“I can disinfect, but it’s difficult to stitch in a moving carriage. I’ll stop the bleeding as much as I can, so don’t worry too much.”

Ines didn’t want him to focus on her wound anymore.

“How did you get there?”

Carson answered without taking his eyes off her wound.

“Louis told me.”

“Ah, then you must have heard.”

“Yes, I rushed there when I heard Her Grace was with a dangerous beast.”

“A dangerous beast?”

When Ines looked at Louis, the boy pushed himself deeper into his seat and whispered.

“A snake.”

“A snake? That dangerous beast was a snake… Louis?”

When Carson asked again, Louis shook his head as if he didn’t even want to think about it.

“Yes, a snake crawled up my dress. It was disgusting. But Ines got rid of it.”

He said that and then yawned widely. Carson moved aside to make room and gently pulled the boy’s head to his thigh. Louis lay there and fell into a deep sleep.

Ines had planned to talk to Carson about what Germeron had done. That would have ensured that his wrist wouldn’t be cut off, but it could have caused problems.

However, she hesitated for some reason. Ines recalled Germeron’s black eyes. His eyes, devoid of any mercy, reminded her of a snake’s eyes. If it had scared the child, she didn’t want to remind him of it.

The peacefully sleeping child looked angelic. Watching him, Ines also felt sleepy. She buried herself deep into the carriage and closed her eyes.

A long and hard day was passing behind the setting sun.

(This is a time delimiter.)

When Carson returned to the mansion, he handed Louis to Noah and carried the sleeping Ines himself. Unlike last time, he carried her as she was and took her to a guest room on the same floor as his bedroom.

At the physician’s suggestion that it would be best to wait until she woke up, Carson sent a message to Swellenden. It informed them that Ines had been injured during the hunt and would be treated and sent back tomorrow. He also added that it wasn’t a serious injury, so there was no need to worry.

He stared at the sleeping woman. She always looked a bit younger than her age when asleep.

“A dangerous beast…….”

Louis used to refer to people who were difficult or awkward for him to deal with as animals when he was younger.
At that time, Louis had described the empress as a wolf. The empress didn’t show any particular attitude towards Louis, but children always instinctively judge people. But he hadn’t thought that such a habit would remain even after 4 years.

But he had certainly seen it. The faint Winings Stone coming out of the forest, when he was about to emerge from the forest path, carrying Ines.

There was no reason for him to be coming from the hunting ground, where mostly only women go. According to Countess Jefferson’s words, he was someone desperate to enter noble society. But at that time, why was he not mingling with the hunting men, but hunting rabbits?

From the first moment he saw him, he did not like him. A person with a good face, but somehow making the tea he drank taste more bitter; a distasteful human being.

A snake. His impressions were not much different from Louis’s.

Recalling the mechanical black pupils of Winings, Carson quietly left Ines’s bedroom.

(This is a time separator.)

When he returned to his office, Noah had a lot of things to report, and was waiting for him.

Carson twisted his body to take off his perfectly fitting shirt and threw it carelessly onto the sofa. Noah was momentarily lost, staring at his lord’s actions.

His natural movements, like flowing water, had something enchanting, even to another man.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, yes.”

Carson was very handsome. But sometimes, when he looked at him, he felt more than just that he was handsome.

“Have you heard about that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Recently, within the empire, regardless of nobles or commoners, if they are women, most of them have a portrait of you.”

“Why? Is there a bounty on me?”

“No, it’s because you are very handsome, my lord.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Royalty is not some clown.”

“It’s true.”

“Stop this nonsense and give me the report.”

Knowing that there would be no benefit in continuing to talk, Noah briefly explained the problems that had arisen within the territory. But he was curious all along. Did he know that he was handsome, or did he not?

“The thing I asked you to look into?”

“As you said, my lord, there was something suspicious.”

“What is it?”

“Although it is a border area, Randhill and Resonia are not in a hostile relationship, are they?”

“So?”

“There were too many knights from Count Graham.”

At the too obvious trick, Carson let out a hollow laugh. Of course, Graham wanted something not on the surface but buried underground.