I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit – Chapter 142

Chapter 142

To the question, ‘If you could go back to the past, would you want to?’, Viaton’s answer was always ‘NO’.

He had put in bone-crushing effort to get to this position and always did his best.

The process was so intense that he didn’t have the confidence to repeat it.

‘I can’t do it again. I can’t do it even if I’m beaten to death.’

However, that was his arrogance and delusion.

He is living more diligently and more passionately than his intense past.

Firstly, it was because he keenly felt his weakness in his reunion with Duke Rovena.

He had to become stronger.

Secondly, it was because of Beksa’s legacy.

He didn’t have enough time even if he had two bodies to study and learn the things Beksa left behind.

Recently, he has been focusing on researching the Mark of Narvidal with Karin, and on the other hand, he is also investigating Isabel’s body.

Why is Isabel’s growth slower compared to the other members of the Imperial family?

In the case of ‘a type with no thoughts’ like Michael, it was recorded that growth was very slow.

Karin, who first encountered the record, was purely amazed.

“It is said that the body of the Imperial family is a vessel that contains the soul. I have found records saying that if you have no worries, anxieties, or thoughts, your body will no longer grow. It is a very mysterious phenomenon.”

In fact, it was said that some princes recorded in history maintained the appearance of a child until their death.

“However, Her Highness is different. Rather, she is a person with too many thoughts. Doesn’t Sir Viaton think so too?”

Since the history of over 500 years has been recorded, there has been no case like Isabel.

Karin and Viaton came to a conclusion in their own way.

“The one who says she’s alright more than anyone else, the one who thinks she’s happy more than anyone else, might not actually be. Think about it. How can someone who values life like this be alright?”

“But Her Highness’ happiness is real, Sir Karin.”

“Wouldn’t it be scarier because it’s real?”

The happiness Isabel feels is real, and ironically, it’s scary because she’s happy.

“She might be instinctively afraid of getting older. That’s why her growth might be a little slow.”

“……”

“She might not be acknowledging that she’s not alright.”

Viaton and Karin came to a conclusion.

Regardless of the happiness Isabel feels, she is afraid of time passing.

It’s just that she’s not aware of it herself.

“If you don’t acknowledge yourself, if you don’t recognize yourself, when you, who should understand yourself more than anyone else, don’t, you get sick in your heart.”

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Inside the carriage heading to the Bladock Dukedom, Viaton said.

“It’s a hypothesis recently established by scholars, but the reason why the growth of the Imperial family is fast is because they desperately tried to learn Bilotian swordsmanship.”

“Yes?”

“Because your body has to grow quickly to learn swordsmanship. The Bilotian Imperial family seems to be born with a special body where the mind can control the body to some extent. His Highness Michael has no thoughts, so he just grows naturally. In fact, his appearance may be that of a child, but his strength is almost the best among the four princes, so he might not feel the need for physical growth.”

“……Ah.”

Isabel, strangely convinced by the words, nodded and said as if making an excuse.

“But I don’t have no thoughts.”

“It’s just a hypothesis. I’m not sure about Her Highness’ case yet.”

Viaton recalled Karin’s words once again.

‘If you don’t acknowledge yourself, if you don’t recognize yourself, when you, who should understand yourself more than anyone else, don’t, you get sick in your heart.’

However, he couldn’t say those words.

It’s still just a hypothesis.

Isabel might really be alright.

He didn’t want to needlessly throw a stone at someone who’s alright and cause trouble in her heart.

“I told you that the Bilotian body is influenced by the soul, right?”

“Yes.”

“Perhaps Her Highness’ soul is the cutest in the universe.”

“……Yes?”

“It seems like the body, unable to handle the cuteness, is struggling to keep up with the cuteness of the soul. Hehehehe.”

“……”

Isabel was speechless and looked out the window.

While she thought Viaton was being overly dramatic in her head, she didn’t hate the drama in her heart.

After a little while, Isabel asked.

“But, am I cute?”

“Replace the question mark with a period and reconstruct the sentence.”

Isabel thought about it in her head.

‘He wants me to remove the question mark?’

But, am I cute?

→ But, I’m cute.

“No, three exclamation marks would be more appropriate instead of the question mark.”

But, am I cute?

→ But, I’m cute!!!

Isabel was speechless again.

Viaton was smiling contentedly.

“As your personal tutor, I’m very glad that I can provide timely linguistics education.”

“……Is this timely education?”

And it’s linguistics?

“You should learn a bit, Her Highness. How cute and lovely you are.”

“……”

Isabel was speechless again.

Kim Beolkkul, who was dozing off at Isabel’s feet, added a word.

『King of being cheesy.』

✦✦✦✦✦✦

The Bladock Dukedom was located quite a bit further southwest than the Kingdom of Alphea.

It was known to be located at the end of the continent, so we had to take the Transfer Gate several times, and accordingly, the carriage also changed several times.

One day, the coachman said.

“You can’t go in there.”

A dense forest was visible.

People called that place ‘Demon Realm（魔境）’.

“Yes, if you pay me that much, I can sell you the carriage and horse, but…… why are you trying to enter that Demon Realm? No one has ever come out of there alive.”

In the end, the coachman sold us the horse and carriage.

I asked cautiously.

“Sir Viaton, is it true?”

“Yes?”

“No one has ever come out of there alive?”

“Why wouldn’t there be?”

“Wh, who is there?”

“I’m there.”

“Is there anyone else?”

“His Majesty the Emperor is also there. Duke Hirkel Bladock is also there.”

“……Isn’t there anyone among the ordinary people?”

“Among the relatively ordinary people, His Highness Sermon is also there.”

“I’m not sure if that’s ordinary.”

“Anyway, it’s true that almost no one has come out of there alive. Because that place is a garden directly managed by the Bladock Dukedom.”

“Yes? A garden?”

It was too gigantic to be a garden. It was a mountain range, not a garden.

“It’s a kind of maze that only those who have received permission from the Bladock Dukedom can pass through. It’s a place teeming with numerous illusion barriers and dangerous traps in between, as well as terrifying magical beasts. But don’t worry. I’ve memorized the path for sure. Ah, right, swallow this first.”

Sir Viaton handed me a pill.

“It will block the poison that leaks out from the Demon Realm.”

I swallowed the pill.

Sir Viaton was looking at me with a fatherly gaze, as if he was proud of me for swallowing the pill.

Oh, really.

Being so pleased with this kind of thing, my pride won’t allow……

“It must have been difficult to swallow the pill in one go because it was big. Her Highness is truly versatile.”

Just then, Sir Viaton stroked my hair once and smiled brightly.

Allow it, allow it.

“I can even eat a hundred pills.”

“Really?”

Sir Viaton’s eyes widened.

He’s a person with an almost expressionless face in front of others, but his expressions were quite varied in front of me.

“That’s an incredibly amazing ability!”

“Right? Hehe.”

Ah.

I’m already 9 years old.

To think that this contrived situation and praise is fun.

I recently realized that I’m the type who’s very weak to compliments.

I think it’s because I didn’t get many compliments in my previous life.

I was too used to pity rather than compliments.

But what’s a bit fortunate（?） is that I’m slowly losing interest in playing house or role-playing.

I think I’m getting older too.

Anyway, we rode the carriage for a long time.

“It’s strangely quiet.”

“What usually happens?”

“Even if we’re moving along the path of life（生路）, there are usually a few magical beast attacks. The fact that there are none at all means that someone has killed the magical beasts in advance…… No, it means that the path has been cleared.”

Sir Viaton took out his dagger.

“Wh, why the dagger?”

“Because I think someone might attack instead of the magical beasts.”

And then, some phenomena that were difficult for me to understand occurred.

Sir Viaton flicked his dagger in the air, and at the same time, something fell to the ground with a thud!

It looked like a needle.

Steam hissed from the ground.

It was definitely a poisoned needle.

If that had touched my feet, it would have been a terrible accident.

At some point, the windows had been removed, but that wasn’t the end.

“Th, the carriage roof is gone!”

“The welcome greeting is intense, Your Highness Sermon. I welcome you to have a deep and intimate conversation and exchange with us, but how about stopping here because Her Highness might get hurt?”

Sir Viaton looked up at a very large tree.

Way up there.

Brother Sermon was standing on a branch.

The branch swayed, and my brother looked very precarious.

I instinctively shouted.

“Brother! It’s dangerous! Come down!”

I shouted, but suddenly felt embarrassed.

That height couldn’t be dangerous for Sermon.

I thought I had gotten used to it a lot, but it seems I’m still not used to the fantasy world.

But I decided to be a little shameless.

“You can’t be messing around at such a height! And how can you attack the carriage?”

“But this is all I’ve learned.”

“What if the passengers get hurt? What if a big accident happens?”

“Isn’t that just bad luck? You can’t get angry at the clouds for suddenly raining and getting rained on.”

I shouted.

“Do you want to get scolded terribly? I’m really angry!”

“……”

“I won’t let you go!”

Sir Viaton, with his varied expressions, was looking at me with a perplexed look.