IDIBC Chapter 65

Summer Hunt (3)

“It’s dead. Ricardo. It’s already dead.”

Our chests pressed together were heaving violently. The bear collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

“It can’t attack us anymore. It’s okay.”

“No, you, you were……”

“I’m perfectly fine. Really. You protected me. Nothing happened. Nothing went wrong.”

I held him in my arms, patting him, endlessly repeating the words I had wanted to say every time I saw him in my dreams.

‘It’s okay now, Ricardo. It’s really okay now. No one can hurt us anymore.’

How much time had passed?

I could feel his tensed, angry muscles slowly beginning to relax.

I pulled up my sleeve and started wiping the blood from Ricardo’s face, but my hands were trembling so badly that I couldn’t do it properly.

The bloodstains were like wounds that wouldn’t fade no matter how hard I tried. Like sorrow that spreads the more you try to contain it.

While I wiped his cheeks, Ricardo simply watched me with calm eyes, saying nothing.

Suddenly I sensed people approaching from a distance, following the sound of the hunting dogs barking. Then he gathered me closer in his arms and fled away.

After walking for some time, I heard the sound of water trickling and splashing. After leaping across the shallow stream, he gently lifted me up and carefully set me down on a rock on the opposite side.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Having already regained his composure, he smiled at me softly and sat down by the stream to wash his face. He must have thought I was afraid of seeing blood. I too slowly approached and washed the blood from my hands and sleeves. When our eyes met, he smiled again. My heart responded first to even the smallest gesture.

“We’ll have to walk for quite a while. We came pretty far even on horseback.”

“Don’t worry. I’m confident when it comes to walking through the forest.”

I spoke cheerfully and stood up with effort. Ricardo even wet his hair in the stream water, fully revealing his forehead. Thanks to his black clothes not showing the blood stains much, he looked clean as if nothing had happened.

“Will the horse be okay?”

The horse that had been badly injured by the bear had fled the scene.

“It wasn’t a fatal wound, so it’ll be fine.”

Ricardo extended his hand and I naturally took it.

“But from now on, are you going to speak informally or formally to me?”

At his playful tone, my face flushed without thinking.

“I’ll, I’ll do as I please.”

Do as I please? While I found my own answer absurd, Ricardo pulled my hand and tucked it into his arm as if escorting me.

Then he tilted his head to look directly into my eyes. My heart dropped with a thud. With an expression that was somewhere between smiling and not, he answered mischievously.

“Everything is as you wish.”

Just tell me you like me already. That would make my heart flutter less.

His lips approached at a slightly different angle, seeming about to touch mine before pulling away.

After that, he and I walked without saying a word.

Sunlight flickered through the dense pine trees, appearing and disappearing repeatedly. It was the kind of weather that made me wish the forest path where we had to walk in silence could be longer.

****

When we returned to the entrance of the hunting grounds, it was well past lunchtime. The Emperor and the Second Prince were there, with many people gathered before them.

At the center was the giant bear, already dead. Thanks to Ricardo’s injured horse returning to the starting point, people seemed to already know who had hunted the bear.

When Ricardo appeared, the Emperor looked at him briefly before whispering something to the Second Prince sitting right beside him.

As I’d noticed before, the Emperor never spoke at length in front of people. He merely wore a thoroughly bored expression on his face, narrowed his long eyes, and surveyed his surroundings.

The Second Prince made an exaggerated gesture of welcoming Ricardo, spreading both arms wide.

“The real hunt doesn’t start until tomorrow, but you’ve already begun.”

While the Crown Prince was the spitting image of his father, the Second Prince looked nothing like the Emperor.

Instead of the deep golden hair that was the symbol of the imperial family, his was light brown, and his eyes were also pale brown. His face gave an overall vague impression, but with his tall stature and sturdy build, he didn’t seem like someone to be taken lightly.

He glanced at me briefly. His gaze was somehow chilling.

Ricardo ignored the Second Prince’s words and walked right past toward the family’s tent. Still firmly holding my hand.

I bowed my head slightly in respect and followed Ricardo awkwardly. He glared fiercely at Ricardo’s back and shouted loudly.

“His Majesty is bestowing horses. Your horse won’t be able to run anymore. Ah, and one for your fiancée as well.”

Ignoring even those parting words, Ricardo took off his jacket as soon as he entered the tent. In a continuous motion, he removed his shirt as well and took a new shirt from Freddy, who had somehow followed us into the tent.

I froze, unable to even look away from his suddenly bare form.

That’s a statue. That’s not a person, just a sculpture. I tried to deceive myself inwardly.

Fortunately, I seemed to have avoided acting too surprised or unsophisticated, but I couldn’t stop my face from turning bright red.

“What about you?”

“Pardon?”

He asked casually while buttoning up. He clearly knew I was flustered, yet acted as if nothing was amiss, which was quite annoying.

At least give some warning before taking off your clothes.

“Don’t you need to change? Freddy, go and……”

“Ah, I’m fine.”

There was a slight blood stain on my sleeve, but not enough to require sending someone to fetch new clothes.

“I’ll stay just a bit longer and then return to the mansion.”

As Ricardo walked to the back of the tent to get some liquor, Freddy drew close beside me.

“The Duchess requests to see you briefly.”

The way he spoke quietly while Ricardo was away clearly meant he wanted to keep it from him. I nodded to show I understood and acted quickly.

“N-now that I think about it, I should change my clothes after all. I’ll see you again later.”

Ah, lying isn’t for everyone. Even to my own ears, my voice sounded terribly awkward. If there were only people like me around, Rochester’s eye for discerning truth would be completely useless.

Before Ricardo could turn around, I hurriedly left the tent with stiff movements.

The Duchess was waiting for me in a slightly smaller tent set up right next to Ricardo’s.

“You’ve come, Lienne.”

Since the engagement ended, she had addressed me by name and treated me casually. It was so natural that I sometimes had the illusion that she had known me for a very long time.

“I greet the Duchess.”

Of course, I still found her quite intimidating and all my actions were unnatural.

“Come here and sit.”

“I should change my clothes first. I told the Young Duke I was coming out to change.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already prepared for you.”

The Duchess said she had already heard that Ricardo had hunted the bear. As the Duchess nodded slightly, Countess Corhena moved quickly.

The maids standing nearby quickly set up a makeshift changing area inside the tent.

I went inside and began undressing rapidly. Even though there was no way anyone could see from outside, I felt oddly cautious and rushed.

“Just endure a little longer and we can leave this wretched hunting ground. I really hate the hunting festival. Especially the summer hunt.”

‘Me too.’

I couldn’t voice my agreement, but a sigh escaped me involuntarily. I desperately wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible.

“Lienne……”

When the Duchess called my name softly, as if it were a signal, everyone in the tent went outside. Even the maid who had been helping me dress.

I easily realized she was about to tell me something important.

“I’ve decided to properly introduce you to people today.”

“Ah…….”

My hands stopped abruptly while buttoning my shirt. My fingertips trembled so much that I was grateful to be inside the changing area. The meaning of what she meant by “properly introduce” was clear.

Placing the Saintess and me on equal footing.

Last time, after asking my opinion, she hadn’t rushed me even once. The answer to that proposal had already been made that night—the moment Ricardo knelt before me to propose—but I still hadn’t conveyed anything definite to the Duchess.

Even after that, I had agonized endlessly. I changed my mind countless times inwardly. Alternating between his smile and his coldness.

“My family… will all board the ship.”

But when I reached the crossroads of choice again, the answer burst out so easily.

I would not leave him. Not before everything truly ended.

Not until the man who doesn’t push me away when I press close finally pushes me away completely.

I didn’t know exactly what plan the Duchess had laid out involving me, but I knew it was dangerous enough to risk my life over.

Wasn’t the very thought of rising to the same status as the Saintess blasphemous in itself?