Chapter 72
The Misunderstood Womanizer
“Being with the Marquis, what danger could there possibly be? Take me with you! I may not be much help, but I am, after all, the Marquis’ secretary, so I should go too!”
“But Hermes, this time our side has fewer participants, so I’ll be joining the hunts every day. Of course, you could stay at the barracks, but just in case…”
“Exactly! I should at least stay and guard the Marquis’ barracks!”
Himena, anxious, stepped closer to the desk and pleaded with Kailian.
“I’m not afraid of monsters anymore! I can easily protect myself! And besides, it’s my first monster-hunting tournament ever, and I really want to see it!”
“Hermes…”
He, too, disliked being apart from Himena for over ten days, but her safety had to come first, so he hesitated.
“Don’t you need me, Marquis? If you get tired from hunting monsters, I can massage you, be a human pillow at night, and if you can’t sleep, I’ll even count a hundred sheep for you…”
“Really? Can you keep that promise?”
“Huh?”
Kailian stood and approached Himena, asking,
“The promise you just made. Like yesterday… being a human pillow, counting sheep until I fall asleep. Can you really do that?”
Wow… cheeky. Doesn’t let that one slide, huh? Ugh, such a mischievous flirt. But I have to be by his side during this tournament, no matter what.
“…Y-Yes. Promise! Promise!”
Himena forced her finger through Kailian’s pinky and swore.
“What… does this mean?”
“Huh? Don’t you know? When you link pinkies like this, it becomes a solemn vow that both must keep. You really have to honor it. See? Once linked, you can’t back out.”
Himena smiled and shook the hand linked to his.
“I see… a solemn vow…”
Kailian looked into Himena’s eyes through their linked fingers and smiled gently.
“I promise too. No matter what, I’ll… protect my secretary.”
Himena momentarily lost her words at the earnest look in his eyes, then quickly regained her composure.
“Also… promise me one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“Promise me you’ll never become a black panther that eats frogs.”
“Heh! That… is difficult, but I’ll try my best.”
Kailian kissed her pinky and grinned playfully.
“Marquis, you haven’t forgotten, right? You now have a beautiful fiancée, and between us… there’s an invisible line! A line we must never cross!”
“Well… if it’s invisible, how can I tell if we’ve crossed it?”
“Wow… really! Does your fiancée know you act like this?”
“Act like what?”
“Well… even with a fiancée, you keep… behaving like a… flirt…”
“A flirt?”
Kailian furrowed his brow and suddenly stepped close to Himena.
“How unfair! What have I done to you? Being a human pillow, counting sheep… that was your idea first, wasn’t it?”
“You’re… approaching again. W-Well… yes, I suppose…”
“Tell me. Did I ever kiss you, ever make a move? When did I ever cheat on anyone?”
Backing away, Himena’s back hit the door as Kailian approached with a provocative expression.
“N-No… nothing like that…”
“I was just being kinder to a subordinate I care about. And you think that’s cheating? Hm?”
He pressed his hand to the door, trapping her in his arms.
“If this is how it’s going to be…”
“W-What do you mean?”
He leaned close and whispered softly,
“If I did something to get misunderstood, at least I wouldn’t feel so wronged…”
“L-Look at this! Doing this while saying that!”
Bang!
At that moment, Himena quickly turned the handle and burst out the door.
“Hermes!”
Smash!
“If you keep turning into a black panther like that, I’ll give you a spinning kick! Got it?”
Her footsteps retreated as she shouted from outside the door.
“Ha… I have only one woman I love, yet I get treated like a flirt from both sides. My life… really…”
Kailian leaned his forehead against the closed door and let out a weary sigh.
“Felix, the wolf hunt preparations are on track, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The evening before the monster-hunting tournament, Genos secretly summoned Crown Prince Felix to review the assassination plan for Kailian, known as the “Black Wolf Hunt.”
“We’ve prepared for failure, but success is necessary to reduce risks. If my planted assassins succeed in eliminating the wolf, I’ll send a signal, and you must act immediately.”
“Yes.”
“This operation will firmly establish your position as Crown Prince among the nobles. Then, when you inherit the throne, no one will dare challenge imperial authority.”
“Yes. I will remember, Your Majesty. I won’t disappoint you.”
As Felix left the office with firm determination, Genos stroked his beard, a smile with a hidden meaning forming on his lips.
“Olivia! Over here!”
“Sophia!”
On the day of the monster-hunting tournament opening ceremony in Kataraets, Sophia happily greeted Olivia, the maid of writer Andrea, whom she hadn’t seen in a while, and introduced Mari, who accompanied her.
“This is Mari, our Princess Silvester’s personal maid. She’s young, but very smart and reliable. Our mistress adores her.”
“Hello, Olivia. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Hello. Hoho. You’re so cute.”
“What have you bought so much of?”
Sophia peered into Olivia’s already heavy basket.
“Well, I bought some paper and books for our mistress, and the basket’s already full. I still need to get cookies and tea too.”
“What kind of books?”
Mari looked into the basket with curiosity.
“I don’t know. They’re novels. I can’t read, so I gave the bookstore owner the note with the titles that my mistress wrote. They found them for me. Something about obsessions, I think. Can you read?”
“No, I don’t know either.”
“I heard that after the baroness who was murdered wrote a successful novel, many similar novels came out. Apparently, they’re really interesting? Even older ladies and young girls seem to love them. If I had learned to read, I might’ve peeked at them too.”
“That’s true. Mari, you’re the youngest. Maybe you should learn to read and tell us the stories later.”
“Haha, maybe I’ll ask my mistress later.”
Mari looked embarrassed while glancing at the books in her basket.
“So, what should we buy now?”
“Cookies and tea. There’s a shop that sells the lemon cookies our mistress likes. She loves lying on the sofa eating cookies while reading novels. She eats one cookie at a time, sucks on her fingers, turns a page, and twirls her mustache—it’s hilarious.”
“Oh, hohoho. Just hearing that makes me imagine her funny expression.”
“Right? And her tone too! ‘Oh my! Olivia! Haven’t you bought the lemon cookies yet? I can’t read without them!’ Hahaha, it’s ridiculous!”
Olivia laughed, imitating Andrea’s voice with lots of snorts.
“Ehehe. So, sisters, are you going to buy cookies and tea now?”
“Yes, why? Aren’t you coming?”
“You go ahead. I’ll look at hats over there.”
“Okay. Then let’s meet back here in an hour.”
“Yes, fine.”
After parting from them, Mari quickly walked into the inner shopping area once she saw Sophia and Olivia leave.
“Seventeen years ago, monsters appeared on the Granelfis continent, attacking homes and killing countless people. I discovered the evil conspiracy of the Niger tribe, who worshipped the black dragon. If I hadn’t united the knights of the duchies to defeat the black dragon and annihilate the Niger tribe, this land would now be a barren wasteland. Even today, monsters remain the greatest threat to our people, but thanks to the brave knights who risk their lives gathered here, the peace and prosperity of the Kedem Empire will continue forever!”
“Long live His Majesty the Emperor!”
“Long live the Kedem Empire!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hundreds of armed knights, royal guards, curious commoners, and nobles crowded the opening ceremony site near Kataraets.
The crowd erupted in cheers as soon as the emperor’s speech ended, welcoming the grand start of the monster-hunting tournament.
Wow… lies so effortlessly. Blaming the Niger tribe to seize magic stones and massacring them, huh? History is always written by the victors. I wonder how Kail feels, enduring such nonsense all these years…
Himena glanced at Kailian’s stern, silent expression, feeling sympathy for him.
“Who will win this year’s monster-hunting tournament? Who will defeat the largest monster and claim glory? Ladies, before our brave knights depart, we will hold the Ribbon Presentation Ceremony to wish them luck and boost their morale!”
The jester on stage raised his arms theatrically and shouted as cheerful music played. Aristocratic ladies and young women rushed out eagerly.
They tied carefully-made ribbons on the left wrists of the knights they had chosen as potential winners.
While most knights aimed to use the tournament as a stepping stone to success, many noblemen participated to demonstrate their skill and valor.
Thus, ladies secretly bet on the likely winners, and marriageable young women carefully tied beautifully embroidered ribbons with their names on the arms of handsome noblemen and knights they fancied, blushing as they did so.
“Good luck, Marquis!”
“Be careful, Marquis.”
Some young women, noticing that Princess Silvester, Kailian’s fiancée, was not in the VIP seats, hesitated, then boldly approached Kailian to tie a ribbon on his arm with shy smiles.
