Chapter 269
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 269
Chapter Title: Fighting!
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The Green Dragon Princess was the princess of the Seven Dragon Society with the sturdiest body of all.
Even so, most Green Dragon Princesses throughout history had been frail rather than healthy. In the distant past, they had even been as short-lived as the White Dragon Princesses, who stood as their equals.
But as far as Rimon knew, no Green Dragon Princess from ancient times to the modern era—not even in the recent past—had suffered from chronic illnesses as severe as Maia's.
"......What evidence do you have that I did something so reckless?"
"No evidence needed."
That was why Rimon didn't hesitate in his response.
He simply gazed at Maia's slender frame, clad only in a thin shirt, and continued softly.
"Unless you experimented on yourself, there's no way your body could have deteriorated like this, my lady."
"......"
What reason would the world's greatest healer, capable of curing any disease, have for letting her own body fall into ruin?
The answer was simple.
She hadn't neglected it.
She had ruined it herself.
By using herself as a lab rat, swallowing all sorts of experimental drugs, needling dangerous meridians to tamper with the flow of psychonic energy, and so on.
"Truth be told, I found it odd from the moment you casually refused my preliminary bride's offer to volunteer for clinical trials."
The seven princesses of the Seven Dragon Society.
As descendants of dragons, they were beings who could turn tampering with them into a blood feud with the entire clan.
Yet despite that risk, they were alluring experimental subjects worth the gamble.
Because only they possessed the essence of psychonic energy.
So why had she rejected Li Chingwei's proposal and settled for enslaving someone like him?
Rimon had always wondered.
But now he knew.
"You weren't worried about repercussions, my lady. You'd already done enough experiments, so you didn't need another similar subject."
"What nonsense."
Maia responded coldly.
Unlike Aina, whose thoughts were transparent, or the rigid Rose, her expression showed not a flicker of emotion, making it impossible to discern truth from lie.
"Well, if you want to keep denying it, go ahead. It won't change the facts."
Rimon felt no regret.
He just smirked and added one more thing.
"I can guess why you did it anyway."
"......You can guess?"
"Yes."
A twitch.
Did Rimon's words rub her the wrong way?
As she furrowed her delicate brows and glared at him, Rimon calmly laid out his reasoning.
"There's no way you, the Green Dragon Princess, would do something like this out of mere curiosity."
"It means you had a goal worth risking your health and turning yourself into a guinea pig."
"And considering your personality, my lady, there's only one possible goal that makes sense."
That was the limit of Maia's composure.
"What do you know about me to spout such drivel!"
When they first formed the contract, Maia's price had been ten days of loyalty.
And Rimon was still her slave.
In other words, it hadn't even been ten days since they met.
Her anger was justified.
There was nothing more infuriating than someone she'd just met a few days ago acting like they knew everything about her.
But right after that...
She forgot her rage.
"At the very least, I know you did this to protect someone."
"......!"
Maia froze mid-outburst.
Her green eyes held shock at being struck dead center, along with agitation and doubt.
......Why.
No, how.
"No need to be so surprised. Anyone familiar with the Green Dragon Clan could figure it out easily."
The elders who had watched her since childhood.
The aides who had been by her side for years.
No one had noticed the secret, yet this man had pierced it in mere days.
Acting as if it were obvious only made his calm demeanor all the more shocking.
Gazing at her frozen, silent form with deep-set eyes, Rimon said flatly,
"You're like a hedgehog, my lady."
"......"
"Actually, most of the Green Dragon Clan are the same."
Such an out-of-left-field remark.
Yet she couldn't even refute it, falling silent as his next words shook her again.
"Hiding deep affection and a fragile heart beneath sharp, prickly spines."
"Affectionate...... and weak-hearted?"
"That's right."
"......We are the Green Dragon Clan."
"I know."
"The clan that repays favors and grudges without fail, and exacts revenge thoroughly."
They were the most vicious, fierce, and relentless clan in the Seven Dragon Society.
Weak-hearted? Absurd.
He smirked at her instinctive sharp retort.
"That's exactly why your clan is weak-hearted."
Not giving her a chance to demand what nonsense that was.
His next words came in a calm tone, like soothing a child throwing a tantrum out of pride.
"Revenge isn't inherently aggressive."
Repaying what you've received means, conversely, you don't easily harm others before being hurt yourself.
"It's a defensive act, done to soothe your own heart as the victim and avoid future wounds."
Those who stay passive no matter what befalls them mysteriously suffer greater harm from similar or identical foes.
That was why ancient eras often glorified personal revenge.
In unstable times with weak legal protection, it was the most effective self-defense.
"Being thorough in revenge means you're equally affectionate and easily wounded emotionally."
Revenge for blood kin.
For lovers.
For friends, and so on.
Revenge tends to grow more obsessive the closer the bond.
Conversely, no one avenges passing strangers or pet ants.
Because they feel no pain if those die or get hurt.
In short, the thoroughness of revenge reveals the depth of the avenger's emotional scar.
"And fearing further wounds, they exact revenge more cruelly and spread word of it far and wide."
Being thorough with grudges...
Also means repaying favors reliably.
Which, spun right, paints them as utterly fair and trustworthy.
But those who know the Green Dragon Clan usually think first of their ruthless revenge, fearing and shunning them.
Not because revenge packs a bigger punch.
But because the Green Dragon Clan themselves have cultivated that image of prioritizing grudges over grace across long ages.
"That's why they deliberately use thorny words and prickly attitudes to push others away."
"......"
"They're afraid of giving affection and getting hurt, so they withhold it from the start, then erect sharper spines to hide that very weakness."
Don't mistake it for the merciful Blue Dragon Clan or the weakest White Dragon Clan being affectionate and frail.
It's almost the opposite.
The Blue Dragon Clan, with their unyielding convictions.
Or the White Dragon Clan, tempered by foresight into surprisingly steel-willed minds.
Those outwardly soft, inwardly strong types forgive minor slights, accept them, or brush them off entirely.
The Green Dragon Clan, however, is outwardly strong, inwardly soft.
Fierce and vicious on the surface, but tormented by even the smallest emotional scars, unable to forget them.
They, with the sturdiest bodies in the Seven Dragon Society, were in truth the most tender-hearted clan.
"You insisted on fighting alone because they were a nuisance, but really, it was worry for other clans getting hurt, wasn't it?"
"......"
"That's why I called you a hedgehog, my lady."
They say even hedgehogs adore their young.
The Green Dragon Clan is the same.
They bristle with spines to protect themselves, but keep greater distance from what they cherish most, lest it get pricked.
"Once you see that, it's easy to figure out who you volunteered for human experiments to protect."
She had to deny it.
How dare he call this deduction.
Sneer coldly, dismiss it, mock it.
Yet unable to voice denial, he told her,
"Just think of who you treated the most sharply and coldly."
The one Maia had snapped at as fiercely as she did Rimon, the clan's enemy.
Yet whom she subtly cared for and accommodated.
Scolding their shortcomings.
Punishing mistakes.
Always giving chances for forgiveness.
Recalling the two inexperienced women attending the clan princess, Rimon gazed steadily at Maia.
"The way you handle those twin sisters, my lady. It didn't look like a princess dealing with aides, no matter how I saw it."
"......"
"More like a stern big sister raising her little siblings in place of parents. Am I imagining things?"
Puuk!
"Kuh, guh......"
By a hair's breadth.
Before the claw swung by a Forest Guild executive could reach her throat.
Barbara slowly surveyed her surroundings, having thrust her twin blades through the opponent's heart by a split-second margin.
She confirmed her mostly unscathed strike team members and the Forest Guild members, every last one a corpse, then let out a sigh.
"Haa."
That sigh wasn't mere relief at victory in battle.
It was closer to lamentation.
'To think I didn't know the Forest Guild's hideout was right under our noses.'
Who would have imagined Forest Guild members hiding this close to Quetzalcoatl headquarters?
As Quetzalcoatl's top security chief before even being Maia's aide, it was shameful.
Letting them slip by undetected could have endangered headquarters at any moment.
But her admiration was equally profound.
'As expected of the Black Dragon Clan......'
In Brazil, homeland of the Green Dragon Clan, their superior speed and precision in detecting the Forest Guild's ambush was impressive enough.
But the process was even more astonishing.
They'd blocked the gang riot starting in the slums using pre-positioned BOPE agents.
Tracked the cornered gang's escape routes and contacts via radio interception and drones, cleverly confirming details.
Combined scant clues with Leviathan intel to pinpoint this hideout.
All in under an hour.
How could one not marvel?
'No, as expected of the Black Dragon Princess.'
Most impressive was Li Chingwei, commanding the entire battlefield from the command post.
With skirmishes erupting everywhere, focusing on one front usually left others vulnerable.
But Li Chingwei's command had no gaps.
Assessing via drones.
Analyzing with Black Dragon Clan intel.
Crushing foes with Green Dragon Clan forces.
Striking weak points with BOPE agents.
Fortifying the city with military units.
Her orchestration linked everything organically, resembling a精密 machine or a single living organism.
As Barbara marveled at that immense control,
A voice came through the communicator in her ear.
[Barbara, can you hear me?]
"Yes, Black Dragon Princess. As ordered, we've eliminated all Forest Guild members in the hideout."
[I already confirmed that.]
Lifting her head, she saw a drone hovering in the sky.
[But Forest Guild reinforcements are heading your way now. Your current forces won't hold them.]
"Then we'll retreat immediately......!"
[No retreating.]
"......You mean buy time?"
[Yes. If they move elsewhere, it'll be a hassle. So hold out at all costs.]
Barbara understood.
At this moment,
Li Chingwei's order to "hold at all costs" wasn't hyperbole—it was an absolute command forbidding retreat on pain of death.
[I'm not as sweet as Maia.]
Maia would have pulled them back first and intercepted the enemy herself.
Fine for a lone warrior, but disqualifying for a commander.
In chess, go, or any game,
You must sacrifice pieces to win.
A true commander must coldly discard even their own kin if needed.
[So, everyone.]
The Seven Dragon Society's top strategist, willing to do anything to win, spoke in a voice laced with faint amusement.
[Fighting!]
"......"
Reinforcements were already en route.
Just hold five minutes.
After that one-sided order and cheerful cheer,
The line cut off without waiting for a reply.
Silent after the call with Li Chingwei, Barbara turned her head.
Looking at her strike team members with similar expressions, she thought despite herself,
'I'm a fool for trusting the Black Dragon Clan.'