-dae.’
Since no one but me had heard the Chief State Councillor’s name murmured by Geu-seon-dae, naturally no suspicion would fall upon him.
‘Good. While I’m at it, let me replace the Chief State Councillor too. Ideally with Woo-sang Daegam.’
First, I needed time to investigate the Chief State Councillor, then lay the groundwork connecting Geu-seon-dae’s machinations to the establishment of Seongsul Academy.
I opened my mouth deliberately.
“Woo-sang Daegam.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Can you delay the matter of my deposition rather than resolve it?”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t want to bury the fact that I received divine possession. I want to resolve it another way. So I need you to buy me some time, Woo-sang Daegam.”
“Another way, you say?”
The Right Prime Minister asked, bewildered. The Crown Prince, who had been listening silently beside him, turned to me in shock.
“Lady, surely you’re not thinking of taking the veil?”
Alarm flashed across the Crown Prince’s eyes. The boy’s face crumpled like an abandoned puppy’s as he gripped my hand tightly.
“You said you would live as my Crown Princess. You cannot abandon me and leave now.”
Wait, when did I ever mention taking the veil? Why is he so frightened?
The child’s desperation made his grip fierce. I gently stroked the small hand clasping mine and spoke.
“Don’t worry, Your Highness. I’m not taking the veil. I have no intention of leaving your side either.”
What might happen ten years from now, I couldn’t say with certainty, but for now, I had no thought of departing this place.
“I’ll resolve the deposition matter another way, not through the veil.”
“How, then?”
“I’ll shake the board so thoroughly that no one will have time to debate my deposition.”
“Pardon?”
Greater confusion bloomed across the Crown Prince’s and Right Prime Minister’s faces. I regarded them and thought to myself.
‘Wasn’t it the Straw Hat War that killed so many Gwae-ryeok-nan-sin that their secret techniques were lost? That’s the root of all this trouble.’
But I happened to be the Afterlife’s princess.
‘Why not simply ask the dead what those lost techniques were?’

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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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