“Your Majesty? Why are you suddenly covering your eyes?”

When Shallen began kissing Rose, Parnes, who had first spotted them, instinctively covered Kasalyn’s eyes with his palm.

Bewildered, Kasalyn merely blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering rapidly against his palm.

“Your Majesty…?”

Parnes slowly pulled the reins, turning the horse’s head to the opposite direction. Just when Shallen and Rose, seemingly about to cause a scene in the middle of the forest, became barely visible.

Parnes slowly removed his hand from Kasalyn’s face. She looked up in confusion, and Parnes explained as if making an excuse.

“There were deer carcasses.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Two of them. Quite horrific.”

It’s a good thing you didn’t see them.

Parnes muttered meaningfully.

Still half-leaning on his upper body while riding the horse, Kasalyn fidgeted timidly with her fingertips.

“Did you cover my eyes because you thought I’d be scared?”

“It’s just that if you vomit on our Black Gryphon’s mane, it would be troublesome.”

Of course.

Kasalyn frowned silently. As if understanding its master’s words, the Black Gryphon shuddered as if creeped out.

“You really treasure this Black Gryphon, calling it ‘our’.”

“I watched it being born. We’ve been together a long time.”

“Maybe you should cherish Duke Ludwick, who tirelessly works day and night for you, in the same way.”

Parnes’s eyebrows twitched.

“Why are you bringing up Ludwick all of a sudden? Did you become close with him?”

“Your Majesty, how can you refer to an elder who looks well over seventy as ‘that guy’? Even if he’s an advisor, you should respect your elders.”

“Ludwick isn’t even sixty yet. You make him sound ancient.”

“…”

Sorry, Duke Ludwick.

Kasalyn silently apologized in her heart and closed her mouth.

“By the way, why aren’t you hunting, Your Majesty? You’ve been leisurely strolling since a while ago…”

“You might be startled.”

“Pardon?”

“Hunting isn’t as clean and elegant as depicted in novels. Blood splatters everywhere, and skins are gruesomely torn. Could you handle seeing that?”

Parnes’s unexpectedly frank words pierced deeply into Kasalyn’s heart, which was just calming down.

Despite his brusque and blunt tone mixed with disdain, it was undoubtedly a gesture of consideration.

“Thank you for your concern, but I’m not as faint-hearted as you think.”

“Is that so? Then that’s good.”

“Good?”

Having dismounted the horse, Parnes skillfully picked up a bow and focused on a point in the sky. A large hawk was circling above, its distinct cry echoing through the air.

“Are you going to hit that hawk?”

“Yes.”

“It seems too far away…”

Before Kasalyn could finish her sentence, the arrow swiftly launched from the smoothly drawn bowstring, hitting the target impressively. A small gasp of admiration escaped Kasalyn’s lips.

“You’re very skilled.”

“Take it.”

“Pardon?”

“Keep it. Boil it, roast it.”

Kasalyn’s gaze slid from the hawk falling into the bushes far away to his face.

“Isn’t giving away game from a hunting contest a special gesture?”

She expected a dismissive or typically blunt reply, but Parnes remained silent for quite some time.

His gaze, unknowable in its thoughts, persistently watched Kasalyn’s slightly flushed cheeks and her lips, poised like a budding flower.

“Your Majesty?”

“Is it wrong to have a special meaning?”
Kasalyn, dumbfounded, asked what he meant. Ignoring her question, Parnes averted his gaze and casually whistled, signaling something. Soon, the covertly following royal guards approached with their horses.

“It’s getting late. Kasalyn, you should head back to the lodge before it’s too dark.”

“And you, Your Majesty?”

Parnes, glancing into the depths of the forest where only someone with keen senses could detect the faintest movement, replied.

“I’m going to catch a nasty deer.”

Though the day was yet to darken, the once-blue sky was gradually tinted with red hues. After sending Kasalyn back to the lodge with the guards, Parnes, left alone in the eerie forest, strolled leisurely.

“It’d be interesting to know what others would say if they found out the king is following a maid’s trail.”

Stopping in a clearing marked with animal tracks, Parnes spoke to the empty air. Moments later, Shallen emerged from the dense underbrush, his hands stained with animal blood on his bow and arrow.

“You misunderstand. I was merely enjoying hunting in the forest.”

“Then you’d better return quietly. The area ahead is known for wild wolves.”

Unless you want to be torn apart.

As Parnes’s soft warning echoed eerily through the clearing, something large and ominous emerged from the shadows.

Shallen needed a moment to realize it was a real wolf, not an illusion or trick of the eye.

“Wait, there’s a wolf behind you!”

“That’s a companion I’ve known since my days as a crown prince. Quite intelligent. Hostile to ordinary humans, but obedient to me.”