The hunting festival that was interrupted a year ago due to Litania falling off a cliff and going missing, with a search party mobilized by the crown prince’s order, remained quite a unique experience among people.

“I hope nothing like that happens this time.”

“Hehe. Surely not. If the hunting festival is interrupted two years in a row, it would no longer be just an interesting happening.”

Even Litania’s disappearance was treated as an unexpected, interesting happening to them.

Litania’s lips twitched as she heard people’s whispers carried by the wind from afar.

‘I can hear everything, everything!’

It was an unwritten rule of social circles to overlook some rudeness as long as it wasn’t said openly or greatly damaged one’s reputation. Litania felt a slight headache coming on.

‘I liked it here because there were no annoying power struggles like in romance novels.’

It seems gatherings of people are similar everywhere. Litania shook her head and went to Orbis’s waiting room.

“Orbis, are you ready?”

“Litania.”

Seeing Orbis’s appearance, Litania involuntarily let out a “Wow” in admiration.

Orbis wasn’t wearing hunting clothes. He didn’t need them. As a dragon, he could hunt beasts sufficiently without weapons or special equipment, so he was wearing white clothes that fit him perfectly.

‘Wearing white clothes while hunting… you’re a true fashionista…’

Litania swallowed the quip that came to mind and quietly gave a thumbs up.

“Orbis, you look great.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“But um, doesn’t it show off your figure too much…?”

A height a head taller than other men, with a lean, well-balanced muscular build.

Orbis’s body, which usually looked somewhat slender covered in fancy clothes, was giving an even more distinct impression today.

“Everything that needs to be covered is covered, but you’re making a face like you don’t know why it looks so sexy.”

“…Can you read minds too?”

“Your face has turned red, my lovely tomato friend.”

“Ah, stop teasing me!”

Feeling her neck flush and ears burn, Litania rubbed her cheek with one hand while poking Orbis’s side with the other.

He smiled brightly as he gathered his golden hair, shimmering like threads spun from gold, to one side.

“If you want me to cover up, I’ll wear a coat and cape.”

“Ah, no need. It’s still a hunting festival, so overly splendid clothes wouldn’t be right.”

And anyway, we’ll be alone once the hunt starts, so there’s no need to cover up… right?

Litania grinned and grabbed Orbis’s hand.

Perhaps because it was an official occasion, he was wearing gloves for the first time in a while.

“Shall we go then, my bride?”

The sound of a horn announced the start of the hunting festival. Everyone mounted their horses and set out with their hunting dogs.

Litania and Orbis also went to choose horses to start hunting, but there was only one black horse there.

“Huh? Why are we short on horses?”

“Oh, um… that’s strange?”

The administrator in charge of lending horses was flustered and checked the list.

“Strange… There must have been a mistake while checking. We’re short one horse.”

“Hmm.”

She had even practiced horseback riding specifically for this hunting festival, but there was only one horse available.

Whinnr.

It was a black horse with long, slender legs and taut muscles. Fur as black as the dark night. But judging by its glossy sheen like twinkling stars, it seemed to be a well-cared-for horse.

“Orbis, what should we do?”

“If you want to ride alone, go ahead, Litania. I can walk.”

“Come on, how can we do that? We’re a couple.”

“Then shall we ride together?”

Orbis lifted Litania and sat her on the black horse’s back, then mounted behind her.

It was their first time experiencing riding one horse together, so Litania was flustered.

“Orbis…”

“It’s alright, Litania. It’s a sturdy horse.”

Even during horseback riding practice, the two had never ridden the same horse.

As Orbis’s arms tightly pulled her body close to stabilize her and grasped the reins, her back pressed against his chest.

‘Ah, no… Today of all days, his muscles!’

She had wondered why it looked so sexy even though everything was covered, but the muscles felt through her back were no joke.

Litania’s heart rate quickened.

“You’re tense, Litania. Seems the horseback riding practice wasn’t enough.”

“It’s not because of the horse, it’s because of you, Orbis.”

“Are you conscious of me? I’m glad.”

Orbis whispered softly into Litania’s ear. Her neck instinctively shrunk as a shiver ran down her spine. This voice was truly unfair.

“L-Let’s go. Quickly.”

“As you command.”

As Orbis tapped the horse’s belly with his heel, the black horse carried the two of them, gliding into the dark forest.

The black forest where the hunt took place was still a beautiful and mysterious place.

A deep, deep space filled with lush trees and various plants. Large oak and pine trees intertwined to form the forest.

“It’s dark even though it’s daytime.”

“That’s probably why it’s called the Black Forest.”

The branches and leaves of the tall trees were so densely tangled that hardly any sunlight shone through.

Dark green and brown leaves hung from the sturdy oak branches, while the green needles of the sky-high pines created soft shadows as they filtered the sunlight.

‘This is nice. This time it’s truly the nature Orbis loves.’

Unlike the glass greenhouse bedroom, this was a space entirely created by nature.

Wildflowers peeking through the undergrowth, mushrooms growing along tree trunks, and moss-covered rocks large and small lined the path.

Hooo.

The sound of a horn was heard in the distance.

“Orbis, it looks like they’ve already started hunting over there.”

“I heard there won’t be any black panthers this year.”

“Ah, that’s a relief.”

Perhaps because there was no need to compete with the crown prince, they said no fierce beasts would be released for this year’s hunting festival. The most threatening animal was said to be just a silver fox.

“We’ll be able to enjoy it more leisurely this time.”

Litania rode through the forest with Orbis. The rhythmic clop of the horse’s hooves echoed, and the songs of birds and cries of beasts could be faintly heard in the distance.

The trees were so tall that it looked dark above, but not so much below. Various types of small trees and vines grew over the green and gray rocks.

“Litania, we’d better dismount and walk from here.”

The path had narrowed. It wasn’t so narrow that they couldn’t pass on horseback, but while Litania might be fine, Orbis was so tall he’d likely be hindered by the branches.

“Alright, let’s get down… Hmm. Should we tie the horse by the water? It might be easier to come back for it that way.”

It should be fine if there are no fierce beasts.

Litania and Orbis dismounted, tied the black horse by a stream, then slowly walked along the path.

Crash!

A loud noise came from the densely wooded area.

‘What was that?’

It was a bit too loud to be a fox. Was it the wind? Or did someone shoot an arrow wrong and break a large branch?

As Litania approached to get a closer look in the direction of the sound, Orbis suddenly grabbed her and pulled her back behind him.

“Ah!”

Rustle rustle!

As if hit by a typhoon, the large trees bent sideways and something huge lunged at the two of them.

“Eek!”

“Litania, stay back.”

Despite its massive size, it was incredibly fast, but Orbis easily dodged and moved behind it. Litania stumbled on unsteady legs as she was pulled along by Orbis’s hand, then peeked out from beside him to see the beast that had attacked them.

…She wished she hadn’t looked.

“Wh-What is… that…”

It was an ash-gray tiger so enormous it made the towering trees look small.

They say tigers of old were as big as houses, but this one was the size of a building.

Blazing orange eyes, sharp claws that left four deep marks on the ground it stepped on.

Even its heavy breathing was enough to shake the forest, and the muscles added to its huge body were rough and threatening.

It was an overwhelmingly impressive predator, hard to take one’s eyes off.

“Uh, they said silver foxes were the biggest…”

“This is not a predator.”

“Not a predator?”

“It’s a mabeast.”

A mabeast?

Come to think of it, only the head of the ash-gray tiger was pitch black, and something like pointed horns protruded from it.

“Orbis, that’s…”

“It’s a magic stone that excites mabeasts. It has the effect of clouding their minds. That’s probably why it dared to charge at me.”

That’s right. Mabeasts don’t dare approach a divine dragon. The proof is that when Orbis was in the Dragon City, mabeasts couldn’t even come close.

‘But the fact that it’s taking such an aggressive stance now means…’

It means this mabeast is not in its right mind enough to recognize its opponent as a divine dragon.