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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: That Taste is Blood-Red.
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"Is there any reason for the Sword Duke to lament?"
As if reading his mind.
Li Chingwei asked with a faint smile.
Rimon gazed steadily into her obsidian eyes, beautiful as polished stone, before quietly opening his mouth.
"You truly are the princess of the Black Dragon Clan."
The Seven Dragon Society's seven clans.
The weakest among them if clashing head-on.
Yet over the past few centuries, they had been Rimon's greatest threat—the archenemies who, in a way, surpassed even the Demon God.
"Cunning, shrewd, sly, and meticulous."
Among the descendants of the seven dragons, they were the deepest schemers, unmatched in weaving intricate plots.
The Black Dragon Clan.
The pinnacle of that shadowy lineage.
Their princess, wielding immense psychic powers to read minds and masterfully manipulate them.
She understood Rimon perfectly.
She had delved thoroughly into his nature.
And orchestrated an inescapable scheme.
Even faced with Rimon's words like accusations, Li Chingwei neither flared in anger nor showed embarrassment.
She simply nodded readily.
"Yes, that's our racial trait, after all."
As if it were the most obvious fact in the world.
Li Chingwei smiled brightly, accepting his words.
She then asked nonchalantly, as if such trivialities meant nothing to her.
"So, have you made your decision?"
Gazing at her—innocent as a girl yet never revealing her depths—Rimon closed his eyes.
'So this is as far as it goes.'
The conclusion had been set from the start.
Just as a king in checkmate is as good as dead.
From the moment he met Li Chingwei days ago...
No, from the point decades ago when he failed to detect the Seven Dragon Society's plot, he had already been cornered.
He simply couldn't admit it.
"Yes."
Knowing that further stubbornness would be mere folly, Rimon slowly nodded.
He withdrew the sword touching her chest and murmured softly.
Clang.
"I lose."
Just two simple words.
Not admitting she was someone to avenge, nor a traitor who turned her back on him.
Yet their weight was anything but light.
From the Bronze Age through the Heroes Age to the Iron Age.
The last Sword Master who had battled countless mighty foes—including the Seven Dragon Society and the Demon God—for centuries without a single defeat.
This was the moment Rimon Asfelder acknowledged his loss.
A truly astonishing feat.
If the ancients knew, they would have wept in awe, declared it a holiday for the Seven Dragon Society, and passed it down through generations.
"Thank you for your mercy."
But Li Chingwei showed no pride.
All this was possible only because Rimon, with his magnanimity, forgave her sins.
She had merely received victory as a concession.
She humbly preserved his dignity.
"...In so many ways, you're nothing like the youth of today."
In this era where victors mock and trample the defeated, and mercy is sneered at as hypocrisy.
A politeness so rare it felt nostalgic—Rimon couldn't help but give a wry smile.
Li Chingwei's face lit up with delight.
"Huh? Do I seem that mature?"
"I meant your attitude, not your looks."
"Oh, really?"
She tilted her head, seemingly clueless about what was wrong with her.
Seeing that, Rimon chuckled softly.
"Ruin an entire clan just to get one person like me? That's no way for today's youth to act."
In this age where money and power reign supreme.
Even the other princesses and elders plotting world peace looked down on and ignored Rimon.
Yet she poured half her clan's vast assets to claim him, offering the rest as dowry.
Honestly, no one—not even in the past—had gone to such extremes.
"That's because people don't know the Sword Duke's true value."
"And you do?"
Others are fools, she implied.
She wasn't the strange one.
Hearing her brazen claim, Rimon asked mockingly.
A question half in jest.
"Yes, I know."
But Li Chingwei answered instantly.
Without a hint of hesitation, with utter conviction.
As if she could never tolerate anyone knowing Rimon better than she did.
"I've lived until now solely for this moment."
Rimon fell silent for a moment.
Not just because of that inexplicable certainty.
Her obsidian eyes gleamed beautifully yet sank darkly like the night.
That strangely familiar yet alien gaze stirred his memories.
"...Yes, you just might."
The instant he realized where he'd seen that look.
Rimon vaguely understood.
Why she staked her entire clan to claim him.
So he asked.
"But princess of the Black Dragon Clan, can you truly handle it?"
This wasn't the vengeful demand for blood debt from the mastermind of schemes, as before.
Whether he knew of the hidden plots or not.
It was advice from the one who had sworn, sword in hand, to stand with her.
"The grudges I bear outweigh the power I hold—especially from the Seven Dragon Society."
Rimon knew.
Resentments don't vanish with time, merely buried.
Grudges pass down generations.
In that sense, the Seven Dragon Society's hatred for him had built mountains and seas beyond mountains and rivers.
Rarely was there a clan without kin slain by him in the past.
"Accepting me means accepting those grudges too."
It might have been fine in the old days.
Back then, everyone knew his power bone-deep; avoiding him as an enemy was enough to swallow their hatred.
But now, with his fall?
Could they quietly accept him?
The current Seven Dragon Society, underestimating him while nursing old grudges?
"You'll be branded a traitor who sold out your clan. What's left of it will turn from you, offering contempt and blades instead of reverence and loyalty."
No exaggeration.
Her position was already dire, ruining her clan for the absurd goal of checking the constellations.
If it became known she handed over the remaining shares and accepted Rimon?
She could be the first princess in the Seven Dragon Society's long history to be slain by her own clan.
That was the cost of accepting him.
"And if your suspicions prove true, the enemies I'll face won't just be the Seven Dragon Society."
Rimon paused.
Then continued in a heavier tone than ever.
"The entire world, constellations included."
This Iron Age, built on constellations and players.
Challenging constellations meant defying the era's tide—making the whole world your foe.
If constellations sensed their wariness and moved to check or eliminate them.
And if constellations had means to command players.
Even without constellations acting directly, ten monarchs alone would force a brutal fight.
Overwhelming Lee Cheongi was because Rimon was the anomaly.
Monarchs wielding cheat skills defying natural order, each backed by mighty guilds—their power was not to be dismissed.
"In the worst case, even the Seven Dragon Society might abandon you, leaving you to flee with nothing."
If luck favored her, she might quickly rally other clans' support.
But opposing constellations without unity? Other clans might well abandon the Black Dragon Clan.
No— they might lead the charge to devour its remnants.
True turmoil within and without.
Fighting fellow Seven Dragon Society clans inside, all players and constellations outside—isolation absolute.
Even if constellations stayed put, other clans would oppose the Black Dragon Clan.
That was the inescapable burden Li Chingwei would bear for allying with Rimon.
"Do you have the resolve to shoulder it?"
In this era where strength's value has waned.
Taking on such a burden for a mere swordsman who knows only battle? Foolish by any measure.
It could be the worst choice.
Yet she still wanted him?
Rimon asked, offering one last chance.
Li Chingwei smiled gently in response.
"Of course."
"...Couldn't you at least think it over before answering?"
"I told you—I lived for this moment alone."
Any burden was fine.
As long as she gained Rimon.
Without that resolve, she couldn't have ruined her clan.
Gazing at her beaming smile, Rimon slowly nodded.
"If you're resolved, then good."
Rimon rose slowly from his seat.
He stepped forward, standing tall before Li Chingwei, and extended his hand.
"But one thing must be clear."
"Yes?"
Startled by his hand gently lifting her chin.
She blinked blankly.
Forcing her gaze to meet his, Rimon said.
"You're not gaining me."
"You become mine."
A declaration.
"Of course, it won't end with you. To face the constellations, I'll seize everything left in the Black Dragon Clan—and devour the Seven Dragon Society itself."
A proclamation.
From the moment he accepted her proposal.
No—once he resolved to seize money and power, it was inevitable.
A declaration of war against the Seven Dragon Society's princess, who controlled the world's shadows alone.
"Brace yourself for that."
No further warnings.
Not even seeking her consent.
Just a one-sided decree, as if mocking the fool who discarded her last chance.
Staring blankly into the absolute one's golden eyes, quietly sunken with resolve to reclaim lost glory—only for a moment.
Li Chingwei smiled softly.
As if she'd waited only to hear those words.
With unbridled joy, she gently closed her eyes and said.
"If that's what you desire."
She pledged without hesitation to offer her clan—even the entire Seven Dragon Society.
But Rimon wasn't surprised.
As if he'd known she would.
No—as if refusal was unacceptable.
He merely drew her chin closer and pressed his lips to her crimson ones.
The moment the Seven Dragon Society's princess and humanity's guardian deity—archenemies who should never coexist—shared a boat as allies.
And the moment Rimon, in his long life, tasted a rare, blood-scented kiss.
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