The Time-Limited Duchess Will Do Anything For Eternal Life

Translator: Yonnee

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────Chapter 1

0. If I had known that there was such a thing as reincarnation

She wanted to live in this moment forever.

Material wealth, honor, good friends, a devoted husband, and a loving son. Archmage Asmov Rubaltberg was so happy that all she wished was to stop time forever.

But no matter how great a mage was, this was an impossible feat. So she came up with another way.

‘If I can make a potion that won’t make me old or sick, I can live forever.’

Since then, she had been locked up in her home with the sole purpose of researching the method to make an ‘Elixir’, which would grant her immortality.

It had been six long, yet short years, and she had finally managed to create an Elixir even against people’s opposition.

However, her long-cherished dream of living with her loved ones forever became futile.

‘Why? Why?! Why did you kill Gilford and Eddie?! WHY?!’

It was the betrayal of a friend she trusted and confided in the most. Ludwald, the First Emperor of the Castaros Empire who conquered the continent with her, killed her husband and child. And he did so without any prompting.

‘I won’t forgive you. I won’t forgive you even if you die! You and all of those things that follow your blood!’

She killed Ludwald and then herself, but before that, she placed a terrible curse onto his descendants. She was prepared to do anything, even if it meant she would descend into hell.

‘If I had known that there was such a thing as reincarnation, I wouldn’t have done any of that.’

If she had known that she herself would become a descendant of Ludwald, she would not have placed that curse.

·✦·

1. The Time Limited Duchess; In Pursuit of Eternal Life

“Karia, are you listening to me?”

“—Ah, yes.”

“So, you mustn’t divorce. You mustn’t!” the Emperor exclaimed.

Her name right now was Caria Pantheon, who is the illegitimate child of the only brother of the Emperor, the Grand Duke. She was a ‘poor woman’ who had been subjected to the harsh humiliation and domestic abuse in this household after marrying the Duke of Pantheon.

“Wife, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll show you a different side of myself from now on. So please give me one more chance,” her husband begged.

“Now, now. See how Duke Pantheon cares for you. Doesn’t he have a generous heart?”

The moment Caria mentioned the word ‘divorce’, everyone tried to stop her. They forced her to forgive and understand her husband, even as she was on the brink of death every time she was beaten black and blue, both physically and mentally. Her husband would say that it was all for her sake.

‘Is this why Caria couldn’t even bring up divorce, so she chose to kill herself?’

Caria was so overwhelmed by the urge to sharpen her tongue and lash out at them.

When she miraculously revived from the suicide attempt and regained her past life’s memories, she was no longer the former Caria. She knew that she didn’t have to nod obediently to the head of the family.

It wasn’t just a month, or just a year. She was being abused for six years. It was the same time she managed to make the Elixir. They abused and neglected her for that long of a time.

Now, she had much more important things to do than crave for anything like this damn ‘love’.

‘I don’t have time. I don’t know in what form or shape Gilford and Eddie would be in after they’d been reincarnated, but I need to meet them again soon so we can regain our lost happiness!’

She looked sharply into the eyes of the people who she didn’t want to call family members as they continued to try and fool her with their nonsense.

Her father, who held onto the position of the Grand Duke, but would not hold Caria’s hand even as she reached out for help.

Her first brother, who would stab daggers into her heart as he pretended to be a gentleman in front of other people.

Her second brother, who was always on the other family members’ side even as he pretended to care for her.

The Emperor and her cousins who always looked at her with disapproval for staining the reputation of the Grand Duke.

They all pretended to be blind when faced with her shattered heart.

Because of that, Caria had no intention of preserving their feelings or ‘honor’ any longer.

“—Then it’s my fault.”

“What?”

“Everything is my fault.”

She somehow needed to establish this divorce. And she needed the right reasons for it.

“I actually have a hidden child.”

Her confession, which no one had ever thought about in their lives, made everyone in the room freeze.

“I want to live as that child’s mother now. I don’t want to continue being a Duchess.”

This time-limited Duchess would do anything for eternal life. Even if it meant throwing dung right in her family’s faces.

* * *

[ If you borrowed money from an alchemist, make sure to pay it back on time. Otherwise, no one knows how big the interest would be. ]

When mythical heroes were still alive, this was a joke that even a child on the streets knew. At that time, alchemists were people who were taken for granted because they were everywhere.

Alchemists were those who twisted reality. They could transform a glass full of soil and make it a glass full of water, a handful of fire into a handful of wind.

They could also gather the mana that lingered in the atmosphere and turned it into new phenomena.

Some called this mysterious transformation as ‘magic’, and because of this, alchemists were also called by a different name and were known as ‘mages’.

It was also well known that they were the epitome of being miserly and stingy because of the nature of their ‘magic’.

[ Equivalent exchange. The exchange of goods of equal value. ]

Even the most talented alchemists could not conjure even a glass of water by itself.

The same was true with any of the magic they did. To ordinary people, it seemed like their magic would come out of thin air. But in fact, that ‘magic’ was the product of thorough calculations and secret exchanges underneath it all.

Therefore, any alchemist was naturally stingy about any contract they would enter. There was no exception at all, even if the other person signing the contract was a close friend or a relative.

So because of this, Caria was more sincere about revenge than anyone else.

While ruminating on the truth, the alchemist, who once stood at the top of the continent, stared down at Akali, the First Empress of Castaros.

’Please, please don’t do this! Please show us mercy! Asmo—no, Master Asmov! The children are innocent! Please!’

‘My only child was innocent, too, but what did Ludwald do to him?’

Archmage Asmov Rubaltberg. She was a friend, a loyal retainer, and a trusted adviser to Ludwald, who was the First Emperor of the Castaros Empire who unified the countries of the continent. Ever since they were younger, they fought bravely side by side and achieved victory on those battlefields together.

And the power he tasted after twenty years broke the trust they had in each other.

Ludwald began to distance himself from Asmov, who had a strong support base even after he was enthroned as Emperor.

She could only laugh bitterly as she thought back to just wanting to be a friend to him. After all, the nature of their relationship was ruler and servant.

And yet, Ludwald crossed the line he should never have crossed.

’He knew better than anyone how much I longed for a family. And yet I—! I had wandered around the battlefield every single day without knowing if I would die today or if I would die tomorrow. My family was my entire existence, and yet he took away my only sanctuary!’

‘There must be an understanding, Ash! You know Ludwald, right? No matter how far apart you’ve strayed from each other, you should know him! There’s no way he would have killed Gilford and Eddie without a reason!’

At what the Empress said, Asmov closed her eyes and bit her lips. Blood thicker than the flames trickled down her chin.

Gilford was her husband. He was a kind lover who made her heart flutter just thinking about him. He was her first love, and he would be her last as well.

And Eddie, her soft, lovely son whose height had yet to reach her waist. Although she wouldn’t be able to give birth again after having Eddie, she never blamed the child.

Asmov did everything in the world for the sake of her two loved ones. Compared to the happiness they gave her for every fleeting moment, no matter how much she tried to repay them with the same grace, she always felt indebted. They gave her such joy in this life that she felt like it was a debt she would never be able to repay.

That’s the reason why she made the leap and decided to make an ‘Elixir’ that would make anyone live forever without getting sick or old. She was going to drink that potion with her family so that they could be together forever.

But it was all shattered by Ludwald.

’Misunderstood? Yes, I thought that, too. So I swallowed the blood and tears that I’ve shed and went to Ludwald. But he didn’t make any excuses. I went on my knees and begged him to tell me—tell me anything. And yet he just looked down at me without saying a word.’

‘That can’t be true!’

‘Now I’m sure. It was a huge mistake on my part to make him Emperor. That’s why I’ve corrected that mistake, Akali, with this hand.’

At one glance, Asmov’s clothes could be seen soaked with blood. There was no anger or any other emotion on her face, just a disinterested apathy, as though everything in her had evaporated.

Her hands reached out to the two princes, who shrank in terror. Panicked, Empress Akali immediately hid her children behind her slender body.

’Don’t do this, please! I-I heard you already took revenge on Ludwald… heuk! If it’s him who did something wrong, kill only him!’

‘—No. Not yet. I haven’t avenged Eddie yet.’

‘Stop! Just stop it! Have you already forgotten that I saved you?!’

Akali had already lost her senses after hearing that her husband had died. She felt like she was about to collapse, but she couldn’t fall unconscious now. Even though her face full of despair had become so marred with tear streaks, she still had her children to protect.

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