Chapter 19 - Take My Hand

"... What?" Limon stared at her, dumbfounded. It was an undignified look for a Sword Master centuries old. Yet he wasn't the most flustered person in the room.

THUD!

For instance, there was the flowerpot that had stood quietly behind Li Qingyu until it suddenly toppled over to one side.

CRASH!

"Y-Your Highness? What did you just say?" Yo U-in had dropped his tray, smashing the teapot and cups he was bringing in, and now stared at her in bewilderment.

But Li Qingyu spared neither the flowerpot nor Yo U-in a glance. Keeping her eyes on Limon, she asked with a bright smile, "What do you think? Would that be enough?"

"Uh, well..." After stumbling over his words for a moment, Limon cleared his throat and made an effort to speak calmly.

"Ahem. I must've misheard you... Did you say a stake in the Leviathan Hotel?"

"Yes."

"Forty-nine percent of it?"

"That's right."

"You'd give all of that to me? As a dowry?"

"That's what I said."

"... Are you insane?"

They had only met twice. It was an outrageously rude thing to ask a princess of the Seven Dragons Society. But neither Li Qingyu nor even the ashen-faced Yo U-in could fault him for it. Her offer was simply that absurd.

'What on earth is she thinking?' Leviathan wasn't just an expensive hotel. It was one of the Seven Dragon Group's seven foundational holding companies, a central institution with control over the Seven Dragons Society. Forty-nine percent of its shares? Their value was beyond calculation. Whoever held them could command enormous wealth, the power of the Black Dragon Clan, and even control over the Society. And she was offering those precious shares as a mere dowry—to Limon, of all people. Anyone would question her sanity.

But she was unperturbed. She only smiled and said, "You said it yourself, Sword Lord. If the goods change, the price should change too."

"So that's why you're offering forty-nine percent of the Leviathan Hotel?"

"Yes."

"... Why?"

"As you said, the goods have changed."

Limon looked at her as if to ask what nonsense she was spouting now. Li Qingyu continued calmly. "I know the situation you're in, Sword Lord. You've already been branded a traitor in this country, and you've made an enemy of the Infinite Monarch."

That she knew didn't surprise Limon. She was a princess of the Black Dragon Clan, among the best-informed people in the Seven Dragons Society. Of course she had heard about a building collapsing and more than a hundred high-level players being wiped out. What surprised him was her response.

"And you're raising your offer for me despite that?"

"That's exactly why I'm raising it." She had turned his words on their head. Smiling, she continued.

"You told me that while you were a civil servant, you couldn't become engaged to me because you might have to stand against the Seven Dragons Society for your country at any time."

"So what?"

"Yet you've come to become engaged to me. That means nothing holds you back anymore."

"..."

As Limon fell silent, she asked lightly, "If a sword fit only for display became a peerless blade that could actually be used, wouldn't it be right to pay what it's worth?"

She spoke of this absurd bargain as casually as if she were discussing the features of an item on display. Looking at her, Limon thought again how fitting it was that she was a princess of the Seven Dragons Society. Her words had cut straight to the heart of it.

If he hadn't been branded a traitor—if he hadn't turned his back on the country—then even if he had accepted her proposal and become engaged to her, Limon would never have lifted a finger in any matter involving the Seven Dragons Society. To a man from an older age, the Society was an enemy that could threaten the country at any moment. He was more likely to raise hell than help them.

But things had changed. The country had cast him aside and falsely branded him a traitor, severing the last of his ties to it. He had neither loyalty to this country nor any desire to protect it. He could now act as he pleased, unbound by anything—even if that meant helping a princess of the Seven Dragons Society.

It was as though a wreck that could only sit in the garage as a showpiece had become a new car she could drive wherever she liked. No wonder Li Qingyu had raised her offer. ... The problem was that even so, the sum was absurd. Of course, Limon could guess what lay behind it.

"You expect me to work for what you're paying me?"

"No. The terms are the same as before."

"I can just become your live-in husband and laze around?"

"This is only a dowry."

A marriage in name alone would suffice. She wouldn't force him to do anything he didn't want to do. Conversely, if he wanted something, the Black Dragon Clan would do everything in its power to help him. Having made these outrageous promises with a cheerful smile, Li Qingyu added, as if it had just occurred to her, "If my dowry is too much for you to accept, then please promise me just one thing instead."

"A promise?"

"That you'll never abandon me."

"... Worried I'll take the dowry and run?"

"Of course not. The great Sword Lord would never do something so despicable, would he?"

Her words were plainly a denial. So why did they sound like she was asking whether he was that despicable? Feeling the subtle pressure in her voice, Limon gave her an odd look. "Then why ask me that?"

"Because I absolutely need you, Sword Lord." She answered at once, then met his gaze and said evenly, "No matter what happens. Absolutely."

"No matter what happens..." He looked at the girl whose beautiful eyes were dark as obsidian and deep as night. After considering her words, Limon let out a small laugh. "You're giving away what you don't need and making sure you keep what matters most."

"You don't like my terms?"

"I don't."

Anyone else hearing him would have called him a crazy bastard. Marrying a princess of the Seven Dragons Society was more than most people could dream of. Even an ordinary person could become a central figure in the Seven Dragon Group overnight, gaining immense wealth and glory. She was guaranteeing his freedom to boot—and offering him shares in Leviathan. No one in their right mind would reject those terms, especially with a bride as beautiful as Li Qingyu. But Limon was neither most people nor an ordinary person.

"I'm not interested in your power or your money anyway." Limon snorted. Though he had turned his back on the country, he was still Limon Aspelder. He had fought the Seven Dragons Society all his life and won whatever he wanted with his own sword. If he wanted their wealth and power, he'd sooner smash the Society head-on and take it than ask for it as the price of becoming a live-in husband.

"And a few shares won't let me use them however I please." Even if he accepted them, there would be problems aplenty. The Leviathan Hotel's shares were closely tied to control of the Society. That also meant using them freely would require the acquiescence of the Black Dragon Clan and the other clans. Would they really stand by and let Limon—their greatest enemy for centuries—do that? He'd be lucky if there were no bomb attacks. If he hadn't come as Li Qingyu's guest, Yo U-in and the rest of the Black Dragon Clan would have tried to tear him apart on sight. In other words, her offer was little more than an empty promise.

"But I'll accept."

"Pardon?"

"Those terms. I'll accept them."

For that very reason, Li Qingyu's eyes widened at his answer. "Do you mean it?"

"I told you. I've decided to let myself want a little more."

It would have been one thing if the hotel shares had tempted him. But after listing every reason they were worthless to him, why accept her proposal? Li Qingyu looked so baffled she might have thought she'd misheard. Limon chuckled. "I've learned that if you don't have money or power, useless as they seem, people can put you through some pretty rotten things."

In the past, he would have refused. A stake in the core of the Seven Dragon Group would plainly bring him headaches rather than benefits. But the moment he accepted Li Qingyu's proposal to become her live-in husband, entanglement with the Society was inevitable. A few more headaches would make little difference.

"... Surely few people would look down on the Sword Lord just because he lacked money or power."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Limon smiled coldly. Until recently, he had been somewhat optimistic himself. Even if the Sword Master's reputation had faded, he had believed his deeds couldn't simply be erased. But after his country abandoned him merely for offending the Infinite Monarch and he killed Yu Na-gyeong with his own hands, he had realized something anew: the times had already changed.

Whatever someone had accomplished in the past, however honorably they had lived, no one cared about that anymore. People looked only at who held the most money and power now. That was all this age valued. Limon found it not only lamentable but bewildering that the world had come to this. Even after his long life, such a drastic change in a few decades was unfamiliar to him. Or perhaps the world had always been this way, and losing his own wealth and power had only made him notice it.

"On that note, there's something I want to confirm."

"What is it?"

Still troubled by a question he couldn't resolve, Limon fixed his cool, steady gaze on Li Qingyu. "Princess, when you proposed to me, you said marrying you would make me a target for a terrifying enemy. Is that enemy even human?"

"What an interesting question." Li Qingyu smiled. "Do you think I proposed to you because I'm afraid of something that isn't human?"

"... You don't strike me as someone who's afraid of anybody."

"Then you know my answer."

"I do."

Limon understood perfectly: why his unexpected question hadn't rattled her, why she'd brushed it off as a joke, and what it meant that she'd asked whether she looked frightened without ever confirming or denying that her enemy was human.

"Well, my answer's the same either way." He didn't press her further about the "enemy" she was wary of. He merely glanced back at the star-filled night sky, then continued as if it were nothing. "I need money and power."

Limon could feel it: whether the enemy he had to face was human or not, the days when being good with a sword was enough to win any fight were over. So he decided to gather some of that vaunted wealth and power himself. If his strength and honor as a Sword Master no longer meant anything, he would reclaim his place in a way suited to this age. If he couldn't change the times, he would have to change himself.

"And whatever comes into my hands from now on, I won't give it away to anyone." It was the declaration of an absolute being: proof that a Sword Master who had never held anything but a sword had decided to take hold of other things as well.

"So, Li Qingyu." Limon knew plenty of people would stand in his way if he sought power, especially within the Seven Dragons Society. When that happened, Li Qingyu would have to choose between the other clans and him. But he offered no empty assurance that he would avoid putting her in that position.

"Whatever I do from now on, whoever I make my enemy—if you're prepared never to turn your back on me, take my hand." Even if he became an enemy of the Society—no, even if he had to fight the whole world—she should walk away unless she was certain she could stay on his side to the end. With words too calm to be a warning and too cruel to be advice, Limon held out a hand. He looked straight at her with steady golden eyes and said, "If you can do that, I swear on my sword I'll never abandon you."

It was an outrageous proposal. In exchange for giving him a stake in Leviathan as a dowry, she would gain nothing but an enormous burden. The bargain was absurd. But she wasn't disappointed. As though she had waited a long time for this moment, she laid her hand over his without the slightest hesitation and smiled. "May I call you my husband now?"