Chapter 41: It tastes like blood

“Is there a reason for the Sword Master to lament?”

Li Qingwei asked with a faint smile, as if she had read his mind.

Limon gazed into her eyes, which were as beautiful as obsidian, and spoke in a low voice.

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

The Seven Dragons Council consisted of seven clans. In a direct confrontation, the Black Dragon Clan was the weakest among them.

Yet, for the past hundreds of years, they were the ones who had threatened Limon the most—in a sense, an enemy more formidable than even the Demon God.

“Cunning, clever, sly, and meticulous.”

Among the descendants of the seven dragons, they were the ones with the deepest schemes and the greatest talent for plotting.

The Black Dragon Clan.

And she was the pinnacle of that dark lineage.

A princess who could read minds with powerful psionic abilities and was even more adept at manipulating those hearts.

She understood Limon perfectly.

She had delved into his character and was the very person who had orchestrated a trap he could never escape.

Li Qingwei was neither angered nor embarrassed by Limon’s accusatory words. Instead, she simply nodded readily.

“Yes, that is our racial trait.”

She accepted his words with a beaming smile, as if it were the most natural fact in the world.

Then, as if such trivial details did not matter, she asked nonchalantly, “So, have you made up your mind?”

Looking at her—a woman who seemed like an innocent girl yet never revealed her true depths—Limon closed his eyes.

‘Is this the end?’

The conclusion had been decided from the very beginning.

Just as a king cornered in checkmate is as good as dead, the moment he met Li Qingwei a few days ago… no, from the point he had spent decades failing to notice the Seven Dragons Council’s conspiracy, he had already been backed into a corner.

He simply hadn’t been able to bring himself to admit it.

“Very well.”

Knowing that further stubbornness would only become self-delusion, Limon nodded slowly.

He withdrew the sword that had been touching Li Qingwei’s chest and spoke softly.

*Clang.*

“I’ve lost.”

It was only two words.

A simple statement acknowledging that Li Qingwei was not a target for revenge, nor a traitor who had turned her back on him.

But the weight of those words was by no means light.

From the Age of Bronze through the Age of Heroes to the Age of Iron, he was the last Sword Master who had never been defeated despite fighting all sorts of powerful enemies, including the Seven Dragons Council and the Demon God, for hundreds of years.

This was the moment Limon Asphelther admitted defeat.

It was a truly astounding feat.

Had the ancients known, they would have been moved to tears, declared it a day of celebration for the Seven Dragons Council, and passed down the achievement for generations.

“Thank you for showing such generosity.”

However, Li Qingwei did not act proud.

She acted as if this result was only possible because Limon had overlooked her sins with a broad heart.

She politely preserved Limon’s dignity, suggesting that he had simply conceded the victory to her.

“Truly, you are quite unlike the youngsters of today in many ways.”

In an era where it was natural for winners to mock and trample on losers, and to sneer at mercy as hypocrisy, her polite attitude was so rare it was almost nostalgic.

Limon couldn’t help but give a bitter smile.

Li Qingwei’s expression brightened with joy.

“Oh? Do I seem that mature to you?”

“I was talking about your attitude, not your appearance.”

“Is that so?”

Li Qingwei tilted her head as if she didn’t see the problem.

Limon chuckled at the sight.

“Ruining your entire clan just to get your hands on me isn’t exactly what ‘youngsters’ do these days.”

In this era where only money and power mattered, Limon had come to look down on and ignore everyone, including the other princesses and elders who had plotted the World Peace Project.

Yet, she had poured half of her clan’s massive assets into obtaining him and even offered the remaining half as a dowry.

To be honest, no one—not just now, but even in the past—had ever done such a thing.

“That’s because other people don’t know the Sword Master’s true value.”

“And you do?”

Li Qingwei claimed that others were simply foolish and that she wasn’t the strange one.

Limon asked sarcastically upon hearing her shameless remark.

It was a question asked half in jest.

“Yes, I know.”

But Li Qingwei answered immediately.

She spoke with certainty, without a hint of hesitation.

It was as if she could never tolerate anyone else in the world knowing Limon better than she did.

“Because I have lived my entire life solely for this moment.”

Limon was silent for a moment.

It wasn’t just because of that inexplicable conviction.

Li Qingwei’s eyes, shining beautifully like obsidian yet sunken and dark like the night, felt strangely unfamiliar yet familiar.

That look made Limon search his memories.

“Right. Perhaps you would know.”

The moment he realized when he had seen that look before, Limon could vaguely understand why she had risked everything her clan owned to obtain him.

That was why he asked, “But, Princess of the Black Dragon Clan, can you truly handle the consequences?”

He was no longer speaking as an avenger seeking a blood debt from the mastermind behind a conspiracy.

Whether she knew of the hidden plot or not, he was giving her advice as a man who had sworn on his sword to be with her.

“The resentment I carry is heavier than the power I possess. Even more so within the Seven Dragons Council.”

Limon knew that while resentment might be buried by time, it never disappeared, and grudges were passed down through generations.

In that sense, the Seven Dragons Council’s hatred for Limon was more than enough to create mountain ranges and oceans.

In the past, it was rare to find a clan that hadn’t had a relative killed by Limon.

“And accepting me means you must also accept the resentment I carry.”

In the past, it might have been fine.

Everyone knew Limon’s power so acutely that they would have swallowed their resentment just to avoid having him as an enemy.

But what about now, when Limon had fallen?

Could they quietly accept him?

Could the current Seven Dragons Council, who underestimated Limon while still harboring their grudges, do such a thing?

“You will be treated as a traitor who sold out her clan. What remains of your people will turn their backs on you, offering contempt and blades instead of respect and loyalty.”

That was no exaggeration.

Because of her absurd goal of checking the Constellations, Li Qingwei’s standing was already at its worst for ruining her clan.

If it were known that she had offered up the remaining shares and accepted Limon?

She might become the first princess in the long history of the Seven Dragons Council to be killed by her own people.

That was what it meant to accept Limon.

“Furthermore, if your fears turn out to be true, the Seven Dragons Council won’t be the only enemy I have to face.”

Limon paused for a moment.

He continued in a voice heavier than before.

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

This Age of Iron was being established with the Constellations and Players at its core.

To check the Constellations was to defy the flow of the era, which was the same as turning the world itself into an enemy.

If the Constellations realized the wariness Limon and Li Qingwei felt and moved to suppress or eliminate them, or if the Constellations had a way to manipulate the Players, they would face a brutal fight.

Even without the Constellations intervening directly, merely moving the Ten Monarchs would be enough.

Limon’s overwhelming victory over Lee Chun-gi was only because he was an anomaly.

The power of a Monarch, who used cheat skills that twisted the laws of the world and commanded a powerful guild, was never something to be ignored.

“In the worst-case scenario, you might be abandoned even by the Seven Dragons Council and forced to live as a fugitive after losing everything.”

Unless she was lucky enough to gather the support of other clans quickly, the possibility of the other clans abandoning the Black Dragon Clan if they made an enemy of the Constellations was high.

No, they might even be the first to rush in and feast on what remained of the Black Dragon Clan’s power.

Internal strife and external threats.

It meant she would be isolated, fighting the other clans of the Seven Dragons Council internally while facing all the Players, including the Constellations, externally.

Even if the Constellations did not move, the other clans would still oppose her.

That was the inescapable karma she would carry as the price for joining hands with Limon.

“Are you confident you can bear that burden?”

In this era where the value of strength had plummeted, taking on such a burden to obtain a swordsman who knew nothing but how to fight was foolish to anyone’s eyes.

It could easily be the worst possible choice.

Limon asked as if giving her one last chance to reconsider.

Li Qingwei answered with a broad smile.

“Of course.”

“Why don’t you think about it for at least a little while before answering?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I have lived only for this moment.”

She was fine with whatever karma she had to bear.

As long as she could have Limon, it was enough.

She said with a beaming smile that if she hadn’t had that level of resolve, she wouldn’t have been able to ruin her clan in the first place.

Limon stared at her and then slowly nodded.

“If you are prepared, then fine.”

Limon slowly rose from his seat.

He took a step forward, towering over Li Qingwei, and reached out.

“However, let me make one thing clear.”

“Yes?”

Li Qingwei blinked blankly, seemingly surprised by his hand tilting her chin up.

While forcing her to meet his gaze, Limon spoke.

“You are not the one obtaining me.”

“I am the one taking you.”

It was a declaration.

“Of course, it won’t end with just you. To gain the power to face the Constellations, I intend to take everything left to the Black Dragon Clan and even devour the Seven Dragons Council.”

It was a proclamation.

Having accepted her proposal—no, having decided to seize money and power—this was something he would have to do eventually.

It was a declaration of war by a single individual against the princess of the Seven Dragons Council, the organization that controlled the world from the shadows.

“So, be prepared for that.”

There were no more warnings.

There wasn’t even an attempt to confirm her opinion.

There was only a unilateral notice, as if mocking the foolish victim who had thrown away her last chance.

After staring blankly into the calmly sunken golden eyes of the absolute being who had decided to reclaim his lost glory, Li Qingwei eventually broke into a smile.

As if she had been waiting for those words, she spoke with a joyful expression, her eyelids fluttering closed.

“If that is what you desire.”

She said without hesitation that she would gladly offer up not only her own clan but the entire Seven Dragons Council.

Limon was not surprised.

As if he had expected as much—no, as if he would not tolerate a refusal—he simply pulled her chin toward him and kissed her crimson lips.

That was the moment the princess of the Seven Dragons Council and the guardian of humanity, two enemies who should never have been able to coexist, ended up in the same boat.

And it was the moment Limon shared a blood-stained kiss, a rarity in his long life.