“It feels like we’ve been walking south for a while, but the forest is getting denser.”

“We might also meet other hunters.”

The hunting tournament was a oneday event, and they were naturally only equipped for a day’s outdoor activities. They were completely unprepared to camp or stay awake in the forest.

“Do you hear the sound of water over there?”

At Ariadne’s words, Cesare listened carefully.

“You’re right. It seems like there’s a stream.”

He led the horse in the direction the sound of water came from.

“It would be good to go that way.”

As he began to move, he started to grumble.

“But how can Lady de Mare let a man who hurt himself trying to save her lead the horse like a servant and ride a horse smugly?”

Oh, my arm is swollen and it hurts to death, he exaggeratedly shook his left arm and grimaced as if it really hurt. Ariadne’s lips puckered in embarrassment and annoyance.

“Then I’ll get off! You ride! You were the one who forced me to ride when I said I wouldn’t!”

“How can a gentleman let a lady walk and ride a horse by himself! You just have to sit quietly in front of me. Geez, you’re picky.”

Cesare’s grumbling was endless.

“Why did you not accept the saddle I sent you, and come riding this saddle? If you were riding the saddle I sent, your leg would have slipped right off as the back of your foot opened.”

Cesare was a master of horse riding, and he had a hobby of modifying saddles and harnesses to suit his taste.

“Was there such a feature?”

“You didn’t even open it to look.”

He continued to grumble.

“And, huh? Why did you provoke my cousin and create this mess? If it wasn’t for me, Count Cesare, saving you handsomely, you would have been in big trouble.”

Ariadne was already annoyed by his grumbling, but after hearing this, she decided to consider her guilt for being helped by Cesare, who even broke his arm, as repaid.

“So you want me to hear that and stay still?”

At Ariadne’s sharp rebuke, Cesare laughed with glee.

“You’re so shorttempered. Miss should have stabbed a knife in that guy’s horse ass first.”

He, leading the horse, looked up at Ariadne.

“You could have been in big trouble for fighting unnecessarily.”

Cesare added one more thing.

“If there’s a problem, run to Count Cesare. I’ll appear impressively and sort everything out.”

Ariadne snorted at his reply. I’ve seen you dozens, hundreds of times in my previous life.

“Liar. You’re not that kind of person.”

At Ariadne’s answer, Cesare pretended to be surprised.

“No, how did you know I was a liar?”

Holding the horse’s reins and walking, he got as close to Ariadne, who was sitting on the saddle, as he could and looked up at her.

Cesare’s horse was a particularly tall horse, so Cesare’s face only came up to her thigh. It was as if she could feel his breath on her thigh.

“Miss, aren’t you actually more interested in me than anyone else? I even knew that you were carrying a club last time.”

Ariadne took a breath. Cesare had accurately grasped the crux of the matter.

Yes, I’m more interested in you than anyone else. I know everything about you. I’ve been watching every single thing about you for 14 years. Just watching. I’m not going to live like that anymore.

“It’s not true. Please don’t bother.”

“Wow, that’s cold.”

Even with all his soul into it, Cesare stuck his tongue out at Ariadne, who didn’t break her iron wall.

“Do you know that you’re the only lady who treats me like this in San Carlo?”

“I’m sorry that you can’t keep up with the trend.”

With Ariadne’s upright attitude, Cesare gave up and started talking about his own story.

“I came to catch the ‘Golden Deer’ today. If I catch it, winning the hunting contest is a sure thing!”

Ah, that ‘Golden Deer’. It was the ‘Golden Deer’ that Cesare had raved about in his letter. Regardless of Cesare’s obsession with the ‘Golden Deer’, the story of the ‘Golden Deer’ was a wellknown story.

It was a story passed down like a legend in the Orte Forest.

It was said that in the Orte Forest lived a ‘Golden Deer’ that drank the water of immortality, and this ‘Golden Deer’ brought an olive branch to the first king, Justino I, when the Etruscan Kingdom was founded.

Anyone who bathes with the water of immortality will have an irresistible charm, and the person who catches the ‘Golden Deer’ will ascend to the throne, and even if they have nothing to do with the throne, they will thrive in life.

Of course, since the Orte Forest is in the northern part of the capital, where many people come and go, if there were really a well of immortality, it would have been already connected to the San Carlo palace with water pipes.

Ariadne thought that the story of the ‘Golden Deer’ was nothing more than a legend.

However, Cesare in his previous life repeatedly claimed that he had seen the ‘Golden Deer’ in the Orte Forest when he was young, and that he was so handsome because he washed his face with the water from the well where the ‘Golden Deer’ drank.

Even during the time when Ariadne desired Cesare, she thought it was a ridiculous story. Her guess was that Cesare, who lacked legitimacy for succession to the throne, made up the story to link himself with the founding myth.

Cesare was a rare beauty with delicate lines in the human world. But his beauty was natural.

It was because she had heard a lot that Cesare, who she hardly met because his mother, Countess Rubina, passed away shortly after their engagement, looked just like his mother, except for the color of his eyes.

“You are not only a liar but also a braggart.”

“Oh, how did you know that?”

As they exchanged ridiculous words and followed the sound of water, a small stream appeared in front of them.

“There’s a stream. If we follow this downstream, we can get out of the forest!”

“Shh!”

Cesare silenced Ariadne, who was talking, by grabbing her ankle on the horse. Ariadne, who was looking ahead thinking ‘What is this guy?’, also covered her mouth with both hands.

‘It’s the Golden Deer!’

It was a large golden buck with beautiful, symmetrical antlers.

The color of the deer’s fur, which should have been a light brown, was a brilliant gold, with each strand of fur radiating light. Instead of white spots, silver spots shone on its sleek body.

Ariadne felt awe seeing the ‘Golden Deer’, which she thought did not exist, showing off its noble figure in front of her. And she glanced at Cesare again.

‘I thought he was a person who only boasted, but there were times when he told the truth……’

She felt a bit sorry. Of course, that remorse was less than a drop of blood compared to what he had done to Ariadne.

Ariadne, trying to give in to her feelings, stared at Cesare once more. He sometimes made sense, but no, that man is trash.

The deer, as wary as Ariadne, was drinking water from the stream, carefully observing its surroundings. There was an aura of dignity in its peacefully bowed figure.

Suddenly, the ‘Golden Deer’ looked up and stared at Ariadne and Cesare. The eyes of a single deer and two humans met.