Limon had lived a long life, and he had experience to match. The attempts to poison him under the guise of seduction alone numbered well beyond the double digits.

But what Ainsha had just done left even him momentarily dumbfounded. In all his years, he had never encountered an assassination attempt this novel—no, this revolutionary: brazenly poisoning his drink right in front of him on a date.

"You should drink it quickly. The tea will get cold. The poison will become less effective too."

Ainsha's absurd urging was why Limon pressed a hand to his temple instead of getting angry or overturning the table.

"... Let me ask this just to make sure. Didn't you say you wanted to propose to me?"

"Correct."

"And that's why we agreed to go on a date?"

"Of course."

"Then why are you giving me poison?"

"To send you to your grave, Lee."

Ainsha answered expressionlessly, as though wondering why he was asking something so obvious. Fighting down the headache threatening to surge again, Limon forced himself to ask calmly.

"I'm asking why you want to kill me. What's the reason?"

He could have understood if Ainsha had seen through his identity and was trying to kill him. Limon was the Seven Dragons Society's sworn enemy. Even the White Dragon Clan, who always fled first, had plenty of grudges against him.

But that couldn't be it. If she knew he was Limon, she wouldn't have tried to kill him with mere poison. Then again, even if he had been an ordinary person rather than Limon, her intentions had become inscrutable the moment she poisoned his drink before his eyes. No one who genuinely intended to kill someone would do something this stupid...

'Wait. Stupid?'

At that moment, Limon's eyes widened. There was exactly one reason Ainsha might do something so out of the blue. And her blunt next words turned his suspicion into certainty.

"I must kill you. So I will. There is no other reason."

Those words sounded like something a complete psychopath would say, but Limon wasn't flustered. He merely narrowed his eyes at her and asked bluntly.

"What did you see?"

"... It is a secret."

"Is that so? Then let me put it another way."

As Ainsha clamped her mouth shut, Limon spoke again in an icy voice.

"What future are you trying to change, and how, that you want to kill me?"

Her body gave a startled twitch. Her pupils shook as though an earthquake had struck. Even her gaze slid aside. Limon clicked his tongue at a reaction so blatant that her perfectly expressionless poker face was rendered meaningless. His guess had been right, but that only made it more ridiculous.

"Not just any White Dragon Clan member, but the White Dragon Princess herself trying to change the future. Good grief..."

"I did not say I was changing the future. You are mistaken, Lee."

"Then what about that future you saw of us going to the movies? If I drink this poison and drop dead now, that future disappears, doesn't it?"

"..."

"Or at least tell me why you have to kill me."

"..."

Ainsha had fallen completely silent. Li Qingyu would have invented five or six reasons on the spot, even if none existed. Limon snorted at the girl, whose utter inability to lie was all too characteristic of the White Dragon Clan.

"Well, I can guess even if you don't tell me. Odds are, you saw a future where I did something."

She flinched.

"Since you even prepared for the date, your proposal seems to have been sincere enough. That means something happens after this."

She trembled.

"There can't be many people a clan's princess would want to protect badly enough to kill the man she chose as her consort."

"Reading minds is cheating. It is cowardly. It is the sort of thing the Black Dragon Clan would do."

"Hmm. That sounds like you're saying all my guesses were right."

"..."

"Still don't feel like talking? Whether you tell me or not, I intend to get to the bottom of this."

For a moment, Ainsha broke into a cold sweat like a guilty suspect being interrogated by a police officer with the 『Lie Detection』 skill. Eventually, her shoulders slumped. She spoke in a voice that was still blunt, but oddly resigned.

"It is Tata."

"Ta-what?"

"My nanny. And my bodyguard. Also my attendant and an elder."

Her close aide was shameless in a way uncharacteristic of the White Dragon Clan, and just as clever. Naming the woman she could call her only family, Ainsha confessed why she had to kill Lee.

"I saw a future where you kill Tata, Lee."

* * *

It was a common story: someone learning of a future in which a loved one died, then trying to change it.

Suppose the murderer was the destined partner they had fallen for at first sight, and they therefore had to kill him. Then the story would become a somewhat rarer, tragic romance, or perhaps a thriller with a twist.

But if the lead was the White Dragon Princess? Limon could say with certainty that it would be a comedy. After all, he was laughing in disbelief right now.

"You tried to poison me to save your nanny?"

"Yes. It is clean. It is the least consideration I can show."

"Leaving aside what good consideration does when you're poisoning someone, didn't it occur to you that I wouldn't drink it if you added poison right in front of me?"

"It did not."

"Why?"

"I saw a future where you drink the tea, Lee. So you will definitely drink it."

"Do you realize how incredibly contradictory what you're saying is?"

"...?"

"... Right. Apparently not."

Ainsha tilted her head as though she couldn't understand the problem. Feeling as if he were dealing with a three-year-old, Limon sighed. A child would have been better. A White Dragon Princess who knew the future more accurately than anyone, yet was determined to change it, was a bomb rolling loose. That was why he furrowed his brow.

'A prophecy... This just got troublesome.'

Those who knew the future were ruled by it. Knowing that all too well, Limon avoided getting involved with prophets whenever possible. That went doubly for the White Dragon Princess.

But now that he had heard the prophecy, it was already too late to feign ignorance and back out. Not that this idiot princess, with her overwhelming penchant for action, would likely have left him alone even if he hadn't known anything.

After a brief moment of thought, Limon spoke abruptly.

"Will you do whatever it takes to keep this Tata from dying?"

"Of course. Tata is precious to me."

"Even if it means risking your life?"

"Not that."

"... Well, that was certainly a clear answer."

Limon looked nonplussed as Ainsha immediately shook the head that had been nodding moments earlier. She told him bluntly,

"I am the White Dragon Princess. I must continue the line. I cannot die before then."

"Well, I suppose so."

For a princess of the Seven Dragons Society, continuing the line was both a duty and an instinct that took precedence over all else. However much Ainsha cherished this woman named Tata, risking the extinction of the dragon's blood essence was impossible, even if she herself wished it. In that sense, her answer was just as expected. Limon nodded, then asked again.

"What if changing the future meant handing over the entire White Dragon Clan?"

"That will not do. I would die. Tata would kill me."

"So you're not that stupid... Then how about cooperating fully with the Black Dragon Clan to capture the Liberation Brigade?"

"That is my payment for helping with my proposal."

"If you kill me, the proposal and the payment both go out the window anyway. What reason do you have to hold back now?"

"... Now that I think about it, that is true."

She nodded once, as if she had gained a new insight. After mulling it over at length, Ainsha spoke with an expressionless face.

"That much is possible. Even if it is not, I will make it possible."

"Hmm. Is that so?"

Limon tapped his fingers against the table and gazed steadily at Ainsha for a moment. Then he picked up the hot green tea and downed it in one gulp. Setting the empty cup firmly on the table, he said,

"Don't forget what you just said."

Ainsha blinked. Once, twice, then once more. As though she had seen something strange, she looked back and forth between Limon and the empty teacup. Only after a long while did she ask bluntly,

"... This is strange. You drank poison. But you are not dying."

"Nothing to be surprised about. I've had so much of this stuff over the years that I've built up a resistance to most poisons."

He chuckled, recalling his suffering as he had eaten, drunk, and been struck with all manner of potent poisons the Green Dragon Clan had boasted of, in their undiluted form. Then Limon rose from his seat.

"All right. Let's do this properly."

"I would like to know what we are doing properly."

"What else? We met up for a date, so let's have a date."

"...???"

"But our itinerary will be a little different from the future you saw."

He had gone to the trouble of answering her, yet Ainsha looked even more bewildered than before, all while remaining expressionless. Limon chuckled. Then he took out his smartphone with a meaningful look.

"On that note, do you like puzzles?"

* * *

"You want to know why people call the White Dragon Clan idiots?"

["Yes. I can understand Team Leader doing it, but I figured there must be a reason you take it for granted too, Princess."]

Yu Na-gyeong asked with a curious expression. It wasn't merely because she was bored after being left behind when Limon went on his date. She couldn't understand why the White Dragon Clan was treated as such a bunch of idiots when it was, after all, another pillar of the Seven Dragons Society, and had maintained its power intact compared with the fallen Black Dragon Clan.

As though she understood her question, Li Qingyu spoke calmly.

"There are several reasons... but ultimately, it comes down to the fact that they are born with precognition."

["Why is that a problem? Precognition is a good thing, isn't it?"]

Yu Na-gyeong looked even more puzzled. Precognition, the ability to read the future, was an absurdly powerful gift. Its usefulness was clear from the top-tier treatment players with prophecy-type skills received wherever they went.

Li Qingyu smiled at her.

"You would be happy if someone threw you a surprise birthday party, wouldn't you?"

["Of course."]

"Would you still be happy if you knew beforehand exactly when and how the surprise party would happen?"

["Hmm... Well, a party is still a party. Wouldn't I be happy?"]

"What if you had experienced the exact same party yesterday? In a place with the same food prepared, hearing the same jokes from the same people?"

["... That sounds more tiring than enjoyable."]

"Precisely. And yet, if someone repeated yesterday's actions to make the party end successfully just as it did yesterday, despite not enjoying any of it, what would you call them?"

["An idiot?"]

"Then, if someone knew the party had failed and tried to liven things up by burying their face in the cake, what would you call that?"

["... Something stupid?"]

"That is why the White Dragon Clan are called idiots."

["Huh?"]

Yu Na-gyeong tilted her head as though she didn't understand, but Li Qingyu made no effort to explain further. She merely continued quietly with a faint, bitter smile.

"It is also why the White Dragon Princess is the most unfortunate of us seven princesses."

["...?"]

While Yu Na-gyeong was struggling to decipher those cryptic words, a call came through on Li Qingyu's communicator.

"Sword Lord? What brings you to call in the middle of your date?"

"Of course. Just say the word."

Li Qingyu answered calmly despite the unexpected call. It was just afterward that her expression changed oddly.

"Yes, yes."

"Yes...?"

"... You intend to do what with what?"