CH 33

*******

The gentle ripples of Lake Nice mirrored the clear sky. The clean scent of grass wafted from the wind blowing from the surrounding dense forest.

After riding a horse for a day and a half, her whole body creaked. Canaren leaped off her horse and walked towards the shore of the lake.

Yulif followed her after seeing Deltinus chatting with his new servant.

Canaren looked around the lake and its surroundings, silently.

Occasionally, when the wind blew strongly, the surface of the lake shook and the sky turned bluer. Then the rippling waves reflecting the sunlight caught her eye.

Lake Nice was several dozen times wider and deeper than the lake near her hometown, but it reminded her of a nostalgic landscape. A small lake, the sound of wind and flowing water. And the sound of singing along with it.

A loneliness crept across Canaren’s face. The scenery similar to her hometown did not appease her longing, but evoked a heavier loneliness.

She sat on the shore of the lake with her shoulders drooping. Reaching out, she touched the soft surface. The water against her fingertips was colder than expected.

“It must have been difficult, but you persevered.”

At first glance, there was a worry he could not hide in his voice.

Instead of seeing Yulif approaching silently, Canaren looked at the Yulif reflected in the lake. A gust of wind blew and scattered his figure on the water. It didn’t matter because she didn’t want to see him anyway. Canaren brought her knees up and hugged them.

「I didn’t do it because I wanted to.」

“You may have muscle pain later, so please rest well.”

「It’s okay to feel unwell. If it is something that I can endure and get better from.」

Yulif sat next to her at an appropriate distance. Canaren swished her head away from him. Her intention of not answering those difficult words while listening to everything was cowardly and disrespectful.

In fact, neither he nor she had any intention of conceding to each other, so the conversation that went around like a treadmill was just boring.

‘I want to go home. I want to be free.’

Canaren buried her face between her knees.

Beautiful scenery, delicious food, gorgeous jewelry and dresses…… In the eyes of others, she was given great things, but she was not at all happy. She was so terrified that she would never return to her hometown for the rest of her life and she would be held in the hands of Deltinus or Yulif.

“Don’t leave my side until the hunt is over.”

「Tell me the reason. Why won’t you let me back. I think I’m going to go crazy because it’s frustrating like this.」

“Even if I tell you, you won’t understand.”

「You have to try to know whether you can do it or not, don’t you? Why do you decide on your own? Why are you always like that?」

“If you knew the reason, would you be willing to accept it?”

She was momentarily speechless. For what reason should she listen to understand this suffocating obsession?

To be honest, she wasn’t confident that she would take it as he said it, no matter what reason she was told.

Yulif’s obsession was not due to affectionate feelings such as love. Because he loves someone else.

Even if it was love, it was a problem. She didn’t love him as she didn’t know much about love, but at least she knows that this kind of one-sided obsession was not right.

Just in case, if Yulif really loves her. He would never be able to win her love for the rest of his life.

How could anyone love someone who only caused suffering?

Rather, it was easier to understand the emperor. At least, it was because the emotions he was showing were clear. Canaren was sure what he wanted from her. But it wasn’t the case for Yulif.

When Canaren couldn’t answer, Yuliff turned his head to her. Eyes deeper than the darkness of the night contained her.

“The reason doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you are by my side.”

「……It’s terrible. You and your brother. No, maybe you are more.」

“It might be.”

Yulif readily affirmed. Canaren lost all her strength at the sound of his calm voice. No matter how hard she tried, it was impossible to shake him.

“Duke Rubius, I’m sorry for taking a break. His Majesty has ordered you to attend the hunting that will begin soon…”

One of the servants brought by Deltinus approached cautiously.

“I’m not feeling well, so I’ll skip the morning, please tell him I’m sorry.”

“Um….”

Yulif glanced at the hesitant servant. His eyes weren’t full of madness like Deltinus, but it had a cool glint that felt more overwhelming than that.

Pressed by an invisible force, the servant hurriedly bowed and greeted.

“Oh, no! I will tell His Majesty!”

“…Ha.”

Canaren did not miss Yulif’s brief sigh. His concern over her was overshadowed by his complexion. Upon closer inspection, there was cold sweat on his forehead. He didn’t seem to be using ‘I’m not feeling well’ as a simple excuse.

Was he sick? Shouldn’t he call a doctor? Canaren, whose mind reflexively poured out worried questions, bit her lips.

‘Who the hell cares about whom?’

Her resentment and frustration, the sense of debt that came from receiving help from him several times, and the self-blame for not being able to just hate him were mixed randomly inside her.

‘I wish he wasn’t friendly.’

Even now, he refused to leave for fear that Deltinus would do something, and he dared to remain by her side.

In this way he would protect her from the emperor throughout the hunt.

Canaren’s eyes grazed the prickly grass with a confused heart.

*******

“It’s a hit!”

“You seem to have gotten better at hunting, Your Majesty.”

“It’s amazing that you did it with just two arrows.”

“It’s my only hobby, so it’s natural for my skills to improve.”

The joy and excitement that could not be hidden in the voice of Deltinus, who was shivering with humility for some reason.

In the distance from the grass, soldiers brought the animal that had been hit by an arrow. It was a stag with white and beautiful horns. It had been shot with arrows in its neck and stomach, but had not yet stopped breathing.

The stag was laid on its side and Deltinus approached it, who was panting wildly. Then he drew his sword and smashed the stag’s neck without any hesitation. Red blood gushed out like a fountain.

“It’s a big guy, so there’s a lot to eat. Clean the horns and set them aside. They’re not to be stained.”

“Yes!”

Knights rushed in and cut off the horns. The smell of blood spread all over the place. The smell of blood carried by the wind reached Canaren far away. Canaren covered her mouth with one of her hands.

Deltinus was smiling widely, seemingly in a good mood, even after the blood was smeared. His face – with crescent-shaped eyes, the corners of his lips raised upwards, and the drops of blood splattered across – was like the devil itself.

Canaren’s eyes widened and her future suddenly overlapped with the dead stag. A scene where her two pairs of wings were torn off and she fell to the floor and died.

She was just a prey for the Deltinus, just like the stag. The difference was that she was more playable and gave funnier responses.

She didn’t want to die. It was tragic just imagining herself being treated carelessly like a toy that could be thrown away, and being harassed at will. If she lived like that, she might become envious of the stag who lost his life with a single strike of the sword.

Canaren wrapped her arms around her trembling self. Something hard touched her arm.

It was Yulif’s pocket watch.

It wouldn’t be dangerous if she stayed by Yulif’s side. Though he would lock her in his arms and wouldn’t let her go, he didn’t beat her or forcefully take her. There was a time when she mistakenly thought that he was kind and friendly.

But the reality was grim.

After all, the two were brothers by blood. Yulif was as tenacious as Deltinus. There was some wonder if he would turn into a Deltinus at any time.

‘You can’t depend on Yulif. The only difference is who locks me in.’

The sense of crisis, fear, and anxiety that soared after witnessing the stag hunt fueled her instinct to survive.

Canaren looked around.

Yulif was talking to a subordinate from his territory, so he wasn’t fully paying attention to her. There was a serious expression on his hardened face.

Deltinus was aiming his bow at the bushes as if he had sighted a new prey.

It was late afternoon, when the sun was slowly starting to set. In the forest surrounding the lake, when darkness falls, one’s field of view would become significantly narrower, so a person with bright night vision would have an advantage.

She slowly got up.

“It’s a hit, it’s a hit!”

“This time it’s a very big one!”

“You’ll have to shoot more arrows to be sure to subdue it.”

“No. If I catch it only with a bow, the fun is reduced. Shall we go hunting after a long time? Release the dogs.”

With a loud cry, three hounds scattered in different directions. Deltinus and the nobles followed them on horseback and disappeared into the forest one by one.

It seemed like it would be better to move now when the surroundings were noisy.

Canaren held her breath and lowered her posture. She looked at Yulif’s back.

‘Please, forget me. That’s what helps me.’

She took out the pocket watch and set it down on the ground.

Her figure quickly moved away and was swallowed up by the forest on the opposite side of which Deltinus had disappeared.