What determines value?

It doesn’t matter whether it’s an object, a person, or a martial art.

What is the standard by which we assign value to something?

Back when I was still called Blood Wolf.

When I only knew how to swing a sword and couldn’t even read, Seorin once threw that question at me.

If I gave a satisfactory answer, she said she’d obtain at least a low-grade elixir for me. After much thought, I answered.

My answer at the time was desire.

No matter how rare a gem is, if no one wants it, it’s no different from a pebble. No matter how beautiful someone is, they won’t appeal to someone of the same sex. Even if it’s a divine and peerless technique, to a commoner, it’s nothing more than a pipe dream.

So the most important thing is how much it is desired.

In other words, desire is the origin of all value.

That belief hasn’t changed to this day.

And now, Blood Demon poses a similar but slightly different question.

“How much value is there in a world where all desires are fulfilled?”

While I was briefly lost in thought, recalling the past, a soft voice reached my ear.

Jingle—

“Oh my? There you are, Sword Demon. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“…I thought I was somewhere fairly easy to find.”

“That’s true. When you leave the room, the first thing you see is the veranda. But even that short moment it took to reach your side felt like a thousand days to me. So yes, I really have been looking for quite a while.”

Tang Sowol, smiling brightly, sat next to me.

The sun had long since set, and the sky was now dark, with the moon and stars twinkling above.

Ever since I saw Poison Dance Empress Tang Sowol staying with the Ironblood Hall, I’d been wondering how this illusion was supposed to work. Before I realized it, so much time had passed.

Thanks to that, just when I had finished sorting my thoughts and was about to catch my breath, Tang Sowol came looking for me.

Not too close, not too far. But close enough to feel each other’s presence.

Following my gaze, which had been absentmindedly fixed on the sky, Tang Sowol lifted her head and spoke.

“Am I intruding?”

“No. I’ve never once considered you an intrusion, Tang Sowol.”

“Hehe. That’s such a sweet thing to say. For you, Sword Demon, to say something so unlike you… It makes me feel comfortable enough to speak freely.”

“What is it you want to say?”

Jingle.

“What else? About the pavilion you mentioned before. I’ve found a suitable site. Shall we go see it together sometime?”

Tang Sowol shrugged lightly. With that movement, some of her silver-white hair slid down.

As my gaze naturally followed the motion, Sowol’s brows drew a graceful curve.

“You remember, don’t you? The pavilion with a good view of the moon. The one you mentioned when you proposed to me. You said once it was built, the three of us would live together at the Tang Clan.”

“Yeah. I did say that.”

The Tang Clan wasn’t annihilated. Yet here was Tang Sowol, her hair turned white, mentioning the final promise we’d made.

I gave a bitter smile and nodded.

Surprisingly, in this world, not only is the Poison Dance Empress staying with Ironblood Hall, she’s supposedly promised to marry me along with Seol Lihyang and Seorin.

What a convenient dream this is.

Seorin hasn’t renounced the unorthodox path, so she’s still the White-Haired Rakshasa and Ironblood Hall Master.

Seol Lihyang is still renowned as the Demonic Sound Ice Witch, a top-tier unorthodox master.

Even if Tang Jincheon had once told Sowol that he’d prioritize her will in marriage matters, and even if he were lenient toward her…

Would he really allow her to marry a mere unorthodox drifter like me—especially alongside two infamous unorthodox women?

Well. If we’re nitpicking that much, we’d have to question how Tang Sowol, Seol Lihyang, and Seorin are even in the same place to begin with.

All three are appearing in their past forms, not their current selves. And regardless of actual age differences, they all maintain their final appearances from just before their deaths.

Even the titles are inconsistent.

Seol Lihyang and Seorin still call me Blood Wolf, but Tang Sowol calls me Sword Demon.

If I consider the fact that I only became known as the Sword Demon after I went on a killing spree following their deaths… it’s truly a contradiction.

And yet, it’s all happening before my eyes.

A dream that shows me only what I want to see, without any logic or causality.

I’ve figured out what this place is. But I still don’t know how to escape it.

Just as my thoughts were beginning to tangle again, Tang Sowol, who had been sitting at a reasonable distance, suddenly leaned in close.

Jingle.

Warmth wrapped around one of my arms. As our breath brushed against each other’s cheeks, Tang Sowol whispered,

“When I’m with you, Sword Demon, I feel certain that even someone like me can be happy. Do you feel the same?”

“Of course.”

As I replied, she slowly lifted her face. Quietly, as if urging me, she leaned her face forward. My hand moved naturally.

I brushed aside the bangs covering half her face, then caressed the melted scar beneath.

This was the most powerful and certain form of affection between me and Tang Sowol.

We were each other’s missing pieces.

Without her, I was nothing, and without me, she would slowly rot away.

Thus, we were only whole when we were together.

So it had been.

But for now, just for a little while, I want to close my eyes to everything.

Because I haven’t yet had time to fully prepare my heart.

Because I’m still not confident in the method I’ve come up with.

And during the few days I’ve spent in this dream, I’ve learned something else.

The artificiality of this world doesn’t end with the reunion of those I thought I’d never meet again.

No matter what I do, everything turns out well.

If I need something, no matter how events unfold, I end up getting it.

For example: I once bought dumplings at the market without thinking and told the vendor to keep the change.

That small act of generosity apparently paid for the vendor’s mother’s medicine. He wept with gratitude, and the entire village praised my virtue.

As a bonus, a ridiculously beautiful woman—supposedly the vendor’s daughter—offered to repay me with her body.

Jingle—

I don’t remember her well, but I must have encountered her at least once, either in this life or a past one.

Because everyone who appears here seems to be someone I remember, consciously or unconsciously.

A single good deed leads to a hundredfold reward. And of course, it comes with a beautiful woman.

It’s childish and one-dimensional wish fulfillment, but beneath it, there’s a pleasure I can’t completely deny, even as I mock it.

How many men truly dislike wealth, fame, power, martial prowess, and women?

Regardless of my values or experience, these pleasures are imprinted in my instincts.

If I feel like staying indoors, it starts raining. If I want to go out, the weather clears.

I even tested it—and found the weather and even the seasons would shift according to my will.

On top of that, Seol Lihyang is stronger than she was before the regression, but Tang Sowol and Seorin are stronger in the way I remembered them.

I even challenged them to spar, hoping to use this for training…

But the moment I focused to exploit an opening, they’d blunder in ridiculous ways and create that opening themselves.

It was meaningless for cultivation, but the way Sowol and Seorin fussed over me afterward was kind of cute.

Not just that—everything in this world flows in a way that benefits me.

The Heavenly Demon was destroyed in mutual annihilation with the Imperial Family, the Tang Clan unanimously chose Tang Sowol as their next head, and Seol Lihyang, who had suffered numerous side effects from her flawed Yin techniques, saw all those effects disappear—except for the ones I liked.

For instance, heightened libido and an improved figure stayed, while shortened lifespan and infertility vanished.

As for Seorin, she supposedly ate some miracle elixir in the Western Region that made her breasts grow.

Even then, she still didn’t match Sowol or Lihyang.

Maybe my subconscious put limits on her, thinking “this isn’t like Seorin.”

It’s ridiculous, but that’s how this world works.

Jingle—

A dream endlessly gentle and kind to me.

No hardship, no lack. Just a life to be enjoyed.

Who knows how much time is passing in reality?

But here in this dream, no matter how many lifetimes I live and restart, I don’t wake up.

Thus, this is an eternal dream.

Unless I wake up on my own.

Time flows even as I grow familiar with this world and investigate it.

And now, it’s the first night of my wedding with the three of them, all dressed beautifully.

“Hmhm. Since I’m the official wife, shouldn’t I take the lead here?”

“What are you talking about, Sister Tang? Since you two are inexperienced, I should demonstrate first.”

“Brat! Have you no respect for your elders? I should go first, by age!”

Tang Sowol shrugged, letting down the white hair pinned up with an elegant hairpin, as if reenacting the next part of an unfulfilled promise.

Seol Lihyang, face flushed, loosened her robe.

Though I’ve seen it many times, my heart still fluttered at the sight.

And Seorin, who had grown impressively compared to before, still couldn’t match the other two. She puffed out her chest and spoke boldly.

The three teased and bickered, sending me subtle glances.

Perhaps this is the most ideal future I could wish for.

With no fear of the Heavenly Demon, ruling the Central Plains through the Tang Clan after the fall of the Imperial Family, and spending joyful days with women who only have eyes for me.

That alone would bring happiness, but if a child were to be born, a new kind of happiness would await.

A life where I stand alongside those I love, dreaming the same future—how beautiful would that be?

How precious would a family be to someone who never had one?

As the three women stared at me, as if waiting for my every move, I gave a faint smile.

“I have something to say.”

“What is it? If it’s you, Sword Demon, I’ll always listen.”

“You’re not about to ask something weird, are you? A little is okay, but…”

“You might not like hearing this, Blood Wolf, but I consider this moment a happiness too overwhelming to bear. Say anything you like. No matter how strange, it’s fine.”

Each of them spoke with a smile resembling moonlight that had soaked into my heart, with voices filled with pride, affection, and kindness.

I slowly looked at each of their faces, committing them to memory.

After much deliberation, I finally had an answer to the question Blood Demon posed to me.

A world where all desires are fulfilled is a world where only my desires exist.

In this world, I am the only one who exists.

Thanks to Seol Lihyang, I learned I could love someone.

Thanks to Seorin, I realized I could become a better person.

And when I came to hold Tang Sowol in my heart, I finally wished for happiness.

So how much value could a world hold if I were the only one in it?

“I do not like this empty dream.”

It is fleeting but beautiful.

And yet, it is a dream that must never come true.

A dream that is different from reality…

A dream that must be different.

Therefore, it is a Reverse Dream.

Waking from the dream is simple.

You must deny everything within the dream.

Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle—

The bells of the Demon Bell rang loudly, echoing across the heavens and earth, as if trying to stop what I was about to do.

But I had already decided to open my eyes.

Srrng—

Amidst the countless bells, a discordant metallic sound rang out.

The sound of a sword being drawn from its scabbard.

“I’m sorry, but please die for my sake.”

My vision burst into flame. The familiar scent of smoke and blood stung my nose and cleared my mind.

Yes.

This is the kind of life I’ve always lived.

The Demon Bell’s paradise was overwritten by my hell.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep