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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Things You Must Not Mistake
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Hotel Leviathan.
Unlike its reputation as the finest hotel, the entrance was generally quiet.
It wasn't just because they were extremely selective with their guests, limiting the number of visitors.
From the start, few customers even used the main entrance.
In that sense, the current moment was quite unusual.
The entrance to Leviathan had been wide open well past midnight.
Especially since a single beautiful girl had been standing guard there like a statue from the moment it opened until now.
"...Princess, wouldn't it be better if you went inside now?"
Perhaps he could no longer stand by and watch.
A masked figure in black warrior robes emerged from the darkness.
Chao suggested she take a rest.
And rightly so—it was already deep into the night.
Even setting aside that the girl had been out here for over half a day, it was certainly time for rest.
"I appreciate the concern, but I'll pass, Chao."
"The night air isn't good for your health."
"You know as well as I do that a little chill like this won't harm me."
"..."
The black-haired girl smiled faintly.
Chao fell silent at Li Chingwei's question.
Affirming it would strip away his justification for urging rest, while denying it would be lying.
He watched her rigidly loyal demeanor with a soft chuckle for a moment.
Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, Li Chingwei asked,
"No new information yet?"
"I'm afraid not."
"You don't need to apologize for that."
Li Chingwei shook her head slightly at Chao, who bowed his head in shame.
"No one can obtain information from inside the Blue House right now anyway."
This was no exaggeration.
In fact, just a few hours ago, it had been easy to get intel.
Turn on any TV channel, and you'd see headlines like "Sword Master's Hostage Crisis Live Broadcast" or "Reasons Behind Rimon Asfelder's Rebellion."
But after Lee Cheongi stepped in,
all information related to the Blue House had been cut off.
Not just reporters, but suppression forces and even massive guild support units.
Everyone originally stationed around the Blue House had withdrawn on Lee Cheongi's orders, sealing off any leaks.
Broadcast stations and guilds were one thing, but for the military to obey a mere civilian in an emergency like this?
It was utterly absurd.
Yet people accepted it as natural.
In this Iron Age, a monarch's authority far surpassed that of any national leader.
"If you give the order, I can dispatch a covert unit to the Blue House to gather intel."
"Don't. You'd just be wasting lives needlessly."
Chao couldn't deny the truth of her words.
It wasn't that he distrusted the covert unit.
Whether it was a massive guild's treasure vault
or a nation's core facility,
as long as physical access wasn't impossible, the covert unit could infiltrate anywhere.
But this time, the opponent was the problem.
With Lee Cheongi already inside the Blue House, sending them in would be tantamount to suicide.
A monster who wielded thousands of skills without flaws, impossible even to predict.
That was the existence known as Infinite Monarch Lee Cheongi.
Even the Black Dragon Clan's covert forces, who once terrorized the world, risked their lives just to approach him.
That was why
Chao hesitated before asking,
"Do you truly believe that man can defeat the Infinite Monarch?"
"Why else would I be here?"
What would be the point of waiting for a corpse?
Chao couldn't help but feel even more conflicted watching Li Chingwei smile and speak so lightly.
Despite her joking tone, he sensed an unwavering conviction that Rimon would win and return.
"I still don't understand."
"I get it. One-on-one fights are the hardest bets to call, after all."
"...That's exactly what I'm saying. Please tell me why you trust him so much."
Chao voiced his honest feelings.
He couldn't comprehend believing Rimon could defeat Lee Cheongi in the first place.
No matter how strong Rimon had been, that was in the past. A guy who only knew how to swing a sword couldn't possibly match the Infinite Monarch, who commanded thousands of skills.
That was the common sense of this era.
Even so, he could accept that much.
For some reason, the upper echelons of the Seven Dragon Society—who had fought for centuries—tended to overrate Rimon oddly.
And that was precisely why Chao distrusted him.
"To begin with, isn't he our enemy?"
Enemy?
That was putting it mildly, in fact.
Arch-nemesis, mortal foe, natural predator, ancient grudge, blood-sworn enemy—none of those fully captured it.
No words in the world could adequately describe the rift between the Seven Dragon Society and Rimon.
In fact, their feud had birthed the slang term "dragon-duke rift," a bond of enmity a thousand times deeper than dog-monkey hatred.
The grudge between the Seven Dragon Society and Rimon ran that deep.
Thus, Chao simply couldn't fathom Li Chingwei's choice.
"A man who might harm you at any moment—why place faith in someone like that...?"
"Chao."
His unease about the longtime foe Rimon.
His worry for the princess he revered.
His doubt over her decision.
Chao, pouring all that into his words, immediately fell silent at her soft call.
Li Chingwei cut him off with a mere summons, then continued with a gentle smile.
"I'm always grateful for your loyalty."
No matter that Li Chingwei was the Black Dragon Clan's princess, she didn't command absolute loyalty from the entire clan.
In that sense, Chao was precious.
He offered unwavering devotion as a baseline,
but he was one of the rare few who could voice his honest opinions so frankly.
Especially now, with her position in the Seven Dragon Society unstable due to various circumstances and her clan's support significantly diminished.
That was why Li Chingwei stated firmly,
"But I won't forgive any further insults toward the man who will become my husband."
Chao flinched.
It wasn't just her serious expression or resolute words—sights rarely seen from her.
Her eyes, sunken deep like the night, conveyed it clearly.
This was a grave warning. No matter the recipient—even Chao—she wouldn't let it slide if crossed.
"...I apologize for overstepping."
"It wasn't overstepping your place. It merely crossed a line."
"I'll keep that in mind."
She was telling him to mind the boundary.
Chao bowed quietly to Li Chingwei, who spoke with a faint smile, then vanished into the shadows.
He understood that further interference would cross the line she'd mentioned.
No matter her youth.
No matter the loss of her clan's support.
Li Chingwei was the Black Dragon Clan's princess.
Once she made her decision, his role was to make it yield the best outcome, not complain.
As Li Chingwei let out a soft sigh watching the spot where Chao melted away,
Thud, thud.
The starlight in the night sky vanished.
An unfamiliar footfall echoed through the air.
This shouldn't have been possible.
Ever since learning of Infinity Guild's ambush, Hotel Leviathan had been on maximum alert.
If someone approached close enough for footsteps to be heard, the guards should have detected and reported them first.
"What're you doing out here in the dead of night?"
But Li Chingwei didn't flinch.
She simply answered lightly the question from the man who emerged leisurely from the darkness, as if returning from a stroll.
"Exercising my privileges."
"What privileges?"
Was her response so unexpected?
The white-haired man wore a puzzled look.
To Rimon, Li Chingwei beamed brightly and said,
"Waiting for her husband who's out on business is a bride's privilege, isn't it?"
"What a shame."
"Now what?"
"That you couldn't claim your reward from the Sword Duke."
On the top floor of Hotel Leviathan.
In that opulent penthouse, Rimon—having simply washed off the grime—frowned at Li Chingwei's out-of-left-field remark.
"...Why the hell would I owe you a reward?"
"Isn't it tradition for the groom to reward his bride with a kiss when she's done something praiseworthy?"
"No such tradition exists anywhere."
"Huh? Why not?"
"How should I know? Probably 'cause lawmakers didn't wanna kiss their wives."
Rimon tossed out a casual reply to Li Chingwei, who blinked at him with wide, startled rabbit eyes—as if she'd truly believed such a law existed.
Then, to her tilting head in confusion, he abruptly asked,
"Anyway, what about the kids? All asleep?"
"The children you brought back? I heard all but one are already asleep."
"Who's the one still up?"
Rimon furrowed his brow.
It was past midnight; any kid still awake raised red flags.
But the moment he heard her answer,
he fully understood why.
"A girl named Sia."
"Ah, the one with those rotten pollack eyes?"
"Pollack eyes?"
"There's this kid who already has dead-fish eyes despite her age."
He clicked his tongue briefly, recalling the girl from Hanbit Orphanage who stuck out sharply among those he'd rescued.
Then Rimon turned back to Li Chingwei.
"Anyway, no other issues?"
"None. They're all physically fine, and mentally much more stable than at first."
"Good. That's what matters."
Rimon nodded in satisfaction.
He began drying the last of the water from his hair with the towel around his neck.
Li Chingwei watched with sparkling eyes for a moment, peering at his firm skin peeking through damp hair and disheveled collar.
Then, as if remembering something, she spoke up.
"By the way, how'd things go where you were headed?"
"Business? Oh, you mean collecting the blood debt?"
"Yes. I heard you met the Infinite Monarch."
Li Chingwei didn't hide her curiosity.
Even if she unwaveringly believed in Rimon's victory, she couldn't help wanting details on what had transpired with the Infinite Monarch.
"I did."
Rimon nodded flatly.
Then added softly,
"But I didn't get the blood debt."
"...Pardon?"
Li Chingwei's eyes went wide.
As if he'd said he'd drunk but hadn't driven under the influence.
It was a natural reaction for her.
If he hadn't met the man at all, maybe—but Rimon Asfelder failing to claim blood debt from someone he'd already confronted? Impossible, as far as she knew.
To her blinking dazedly, Rimon tossed out,
"Know what's most important when claiming blood debt?"
"The strength to enforce it, right?"
"Sure, that's necessary too. But the real key is not mistaking your target."
Blood debt was payment in blood.
The right to repay death with death, to reclaim blood's worth in blood.
Failure was possible.
But mistakes were not.
Forcing repayment from the wrong person turned it into robbery.
Misidentifying the debtor made it mere slaughter.
"At first, I thought the Infinite Monarch was the one I needed to claim it from."
It was a reasonable assumption.
Lee Cheongi was the root of it all.
"But ending it with his blood debt felt off somehow."
Something he hadn't noticed before regression.
But after gaining sight beyond sight, fighting and speaking with Lee Cheongi directly, certain inconsistencies emerged.
Several dissonances.
"So before killing the bastard, I asked a few questions and figured it out."
Originally, mere intuition.
A hunch he couldn't confirm.
But with centuries of experience, Rimon finally reached a conclusion.
"The Infinite Monarch was just a puppet. There's a real mastermind behind this incident."
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