“Vincent?”

Delina, who saw Vincent coming out of the bushes, lowered her gun.

“What are you doing there?”

“Setting traps.”

“Ah.”

“Once caught, even if you die, you won’t be able to escape.”

Delina vowed never to go near that area. However, the bushes shook again, and Estelle revealed herself.

“Oh, Delina?”

As if they had set traps together, Estelle was covered in leaves all over her body. Behind her, the knights of the Marquisate were diligently finishing the traps.

“Can you see everything from here? Are you here to hunt too?”

“I was thinking about it, but… seeing that you set traps, I think I’d better go somewhere else.”

“Probably. Actually, here, Vincent and I are going to experiment with our joint creation.”

“Joint creation?”

“Yeah. There are several, but let me show you one… Ta-da!”

Estelle pulled out a gun. Its appearance was ordinary.

“…Just a gun?”

“Yeah, but what it shoots is different. Look closely, for example…”

Estelle, who seemed to want to show an example, looked around. At that moment, a bird sitting on a tree branch caught her eye.

“Watch closely. I’ll shoot over there.”

At Estelle’s words, Delina also looked at the bird with an interested face.

“Now, if I shoot like this…! Huh?”

As Estelle, who adjusted her posture and pulled the trigger, the gun didn’t work. Then Estelle pulled the gun tightly and started to examine it.

“What’s this? Did one of the parts go wrong?”

“What was it supposed to shoot originally?”

“A sleep dart. It spreads like powder the moment it hits, making them fall asleep… Ah!”

As if finding the cause of the misfire, Estelle, who had been continuously rattling the gun, slammed the gun down with her hand. Then, a sleep dart was fired from the barrel and directly hit Estelle’s body.

“Marquis!”

Delina exclaimed in surprise, and the powder spreading like smoke adhered to Estelle’s whole body. Then, Estelle, with a somewhat amusing smile, raised the corners of her mouth.

“Wow, this effect is really… ”

Before she could finish her last sentence, Estelle fell to the ground. Then, knights rushed to Estelle’s side.

“She’s asleep.”

“… ”

Estelle, who shot herself with a sleep dart and fell asleep, was not harmed. Delina, who stood there not knowing what to do in the awkward situation, looked familiar to the others.

“Are you alright, Marquis?”

“There’s no harm to the body, she’s just sleeping.”

“… But we should move her to another place. It doesn’t seem right to leave her like this.”

Even without saying anything, the knights were carrying Estelle. Vincent, to check Estelle’s condition, approached, and at that moment, someone else appeared on the other side of Delina.

“… ”

“… ”

‘Why, of all people…’

As if he had heard the commotion, Damian was standing there. Vincent glared sharply at Damian, who seemed not to know what was going on.

“You too, come and see. We need to check on the Marquis.”
Staying like this, the situation seemed like it would become quite awkward, so Delina tried to send Vincent quickly. However, Vincent’s expression was already not good.

“Yeah? Hurry up.”

As the confrontation prolonged, it became more challenging for Delina. Eventually, Vincent muttered.

“It doesn’t matter since we’re nearby.”

“Yeah?”

“Then, I’ll go first.”

Still carrying the sleeping Estelle on the horse, Vincent followed behind. Then Vincent turned his head and spoke to Damian.

“If you’re going later, take that path over there.”

“… ”

“It’s safer.”

The place Vincent recommended was a path with various traps set up. Vincent, who kindly pointed the direction with his hand, soon disappeared with the knights.

“I guess in the Helium Empire, they use the word ‘safe’ differently.”

“Of course not. Anyway, don’t go that way. If you get caught once, it could be a real problem.”

After Vincent disappeared, Damian naturally approached Delina. Damian had a knife tucked into his waist, indicating he might be thinking of hunting.

“What about the other knights?”

“They didn’t want to be together, so I said I would hunt alone.”

Since the other knights would likely be Decar’s people, Damian might feel awkward in this situation.

“I said I would catch a deer and come back.”

“…Are you really going to catch it and present it to me? Like you said before?”

Just imagining it, Delina’s lips trembled in disgust.

“I said I would overlook it to some extent from the Crown Prince’s perspective, but could you please refrain from such lines? I’ll be grateful if you just give it to me without saying anything.”

“I’ve already thought of the lines.”

“Keep those lines in your heart. Oh, you said you were going to catch a deer? Or should I catch it and just say the Crown Prince gave it to me? That might be better.”

“You’re going to catch it? A deer?”

“If you can’t believe it, should I show you?”

With a suspicious look from Damian, Delina drew a dagger and threw it at a wooden pillar nearby. The dagger pierced through the falling leaves, flew through the air, and stuck into the wooden pillar.

“… ”

“How’s that? Is this enough?”

“Yeah.”