* * *

After a long silence, his fingers pressed to his temples as though he had a headache, Limon spoke quietly.

"So, in short, I've been chosen as the White Dragon Princess's consort too?"

"Yes."

"... Am I supposed to feel honored?"

"Doesn't that depend on how you take it?"

Li Qingyu smiled ruefully. Yu Na-gyeong opened her beak, looking equally incredulous.

["As if a proposal from one of the richest women in the world wasn't enough, you've gotten two. I had no idea you were such an insanely irresistible man, Team Leader."]

"Are you making fun of me?"

Limon furrowed his brow, then demanded an explanation from Li Qingyu.

"Seriously, why the hell does she want to marry me? I've never even met her."

"About that. After hearing her story, it seems you haven't exactly never met."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Limon looked puzzled. Then, when he heard Ainsha's account—how she had secretly gone to the Music Challenge studio and received help from some black-haired young man—his jaw dropped.

"... You're telling me the girl I helped that day was the White Dragon Princess?"

"Yes. Did you not notice at all?"

"Would I have helped her if I'd noticed? Even if it had been a bullet flying at her instead of a camera, I'd have left her alone!"

["Uh, isn't that a little harsh, even for you?"]

"What's harsh about it? I'd stake my hand on that thing not leaving so much as a scratch on her."

Any reasonably capable warrior of the Seven Dragons Society could have blocked or dodged something like that unaided. As for the White Dragon Princess? That went without saying. However delicate they might look, the seven princesses were the Seven Dragons Society's strongest fighters. They were fundamentally different from humans from birth.

"Damn it, no wonder something kept bothering me...!"

Limon finally understood. The unease he had felt back then had been because of Ainsha.

Quite apart from the clothes that covered her from head to toe, the way she had calmly watched the camera hurtling toward her had subconsciously struck him as odd. At the time, he had dismissed it as her freezing in panic. But he had been mistaken. She must simply have remained composed because she had truly felt no danger.

["So, basically, the White Dragon Princess fell for you at first sight because you saved her that day, Team Leader?"]

"Whether she was actually in danger or not, it's only natural to feel drawn to someone after a first encounter like that."

["That's one hell of a coincidence."]

Yu Na-gyeong felt distinctly uncomfortable. If Ainsha hadn't secretly visited the studio, if that unexpected accident hadn't happened, or if Limon hadn't happened to be there, it would have ended as no more than a minor incident. She could hardly believe it had turned into this.

That was also why Limon snorted at her remark.

"Coincidence, my ass. You think there's any such thing when the White Dragon Clan is involved?"

["What do you mean?"]

"I mean those idiots must've done something idiotic again."

["Huh?"]

Limon paid no attention to Yu Na-gyeong's bewilderment. He merely frowned and bluntly asked Li Qingyu a question.

"What are you going to do now?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm at a loss."

Even Li Qingyu, who usually met everything with a smile, openly showed her dismay this time.

"Ainsha can be a little eccentric, but I never imagined she'd propose to someone she'd met only once."

"I happen to know a princess who proposed the instant she met me."

"Now that you mention it, perhaps it isn't so unusual."

"Well, that's certainly convincing."

Limon gave an incredulous look to Li Qingyu, who had proposed as soon as they first met. She asked him a serious question.

"There is something I'd like to ask, just to be sure, Sword Lord."

"What?"

"Do you truly have no intention of accepting Ainsha's proposal?"

"... Do you think that's something a bride-to-be should ask her groom-to-be?"

"I'm still only your bride-to-be."

Li Qingyu calmly pointed out that although they were engaged, that was all. As long as they weren't married yet, Limon still had the option of breaking off their engagement and choosing Ainsha.

"Besides, didn't I promise you before we agreed to marry? You could have as many other women as you wanted."

Their marriage had only ever been a means of forming an alliance. As long as that alliance could be preserved, there was no need to force himself to maintain a political marriage with her.

Limon gazed for a moment at Li Qingyu's composed face as she spoke. Then he sighed and flicked his finger.

THWACK!

"...???"

"Princess, aren't you forgetting something important?"

Li Qingyu's eyes went wide, perhaps from the surprise of suddenly being struck on the forehead. Limon spoke coldly.

"I swore on my sword that I'd never abandon you. If I broke off our engagement now, would I still be a Sword Master? I'd be a Fucking Bastard Master."

"But..."

"More importantly, I already warned you."

Cutting off her objection with those firm words, Limon looked straight at her with his golden eyes and continued.

"You're already mine."

He would no longer hand over to anyone else what had come into his possession. She had no freedom to run away. Having made Li Qingyu's eyes waver with that merciless, tyrannical declaration, Limon grinned impishly.

"Besides, the White Dragon Princess proposed to my fake identity. Do you think she'd still want to marry me if she knew who I really was?"

"... I see. You're right."

Limon nonchalantly remarked that marrying someone who would flee to the ends of the earth at the sight of his real face was out of the damn question. Li Qingyu stared blankly at him for a moment, then finally nodded with a soft chuckle.

["Excuse me, you sickeningly sweet lovebirds? Flirting is all well and good, but shouldn't you finish the conversation you were having first?"]

"I wasn't flirting."

"We were simply discussing what needed to be discussed."

["Yeees, of course you were."]

Yu Na-gyeong grumbled at the pair with a look of distaste.

Whether her observation had worked or it was thanks to Limon's flick to her forehead, Li Qingyu began seriously considering alternatives.

"In any case, if you have no intention of accepting this proposal, Sword Lord, there's nothing for it. Let's try to resolve this as amicably as possible."

"How?"

Ainsha's condition was that they help her marry Limon. Puzzled, he asked how they were supposed to ignore that condition yet settle matters amicably and secure the White Dragon Clan's cooperation. Li Qingyu answered with a smile.

"Why don't you marry her first, then divorce her?"

"... Do what?"

"All Ainsha asked was for help with the marriage arrangement. I think you could marry her, divorce her, and then marry me afterward."

"Are you trying to start a war with the White Dragon Clan?"

"If that approach isn't to your liking, how about the kept-man strategy?"

"The kept...what?"

"You charm Ainsha into cooperating, Sword Lord. Naturally, you keep her thinking you'll marry her without actually doing so. It works surprisingly well, you know."

"..."

As though she had been waiting for this very moment, Li Qingyu reeled off one outlandish scheme after another, leaving Limon frozen with a bizarre expression. Yu Na-gyeong asked uneasily on his behalf.

["... Princess, do you have some kind of grudge against the White Dragon Princess?"]

"Ainsha is my favorite among the other clans' princesses."

["You mean you like her as a friend, right? Not because she's an easy mark you can fleece, or because you can push her around?"]

"Why, surely not."

["Why aren't you confirming or denying it?!"]

In the end, after Limon and Yu Na-gyeong rejected her best strategies, Li Qingyu thought long and hard before suggesting a more reasonable compromise.

"Then how about this approach?"

* * *

While Limon racked his brains over that unexpected problem, Music Challenge's fame continued to grow.

There were two reasons for this. First, Limon's performance had been made available to the public completely free of charge. Second, a bounty had been placed on the challenge piece itself.

"Level, skills, age, occupation, nationality!"

"None of it matters in this event!"

"Anyone can record themselves singing along to the challenge piece and send us the video!"

"Just submit a video, and you'll enter a random drawing where a hundred people will each win ten million won."

"And the ten best singers will receive a guaranteed prize of a hundred million won, plus a chance to compete in the finals for up to a hundred billion won."

"Everyone, take on the challenge!"

"Music~ Challenge!"

In truth, it was a solution Kim Seung-jun had come up with after being backed into a corner. Every original contestant had withdrawn, and the on-air accident had left the program's very survival in doubt. To salvage the situation somehow, he had tried to create an opening by offering cash prizes.

Really, it was just pissing money away, but the bounty strategy generated a surprisingly strong response.

For the money. Out of simple curiosity. Because of a bet with a friend. Out of stubbornness or pride. Or because they had been captivated by the melody and the song. Countless people, young and old, men and women alike, attempted the Ghost Song for their own reasons.

In the end, no one could sing the Ghost Song. Most became so immersed in the fantastic performance that they couldn't even open their mouths, while those who barely managed to sing fell silent midway, overcome with self-loathing.

But the more people failed, the more challengers appeared, creating a vicious cycle in which the Ghost Song spread ever further. Attempting the Ghost Song had become a trend.

Naturally, Music Challenge, where it had all begun, also rose to fame and came to be regarded as a hit show that would shake up the broadcasting industry.

But light gives rise to shadows. The more popular Music Challenge became, the more people inevitably suffered as a result.

"What did you say?"

"No, what do you...!"

"Director? Director?!"

CLICK.

Moon Cheon-yeop was devastated. He had spared no effort to build a connection with a Director of the Midas Guild. By making use of that connection, he had been able to swagger around as the real power behind the WIM Guild until now.

Yet at this very moment, that connection had been severed just like that. All because he was on bad terms with the bastards behind some program called Music Challenge or whatever!

"F***!"

CRASH!

Moon Cheon-yeop hurled his smartphone away.

It made no sense for the Midas Director to cut him off just because one song from a television program had become somewhat famous. Clearly, someone had been scheming behind the scenes.

And as WIM's erstwhile power broker, there was no way he wouldn't know who the culprit was.

"That b*tch of a guild master! How dare she join forces with those bastards and screw me over?"

Moon Cheon-yeop seethed with rage. At Yeon-hwa, who had stolen his connection. At Kim Seung-jun, who had created the program. And at Limon, who had beaten him so badly that he hadn't been able to do a thing until matters had reached this point.

If Claire hadn't taken the trouble to call a healer for him, he would still have been languishing in the hospital.

"You'll pay for this, you f***ing bastards!"

His face twisted with fury, Moon Cheon-yeop rummaged through his business-card holder.

The connections he had built using Claire weren't limited to Midas. Claire had fans not only in political and business circles and various guilds, but also in dangerous places unknown to the public.

The most dangerous of them all. He pulled out the business card of an organization, concealed beneath a second layer at the very back of the holder, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

"I'll make you regret ever daring to mess with me!"