I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit – Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Teacher Viaton looked at me with a warm expression.

He knelt on one knee, met my eyes, and said,

“It’s okay if you’re not perfect. Princess, you’re only seven years old.”

His expression and tone were filled with such firm conviction that I felt a little relieved.

Sir Viaton was always someone who gave me a strange sense of stability.

“You’re still at an age where you’re learning a lot, so there’s no need to blame yourself.”

“……Really?”

“It’s true that you were a little wrong just now.”

Sir Viaton gently pointed out my ‘wrongdoing’. However, there was no sign of him blaming or criticizing me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Even if you were a little wrong, my world was just filled with miracles.”

“……Huh?”

Ugh, my resistance to cringe.

Thanks to Teacher Viaton’s words, I was able to regain my composure.

“Because seeing you happy is a miracle to me.”

“……Th-Thank you for saying that.”

Such expressions were still unfamiliar to me, someone who had lived in the modern world.

However, Sir Viaton’s sincerity was fully conveyed.

Just because his expression wasn’t refined, it didn’t mean his heart wasn’t.

“Shall I sing you a lullaby?”

“Yes, please.”

Sir Viaton tucked me in and sang a lullaby in a clear and soft voice.

Sleepiness washed over me.

I was almost in a trance.

“I’m glad I’m seven years old.”

I didn’t even know what I was saying.

I think I just said something, but maybe I was just muttering in my sleep.

In my sleep, I heard Teacher Viaton’s voice.

“Seven years old……”

Huh? I think Sir Viaton said something……

“……old.”

But my body couldn’t fight sleep.

He definitely said something just now……

I couldn’t remember.

When I opened my eyes, it was morning.

After covering Isabel with a blanket, Viaton stayed by her side for a long time.

He heard Isabel talking in her sleep.

“I’m glad I’m seven years old.”

Viaton smiled.

“Honestly, you’re too thoughtful for your age.”

He wanted to talk to himself, but he didn’t want Isabel to wake up because of it, so he used his mana.

He gently covered Isabel’s ears so that she wouldn’t hear him talking to himself.

“You don’t have to feel that sorry.”

It’s okay to be a little happy. It’s okay to be so caught up in that joy that you forget about the people who were hurt.

He thought that the Princess, who was only seven years old, didn’t need to consider all those things and feel every emotion.

She only had 14 years left, even if they were filled with complete joy.

But Isabel talked in her sleep again.

“……want.”

Viaton looked closely at Isabel. And he was quite shocked.

‘Is she having a sad dream?’

Tears were streaming down Isabel’s eyes.

He listened closely to what she was saying.

Her voice was so small and her pronunciation was so unclear that Viaton used magic to amplify her voice and correct her pronunciation to understand.

Isabel’s words reached him.

“I don’t want to be hated.”

Viaton stared at Isabel, frozen like a statue.

Isabel clearly said, ‘I don’t want to be hated’.

“I’m just sick.”

Viaton bit his lip slightly.

That’s right.

Isabel is just a little sick and will die sooner than others.

“I’m sorry.”

Isabel was a genius with an innate ability to sense mana.

The mana, which was in sync with Isabel’s emotions, fluctuated wildly.

Viaton was an excellent magic swordsman, and through that mana, he could see how much fear Isabel was feeling.

“What are you so afraid of?”

With that small, seven-year-old body. What kind of experiences did she have, and what kind of imagination did she have?

How could she be feeling such deep fear……?

“What makes you so afraid, Princess?”

Isabel’s unconscious mind always recalled her past life.

In her past life, she received a lot of support and encouragement, but on the other hand, she had to endure a lot of hatred and insults.

━–She’s just playing on people’s emotions.

━–Prove that you’re really sick lol. This is all a show.

━–How can she study if she’s so sick? Isn’t she just putting on a show to get sponsorships? Disgusting, yuck.

Numerous positive comments were posted on her articles, and a considerable number of negative comments followed.

Compared to the positive comments, the number of negative comments was quite small, but most of what was strongly imprinted in her mind were the negative comments.

That’s why, when she was young, she used to pull the covers over her head and cry.

‘I’m scared. I’m so scared, Teacher.’

When she was gripped by extreme fear, she couldn’t even hear the doctor.

She could only fall asleep after being given a sedative.

The mass media was like countless eyes, and it was too much surveillance for her as a child to handle.

“Someone is chasing me. Scary monsters are watching me.”

As she got older, her anxiety improved a lot, but it still remained deep in her heart and had a significant impact on the formation of her ego.

Viaton drew up mana with a soothing nature and covered Isabel’s entire room with it.

It had a similar effect to a modern sedative.

“Princess. It’s okay. No one’s chasing you.”

Through the wildly fluctuating mana, Viaton saw through Isabel’s psychological state.

Isabel’s heart was filled with turbulent waves.

“There are no scary monsters either.”

Viaton gently stroked Isabel’s head with his large hand.

He couldn’t be a father, but at least at this moment, he wanted to be the most dependable father figure in the world.

“Even if there are, I’ll get rid of them.”

After some time, Isabel gradually regained her composure and fell into a deep sleep.

Viaton stayed by Isabel’s side all through that dawn.

Viaton’s gaze was deeper than ever.

‘She’s not just a bright child like the sun.’

He had misunderstood Isabel.

He thought she was just a deep-hearted and overly kind Princess.

Deep down in her heart, there was a fear so great that he couldn’t even imagine it.

‘Yes. That’s natural. That’s so natural.’

Even he, an adult, is afraid when he thinks about death. So how scared must this seven-year-old child be?

‘I’m happy’, ‘It’s a gift’, all those words were actually another way of saying ‘I’m scared’, ‘Please protect me’. That’s what it was.

Viaton, who had no way of knowing about Isabel’s past life, came to that conclusion.

He made a resolution in his heart.

‘I have to find a way.’

A curse that humanity has not yet conquered.

A way to overcome the ‘Mark of Narvidal’.

Rahella, one of the Seven Kings, frowned.

“What? The Princess?”

In the >After the Terminally Ill Villainess Dies> world, the Emperor and the Kings were almost equal in status.

They were supposed to be like partners in a strategic alliance.

Originally, that was the case, but the current Emperor, Ron, and Serna’s Bilotian Empire were so powerful that a hierarchical relationship had solidified.

Anyway, the Emperor and the Kings were in a cooperative relationship, and in terms of rank, the Kings were higher than the Princess.

“No, why that little girl? What can a seven-year-old do?”

“However, having inherited the Bilotian physique, she will be able to do the work of several adult men.”

“No, what is she going to do? If she comes to volunteer, we have to escort her, take care of her needs, do you have any idea how many people will have to be mobilized?”

“That’s why she wants to volunteer in disguise. She wants to be treated the same as ordinary volunteers.”

“Oh, that’s easy to say, her parents are the Empress and the Emperor.”

However, there was no reason to stop the Princess from volunteering, so Rahella eventually allowed it.

A few days later, the Princess arrived at the Royal Palace of the ‘Alphea’ Kingdom, ruled by Rahella.

“You arrived quickly.”

“Yes, I used the TeyIsabel Transfer Gate.”

Rahella had a brief conversation with Isabel.

She could tell from just a few words.

‘She’s a bright and warm child with no wrinkles’ …… that’s what everyone would think.

‘But I mustn’t forget that this child is also a child of the Bilotian Imperial Family.’

It was highly likely that this appearance was carefully staged.

Moreover, this child was the youngest Olympiad champion and the genius who created the TeyIsabel Transfer Gate.

‘Therefore, her innocence must be a mask.’

She thought that her decision to volunteer was also based on thorough political calculations.

‘I have to get rid of the thought that she’s only 7 years old.’

She had to treat her the same way she would treat an adult. Rahella decided that.

Since the other side had come here with a political strategy, this side also had to gain what it could.

She asked casually,

“Isabel. Do you remember the first day of the last Royal Assembly?”

“Yes, of course.”

“You must know that the Royal Assembly ended very quickly, unlike usual.”

At that time, Empress Serna had thrown a topic to the Kings.

The mystery of that time was still unsolved.

“Can you tell me what happened at midnight that day?”

“……Huh?”

Rahella wanted to understand the Emperor and Empress’s true intentions through the Princess.

‘Midnight, which is coming soon, is the day His Majesty is looking forward to. And it’s the day he wants to be the most tired.’

It was nonsense from the beginning.

So, of course, she thought it was a code that hid the true meaning.

“What does it mean that His Majesty the Emperor, who has a body of steel, a body that can never get tired, wants to be the most tired on that day?”

Isabel’s eyes widened.

“Did Father really say that?”