Chapter 80
Time passed tediously at the hunting base. Having grown accustomed to the cold and with her body sufficiently warmed, Chanellica soon mounted her horse and left the base.
The day Chanellica first began horseback riding, Eleusis had been terribly upset to see her return with a large wound on her leg while he was away. Since her body had not yet fully healed, he had taken extra care of her during the ten days leading up to the hunting competition. Chanellica, however, continued to practice riding whenever she had the chance.
Eleusis told her even today to reconsider coming to the hunting competition, but Chanellica persisted. So he repeatedly warned her that even if she left the hunting base, she must stay close by and move only in safe areas.
Perhaps his heartfelt concern had reached the attendants as well. They kept giving her looks, wishing she would stay quietly inside the base.
But she couldn’t. She had practiced horseback riding diligently for ten days and climbed halfway up the mountain—it would be unbearable to simply sit idly in boredom.
Truthfully, Chanellica was curious. She had occasionally seen animals or monsters hunting for survival back on Speecher Island, but she had never seen humans hunt. She’d heard they used tools. She wanted to see how they wielded them.
Though Eleusis had first suggested bringing her here, ultimately it was her own curiosity that landed her at the hunting competition.
But satisfying that curiosity was far less pleasant than she had imagined.
“You’re already back?”
“Mhm.”
Chanellica returned to the hunting base in less than an hour. Unlike when she left, her face was ghostly pale.
The attendants made a fuss, asking what had happened, but Chanellica brushed them all off and entered the tent alone, saying she wanted to be by herself.
Hunting… I oversimplified it.
Chanellica, accompanied by two escort knights, had not travelled far. She’d heard that larger and more dangerous animals often appeared farther from the base.
She hadn’t needed to go far to see people hunting. It was at a spot not too distant from the base, where mostly young noblemen or inexperienced hunters were gathered.
She had watched them hunt. People fired arrows, threw spears, and even flung small throwing knives. Their targets were mostly small animals: birds, rabbits, fawns. Their success rate seemed to be about half.
As Chanellica carefully observed how they used their tools, she felt her stomach turning. Trying to endure the discomfort, she spoke to Wills behind her.
‘Sir Wills.’
‘Yes, Lady Chanel?’
‘Isn’t hunting something humans do to obtain what is necessary for survival?’
Wills replied.
‘That’s correct.’
‘Then are those rabbits and young animals they catch truly necessary to humans?’
‘Hmm. In their own way, I suppose. This hunt is both practice for larger game and a display of skill among them.’
‘So they don’t actually use the fur or meat?’
‘No, they don’t.’
‘Then what happens to the animals they catch?’
‘Usually, they record the rankings of the competition, then discard them all together.’
At that, Chanellica fell silent. After that, she could no longer bear to watch, and returned to the hunting base.
Inside the warm tent, Chanellica sat in a soft chair, closed her eyes, and thought.
Not just for practice or showing off. It’s entertainment.
Just as dragons visit the human world for amusement, hunting was nothing more than a pastime for humans. Long removed from its original purpose—obtaining fur and meat, or eliminating beasts harmful to humans.
Why do they do such things?
She felt foolish for naively following along to the hunting competition without thinking.
When God gave life, even weeds had meaning. And yet they trample it so carelessly?
Unknowingly, she grew angry. Most non-human creatures do not live like this. Even when they kill, it is out of necessity.
This was excessive. It would be better to be eaten by a carnivore than to die as a momentary amusement in human hands.
Sigh… I want to go back soon.
She didn’t think she could wait for Eleusis to return and for the competition to end. The entire mountain of Syrette, where the hunt was taking place, now felt horrifying.
“Did something happen to Lady Chanel?”
Seeing Chanellica’s sudden grim demeanor, the attendants restlessly asked the two escort knights.
“No, nothing happened.”
Wills answered after thinking for a moment. Derwin remained silent as always.
“As expected of a delicate lady… perhaps she found hunting too cruel.”
“Hmm, maybe so.”
Though the attendant’s words made sense, Wills tilted his head. From their earlier conversation, it hadn’t felt quite like that.
“What do you think, Sir Derwin? She’s your fiancée after all—you must know something.”
The attendants flinched at Wills’s careless remark. Ever since he had provoked Derwin once before, Wills had refrained from mentioning Chanellica in front of him.
But as time passed, the suffocating terror he had once felt now seemed like a faint dream. Perhaps that was why he didn’t care so much today. It wasn’t as if he was trying to provoke him maliciously. And besides, there were many eyes watching now.
However, from that thoughtless question, Wills caught something unexpected. A fleeting emotion crossed Derwin’s face.
What was that? Longing?
It was only for a split second, hard to catch from his expression alone. But Wills noticed because Derwin’s entire atmosphere shifted. He couldn’t explain it, but for that moment, Derwin seemed like a completely different being—full of deep emotion.
“……”
Wills stared at him in wonder. It was like watching something overflowing being forcefully stuffed into a bag and tied shut, only for the string to loosen briefly.
But it was gone in an instant. Derwin returned to his usual self, and Wills was left speechless.
What a strange man. How can someone’s whole aura change so suddenly, both before and now?
While Wills pondered this with a serious face, two officials overseeing the hunting competition approached.
“Duke Kartel.”
They stopped directly in front of Derwin.
“Lady Chanel said she won’t be leaving again. While she rests, you should participate, even briefly.”
“Huh? What—”
Wills reacted in place of the silent Derwin, but stopped mid-sentence. He understood why they had come to him.
He had forgotten Derwin’s other position in their shared duty as escorts.
Derwin was an honorary duke. Though only in title, those with noble rank were required to take part in the hunting competition—even if they sent subordinates in their place.
“As the only representative of House Kartel today, Your Grace must participate at least formally.”
“Seriously, Sir Derwin, you didn’t even send subordinates ahead? What kind of noble are you?”
Wills clicked his tongue. Derwin, as a noble, had to at least catch a small animal to maintain honor. Yet he refused to move, so Wills shoved him forward.
“Lady Chanel will be fine with us. Just hurry and get it over with. It’s a matter of noble dignity at this point. There were plenty of rabbits over there earlier.”
Wills lazily dug at his ear, then tapped Derwin’s shoulder. Derwin glanced back nonchalantly and surveyed the area.
“I’ll be back soon.”
A short yet weighty statement—one he hadn’t uttered in a while. Within it, Wills could feel an intense pressure, as if warning him to guard Chanellica well. It made him wince.
He didn’t even say anything, so why did it feel like something carved into his bones?
Wills shook his head.
“Your Majesty. We must return now.”
The escort knight Glyn spoke anxiously to Eleusis, the king.
They had been combing deep inside the mountains since dawn. Who knew how much time had passed? It would take quite some time to return to the base, so they should’ve departed an hour ago.
“Just a little longer.”
But Eleusis kept repeating the same words, oblivious to his knights’ concerns. He barely ate the meal they had prepared, focused entirely on searching for prey.
“That’s enough.”
Unable to bear it, Glyn stepped in front of Eleusis, blocking his path. Blocking the king’s way was unthinkable—but Glyn steeled himself. This was the territory of wild beasts. If they stayed, the sun would soon set, and no one knew what dangers awaited in the dark.
“Step aside.”
“It’s only an old tradition. You don’t need to catch the Blue Bear to propose.”
The mystical Blue Bear that lived in Mount Syrette. It was said that if a man caught one and proposed with its pelt, the couple would live long and happily together.
It was a tradition from the days before the Kemten Kingdom was founded, passed down through the royal bloodline.
But not all royals had followed it. Everyone knew that marriage wouldn’t be unhappy without it. Still, those who upheld it did so in hopes their prayers would reach the gods more clearly.
“I know. But Lady Chanel may wish for it.”
“Pardon?”
“My mother once told me she would have liked to receive a Blue Bear pelt from my father.”
It was just before she died.
A pained memory surfaced, and Eleusis closed his eyes tightly before opening them again.
“Your Majesty. The late queen consort was happy.”
“I know.”
It wasn’t something he had to achieve. His mother had said afterward that she was happy even without the pelt. It had merely been a trivial joke she shared with her son at the end of her short life.
Yet Eleusis hated that his mother had even thought of something like a Blue Bear pelt before her death. Because it meant that somewhere inside, even a speck of regret remained.
“I just thought it would be better to have it than not.”
His words were full of longing. Eventually, he pulled on his reins and turned around. With Glyn blocking him so firmly, he couldn’t force his way in. Eleusis was a king who knew restraint.
“Wasn’t there a sighting of a Blue Bear on Mount Syrette just recently?”
“Yes. But it seems today wasn’t our day. Perhaps upon hearing of the hunting competition, they all dug into the ground to hide.”
Despite being a lame joke, Eleusis chuckled.
“Then shouldn’t you, as my escort, be digging too, Glyn?”
“…If you order it, I gladly will. But please return first. I’ll dig hard alone and make that hole my grave.”
Eleusis laughed at the grumbling of his longtime friend and turned his horse back toward the hunting base. Though disappointed he couldn’t catch the Blue Bear, he consoled himself knowing he had done his best.
But that was the last time he could still smile.
