* * *

“I would like to know what you think of this outfit.”

“It suits you.”

“Your opinion on these shoes, please.”

“They suit you.”

“This necklace is excellent. Wearing it will break your neck. It is a perfect instrument of torture.”

“It suits you.”

“... Tata, I would like to know what is bothering you.”

Apparently deciding this would not do, Ainsha asked with an expressionless face. Tata answered as though the question were nonsense.

“Bothering me? Why would anything be bothering me?”

“That is a lie. There is no soul in your voice.”

“That is because you have spent over three hours choosing your outfit, Your Highness.”

“It is my first date. Three hours of deliberation is the minimum.”

“For ignorant fools who cannot see the future, perhaps. You already know which outfit suits you best, do you not?”

“Even when she knows, a maiden's heart wants reassurance.”

“I never thought I would live to hear you speak of a maiden's heart, Your Highness.”

“Of course. Unlike you, Tata, I am not married to my work. I overflow with love and passion.”

“What a truly astonishing statement!”

No matter how one looked at Ainsha's expressionless face, there was not a speck of love or passion to be seen. Gazing at her in admiration, Tata slipped the bracelet she had prepared onto her wrist and spoke calmly.

“Take that enthusiasm into your date, Your Highness. Like a mother fox watching over a tiger cub, Tata will await the good news.”

“Tata, have faith and wait.”

Ainsha gave her a firm thumbs-up. Then she planted both hands on her hips and declared in a flat voice:

“Failure is not in my vocabulary. This date will be a success.”

* * *

“Live long enough, and you really do end up doing every ridiculous thing imaginable...”

[“What are you complaining about? At your age, Team Leader, getting a date with a girl in the bloom of youth is a stroke of luck.”]

“Except we're deliberately trying to wreck that date, aren't we?”

[“We don't have a choice. Making the White Dragon Princess get sick of you is the gentlest solution.”]

“You call driving a nail through a lovestruck princess's heart gentle?”

“If you don't like this approach, we could still try something else.”

“... No, forget it.”

Limon had asked in disbelief, but one look at Li Qingyu's beaming smile made him simply shake his head. He would rather be a fucking bastard. Their planning meeting had already made him painfully aware of what might happen if he left the alternatives to her.

[“If you understand, hurry up and finish changing.”]

“You remember the entire itinerary for the date, don't you?”

[“And don't forget to glare at her the moment you meet. One look at that murderous stare of yours would make most people want to run.”]

“My heart races when the Sword Lord fixes me with that piercing gaze.”

[“That's probably nerves.”]

“Is it? Then perhaps he should behave a little more roughly, too.”

[“Oh, his natural personality is rough enough. He was known as PAB's foremost mad dog, after all.”]

“... What the hell are you two so excited about?”

Regardless of Limon's incredulity, Yu Na-gyeong and Li Qingyu worked in perfect harmony to style him. A little while later, once his preparations for the date were finally complete, the girl and the bluebird nodded in satisfaction.

“Perfect.”

[“This would cool even a thousand-year love.”]

“She might run away the moment she sees him.”

[“Hahaha. Surely not. She'll at least exchange a few words with him before running.”]

“Then it all comes down to you now, Sword Lord.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Two pairs of eyes regarded him with absolute faith that he could smash the White Dragon Princess's affection to pieces. Sighing at the profound trust his former subordinate and bride-to-be placed in him, Limon spoke in resignation.

“Just you watch. I'll make sure this date is a disaster.”

And so preparations for Ainsha and Limon's date proceeded smoothly, amid her cool expectations and his burning resignation.

* * *

At a streetside café, a girl sat alone at an outdoor table.

A veil exposed only her eyes, white cloth covered her hair, and her entire outfit was light and flowing. Her unusually expressionless face, combined with the Holy Alliance's distinctive religious attire, gave the white-haired girl an incongruous air that naturally drew the eye.

Ainsha was waiting for her date to arrive. Their appointed time had passed a full hour ago, but she was not particularly anxious. She merely murmured to herself when the time came.

“It is time.”

At that very moment, a black-haired man strode up and plunked himself into the empty seat across from her.

“Hey, sorry I'm late. Been waiting long?”

Sweats and slippers that dragged along the ground. Unkempt hair and threatening eyes. A military duffel bag slung across his back. And, to top it off, the insolent way he folded his arms as soon as he sat down. No matter how one looked at him, the man seemed less like someone arriving for a date than a debt collector or a thug.

Even at the sight of Limon, Ainsha was not flustered. She simply answered in her flat voice.

“It is fine. I only arrived five minutes ago myself.”

“... We were supposed to meet an hour ago. Why did you get here five minutes ago?”

“It is my first date ever. My heart was pounding as I got ready, so it took me a while to leave.”

“Oh, really?”

Limon briefly furrowed his brow at the instant collapse of their basic strategy—arriving late for the date, an idea Yu Na-gyeong had enthusiastically endorsed. Then he cleared his throat and spoke.

“Well, anyway, nice to meet you. The princess probably introduced me already, but I'm Lee.”

“I am Ainsha. My full name, to be precise, is...”

“Yeah, forget all that. Let's order something to drink first. Aren't you thirsty? What are you doing just sitting here with nothing?”

“Understood. I will arrange it, then.”

Although he had interrupted her introduction, Ainsha readily nodded without a trace of displeasure.

Then Limon was left dumbfounded. The instant she answered, a café worker approached with a tray as though they had been waiting for the cue, and placed tea and juice on their table.

“Why are they bringing things we haven't ordered?”

“I happened to be thirsty as well. So I ordered in advance.”

“Who said you could order whatever you wanted? I don't like tea. I prefer—”

“I also ordered coffee, cola, and whiskey, just in case. They will arrive shortly.”

“... This café serves liquor, too?”

“Yes. It is a café and bar. A popular place to meet, by day or by night.”

Ainsha gazed at him with her expressionless face, as though inviting him to say anything he liked. After a long silence, Limon scratched his cheek and asked bluntly:

“You saw all of it?”

“I did.”

“How much?”

“Lee sleeping in the movie theater, talking to other women during our date, doing a great deal of shopping with my money...”

“No, that's enough.”

Limon raised a hand to stop her and sighed. He realized that she had already seen through the entire ambitious plan Li Qingyu and Yu Na-gyeong had prepared to destroy her love for him.

On reflection, it was hardly surprising. Ainsha was the White Dragon Princess.

'I'm the idiot for thinking a cheap trick like this would work on the White Dragon Clan.'

“So, what are you going to do now?”

He had steeled himself for humiliation and joined this date-wrecking scheme, only for everything to fall apart before he could even begin. Limon asked the question wearily. If she had already seen her future date with him, she could not possibly be unaware that he intended to ruin it. For Limon, who had to secure the White Dragon Clan's cooperation somehow, this was a real headache.

“We are going to the movie theater.”

That was why her calm answer left him with such a bewildered expression.

“... Didn't you say you saw me sleeping there?”

“Yes. I saw it.”

“Then why go?”

“It does not matter. I can sleep with you. Sleeping together on the first day. An ideal date.”

Ainsha nodded as though this were a truly perfect plan.

After a moment of incredulity at the expressionless girl, who showed not the slightest sign of joking, Limon suddenly understood. He understood why Li Qingyu, who could not possibly be unaware of the White Dragon Princess's precognition, had taken the lead in devising such an obvious ploy instead of stopping it.

'Right. She's the White Dragon Princess.'

The leader of the White Dragon Clan, who could see the future. Yet “queen of idiots in a clan of idiots” suited the girl rather better. Limon frowned at Ainsha.

It had been so long since he had fought them that he had momentarily forgotten, but this was how the White Dragon Clan had always been. It was why, among the Seven Dragons Society, he hated them second only to the Black Dragon Clan—or perhaps even more. Which made his current situation, dating the White Dragon Princess while engaged to the Black Dragon Princess, all the more ironic.

'Do I really have to go through with this date?'

That was what set Limon thinking again. Neither dating Ainsha nor deliberately ruining that date had been a particularly good plan to begin with, considering that he needed the White Dragon Clan's cooperation going forward.

He had only agreed because the situation was such a tangled mess, and it seemed better than leaving things to Li Qingyu. But seeing this, he doubted whether there was any point in going on the date at all.

'From the look of it, this idiot's prepared to cover for anything I do on this date.'

However he tried to ruin the date, Ainsha would knowingly go along with it. She would be confident she could turn whatever he did into a successful date. And the farce just now was enough to show that her confidence was not unfounded.

'Is this what you meant when you said it all came down to me, Princess?'

Limon clicked his tongue inwardly. With every plan blocked, the only remaining way to make Ainsha abandon her proposal was to inspire such revulsion that she would recoil from him even knowing it was deliberate.

Had she been an ordinary girl, that would have been easy. Give her a slightly vicious glare, or cut down a villain before her eyes. Limon knew very well how easily such simple things could make affection vanish.

But he seriously doubted whether those methods would work on Ainsha. Even setting aside her status as the White Dragon Princess, one look at that expressionless face made it obvious that ordinary tricks would not make the slightest dent.

As he racked his brain over what sort of fucking bastardry would make Ainsha retract her proposal, Limon suddenly noticed something strange.

CLICK.

TRICKLE.

CLINK, CLINK.

Ainsha took out a pitch-black medicine bottle and brazenly poured its contents into Limon's teacup. She even stirred it with a teaspoon to mix it thoroughly before sliding the cup toward him and speaking.

“Lee, you said you were thirsty. You should drink it quickly, before the tea gets cold.”

If not for her expressionless face and flat voice, the words might have sounded like a very kind gesture. But Limon was not grateful. He merely asked uneasily:

“... What did you just put in my tea?”

“Poison. Drink it and you will kick the bucket.”

“...”

“There is no pain. You will die peacefully. Drink it without worry.”