Yo U-in's face tightened slightly. He had realized why she would not ask Limon for help.

"Your Highness, do you mean..."

"Yes. It's not something I should say as a princess of the Black Dragon Clan."

Li Qingyu smiled quietly. If she cared only about the Black Dragon Clan, she could simply ask Limon to deal with the killers. That would protect the clan and its profits while strengthening her own position.

"But as the woman who will soon marry the Sword Lord, it's a question I must ask."

From Limon's perspective, though? He was better off standing aside. Even if Wang Gi-neung dealt with the killers, the Wang family of Shanghai would owe him a debt. And if things went wrong and Limon had no choice but to intervene, he might gain even more.

"Yo U-in, which do you think I should put first: my position as a princess or my position as his bride?"

The Black Dragon Clan's loyalty. Limon's trust. If she could put only one of those incompatible things on the scales, which would be wiser to gain?

Yo U-in regarded her calm question with an odd expression for a moment, then gave a wry smile. "The Sword Lord's trust, of course."

"That's a little unexpected. I thought you'd say I should gain both."

Li Qingyu looked genuinely surprised. Yo U-in answered evenly, "Chase two rabbits and you'll catch neither. And ten thousand sparrows cannot compare to a great roc that flies ninety thousand li."

"How wise of you."

Apparently satisfied with his answer, Li Qingyu smiled, picked up the documents again, and spoke softly. "In any case, we can't just watch the losses continue. We do need to take action."

She was deep in thought about how to stop the killers when her phone rang. The instant she heard it, she put her worries aside and answered with a bright smile.

"Did you call because you wanted to hear your lovely bride-to-be's voice, Sword Lord?"

"What a shame. That would have made me very happy."

"So what is it?"

"Yes, yes. ... What?"

"Is that really possible?"

"Of course I believe you. I was just so surprised that I asked without thinking."

"Yes, I'll get everything ready at once."

After the call, Li Qingyu gave a wry smile and turned to Yo U-in, who had stepped back so as not to interrupt. "It seems we won't need to take action after all."

* * *

"Hey, Princess. You're here?"

"Sorry I'm late. Have you been waiting long?"

"... You got here less than ten minutes after I called. How can you say that?"

"Every half-quarter-hour away from my beloved husband feels like three autumns (半刻如三秋)."

"Isn't the saying 'one quarter-hour feels like three autumns'?"

"That's what people say when they aren't in love enough."

"... At this rate, too much love'll turn you into a mummy while you're still alive."

Limon shook his head at her beaming, unhesitating replies, then asked, "Did you bring what I asked for?"

"Yes."

At Yo U-in's nod and gesture, a dozen or so maids and housemen carried boxes in, quietly set them down, and left.

"As you requested, Sword Lord, these are commonly available items of 'that sort.'"

"Hmm. More than I expected."

"We brought duplicates of some items in different sizes and specifications, which may account for it."

"That so?"

"If there are too many, I can narrow the selection down further."

"No need. It must've been hard enough getting all this in such a short time. No point sorting through it now."

Limon checked the contents and nodded in satisfaction. Yo U-in had said most were duplicates, but obtaining this many varieties so quickly exceeded his expectations.

Li Qingyu tilted her head. "Why did you ask me to get them ready?"

"Hmm? Did I call you when you were busy?"

"No. I have more time than I know what to do with. I just thought you could have asked Chao to handle something like this."

Yo U-in, who had been helping with her paperwork until moments ago, marveled inwardly. To tell such a blatant lie without so much as a change of expression. That's our princess!

Whether Limon had no idea or knew and chose to ignore it, he replied calmly.

"That know-it-all fool is running around reviewing security at your subsidiaries right now. Calling Chao back just to run an errand would be a bother."

"You're right. We should put the right people in the right places."

"See? You get it."

["... Isn't that the exact opposite of putting the right people in the right places?"]

How did making the chairwoman run an errand because he couldn't be bothered to call back a secretary out on business qualify? Yo U-in wore a strange expression, while Yu Na-gyeong objected outright.

Li Qingyu paid neither of them any mind. She merely looked intrigued. "How do you intend to use these to find the killers?"

"It's nothing impressive. I just took a little inspiration from your advice."

"What? My advice?"

She cocked her head. Clever as she was, she couldn't think of anything she'd said that might have inspired him.

Leaving her to puzzle over it, Limon picked up a box and turned it over.

CLATTER!

Out spilled all manner of things: decks of playing cards, pencils, dice, roulette wheels, darts, boxes for drawing lots, and Pop-up Pirate games. It was a heap of odds and ends. The other boxes were much the same, containing mostly similar items that differed only in size, shape, or material.

"Let's see. Something suitable... Will this do?"

After dumping out all ten boxes, he didn't give their contents another glance. Instead, he rummaged around a corner of the practice room until he apparently found what he wanted. He returned carrying something and promptly handed one to each of them.

"Here."

"Thank you."

["... Huh?"]

Li Qingyu smiled, Yo U-in looked perplexed, and Yu Na-gyeong stared in a daze.

Yu Na-gyeong took the thin metal striker used to play a triangle in her beak. After blinking at it, she asked uneasily, ["Team Leader? Why are you giving me this?"]

"Why would I give you a triangle striker? To hit things with."

["... Leaving aside why I should do that, there's no triangle here."]

"Plenty of other things to hit."

Yu Na-gyeong looked at the objects he pointed to, her beak falling open. ["Wait. You want us to hit all this junk with these? Starting now?"]

"Yeah. Don't worry about the order or the rhythm. Just make sure you hit every item at least once."

["Why?!"]

"Because that'll tell us where the killers will strike next."

["What kind of logic is that? It's like making a donation at a temple to ask for the answers to this year's college entrance exam!"]

"Wasn't that the case where a player with a prophecy skill ran a scam? Must've been over a hundred people who got perfect scores that year."

["Three hundred and seven, to be exact. No, wait, that's not the point!"]

Yu Na-gyeong bounced up and down in agitation. She was used to Limon doing strange things, but even she couldn't readily accept this.

TING! TING-TING.

"Like this?"

"Yep. You've got a knack for it."

"I am a young lady of a respectable family, after all. I know the basics of poetry, calligraphy, music, and painting."

There was one problem: unlike Yu Na-gyeong, Li Qingyu had started tapping the assorted objects without the slightest hesitation. Pleased by the praise, she even began tapping out a rhythm as if she were playing an instrument.

CLANG! CLA-CLANG.

"I've played the drum a few times, but this feels rather awkward."

"Don't try too hard to make it sound nice. The messier, the better."

Perhaps out of sheer loyalty, Yo U-in sat cross-legged on the floor and began tapping the junk alongside Li Qingyu, despite his advanced age and immaculate suit.

"What are you doing? Get to it."

["... Ah, shit! Fine, I don't care anymore!"]

CLANG! CLATTER-CLANG!

Yu Na-gyeong stared at the other two in disbelief for a moment. Then, at Limon's urging, she clamped the striker in her beak and began flitting about wildly.

Hmm.

Li Qingyu's claim to have learned poetry, calligraphy, music, and painting had evidently been no idle boast; she coaxed a surprisingly pleasant sound from the junk. Yo U-in, befitting an expert of the Seven Dragons Society, produced a rougher sound, but still beat out a weighty rhythm that followed hers as closely as possible. Yu Na-gyeong made an awful racket, whether because she couldn't accept any of this or because striking things with a rod in her beak was difficult.

Limon watched them for a while and muttered inwardly, What a mess.

Had Yu Na-gyeong heard him, she might well have spat out the striker and protested that he was the one who'd told her to do it.

I thought having them hit things at random would naturally create dissonance, but that princess is too good at this.

The mess he meant, however, wasn't the chaotic noise. If anything, it was the opposite.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter."

After a moment's thought, Limon shook his head.

He opened the case at the back of the practice room and took hold of the Violin of Deepest Black. "I can make up for what's missing with this."

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.

The moment he grasped the violin, the curse naturally guided his body into playing position. He held still, poised to unleash a performance like an arrow nocked to a taut bowstring, and thought, Honestly, I'm not confident.

When he'd predicted the killers' movements, he'd been certain. He was a Sword Master; a prediction based on the principles of the Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword, which laid bare the workings of all things, could not miss.

But this time? Far from certain, he doubted the method would work at all.

No choice. I'll have to try, whether it works or not.

Even so, Limon held on to the violin. It wasn't just the fear of how much harm the killers might cause if he failed to act now. Accompanying Eugene's chaotic song with an equally haphazard performance had given him a small insight, and he was intrigued by a certain 'possibility' he'd found in it.

Of course, it was only a possibility—closer to a fantasy than a workable idea. A hundred attempts out of a hundred would end in failure. Even trying seemed like a foolish waste of time.

The more reckless a challenge, the more fun it is.

Rather than shrink from the prospect of failure, Limon felt eager to take on the challenge itself. He willingly drew the bow.

And the instant he began to play—

SKREEEEEE!

Every possibility in the world, given the form of sound, burst forth from the Violin of Deepest Black.