Chapter 14 - Risky Gamble

Not dallying any further, Iris swiftly approached the horses. Taking on a white one, she sat on it and took hold of the reins. The people had started to move towards the forest gates. She quickly followed suit and stopped her horse beside the other ones, waiting for the signal flare. The palace Eunuch announced the mandatory rules and the battle ending time which was within 10 hours. Among the rules, something caught Iris's attention.

"No individual is allowed to enter Field 2 Sect 5!"

The vast forest was divided into 7 fields. Each field had 5 sects. Field 2 Sect 5 was in the west of the forest.

She frowned deeply. This field was the one with the most animals as well as the rare ones. This was the place she was planning on heading to from the start.

But unexpectedly, it was restricted?

Why?

Iris didn't have much time to think as the signal flare was shot up to the sky and the hunt was officially started. The horses gushed straight to the forest wildly, each trying to outrun the other. They were probably adhering to the rule of 'first come, first serve'.

Iris didn't dash straight inside. Instead she waited a little until most of the horses were out of view. This was to clear up the path and avoid aggressive attacks from others. Just as she was about to march inside with her horse too...

Whoosh!

A black horse sententiously made it's way up to her and madly gushed past her horse at lightning speed, abruptly disappearing into the western area of the woods!

Iris was a little stunned as she paused in her actions. Though the rider was extremely fast, she managed to catch a glimpse at his deep red eyes from the corner of her eye.

The seventh prince was also participating?

This was a rare occurrence!

And he went in late again, was it because of his mysophobia?

Snapping out of her thoughts, she lunged the reins and took off on her horse in the opposite direction of Azura, towards the east.

Entering a place that was restricted on the royal family's name was a risky gamble. But she was willing to take it. Competing without being sure of the result was not her style. Aria had participated numerous times in the Royal Hunting Expedition, so this area was her known territory. She was more familiar with the area while Iris knew very little. Blindly stepping forward to look for animals would not yield good results, much less a victory over Aria. So she had to get in to the restricted field.

She was aware that it would be guarded, but speeding past an unsuspecting party was something within the realm of her capabilities. As to why they were unsuspecting, most probably there would be no-one who would dare to go against the king's commands and enter a forbidden area just to hunt. Well, not many were as meticulous in planning like Iris anyway.

She sped up a little more and after confirming that there was no-one in the vicinity, made a sharp turn in the opposite direction and lunged towards the west. Her eyes never stopped moving around and her ears were perked up to detect any sort of movement or sound.

Moving forward for a long time, she entered the outskirts of Field 5. Confirming that her location was correct, Iris got down from the horse and took off the little bag she was wearing to take out some water for drinking. After doing that, she reached towards a big pebble on the ground and picked it up. Alighting again, she started the ride albeit this time, she was much slower.

Slowing pacing forward, she stopped when the figure of a man entered her field of vision. This was one of the guards guarding the area. He was lazily sprawled on the ground, not paying much attention to his surroundings.

As expected, he didn't expect any interference.

Too bad for him, an existence called Iris had entered the world 16 years ago.

This existence was fated to move past his guard in this lifetime.

Iris quietly aimed the pebble in her hand towards a tree away from the man and threw it hard. The pebble struck the tree and made a noise, prompting the man to divert his attention to the source of the noise. Not wasting a second, Iris immediately pulled out an arrow and shot it close to where the man was lying down. She positioned it at an angle where her actual location would not be revealed. It was angled slightly towards the left, giving one an illusion that it was shot from the left while Iris was at the right.

Mission Successful.