“You won’t catch it?”

Ariadne whispered to Cesare.

– ‘The one who catches the ‘Golden Deer’ approaches the throne. Count Cesare de Como, of royal blood, has caught the ‘Golden Deer’.’

It was a story that Cesare would really like. If Cesare caught the ‘Golden Deer’ today and returned to the tent, it would undoubtedly be the most notable event of the hunting competition.

Ariadne quietly prepared to dismount from Cesare’s horse. The bow Cesare had brought required two hands to shoot, so it was useless now that he couldn’t use one arm.

The best chance was to charge on horseback and throw a javelin. She had to turn the horse over to him so he could catch the ‘Golden Deer’.

She knew well how much Cesare liked being the center of attention. Moreover, she had heard Cesare’s ‘Golden Deer’ chatter ad nauseam in both her previous life and current life.

So Ariadne naturally thought Cesare would leave her and rush off to catch the ‘Golden Deer’.

“I’ll give you the horse. I’ll dismount on the left, so you jump right up from the right side.”

Cesare spoke plainly to her whispering.

“No. I won’t catch it.”

“What?”

At Ariadne’s question, Cesare looked up at her and said:

“To catch that, I’d have to leave you and run into the forest. How could I do that?”

He added a word as if making an excuse.

“If I lost you in the forest, it would be a headache. Let’s just go.”

Ariadne was surprised by the unexpected situation and momentarily forgot her words. She had to ask this stupid question.

“Didn’t you want to catch it so badly? You kept going on about the ‘Golden Deer’ even in your letters.”

“I did want to catch it, but…”

He glanced at Ariadne. He wanted to catch the ‘Golden Deer’, but there was bigger prey, the maiden he had longed for, right before his eyes. Gaining her heart seemed a better deal than the hide of the ‘Golden Deer’.

“It’s not the only day, right?”

Feeling the presence of humans, the ‘Golden Deer’ perked up its ears and stared intently at the people. After a brief staring contest, the ‘Golden Deer’ shook its body and dashed into the grass.

“Oh well, we missed it today.”

Half disappointed and half relieved, Cesare stretched his back. He had some internal conflict despite saying it was okay, but now that the ‘Golden Deer’ had run away, there was nothing more to worry about.

In a refreshed mood, he cheerfully led the horse to the stream where the ‘Golden Deer’ had been drinking.

“We didn’t catch the ‘Golden Deer’, but since it’s the water the ‘Golden Deer’ drank, let’s consider this stream to be the ‘Fountain of Eternal Life’.”

He gestured for Ariadne to get down. As she tried to dismount at his words, he helped her down with one arm and added:

“Let’s drink some water here and wash our faces before we go. Who knows, maybe your ugly face will become pretty if you wash it with the ‘Fountain of Eternal Life’?”

Ariadne glared at Cesare and dismounted. There was little water left in her canteen, and she happened to be very thirsty.

Ariadne scooped up the stream water with both hands and took a sip. It was fiercely cold water that made her mind crystal clear.

“But young lady, you do read my letters diligently, I see?”

“What?”

“Since you never replied, I thought you tore them up without even reading them! Wow, I’m so happy. I’ll send you lots more, okay?”

Tearing them up was right, but… Ariadne turned her head in embarrassment.

As Ariadne didn’t say much, Cesare scooped up the stream water and wiped his left cheek. There was a long wound. He must have gotten scraped when he rolled on the ground earlier. Dirt and blood were washed away together by the cold stream water.

“Ugh, that must hurt.”

“Yeah. It hurts.”

“You may not know, but in this situation, it’s much cooler to say ‘I’m fine’.”

“I’m cool no matter what I do, so it’s okay.”

Ariadne shook her head at Cesare, and then, seeing his disheveled state, suddenly realized. Since she had rolled on the ground with him, her face must also be dirty with dust.

Being careful not to disturb the eye makeup Sancha had done for her in the morning, Ariadne also washed her face with the stream water.

As she was absorbed in washing her face, she suddenly felt the warm body temperature of a person on her forehead.

– Smack.

Cesare had kissed Ariadne’s forehead. Startled, Ariadne sprang up like a coiled spring.

“What are you doing!”

Cesare lowered his broken left hand and raised only his right hand in a surrender pose, taking a step back.

“Sorry, sorry! You suddenly looked so pretty after washing your face with the ‘Fountain of Eternal Life’!”

“Seriously, I told you not to do this!”

“Well, can’t you allow this much for the knight who saved you from a collapsing horse?”

The two bickered as they walked down along the stream. Cesare was leading the horse, walking side by side with her. The late afternoon sun was slowly setting.

The meaningless small talk between King Leo III and the Duke of Mireillu was very long and quite inappropriate in many parts.

They talked about obscene things in front of Queen Marguerite, and despite coming to represent the future bride, they went on and on about the sexual customs of elderly nobles.

Completely fed up, Alfonso kept sweeping his eyes around the outside of the tent for no reason.

He was seated on the raised seats of honor in the center of the tent, so he could see most people coming into the tent. But apart from passing by in the distance once in the morning, Ariadne was nowhere to be seen.

‘Did she actually go hunting herself? She didn’t seem to like exercise that much.’

Most ladies were chatting and drinking tea inside the tent. Only a few particularly unusual ones went out hunting themselves.

‘Could she have gone for a walk with another man?’

The hunting competition was an event where handsome men and beautiful women were particularly apt to take a liking to each other. Every year at the hunting competition, there were always some couples who would enter the forest together, saying they were going ‘hunting’, ‘search for game’ for hours, and return empty-handed.

Alfonso’s clenched fist tightened unconsciously, but he soon shook his head to shake off the ominous thoughts. Ariadne didn’t have any men she was particularly close with.

‘That can’t be. She’s such a picky girl.’

Her laughter, her playfulness, her exaggerated pretense of being tough and the fragility like glassware glimpsed in between – he thought he was the only one who knew of them.

But as evening drew late and the hunters were returning in twos and threes, the awards ceremony began promptly at five o’clock.

Some knight who had caught the biggest boar received praise from King Leo III, showed off the valor of the Etruscans in front of the Duke of Mireillu, and received a laurel wreath bestowed by Queen Marguerite.

Throughout that whole process, the black-haired girl was nowhere to be seen.

‘Did she go home early?’

He had a feeling it wouldn’t be the case, but he tried to convince himself.

Ariadne’s nasty stepmother and venomous half-sister were still in the tent, but since Ariadne wasn’t very close with them, she could have gone back first.

– “Your Majesty, Count Cesare has not yet returned.”

Trying to avoid the eyes of Queen Marguerite and the Gallicoan envoy, King Leo III’s secretary whispered softly into Leo III’s ear. But in vain of the secretary’s effort, Leo III got up from the makeshift throne and shouted loudly:

“Cesare hasn’t?”

At that familiar form of address, the faces of Queen Marguerite and the Gallicoan envoy hardened at the same time.

Queen Marguerite was ashamed to have people sent from her family see her husband’s poor treatment of her, and the Gallicoan envoy was skeptical, wondering if the future of the princess consort, who would be sent to Etrusca, would become like Queen Marguerite, when they had come to negotiate sending her now.

How the woman sent to be married was treated was her problem to deal with. But the heir being changed from her child to one of tainted blood was a matter of gains and losses.

But as if he couldn’t maintain face in front of his wife and the envoy of her family’s country and neighboring nation without displaying this level of authority, King Leo III made an even bigger fuss than he usually did in looking after Cesare.

King Leo III’s secretary held his forehead. It felt like he was getting a fever.

“Send people into the forest! Hurry and find him! Isn’t the sun nearly set?”

“Ah, Your Majesty! Someone is coming out of the forest over there!”

At someone’s voice, people all looked in the direction he was pointing.

The shrubs rustled and Cesare emerged, swinging his hunting knife to clear the way, and behind him followed Ariadne, holding the reins of a horse. Both were in a mess, with small wounds from being scratched by branches and the aftermath of falling off the horse.

“Count de Como!”

King Leo III called out to Cesare in a loud voice upon spotting him.

Fortunately, amidst the Gallicoan envoy staring with dark eyes, he did not make the mistake of affectionately calling Cesare by name. King Leo III’s secretary let out a sigh of relief.

And this was also a line King Leo III had drawn for himself. He was fond of and doted on Cesare, who was the spitting image of himself and Countess Lubina, but he never intended to give Cesare the right of succession to the throne.

In official settings, Cesare’s title was still ‘Count’, a mere court noble without even a proper hereditary domain.

Hearing King Leo III’s call, Cesare, despite staggering, knelt on one knee before King Leo III to show respect to royalty.

“Your Majesty’s loyal subject greets the sun of the kingdom, King Leo III.”

The flawless greeting as if from a faithful subject was short-lived. Cesare grinned and raised his left arm.

“I fell off my horse and broke my arm, so could you please exempt me from the part of putting my arm on my knee when greeting?”

King Leo III asked in surprise:

“Count de Como, what happened? How could you fall off a horse?”

“Well, in the midst of rescuing a young lady in danger, it ended up like this.”

As a man of honor, I couldn’t just pass by, yes, he added in a small voice.

“In danger? Who?”

King Leo III’s gaze immediately turned to Ariadne, who had come out together beside him.

“Some vile person attacked Lady de Mare with a hunting crossbow, putting her in a predicament. If I had not met her in time, something terrible could have happened.”

Cesare was deliberately making a big deal of it in front of the king.

“What? Who would do such an impudent thing at the sacred hunting competition?”

“I heard he is the nephew of Lucrezia, the wife of Cardinal de Mare. They said he is the son of a knight. He should be honing himself to be knighted, but it seems he knows neither chivalry nor honor, does it not?”

People began to murmur. The nephew of Lucrezia – it was a very unfamiliar name in high society. But here and there, someone remembered Giannobi’s previous misconduct.

– “Ah, wasn’t he the one who whistled at the de Mare family’s debutante ball?”

– “That ruffian from back then?”

– “He’s a country bumpkin, not a ruffian.”

Hearing the circulating stories amidst the murmuring crowd, Lucrezia, who had come out to see what was happening, turned pale as a sheet. She looked around.

“Giannobi, where are you, you bastard?”

It was almost simultaneous that the panicked Lucrezia spotted Giannobi and King Leo III let out a roar of anger.

“Bring that impertinent man before me at once!”