Chapter 165
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: The Chosen Future
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Tata was taken aback.
Not the Azure Dragon Princess, but Aynsha suddenly crossing through space to appear right in front of her?
Aynsha in scandalously revealing clothes, held in the arms of some outsider man?
The faint blush rising on Aynsha's otherwise expressionless face?
Of course, those were reasons too.
But what was truly unexpected was the fact that Rimon and Aynsha had already caught up to her.
The combat team she'd left behind to slow them down hadn't bought much time, just as the prophecy foretold. Still, getting tailed at this exact moment was completely off-script.
That was why Tata voiced her honest confusion.
"Quite unexpected. How did you figure out where I was so quickly?"
"Save the chit-chat. Stick your neck out. Then it'll be painless..."
"Aynsha, hold up a second."
"...Holding up."
Aynsha had charged forward full of zeal, only to slump her shoulders and step back at Rimon's single word.
Rimon quietly addressed Tata, who was once again wearing that peculiar expression.
"There's a complicated answer and a simple one. Which do you want to hear?"
"The complicated one, please."
"That's not very White Dragon Clan of you."
He stared steadily at Tata after hearing that line—unexpected in one sense, right on the money in another—then let out a chuckle.
And with a disarmingly friendly tone, he answered.
"Eh, nothing impressive. We just followed the clues you left behind."
"I don't recall dropping any breadcrumbs."
"You left far clearer ones instead. Like the fact that you're a traitor."
"...And that's a clue?"
"You bet it is."
As if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Rimon nodded at once.
Then, with a wicked grin, he continued.
"A traitor has to act like one, but the things you can actually pull off are pretty limited."
If she'd been with the Holy Alliance, Tata could've done a lot more.
Borrowing the Liberation Brigade's muscle or other Holy Alliance factions, she might've even toppled the White Dragon Clan with a stroke of luck.
But here in this country?
Forget the Liberation Brigade—even with a top-ten guild's backing, her options were slim.
Aynsha was here. Li Chingwei was here. And above all, Rimon was here.
Going toe-to-toe with two princesses of the Seven Dragon Society and Humanity's Last Sword Master? Straight-up suicide.
So Tata's betrayal could only be some backroom scheming unrelated to open warfare—something even an avowed traitor could manage.
Slipping away in secret.
Leaking internal secrets.
Inciting clashes with rival factions.
Or...
"Like, say, indiscriminate attacks on facilities or civilians."
"Even so, leaping from 'traitor' to 'terrorist' out of nowhere feels like a stretch."
"Of course it is."
Rimon conceded the point without hesitation.
Truth be told, even he had rated that scenario pretty low at first—more the sort of stunt a foreign spy might pull than a proper traitor.
But Rimon had solid grounds to take the hypothesis seriously.
"If your princess hadn't foreseen me killing you."
"......"
Even hearing of her own death, Tata didn't flinch or show a hint of agitation. She just let the words slide off her calmly.
And as if he'd expected exactly that reaction, Rimon pressed on with a cold smile.
"The White Dragon Princess seeing that prophecy means you've got a 'definite' reason to die by my hand. Once you factor that in, this scenario fits like a glove."
Had Tata actually done something to harm the Seven Dragon Society, Rimon wouldn't have given it much thought.
Kill her or let her live? That'd be Aynsha's call as the White Dragon Princess.
Even if it spilled over to hurt the Black Dragon Clan and drew Li Chingwei's involvement, it still wouldn't necessarily pull Rimon in.
Flip that around, though—what would force him to step up personally?
The answer was simple.
Something Rimon would never tolerate.
In other words, assume Tata was out to kill or harm the innocent.
"Once I got that far, nailing down the location was easy. Just had to think about why you hooked up with that bastard Mun Cheonyeop."
"Mun Cheonyeop...," Aynsha murmured. "Is that the name of the guy who handed Tata the bag?"
"Yeah."
"That's odd. He had no idea where you'd strike or what you'd do."
"Eh, probably. You two likely met for the first time through the Liberation Brigade's crime services anyway."
Rimon had briefly considered the possibility that Tata had thrown in with the Liberation Brigade proper while tracking her, but that suspicion had all but vanished along the way.
A player crime syndicate partnering with a Seven Dragon Society elder? Low odds to begin with.
And even if they had, casually exposing a traitor they needed to keep hidden? Bizarre.
Strip away the Liberation Brigade angle, and things simplified nicely.
Tata had tapped their crime services to get what she needed, and her interests just happened to align with Mun Cheonyeop's.
"Lucky for me, I knew exactly who that punk held a grudge against."
Rimon smirked.
Mun Cheonyeop had used the Liberation Brigade's business card to find someone who'd handle his revenge by proxy.
'Coincidentally,' Tata fit the bill perfectly, and she'd gotten her info from him in exchange.
And through WIM's guildmaster Yeonhwa, Rimon had gotten a rough idea of what data Mun had swiped.
"That's how I put it together. You were gunning for this Music Challenge program."
The place where Aynsha had first met Rimon.
And right now, behind the packed audience seats, a swarm of staff hustled to prep the broadcast.
The Music Challenge filming set.
Standing atop the ceiling, shrouded in the shadows cast by the blazing lights below, Tata muttered coldly.
"...You caught on quick."
"I've got connections."
From the opposite ceiling, Rimon flashed a icy grin.
Aynsha, who'd been listening silently to Rimon's explanation, finally spoke up, her face blank as ever.
"It doesn't add up."
"What doesn't?"
"I can't fathom why Tata would target a mere TV show."
"Ah, yeah—that stumped me too."
Rimon bobbed his head in agreement.
Even he, having pieced together most of the puzzle through dogged pursuit and gut instinct, hadn't cracked why she was after Music Challenge.
But that very gap made one truth easy to guess. Rimon murmured it softly.
"Which made me realize your nanny betrayed you just to trash this one program."
"...Absurd. Pure speculation. Total nonsense."
Aynsha shot back without thinking.
It was only natural from her perspective.
The Seven Dragon Society never tolerated betrayal.
And considering their reach across the globe, Tata and her fellow traitors were as good as dead already.
Even a lucky escape would doom them to a lifetime on the run.
Yet her lifelong nanny risked all that for a stupid TV show?
About as sensible as a coup-declaring general seizing a single convenience store.
"Makes no sense to a normal person. But you guys are the White Dragon Clan."
"Being White Dragon Clan changes nothing."
"Oh, it changes everything."
Rimon brushed aside her objection effortlessly.
Ignoring Aynsha's incredulous stare, he turned to the silent Tata instead.
"That's exactly why your White Dragon Clan gets called idiots."
"......"
"So tell me this: what future are you idiots trying to force with this moronic stunt?"
Aynsha, who had once tried to swallow poison right in front of him to rewrite her fate.
This woman had done the same... no, something even more idiotic. Was doing it. Would do it.
Tata smiled at Rimon's question.
A smile that seemed resigned.
Deeply joyful.
Somehow wistful.
So layered it felt hollow.
Wearing that smile, Tata spoke in a serene voice.
"The future where the Princess ends up with you."
After receiving the Black Dragon Princess's letter.
When Aynsha foresaw herself meeting her fated partner, Tata had been overjoyed from the heart.
It was what she'd wished for her entire life.
A dream turned lifelong obsession from serving three generations of princesses.
Aynsha's wanderings across the world in search of a worthy consort had even been shaped by Tata's own teachings.
But the instant she witnessed Aynsha meeting Rimon right here on this set...
Tata knew.
As things stood, the two of them would never end up together.
She'd foreseen a future where this very broadcast drove a wedge between Aynsha and the fated partner she'd finally found.
An ending she absolutely could not allow.
Fortunately, the futures Tata foresaw weren't limited to just that one.
She'd also seen a future where destroying this program opened the door for Rimon and Aynsha to unite.
Including, of course, an ending where she died branded a traitor.
Which of the two to choose?
Tata's decision had been locked in from the moment she saw Aynsha in tears, listening to Rimon's performance.
"Luckily, the rest of the clan saw the same prophecies and made the same choice. Made preparations a breeze."
The girl who listened to the tale with an impassive face.
Only after a long pause did Aynsha speak up in her usual curt tone.
"...Let me sum up. You betrayed me for my sake. That's a contradiction."
"No contradiction at all. We're just White Dragon Clan traitors whose fate is to wreck this show and die."
Tata stated it matter-of-factly.
She met Aynsha's eyes straight-on and offered a faint smile.
"That's why even you, Princess, couldn't foresee any other futures, right?"
"......"
It was only natural that Aynsha alone hadn't seen the futures the others had.
Aynsha was the White Dragon Princess.
The greatest prophet of her era, who saw only 'futures that could come true'—while theirs were 'futures doomed never to happen.'
As Tata herself had said, the moment they glimpsed those two futures, the outcome was sealed.
"I can't wrap my head around it."
Aynsha shook her head.
As a White Dragon Princess herself, she could empathize with Tata and the clan's actions.
Following the dictates of prophecy was a given.
What she couldn't understand was why they'd chosen that particular future.
"My marriage is trivial. Plenty of men in the world. No reason for Tata to throw her life away."
No matter how much she fancied Rimon, it wasn't worth trading for Tata and the clan's lives.
That was why Aynsha—who had once tried to murder Rimon just to avert a prophecy—simply couldn't comprehend their choice.
"No, that's more than enough reason for me to throw my life away."
Tata declared to her firmly.
Her faint smile faded, replaced by a blank, emotionless gaze as she continued staring at Aynsha.
"If it means stopping you from dying without ever meeting your fated partner... just like all those princesses before you."