I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit – Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Isabel answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Yes. Alright.”

At least on the surface, Isabel didn’t seem scared at all.

However, Duke Rovena saw right through her.

‘Her legs are shaking like leaves, aren’t they?’

She was desperately trying not to show it, but it was obvious.

It was so cute that she almost burst out laughing, but she held it back.

“Five years.”

“Alright, five years.”

“Then let’s go to the temple. Where’s the nearest temple from here?”

“But I can’t go right now.”

“What?”

Rovena grinned. At the same time, a cold wind blew.

“It would be in your best interest not to try any tricks, Princess.”

“I’m not trying any tricks.”

Isabel was terrified, but she still clenched her skirt and squeezed out a voice that wouldn’t come out.

“Right now……”

“What?”

“I can’t go right now because I’m volunteering. I’m needed here.”

“What do you mean?”

Isabel still had things to do.

“I promised Ajusshi Hector. I promised to cast magic on the pulley every day, and I promised to make sure the wind from the Siberun Mana Stone doesn’t stop in the kitchen.”

Without Isabel, the work would be twice as hard.

The volunteers who struggled in the kitchen every day would have to suffer in the heat.

“So please give me a little time. I’ll keep my promise.”

“Hmm, what should I believe about you to keep your promise?”

Unable to stand it any longer, Viaton shouted.

“Teacher! That’s too much!”

“If it was too much, I would have killed this honey badger.”

“……”

At that, Viaton shut his mouth.

Rovena was secretly pleased.

“So there was a way to shut that chattering mouth.”

Usually, Viaton wouldn’t back down.

Even if she tried to subdue him with force, through swordsmanship or magic, that mouth wouldn’t stop.

But today, Viaton’s reaction was very different.

“It’s quite interesting that my annoying disciple’s weakness is Princess Isabel.”

“Teacher……”

Isabel stretched out her arm and blocked Viaton, cutting him off.

“Teacher. This is my responsibility. If I’m going to pay for this child’s life, it’s only natural that I risk my own life as well. My position right now is to ask for a favor, not to raise my voice. So please let me speak.”

“……Princess.”

Viaton clenched his fists.

For the past 10 years, he had achieved tremendous growth, but as soon as he stood in front of Duke Rovena, he could feel it.

He was still weak in front of his teacher.

‘I’m still so weak.’

There was a time when he thought he had become strong. It was true that, excluding absolute powerhouses like Ron and Rovena, he didn’t have many opponents.

So Viaton’s thirst for strength had almost disappeared.

‘I have to get stronger.’

If I were stronger. Then I could fight Rovena and ignore her demands.

I could pay for Honey Badger’s life in another way.

He bit his lip.

‘I’ve been too complacent.’

A small but large flame began to burn in Viaton’s heart.

Meanwhile, Rovena asked again.

“I asked what you could prove your promise with.”

“I’ll give you this.”

Isabel put her hand in her bosom.

There was a small subspace pocket in her bosom, and she took out a roughly woven flower crown from it.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a flower crown I made with Honey. It’s very precious to me.”

“You’re going to give me that as a token of your promise?”

Rovena held back a chuckle that was trying to escape.

‘Her legs are still shaking.’

Her eyes observed everything about Isabel.

The Dragon Eye（龍眼） possessed the power to intuitively grasp everything and sense things close to the truth.

‘She really cherishes it, doesn’t she?’

What’s so great about that flower crown?

She couldn’t understand why she cherished it so much.

‘I don’t know why, but I don’t feel bad.’

It was about time for Arun, in the form of Honey Badger, to wake up.

She had to wrap this situation up.

“Alright, I’ll take it as a token of your promise since it’s so precious to you. How much time do you need?”

Isabel turned her head to look for someone.

She found one person, the foreman Hector, mixed in with the crowd.

“Foreman, how many more days do I have to work?”

“Th, th, that is……”

Hector’s body trembled.

The fact that the person who had been helping them was the Princess was too shocking.

“I’m sorry for hiding my identity. I didn’t want it to be known.”

“Oh, no! Absolutely not. I, I……!”

Isabel could fully understand Hector’s bewilderment.

However, given the circumstances, she needed to press Hector.

If she wasted time, that whimsical eccentric Duke Rovena might harm Honey Badger.

“I asked how many more days I have to work.”

“Or, originally, it would have taken about a month, but if, if you, Princess, join us, it, it will take about 5, 5 days!”

“Thank you.”

Isabel looked at Rovena.

“Five days. Please postpone it for five days.”

“Alright, I will.”

Rovena flung the Honey Badger she was holding.

Isabel threw herself to the ground and caught Honey Badger.

Her clothes were covered in dirt, and her knees and elbows were scraped, but she didn’t care about any of that.

‘Thank goodness. Thank goodness.’

Honey Badger seemed to be just asleep. He was breathing peacefully.

Large tears rolled down Isabel’s eyes.

She was so happy that Honey Badger was safe.

Isabel’s tears fell onto Honey Badger’s body.

Seeing that, Viaton clenched his fists so tightly that they bled, and Duke Rovena suddenly disappeared.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Rovena walked out of the gate and walked for a long time.

Her pace was so fast that it was almost impossible for ordinary people to imagine, let alone follow her.

But someone followed her.

“How about revealing yourself now?”

A wasteland with no proper roads.

In this desert-like place where most of the plants had withered due to the recent long dry spell, Rovena greeted someone.

He was covering his entire body and face with a thick robe.

“What brings the busy Emperor to such a remote place?”

It was Ron, the Emperor of the Bilotian Empire.

He took off the hood of his robe.

“If you want to take that child’s five years, you’ll have to give up your neck.”

“Is that so?”

Rovena faced Ron.

They looked at each other at a distance where their swords would touch if they were to extend them.

Rovena twirled her blue hair with her index finger.

“Then why didn’t you reveal yourself earlier?”

“……”

Srng━━━

A clear sword sound rang out.

“You’re drawing your sword after all.”

The smile disappeared from Rovena’s face.

Since the only being who could make Rovena nervous had drawn his sword, she couldn’t just fool around anymore.

“But you know what you’re doing is shameful, right, Your Majesty? That’s why you didn’t show yourself earlier and appeared here.”

“……”

“This flower crown is a token of promise. You saw it yourself, so you know it’s not a lie.”

A life is paid for with a life.

Since she saved the life of the honey badger that attacked people, she has to pay the appropriate price.

Princess Isabel, the owner of the honey badger, even notarized it.

“If Your Majesty acts like this now, what will become of the Princess’s dignity? The dignity of the Imperial Family? The honor and tradition we’ve upheld all this time?”

Rovena’s words were all true.

Also, it was something the Princess chose and took responsibility for, so it was actually something to praise her for.

Logically, it was.

“This isn’t like the Your Majesty I knew, who only thought about the prosperity of the Empire and the honor of the Imperial Family. And you also know that your actions could turn me, the Grand Duke of Sky Island, into an enemy, right?”

“……”

Rovena read Ron’s energy through her Dragon Eye.

She felt an intensely murderous aura that was unbelievable for a human.

Her Dragon Eye stung so much that her eyes hurt.

“You’re not unaware of how important a strategic asset Elbe’s Sky Island is to the Bilotian Empire.”

“……”

“Was that child’s five years that important to Your Majesty?”

Rovena’s eyes narrowed.

Rovena deliberately revealed her worth and position.

To help the Emperor, who seemed to have lost his reason for a moment, regain it.

‘If he thinks about it a little more logically, he’ll probably put away his sword. He’ll naturally answer no.’

That’s the Emperor’s choice.

Rovena was sure of it.

But that certainty was shattered.

“Yes.”

“……What? I didn’t hear you right, can you say that again?”

Ron was very reluctant to say these words.

He rarely revealed his true feelings in front of others, and it was even more so because it was a feeling related to Isabel.

“That child’s five years.”

“Yes, that child’s five years.”

“……”

“Please be clear.”

“That child’s five years are more precious than everything you mentioned.”

Rovena felt something strange for a moment.

‘Huh? What is this?’

Something new was caught in her Dragon Eye.

She read something special in Ron.

It was something that even Rovena, who had been acquainted with Ron for decades, had never seen before.