Chapter 197
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: Did I Hear That Wrong?
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In that instant.
A crack appeared on Rose's face.
If someone else had said that, she would have responded with her usual faint smile, just as always.
Perfectly, like the Azure Dragon Princess.
And just as much, a hypocritical smile.
But the fact that it was none other than Rimon who said it made her reveal honest emotions from the heart on her face.
"......Why are you saying that?"
Doubt, anger, resentment, and more.
With all those emotions tangled and twisting her expression into one she'd never worn before in her life, Rose opened her mouth.
"You're the one who's been calling me a hypocrite all this time. So why now, of all times......!"
If she hadn't known, she could have kept pretending to be the perfect princess in blissful ignorance.
Yet he'd gone and told her something she was better off not knowing, turning her into this, and now he was affirming her hypocrisy?
Rose had demanded an answer without thinking.
But the moment she heard Rimon's reply.
She had no choice but to freeze.
"Eh, no big reason. If I had to say, it's because it was an eyesore?"
"......An eyesore?"
"Doesn't it make you wanna say something when someone looks too perfect?"
"......"
Rose realized something anew.
That killing intent could arise so easily.
If Rimon's next words hadn't followed, she might have acted on that intent outright.
"Hey, Countess. Humans can't be perfect to begin with."
In a world where even gods—embodiments of providence—aren't flawless, how could a mere human be without a single flaw?
Snickering as he pointed it out, Rimon added one more thing.
"No need to be perfect in the first place."
"......What do you mean?"
"That 'perfect' is one of the most meaningless words out there."
Suppose there was a perfect human.
They wouldn't need emotions. Emotions are imperfect, after all.
No reason to be kind to others, either. If you're perfect alone, interaction with others is just a hindrance.
But could you really call someone who is born alone, lives alone, and dies alone truly perfect?
Rimon scoffed.
How the hell is that perfect?
"Doesn't matter if it's not human. Perfect countries, perfect works of art, perfect swordsmanship—none of that exists in the world."
Being perfectly flawless means unchanging.
In other words, no matter how much time passes, you can't learn or grow anymore.
And the moment you lose that potential for the future, 'perfect' becomes a contradiction.
"When people forget that and chase perfection, they end up like you."
"Like me?"
"The type who thinks they can do anything alone without help, struggles under the weight, and ruins everything in the end."
"......"
The emperor who chased immortality to build a perfect nation, only to lose everything to the Demon King.
The saint who devoted his life to perfect music, failed, and took his own life.
The Sword Demon who massacred a tenth of humanity to create a perfect world, and so on.
Watching Rimon mention those who chased nonexistent perfection, raced ahead alone, and ended in madness and ruin, Rose stayed silent.
Not just because their stories felt like her own.
The overwhelming weight in his words—as if he'd witnessed the downfall of countless people firsthand—sealed her lips.
"So, Countess. No, Rose Serpent."
Rimon looked straight at her and called her full name for the first time.
Then he continued softly.
"You've done well."
"Even if you showed mercy out of elitist dragon descendant ideology, you didn't grow arrogant just because you could."
"Even if you viewed justice through your own lens, you didn't cling to the delusion that any atrocity was justified for it."
"Even if you strove for your own perfection, you didn't impose those standards on others."
"Past Azure Dragon Princesses were always just and merciful, but few lived as diligently as you."
He pointed out her hypocrisy but acknowledged the sins she could have committed yet didn't, giving value to that hypocrisy.
Perfection may be meaningless, but the effort to pursue it holds meaning, awakening the honor and pride built by the Azure Dragon Clan over generations.
Even if her hypocrisy turned people into livestock, the blame lay with those who became pigs and dogs themselves.
What Rose had done was hypocrisy, but it was good deeds.
She had lived kindly.
"So, you can take pride in that."
"......"
Just plainly.
Simply so.
But that's why it felt so straightforward and honest.
Seeing Rimon conclude his long tale, Rose wore an indescribable expression.
She finally understood why he'd come to see her so late at night with this bizarre story.
"......Are you comforting me right now?"
"Who knows. That doesn't sound like me, so let's call it acknowledgment."
"Acknowledgment......?"
Screw perfect scores; give 'em to the dogs.
90 points is already excellent.
You've done plenty well.
Light words, like soothing a child crying over a bad test score.
But to those who only idolized her as the perfect princess, words she'd never heard—strangely sinking deep into her heart, bringing one thought to mind.
'......Yeah.'
'I didn't have to be perfect.'
Such an obvious fact.
Yet murmuring it lightened her heavy heart and cleared her muddled mind.
A refreshing clarity, like fog lifting from her head or a hazy veil removed from her eyes.
In those renewed senses, Rose unwittingly spoke.
To voice what she wanted most right now.
"Play for me."
"What?"
"You said you'd play as encouragement."
"......Violin? Right now?"
"Yes."
"......"
After a brief odd expression at the sudden request.
Rimon set down the violin case from his back and said,
"Too bad, I prepared for a duet, so without Jessica, I can only play something random."
"Doesn't matter."
"Well, if the Countess insists."
Shrugging, Rimon took out the Guarneri violin borrowed from the count's family.
And the moment he rested it on his shoulder and slid the bow across the strings.
Geeeeeeng.
A serene melody echoed through the quiet midnight garden.
Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3, Air from the second movement.
The gentle strains commonly called "Air on the G String." Listening, Rose gazed at the sky.
The sound shatters.
No, the moonlight crumbles.
The calm, soft melody wets her eyes, making the transparent moonlight sparkle.
Feeling the scattered moonlight fall on the maze of colorful flowers, resounding fantastically, she quietly closed her eyes.
So nostalgic.
So comforting.
So longed for.
Intoxicated by that cozy melody.
Glancing briefly at Rose, who had leaned her head on his shoulder before she knew it.
Rimon chuckled softly and kept playing.
Continuing the concert for the sleeping princess, who seemed to have forgotten all her duties, breathing steadily with eyes closed.
The black-haired girl immersed in paperwork as always.
Li Chingwei nodded.
"Indeed, still no contact from the Sword Duke?"
[That's what I said. With all this chaos, no call back—he must be set on stressing me out.]
"Don't worry too much. The Sword Duke must have his reasons."
At Li Chingwei's relaxed reply, Yuna Kyung sighed in frustration through the video call.
[The team leader isn't the worry. It's the Countess sister.]
"Countess meaning Rose?"
[Yeah. The team leader hates the Azure Dragon Clan so much. I'm on pins and needles wondering if he'll cause trouble while I'm gone.]
In that moment.
Li Chingwei paused mid-page-turn.
She turned to Yuna Kyung on the screen with a peculiar expression.
"......The Sword Duke hates the Azure Dragon Clan that much?"
[That's right.]
"Where'd you hear such nonsense?"
[Nonsense? What do you mean?]
To the puzzled, head-tilting Yuna Kyung, Li Chingwei calmly explained.
"Because there's no way the Sword Duke hates them that much."
[Huh? But the team leader said the Sword Emperor despised the Azure Dragon Clan most......]
"That's the Sword Emperor's word, not the Sword Duke's judgment."
[......Huh?]
Yuna Kyung blinked.
Rimon did treat the Azure Dragon Clan cynically.
But that was standard against the Seven Dragon Society, and thinking back, she couldn't recall him badmouthing them directly.
As if reading her thoughts, Li Chingwei smiled faintly and spoke.
"Do you know what justice's greatest enemy is?"
[Villains, obviously?]
"No, another justice."
[Huh?]
Stunned by the out-of-left-field question and even wilder answer.
Li Chingwei chuckled at her.
And continued calmly.
"Justice varies by person, after all."
For some, upholding the law is justice; for others, protecting family even through crime is.
Likewise, a spy stealing vital secrets is a hero to their nation but a criminal to the enemy.
Thus, even the most righteous can become dangerously unhinged depending on their 'justice.'
A prime example: the Azure Dragon Clan.
To them, justice meant restoring the era of dragon rule.
To achieve that noble justice, during their crime syndicate days called the Demonic Cult, they could be the most ruthless in the Seven Dragon Society when needed.
"That's why the Azure Dragon Clan clashed most fiercely with the Sword Duke after our clan."
That's why they charged at Rimon most bravely.
Bowing to superior power wasn't justice, no matter the foe.
They threw themselves so fearlessly that even other Seven Dragon Society clans were awed.
Yet they survived because their psionic—space movement—suited covert ops, but not only that.
"But at the same time, they're the only clan in our Seven Dragon Society that the Sword Duke respected."
[......Respected? The team leader? The Seven Dragon Society?]
"Yes. Of course, he never spared those who charged at him, but he would accept surrender—a courtesy."
Yuna Kyung's jaw dropped.
Rimon respecting a Seven Dragon Society clan—those from the Demonic Cult era?
More absurd than a mad dog fetching for a cat.
"Not that strange if you think about it."
[How do you think and make that earth-shattering fact normal?!]
"Forget they're Seven Dragon Society and just recall what they've done."
[Huh? No, what do you......]
The exasperated Yuna Kyung suddenly blinked.
Doing as Li Chingwei said gave her a strange sense of déjà vu.
To her, Li Chingwei hinted.
"Helping the weak despite no gain, never yielding to any foe, upholding convictions for nearly a millennium."
[......]
"Doesn't that remind you of someone?"
Watching the meaningful smile, Yuna Kyung hesitantly asked after a long pause.
[So, the team leader feels a sense of kinship with the Azure Dragon Clan?]
"Not sure if it's kinship. Their justice clashes too much with the Sword Duke's to begin with."
The Azure Dragon Clan viewing all non-Seven Dragon Society humans as weaklings to protect.
Rimon believing all humans could grow strong, building the Sword Tower to teach them.
Setting aside Bronze Age grudges, just their approaches to justice were worlds apart.
Hence centuries of uncompromising, life-or-death battles.
"But if the Sword Duke was cold to them, it wasn't plain dislike."
[Then what?]
"Well...... If I had to guess, like how rivals or archenemies make you wanna be petty?"
[......Such a childish reason?]
"That's how complicated the Sword Duke and Azure Dragon Clan's relationship is."
Rimon, who saw the Seven Dragon Society as humanity's scourge and cut them down mercilessly.
Yet their bond with the Azure Dragon Clan—whom he had to acknowledge as 'merciful evil' or 'misguided but just'—was naturally intricate.
Yuna Kyung blankly nodded at the calm explanation, then blinked.
[Oh, but Princess sister. Isn't that dangerous?]
"Dangerous how?"
To the sudden remark and head-tilt, Yuna Kyung awkwardly said,
[According to you, the Azure Dragon Clan is what the team leader views most favorably in the Seven Dragon Society, right?]
"Yes."
[So if the team leader gets even closer to them—especially the Countess sister......]
"That won't happen."
Finally grasping Yuna Kyung's 'danger,' Li Chingwei gave a wry smile.
"The Sword Duke never bends, just like the Azure Dragon Princess is the most stubborn and upright among us."
Both pursue justice, yet their parallel paths never cross—like Rimon and the Azure Dragon Clan.
In a way, polar opposites; the only way to closeness is one yielding.
But neither Rimon nor the Azure Dragon Clan—stubborn after nearly a millennium of convictions—would bend easily.
Especially the Azure Dragon Clan, proudest and noblest after the Golden Dragon Clan.
"Even in just days, her getting chummy with the Sword Duke...... Well, unless she's bewitched by his violin playing, no."
[Haha, that's a funny joke.]
Yuna Kyung admired the beaming, confident Li Chingwei.
As expected, the princess had it all planned.
To Yuna Kyung, that diligent, sharp Rose falling head over heels for a performer she'd met days ago? Impossible.
"Sir Lucas, if someone refuses to be exclusive performer, what do I do to make them one anyway?"
"I...... didn't...... hear that right?"