I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit – Chapter 121

Chapter 121

One day before.

Yuri’s heart started to feel uneasy.

She couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it started, but it was around the time Isabel decided to meet Asellia.

That night.

She couldn’t sleep and tossed and turned for a long time.

‘Why am I like this?’

She felt like she had become a really bad child.

‘It would be really good if Her Highness the Princess made a new friend.’

Armitel and Isabel had many conversations.

For some reason, Isabel said she really wanted to meet Asellia, and Armitel accepted the offer.

During that process, Isabel said, ‘We might be able to become good friends.’

‘But why do I hate it? Why? What am I upset about?’

Yuri pulled the blanket over her head.

She wanted to hide where no one could see her.

She couldn’t serve Isabel with such a restless heart.

She had to figure out why she felt this way.

The answer she came up with after a long time of contemplation was one.

‘I was Her Highness’s only friend, so I guess I’m sad.’

Actually, this wasn’t the exact feeling either.

She couldn’t even articulate her own feelings.

If it were math, there would be an answer, and if it were chemistry, she could make a reaction formula.

‘I don’t even understand why I’m sad.’

But there was another bigger problem.

‘I hate myself for being sad like this.’

She always wished for Isabel’s happiness.

Because Isabel gave her a new life, helped her take care of her mother wholeheartedly, and made it possible for Yuri to be Yuri.

That’s why she thought it would be good if Isabel had many friends.

But when Isabel said she was going on a long journey to meet another child of her age, she felt very sad.

She felt this way even though it wasn’t something to be upset about.

It was a strange feeling, like she was being robbed of Isabel.

‘Am I a bad child?’

Am I only a good child on the outside?

I can’t call myself a good maid like this.

This feeling was almost like self-loathing.

“Sigh……”

She let out a deep sigh.

She lost sleep after a long time.

She was missing one fact.

Yuri was Isabel’s only friend of her age, but on the other hand, Isabel was Yuri’s only friend of her age as well.

And Yuri was still nine years old.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

“I think I’ll have to scold Yuri severely.”

At those words, Yuri burst into tears.

I was greatly flustered.

“……Huh? Yuri? What’s wrong?”

What should I do?

For now, I approached Yuri and hugged her tightly.

I had only guessed that something was going on, but I didn’t know it was something that would make her cry like this.

“Pat, pat.”

I patted Yuri’s back.

I still didn’t know the reason, but Yuri was crying quite sadly.

‘I shouldn’t tell her not to cry.’

The words I hated hearing the most in my previous life were “don’t cry.”

I was sick and never learned how to relieve stress.

The only thing I could do was cry, but people told me not to cry.

I was so sad about that.

‘Yuri is nine years old, so……’

I thought about myself at nine years old.

What words would I have wanted to hear when I was crying my eyes out?

“Did something really upsetting happen?”

Thinking back to that time, I don’t think I wanted grand comfort or a great solution.

I think I just wanted someone to ask me why I was crying like that.

To be more precise, I think I wanted someone to just pay attention to me.

I hugged Yuri tightly once more.

“You must have been really upset.”

You must be hurting a lot.

It must be very difficult for you.

I just liked those words.

I think what I needed was just a piece of empathy.

I just did for Yuri what I had learned and experienced.

Yuri cried sadly for a long time.

I didn’t pry into the reason.

“If you don’t tell me, I won’t know.”

If only Yuri had mana, I could have figured it out right away.

Because the emotions a person feels are embedded in their mana.

After quite a long time, Yuri hesitated.

She looked at me with her swollen eyes and asked.

“Your Highness…… why are you crying?”

“Because I’m sad.”

There was no grand reason or anything.

It was just that my precious friend was crying sadly, so I cried too.

“Please don’t cry because of someone like me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not a good enough person to deserve Your Highness’s tears.”

“Yuri, you’re a good person.”

“No, I’m not. I’m bad.”

“Why do you think that?”

Yuri slumped her shoulders.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can tell you.”

“Then I think I’ll be a little sad.”

“If you give me an order, I can tell you.”

I thought for a moment and shook my head.

“I don’t want to do it that way.”

I held Yuri’s hand.

Yuri’s hand was very cold today. And it was trembling slightly.

I don’t know what it was, but she seemed very scared.

“I won’t give you any orders. We’re friends.”

And I decided not to ask anymore.

Everyone has things they want to hide from others.

I didn’t have the right to force her to reveal what she didn’t want to reveal.

Even if we were friends.

“I believe you’ll tell me when the time is right. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t sad that Yuri isn’t telling me right now, but believe me on one thing. I won’t be disappointed in you no matter what you say or think. I will never think badly of you. I promise.”

Everyone has difficult and lonely moments.

What’s needed in those moments isn’t something so grand.

Just one person who stays by your side and shows unwavering faith.

That one person can make you overcome your hardships.

Sometimes it was an unnamed sponsor, and other times it was a doctor or a nurse.

Today, I decided to be Yuri’s sponsor, doctor, and nurse.

“So promise me one thing. Don’t speak badly of yourself. As your best friend, I can’t stand it. I’m okay with whoever Yuri is. I wish you would think the same.”

“……”

“We’re still children.”

We’re not adults.

Adults don’t have to be perfect, but I think children even less so.

Children have their own time.

“When we get to the village, I want to drink the lemon tea that Yuri makes. Can you do that for me?”

Yuri, who had been hanging her head, looked up.

She said in a small voice.

“I promise.”

“Really?”

“I’ll make you the sweetest lemon tea in the world.”

“Okay, cool.”

I stood up first and held out my hand.

Yuri took my hand and stood up.

I don’t know for sure, but I think she felt a little better.

We got back into the carriage, and Lieutenant General Armitel was sitting there with a strangely satisfied expression.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Isabel’s party arrived at Calfoa Village.

The coachman bowed deeply.

“It was an honor and a pleasure to serve Your Highness.”

His head was about to touch the ground if he bowed any further.

‘He doesn’t have to go that far.’

Isabel couldn’t understand why the coachman was showing such extreme courtesy.

He said he was incredibly moved, but she had forgotten why he was moved.

Armitel, who was from a commoner background, once again admired Isabel as she watched her.

‘She seems to have no idea why the coachman was moved, does she?’

Armitel knew.

Isabel had saved the coachman who had yelled at Valkio, calling him crazy.

But Isabel had forgotten about it.

‘That’s probably because it wasn’t a special event for Isabel.’

Isabel’s consideration for the coachman must have been a daily occurrence, not an isolated incident.

So she didn’t attach any special meaning to it.

‘Asellia will definitely like Her Highness when she meets her.’

But for some reason, the Princess seemed a little nervous.

Calfoa Village wasn’t a very big village, and there weren’t many roads where carriages could travel.

“It’s humble, but the house at the end of that alley is my home.”

Isabel was a little puzzled.

For someone as successful as Lieutenant General Armitel, she was living in a very underdeveloped place.

Since Armitel’s house wasn’t described in the novel, she couldn’t know the details.

She could only vaguely guess.

‘Is it because of her younger sister’s medical expenses?’

Anyway, Isabel stepped inside the house.

As soon as she entered the house, she could feel it.

‘It’s a familiar smell. The smell of a hospital.’

Even though this wasn’t the modern era, the house smelled similar to a modern hospital.

Having spent so much time in hospitals, the smell was very familiar to her.

Isabel trembled involuntarily.

“Your Highness? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

She couldn’t say that the smell reminded her of her past self.

Isabel forced a bright smile.

“Excuse me!”

Isabel moved further into the house.

A voice came from inside a room.

“Who is it?”

Isabel didn’t find the voice unfamiliar.

The voice of a sick person.

A voice that didn’t even have the strength to speak loudly because of the pain.

It was the voice she herself had made every day.

‘The female lead, Asellia, is in there.’

As if possessed by something, Isabel walked towards the room where the voice came from and opened the door.