WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 160: I Saw the Future
──────
Rimon had lived a long life.
And he had accumulated just as much experience.
Even counting only poisonings disguised as honey traps, there were too many to count with just two digits.
But what Ainsha had just done was enough to leave even Rimon briefly dazed.
An assassination attempt this fresh, or rather revolutionary, where someone boldly poisoned their date right in front of them was a first even for him.
“You should drink it quickly. The tea is getting cold. The poison will lose effectiveness too.”
Ainsha made that absurd suggestion.
That was why, rather than getting angry or flipping the table, Rimon pressed a hand to his temple.
“...”
“Let me confirm something first. Didn’t you say you were going to propose to me?”
“That is correct.”
“And that’s why we’re on a date?”
“Of course.”
“Then why are you giving me poison?”
“To send Lee to his grave.”
As though wondering why he would ask something so obvious, Ainsha answered expressionlessly.
Suppressing the headache threatening to rise again, Rimon asked as calmly as he could.
“I’m asking why you’re trying to kill me. What is the reason?”
If Ainsha had seen through his identity and wanted to kill him, he could understand that.
Rimon was the Seven Dragons Society’s sworn enemy.
Even the White Dragon Clan, who were always the first to flee, had plenty of grudges against him.
But that could not be it.
If she knew he was Rimon, she would not have even tried to kill him with poison.
Then again, even if her target had been an ordinary person rather than Rimon, her intentions had been questionable from the moment she poisoned his drink right in front of him.
If she truly meant to kill someone, she would not do something this stupid...
‘Wait. Stupid?’
At that moment, Rimon raised his brows.
There was only one reason Ainsha would suddenly do something like this.
And Ainsha’s blunt words turned his suspicion into certainty.
“I have to kill you. So I will kill you. There is no other reason.”
It sounded exactly like something a complete psychopath would say.
But Rimon did not panic.
He merely narrowed his eyes at her and asked,
“What did you see?”
“...”
“It is a secret.”
“Really? Then let me ask differently.”
Rimon spoke again to Ainsha, who had tightly shut her mouth.
“What future are you trying to change by killing me?”
Her body flinched.
Her pupils shook as though there had been an earthquake.
Even her eyes slid slightly aside.
Ainsha’s reaction was so obvious that it rendered her perfectly expressionless poker face meaningless. Rimon clicked his tongue.
His guess had been right, but that only made the situation more absurd.
“The White Dragon Princess, trying to change the future. I cannot believe it...”
“I did not say I was changing the future. That is Lee’s misunderstanding.”
“Then what was that future where you said we went to the cinema? If I drink this poison and keel over now, that future will disappear.”
“...”
“Or at least tell me why you need to kill me.”
“...”
Ainsha immediately fell silent.
If it had been Li Qing-yu, she would have invented five or six excuses on the spot.
As expected of the White Dragon Clan, Ainsha was far too weak at lying. Rimon snorted at the girl.
“Well, I can guess even if you don’t tell me. You probably saw a future where I did something.”
Ainsha flinched.
“Since you even prepared for a date, your proposal itself must have been sincere. So something happens after this.”
Her body trembled.
“There can’t be many people a Princess would want to protect badly enough to kill the man she chose as her prince consort.”
“Mind reading is cheating. It is cowardly. It is something the Black Dragon Clan would do.”
“Hm. That sounds like every one of my guesses was right.”
“...”
“Still don’t intend to tell me? Whether you speak or not, I intend to dig until the end.”
For a while, Ainsha broke into a cold sweat like the real culprit being interrogated by a police officer with the 『Lie Detection』 Skill.
Eventually, she let her shoulders droop.
Then, still blunt but somehow sounding as though she had given up, she spoke.
“It is Tata.”
“What Tata?”
“My nurse. And my guard. Also my attendant and an Elder.”
Naming the woman who was her closest aide, clever and shameless unlike a White Dragon Clan member, and whom she could call her only family, Ainsha confessed why she had to kill him.
“I saw a future where Lee kills Tata.”
* * *
It was a common story.
Knowing that a family member would die in the future and trying to change that future.
If the murderer happened to be the destined partner she had fallen in love with at first sight, and she had to kill him, then it would become a rarer, more tragic romance or a thriller with a twist.
But if the lead was the White Dragon Princess?
Rimon could say with certainty that it would become a comedy.
Because he was letting out a dry laugh right now.
“You tried to poison me to save your nurse?”
“That is correct. It is clean. The minimum consideration.”
“Leaving aside what consideration has to do with poisoning, did it not occur to you that I wouldn’t drink it if you poisoned it right in front of me?”
“It did not.”
“Why not?”
“I saw a future where Lee drinks the tea. Therefore, you will certainly drink it.”
“Do you realize that what you’re saying is a huge contradiction?”
“...?”
“...”
“Right. You don’t.”
Ainsha tilted her head as though she did not understand what the problem was.
Feeling as though he were dealing with a three-year-old, Rimon sighed.
A three-year-old would have been better.
The White Dragon Princess knew the future more accurately than anyone, yet had decided to change it. She was a walking bomb.
That was why Rimon furrowed his brow.
‘Prophecy... This has become troublesome.’
Those who knew the future were ruled by it.
Knowing that well, Rimon avoided getting involved with prophets whenever possible. If it was the White Dragon Princess, there was even less need to say so.
But now that he had heard the prophecy, it was already too late to pretend ignorance and walk away.
Even if he had known nothing, that idiot princess with boundless initiative probably would not have left him alone.
After a moment of thought, Rimon spoke.
“Will you stop this Tata from dying no matter what it takes?”
“Of course. Tata is precious.”
“Even if it costs you your life?”
“Not that.”
“...”
“That was a very decisive answer.”
Rimon looked uncertainly at Ainsha, who had immediately shaken her head after nodding a moment earlier.
Ainsha told him bluntly,
“I am the White Dragon Princess. I have to continue the line. I cannot die before then.”
“Well, that is true.”
For a Seven Dragons Society Princess, continuing the bloodline was a duty and instinct above all else.
No matter how dearly Ainsha treasured Tata, she could not risk the dragon bloodline being cut off, even if she wanted to.
Rimon nodded at her predictable answer and asked again.
“What if changing the future meant handing over the entire White Dragon Clan?”
“No. I would die. Tata would kill me.”
“So you’re not that much of an idiot... Then what if, in exchange, you gave the Black Dragon Clan your full cooperation in capturing the Liberation Brigade?”
“That is the compensation for helping my proposal.”
“If you kill me, both the proposal and compensation will be gone anyway. Is there any reason to hold back now?”
“...”
“Now that I think about it, that is true.”
As though she had gained a new realization, Ainsha nodded once.
After thinking it over for a while, she spoke with an expressionless face.
“That much is possible. Even if it is not, I will make it possible.”
“Hm. Is that so?”
Rimon gazed steadily at Ainsha while tapping the table with a finger.
Then he picked up the hot green tea and drained it in one gulp.
He set down the empty cup.
“Do not forget what you just said.”
Ainsha blinked.
Once, twice, and once more.
As though she had seen something strange.
She looked back and forth between the empty teacup and Rimon. Only after a long moment did she ask bluntly,
“...”
“This is strange. You drank poison. But you did not die.”
“Well, it is nothing surprising. I have had so much of this over the years that I developed resistance to most poisons.”
Rimon gave a faint smile as he recalled the hardship of swallowing, drinking, and being injected with all kinds of deadly poisons the Green Dragon Clan had boasted about.
Then he rose from his seat.
“Now, let us do this properly.”
“I would like to know what we are doing properly.”
“What else? We met to go on a date, so let us go on a date.”
“...???”
“However, the date itinerary will be a little different from the future you saw.”
Though he had answered her, Ainsha looked even more blankly confused than before. Rimon gave a small smile.
Then he took out his smartphone with a meaningful expression.
“On that note, I have a question. Do you like puzzles?”
* * *
“You want to know why people call the White Dragon Clan idiots?”
[Yes. I understand why Team Leader calls them that, but I thought there had to be a reason even you, Princess, accepted it so naturally.]
Yoo Na-gyeong asked with a curious expression.
It was not only because she had grown bored after Rimon left to go on his date.
The White Dragon Clan was one of the pillars of the Seven Dragons Society, and unlike the fallen Black Dragon Clan, it had retained its power intact. She simply could not understand why it was treated as a clan of idiots.
As though understanding her question, Li Qing-yu calmly spoke.
“There are several reasons... but in the end, it is because they are born with precognition.”
[Why? Precognition is a good thing, isn’t it?]
Yoo Na-gyeong looked even more confused.
Precognition was a ridiculous power.
One only had to see how Players with Prophecy-type Skills received the highest treatment everywhere to understand its usefulness.
Li Qing-yu smiled softly at Yoo Na-gyeong.
“If someone threw you a surprise party on your birthday, you would be happy, would you not?”
[Of course.]
“Would you still be happy if you knew in advance exactly when and how that surprise party would happen?”
[Um... It is still a party, so I think I would be happy.]
“What if you had experienced the exact same party yesterday? The same food prepared, the same people telling the same jokes?”
[...]
[That sounds tiring rather than enjoyable.]
“Exactly. But if someone repeated yesterday’s actions even though none of it was fun, just to successfully finish the party as they had yesterday, what would you call them?”
[An idiot?]
“Then what would you call someone who, knowing the party had failed, shoved their face into the cake to liven the mood?”
[...]
[Something idiotic?]
“That is why the White Dragon Clan are called idiots.”
[What?]
Yoo Na-gyeong tilted her head, unable to understand the meaning. Li Qing-yu did not explain any further.
She merely gave a faint, bitter smile and continued quietly.
“It is also why, among the Seven Princesses, the White Dragon Princess is the most unfortunate.”
[...?]
A call came through Li Qing-yu’s pager while Yoo Na-gyeong was struggling to understand those mysterious words.
“Sword Duke? Is something wrong while you are on a date?”
“Of course. Please, tell me.”
Li Qing-yu calmly answered the unexpected call.
But her expression turned odd immediately afterward.
“Yes, yes.”
“Yes...?”
“...”
“What exactly are you planning to do?”
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