I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit – Chapter 170

Chapter 170

For the past week, I was able to enjoy a happiness that might never come again in this world.

I realized once again how much my family and the precious people around me cherish and love me, and thanks to that, my heart felt very full.

‘It was really hectic.’

I don’t even know how the week went by.

I met with someone every day and had many conversations.

There were a few particularly memorable things, and one of them was Father’s sudden visit.

It was very late at night.

I was asleep, so I didn’t know the exact time.

It must have been around 2 a.m.

“Shh.”

“Father……?”

I don’t know why he’s sneaking in through the window when there’s a perfectly good door.

If a stranger had seen it, they would have mistaken him for a thief.

“I missed you.”

“……Couldn’t you have just come through the door?”

“There’s a strict woman here.”

I’m not sure, but I think the strict woman here refers to Chief Attendant Dailtha-nim or Nanny Ruruka, no, Deputy Chief Attendant Ruruka.

“She nagged me so much about how it was time for you to sleep.”

“So you came in through the window? This is the 7th floor.”

It was something Honey Badger used to do, and now that Father’s doing it, it feels a bit strange.

I’m much more used to the term ‘Father’ than ‘His Majesty the Emperor’ or ‘Abbamama’ now.

Father came to see me every day at dawn without fail.

He said he has so much work to do during the day that this is the only time he can spare.

So I looked forward to 2 a.m. very much.

I didn’t have that many conversations with Father when I was younger.

I felt that Father loved me through his mana, but there weren’t many instances where I felt it through his actions or conversations.

At first, there would be silence after just 15 minutes of conversation, but now we would chatter non-stop for an hour.

I never knew Father was such a chatterbox.

Father has become very comfortable with me in the past few days.

“Father, I have a favor to ask.”

“Tell me.”

“Except for completely formal occasions, can I just call you Father?”

Father stroked his chin with a ‘Hmm’.

It seemed like it was a bit awkward for a grown-up princess to call him ‘Father’ without any formality.

“There aren’t that many days left where I can call you Father. I want to call you that until I leave.”

“……”

“Because I always want to be a child in front of Father.”

I wanted to act spoiled as much as I could, something I couldn’t do in my past life.

Even though I’ve grown up suddenly while I was asleep and am now a full-fledged adult, I still wanted to be a child in front of my parents.

“Mother allowed it.”

“The Empress did?”

Father seemed somewhat relieved.

“Then I can’t help it. Do as you wish.”

Father stroked my hair.

I felt a spring-like warmth in his touch.

He seems to really like it, somehow?

I only found out the full story later when I heard it from Mother.

“He’s always wanted to be called Father. To the extent that he wanted to force it on Isabel.”

“He tried to force it?”

“I scolded him a lot. After getting a few spankings, he stopped being so stubborn.”

“Then when I asked if I could call him Father, the troubled look on his face was……?”

“Yes. He must have been checking my expression. His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t care about anyone’s opinion, but he’s extremely sensitive to mine.”

Anyway, this was one of the memorable events for me.

Gaining the right to freely call His Majesty the Emperor ‘Father’ and realizing that Father was actually a huge chatterbox.

And there was another very memorable encounter.

“Lia!”

“Your Highness!”

The original female protagonist, Asellia, was dazzlingly beautiful.

I was so stunned when I first met her that I couldn’t say a word.

‘But……’

There was something about her that wasn’t quite like the ‘romance fantasy female lead’ I had in mind.

Her skin was a bit dry and she had quite dark circles under her eyes.

She looked like a workaholic.

“You’re working as a clerk in the Imperial Palace Assistant’s Office?”

“Yes, I have so much work to do that I didn’t even sleep a wink yesterday.”

Asellia resembled Armitel-unni a bit.

She was a little more rigid and tended to prioritize principles and rules.

So she was very polite and respectful to me.

While I was a little hurt by that, I also felt a strange sense of unease.

‘The original female protagonist, Asellia, was supposed to be free-spirited……’

She had the male protagonist, Arun’s, undivided love and also played the role of a bit of a troublemaker.

But the current Asellia was completely different.

“I heard you’re very good at your job.”

“That’s not true.”

“I heard that everyone in the Imperial Palace is desperate to scout you. I heard it with my own ears.”

“It’s only because Sir Viaton has a good opinion of me that I was able to learn quickly.”

A romance fantasy female lead who’s a workaholic?

If I were the romance fantasy female lead, I’d be lazing around and enjoying a rich and happy life with the male lead.

The female lead of this novel is working so hard that her dark circles are reaching her chin.

I asked cautiously.

“Have you ever seen Arun?”

“Arun?”

Asellia tilted her head for a moment.

It seemed that ‘Arun’ wasn’t a very important keyword for Lia.

“Yes, I’ve seen him from afar. He has a very beautiful appearance.”

“Is that all?”

“Just because he’s beautiful doesn’t mean it helps me with my paperwork.”

In the original story, it was said that Asellia’s eyes would sparkle when she thought of Arun.

I’m sorry to the romance fantasy female lead, but right now, her eyes look a bit like dead fish.

‘It was said that whenever she thought of Arun, she would be filled with love and brighten up her surroundings……’

Right now, she wasn’t a woman in love but a workaholic obsessed with her job.

I felt a sense of pressure like she should be working 24/7.

I’m not sure, but somehow, Asellia seemed to really dislike Arun.

“Has Arun ever spoken to you?”

“Since it’s work-related, we often have official conversations. However, I’ve never had a personal conversation with him. I don’t really want to either. But why do you ask?”

“Well, I just thought you and Arun would look really good together……”

I felt uncomfortable saying that.

I also wished that Lia would strongly deny it.

“I have absolutely no desire to be associated with someone like him.”

Lia seemed a little angry.

I also seemed a little happy about that.

I don’t even understand myself.

“I think Your Highness and Sir Arun are the best match. Although Your Highness is too good for him, of course.”

“Hey, hey, what are you talking about?”

“Sir Arun has already proposed to Your Highness and even fought with His Majesty the Emperor for seven days and nights. Didn’t you know?”

“He, he did?”

“They say they fought on abandoned land outside the capital because they were afraid the capital would be destroyed. As a result, the terrifying monsters that lived there lost their homes and all ran away. That’s why Captain of the Guard Kiruen-nim had a headache, they say.”

Then she clenched her fists.

She seems angry again.

“All the related paperwork was my responsibility.”

D-Did I just hear her grind her teeth? It must be my imagination.

“Anyway, I think Your Highness and Sir Arun are a really good match. Of course, Your Highness is too good for him.”

“It’s, it’s not like that. We’re friends.”

Ah, my face is burning.

I finally realized that I’m a born-single.

It was so unfamiliar to hear those words.

“So you’re not interested in dating, Lia?”

Asellia adjusted her glasses.

She looks like a scary senior with glasses.

“I have too much work to be interested in dating.”

Her face brightened up a bit when she talked about work.

Now that she’s getting brighter, she looks more like a romance fantasy female lead.

“I’m very ambitious about my career. I don’t have time to waste on trivial emotional games like dating. Oh, of course, I don’t mean to disparage other people’s relationships. This only applies to me, so Your Highness can enjoy dating as much as you like.”

“……Is work that much fun?”

It felt like flowers were blooming behind Lia.

“It is fun. My goal is to become an excellent Chief Aide like Sir Viaton someday.”

Lia grabbed my hand.

I felt good because I could feel her complete affection and love through her hand.

“In the distant future, I hope you’ll allow me to assist you, Your Highness. I’ll work hard to become a Chief Aide worthy of you. I hope you’ll promise me. That you’ll appoint me as your aide then.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say yes.

The emotions conveyed through her hand were so earnest and sincere that I couldn’t lie.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Mirotel Magic Federation.

A secret Creation Meeting was held.

Over the past seven years, the number of Creation Mages had increased to sixteen.

It was a meeting where all sixteen were gathered, but it wasn’t publicly announced.

Sixteen mages sat at a large round table.

“Let’s begin.”

They all opened their mouths at the same time, with the same expression and the same voice.

“We have received intelligence that Isabel has awakened.”

“We have received intelligence that Isabel has awakened.”

“We have received intelligence that Isabel has awakened.”

It was a bizarre scene.

“The children with the Mark of Narvidal are well-prepared.”

“The children with the Mark of Narvidal are well-prepared.”

It wasn’t a normal meeting.

It was like a ritual where everyone just uttered the same words with the same expression and the same voice.

“It’s Isabel’s turn now.”

“It’s Isabel’s turn now.”

They continued speaking.

“We don’t have much time either.”

“We don’t have much time either.”

A black energy seeped out from the bodies of the sixteen mages.

It was as if smoke was rising.

“Let the grand scheme begin.”

“Let the grand scheme begin.”

Their bodies disappeared along with the black smoke.