~Chapter 117~
Ruan did not hide his discomfort.
“It’s shocking.”
“We’re also trying to understand the situation right now.”
Johannes let out a sigh.
“Those who went to the hunting grounds will join us soon. I’m sorry, but we should retreat for now.”
Johannes looked at Delphina.
Even in this sudden situation, Delphina did not look flustered. Instead, she asked Johannes,
“Your Highness, are you okay now? You ate the food I gave you, right?”
Johannes tilted his head in confusion.
“I’m fine, Delphina. I didn’t meet the mountain lord, so I’m not hurt.”
“Not that. I mean the food. I served your portion myself instead of Walton.”
“Ah, yes, I ate it all. But we should hurry. Sparks could fly our way. Let’s move quickly.”
“Shouldn’t we take guards with us?”
“Most of the knights are dealing with the mountain lord right now. We don’t have time to wait for an escort.”
With that, Johannes began to lead Delphina and Prince Ruan away.
Delphina’s face hardened.
<Johannes>
$#$#!@*
Unreadable words were written above Johannes’s system window.
The system window is strange. Lord Frad can’t contact me right now. That means an object related to black magic is near me.
She knew this instinctively.
This was exactly the moment foretold by Sestia’s fortune slip. But Delphina didn’t stop running. She had been waiting for this situation from the start.
I feel sorry for Prince Ruan.
She had unintentionally dragged him into this. In fact, even before she drew the fortune, Delphina had guessed something like this would happen now.
You’d be a fool not to expect trouble during the hunting competition.
The god Frad had warned her with all his might.
And after that warning, for a while, Frad had not spoken to her. Even before coming here, she had called him several times, but he did not answer.
Delphina had experienced this before.
When Lord Frad drove out the foul force on the High Priest.
In short, when she faced a corrupt force, Lord Frad seemed unable to contact her for a time.
If that’s the case, then this strange system window…
Delphina followed Johannes with a tense face.
She had already noticed that he wasn’t in his right mind.
Normally, he’d be shamelessly flirting with me.
Johannes was acting far too normal.
Even while looking at Delphina, he only spoke plainly—very unlike Johannes.
He didn’t even compliment my clothes properly.
If Johannes were fine, he would surely use more colorful words to praise her.
They walked for some time. The nobles had vanished; no one else could be seen.
Johannes was heading deep into a place where no other nobles were.
Only the three of them were here. Ruan seemed to sense something was off and stopped walking.
“Prince Johannes, this is strange. Isn’t this place too deserted? Why did we flee in a different direction from everyone else?”
Delphina agreed with Ruan.
“Your Highness, where are we going?”
Delphina stopped walking.
Lord Frad.
Strangely, the system window still wouldn’t show.
“Prince Johannes! What are you doing?”
Sensing danger, Prince Ruan moved Delphina behind him. Johannes gave no answer and just stood there.
His unnatural posture put anxiety on Ruan’s face.
“Lady Delphina, go to where the nobles are.”
“Prince Ruan.”
“Quickly.”
And then, a familiar voice came.
“You won’t be able to get out of here.”
Ruan slowly turned his head.
“Prince Piaje? What do you mean by that?”
“Our people have surrounded this place. No one can come or go.”
Piaje’s face was expressionless.
“Should I take that to mean you intend to attack us now? And that this is His Majesty the Western Emperor’s will?”
Delphina felt a kind of admiration inside.
Piaje, you’re even crazier than I thought.
Attacking her was already insane. But planning to attack Ruan, the Eastern Empire’s prince, crossed a line.
“I don’t intend to attack.”
“Ha. If not, how am I supposed to understand your words?”
“The one who will attack isn’t me—it will be my brother, Johannes.”
“…What?”
“I came after seeing what my brother did and went to call for help. But sadly, by the time I returned, Lady Delphina and Prince Ruan were already dead.”
Piaje shamelessly continued, not stopping there.
“So this isn’t my fault, is it? It’s all my brother’s doing.”
Delphina frowned and questioned Piaje.
“Why would His Highness Johannes do such a thing?”
“If you’re curious, you can watch.”
Piaje looked at Johannes and said,
“Brother, kill Delphina and Prince Ruan.”
Without hesitation, Johannes drew the sword at his waist.
As soon as Elcayan heard that the mountain lord had appeared, he moved quickly.
“Elcayan, there’s a tiger over there.”
“It seems to be the mountain lord.”
“Its eyes are gone. It’s not right.”
“Sir Calix, please handle it.”
Calix nodded with confidence.
“How did you know I beat a tiger barehanded when I was young?”
“Don’t beat it. You must subdue it.”
“Huh? Subduing is harder.”
“It’s for Delphina.”
At Elcayan’s words, Calix answered at once,
“That’s not hard at all.”
“I have somewhere I must go quickly. Sir Alfonso, and Duke Huat. Please come with me.”
Alfonso frowned as if annoyed.
“Sir Calix will subdue the mountain lord anyway, right? Where else are we going…?”
“Your Grace, I’m busy as well. I must take first place in this hunting competition…”
Elcayan had no time to persuade them at length. So he used a single sentence to convince Alfonso and Duke Huat.
“It’s Delphina’s request.”
“Let’s go now.”
“Who cares about first place.”
Elcayan remembered what Delphina had told him before coming to the hunting competition.
“Piaje will make a move at this hunting competition. This will be his last chance.”
Delphina never took the god Frad’s warnings lightly.
“Even if you go out to hunt, please don’t go far. I think Prince Piaje will pull some trick after stirring up trouble.”
“That seems likely. This hunting competition is being run by Sir Johannes.”
“He’ll want to ruin it no matter what. If it ends successfully and the Eastern Empire makes peace with us, it’s over for him. I’m sure Piaje will target me.”
Elcayan already knew that Delphina was an apostle of the god. So he didn’t ask how she knew these things.
But her next words made him hesitate.
“Pretend to go hunting and follow me. Gather as many people as you can.”
“Do you mean you’ll let him catch you on purpose?”
“I’ll make it as safe as possible. There’s nothing more certain than catching the evidence on the spot.”
“Delphina.”
“Elcayan, we have to catch the moment Piaje uses black magic.”
Delphina was certain Piaje would use black magic during the hunting competition.
“You’ll come to save me before it’s too late, right?”
Right now, Piaje was cornered. There was no place better than this hunting competition for him to use black magic.
And if that happened, they could expose everything the Empress and Piaje had done up to now—why their parents had died, and how many people they had driven into tragedy with black magic.
