WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 41: That Taste Is Blood Red

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“Do you have any reason to lament, Sword Duke?”

As though she had read his mind, Li Qing-yu asked with a faint smile.

Rimon gazed steadily into her obsidian-like eyes before speaking quietly.

“You truly are the princess of the Black Dragon Clan.”

Of the Seven Dragons Society’s seven clans, they were the weakest in a direct fight.

Yet for the past several centuries, they had posed the greatest threat to Rimon. In some ways, they had been a more formidable archenemy than the Demon God.

“Cunning, shrewd, deceitful, and meticulous.”

Among the descendants of the Seven Dragons, they were the most scheming and adept at plotting.

The Black Dragon Clan.

And at the pinnacle of that sinister clan stood its princess, who could read hearts with her powerful psionics and manipulate them even more skillfully.

The very woman who had understood Rimon perfectly, dug thoroughly into his disposition, and devised a scheme he could never escape.

Li Qing-yu neither grew angry nor embarrassed at words that sounded like an accusation.

She merely nodded readily.

“Yes, that is rather characteristic of our kind.”

As if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Li Qing-yu agreed with a bright smile.

Then, as though such trivial facts did not matter in the least, she calmly asked,

“So, have you made up your mind?”

Looking at her, like an innocent girl yet impossible to see through, Rimon closed his eyes.

This was as far as it went.

The conclusion had been decided from the start.

Just as a king driven into checkmate was as good as dead, Rimon had been left without a move from the moment he met Li Qing-yu a few days ago.

No, from the point when he had spent decades without noticing the Seven Dragons Society’s scheme.

He simply could not bring himself to acknowledge it.

“Yes.”

But knowing that any further stubbornness would become mere obstinacy, Rimon slowly nodded.

Then he withdrew the sword that had been touching Li Qing-yu’s chest and spoke quietly.

Clank.

“I lost.”

It was only two words.

A simple admission that she was neither someone against whom he had to exact revenge nor a traitor who had turned against him.

Yet their weight was anything but light.

From the Bronze Age, through the Age of Heroes, and into the Iron Age.

The last Sword Master, who had fought all manner of mighty enemies, including the Seven Dragons Society and the Demon God, without ever suffering defeat for centuries.

This was the moment Rimon Aspelder admitted defeat.

It was a truly astonishing achievement.

Had their forebears known, they would have wept with joy, declared it a festival day for the Seven Dragons Society, and passed the story down through generations.

“Thank you for your generosity.”

Yet Li Qing-yu herself did not take pride in it.

This result had only come because Rimon had generously overlooked her sins.

He had merely conceded victory to her.

She simply treated him with courtesy and preserved his dignity.

“...

You really are unlike people these days in more ways than one.”

Nowadays, it was normal for victors to mock and trample the defeated, while any mercy shown was sneered at as hypocrisy.

Rimon gave a wry smile at her polite conduct, so rare that it was almost nostalgic.

Li Qing-yu looked delighted.

“Really? Do I seem that mature?”

“I meant your attitude, not your appearance.”

“Is that so?”

As though she did not understand what was wrong with her, Li Qing-yu tilted her head.

Rimon snorted at the sight.

“Ruining your entire clan just to obtain me is not something people these days would do, is it?”

In this era, where only money and power mattered, others had come to underestimate and dismiss Rimon, even the other princesses and elders who had devised the plan for world peace.

Yet she had poured half her clan’s immense assets into obtaining him, then even offered the other half as a dowry.

Honestly, no one had gone this far, not even in the past.

“That is because people do not know your true worth, Sword Duke.”

“And you do?”

Li Qing-yu claimed that everyone else was foolish, not that she was strange.

Hearing those utterly shameless words, Rimon asked mockingly.

It was a question half made in jest.

“Yes, I do.”

But Li Qing-yu answered at once.

Without a moment’s hesitation, with complete certainty.

As though she could not tolerate anyone in the world knowing Rimon better than she did.

“I have lived until now for this moment alone.”

Rimon fell silent for a while.

It was not merely because of that confidence, whose origin he could not fathom.

Li Qing-yu’s eyes shone beautifully like obsidian, yet were dark and still as night.

That strangely unfamiliar yet familiar gaze made Rimon revisit his memories.

“...

Yes. You might know.”

The moment he realized where he had seen that look before, Rimon could vaguely understand.

Why she had tried to obtain him by staking everything her clan possessed.

That was why he asked.

“But Princess of the Black Dragon Clan, can you truly bear it?”

He was no longer speaking as an avenger seeking to collect a blood debt from the architect of the scheme.

Whether he had known about the hidden plot or not, he was speaking as the man who had sworn upon his sword to stand with her.

“The resentment I bear is heavier than the power I possess. All the more so within the Seven Dragons Society.”

Rimon knew.

A grudge (怨) might be buried by time, but it never vanished. Rancor (恨) was passed down through generations.

By that measure, the Seven Dragons Society’s hatred for Rimon was enough to make not merely mountains and rivers, but whole ranges and seas.

In the past, few clan members had not had relatives killed by Rimon.

“And accepting me means accepting the resentment I bear as well.”

Perhaps it would have been all right in the past.

Everyone had known Rimon’s strength to the bone, so merely avoiding him as an enemy would have been enough to make them swallow their hatred.

But now that Rimon had fallen?

Could the present Seven Dragons Society, which underestimated Rimon while holding on to its resentment, truly accept him quietly?

“You will be treated as a traitor who sold out her clan. Even the little that remains of your clan will turn its back on you. Instead of respect and loyalty, they will offer you contempt and blades.”

It was no exaggeration.

Li Qing-yu’s position was already at its worst after bringing her clan to ruin for the absurd purpose of keeping the Constellations in check.

And if it became known that she had surrendered even her remaining shares to accept Rimon?

She might become the first princess in the Seven Dragons Society’s long history to be murdered by her own clan.

That was what accepting Rimon meant.

“And if, by some chance, your fears prove true, the Seven Dragons Society will not be my only enemy.”

Rimon paused.

Then he continued in a weightier voice than ever before.

“It will be the whole world, including the Constellations.”

This Iron Age was founded on Constellations and Players.

Keeping the Constellations in check meant opposing the course of the age itself, no different from making the world an enemy.

If the Constellations learned of the vigilance Rimon and Li Qing-yu held toward them, and decided to restrain or eliminate them instead.

And if the Constellations had some way to move the Players.

They would face a brutal struggle even if the Constellations did not act directly and merely moved ten Monarchs.

Rimon had only overwhelmed Lee Cheon-gi because Rimon himself was abnormal.

The power of Monarchs, who wielded cheat skills that twisted the laws of the world and commanded powerful guilds, was not something to be dismissed.

“In the worst case, even the Seven Dragons Society may abandon you. You may have to flee after losing everything.”

Unless they were fortunate enough to quickly gather support from other clans.

If they made enemies of the Constellations before they could unite their will, the chance of the other clans abandoning the Black Dragon Clan was far from low.

No, they might even take the lead in rushing to tear apart what remained of the Black Dragon Clan’s strength.

Trouble within and enemies without.

She would have to fight the other clans of the Seven Dragons Society from within, while facing the Constellations and every Player from without, left utterly isolated.

No, even if the Constellations did not act, the other clans of the Seven Dragons Society would seek conflict with the Black Dragon Clan.

That was the unavoidable burden Li Qing-yu would bear as the price of joining hands with Rimon.

“Are you prepared to bear that burden?”

In this age, where the value of strength had declined, bearing such a burden to obtain a swordsman who knew nothing but fighting was foolish by any measure.

It could become the worst possible choice.

Even so, did she still want to obtain him?

As though giving her one last chance, Rimon asked.

Li Qing-yu smiled warmly and answered.

“Of course.”

“...

Could you not at least think about it before answering?”

“I told you, did I not? I have lived for this moment alone.”

She did not care what burden she had to bear.

So long as she could obtain Rimon, that was enough.

If she lacked that resolve, she could never have ruined her clan in the first place.

Rimon gazed steadily at the smiling Li Qing-yu, then slowly nodded.

“Good. If you are prepared.”

Rimon slowly rose from his seat.

He took one step forward, stood before Li Qing-yu, and extended his hand.

“But let us make one thing clear.”

“Yes?”

Li Qing-yu blinked blankly, as though startled by the hand that gently raised her chin.

Holding her head up and forcing her to meet his gaze, Rimon spoke.

“You are not obtaining me.”

“You are becoming mine.”

It was a declaration.

“Of course, it will not end with you. To gain the power needed to face the Constellations, I intend to seize everything the Black Dragon Clan has left and devour the Seven Dragons Society itself.”

It was a proclamation.

When he accepted her proposal.

No, once he had decided to seize money and power, it was something he would eventually have to do.

A declaration of war spoken by a single individual against the princess of the Seven Dragons Society, which controlled the world from the shadows.

“So prepare yourself for that as well.”

There was no further warning.

Not even a request for confirmation or an invitation to offer her opinion.

There was only a one-sided notice, as though he were mocking a foolish sacrificial lamb that had cast away its final chance.

Li Qing-yu stared blankly into the quiet golden eyes of the absolute being who had resolved to reclaim his lost glory.

Then she finally smiled.

As though she had been waiting to hear those words alone.

Wearing a smile of boundless joy, she gently lowered her eyelids and said,

“If that is what you desire.”

Li Qing-yu said without hesitation that she would gladly offer not only her clan, but the entire Seven Dragons Society.

But Rimon was not surprised.

As though he had expected nothing less.

No, as though refusal would not be tolerated.

He merely pulled her chin slightly closer and kissed her scarlet lips.

It was the moment two sworn enemies who could never ordinarily coexist, the princess of the Seven Dragons Society and the Guardian Deity of Humanity, came to share the same boat.[1]

And the moment Rimon experienced a blood-scented kiss, rare even in his long life.

Footnotes:

[1] Share the same boat: A classical idiom for bitter enemies compelled to cooperate.

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