I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit – Chapter 147

Chapter 147

That day, the weather was exceptionally clear.

I carefully held Kim Beolkkul.

I checked again just in case, but his heart still wasn’t beating.

“I want to bury him in a place with plenty of sunlight. Teacher-nim, can you help me?”

“Of course.”

Glass Lake was truly a beautiful place, but it had become a place I never wanted to visit again.

Even the discovery of ultrapure water felt meaningless to me now.

I covered Honey Badger’s body with the soft cloth that Viaton-gyeong handed me and hugged him tightly.

“Let’s go back to the Imperial Palace.”

“Alright.”

I didn’t have to do anything.

I just had to say what I wanted to do, and Viaton-seonsaengnim took care of everything.

As I was about to get into the carriage, I tripped and almost fell.

Viaton-seonsaengnim quickly grabbed my hand.

“Whoa, be careful.”

“Thank you.”

I had no strength in my body.

Sermon sat diagonally across from me, the furthest away, and watched my expression.

He looked a bit pitiful, but my heart hadn’t softened towards him yet.

A few more days passed.

I returned to the Imperial Palace and found the flower garden where I used to make flower crowns with Honey Badger.

“I want to bury him here.”

Fortunately, the weather was very nice today.

It was a sunny day.

“Yes. Should I dig a hole?”

“No. I’ll do it myself.”

I knelt down and started digging.

When I was young, I used to play in the dirt here and play hide-and-seek with Honey Badger.

I thought I had cried it all out last time, but tears welled up again.

“Honey Badger was small and quick, so he was good at hide-and-seek.”

“……”

Digging wasn’t that difficult.

It was so warm outside, but the inside of the hole felt a little cold.

“Teacher-nim, please wipe my tears.”

“Yes.”

Sir Viaton wiped my tears with a clean handkerchief.

I bit my lip to hold back my tears.

Today was the last day to send Honey Badger off, so I wanted him to remember me looking good when he went up to the sky.

So I decided not to cry.

I spoke with a forced smile.

“Honey Badger, thank you.”

I really tried to smile, but tears flowed again.

A fairytale-like event where the female protagonist’s tears touch the male protagonist and he wakes up didn’t happen.

I hugged Honey Badger tightly and whispered softly.

“Every day I spent with you was a gift to me. Thank you so, so much. I’ll never forget you.”

I felt like he might answer me, but there was no response.

Honey Badger was sleeping peacefully.

“Kim Beolkkul was brave, courageous, cool, smart, and a romantic honey badger. He was a very, very precious friend and family to me. Thank you so much for liking me, who was nothing. I loved you so, so much, Honey Badger.”

Honey Badger felt so light today.

“I have a favor to ask.”

I laid Honey Badger on the ground and started covering his body with soil.

Honey Badger’s body gradually disappeared from view as it was covered with soil.

“Can you appear as my twentieth birthday present?”

It was originally my twenty-first, but now it’s my twentieth.

I used to be so afraid of being terminally ill, but now I think it might be a blessing in disguise.

Because I can meet Honey Badger a year earlier.

“I’ll become a cooler friend too. Let’s meet again that day. It’s a promise. My twentieth birthday. Don’t get confused. It’s the twentieth, the twentieth.”

I just had to cover him with soil one more time, but I couldn’t.

My hand wouldn’t move.

“I was really, really happy. I had such a good time with you. Thank you. Thank you, and thank you so much, and I love you.”

I couldn’t bring myself to cover him with the last bit of soil, so Sir Viaton did it for me.

A long time passed.

I cried so much that I didn’t know how much time had passed.

And then I heard a voice.

“Have you cried enough?”

The person holding me wasn’t Sir Viaton.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Ron didn’t particularly enjoy spending time on anything other than swordsmanship training.

Honing anything other than swordsmanship was a waste of time.

However, Ron had recently been inviting scholars and studying.

The public was very curious about what he was studying and speculated that it was deeply related to the recent actions of the Bilotian Empire, but in reality, it was ‘studying to be a good father’.

It was late, but he wanted to be a good father now.

Especially to Isabel.

Scholars had unanimously told him,

‘Discrimination is not good, Your Majesty.’

However, his heart didn’t move as he wished.

They say there’s no finger that doesn’t hurt among the ten, but in truth, Ron only had one that hurt.

He was trying not to, but it was still the case.

And that sore finger was nestled in his arms, crying bitterly.

‘She cries a lot these days.’

In the past, he hated her indifference.

It hurt his heart that she always smiled like a machine.

But seeing her cry like this was even more upsetting.

‘It takes time to acknowledge and accept one’s emotions.’

Ron simply waited, holding Isabel in his arms.

He did nothing.

He just became a strong fence, allowing her to fully express her emotions.

“……Father?”

“Yes.”

Isabel, realizing that Ron was hugging her, hugged him tightly once more.

Ron patted Isabel comfortingly in his strong embrace.

He didn’t ask too many questions, and he didn’t try to teach her too much.

“I’ve heard everything. I know how hard it is for you. I know how much you’re hurting. Feel the pain to your heart’s content, grieve as much as you need.”

He didn’t mention that he had wiped out everything related to the Bladock Dukedom.

Instead, he said something else.

“Can you tell me about Honey Badger?”

What Honey Badger was like.

What good memories they had together.

He kept listening, sharing stories about him, until Isabel felt comfortable enough to open up her heart completely.

The sun set and the moon rose.

Ron lifted Isabel into his arms.

“I’ll take you to your room.”

“Thank you for listening to me so much. I think I repeated the same things over and over again.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ron laid Isabel on the bed and covered her with a blanket.

He checked the room temperature himself and closed the window.

And then he asked in a gentler voice than ever before.

“Would you like to have breakfast with Mother and Father tomorrow morning?”

Isabel, nestled in the blanket, nodded once.

“Yes. Please wake me up at 8 o’clock.”

“Not 7 o’clock?”

“The scholars recommended 8 o’clock.”

To be precise, they didn’t recommend 8 o’clock.

They just taught him some local proverb like ‘beautiful people are heavy sleepers’.

After hearing that, he postponed breakfast by an hour.

Ron brought a chair and sat by Isabel’s bedside.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“How can I leave you like this now? I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.”

“Really?”

“If you don’t want me to, I’ll leave.”

“I don’t want you to leave!”

Ron patted Isabel’s shoulder.

It felt like he was listening to her heartbeat.

Serna also hurriedly visited the Arena Palace.

“Shh. She’s asleep.”

Serna heard about Isabel while visiting the First Magic Tower.

She returned to the capital immediately, and it was already this late.

Time passed, and morning came.

Isabel woke up with a strange feeling.

‘Father?’

Ron was staring at her with his eyes wide open.

Judging by his appearance, it seemed like he hadn’t slept a wink and had been staring at her like that all night.

‘Mother?’

Serna was asleep, leaning on Ron’s shoulder.

Ron had made a support with one hand to cushion Serna’s head so she wouldn’t be uncomfortable.

Thanks to that, Ron had been very busy all night.

He had to keep an eye on Isabel and support Serna’s head with one hand.

Seeing that, Isabel’s heart warmed a little.

It felt like being protected within the fence of family.

It felt good to be part of the family community.

“Aren’t you tired?”

“Not at all.”

Serna also opened her eyes.

As soon as she woke up, Serna hugged Isabel.

“Our daughter, are you having a hard time?”

“Yes.”

Isabel spoke honestly.

She decided to be a little more honest with her mom and dad.

“It’s really, really hard.”

“Yes. It will be. It will be very hard.”

Serna patted Isabel’s back.

Isabel spoke again.

“But I can overcome it. Honey Badger would want that too.”

“That’s right. Honey Badger would want that too. So be strong. You have to get up and play with Honey Badger later.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Then, shall we go have breakfast bravely?”

“Okay.”

Isabel got out of bed.

Ron held Isabel’s right hand, and Serna held her left hand.

“I think I’m the first person to be escorted by His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress at the same time.”

It was such an honor that every servant they encountered in the palace was terrified and stuck to the wall.

They bowed deeply and couldn’t even look at them properly.

It was a new realization of who the Emperor and Empress were.

After finishing a satisfying breakfast, Isabel asked Ron for swordsmanship instruction.

Ron readily accepted her request, and Isabel diligently swung her wooden sword, sweating profusely.

Isabel was doing her best to overcome her sadness in her own way.

And a year passed, bringing back the day Kim Beolkkul left.

Isabel, now ten years old, visited the flower garden where Kim Beolkkul was buried, accompanied only by her maid, Yuri.

“Honey Badger, I’m here. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

But something strange had happened.

‘Where’s the grave?’