How to Save a Time-Limited Heroine

Kaltara returned to the Count residence.

The first place she visited was Deltain’s office.

“Boss! I’m back!”

She laughed heartily and opened the door with a bang.

Deltain looked at her with only his eyes, resting his chin on his hand.

He wore a disinterested expression.

“Did you cause any trouble…?”

“We parted with a smile!”

“You weren’t the only one smiling, were you?”

“The princess was smiling too!”

Deltain skeptically examined Kaltara’s expression.

Then, with a sigh, he shook off his doubts.

“Well, she’s not the type to be shaken by something like this.”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing.”

Deltain then activated his mana.

A dark void appeared in front of Deltain.

He reached into it and pulled out a small gem.

He threw it to Kaltara and said.

“It’s a mission.”

“What kind?”

“A master’s mark. Find the one sending signals to it.”

“Hmm? You couldn’t find them yourself?”

“There are no signals. I’ve been holding it all this time, waiting, but the bastard must have caught on because he’s not sending any signals at all.”

“Do you know what kind of demon it is?”

“The name is Gaias. Rumor has it that it’s related to hearts.”

Kaltara furrowed her brow in confusion.

“Hmm, what an unusual one.”

Generally, demons were born from emotions or concepts.

Thus, the phenomena caused by a demon’s influence usually aligned with that focus.

In this case, the demon was unique.

“A heart, you say? I don’t get it.”

“I don’t have any more clues. The only thing I know is that those possessed by the demon complain of heart pains.”

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. Anything else?”

“Look in the underground waterways. That’s where I found the master’s mark.”

Kaltara nodded and placed the gem in her bosom.

She then looked at Deltain intently.

Deltain’s expression twisted.

“… what.”

“Do you like the princess?”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Do you want to breed with her?”

“Hey.”

Deltain’s face darkened menacingly.

“Are you picking a fight?”

“Never mind.”

Kaltara laughed heartily and waved her hand dismissively.

With a shamelessly innocent smile, she said.

“The princess seems to be interested.”

“She probably has nothing but those thoughts in her head.”

Deltain snorted and waved his hand.

“Now, get out. I have a book to read.”

“Rest well!”

Kaltara left the office.

*

Agnes recalled her conversation with Kaltara from the previous day.

-I think the lady will pathetically cling on.

The idea of her begging Deltain for her life.

It left her with an inexplicable sense of deep curiosity.

‘Me?’

What did Kaltara see in her?

Or perhaps it was a statement born out of trust in Deltain.

-The boss is tenacious. And he always wins with that tenacity.

Agnes knew his personality well.

It certainly had something to do with that.

Agnes rolled her eyes and looked at Deltain.

Today, he was tending to her with his usual expressionless face, handling her wrist.

Agnes’s lips moved slightly.

“How did you meet Kaltara?”

“I found her in the western highlands.”

“How?”

“I went there to hunt demons. She seemed useful, so I brought her along.”

“Is she strong?”

“She’s in the top three among those I know. Of course, excluding me.”

“Hmm…”

Agnes wiggled her fingertips.

Deltain furrowed his brow and said.

“Stay still. It’s distracting.”

“Sorry.”

Agnes stopped moving.

Deltain looked up, puzzled.

“… what’s with you? You’re actually listening to me?”

Deltain had expected more resistance when he told her to stay still.

He couldn’t help it.

He had been enduring her pranks, which had intensified lately, up until the day before.

For a moment, Agnes froze.

Deltain’s eyes filled with suspicion.

Then, Agnes, belatedly smiling, tickled Deltain’s arm.

“For this.”

Deltain activated his mana.

Agnes’s voice was cut off.

With an expression that said, ‘I knew it,’ Deltain resumed his examination.

It was a relief for Agnes.

With her mouth sealed, she wouldn’t have to display any more strange behavior.

‘… why did I obey?’

Agnes questioned her recent actions.

Normally, she would never have obeyed Deltain’s words, but at that moment, she had complied due to a sudden surge of anxiety.

Agnes continued her thoughts.

She wanted to find the reason behind her actions to avoid repeating the same mistake.

But no answer came, and meanwhile, Deltain finished his examination.

Agnes realized that her voice was free again.

“… good job.”

“What’s really going on today?”

Deltain looked as if he had seen a ghost.

Seeing Agnes so docile was more shocking than their first meeting, making him wonder if she was possessed by a demon.

Agnes shook her head at his question.

“I went out yesterday, and I’m just feeling weak.”

Deltain’s expression turned serious.

“… you should’ve told me that earlier.”

He reached out again.

Agnes, startled, slapped his hand away.

Smack!

An unsettling silence fell.

Deltain stared blankly at his hand, frozen, while Agnes held her breath, her eyes wide open.

“… hey, what are you trying to do?”

Deltain’s tone was tinged with anger.

Agnes kept her mouth tightly shut for a moment, then quickly replied.

“Sorry, I’m really not feeling well. I want to rest. Please leave.”

Deltain’s fist clenched tightly.

Agnes did not respond further until that moment.

“… I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Deltain kept his gaze fixed on the floor until the moment he left the room.

Bang.

The door closed.

But the sound did not stop.

Thump.

Thump.

Agnes felt her heart beating irregularly.

It was anxiety.

*

Agnes pondered all night and into the next day.

She was confused by her own actions.

‘Why? From where?’

She tried to understand why she had been so submissive to Deltain.

Eventually, she came to a hypothesis.

‘Kaltara?’

It might have been something Kaltara said.

If there was anything notable that had happened recently, it was her conversation with Kaltara.

Still, identifying the exact cause was impossible.

Agnes couldn’t figure out why she was feeling anxious.

Thump.

Thump.

Her heart still beat irregularly.

Agnes frowned.

It was very unusual for her, someone who usually spent most of her time expressionless or smiling.

Then.

“Here you are….”

Deltain burst into the room and found Agnes.

His expression hardened.

He was startled to see Agnes frowning.

His actions were swift.

Deltain immediately went to her bed and checked her wrist and neck.

After taking her pulse, he spoke in a growling tone, veins bulging on his forehead.

“… hey, when did this start? No, not the pounding heart. When did you start doing things you normally wouldn’t?”

His demeanor was the harshest Agnes had ever seen.

Agnes started thinking seriously.

‘When did it begin?’

The irregular heartbeat started yesterday.

The anxiety began then too.

But thinking about it as he suggested, the answer was different.

“… two days? Three days? I don’t know.”

Agnes pinpointed a much earlier time.

Yes.

Agnes realized it wasn’t about but about .

‘Why did I think about going out?’

It was madness.

No matter how much Deltain was by her side, it was clearly madness.

Agnes knew her own physical condition better than anyone.

The reason she hadn’t gone out for two years was because her body would collapse with even the slightest exertion.

That was still true today.

No, today she was even more cautious about her life.

It wasn’t for any other reason.

She needed time to build enough memories to stay in Deltain’s mind.

But going out? What was that about?

And asking Kaltara, not Deltaine, to escort her back was also odd.

Kaltara had no means to save her if her condition worsened.

That wasn’t all.

Agnes finally realized.

Her words and actions in Deltain’s mansion clearly crossed the lines she had set for herself.

“… huh?”

Agnes realized that she had made a potentially deadly decision in the heat of the moment.

The feeling of had only manifested yesterday.

“You’re possessed.”

Deltain said.

A blue lens flickered in his left eye.

“You’re possessed by a demon.”

Agnes’s expression hardened.

*

As soon as Deltain returned to the mansion, he summoned all the hounds.

And he said.

“Hey, take off all your clothes.”

Mana surged around Deltain’s body.

The hounds, sensing the seriousness of the situation, undressed without a word.

“Javis, take off your leg.”

The blue-haired boy, the nymphomaniac Javis, flinched and touched his leg.

With a click, his right leg detached.

It was a prosthetic.

“What’s going on?”

“The princess is possessed by a demon. One of you might be possessed too.”

The hounds’ expressions hardened at his words.

Without further words, Deltain activated his magic.

A blue lens flickered in his left eye.

It was a high-rank magic for tracking demon traces.

Deltain’s gaze scanned the hounds.

Then he frowned.

“… none. None of you are possessed. Where is the infection route?”

Deltain’s confusion deepened.

Demonic possession usually had characteristics similar to a virus.

In other words, it spread from person to person.

Especially if there had been a meal together or physical contact, the infection probability increased significantly.

Deltain found this puzzling.

Agnes Levadine was a woman who always stayed in her room.

There were barriers set by Deltain himself around her room, and the servants and Duke Levadine, who interacted with her, had been checked before leaving the mansion.

There was no way she could have been infected.

Deltain’s expression grew increasingly serious.

As his thoughts deepened, he grounded his teeth.

‘From Agnes’s reaction, it’s clearly an emotion-amplifying demon.’

There was heart pain.

There was an irregular pulse.

And according to her, her emotions were affecting her actions beyond control.

This was exactly the same as the symptoms of those infected with reported to Deltain.

‘Gaias is a demon related to emotional amplification.’

While deducing such clues.

“Boss.”

Kaltara spoke up.

She smiled brightly, not at all embarrassed by her nakedness.

“There’s one infection route left.”

“… what?”

Kaltara pointed at Deltain.

Even as Deltain’s body froze, Kaltara continued.

“Have you forgotten? Demonic temptation cannot be blocked by mere physical strength.”

Suddenly, an interface appeared on Deltain’s retina.