I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit – Chapter 172

Chapter 172

Even though Asellia is currently living a life quite different from that of , her essence is still that of the female protagonist in a romance fantasy novel.

“If I were the Princess, I would want to be loved.”

“You want to be loved?”

“She only gives love, she has never received it. If I were her, I think I would desperately want someone’s love.”

Arun flinched for a moment.

He felt something strange in Asellia’s words.

Isabel is already loved by many people.

So, the statement that she has never received love was clearly wrong.

However, regardless of the facts, Arun was convinced.

‘That’s right. She has never received love.’

A strange sense of camaraderie arose between Asellia and Arun.

It was something akin to a sense of fellowship.

‘She hasn’t received the love she deserves.’

Arun began to rationalize.

Isabel is someone who truly deserves a lot of love.

However, the love the world gives her was too insufficient to fill the sunshine-like Isabel.

It would probably be insufficient for her entire life.

Therefore, she has never received love.

There was a bit of a logical contradiction, but Arun decided not to mind it.

“Aide Asellia’s insight is quite remarkable.”

“Do you understand what I mean?”

Asellia has said similar things many times.

She had quite a few conversations of this kind with her older sister, Armitel, and Armitel always responded like this:

‘Lia, I don’t think so. She’s receiving a lot of love.’

Not only Armitel, but many people didn’t understand Asellia’s thoughts.

But Arun was different.

“Of course, I understand. We need to give her more love.”

“Oh. I’m starting to like Sir Arun for the first time.”

“Me too.”

Until now, they had only been connected through work, so it was difficult for them to understand each other.

But from today onwards, it seemed like they could become a little closer.

“Sir Arun seems like a better person than I thought.”

“Sir Asellia also seems like a better person than I thought.”

“Did you think I was a bad person before?”

“I thought you were a bit scary. I saw a bit of madness…… No, you were the scariest among those who didn’t wield a sword.”

“The scary one would be Sir Arun, not me. People say they only grab onto me, the pushover, and file complaints.”

“……”

As they were connected through work, their relationship couldn’t get any closer.

Then, Arun suddenly looked up behind him.

‘Huh? I think I felt a gaze?’

Arena Palace, 7th floor.

The window of Isabel’s room was open.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Yuri asked me.

“Your Highness, what’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

I’m squatting down below the window.

To be honest, I wasn’t just sitting, I was hiding.

Actually, I don’t even understand myself.

Why did I hide? There’s no reason to hide.

If our eyes met, I could just greet him.

“It’s not nothing, is it? What’s wrong? Was there a bug or something?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s right. There was a bug.”

“Oh my. I’ll be more careful with the cleaning. I’m sorry, were you very surprised?”

Yuri helped me up.

Then, as if she was going to hunt down（?） a non-existent bug, she looked around with fire in her eyes.

“It must have escaped outside. I should have taught it a lesson for surprising our Princess.”

Seeing her clenching her fists and huffing and puffing like a gangster, I burst into laughter.

She seemed to have become much more spirited in the past seven years.

“Yuri, you know.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Even if I leave, this world will flow well according to its principles, right?”

“You promised not to say that.”

Yuri frowned deeply.

“I’m not going to give you the special handmade chocolates I developed this time.”

“……”

If I leave, Arun and Asellia will eventually love each other and live happily ever after, right?

That was the content of the novel.

Perhaps a setting even stronger than the ‘Mark of Narvidal.’

The biggest context that runs through this entire novel.

So, if the variable that is me disappears, there’s a high probability that those two will fall in love as they were originally meant to.

‘They look really good together.’

That was an undeniable fact.

Watching them was like the spring sunshine.

There was a strange refreshing feeling from the two of them.

They were such a well-matched couple that a happy smile would come out just by looking at them.

“Handmade chocolates. I’m really not going to give them to you.”

Yuri was a little sulky, so I had to soothe her a little.

‘It’s right to let things flow according to their principles.’

I thought there was no need to shake Arun’s heart with a little bit of greed right now.

Arun seemed to be a little confused because of his memories with me.

Once I leave, everything will eventually fall back into place.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Asellia originally evaluated Arun like this:

━━━A barbaric human who knows nothing but swordsmanship.

To be more precise, he was a human who didn’t need to care about anything else because he possessed such powerful strength.

Because he could solve most things with his strength.

That didn’t look so good in the eyes of Administrative Officer Asellia.

But now, she added one more line.

━━━However, he is wiser than anyone else when it comes to the Princess.

Arun had exactly two exceptional qualities.

One was swordsmanship, and the other was Isabel.

Arun himself knew that well.

‘Isabel was definitely looking at me.’

But she hid.

It was a good opportunity to see Isabel’s face one more time, which was a shame.

As a few days passed, he was able to realize.

That Isabel was trying to distance herself from him.

‘Why?’

He couldn’t understand the reason.

If he wanted to, he could ask her why right away, but he couldn’t.

He didn’t want to unnecessarily confuse Isabel’s heart.

Arun went to find Grand Duke Rovena.

“Mother, honestly, you don’t need a VIP waiting ticket, do you?”

“It’s not that I don’t need it, but…… it seems like there’s someone who really needs it.”

In the end, Arun half-snatched the VIP waiting ticket from Rovena and had a meeting with Isabel alone.

Arun treated Isabel the same as usual.

As if he didn’t notice anything.

As if he didn’t know anything.

“Isabel, do you remember this?”

Arun took out a ring from his pocket.

It was a ring made of flowers.

“Oh, that…… it looks similar to the flower ring I gave to Dad a long time ago.”

“That’s right.”

“How do you know about that?”

“His Majesty bragged to me about it a lot.”

“Dad did?”

“Yeah. I was dying of envy.”

Arun laughed lightly.

“So, I tried really hard to make one just like it, how is it?”

“It can’t be the same.”

The flower ring Isabel gave to Ron was a flower ring she made when she was four years old.

Naturally, it was clumsy and crude.

But the flower ring Arun made was different.

He didn’t know how he did it, but the petals were overflowing with vitality and luster.

If you didn’t know, it could even look like a flower-shaped jewel.

There seemed to be magical letters engraved on the stem that were barely visible to the naked eye, so it seemed like he had applied some magical treatment.

Arun grinned.

“I’ve become a master flower ring craftsman now. I reached this level while making flower rings while thinking of Isabel.”

『♪♬』 letters appeared above Arun’s head.

He acted as if they appeared naturally because he was in a good mood, but it was actually a very deliberate action.

“Should I teach you how to make flower rings?”

“……What flower rings at this age?”

Arun put the flower ring on Isabel’s finger with a playful smile.

“How is it? Pretty, right?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty.”

It looked like a ring crafted by a renowned jeweler.

“I want to find you a flower ring that really suits you, won’t you go to the flower garden with me?”

“……”

Arun looked at Isabel with pleading eyes.

Just like Honey Badger earnestly wanting its guardian.

“You know I’m using a VIP waiting ticket right now, right?”

While Isabel hesitated, Arun knelt on one knee and extended his right hand.

“I’ll escort you.”

“……”

Isabel was a little conflicted about whether to take his hand or not.

The Imperial Palace flower garden was a space filled with memories of Honey Badger.

If she went there with Arun, many memories would come flooding back.

Would that really be a good thing for them?

Her heart was a little complicated.

“Isabel is always like this.”

Arun had gotten up at some point. And he lifted Isabel into his arms.

“Put me down.”

“Honey Badger originally lives as it pleases.”

“You’re not Honey Badger right now.”

“Honey Badger is me.”

He walked towards the window while holding Isabel tightly.

“Wh, what are you doing?”

“Don’t be surprised. I’m going to lift us up.”

Arun’s body slowly floated up.

“Did you use magic?”

“Yeah. I learned magic while you were sleeping.”

In the novel, Arun was a swordsman who only used swordsmanship.

But he learned magic.

“I just learned magic while researching how I could be helpful to you.”

Arun slowly moved outside the window while holding Isabel.

Little by little, so that Isabel wouldn’t be too scared.

“Isabel, you can read my emotions through mana, right?”

“……Yes.”

“How is it?”

Floating in the air at a height of 7 floors.

But Isabel wasn’t scared.

The emotions and thoughts conveyed through Arun’s mana made Isabel feel safe.

“It’s cozy.”

“Then let’s go to the flower garden.”

Arun flew slowly so that Isabel wouldn’t be scared.

And he kept bringing up old stories.

“Do you remember what I said before?”

“What did you say?”

『Did you see it?』

『Call me, Flying Honey Badger.』

Mana letters were created in front of Isabel’s eyes.

“Now I’m Flying Arun.”

Isabel burst out laughing as she remembered that time.

Arun smiled and reminisced about that time.

“That day, Honey Badger had a really bad stomach ache after eating ramen. But it was happy. It felt like it had accomplished something for Isabel.”

Arun, holding Isabel in his arms, was certain.

This is where I belong.

This moment, holding Isabel, was the moment he became complete.

Seeing Isabel smiling in his arms, it felt like he truly owned the whole world.

‘I can’t live without you.’

However, he couldn’t just shout out ‘I love you, marry me’ recklessly.

Honey Badger would have done that, but Arun wouldn’t.

He approached Isabel more strategically and calculatingly.

By touching on the beautiful memories he had built with Isabel one by one.

“Oh, right. I’m also really good at making flower crowns. Want to see?”

He also made the flower crown they had made together.

Arun looked at Isabel with the flower crown on his head.

Just like Honey Badger did in the past.

Soon, Honey Badger took off the flower crown it had placed on its head and put it on Isabel’s head.

“I’ll give this to you as a gift. Make one for me too, Isabel.”

“……”

As time passed, Isabel was overcome with a strange feeling.

I shouldn’t be doing this, I should keep my distance.

She felt that way, but the flower garden made her heart soft.

‘Okay. This is like reminiscing.’

She also made a flower crown.

It wasn’t as elaborate and pretty as Arun’s, but in Arun’s eyes, it was the most beautiful flower crown in the world.

As if possessed by something, Arun muttered without realizing it.

“It’s really beautiful.”

“Huh?”

“The flowers are beautiful.”

“……Yes.”

“Look around.”

It was strange, but all the surrounding flowers were suddenly in full bloom.

Among the brightly blooming flowers, Arun smiled even more brightly than the flowers.

“And there’s a place I really want to go with you, Isabel, will you come with me?”