“What kind of bullshit is that?”

The words slipped out before I could stop them, and this time the Poison King’s brow creased.

The moment I said it, I knew I’d fucked up.

‘Nice going.’

It just burst out of me because it was so absurd.

I mean, seriously, how is this not completely insane?

“An engagement? What kind of insane bullshit is that?”

Of all the shit I’ve heard lately, even putting the epithets aside, this one left me the most dumbstruck.

“Bullshit?”

The Poison King seized on my wording, making no effort to hide his displeasure.

“No, but, am I wrong? An engagement?”

Even after hearing it, I couldn’t shut up.

Telling me to get engaged to his daughter meant—

‘He’s telling me to get engaged to Tang Yeran.’

Who the hell could just sit still after hearing that?

I threw the words at the Poison King like I was venting heat—

“Yes.”

He only nodded, as if to say I’d understood him correctly.

“...You’re serious?”

“Yes. That is my additional condition.”

“You want me to get engaged to Young Lady Tang?”

“Yes.”

“...Why?”

“Mm?”

“Why is that what you want?”

Even if he hadn’t doted on her, Tang Yeran was still the Poison King’s daughter.

Her treatment hadn’t been good, and within Tang Clan her evaluation wasn’t exactly high, but—

Tang Yeran was a direct Tang bloodline, and after what happened last time, I could only assume her treatment would change.

‘Because I beat Poison Dragon like a dog.’

From a troublemaker who’d been living quietly inside Tang Clan, she’d become another genius who defeated her own brother, one of the Seven Prodigies.

Right now they were keeping it quiet because the Poison King had been attacked, but once this incident wrapped up it was obvious things would get noisy.

Even aside from that—

‘Tang Yeran is useful.’

Tang Yeran herself had plenty of value inside Tang Clan.

‘And if you look at what an engagement means, it’s even more so.’

A relationship forged through a marriage contract.

It’s the simplest, most reliable way to form an extremely tight pact with another great clan.

Any reputable household looking to bulk itself up uses that method a lot.

‘If anything, Murong Clan was the weird one.’

They were the ones talking nonsense, trying to tie themselves to the Bang family that has nothing.

Ordinarily, once you get to the level of the Five Great Clans, everyone in the bloodline who isn’t earmarked as a future young clan head gets used as marriage-contract pieces to grow the clan’s power.

“Why me...?”

Why would he tie such a precious and important card to me?

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t understand.

That was when—

[That kid’s sharp.]

Yoo Cheongil said, looking at the Poison King.

[He’s frighteningly fast at making judgments. I don’t know about him as a martial artist, but as a Clan Head, that kid is a hundred times better than that useless idiot.]

For once, Yoo Cheongil was actually praising someone.

Hearing that, I watched the Poison King.

“What’s the problem?”

He spoke like my reaction was what didn’t make sense.

“You said yourself that you believe you will one day become Zenith Under the Heavens. Judging by that, I thought this was the condition that would help you most.”

“...”

Hearing his explanation, I had to frown.

Only then did I start to see what the Poison King was aiming at.

‘This old man.’

So that was what he meant when he said his deliberations were over?

‘He put me on the scale.’

He’d set me on the weights in his head and measured the board.

And his conclusion was this?

‘...That damned “value.”’

The “value” Yoo Cheongil talked about.

And me, as I would appear through the Poison King’s eyes.

Did the Poison King really judge that my value was that of someone who would genuinely rise to Zenith Under the Heavens?

Is that why he was trying to bind me to his daughter, to keep the connection even at that cost?

If so, then the value he spoke of for me wasn’t bad at all.

‘...Or is he testing me?’

It was possible.

Maybe he was trying to fish for something by checking my reaction—but then again, it didn’t quite feel like that.

His eyes were full of sincerity, like he genuinely meant to betroth Tang Yeran and me.

I hesitated.

‘If he’s serious, then I don’t really lose anything.’

As a condition, it was good. All I had to do was accept the engagement and I’d get a reward that was absurd on its face.

Even putting the engagement aside, just the engagement itself was a great condition.

A direct bloodline member of a Five Great Clan.

Same generation, no rough edges to speak of, a pretty face, and her personality isn’t bad.

If I married Tang Yeran, I’d become part of a renowned clan and probably live much more comfortably.

“...I’m sorry.”

I had to respectfully refuse the Poison King’s proposal.

“...”

At my refusal, the Poison King’s expression shifted ever so slightly as he asked:

“What is your reason?”

“If we speak of reasons, a lot of complicated factors follow behind it, but at the most fundamental level... it’s because I don’t want to be tied to anyone right now.”

“Hmm?”

Even after hearing that, the Poison King’s expression didn’t change much.

Not that that was going to change my answer.

“Do ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) you have any other conditions, then?”

Engagement, my ass.

‘If I get any more tangled up right now, it’ll be a pain in the ass.’

I knew the Poison King viewed me favorably. But that was the version of me Yoo Cheongil had made.

Even if it wasn’t—

‘I have too much to do to let myself get tied down anywhere.’

An engagement with Tang Clan might very well become a major part of my life.

But right now, it was just an awkward option.

“...Is that so?”

“Yes. I truly am grateful that you view me so favorably, but... unfortunately, I—”

“I understand.”

“...Sir?”

“I said I understand.”

Just when I was scrambling for more refusal phrasing, the Poison King calmly accepted my rejection.

What the hell.

‘Was he just saying it to say it?’

Who would throw around their own daughter’s engagement like that as a casual line? That didn’t seem right.

He really did pull his gaze away from me like he had no lingering regret at all.

Which was good for me—if we could let this pass peacefully, all the better—but it still left a strange aftertaste.

‘He’s giving up that easily?’

Was there something more going on? I was still wondering that when—

“In that case, it will be somewhat hard for me to accept the conditions Young Master Bang wants.”

At his next words, I had to click my tongue over and over on the inside.

‘Ah, shit.’

From the Poison King’s attitude and his words, I realized it.

‘The initiative just shifted.’

By refusing the engagement, the upper hand in these negotiations had tipped slightly toward the Poison King.

That wasn’t good. I had to stay sharp from this point on.

‘Was the engagement talk his bait?’

Did he use the word “engagement” just to secure the upper hand?

That suspicion crossed my mind. If that was really the case, he was one seriously creepy old man.

‘To think he’d even use his daughter.’

I forced my concentration up.

I faced the Poison King like I wouldn’t give an inch.

And that’s how the real negotiation began.

*****

By the time my talk with the Poison King ended, the sky was already turning to sunset.

We’d spoken for at least two full hours. And the result—

“Ah, for fuck’s sake.”

Stepping out of his residence, I couldn’t help swearing.

I had good reason.

“...No openings. None at all.”

One side was determined to pull something out, no matter what.

The other side was determined to hold on, no matter what.

Looking at the outcome—

“I barely got anything out of him.”

You had to say the Poison King came out just slightly ahead.

“Ah... If not for how things started, I could’ve squeezed more out of him.”

It was damn frustrating. I ended up just gnawing on my poor thumbnail.

[See, that’s what you get for wobbling at the start. If you’d just said you’d accept right away, everything would’ve turned out fine.]

Yoo Cheongil said, sounding exasperated.

Hearing that, I let out a hollow laugh.

“Easy for you to say when it’s not your life. It’s an engagement, not naming a damn dog. How the hell am I supposed to decide that easily?”

[It didn’t seem bad to me. She’s a decent girl even by your eyes, isn’t she?]

“...That’s a completely different issue.”

No matter how decent a person Tang Yeran was, an engagement was something else entirely.

Sure, turning that down had made the negotiation harder.

‘But now’s not the time.’

Engagement is out of the question—over my dead body.

Maybe someday, but right now I had no intention of getting tied to anyone.

Which made it all the more bitter.

‘...It’s killing me how damn tempting it was.’

I never imagined he’d actually put the engagement on the table like that.

By rejecting it, the justification slid over to the Poison King’s side.

Because of that, the negotiations went in a way I didn’t like.

‘I at least wrung out the commission reward and some other parts, but...’

What I cared about most was the deal tied to Myriad-Flowers Rain.

‘It’s not great.’

What I got out of it through that was a bit less than what I’d hoped.

‘Not exclusive trading rights, just priority trading.’

I’d demanded exclusive rights over lower-grade weapons.

In the end, what I secured was priority trading rights.

Honestly, that part wasn’t bad. Getting priority at all was already something.

The problem was—

‘...The first item is the problem.’

I’d asked for priority trading rights with Iron River, but what I got back wasn’t priority.

‘Just the right to trade.’

A simple right to trade with Iron River.

That wasn’t bad either.

Iron River isn’t the kind of place that casually opens trade.

Just being able to trade with them at all was a good thing for Blue Moon Sect.

‘It’s just frustrating.’

Still, it was frustrating. If I’d pushed a bit harder, I could’ve gotten something better.

Not managing it left a bitter taste.

‘Still, getting this much is no small thing.’

It was definitely not a small gain.

I decided to focus on that.

Aside from that—

‘As for Heaven-Breaking Palace...’

The Poison King also told me a bit about what he’d found out regarding Heaven-Breaking Palace.

He said Demonic Leather Spear was someone he had personally killed in the last war.

The fact that bastard showed up alive was one thing.

On top of that, the ones among Tang Clan’s household he trusted most had turned traitor. That was a problem too.

So he’d been tearing through the clan’s surroundings and the people around them, trying to root out infiltrators.

‘And whenever he caught one, they either killed themselves... or were already gone, right?’

Which meant even the Poison King’s harvest hadn’t been all that great.

‘Just what the hell is Heaven-Breaking Palace?’

What kind of people are they, to plant spies inside Tang Clan’s own ranks?

What was their true objective?

‘It doesn’t feel like they came just to see me.’

They clearly had other aims besides me...

‘It could have been the Poison King.’

That was definitely possible.

‘But I can’t afford to be sure of anything.’

With so little to go on, I couldn’t jump to conclusions.

If even the legendary Poison King had trouble catching their tail, then for me, any judgment would be based on far too little.

‘One thing’s clear—they’re not ordinary.’

From the way they talked about Yoo Cheongil, from the sense of a hidden agenda, they were obviously a group that reeked of danger.

‘I really, really don’t want to get involved with them...’

Judging by how things looked, though, I was already involved, and the thought left me sick.

“Goddamn...”

Nothing’s going my way. Scratching the back of my head with that thought, I kept walking when—

“Found you.”

A familiar voice reached my ears.

It was the Poison Sovereign.

“Elder. You’re—”

I turned toward him immediately.

“...Oh.”

“Tsk, tsk...”

Seeing the Poison Sovereign’s state, my eyes widened.

“...Elder.”

The Poison Sovereign was half transparent.

Before, only his feet had been a little see-through. Now, his whole body was faint.

Which meant—

“You’re leaving?”

It meant the Poison Sovereign was departing.

More precisely—

‘Deliverance.’

It meant he was attaining deliverance.