I’m in Trouble Because The Emperor Thinks My Time is Limited - Chapter 21

The commotion from outside reached us. It seemed to be the priests who had been waiting with Sionel.

Despite their screams, I stood frozen, drenched in cold sweat, staring at the scene in front of me.

With just one collision, the white walls had crumbled, revealing the steel framework beneath.

The sheer force left me speechless.

“You’re impressive for a human,” Melaine said, his eyes now transformed back to their strange reptilian shape. He pointed at Sionel with a combative smile.

“I’m really curious now. How did you know I was a dragon?”

“There’s no reason to answer a bastard like you,” Sionel retorted, surrounded by a silent whirlwind of blue flames. Melaine seemed somewhat impressed by it.

The heat from the flames was blocked by the mana barrier encasing me, so it didn’t reach me. Still, my heart pounded wildly in my chest, filled with unease.

Sionel’s power was far greater than I had imagined. But despite that, the odds remained against him.

A fight between a human and a dragon was an impossibility—no matter what, I had to stop them.

‘What should I do?’

I wracked my brain, but no solution came to mind. Unknowingly, I clutched my heart as it trembled with fear. At that moment, I felt a strange heat rising from deep within my chest.

‘What is this?’

The heat grew, spreading throughout my heart as if it were setting my entire chest ablaze. However, what was even stranger was that it didn’t feel painful. My body was accepting the heat as if it were natural.

Right then, I realized something was happening to me.

‘I can use Aura.’

The trembling in my weakened body stopped, and a surge of energy flowed from my feet to the rest of my body. Even just sitting still, my erratic breathing calmed, and the senses I had lost quickly returned.

I hadn’t felt this way since the day I had vomited blood after making the contract.

‘But why all of a sudden?’

As I puzzled over the sudden change, the fierce battle continued in front of me. Sparks of magic flew, the blinding flashes illuminating the cracking and collapsing walls around us.

There was no more time to think. Without hesitation, I stepped back from the mana barrier.

Right now, I could break through it. Though my body couldn’t naturally wield mana, I was adept at handling Aura, and that was the very reason I had chosen the path of the sword.

As I concentrated Aura into my hands, my muscles—long dormant—began to stir. A smile crept onto my face without me even realizing it.

The chains that had been binding me had disappeared, and the feeling was exhilarating.

“All this time…”

The exhilaration quickly transformed into anger, anger at all the things that had frustrated me up until now.

With a roar, I hurled my fist at the mana barrier.

“I told you to stop!”

—Crack.

With a splintering sound, cracks spread across the barrier, and it shattered, falling to the ground in pieces.

At the sound, both Sionel and Melaine turned to look at me. I met their startled gazes and grinned fiercely.

Their shocked faces nearly made me burst out laughing.

For people who don’t listen, sometimes a little force is the answer.

I wasn’t thinking about the consequences—I just planned to dive into the middle of the fight. At that moment, I felt like I couldn’t lose to anyone.

But as soon as I took my first step forward over the shards of the broken mana barrier…

‘What?’

My condition suddenly changed.

***

Lindel felt the energy coursing through her body rapidly drain away. Like air escaping a balloon, her strength left her, and she collapsed onto the floor in a heap.

—Thud.

The graceless fall caused the area to fall silent. The spells that had been flying between Sionel and Melaine ceased, and an uncomfortable quiet settled over the room.

“……”

Lindel couldn’t lift her head out of sheer embarrassment.

‘Why… why did my strength suddenly vanish?!’

She wanted to stand up and pretend everything was fine, but she didn’t even have the strength to wiggle a finger. It felt as if the burst of energy from before had been a lie, and now her body was unbearably heavy.

“Lindel!”

“Hey! Are you okay?”

The two men reacted belatedly.

Sionel rushed over to Lindel, while Melaine, with a shocked expression, extended his hand towards her.

Though the fight had stopped as she had hoped, Lindel suddenly wished she could die from shame. The memory of her confident outburst just moments earlier only made her feel more embarrassed.

Lindel wished she could turn to stone right where she had fallen.

“Lindel!”

But there was no way Sionel would just leave her there. He helped her up, his eyes scanning her body for any signs of injury, filled with worry.

Though her body had frozen out of embarrassment, Sionel misunderstood it entirely.

“What… what on earth…”

Sionel seemed greatly alarmed by Lindel’s trembling arms. But to her, the shaking was nothing more than a result of sore muscles.

‘This is just from moving so much!’

As Lindel bit her lip in shame, Sionel reached out with trembling hands to pull her lip free from her teeth.

“Where does it hurt? Lindel, please… don’t…”

All the murderous intent from before had vanished from Sionel’s face, leaving behind only the fearful expression of a child. He must have been reminded of the moment when she had been lying motionless earlier.

Lindel was actually fine, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything out of sheer humiliation. More importantly, if Melaine decided to attack again in this defenseless moment, both of them would be doomed.

This isn’t the time to be like this!

Forcing her stiff neck to move, Lindel turned to look at Melaine. He, too, was standing frozen, his reaction just as extreme as Sionel’s.

‘What’s with him?’

Melaine’s expression mirrored Sionel’s, as if he were in shock. As she frowned in confusion, Lindel suddenly felt a familiar sensation rising from the back of her throat.

Before she could grasp what was happening, hot blood surged up her throat and spilled out.

“Ugh—”

Blood gushed out, soaking not only her face but also her neck and the floor beneath her. It all happened so quickly that Lindel, still dazed, locked eyes with the equally stunned Sionel.

She would have preferred to pass out, but even that didn’t happen this time.

Sionel’s trembling eyes told her that he knew what was coming next.

But unexpectedly, it was Melaine who reacted first.

“You… you…!”

Melaine was horrified by what was happening to Lindel. He had seen her cough up blood earlier, but this was on a completely different scale.

The amount of blood now filling the air with the stench of iron made it seem as if she could die at any moment, her face pale as she lay there.

‘Why so suddenly?!’

Her soul was still intact, and during his confrontation with Sionel, Lindel had been safely protected by the mana shield. There was no reason for her to be affected by their fight.

‘Her soul is perfectly fine!’

Even though she had an unusually faint dragon scent and weak powers, apart from her soul, there had been no issue with Lindel’s body.

Melaine stared at her, convinced that he had missed something. Otherwise, there was no way someone who had seemed fine could suddenly collapse and vomit blood like this.

“What’s going on with Lindel’s soul?”

At that moment, Sionel’s sharp voice snapped Melaine out of his thoughts. His eyes, which had been shaking with uncertainty, quickly regained their resolve.

Before Melaine could respond, Sionel demanded again, his voice cutting through the silence.

“What’s happening with her soul?!”

“There’s no issue with her soul.”

“Go and fetch a priest immediately.”

Sionel gave the command as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Normally, Melaine would have reacted aggressively, but in his panicked state, he simply nodded and dashed out of the room.

Even though he could have used teleportation as a dragon, Melaine was too flustered to think straight.

Meanwhile, Sionel carefully lifted Lindel and laid her on the bed.

Since she had collapsed right beside the bed, the bed itself had escaped the destruction that had befallen the rest of the room.

“Can you speak?”

Sionel rubbed Lindel’s trembling arm, seemingly trying to restore circulation. She looked at him, managing a weak nod.

“I’m… fine.”

Though the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, speaking wasn’t difficult.

“Don’t pass out. Don’t fall asleep. Not this time. I know it’s hard, but hold on. The priest will be here soon.”

Even without Sionel’s words, Lindel was in no danger of fainting. Her mind was far too clear, and sleep seemed impossible.

‘Now that I think about it, this is strange.’

Previously, whenever she had vomited this much blood, she would feel dizzy and on the verge of collapse. But now, she felt remarkably fine.

Unlike her heavy limbs, her insides felt surprisingly calm. She wasn’t even out of breath.

‘Something’s different from usual.’

The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. As Lindel pondered the oddities with her unusually clear mind, a loud clatter heralded Melaine’s return.

“I brought him!”

With that, Melaine dropped someone who had been floating in midair onto the floor.

“Miss Lindel! Are you alright?!”

Seeing the familiar face, Lindel scowled. Of all people, Melaine had brought the problematic priest.

Unaware of Lindel’s feelings, Melaine spoke, “I brought the most skilled human from the group waiting outside the temple.”

“Miss Lindel! You can trust me!”

Despite being forcibly dragged in midair, the priest wasn’t scared at all, shouting confidently.

There had clearly been other people outside, so why had Melaine chosen to bring this guy?!

Lindel glared resentfully at Melaine, but he interpreted her expression differently.

‘She must be in terrible pain!’

“I brought the most competent-looking human I could find, so don’t worry!”

Unaware of Lindel’s scornful gaze, Melaine dragged the priest closer.