WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 161: Why Did They Pop Up Here?
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An expressionless girl.
Ainsha was at a loss.
According to her precognition, they were supposed to go to a movie theater.
But Rimon had led her somewhere completely different.
It was troubling enough that her perfect plan to stab him in the heart with a little thump while he slept in the theater had fallen through.
But what truly confused her was the place itself.
“Lee, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“I would like to know why we came here.”
“Why else would we come to a clothing store? To buy clothes, obviously.”
“...
I have many clothes. I do not need to buy any now. Least of all in a place like this.”
“You may not need any, but I do.”
Rimon easily dismissed Ainsha’s protest.
Then, looking around the dingiest clothing store in the market they had stopped by, he casually asked,
“Ma’am, which clothes here are the cheapest?”
“Just pick whatever’s there. Everything there’s five thousand won.”
“They look too nice for that.”
“Some students without any sewing Skill or whatever made ’em as a hobby. Said it’d be a shame to throw ’em away, so they asked me to sell ’em even for a hundred won. That’s why I took ’em.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Rimon nodded at the toothless old woman watching an old TV at the back of the store.
Then he began rummaging through the clothes, which were not even hanging on racks but roughly sorted into baskets.
The problem was that he held up every item he pulled out against Ainsha.
“Too pretty.”
“This one is cuter than I expected.”
“This one stands out too much...”
“Good. This should be plain enough. Go change into these.”
“...
I do not understand the meaning. I cannot comprehend this.”
“If you don’t understand, just do as you’re told. The changing room is this way.”
Burdened with an armful of clothes, Ainsha was practically shoved inside.
While she awkwardly entered the changing room, Rimon picked out a shirt, jacket, and pants from the pile for himself.
They were only five-thousand-won clothes.
And as expected from hobby-made clothing, they were fairly ordinary.
Still, that was enough to make Rimon, who had been wearing shabby tracksuits, look reasonably presentable.
The problem was Ainsha.
“Why are you wearing your clothes like that?”
“Tata is not here. It is difficult to change.”
“Ah, so you need someone to help you change clothes too?”
As expected of a princess.
It seemed she barely had any experience changing clothes herself.
Rimon clicked his tongue at Ainsha, who looked as though she had merely draped the clothes over herself.
In the end, he followed her into the changing room and personally helped her get dressed. Then he folded his arms at the result.
“You still stand out like this... Is it impossible to make you any plainer when your natural looks are that good?”
Shorts that left her legs exposed.
A slightly oversized shirt.
And a cardigan that showed her shoulders.
Compared to her earlier outfit of flowing cloth, it was far more ordinary.
Yet Ainsha still stood out. Rimon scratched his chin for a moment before shrugging.
“Can’t be helped. We’ll go like this.”
“...
This is questionable. This is confusing. This is a complete disaster.”
Unlike Rimon, who seemed somewhat pleased, Ainsha muttered like a broken doll.
Why had this happened?
What was she doing here?
What did Rimon want?
She had only meant to change the future by simply killing Rimon. Yet she had somehow become a dress-up doll instead.
Watching Ainsha stand there blankly with an expressionless face, Rimon snorted.
Then he put a baker boy cap and large-framed glasses on her, chosen from a nearby shop, and said mischievously,
“Why are you thinking so hard? I told you. This is a date.”
“...
Understood.”
In truth, she did not understand at all.
But Ainsha decided to accept the situation, even if she did not understand it.
What mattered to her was not what they did on the date, but how she could change the future.
The moment she looked into the future for that purpose, Ainsha blinked.
She had read it, but for a moment she could not understand what she had seen.
Before she could make sense of it, the future came to find them.
Screeech.
“Hey, Faux Smarty. You’re here?”
“As I have told you several times, my name is not Faux Smarty. It is Weiling.”
Just as Rimon and Ainsha seemed to be leaving the market, a sedan appeared as if it had been waiting for them and stopped in front of them.
Weiling, a woman dressed as a man in a suit, stepped out from the driver’s seat and snapped at Rimon. Then she respectfully bowed to Ainsha.
“Weiling of the Black Dragon Clan greets the descendant of the Wise White Dragon Sage Lord.”
“...
I am Ainsha. It is nice to meet you.”
“Then I shall escort you.”
“Understood. I will be escorted...?”
Out of habit, Ainsha got into the sedan when Weiling politely opened the door.
By the time she realized something was strange, the car carrying Weiling and Rimon had already smoothly pulled away.
“Did you confirm the location?”
“Yes. The Shanghai Wang Family Intelligence Unit is currently watching them.”
“Why talk as if they’re strangers? They’re part of Guardian Intelligence now too.”
“...”
Weiling looked deeply uncomfortable. Rimon chuckled at her for a moment.
Then he reclined his seat, rested his head on an arm, and leisurely said,
“I’m going to take a nap, so put something on to keep the kid from getting bored. Wake me when we get there.”
True to his word, Rimon immediately fell asleep.
In his place, Weiling operated a button and pulled out the backseat screen before politely asking Ainsha,
“White Dragon Princess, TV, music, and movies are currently available. Which would you prefer?”
“...
Anything is fine.”
And so, a while later, the sedan finally stopped.
Until Rimon woke up and led her out of the car, Ainsha could only stare expressionlessly at the movie playing on the screen, just as she had foreseen.
“Then please enjoy your time.”
“Sure. Tell the Princess she did well preparing everything. And pull the Intelligence Unit back.”
After Weiling handed something to Rimon and drove away, Ainsha finally spoke again.
“This is questionable. I do not know what Lee wants to do.”
“Why? You don’t like the date itinerary?”
“I do not. There is no chance to kill Lee. This is troubling.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll make it to your liking.”
Rimon snorted at that blunt declaration.
He took her wrist and naturally led her in one direction.
Ainsha did not resist.
She had not seen a future where she avoided Rimon’s hand.
Besides, everything that had happened moments ago had already overloaded her mind.
‘This is strange. My precognition keeps being delayed. I do not know why.’
Normally, she would have read every future by now.
Why was her precognition so slow today? No, why had it become this way ever since she started moving with this man?
As she considered the reason, Ainsha flinched.
As Rimon led her along, she belatedly read a future in which, upon reaching the end of the street, she would see something.
As though he had noticed, Rimon said meaningfully,
“Well? Doesn’t dating me seem like it’ll get fun from now on?”
“...
It is not fun. I quit.”
“No, it will be fun.”
Rimon led her all the way to the end of the street.
Then, looking at the back of a woman who was far too familiar to Ainsha, walking ahead of them, he continued,
“Opportunities to tail your nanny don’t come around that often.”
* * *
“Stalking is a crime. Turn yourself in. Tata will forgive you if you do it now.”
Ainsha tried to stop Rimon from secretly following Tata. With all her strength and utter sincerity.
But he paid her no heed.
“This isn’t stalking. It’s called tailing.”
“I do not understand the difference.”
“Stalking is always a crime, but tailing can be acceptable depending on the circumstances. That’s the difference.”
“That is sophistry. A cowardly excuse. Stop immediately.”
“Will that really be all right? Then you won’t be able to change the future you want.”
“...
I do not know what that has to do with tailing.”
“Of course it has something to do with it.”
Ainsha seemed to sense a threat in his words. As she tightened her clasped hands without changing her expression, Rimon calmly said,
“You said you saw a future where I kill Tata.”
“That is correct.”
“That means I have a reason why I absolutely must kill your nanny.”
Rimon pointed it out coldly.
He was not a crazed murderer.
He was the Sword Duke, who did not draw his sword without reason.
And kill the White Dragon Princess’s close attendant? Risk a full-scale war with the White Dragon Clan?
Normally, that would never happen.
That was why Rimon was certain.
Unless Ainsha’s precognition was wrong, Tata either had or would acquire a reason to cause an incident beyond the ordinary.
“That is why I am trying to find out that reason. If we do not know it, we cannot change the future where your nanny dies by my hand.”
“We can change it. If Lee dies, it will be changed.”
“I don’t want to die.”
“I ask that you somehow do so.”
As though she were a door-to-door salesperson, Ainsha earnestly asked him to die with a completely expressionless face.
Rimon was dumbfounded.
“Tell me, do you really think that if I die, the future will change and everything will have a happy ending?”
“It will not be a happy ending. My fated partner will die. That is regrettable. My heart is torn apart.”
“What if you saw a future where your nanny died even after killing me? What would you do then?”
“...
I do not understand the meaning of the question.”
Rimon was the one who killed Tata.
If Rimon died, that could not happen.
So why would Tata die again? Ainsha tilted her head as if she truly could not understand.
Rimon sighed as he looked at her.
“White Dragon Princess, that is why your clan is called idiots.”
“Tata said that is a false rumor. A false charge created by the jealousy of those who cannot see the future.”
“You are free to think that. But if you are not confident you can kill me right now, quietly follow me. I have no intention of dying for your nanny.”
“...”
In the end, Ainsha had no choice but to silently follow Rimon.
No matter what she did here, she could not see a future where Rimon died.
Rimon and Ainsha secretly tailed Tata until they suddenly stopped.
Tata had entered a shabby bar as she moved deeper into an increasingly secluded alley.
Ainsha, who had reluctantly followed Rimon, tilted her head at the sight.
“...
This is strange.”
“What is?”
“Tata does not drink. I do not know why she came to a bar.”
“Is that so?”
Rimon narrowed his eyes.
If someone who did not drink came to a bar, they were almost certainly there to meet someone else.
What mattered was who that person was.
If an attendant of Ainsha’s had to meet someone alone in such a secluded place, they were clearly no ordinary person.
‘It would be nice if this lets us find a solution faster than expected... Hm?’
While watching the bar, Rimon raised one eyebrow.
A man appeared from the alley on the opposite side while he was deciding whether to enter.
His hesitant steps suggested anxiety.
His eyes darted around as though on guard.
And he clutched a briefcase to his chest.
Rimon wore an odd expression as he watched the man, who seemed to advertise his suspiciousness with every part of his body.
Not because of his behavior or appearance, but because Rimon knew him.
“...Why is that bastard showing up here?”
The former power broker of the WIM Guild.
A man who had fallen from power because of Rimon’s machinations.
Watching Moon Cheon-yeop hurriedly enter the bar, Rimon could only be dumbfounded.
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