At that moment, a crack appeared in Rose's expression.

Had anyone else said that to her, she would merely have worn her usual faint smile—a smile as perfect as befitted the Blue Dragon Princess, and every bit as artificial.

But the fact that it was none other than Limon who had said it brought her honest, heartfelt emotions to her face.

"... Why would you say that?"

Confusion, anger, resentment... With all those emotions twisting her features into an expression she had never worn in her life, Rose spoke.

"You're the one who's been condemning me as a hypocrite all this time. So why, now...!"

If she had never known, she could have gone on playing the perfect princess in blissful ignorance. He had needlessly told her something she would have been better off not knowing, leaving her like this—so why was he now affirming her hypocrisy? Without realizing it, Rose's question had become an accusation.

But the moment she heard Limon's answer, she could only freeze.

"Well, there's no grand reason. If I had to give one... you got on my nerves?"

"... On your nerves?"

"When someone looks too perfect, you just feel like taking them down a peg, don't you?"

"..."

Rose discovered something anew: murderous intent could arise this easily.

Had Limon not continued, she would have openly acted on it.

"Listen, Countess. Humans can't be perfect in the first place."

In a world where even gods, beings akin to embodiments of the order of the world, were imperfect, how could a mere human be perfect, without a single flaw? Limon pointed this out with a small chuckle, then added another remark.

"And there's no need to be perfect anyway."

"... What do you mean?"

"Few words are as meaningless as 'perfect.'"

Suppose a perfect human existed. That person would have no need for emotions, because emotions were imperfect.

There would be no reason to be kind to others, either. If someone was perfect alone, interaction with others would only be a hindrance.

But could a being who was simply born alone, lived alone, and died alone truly be called a perfect human? Limon scoffed. What the hell was perfect about that?

"And that goes for things other than humans, too. A perfect country, a perfect work of art, perfect swordsmanship. None of that can exist in this world."

To be flawless meant never changing. In other words, no matter how much time passed, one could never learn anything more or grow. And once all future possibilities were lost, perfection itself became a contradiction.

"When people forget that and chase perfection, they end up like you."

"Like me?"

"Someone who believes they can do everything without anyone's help, shoulders it all alone, and struggles until they ruin everything."

"..."

An emperor who pursued eternal youth and immortality to build a perfect nation, only to lose everything to the Demon King. A Saint who devoted a lifetime to playing perfect music, then committed suicide after failing. The Sword Demon, who slaughtered a tenth of humanity to create a perfect world.

Rose remained silent as Limon spoke of those who had raced alone after a perfection that did not exist, only to succumb to madness and meet their ruin.

It was not merely because their stories felt like her own. The overwhelming weight in his words, as though he had personally witnessed countless people fall to ruin, kept her lips closed.

"With that in mind, Countess. No—Rose Seaserpent."

Looking her straight in the eye, Limon addressed her by her full name for the first time. Then he continued quietly.

"You've done well."

"You may have shown mercy out of a sense of superiority as a descendant of dragons, but you never grew arrogant simply because you had the power to show it."

"You may have viewed justice through your own framework, but you never clung to the notion that anything was permissible in the name of justice."

"You may have striven to be perfect yourself, but you never forced that standard of perfection on others."

"The Blue Dragon Princesses have always been just and merciful, but few have lived as diligently as you."

He pointed out her hypocrisy, yet also mentioned the sins she could have committed, showing her that her hypocrisy had value if only because she had refrained from doing evil.

He told her that even if perfection was meaningless, the effort she had made to pursue it mattered, awakening the honor and pride the Blue Dragon Clan had built over generations.

Even if her hypocrisy had turned people into livestock, the responsibility lay with those who had chosen to become pigs and dogs themselves. Hypocritical though her deeds might have been, they were still good deeds. She had lived a good life.

"So you have every right to be proud."

"..."

Calmly, plainly—and all the more candidly for it—Limon finished his long speech. Watching him, Rose wore an indescribable expression.

Only now did she understand why he had come to see her at this late hour and launched into this unexpected talk.

"... Are you actually trying to comfort me?"

"Well, that doesn't sound much like me. Let's call it acknowledgment."

"Acknowledgment... is it?"

To hell with a perfect hundred. Ninety was already excellent. She had done well enough. They were utterly casual words, like those of an adult soothing a child crying over a test score that fell short of expectations.

Yet those words, which she could never have heard from the people who only revered her as a perfect princess, sank strangely deep into her heart and brought a thought to mind.

'... That's right.'

'I never had to be perfect.'

It was such an obvious truth. Yet merely murmuring it lightened her heavy heart and cleared her muddled mind.

A refreshing clarity, as though the fog in her head had vanished, or the clouded, tinted glasses obscuring her eyes had been removed.

With everything feeling new, Rose spoke without thinking, voicing what she wanted most at that moment.

"Would you play for me?"

"What?"

"Didn't you say you could play something to encourage me?"

"... You want me to play the violin? Now?"

"Yes."

"..."

Limon wore an odd expression at the unexpected request, but only briefly. Setting down the violin case he had been carrying on his back, he spoke.

"Unfortunately, what I originally prepared was an ensemble performance. Without Jessica, I'll just have to pick some random piece to play."

"I don't mind."

"Well, if that's what the countess wants."

With a shrug, Limon took out the Guarneri, the violin he had borrowed from the countess's house. He rested it against his shoulder and slid his bow across the strings.

EEEEEEE.

A tranquil melody rang through the quiet midnight garden.

Bach's Air, the second movement of Orchestral Suite No. 3. Listening to the gentle melody commonly known as "Air on the G String," Rose gazed into the air.

The sound shatters. No, it is the moonlight that crumbles.

The calm, tender melody moistens her eyes, making the transparent moonlight sparkle. She quietly closes her eyes, feeling that scattered moonlight fall onto the myriad flowers forming the maze and resonate like a vision.

So dearly missed. So comforting. So long desired. She loses herself in that soothing melody.

Limon briefly glanced at Rose, whose head had come to rest against his shoulder. With a small, amused chuckle, he continued working the strings, carrying on his concert for the sleeping princess, who breathed softly with her eyes closed as though she had forgotten every last one of her duties.

* * *

The black-haired girl was engrossed in paperwork as usual. Li Qingyu nodded.

"I see. You still haven't been able to reach the Sword Lord?"

["That's what I'm saying. With all this commotion, he hasn't contacted me, and he won't even answer his phone. It's like he's determined to drive me up the wall."]

"Don't worry so much. I'm sure the Sword Lord has his reasons."

At Li Qingyu's untroubled reply, Yu Na-gyeong spoke from the other side of the video call, sounding frustrated.

["I'm not worried about Team Leader. I'm worried about the countess."]

"By the countess, you mean Rose?"

["Yes. Team Leader absolutely loathes the Blue Dragon Clan. I'm on edge wondering what he might do while I'm not there."]

At that moment, Li Qingyu stopped turning the pages. With an odd expression, she looked over at Yu Na-gyeong on the screen.

"... The Sword Lord loathes the Blue Dragon Clan?"

["Exactly."]

"Where did you hear such a strange idea?"

["Strange? What do you mean?"]

As Yu Na-gyeong tilted her head in incomprehension, Li Qingyu answered calmly.

"Because there's no way the Sword Lord dislikes the Blue Dragon Clan that much."

["What? But Team Leader said the Blue Dragon Clan was the one the Sword Emperor despised most..."]

"Those were the Sword Emperor's words, not the Sword Lord's own assessment, were they?"

["... Huh?"]

Yu Na-gyeong blinked. Limon had certainly treated the Blue Dragon Clan cynically. But he always did that with the Seven Dragons Society. Thinking it over, she could not recall him ever directly speaking ill of the Blue Dragon Clan.

As though she had guessed what had happened, Li Qingyu smiled gently and spoke.

"Do you know what justice's greatest enemy is?"

["Villains, obviously?"]

"No. Another kind of justice."

["What?"]

Yu Na-gyeong was bewildered by the unexpected question and the even stranger answer that followed. Li Qingyu chuckled at her, then continued calmly.

"Justice differs from person to person."

For some, justice meant obeying the law. For others, it meant protecting their family even if they had to commit a crime. Likewise, someone who stole important secrets from an enemy nation was a hero to their own people, but a criminal to the enemy.

Thus, even an utterly righteous person could become extraordinarily dangerous, depending on what kind of "justice" they pursued. The Blue Dragon Clan was a prime example.

To the Blue Dragon Clan, justice meant restoring the age when dragons ruled. To realize that noble justice, back when they had operated as a criminal organization called the Demonic Cult, they had at times been the most ruthless members of the Seven Dragons Society.

"That is why the Blue Dragon Clan fought the Sword Lord more fiercely than any clan except ours."

That was also why the Blue Dragon Clan had charged at Limon with the greatest valor. No matter how powerful an enemy might be, yielding to force was not justice. They had thrown themselves at him with such disregard for their lives that even the other clans of the Seven Dragons Society had been astounded.

Yet the Blue Dragon Clan had survived to this day not merely because their psionics, Teleportation, gave them an advantage in operating covertly.

"At the same time, though, the Blue Dragon Clan was the only clan in our Seven Dragons Society that the Sword Lord respected."

["... Respected? Team Leader? The Seven Dragons Society?"]

"Yes. Of course, he never spared members of the Blue Dragon Clan who attacked him. But he did at least show them the consideration of accepting their surrender."

Yu Na-gyeong's jaw dropped. Limon had respected a clan of the Seven Dragons Society—and back when they were called the Demonic Cult, at that. That was even more absurd than being told there was a mad dog that looked after cats.

"If you think about it carefully, it isn't particularly strange."

["How exactly am I supposed to think about something that earth-shattering and not find it strange?!"]

"Forget that the Blue Dragon Clan belongs to the Seven Dragons Society, and think only about what they've done."

["What? No, what does that..."]

Still incredulous, Yu Na-gyeong suddenly blinked. The moment she tried doing as Li Qingyu suggested, she felt an odd sense of déjà vu. Li Qingyu gently prompted her.

"Those who help the weak even at the expense of every benefit to themselves, who never give up against any enemy, and who have held to their convictions for nearly a thousand years."

["..."]

"Doesn't that remind you of someone?"

Yu Na-gyeong stared silently at Li Qingyu's meaningful smile. Only after a long while did she ask uneasily.

["So you're saying Team Leader felt a kinship with the Blue Dragon Clan?"]

"I'm not sure I would call it kinship. Their views of justice are far too different to begin with."

The Blue Dragon Clan considered all humanity outside the Seven Dragons Society weak, beings to be protected and helped. Limon believed all humans could become strong on their own, and had established the Sword Tower to teach them.

Even setting aside their grudge dating back to the Bronze Age, their beliefs were far too different in the way they practiced justice alone. That was why they had fought each other to the death for hundreds of years without compromise.

"But if the Sword Lord treated the Blue Dragon Clan coldly, it certainly wasn't simply because he disliked them."

["Then why?"]

"Well... If I had to guess, perhaps it was something like the way anyone feels tempted to be spiteful toward a rival or a nemesis?"

["... It was for a reason that childish?"]

"It means the relationship between the Sword Lord and the Blue Dragon Clan is that complicated."

Limon had regarded the Seven Dragons Society as a scourge upon humanity and cut them down without mercy. Even so, he had been forced to acknowledge the Blue Dragon Clan as "merciful evil," or "misguided, yet just." Wasn't it only natural that his relationship with them would be complicated?

Yu Na-gyeong nodded blankly at Li Qingyu's calm explanation, then suddenly blinked.

["Uh, but Princess. Isn't that dangerous?"]

"Dangerous?"

Li Qingyu tilted her head at the unexpected remark. Yu Na-gyeong spoke uneasily.

["If you're right, then the Blue Dragon Clan is the clan Team Leader thinks most highly of in the Seven Dragons Society, isn't it?"]

"That's right."

["But what if Team Leader gets even closer to the Blue Dragon Clan than he is now—especially the countess..."]

"That won't happen."

Only then seeming to understand the "danger" Yu Na-gyeong meant, Li Qingyu smiled wryly.

"Just as the Sword Lord never bends, the Blue Dragon Princess is the most stubborn and uncompromising of us."

Limon and the Blue Dragon Clan both pursued justice, and for that very reason their relationship was like parallel lines that could never intersect. In a sense, they stood at opposite extremes. There was only one way for them to grow closer: one side would have to compromise.

But neither Limon nor the Blue Dragon Clan, stubborn enough to have upheld their own justice for nearly a thousand years, would readily yield. That was especially true given the Blue Dragon Clan's character: among the seven clans, only the Gold Dragon Clan surpassed them in pride and lofty aloofness.

"For her to get along with the Sword Lord in just a few days... Well, I doubt it could happen unless she fell under the spell of his violin playing."

["Ahaha, that's a very funny joke."]

Watching Li Qingyu speak with a bright smile and utter conviction, Yu Na-gyeong was impressed. The Princess really did have everything planned out.

Even to Yu Na-gyeong, there was no chance that the diligent, capable Rose would fall head over heels for a musician she had met only a few days earlier.

* * *

"Sir Lucas, what should I do if I want to make someone my exclusive musician by any means necessary, even though he doesn't want to be?"

"Did I... hear you wrong?"