Limon wore a stunned expression.
It was a pathetic display for a Sword Master who had lived for hundreds of years.
Yet, the reason his undignified reaction didn’t seem so out of place was because there were others nearby who were even more horrified.
Thud!
For instance, a flower pot that had been standing quietly behind Li Qingwei suddenly toppled over.
Clatter!
“P-Princess? What did you just say?”
Or You-in, who had dropped the tray he was carrying, shattering the teapot and cups into pieces as he asked the question with a look of utter bewilderment.
However, Li Qingwei spared no glance for the flower pot or You-in.
She simply kept her eyes fixed on Limon, asking with a beaming smile.
“What do you think? Would that be enough?”
“Uh, well…….”
Limon stammered for a moment at the unexpected words.
He cleared his throat to calm his mind and forced himself to speak composedly.
“Ahem, I think I heard you wrong just now……. Did you just say shares of the Leviathan Hotel?”
“Yes.”
“And 49% of them?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re giving all of that to me? As a dowry?”
“That is what I said.”
“
..Are you crazy?”
They had only met twice.
It was an excessively rude remark to make to the Princess of the Seven Dragons Association.
However, not even You-in, whose face had turned pale, could find it in him to blame Limon for his rudeness.
Her proposal was just that absurd.
‘What on earth is she thinking?’
The Leviathan was not just some expensive hotel.
It was one of the seven holding companies that formed the foundation of the Seven Dragons Group, and it served as the central organ that held governing power over the Association.
And 49% of its shares?
Its value was beyond calculation in mere money.
Whoever held it would gain not only immense wealth but also the power of the Black Dragon Clan and control over the Seven Dragons Association.
To offer such precious shares as a mere dowry—and to Limon of all people—was enough to make anyone doubt her sanity.
Yet, she remained unfazed.
She simply spoke with a bright smile.
“Did you not say so yourself, Lord Sword? If the product changes, the price of the goods must change as well.”
“So you’re offering 49% of the Leviathan Hotel’s shares because of that?”
“Yes.”
“..Why?”
“Because, as you said, the product has changed.”
As if asking what kind of nonsense that was, Limon looked at her with a sour expression. Li Qingwei continued nonchalantly.
“I know what your situation is. You have already become a traitor in this country, and you even have an enemy known as the Infinite Monarch.”
Limon wasn’t surprised by the facts themselves.
She was the Princess of the Black Dragon Clan.
She held a position at the very peak of information gathering within the Seven Dragons Association.
There was no way a woman like her wouldn’t know about a major incident where a building collapsed and over a hundred high-level players were massacred.
What was unexpected was Li Qingwei’s response to it.
“And yet you’re raising my price?”
“That is exactly why I am calling for a higher price for you, Lord Sword.”
Li Qingwei, who had phrased the same sentiment in a completely different way, continued with a soft smile.
“You said it yourself, Lord Sword. As long as you were a civil servant, you couldn’t enter a marriage contract with me because you wouldn’t know when you might have to face the Seven Dragons Association for the sake of the country.”
“What about it?”
“The fact that you came to fulfill the marriage contract despite that means you are no longer bound by anything.”
“……”
Limon remained silent.
Li Qingwei asked him in a light tone.
“If a sword that could only be used for decoration has become a peerless masterwork that can actually be used, is it not only right to pay a price befitting its value?”
She spoke of absurd things with a calm face, as if asking about the performance of a product displayed in a store. Limon thought to himself again:
She truly was the Princess of the Seven Dragons Association.
Li Qingwei’s words pierced right to the heart of the matter.
If he hadn’t been branded a traitor.
If he hadn’t turned his back on the country.
Even if he had accepted Li Qingwei’s proposal and entered the marriage contract, Limon wouldn’t have lifted a finger regarding the affairs of the Seven Dragons Association.
To Limon, a figure from the old era, the Seven Dragons Association were enemies who could threaten the nation at any time.
If anything, he would have caused trouble for them; he had absolutely no reason to help them.
But the situation was different now.
Discarded by the country and framed as a traitor.
Now that all his remaining ties were severed.
Limon had no loyalty or will left to protect this country.
In other words, it meant he could now act as he pleased without being bound by anything.
Even if that meant helping the Princess of the Seven Dragons Association.
It was like an old car that could only be kept in a garage for show had been replaced by a new car that could be used to one’s heart’s content.
It was only natural for Li Qingwei to raise his price.
…The problem was that she suggested a price so absurd even when taking all that into account.
Of course, Limon could also guess the hidden meaning behind that nonsensical price.
“Are you telling me to work for what I receive?”
“No, the conditions are the same as before.”
“You’re saying I can just become a live-in son-in-law and fool around all I want?”
“Because this is merely a dowry.”
She was saying a formal marriage would suffice.
That she wouldn’t force him to do anything he didn’t want to do.
Conversely, if Limon wanted something, the Black Dragon Clan would put all their strength into helping him.
After rambling on about such ridiculous things with a beaming face, Li Qingwei added one more thing as if it had just occurred to her.
“If my dowry feels like a burden, please promise me just one thing instead.”
“A promise?”
“That you will never abandon me.”
“……Are you worried I’ll take the dowry and run away?”
“Perish the thought. There is no way the great Lord Sword would do something so scummy, right?”
Her words were a clear denial, yet somehow they sounded like she was asking if he was scum.
At her words, which carried a strange pressure, Limon asked with a peculiar expression.
“Then why make such a request?”
“Because I absolutely need you, Lord Sword.”
Li Qingwei replied instantly.
She looked Limon straight in the eye and continued in a calm voice.
“No matter what happens, absolutely.”
“No matter what happens, huh…….”
A young girl looking at him with eyes as beautiful as obsidian and as deep as the night.
Reflecting on Li Qingwei’s words, Limon let out a smirk.
“You give away things you don’t need while making sure to take everything that’s truly important.”
“Do you not like my conditions?”
“I can’t say I like them.”
If anyone else had heard Limon’s words, they would have called him a crazy bastard.
Just marrying the Princess of the Seven Dragons Association was something most people would only dare to dream of.
Even for an ordinary person, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to instantly become a pillar of the Seven Dragons Group and gain immense wealth and glory.
On top of that, freedom was guaranteed as a baseline.
And she was even giving him shares of the Leviathan.
No one in their right mind would refuse such conditions.
Especially if the marriage partner was a girl as beautiful as Li Qingwei.
But Limon was not ‘most people’ or an ‘ordinary person.’
“I have no interest in your power or wealth anyway.”
Limon snorted.
Even if he had turned his back on the country, he was still Limon Asphelther.
He was someone who had fought against the Seven Dragons Association his entire life and had seized what he wanted with his own sword.
He would rather crush the Seven Dragons Association head-on and take what he wanted than desire such things as a price for becoming a mere live-in son-in-law.
“And it’s not like I’d be able to use those shares however I wanted just by having them.”
Even if he accepted them, the problems were mountain-high.
The shares of the Leviathan Hotel were closely linked to the control of the Seven Dragons Association.
In reverse, that meant that to use those shares freely, he would need the tacit approval of not only the Black Dragon Clan but also the other clans.
But would they really stand by and watch?
To see Limon, who had been the greatest nemesis of the Seven Dragons Association for the past several centuries, hold such power?
It would be a miracle if a terrorist bombing didn’t break out immediately.
If he hadn’t come as Li Qingwei’s guest, the Black Dragon Clan—starting with You-in—would have tried to devour Limon on the spot.
In essence, her proposal was no different from an empty check.
“However, I will accept.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m saying I’ll accept those conditions.”
In that moment, as Limon gave his answer.
Li Qingwei couldn’t help but widen her eyes in surprise.
“Are you serious?”
“I told you. I decided to have a bit of greed myself.”
It would be one thing if he were tempted by the shares of the Leviathan Hotel.
But seeing him accept the proposal right after listing every reason why those shares were worthless made her look as though she were hearing things.
Limon smirked.
“I’ve realized that even if they’re useless things like money or power, if you don’t hold onto them for now, you end up in a foul mood.”
In the past, he wouldn’t have taken them.
Key shares of the Seven Dragons Group would clearly be nothing but a headache rather than a benefit.
But from the moment he accepted Li Qingwei’s proposal, it was an unavoidable fate that he would become tediously entangled with the Seven Dragons Association.
Adding a bit more trouble on top of that didn’t matter much to Limon anyway.
“……There are very few people who would ignore the Lord Sword just because he lacks money or power.”
“Well, I found out it’s not exactly like that.”
Limon smiled coldly.
Until not long ago, he too had held such optimistic thoughts.
He believed that no matter how much the prestige of a Sword Master had fallen, the things he had done would not disappear.
However, after being discarded by the country just for getting on the Infinite Monarch’s nerves and killing Yu Na-kyung with his own hands, Limon realized it anew.
That the times had already changed.
No matter what feats one had achieved in the past.
No matter how honorably one had lived.
No one cared about such things anymore.
The current era only looked at who held more money and power right now, valuing only that.
He wondered how the world had ended up like this.
To Limon, it felt beyond regrettable; it was almost a mystery.
Even for someone who had lived a long time, the world changing so drastically in just a few decades was a foreign experience.
Perhaps the world had always been that way.
It was just that now, having lost his wealth and power, it felt new.
“In that sense, there’s one thing I’d like to confirm.”
“And what might that be?”
Carrying an unresolvable question.
Limon looked at Li Qingwei with coldly sunken eyes and continued.
“Princess, when you proposed to me, you said that if I married you, I would be targeted by a terrifying enemy.”
“Yes, I did.”
“That ‘terrifying enemy’……. Is it even human?”
“You say such interesting things.”
Li Qingwei smiled broadly.
“Do you think I proposed to the Lord Sword because I was afraid of something that isn’t even human?”
“..At the very least, you don’t seem like a coward who would be afraid of anyone.”
“Then you have your answer.”
“I see.”
Limon understood perfectly.
The reason Li Qingwei wasn’t flustered by his sudden question.
Her intention to brush it off like a joke.
The meaning behind her response—by simply asking if she looked like someone who was scared, she neither confirmed nor denied whether the enemy was human.
“Well, either way, my answer remains the same.”
Therefore, Limon didn’t bother to press further about the ‘enemy’ Li Qingwei was wary of.
He simply glanced back at the starry night sky and spoke nonchalantly.
“Because I need money and power.”
Limon could feel it.
Whether the enemy he had to face was human or not.
The era where one could win any battle just by being good at swinging a sword was over.
That was why he thought this.
That he should try gathering that high-and-mighty wealth and power himself.
If his strength and honor as a Sword Master had become meaningless, then he would reclaim his place in a way that fit this era.
Because if he couldn’t change the flow of the times, he had no choice but to change himself.
“And once something is in my hands, no matter what it is, I have no intention of handing it over to anyone else.”
It was the declaration of an absolute.
It was proof of the resolution of a Sword Master who, until now, had held nothing but his sword, but had now decided to hold things other than his sword.
“So, Li Qingwei.”
Limon knew.
That if he sought power, there would be plenty of people to hinder him.
Especially within the Seven Dragons Association.
Should that happen, Li Qingwei would be placed in a situation where she would have to take a side between the other clans and Limon.
But Limon didn’t say anything as empty as promising not to let such a situation happen.
“No matter what I do in the future, or who I make an enemy of. If you are prepared to not turn your back on me until the end, then take my hand.”
Even if he were to become an enemy of the Seven Dragons Association.
No, he was telling her to give up if she wasn’t confident in staying by his side even if he ended up fighting the entire world.
Limon reached out a hand with words that were too calm to be a warning and too cruel to be advice.
Then, looking straight at Li Qingwei with golden eyes that had settled quietly, he spoke.
“If you do, I swear upon my sword that I will never abandon you.”
It was a preposterous proposal.
In exchange for giving up the shares of the Leviathan as a dowry, she would be taking on a massive time bomb; it was a truly nonsensical deal.
But she was not disappointed.
As if she had been waiting for this very moment for a long time.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she placed her hand over Limon’s and simply gave a bright smile.
“Shall I call you husband from now on?”