Chapter 37

Hunting Contest (5)

Roelin’s eyes instantly opened wide while the blush slowly spread across her cheeks. She could feel his solid figure that brushed against her back. In addition, his warm body temperature that engulfed the back of her hand was conveyed ever so vividly.

She had no choice but to get embarrassed since she was really unaccustomed to physical contact with others.

“Come to think of it, then…”

Roelin instantly recalled the time during the companion ceremony before having the feeling that her face was already burning. That was what Kergel heard when he saw her foot had gotten injured by her own shoes on his way back from the ceremony.

She shrank while hiding her red face. Then, Kergel uttered to Roelin’s ear as if he was reprimanding her.

“You have to look at the end of the arrow, Empress—no…”

Kergel hesitated as he blurred off the end of his speech. Suddenly, her petite round ear caught his eye. Somehow, his heart was tingling when he saw that not only her face, but even her ears had turned red as well.

He suddenly wanted to get a little bit closer to this woman. No, should he say that he would like this woman to treat him even more comfortably than now?

“Erita.”

He had always been faithful to his heart. So, once again this time, as his heart had wished, she called her name out loud before smiling satisfyingly.

“……!”

However, unlike himself, Roelin quickly returned to her senses as if she had been drenched in cold water. Nevertheless, Kergel, who had been situated behind her, merely prepared the bow without being aware of her change at all.

At the last minute, Roelin’s fingertips that had been pulling the bow alongside Kergel slowly tembled. Piercing right through the wind, the arrow had flown to another place—not the original target planned.

“Ha! This is it. One…”

She immediately heard that Kergel was laughing in vain as if he was astonished himself. Roelin bowed her head while hiding her face for a while and after trying to refine her expression, she eventually raised her head. Then, she threw her gaze in the direction that Kergel was looking at before she was surprised and began to exclaim with only a single word in response.

“Oops!”

She could barely hold back the energy of her legs as they were before putting some strength on the legs as she proceeded to walk towards the arrow that had flown away. Roelin could then feel that Kergel was following behind her, but she couldn’t just afford to care at that moment.

“What should I do…”

Roelin’s blue eyes were immediately filled with tears. She kneeled down in front of the rabbit that had fallen right after being struck by an arrow. It was an act that seemed to have not even an ounce of awareness towards her dress which was getting dirty in the grass.

It was due to the fact that her whole body was already trembling as her mind went blank while thinking that her own arrow had hit a small life.

“It’s a shame that it had shot the wrong thing after saying that I was the one teaching you. By the way… I guess he didn’t die even after getting hit by an arrow on his back leg.”

At that moment, Kergel, who had approached from behind her, reached over her shoulder and picked up the rabbit.

When Kergel’s hand had brushed against the gray-haired rabbit, the rabbit moved its hind leg on the side which did not get hit by the arrow. It was a gesture just like it was ready to kick anyone who would touch him. Kergel smiled before he opened his mouth.

“If you are daring enough to kick the Emperor inside the Imperial Palace itself, then you are really bold. After all, even after being hit by an arrow, he bravely pronounced something like ‘I’m going to kick you’.”

“Woo—is it not going to die?”

Roelin hurriedly stood up and looked back at Kergel before asking a question. Then, Kergel simply looked at the rabbit’s condition and eventually nodded.

“I don’t think the bones are damaged and I think it will be able to run around once again if it gets some treatment.”

“Then, let us get some treatment first!”

“What?”

“The rabbit. I need to get it treated first.”

Roelin had spoken out in the presence of Kergel himself while strongly arguing. This current situation that was right in front of him had made him no longer find her appearance of that being intimidated at all.

“…Right. Then, that will be all for today’s training.”

Kergel looked at her with rather sore eyes before giving a nod as he replied.

***

The rabbit was safe and sound. It was because the veterinarian who had been managing the Emperor’s horse came over to treat it in a hurry and on top of that, the wound that was suffered by the rabbit itself had been rather light in the first place as well.

“…Cute.”

Roelin sat on the sofa and began staring at the rabbit that was hopping onto her own bed.

The rabbit ate, slept and played so actively that she even wondered if it was really injured at all. It had been the Empress of the Seroif Empire and it was right on top of her bed.

For this very reason, Lucy and Silloa—as well as all the other servants of the Empress’ Palace—regarded the rabbit as Roelin’s pet.

“They said that it would already be okay for it to go back to the wild now, right?”

At that moment, Roelin stopped looking at the rabbit as she turned her eyes and asked Silloa. Silloa answered Roelin’s question while still decorating the name tag that was on the rabbit’s neck.

“Yes, Empress. They said that it has already recovered to the point where he could live bravely anywhere he is put and goes. To commemorate that, we have prepared a name tag for the rabbit. What do you think?”