Chapter 233 - Only Natural

* * *

After the banquet ended, Barbara escorted them to their lodgings on Maia’s orders. Even as Hermann retired to his room looking exhausted, Yu Na-gyeong still could not hide her dazed expression. Only after quite some time did she reluctantly open her beak.

["Well, I have a lot of questions, but let me start with this."]

Yu Na-gyeong closed her beak. Then, after taking a moment to catch her breath, she cried out in astonishment.

["Team Leader, you actually know how to speak politely?!"]

Limon’s answer to her spectacularly delayed outburst of shock was a flick of his finger.

THWACK!

["Ow! Why did you hit me?!"]

“Why do you think? Because you’ve got the nerve to treat your exalted team leader like some fucking animal with no manners.”

["But you’ve never done it before, have you?"]

Yu Na-gyeong pointed this out sharply. Between her life before death and her life afterward, she had spent years with Limon, yet this was the first time she had ever heard him speak deferentially.

Limon, however, remained unruffled.

“That’s because I never had a reason to.”

["What do you mean, no reason? You even spoke casually to Cir and the countess!"]

“That was different.”

["What exactly is different?"]

“Just what I said. Whether there’s a need to or not.”

His answer only left Yu Na-gyeong more confused. Given Limon’s age, she could understand his blunt manner with ordinary people. But he spoke casually even to Cir, who was far older than he was, and had never shown proper deference even while infiltrating House Seaserpent. She could not understand why this time was different.

["Fine. Let’s put the politeness issue aside for now... What about that deal, then?"]

“What deal?”

["That insane deal where you agreed to be that terrifying woman’s slave for ten days! What on earth were you thinking when you accepted it?"]

“What do you think? It was the only way to get the Green Dragon Princess to treat our sculptor friend.”

["W-well, that’s true, but..."]

Yu Na-gyeong found herself stumbling over her words. With Li Qingyu’s offer rejected outright, Limon really had had no choice but to accept Maia’s proposal if they wanted her treatment.

["Does this even make sense in the first place? Who in the world demands a life as payment for medical treatment?!"]

In the end, she changed tack. Rather than try to outargue this old man, she decided to take issue with the absent Maia instead. It was a perfect illustration of the saying that even a king gets cursed behind his back.

The problem was Limon’s reaction.

“What’s so strange about it? That sort of thing is common enough.”

["What?"]

Yu Na-gyeong froze at the unexpected answer. Limon spoke to her indifferently.

“Haven’t you heard stories about families killing themselves over medical bills?”

["That’s different from this."]

“Is it? Then what about people who take out loans at exorbitant interest to pay their hospital bills and end up in debt for life? Or people who die without treatment because they can’t afford it at all?”

["That’s..."]

Yu Na-gyeong had no answer. She had grown up in an orphanage herself, after all. Whenever one of the children became seriously ill, she had seen the director agonize over the hospital bills.

“For ordinary people, letting them work it off as slaves might actually be more merciful than demanding outrageous medical fees.”

Limon quietly added that observation.

People who sought out the Green Dragon Clan because of illness generally fell into two categories: those with incurable diseases, and those whose diseases could be treated but who could not afford the hospital bills. Even setting the latter aside, the fees for treating the former were usually beyond an ordinary person’s means.

And if becoming a slave was all it took to receive treatment directly from Maia, one of the richest people in the world? That might actually be extraordinarily fair.

Whether they were rich enough to have money rotting away or so poor they could not afford medicine, everyone had only one life.

“Besides, I think your view of slavery is too one-dimensional. What the Green Dragon Clan calls slavery is closer to a kind of occupation.”

["... An occupation?"]

“Yes,” Limon said matter-of-factly.

Over his long life, he had seen slavery in many cultures. Surprisingly many of them did not consider becoming a slave a particularly serious matter. No matter how hard it was to make a living, becoming a slave guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter.

Of course, there were cases worse than death, such as enslavement through war or criminal punishment, or the white slaves of America.

Conversely, in places with well-organized systems, slaves not only received wages but could save those wages and buy their freedom whenever they could pay their own price. Some slaves with specialized skills or knowledge even negotiated their own wages, amassed enormous fortunes, and retired.

The Green Dragon Clan’s system of slavery was one that offered comparatively strong protections for human rights.

["So, in short, a slave of the Green Dragon Clan is a professional with guaranteed lifetime employment?"]

“Well, more or less. The difference is that, just as modern service workers sell smiles and courtesy to customers, the Green Dragon Clan’s slaves sell their freedom and loyalty.”

["Even so, I’d say there’s a pretty big difference between working in the service industry and being a slave..."]

“I don’t know. They look much the same to me.”

Whether one became a slave to money and a company or to another person—that was the only difference, Limon said indifferently. He had seen plenty of employees who were no different from the slaves of old, or were worked even harder than slaves.

Then he chuckled at Yu Na-gyeong’s peculiar expression as she recalled her days at the PAB, when overtime had been a way of life.

“Well, you don’t have to agree. The point is simple.”

["The point?"]

“Only people who have someone they want treated badly enough to sacrifice their freedom or even risk their lives need to seek out the Green Dragon Princess.”

["... And you accepted her offer because you agreed with that, Team Leader?"]

“Why wouldn’t I? All I have to do is play slave for ten days.”

Limon snorted. He tended to solve everything with his sword, but whatever anyone might say, he was a seasoned veteran. He was a crafty old man who could set aside his paltry pride whenever necessary and use anything from ambushes to deception without hesitation.

Had he been incapable of even that much, he would have gotten himself killed fighting the Seven Dragons Society or another Sword Master long ago. Compared with that, ten days as a slave was hardly difficult if he thought of it as a little part-time job.

“Actually, it’s something else I can’t accept.”

["What?"]

Leaving Yu Na-gyeong puzzled by his cryptic remark, Limon slowly turned to look ahead and spoke bluntly.

“Princess, what exactly were you thinking when you said that?”

Li Qingyu, the black-haired girl who had remained silent until now, tilted her head at his question.

“What are you referring to?”

“Your offer to pay for the treatment with your body.”

“For the same reason you accepted Maia’s offer, of course, Sword Lord,” Li Qingyu answered with a gentle smile.

But Limon narrowed his eyes at her usual serene smile.

“To get that sculptor treated? You made such an absurd offer for that reason alone?”

“Yes. It was the best course of action.”

“The best...”

After turning her answer over in his mind for a moment, Limon nodded.

“All right. If that’s what you thought, then I suppose it was the best course.”

With his extensive knowledge of relations within the Seven Dragons Society, he could infer a great deal. He could see Li Qingyu’s intention to begin by deliberately offering an unacceptable price, then gradually negotiate less stringent conditions for the clinical experiments. He could also tell that Maia would ultimately have accepted her proposal even if he had not intervened.

She was the Black Dragon Princess, after all—the cleverest and most inscrutable girl even among a clan specializing in schemes and conspiracies.

That was why Limon looked straight at Li Qingyu, his eyes dark and grave.

“On that subject, there’s something I want to ask... Princess, what are you hiding?”

["What?"]

Yu Na-gyeong was bewildered. It wasn’t as though he were some husband obsessed with suspicions of infidelity. She could not understand why Limon was suddenly asking Li Qingyu such a question.

Li Qingyu herself, however, was neither surprised nor flustered. She simply asked calmly in return,

“Why do you think I’m hiding something?”

“There are plenty of reasons,” Limon answered evenly.

He had sensed something odd ever since she insisted on accompanying him to persuade the Green Dragon Princess. The Black Dragon Clan was already busy dealing with the damage from the Liberation Brigade’s attack. With the aftermath of the London incident making things even busier, it was a considerable strain for Li Qingyu to leave her post.

“Including your claim that making that ridiculous offer to the Green Dragon Princess was the best course of action.”

If the sole objective was to treat Hermann, Li Qingyu’s approach might not have been a bad one. But when relations with the other clans and the Black Dragon Clan’s reaction if they learned of this were taken into account? It was hard to call it the best course. For the Black Dragon Princess to volunteer as a test subject in the first place was humiliating enough to be recorded as a disgrace for generations.

If Li Qingyu still called it the best course of action, there was only one conclusion: there was a reason Limon did not know. Some circumstance required her to settle the deal with the Green Dragon Princess herself, even at the cost of taking on considerable burdens.

“The strangest part was how you avoided answering when that Green Dragon Clan girl who came to meet us asked whether I was your attendant.”

“... You noticed after all?”

“How could I not? The fact that you deliberately didn’t deny it made it obvious you wanted the Green Dragon Clan to get some sort of wrong impression.”

An emphatic denial could sometimes inspire greater certainty than an affirmation. But neither confirming nor denying something could confuse the other party. And Limon had at least a vague idea of the confusion Li Qingyu had intended to create.

“For example, the impression that I might be a member of the Black Dragon Clan.”

["The Black Dragon Clan? You, Team Leader?"]

Yu Na-gyeong was incredulous. Even if Limon’s disguise gave him black hair, she had never imagined anyone could arrive at such an absurd misconception.

Yet Li Qingyu did not deny his conjecture. She merely nodded slowly, as though she finally understood.

“... So that’s why you deliberately put on that act for me.”

“I couldn’t very well spoil my bride-to-be’s plans,” Limon said indifferently.

Had he not been playing along with Li Qingyu’s intentions, he would never have bothered with such a silly act, however urgently they needed treatment. That was also why he quietly pressed her.

“The problem is, no matter how I think about it, I can’t figure out why you wanted them to get that impression.”

“...”

“So explain. What are you hiding from me, and why did you have to do it?”

Limon calmly told her that he would keep playing along with this farce if she had a reason he could accept. Watching him, Li Qingyu felt something strange.

Most people would first get angry if someone kept secrets and plotted something behind their backs, yet he asked for her reasons first. As the Black Dragon Princess, Li Qingyu was accustomed to deceiving everyone and being regarded warily in turn. Such trust was utterly unfamiliar to her—all the more so because it came from none other than Limon.

And so Li Qingyu smiled gently.

“I can’t tell you.”

“... Why you came with me, the secret you’re keeping from me, why you let them mistake me for a member of the Black Dragon Clan. You’re saying you can’t tell me any of it?”

“Yes. Not a single thing.”

Perhaps her answer was simply that unexpected. Watching Limon raise his eyebrows slightly, Li Qingyu smiled bitterly to herself.

It was all ultimately connected to Dragon Psionics—a secret she could never reveal to Limon, of all people. Even if it cost her his trust.

And so, smiling, Li Qingyu braced herself for questioning as merciless as a blade and distrust as cold as ice.

“Well, then that’s that.”

“... Pardon?”

But what met her in the next instant was an answer utterly beyond her expectations.

“You said you can’t tell me, didn’t you? What else can I do? I’ll have to accept it.”

It might have been different with someone else, he said, but if she said she could not tell him, she must have a reason. So even if he could not understand it, he would go along with her for now. Li Qingyu blinked for a moment at his utterly untroubled manner, then found herself asking,

“Don’t you think I might have deceived you to secretly plot something wicked, Sword Lord?”

“I’m your groom-to-be, aren’t I?”

Limon answered casually, as though she had asked a completely irrelevant question. Then, looking at Li Qingyu’s wide eyes, he calmly continued.

“Even if we aren’t married yet, what’s a groom to do if he won’t trust his bride?”