A little later, the nobles ended their short break and gathered together to chat before going on a full-fledged hunting. Perhaps they were chatting about the woman, Lard’s partner, who won the the first Burgonu archery competition. Her win in the hunting competition could be recorded as the first and the last in the history of Benyahan Empire. They were curious about the identity of the mysterious woman since they appeared together at Jerus Hall. They had never seen her social circles, but they were more surprised by the fact that Lard appeared with her again. The nobles had never guessed that the woman they saw at Jerus Hall and the woman they saw today were the same and were surprised to learn of Lard’s secret love.
Wendy, meanwhile, drank water in the tent to quench her thirst. Feeling refreshed, she put the empty glass on the table.
She started to run into trouble this time.
As she turned around casually, she again bumped into Altarin.
As Altarin got close to Wendy with some underlying intention, Wendy had no choice but to see her again. Of course, that bad luck was not Wendy’s.
“Ahhhh!”
Altarin stumbled, losing her balance. As if her shoulder hit something hard enough to injure, she crouched and groaned for a while.
“Oh, are you okay? You should watch out.”
Wendy repeated Altarin’s words back to her, but Altarin raised her head and began to stare at Wendy sharply. Her eyes, wet with tears because of pain, were full of intense fury about her.
“Oh, my jacket is fine. Don’t worry, ” Wendy said, beating the dust off her jacket.
“By the way, it looks like you are very weak as you stumble from this kind of minor encounter. I would say you are sickly. I think you need stamina food for your health.”
“What, what the heck are you talking about?” Altarin shouted hysterically.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong as I meant well. Wouldn’t everyone point at you if a woman like you from a prominent family lost her dignity?”
Like she said, people began to pay attention to Altarin when she shouted. Conscious of their attention, Altarin consciously took a deep breath as if suppressing her anger.
“I found your archery skills impressive since you are a daughter of a prominent family. I think I learned something from you today. I’ll see you later. As the winner, let me say goodbye for now.” Wendy passed by her with a bright smile.
“Dang it!”
Stunned by Wendy’s sarcastic comment, she just shivered in anger, unable to retort. Sensing her struggle with her anger, Wendy basked in the dazzling sunshine outside the tent. Her footsteps, joyfully intoxicated by Altarin’s anger, were lighter than ever. She praised herself, satisfied with the fact that even though everyone’s attention was focused on her as the winner of the prince’s beloved violin bow, she did her best.
‘Neighing!’
She could see Balos at a distance. Finding her, Balros neighed loudly.
Wendy approached Lard as he tended Balos and stroked his brown fur gently.
Lard smiled at her then approached a smaller horse right next to Balos.
“This guy is your horse. Snowyko is his name. ”
Lard adjusted the white saddle on the white horse and introduced him to Wendy. Snowyko was much smaller than Balos, but Snowyko had lots of experience of running.
“He looks meek.”
She wanted to ride a big and powerful horse like Balos, but she approached Snowyko, hiding her feelings. When she noticed his white fur, she thought that Lard might have chosen it on purpose after taking into account a woman’s taste. Although Snowyko didn’t suit Wendy’s taste, Wendy reached out to the horse and greeted sweetly.
“Hope I’m in great hands, Snowyko!”
Wendy was so sorry for Snowyko as he looked straight at her that she swept Snowyko’s nape several times.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to say I don’t like you.”
As if he understood, Snowyko leaned its neck over her shoulder and warmed up to her.
Wendy grinned and called Snowyko once again.
Balos complained as he stood beside Snowyko, flipping his ears backward. It looked like Balos seemed jealous of Wendy getting close to Snowyko. Wendy grinned, looking at Balos’ muscular figure. The great muscles of Balos was highlighter by the dazzling sunshine.
“Captain! Miss Wendy!”
Jean approached them with Melissa. Opening a map of the Burgonu forest in his hand, he explained the hunting area he scouted.
“I think it’s good to hunt in the western area of the forest. Look at this map. I think the area from here onward seems good. As we are hunting with ladies, I don’t think it’s good to go too far. According to Sir Largoto, foxes often appear around here. Deer also appear here, too. So, I think this is the best hunting area. What do you think?”
“…Sounds like a plan, but there is one problem,” Lard said, checking the equipment hanging on Balos’s back.
“Really? Are there any other risks in the west? ”
“No… Why should I go and hunt there with you? That’s the problem. ”
“Haha! What a joke, captain! As you know, I have the duty of assisting you as the deputy captain of the 1st Knights Division? Besides, Wendy and Melissa are so close to each other. So, we’re a perfect team, aren’t we? ”
But Lard didn’t respond.
As if she was anxious, Melissa asked to accompany her, “Wendy, you’re going with me, right?”
Wendy glanced at Lard’s face and reluctantly opened her mouth, “Sure, let’s go together. Sir Schroder, don’t you think we are better off going with them?”
Of course, she said that because she knew it was much better to have them around than having to spend time with Lard awkwardly during the hunt.
When Wendy said that, Lard stopped checking the baggage and stared at her face. His solid gray eyes trembled for a moment. As his eyes seemed to reflect his broken heart, Wendy doubted her eyes.
“…If you agree, I have no objection.”
As Lard gave a green light, Jean folded the map finely with a hearty laugh, as if he already expected his boss’s response. Balos neighed roughly as if Jean’s loud laughter was annoying.
“Hey, calm down! You’re still treacherous, Balos! I’ve been seeing you for many years. How come you are so mean to me?”
Jean once again smiled at Balos and approached him. It was undoubtedly Jean’s mistake that he did not notice Balos narrowing his eyes sharply. The moment Jean tried to reach out to touch Balos’s neck, Balos bit his hand hard.
“Ahhh!”
Lard quickly struck Balos’ snout, Balos quickly released Jean’s hand. However, Balos was still snorting hard in his excitement.
Jean’s hand began to bleed. The wound wasn’t severe, but needed treatment.
“Sir Simuan, are you okay?” Melissa asked, her face turning white.
As Balos was so ferocious at the moment, she could not dare to approach him.
“Hey, damned bastard! How dare you bite my hand?”
Angry and frustrated, Jean showed his teeth to Balos, but Balos turned his head altogether and ignored Jean. As Lard dealt with Balos sternly, there were no other disturbances.
They left. Jean remained angry at Balos. Watching Balos biting him, Wendy recalled the fact that a horse showed disrespect for a man by biting.
Balos ignored Jean even though he was the deputy captain of the 1st Knights Division. It was a high rank, so she wondered how he Balos could disrespect him.
Nevertheless, she clicked her tongue a couple of times and could understand why Balos reacted harshly to Jean.
“As you showed affection for Snowyko, it seems Balos was very jealous. I’ve never seen him acting so roughly before,” said Lard, watching Jean wrapping his hand with a bandage.
“I think that’s why you told me Balos could be ferocious. Of course, I like him for it.”
Lard chuckled at her comment.
They were going back to the place where the horses were tied when they saw a man rushing about near Balos and Snowyko.
‘What’s up?’
Tilting her head to the side, she looked around, but the man was hanging around for a while near the horses next to Balos and Snowyko then quickly disappeared.
‘Was he from the imperial family?’
That was her most reasonable guess, inferring from his pacing up and down near the horses as if to check their condition. Though he was a bit suspicious, there was nothing unusual, given the ferocious temper of Balos because he was sent there to take measures to prevent any possible accidents.
But Balos kept neighing, stamping his feet wildly after the strange man came and disappeared. Wendy urgently approached to calm him down.
“Balos, calm down.” Wendy grabbed the horse’s reins, shouting ‘Whoa, whoa!”
Walking toward her, Lard fixed his gray eyes for a while on the back of the strange man who disappeared. He felt suspicious of the stranger.
“…Sir Schroder? You were done checking the equipment a little while ago, right?” Wendy nervously asked.