Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 99

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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 99
I personally told Baek Tam-sol that I would be leaving Jaebang for a time to study under Princess Onseol.
“This is a good opportunity to register yourself as an official shaman in the Shaman Registry. Princess Onseol has agreed to become your spiritual mother and formally induct you.”
After the charlatan shaman was driven out, Baek Tam-sol had been recorded in the Shaman Registry only as a spiritual daughter without a master. To become an official shaman, one had to receive the descent ritual, study under another shaman, and earn their recognition. Baek Tam-sol had no spiritual mother or father to grant her that approval, leaving her unable to achieve official status.
‘This way, she can become a proper shaman and eventually serve as an instructor or teacher at Seongsul Academy.’
Once I enrolled at Seongsul Academy, Jaebang would become ambiguous in purpose. Ki Ho-cheol from the Royal Lecture Hall would also become an instructor at Seongsul Academy following the Crown Prince, so I intended to invite Baek Tam-sol, the Scholar at Jaebang, to join as an instructor or assistant teacher there. Given that she was only eighteen, it would be more natural for her to serve as an assistant teacher rather than a full instructor.
‘Either way, I want her to come with me to Seongsul Academy.’
There was still so much more to learn about shamanism, and I hadn’t even seen Baek Tam-sol’s shamanic dance yet.
“Leave Jaebang, Your Highness? You mean… permanently?”
Baek Tam-sol looked anxious at my words, pulling her bangs down over her forehead. I shook my head.
“I’m not asking you to leave forever. You’ll study for a few months and then return. You’re my teacher, after all.”
“But… for Princess Onseol to take someone like me as her spiritual daughter…”
Baek Tam-sol pressed her bangs down further, murmuring softly. Won’t she find it unsightly? she seemed to be saying.
The burn scars that covered Baek Tam-sol’s entire forehead. They certainly weren’t pretty to look at, but such a blemish was only the tiniest fraction of who Baek Tam-sol was as a person. Like a small smudge of soot on the glass cover of a brightly burning lantern—something that had no effect whatsoever on the brilliance of the flame within.
‘Still, since Baek Tam-sol wants to hide that part of herself… maybe it’s time to give her this.’
I handed Baek Tam-sol the ointment I had prepared in advance, made from starfish oil.
“This is a gift for you, Teacher.”
“A gift?”
“It’s a remarkably effective ointment. If you apply it consistently to the scarred areas, they should improve.”
“Ah… thank you, Your Highness.”
The young girl’s quiet response held gratitude, but no warmth. As though she held no great expectations.
Of course not. It would be difficult to believe that such severe scars could disappear from merely applying some ointment. Especially ointment given by a child like me.
To get her to apply it consistently, I would need to show her results first.
“Would you like to try applying it now?”
“Now?”
I could see Baek Tam-sol’s eyes waver behind her long bangs.
I cleared away the writing desk and took some of the starfish ointment in my hand. Because of my small stature, I had to kneel and move closer. When I brushed her bangs aside with my unsoiled hand, she stiffened slightly.
“Your… Your Highness?”
“Let me apply it for you.”
“Y-yes? The Crown Princess herself, applying medicine to someone like me…?”
“We’re student and teacher, aren’t we? A student can certainly apply some medicine for her teacher.”
I carefully applied the ointment across the burn scars that twisted and covered her forehead down to the bridge of her nose. Baek Tam-sol couldn’t bring herself to stop me, remaining frozen, only blinking. She didn’t seem to be breathing at all.
A strained voice emerged from the girl.
“How can Your Highness touch something so grotesque and filthy with your bare hands…?”
“It’s just skin like anyone else’s, only with a different appearance. What’s filthy about it?”
“….”
It was clean, properly washed.
‘Did that charlatan brainwash her into thinking it was filthy? Despicable wretch.’
I cursed the charlatan shaman inwardly and waited after finishing the application.
The starfish oil truly was remarkably effective—the scars were already fading. The raised, uneven areas had noticeably diminished. While it would take considerable time to erase the scars completely, this much would be enough for anyone to see the results.
I quickly retrieved the mirror and placed it before Baek Tam-sol.
“Take a look, Master.”
“…!”
Baek Tam-sol reflexively turned away from the mirror, pulling her bangs down with both hands to cover her face. But as I waited patiently, she slowly lowered her hands.
“Ah…?”
In the mirror’s reflection, I watched as light kindled in the girl’s dark eyes like the morning star. My own heart stirred with the same celestial glow.
‘It’s gratifying to see her happy.’
I placed a round jar of ointment decorated with mother-of-pearl into the girl’s hands, which remained fixed on the mirror, and spoke.
“Such a scar means nothing to your becoming Princess Onseol’s spiritual daughter. The Princess herself already knows everything about you.”
“….”
“Still, since you seemed troubled by it… I wanted to offer this as repayment from a student for all your teachings. I hope it helps you.”
I wrapped my hand around Baek Tam-sol’s rigid fingers, guiding them to grip the ointment jar.
“The effect is even better than I anticipated, so if you apply it consistently, it will disappear completely.”
Only then did Baek Tam-sol tear her gaze from the mirror, looking at me with unfocused eyes, then down at the ointment in her hands, then back up at me.
“…This scar.”
“Yes?”
“…I was born an orphan. The beggars I lived with said they picked me up because having a small child helped when asking for alms.”
“….”
“But as I grew older… they said I was aging and drawing less pity, so they held a torch to my face.”
“Surely not….”
“…This scar was made that way.”
I couldn’t close my gaping mouth.
I knew that humans could be infinitely cruel, but this was beyond reason. They dragged an orphaned child around to gain sympathy, and when that child grew older and drew less pity, they burned her face with fire? So she would look more pitiful and they could beg for more alms?
‘These are demons. No—worse than demons.’
Before my stunned silence, Baek Tam-sol continued speaking in her characteristic monotone, her words flowing like water.
“As soon as the wound healed enough, I ran away. I couldn’t bear to stay there anymore. That’s how I came to wander the forest at night and met my Spiritual Father. He said I had the makings of a shaman and asked if I wanted to become one.”
“…So you followed him?”
“Yes.”
Baek Tam-sol nodded and continued matter-of-factly.
“I didn’t want to use the name the beggars called me, so I said I had no name. My Spiritual Father said that since he found me on a night when crickets were singing, he would call me Gwi-tul-i… ‘Baek Tam-sol’ is a name I chose myself because I didn’t think I could register with the Shaman Registry under the name Gwi-tul-i.”
“….”
“I didn’t particularly like the name my Spiritual Father called me, but it was better than what the beggars called me. He would kick me or strike me with his fists at every turn, but he never made me beg or burned my face with fire. He made me cooperate in his curses and deceptions, but he continued to find me books to study Shamanism. And….”
The girl’s gaze drifted into empty space as if looking back at distant memories. A fervent light kindled in her eyes.
“He danced, his long sleeves and brilliant robes swirling. My Spiritual Father was a wicked man with cruel hands, but when he danced, he was beautiful. That’s why… I kept following him. I wanted to dance like that too.”
“…But why don’t you perform the shamanic dance?”
“I do. Every single day.”
“You’ve never shown me.”
“My Spiritual Father made me perform the shamanic dance at a ritual once. When I lifted my face, people cursed, and children screamed.”
“…!”
“My Spiritual Father said now I understood my place. That’s when I realized I wasn’t worthy of performing the shamanic dance.”
That charlatan shaman—did he deliberately trample on someone smarter than him, someone who served a proper deity and would dance better than he ever could? And providing books for shamanic studies was just a way to use her for his schemes, wasn’t it?
Though he’s already been punished, I find myself wanting to hunt him down and make him suffer more. I clenched my jaw hard, forcing myself to open my mouth with difficulty.
“That’s a misunderstanding, Master. What does a scar on the face matter when dancing? The people who mocked you were the ones being strange.”
“….”
“I really want to see your shamanic dance, Master. Please don’t worry about such things and show me. Yes?”
A faint smile bloomed across Baek Tam-sol’s dazed face.
“How strange.”
“…?”
“That words I’ve never shared with anyone come so easily to Your Highness, and that I feel comforted by it.”
Well, I am actually a deity after all. I listen to humans’ grievances, sometimes bestow blessings, sometimes mete out punishment, occasionally offer comfort, and sometimes grant forgiveness. That is what humans perceive as a deity, and that is why humans pray to the divine.
So even a half-deity like me has the qualifications to hear a human’s confession.
I want to believe that. I want it to be true. So.
“You can tell me anything. Especially if I can be a comfort to you, Master.”
Baek Tam-sol gazed at me intently. My hand gripping the ointment jar tightened with force. And the girl whispered softly.
“When I find the courage to dance the shamanic dance… I will show it to Your Highness first, without fail.”
A quiet spark dwelled in her eyes. I decided to look forward to the day when that seed would bloom brilliantly into flame.
* * *
Rumors spread throughout the realm that the Crown Princess had received divine possession. Despite it being a matter of the Imperial Palace, the rumors were remarkably specific. A peculiar demon had attempted to kidnap the Crown Prince and Crown Princess during their worship, along with the Prime Minister’s grandchildren, but the Crown Prince had used Dark Spirit Art to vanquish it. In the process, the Crown Princess had received divine possession and healed the Crown Prince, who was gravely injured.
“Both are still so young, yet truly remarkable, are they not?”
“It seems the Crown Prince didn’t bow to the dragon for nothing.”
“As a descendant of Unryong, it’s only natural he defeated a demon at that age!”
“The Crown Princess healed even the King and Queen, and now she heals the Crown Prince as well!”
“With both the Crown Prince and Crown Princess showing such excellence from such a young age, the nation’s future shines brightly.”
Thanks to the Right Prime Minister’s discreet efforts at Se-ru-hwa’s request, the rumors spread in a very specific and positive direction. Simultaneously, talk naturally arose about the flood of memorials currently bombarding the court.
“But if the Crown Princess has received divine possession, shouldn’t she enter the religious life?”

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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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