WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 100: A Pig More Frightening Than a Wolf
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“Watch your words, sir. A man about to become the princess’s prince consort should not be making such prejudiced remarks against a clan.”
[Why is that prejudice?]
It sounded like a mocking question.
Yet Rimon asked calmly, as though he genuinely did not understand.
[Putting on an act, deceiving people, betraying them, then playing innocent has always been your clan’s pride, hasn’t it?]
“That may be true, but image is important in business, you see. If that image sticks to our clan, it will hurt our operations.”
[So it comes down to money?]
“Please do not blame me for being mercenary. A family head has many things to look after.”
[I do not feel like blaming you. If anything, I like that you are clear about it.]
Rimon let out a quiet snort.
He understood why Wang Gi-neung had come forward so shamelessly.
It was not simply to avenge a younger cousin or the clan’s grudge. It was for the family’s benefit.
The more horribly they killed the culprit.
The more information they squeezed out of him.
The Shanghai Wang Family could do more than recover its lost honor. It could reestablish its standing and even profit from the affair.
In the end, it was not so different from when Wang Gi-neung had proposed a deal, asking Rimon to yield the chance to capture the culprit.
There was only one difference.
Before, Wang Gi-neung had tried to make a deal with Rimon.
This time, Wang Gi-neung intended to ignore him completely.
There was no point trying to win Rimon over, as the last incident had proven. And making an enemy of someone whose reputation had already hit rock bottom would not cost Wang Gi-neung much.
That the final blow to Rimon’s reputation had come from entrusting the pursuit of the culprit to Wang Gi-neung was a fact Wang Gi-neung chose to ignore.
It was a cold calculation worthy of the Black Dragon Clan, especially a prestigious family’s head.
[Let me ask just to be sure. What if I insist on killing that bastard right now?]
“Do you need an answer?”
[I do.]
“Then something unfortunate will happen.”
[Is that so?]
Though Wang Gi-neung was not present, Rimon seemed able to see exactly what expression Wang Gi-neung wore and the meaning behind those words.
He calmly accepted it.
[Then that is enough. Take him away and boil him or roast him as you please.]
“As expected, Sword Duke, you are wise.”
[I simply do not want to make such a trivial matter big enough that I have to take your head.]
“...”
The voice sounded indifferent, almost bored.
That was why Wang Gi-neung understood it was sincere, without a shred of bluster, and fell silent.
Rimon spoke quietly.
[In that sense, let me tell you in advance. If you take that bastard away, be careful. He is a poisoned apple.]
“Thank you for the advice.”
Just as when Rimon had withdrawn from pursuing the culprits at Black Dragon Construction and given Wang Gi-neung a clue, Wang Gi-neung smiled and offered thanks for advice that demanded no price.
Rimon scoffed.
[Do not misunderstand. This is not advice. It is a warning.]
Just as Wang Gi-neung had laughed behind his polite attitude and empty flattery at Rimon’s foolishness for failing to even look after his own interests.
Rimon gave a cold sneer to Wang Gi-neung, who had swallowed a plainly visible disaster in pursuit of immediate profit.
[If that bastard becomes a problem, Family Head Wang, you will be responsible.]
“You need not worry about that.”
Wang Gi-neung had ignored Rimon’s consideration and greedily seized a profit. If something went wrong, the losses would be entirely Wang Gi-neung’s.
It would be too late to regret it then.
To Rimon’s cold words, Wang Gi-neung answered calmly.
“As the Sword Duke said, we are the Black Dragon Clan.”
They might deceive others.
But they would never be deceived.
That was the pride and strength of the Black Dragon Clan, something Rimon, an outsider in the end, could never understand.
Rimon did not bother pointing out Wang Gi-neung’s arrogance as the family head declared it without the slightest doubt.
He merely said flatly, with complete sincerity.
[Good luck.]
* * *
After Rimon and Wang Gi-neung concluded their not-quite-negotiation over the beady-eyed young man, and the Shanghai Wang Family’s martial artists led the young man away under guard.
Weiling left Cheonhwa Department Store.
She had intervened because it was an emergency, but Cheonhwa Department Store had yet to sign a contract with Guardian.
Cleaning up afterward was ultimately Xue Rong’s responsibility as the department store’s current head of security.
Of course, whether Xue Rong, already severely wounded and having lost most of his subordinates, could truly deal with all those bodies and restore order was another matter.
Weiling did not care.
What she wanted to ask now was something entirely different.
“Why did you do that?”
[What do you mean?]
“I am asking why you so readily handed the culprit over to Family Head Wang.”
[Would you rather I had not? Do you think I should have simply killed him?]
“Did you not believe that yourself, at least?”
[I did.]
Rimon calmly admitted it.
He had never seen the beady-eyed young man in person, but the traces left on the corpses the young man had killed, along with his actions today, had told Rimon enough.
That bastard was a harmful bastard.
His strength was not the problem. Even Weiling had defeated him.
But in Rimon’s experience, leaving such a bastard alive would always lead to trouble later.
Even so, the reason Rimon had handed the young man over to Wang Gi-neung was simple.
[If I had killed him, that Wang bastard would have moved heaven and earth to make this a major affair, claiming I killed him because I did not want to share the credit.]
“That is absurd.”
[Why do you think so?]
“Leaving aside that Family Head Wang would gain nothing from it, would that not be far too ungrateful?”
Weiling objected without thinking.
Rimon had withdrawn from the culprit and endured all sorts of slander merely to give Wang Gi-neung the chance to take revenge personally.
For Wang Gi-neung to plot against Rimon after receiving that benefit would be too shameless.
[...]
[Are you doing this on purpose, or do you really not know?]
“What do you mean?”
[No, forget it. I think I finally understand why the princess cherishes you so much.]
“...”
Weiling furrowed her brow.
It sounded like praise.
Yet for some reason, it left her with the strange, unpleasant feeling that she had been called an idiot.
[To address what you said, Family Head Wang would definitely gain something if he did that.]
“What would that be?”
[Sympathy, and the enemy of my enemy.]
Weiling’s expression turned cold at the words whose meaning she did not understand.
“You mean Family Head Wang would deliberately damage your reputation, then join hands with clan members who dislike you by standing against you?”
[If you only consider gains and losses, that would be the most effective course.]
“...”
[Why? Does it seem too ungrateful?]
Weiling answered with silence.
Rimon gave a quiet laugh at her response before continuing.
[But you clever fool, if you ever want to rise high in the Black Dragon Clan, remember this. That is what your clan is like.]
It was not that Wang Gi-neung was particularly cunning or shameless.
The Black Dragon Clan was simply like that.
Hearing those words, spoken lightly but with unmistakable sincerity, Weiling finally understood.
Why Rimon had not become particularly angry despite Wang Gi-neung’s barefaced behavior.
And why, even as his standing within the clan had fallen, he had merely let it pass.
“You... do not expect anything from our clan?”
[No, I do have expectations.]
The inborn deviousness of its members.
The schemes and cunning accumulated over generations.
The influence it possessed through controlling the world’s wealth.
After listing what he expected from the Black Dragon Clan, Rimon added one more thing.
[I simply do not trust it.]
He had never expected trust, loyalty, conscience, or gratitude from the Black Dragon Clan in the first place.
That was why he was never disappointed.
Weiling unknowingly asked Rimon, who spoke so calmly.
“Even the princess?”
[Why add the word “even”? Your princess is actually the one I trust least.]
“Then why did you accept the princess’s proposal?”
Li Qing-yu had given everything to pursue a betrothal with Rimon.
Weiling’s face turned cold at the claim that he still did not trust the princess she admired.
Rimon’s answer was simple.
[I do not trust your princess, but I have chosen to place confidence in her.]
“What kind of wordplay is that?”
[If it sounds like wordplay, that is unfortunate. This is the best compromise your princess won from me by staking her own life.]
“That halfhearted relationship where you neither trust nor doubt her?”
[That is what being in the same boat with an enemy means.]
Rimon gave a quiet laugh.
When he accepted Li Qing-yu’s proposal.
He had sworn upon his sword.
So long as she did not turn her back on him, he would not abandon her either.
It was not a promise that he would believe in her unconditionally and protect her.
If anything, it was the opposite.
It was closer to a threat that if she betrayed him, she would pay the price with her life.
Yet Li Qing-yu had accepted it.
Because she knew it was the best Rimon could offer.
She knew that Rimon naturally distrusted the Black Dragon Clan at least as much as the Black Dragon Clan distrusted him.
Not trust, but suspicion.
Not flowers, but blades pointed at each other.
Betrothed through necessity.
That was the relationship between him and her.
[I am not Romeo or Hodong[1], and your princess is neither Juliet nor Nangnang.]
For enemies to fall in love at first sight was only possible in novels.
Rimon knew well that, in reality, enemies in a political marriage were a match made in heaven if they merely managed not to poison each other.
There was even less reason for Rimon to trust Black Dragon Clan members other than Li Qing-yu herself.
[Still, do not think of it too badly. So long as you do not try anything underhanded, I have no intention of deliberately excluding you.]
“...Even Family Head Wang?”
[Yes, even that Wang bastard.]
Rimon calmly agreed.
Wang Gi-neung had stabbed him in the back, but that was simply the Seven Dragons Society acting like the Seven Dragons Society.
Rimon had experienced every kind of trick since the days when they had been called the Demon Cult. Something of that level was not worth getting angry over.
[That does not mean I will go out of my way to help you either.]
It did not mean he was pleased about it, of course.
Reading the meaning in his words, Weiling asked quietly.
“Are you certain that man will cause trouble for Family Head Wang?”
[How could I be certain? I am not a prophet.]
A hunch was only a hunch.
It was never a prophecy.
If a hunch could reveal everything, Rimon would have found and beaten the culprits long ago.
That was why Rimon said that if Wang Gi-neung acted carefully, whatever scheme the young man had prepared might prove useless.
There was even a chance they could extract genuinely useful information from him.
[But you should tell the princess in advance. Tell her to prepare properly.]
“Is that really necessary?”
[Yes. If something happens, it will not end with only a few people dying.]
Even so, Rimon warned her.
It was not only because he was certain the beady-eyed young man would cause trouble somehow.
It was the minimum responsibility of Li Qing-yu’s betrothed and Guardian’s representative, responsible for the Black Dragon Clan’s security.
And it was another feeling he had gained from watching someone act solely for their own benefit.
[You only need to avoid being bitten by a mad dog. But a pig blinded by greed will always overreach and cause trouble.]
Footnotes:
[1] Hodong and Nangnang: legendary Korean lovers from enemy states, often compared to Romeo and Juliet.
Hodong and Nangnang are legendary Korean lovers from enemy states, paralleling Romeo and Juliet.
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