I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit – Chapter 153

Chapter 153

Arun made a resolution from the moment he chose a human life.

‘I can’t let anyone know that I was Kim Beolkkul.’

Kim Beolkkul is dead.

The reappearance of a dead honey badger is a violation of the laws of nature.

If it’s discovered that I retain all the memories from that time, all my memories will be forcibly erased.

‘Mother must have placed me as Ravina’s son because she suspects me. That’s why I need to be even more careful.’

In fact, Arun, in his human form, should not have been aware that he was a dragon.

Arun hid the fact that he remembered all his past and his true form.

‘I am the son of Duke Rovena of the North.’

He lived with that resolution.

The training of the Black Whale Knight Unit was not easy, but it wasn’t enough to make him give up.

Thanks to that, he was gaining a reputation among the veterans that this new recruit was quite decent.

His immediate senior, Apprentice Knight Chris, even said this:

‘I thought you’d give up quickly because you’re a noble young master, but you’re much more impressive than I thought, aren’t you?’

At first, everyone thought it was just a childish challenge from a naive young master.

They said that if they just harassed him a little, he would get tired and drop out on his own.

But Arun endured it silently.

‘If I can see Isabel, even from afar……’

That was enough.

He didn’t know if this was what humans called love.

He was also too young to think about such love.

But one thing was certain.

Right now, his mind was full of Isabel.

And then, the day of the Royal Assembly.

He finally got to meet Isabel up close.

‘……Isabel.’

He knew from afar that Isabel was approaching.

His heart pounded.

His non-existent tail felt like it was wagging.

In the past, when he saw Isabel, he would just run and hug her because he was happy, but he couldn’t do that anymore.

‘I need to build new memories, new experiences.’

Isabel, who approached, was dazzlingly beautiful.

She had grown a lot in a year and no longer looked like a child.

‘Why did you grow so much?’

Perhaps, did she want to grow up now?

Various thoughts crossed his mind.

They said that her unconscious desire to not grow up was preventing Isabel’s growth.

But in the past year, she suddenly grew up.

It seemed like Isabel, who always wanted to be a child, now wanted to become an adult.

For some reason, the thought that Kim Beolkkul might be the reason for that made his heart ache.

It was a mistake to think that just seeing Isabel from afar would be okay.

‘I want to talk to Isabel.’

How she’s been doing.

If she’s been sick.

If she was very sad after Kim Beolkkul died.

If she was, he wanted to tell her that she didn’t need to be sad anymore, and he wanted to hold her hand and comfort her.

‘Please. Get a grip.’

He had to erase the remnants of the past.

He had to build new memories and new experiences.

He had to become close to Isabel as Arun, not Kim Beolkkul.

‘I thought it would be enough just to see Isabel again.’

I am not Kim Beolkkul.

I am not Kim Beolkkul.

I am not Kim Beolkkul.

So, as the youngest member of the Black Whale Knight Unit, as a knight dedicated to the Empire, if he lived his life fiercely, there would be a point of contact with Isabel.

Thinking that, he forced himself to erase Isabel’s image from his mind.

‘But why……’

When he came to his senses, he was in front of the Arena Palace.

He hadn’t intended to come here, but he had arrived here unconsciously.

It was as if he had lost consciousness for a moment.

‘Let’s go back.’

But then, he saw Isabel walking towards him from afar.

With Narmore.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Narmore acknowledged him.

“Aren’t you the famous young master Arun?”

“……Am I famous?”

“Yes. The rumors about you being a vixen are widespread.”

“I don’t know what a vixen is.”

Even a child could tell that Narmore’s attitude wasn’t very friendly.

Arun didn’t really want to actively deal with people who were hostile towards him.

“I hear you’ve been flirting with the maids.”

“I haven’t done that.”

“They’re all bragging that you smiled at them beautifully.”

Narmore frowned.

Yuri had boasted about it yesterday too.

She said that she made eye contact with young master Arun, and he smiled at her.

“Me?”

This was news to Arun.

From the beginning, since he was set up as the son of the Northern Duke, he didn’t have that kind of gentle personality.

He had no memory of smiling at anyone.

A strange phenomenon was occurring where there were no people he had smiled at, but there were many who had seen that smile.

“I haven’t done that.”

“Well, I’m sure you haven’t.”

Arun had been brushing off such trivial accusations without a care.

Because as a knight of the Empire, he had to act accordingly.

But this time, it was hard to just let it go.

“No, Your Highness.”

Isabel, who had been listening to the conversation silently, was startled.

“I didn’t say anything, young master Arun.”

“…… ……”

Arun was at a loss for words.

He didn’t know why, but he wanted to prove his innocence, especially to Isabel.

‘Is it the honey badger’s instincts that remain?’

This is what adult （dragons） are wary of.

If you have memories of another creature before your ego is properly established, your ego gets mixed up.

Your ego as a dragon doesn’t become perfect and becomes strange.

‘I’m a honey badger who only smiles at Isabel, not a honey badger who smiles easily. I think that’s the feeling.’

He suppressed that feeling with reason.

Because he was a human now, not a honey badger.

Isabel asked.

“What were you doing here, young master Arun?”

Narmore interrupted her.

“He must have come here to joke around with the maids.”

“Ah! I guess young master Arun gets along well with the maids.”

Arun frowned slightly.

“I said I didn’t.”

He was truly wronged.

He had never once had a conversation with the maids.

“Yes, well, let’s just say that.”

“It’s not ‘let’s just say that’, I haven’t done that, CEO Narmore.”

Isabel said with a bright smile.

“I like getting along with people casually like that. Young master Arun seems like a good person. Somehow, Yuri also praised young master Arun a lot.”

“…… ……”

“Please continue to be like that in the future. Oh, you might not know, but Yuri is my maid and a precious friend. If you happen to meet her, it would be nice if you could treat her kindly.”

Arun wanted to say no.

He hadn’t been friendly with the maids.

This was the truth.

‘This feels really bad.’

This was probably because his ego as a honey badger remained.

Kim Beolkkul rarely gave his heart to anyone other than Isabel.

He was obsessed with Isabel.

But he didn’t like that Isabel kept telling him to be kind to other people.

‘Isabel, you’re the only one I want to be kind to.’

He didn’t say those words.

He looked a little angry.

Isabel thought.

‘Hmm, no matter how I look at it, his behavior is suspicious. Why is he angry? And why is he wandering around the Arena Palace?’

She found Arun very suspicious.

Why did the original male lead come to the Imperial Palace and wander around inside?

‘If he’s going to be a threat to my family, it’s better to figure it out in advance.’

So she suggested.

“Since we’ve met like this, would you like to talk for a bit?”

“Yes, uh, no.”

It was strange.

It felt like he had just barely stopped himself from saying ‘Yes!’.

“I apologize. I’m currently on patrol duty.”

“Are you saying you don’t want to have tea time with me?”

“No. It would be an honor. However, I’m on duty, so I can’t help it. I’ll postpone this opportunity to next time.”

In the end, Arun declined Isabel’s offer and returned to his quarters, taking a deep breath.

‘That was dangerous.’

He almost said yes.

And he almost hugged Isabel tightly like he used to.

（Kim Beolkkul, who was small, always hugged Isabel, but he thought he was the one hugging Isabel with his wide embrace.）

‘How should I treat Isabel?’

Kim Beolkkul, who had just become Arun, was awkward and clumsy in everything.

He was confused about how to act in front of Isabel.

He thought he would just be happy to see Isabel, but that wasn’t the case.

The way Isabel looked at him had changed a lot.

The gap between then and now made his heart very heavy and troubled.

‘I want to become close to Isabel again.’

He didn’t know how to do it yet.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

A few days after the Special Royal Assembly.

I headed to the slums of the capital with Narmore.

“I’m so proud.”

“Huh? Of what?”

I guess my inner thoughts came out without me realizing it.

“The boy who was wasting his genius talent and rolling around in the slums has become the richest man in the world.”

“I’m just an employee? The richest person in the world is Your Highness.”

“……Ah, right. We decided to go with that, didn’t we?”

“It’s not that we decided to go with that, it is that, Your Highness.”

Anyway, Narmore was doing volunteer work to build new houses for the people of this slum and establish schools and orphanages.

We arrived at the recently built Seibel Orphanage.

Actually, this was also supposed to be the ‘Isabel Orphanage’, but I barely managed to convince him to change it to ‘Seibel’.

Narmore has a bad habit of putting my name on everything, so it’s hard to stop him.

I spotted someone in the distance, busily moving around in a white apron.

“Teacher Karin!”

There were many children abandoned here for various reasons.

Karin-gyeong often came here to take care of the children.

Karin-gyeong’s expression had brightened considerably while volunteering here.

It seemed like she was washing away the wounds of her childhood through service.

These days, she practically lived here.

“Your Highness, you’ve come again today.”

“Of course. It’s not right to just build an orphanage and be done with it. I hope that another young Karin won’t appear.”

Thorough management and supervision were necessary.

Otherwise, a second or third Karin would appear.

“Huh? Teacher, you smiled. You just smiled, right?”

She definitely smiled faintly just now.

As if embarrassed at being caught smiling, Karin’s earlobes turned slightly red.

As we did various volunteer work, it was already getting dark.

Suddenly, I felt a new sense of emotion.

‘I used to only receive help.’

Now, it seemed like I had become someone who could properly give help.

I hope many children can find and do what they want to do.

I walked along with Karin.

“I’ll see you home.”

The roads were much wider and more pleasant than before.

It was no longer a dirty slum.

But at that moment, someone jumped out from an alleyway.

“Karin! Aren’t you Karin?”

It was an old man with white hair, and he looked haggard.

He was wearing tattered rags, and he smelled bad.

He must have been starving for a long time because his ribs were showing.

Karin’s eyes widened.

“You can’t be…… ……!”