I’m in Trouble Because The Emperor Thinks My Time is Limited - Chapter 71

“Anyway, every time you open your mouth, it’s a lie.”

At my offhand remark, Laroche’s face stiffened. The forced smile she added was pathetic.

“A lie, you say?”

“Think about it yourself. I’ll be leaving for today.”

I immediately grabbed Sionel and Melaine’s hands. I could feel their gaze on me, but I stubbornly pulled their arms.

“Let’s go.”

“Wait! Where are you going?!”

“You stay in there a bit longer and reflect. Lying is bad.”

From the opposite cell, Tumel was watching me. I spoke to him.

“Since you attacked our captain of the guard, you should reflect a bit longer there. Later, when you’re out, you’ll have to apologize to him in person, so keep that in mind.”

“Are you really going to leave like this? No, do you think you should?”

“I feel like I lack the courage now, so I’m going to give it a bit more time. I’m magnanimous like that. I’m a better person than I look.”

“…I see.”

Normally, when I brag like this, I’d expect a rebuttal or a disgusted reaction, but Tumel simply nodded.

His dull response made me laugh awkwardly.

I stepped closer to Tumel and whispered softly so only he could hear.

“I’ll come again tomorrow. Please soothe her. Don’t let her cry too much.”

Laroche tried to act nonchalant, but I knew she had cried a lot overnight.

From her swollen eyes and the dried tear marks on her cheeks, it was impossible not to notice.

“Thank you.”

Leaving Tumel, who had bowed his head slightly, I led Sionel and Melaine up the stairs.

The two seemed displeased with my decision to leave like this but silently followed my choice.

I heard Laroche’s voice calling after me from behind. Just as I stepped onto the stairs, I turned back to glance at her after a brief moment of hesitation.

“I was worried because you didn’t come too often.”

Laroche’s voice, which had been filled with anger as she called me, fell silent. As a result, only my voice quietly echoed through the prison.

“I missed you, Laroche.”

With that, I climbed the stairs without hesitation.

As I ascended the long staircase, Laroche’s voice no longer reached me.

***

“You should hate me.”

When Lindel’s departing figure had completely disappeared, Laroche muttered weakly.

On the other side of the corridor, Tumel’s face, watching her, was also full of sorrow.

“You should hate me.”

Her whispered words were tinged with tears she had been holding back. She placed her palm on the floor to cover the teardrops wetting it, as though to erase the evidence.

But as more tears fell onto the back of her hand, it became a futile effort.

“Your wounds will reopen. Stop crying and try to rest.”

Tumel’s voice carried concern toward Laroche.

He had been chasing Lindel alone because Laroche’s injuries had not healed yet.

Having wandered in a state of fragmented essence for so long, the body Laroche had formed from mana had already begun to collapse.

On top of that, she had been severely injured to the point her life was endangered, so her wounds were recovering slowly.

“I never anticipated my heart would stop.”

“……”

“It’s proof that Lindel’s condition is worsening.”

“There were decent people around that child. It’ll be fine even without you.”

Tumel’s attempt to comfort Laroche did not stop her tears.

“I thought I wouldn’t give my heart. I thought I’d steel myself, but I couldn’t. Tumel.”

Once again, a corner of her heart throbbed. This must have been the weight of her guilt.

“That fool, that overly kind fool keeps acting so tenderly. I just can’t.”

“Yes. A good child. Just as you said.”

“When I reached the Imperial Palace, and I saw Lindel’s heart stop, mine sank. Foolishly, seeing that made me realize.”

Her lips, trembling as she held back her sobs, finally confessed what she had repressed.

“I was projecting my child onto Lindel.”

So that’s probably why it was even harder. At the softly added words, Tumel’s face also twisted miserably.

It was a grief so profound that he couldn’t dare say he understood it.

This subject always left him mute. Watching someone precious to him cry—being able only to watch—was agonizing.

“Maybe that’s why I liked Lindel so much.”

A hot tear slid down her pale cheek and fell to the floor once more.

If only her lingering attachments could leave along with her tears, but the unbearably heavy emotions refused to let her go.

“If that child had been alive, they would have grown exactly that much.”

Laroche broke down, recalling someone whose name she had never even called aloud.

Lying on the cold floor of the underground prison, she swallowed all her pain once again today.

***

“Are you really going to forgive her like this?”

As soon as we left the underground prison, Melaine leaned toward me and asked.

Judging by his sulky expression, he didn’t seem to agree with my decision.

“Forgiveness isn’t the issue.”

“Huh? Then?”

“First, I’ll make sure there’s nothing else she’s hiding. Then I’ll interrogate her, point by point.”

I cynically responded, discarding the expression I had worn in front of Tumel.

“…What?”

Melaine trailed off in surprise, but I only smiled more brightly.

“And there’s something far more important than lying. I can’t let that go.”

That cursed red powder.

I still hadn’t forgotten that magic powder that made me retch and curse the world.

Sensing the chilling aura around me, Melaine instinctively stepped back.

But at that moment, I was lifted into the air.

“Wh-what are you doing?!”

It was Sionel, just as he had done in the prison, lifting me into his arms.

“Sionel?”

“I listened to you earlier, so now just stay put.”

Without a hint of emotion, Sionel confidently carried me forward.

“People will see.”

“It’s fine. They’ve probably seen plenty already.”

I was at a loss for words. Thinking about it, being carried like this wasn’t the first or second time.

Over Sionel’s shoulder, I saw the guards stationed at the entrance to the underground prison.

They noticed my gaze and bowed their heads, showing no reaction to our current posture.

“The fact that rumors have spread even here must mean my Imperial Palace life is beyond saving, right?”

“Get used to it. I plan to carry you like this from now on.”

I couldn’t decide whether to like this or not.

“It’s such an eyesore.”

Melaine grumbled at us but didn’t seem to bother either of us.

And so, we crossed the palace corridors. People who noticed us were briefly surprised but soon lowered their heads. Just as Sionel said, they had grown accustomed to the sight.

‘Nothing’s changed from before.’

I thought quietly.

Certainly, I had suddenly become someone with limited time left. Yet nothing about my surroundings had changed because of it.

From the start, I had been misunderstood as someone already dying, so perhaps I was the only one who found this situation unfamiliar.

Maybe because everyone had cried so much for me already, I didn’t feel sad even after learning the truth.

Even Hasina had been surprised by this. She had been startled by how calmly I accepted the situation, more so than I had anticipated.

‘Of course, it might also be because I had no time to dwell on it after hearing about the regression.’

With Laroche’s contract issue added to this situation, I had become indifferent to everything.

“What a life…”

Still, I wasn’t entirely without complaints.

Anyway, we returned to the Empress’s Palace.

Perhaps fearing my wrath, Hasina was already gone. Even Melaine left, saying he’d wait outside, leaving Sionel and me alone in the room.

“Why did you make that wish?”

Had he been holding back all this time? As soon as Melaine stepped out, Sionel asked me as though he had been waiting.

“Well, like I said, it was because of the alcohol…”

“I should’ve approached you from the beginning.”

Embarrassed, I blushed as Sionel murmured quietly.

“If it was going to end up like this anyway, I should have just gone to you from the start.”

Sionel was filled with regret.

As if recalling every moment he had treated me harshly, the atmosphere around him sank into melancholy.

“I thought you were strong enough to be okay. You always smiled no matter what I said, so I thought you wouldn’t be hurt.”

“I’m human too.”

I smiled bitterly.

“When I opened my eyes here again, I promised myself that I would never look for you.”

Sionel hesitated before speaking.

Holding my hands gently, he kissed the back of them.

As he lowered his gaze, his long eyelashes came into view, dampened with sorrow.

“But when I saw you from afar, I was already running. Before I knew it, I was chasing after you.”

I remembered that day.

Late in the afternoon, while tidying up after practice alone.

At the time, I was ostracized among the other apprentice knights because of my background, so I was often alone.

As I prepared to return to the dormitory, carrying my worn wooden sword, Sionel had been standing behind me.

Out of breath and drenched in sweat, he looked at me with an indescribable expression.

“I remember. So I asked you who you were.”

“Who are you?”

When I first met the golden-haired, blue-eyed boy, I hadn’t admired his beauty. Instead, I had been shocked by something else.

I had barely asked who he was when tears began streaming from his sorrowful blue eyes.

“Why, why are you crying?!”

And I had frozen completely at the boy’s next action. He had hugged me.

For the first time, I heard the boy’s voice.

“Lindel.”

His sorrowful voice called my name so clearly that I was too stunned to respond.

And what was even more ridiculous was that the boy ran away, leaving me behind.

That was our first meeting.

“You completely left me in a daze and ran off alone.”

This was the first time Sionel had ever brought up that day.

When we met again after that, he acted like a completely different person, as if nothing had ever happened. Because of that, I still hadn’t heard the truth about that day.

But today, it seemed I would finally get an answer.

“Why did you do that?”

I playfully asked, and Sionel pulled me into his arms.

Just like that day, he held me close. Instead of the faint name from back then, he whispered this time.

“I was afraid you’d disappear. Even while holding you like this, I was terrified you’d vanish. That’s what scared me.”

The grown-up version of himself confessed what the younger him had felt.

The trembling from back then was gone, but we felt as if we had returned to that day.

“Thank you for finding me, for seeking out the foolish boy who ran away.”

I hugged his back and leaned my head against him.

For a long time, I had regretted not hugging that boy back then. Perhaps if I had, he wouldn’t have run away.

“Thank you for not giving up on me.”

In the languid afternoon, as the sunset painted the sky, our long-overdue kiss was warm.