—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Limon dropped ice into an empty glass. He then selected an amber-colored whiskey from the bottles displayed on the shelf, poured himself a generous amount, and settled onto the sofa.
He brought the glass to his lips, and the rich aroma reached him before the taste.
The smoky peat, redolent of aged time itself, mingled with the amber liquid, spreading through his senses. The heavy taste of time, enough to intoxicate an ordinary person with the scent alone.
But he didn’t get drunk. He was a Sword Master, superhuman. And he had lived a long life. Both the alcohol and the weight of time dissolved easily within him.
“What are you doing up so late, Princess?”
He addressed the black-haired girl who had appeared behind the sofa.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Why? Insomnia?”
“No, I was just curious why you were still awake, Sword Saint, and that kept me up.”
“Old age does that to you.”
“If it were just age, you wouldn’t be awake this late only tonight.”
Li Chingwei smiled sweetly.
Limon chuckled softly at her sharp observation.
He took a sip of whiskey and said quietly,
“The night is restless.”
It seemed like a non sequitur. But she didn’t react with surprise. She simply looked at him with her obsidian eyes and asked calmly,
“Is that the Sword Master’s intuition?”
“I suppose. Or perhaps just the intuition of an old man who’s spent his life on battlefields.”
Limon shrugged.
He turned to look out the window at the darkened cityscape and continued softly,
“When you’ve lived your life on the battlefield, you sometimes feel this restlessness in the night.”
There were no specific signs.
Perhaps the insects were unusually quiet, or the strong wind had died down, or the stars were too bright, or perhaps there were no stars at all.
When the everyday occurrences felt strangely unfamiliar, the soldiers simply called it a restless night, a feeling they couldn’t explain.
“The funny thing is, on nights like these, there’s always a night raid or a large-scale battle, and people die like ants.”
“A kind of premonition?”
“Nothing so grand. It’s just a manifestation of the instincts we all possess.”
Before a storm, the wind calmed. Animals went wild before an earthquake. Rats abandoned sinking ships.
Everything had its precursors, humans simply couldn’t perceive them. But in life-or-death situations, even the dullest human became acutely sensitive, it was a biological instinct.
Limon scratched his cheek after his explanation.
“These days, they just call it PTSD.”
“Since the Iron Age began, people have come to believe in things that can be clearly defined, like levels and skills, rather than vague feelings.”
“Well, it’s better than having charlatans spouting nonsense about heavenly signs and influencing national affairs like in the old days.”
Limon chuckled.
Intuition was just intuition. Just as an old man who could predict rain by his aching joints could be wrong, relying on personal feelings, influenced by mood and condition, was like gambling your entire fortune.
Even if you were right ninety-nine times, one wrong guess could cost you everything.
“Is that why you’re being cautious but haven’t warned me or anyone else?”
“If it’s something I can prevent, I can handle it alone. And if I can’t, there’s no point in being cautious.”
“But you don’t have to shoulder the burden alone.”
“What burden? I’m just enjoying a drink and passing the time.”
“I see your point.”
Li Chingwei nodded slightly, then added with a gentle smile,
“Then, may I join you in passing the time?”
“There might not be anything to worry about.”
“Then I’ll simply enjoy some quality time with my fiancé.”
Li Chingwei said nonchalantly, as if there was nothing to lose for her either way.
Limon chuckled.
“Suit yourself.”
“Alright.”
Limon watched Li Chingwei, beaming as she poured him another drink, and thought to himself,
‘What a strange princess.’
He had dealt with many princesses of the Seven Dragons Association, from the Bronze Age to the present, but Li Chingwei was unlike any he had met.
It wasn’t just the act of her, a princess born and raised to be served, so naturally pouring him a drink.
Her ability to see through him, her occasional, inexplicable kindness, her unwavering trust… Everything about her was strange.
‘Well, does it matter?’
But Limon didn’t dwell on her strangeness. They were in a mutually beneficial relationship.
As long as she didn’t betray him, he had no reason to pry into her secrets. As Limon raised his refilled glass…
[Princess, we have a problem.]
[I have a report.]
Their communicators beeped.
Yo Ouin, the usually unflappable general manager of the Leviathan, spoke in a stiff voice, followed by Wei-ling’s urgent tone. But Limon remained calm.
He finished his whiskey in one gulp, let Li Chingwei refill his glass, and then slowly swirled the liquid, muttering,
“It’s begun.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Meanwhile, when Limon poured his first drink, he and Li Chingwei weren’t the only ones awake.
Yo Ouin was on duty, simply because the esteemed princess was still awake, and Wei-ling was working late, buried in paperwork.
But there was someone else who had been up for days, for a far more serious reason.
“Still nothing?”
“I told you, money is no object.”
“I don’t need excuses. I need clues about that monster by the end of today. No exceptions.”
Click.
Wang Ki-neung, a middle-aged man with an impressive mustache, slammed the phone down irritably.
He sank back into his chair and muttered,
“…It might already be too late.”
Since the day his Martial Force Unit was defeated by the black-clad figure and Ryu Kang-chul was murdered, he had been working tirelessly to clean up the mess, without a wink of sleep. But his efforts yielded little result.
He had publicly declared that they had captured Ryu Kang-chul and were interrogating him, using it to bolster the family’s declining status. But now, having lost Ryu Kang-chul before extracting any information, things weren’t looking good.
‘If only I could capture the other culprits…’
He immediately dismissed the thought.
They hadn’t been able to find the culprits even after mobilizing not just the Shanghai Royal Family’s resources but also the Seven Dragons Association’s network for over a month.
There was no chance of catching them now.
‘Where did I go wrong?’
Sending him to the Torture Hall? Having Limon capture Ryu Kang-chul? Or trying to catch the culprits himself?
Countless possibilities came to mind, but he couldn’t find the answer.
Each decision had been the best choice at the time, purely based on maximizing the family’s benefits.
It was ironic that these carefully calculated decisions had now led the family to the brink of ruin.
Thump!
“…?”
Lost in thought, Wang Ki-neung suddenly frowned.
With the heightened senses of a master-level expert, he detected a commotion outside his door.
“What’s all the fuss about at this hour? I’m exhausted.”
Muttering to himself, a mix of suspicion, curiosity, and fatigue in his voice, Wang Ki-neung pushed himself up from his desk.
He walked towards the door…
Crash!
…and punched a hole through it, grabbing the throat of the person lurking outside.
It was a perfect surprise attack, a bolt from the blue for the ambusher who had planned to attack him the moment the door opened.
“Yike?!”
But the ambusher reacted swiftly, dodging Wang Ki-neung’s hand and kicking the door.
As Wang Ki-neung flinched back from the splintering wood, the ambusher narrowly escaped his grasp, clutching his bleeding throat and exclaiming,
“Whoa, that was close! I almost lost my head just trying to say hello.”
“Huh?”
Wang Ki-neung couldn’t believe his eyes.
It wasn’t just because his two guards lay dead in the hallway. It was the sight of the beady-eyed young man, grinning and holding a bloody knife, that stunned him.
“Mr. Ryu Kang-chul?”
“Why so surprised? Is it so shocking that I’m alive?”
Ryu Kang-chul grinned, enjoying his reaction.
He twirled the knife in his hand and said triumphantly,
“Don’t be so shocked. Strange things happen in life, don’t they?”
“……”
“Well, I understand. You probably didn’t expect me to return safe and sound after you tied me up and tortured me.”
“……”
“So, it’s your turn to be carved up by me. That’s what they call karma, isn’t it?”
“……”
“…Hello? Aren’t you going to answer?”
Perhaps finding it boring to talk to himself, Ryu Kang-chul urged him to respond with a disgruntled expression.
Wang Ki-neung stared at him for a long moment, his expression unreadable. He slowly raised a hand, rubbed his eyes, pinched his cheek, doing everything he could to confirm that this wasn’t a dream.
Then…
“Ha, ahahahahahaha!!”
…he burst into laughter.
Ryu Kang-chul, who had been mocking him just moments ago, looked bewildered, confused, and even slightly concerned by Wang Ki-neung’s sudden, boisterous laughter.
“…Are you alright? Why are you laughing?”
“No, no. I’m just… relieved.”
“Relieved? About what?”
Ignoring Ryu Kang-chul, who was looking at him as if he were a madman, Wang Ki-neung continued to laugh, his face beaming with joy as if he had stumbled upon a treasure.
“The bastard who swallowed a gold bar and disappeared just walked right back in. How can I not be relieved?”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
