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Chapter 56




After a long journey, the carriage carrying the third prince and his family returned to the Imperial Palace.
As soon as she arrived at the Imperial Palace, Rosena unpacked her luggage.
There were so many things that she had bought while traveling, it felt like her closet was about to explode.
Rosena took the clothes out of her bag and looked into Yerhan’s closet. Her closet was already full and there was no place to put anymore things in.
Rosena was contemplating, then she glanced at Yerhan’s closet again.
Come to think of it, she never thought she’d ever look in his closet. It was a bit impolite to put a latch on the handle and try to open it carelessly.
“Can I put my clothes here?”
As Rosena approached the closet, Yerhan quickly blocked her.
“There’s something important in the closet, so…”
Yerhan blurted out his words as if he was troubled.
Looking at his slightly red cheeks, Rosena wondered, is he hiding something?
Rosena thought about that, but didn’t pry into it. There might be something he couldn’t show her.
She felt a little bit disappointed to think so.
There were a lot of things she didn’t tell Yerhan either, but how could she become sad that he also had something to hide from her…
Although Rosena was reflecting, she could not completely shake off her disappointment.
“I will move the rest of the luggage to the next room.”
Yerhan had a servant move the luggage to the next room.
After moving all the luggage, the bedroom was as tidy as usual.
Rosena finally sat down on the bed and glanced at the closet.
She thought she shouldn’t pay undue attention to it, but she kept looking at the closet even after she came to her senses.
Yerhan panicked, knowing that Rosena was bothered by his closet. He got up from his seat after reading Rosena’s expression.
“If you are curious, I will open it.”
As he acted as if he was really going to pull the latch off, Rosena shook her head.
“No. I’m not really curious.”
That was what Rosena said, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the closet completely.
She wondered what was in the closet, which wasn’t really that great.
Up until now, Yerhan had nothing to hide from her, so it was even more suspicious.
But she didn’t want to force him because he didn’t want to show it.
In order to live together, it was necessary to respect each other’s privacy.
When Yerhan stood in front of the closet and looked at Rosena, she turned her head. She was thinking of drawing attention away from the closet.
Rosena walked to the desk to do something, and on the desk were piles of letters for her.
She was away for a long time and it was twice as much as usual.
Rosena sat down at her desk and picked up a letter. And picked up the most striking golden envelope.
The end of the envelope was stamped with the seal of the empress.
Rosena was startled and opened the envelope. Then a smooth piece of paper popped out.
When she read the first sentence slowly, she could see that it was written for the purpose of sending it to a large number of people.
Content that did not need to be looked into in detail followed, and the core of the letter was revealed.
[We are going to hold a hunting contest for the friendship of the ladies. May you shine on this occasion.]
“A hunting contest?”
Rosena read the letter again, wondering if she had read it wrong. But it was clearly written that the noble ladies were invited to gather together and hunt foxes.
Fox hunting meant to hunt with foxes tamed by each family.
If men’s hunting was cruel and wild, women’s hunting was done elegantly and leisurely. It was just a social activity called hunting.
Rosena held the letter and stood still for a moment. Until now, Rosena had never done proper hunting.
All she saw was the occasional times her father went hunting as a hobby.
“What is that letter?”
Before she knew it, Yerhan, who went up behind Rosena, asked suddenly.
Surprised, Rosena dropped the letter.
She didn’t think of anything for a moment because the scent of Yerhan came to her mind.
Rosena was in a daze for a moment and shook her head. She felt like she had developed a habit of being absent minded.
“There will be a hunting contest.”
“Did the empress send it?”
“Yes, I’m sure I’ll be forced to participate.”
To some extent, all the ladies who were of some degree were bound to participate. It was impossible for Rosena, the prince’s wife, to be missing when everyone else came.
“…We don’t have tamed foxes.”
If there was no fox, a hawk was sometimes brought, but it seems that there were no tamed animals because there was no separate keeper at the Third Prince Palace.
“Actually, I don’t want you to attend. In case that thing happens again…”
Yerhan looked at Rosena with a worried face.
Ever since she was slapped in the face by the empress, Yerhan had been reluctant to let Rosena meet her.
It won’t happen because it’s an open place this time, but one could never know.
His worried eyes tickled her fingertips.
“I’m fine.”
Rosena whispered, looking into Yerhan’s eyes.
Rosena’s unshakable eyes were much stronger than Yerhan thought.
Yerhan nodded, a little relieved.
“Then I’ll call the keeper and try to tame the fox now.”
“No.”
Rosena said with a confident expression.
“I don’t need the tamed one.”
***
Rosena pulled out her riding suit for the first time in a while. She always wore a dress, so she felt awkward wearing tight pants.
Wearing long knee-length boots, Rosena braided her hair and rolled it up in a bun.
Finally, she stood in front of the mirror wearing a wide-brimmed hat. The image of Rosena reflected in the mirror was quite unusual.
“Hiing.”
Rosena looked down at the fox rubbing its head to her feet.
It was a fox hiding in the Imperial Palace, and two weeks ago, Rosena discovered it and brought it to the palace.
Meanwhile, Rosena went around with the fox and taught it to hunt. Once they understood each other, teaching wasn’t hard.
But Rosena didn’t want to kill animals for entertainment. So she was busy teaching the fox how to bring the rabbit without killing it.
Rosena patted the fox on the head. Then the fox chuckled in satisfaction.
“…Hengg.”
After class, Illian sat on his bed and looked down at the fox with discontentment.
That arrogant fox monopolized Rosena’s love, and in no time he became second in the ranks of the Third Princes’ Palace.
It snorted at Yerhan and Illian, and only whined at Rosena.
Last time, it was so mean to him that he tried to scold it. But he was hit in the face with its large tail.
“Oh, I didn’t bring that.”
After Rosena left the room for a while, only Illian and the fox were left.
Illian looked down at the fox and said,
“After today, you will sleep outside.”
The fox swung its head at the words. The fox whimpered and said something, and Illian’s expression grew worse.
“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m not going to keep you as a pet.”
Then the fox jumped onto the bed.
The two were quarreling, and the door opened again.
“Illian…!”
Rosena freaked out when she saw Illian holding the fox’s tail.
When Illian let go of its tail in surprise, the fox ran to Rosena. Then it began to pretend to cry.
Illian opened his mouth wide. The fox was always doing that.
It felt like he was going to explode with anger by the unfairness, but the situation itself was unfavorable.
“Illian, don’t hold its tail. The tail is an important part of the animal.”
“…Ngh. I was wrong.”
Illian immediately apologized. He glanced down and saw the fox smiling with its front paws covering its mouth.
Illian thought he would have no other wish if he could hit it just once.
“Illian, Mom will be out for a while. Can you stay calm?”
The nodding Illian looked directly at Rosena and said,
“Mom, you’re pretty.”
That one sentence gave Rosena a smile. Rosena, who kissed Illian’s cheek, patted his head.
“Be a good boy.”
Leaving behind the nodding Illian, Rosena walked out of the palace with the fox.
In front of the palace, a trained horse waited calmly for Rosena.
Rosena tapped the horse on the back.
“Please take care of me today.”
The horse let out a small cry and bowed its head.
Rosena rode straight out of the palace.
The site of the hunting competition was a forest owned by the Imperial Palace.
It was managed by the Imperial Palace, so there were no dangerous animals and it was perfect for accommodating many people.
Rosena received the news that Ibella was coming to the hunt today.
She hadn’t seen her in a while since she was busy teaching the fox and learning how to ride a horse.
Rosena was a little excited at the thought of meeting her friend after a long time.
Of course, she had to look at the face that she hated, but she was not going to be intimidated anymore.
Arriving at the meeting place, a number of ladies were seen.
Many of them weren’t seen at the tea party last time, and most of them seemed to focus on building friendships rather than hunting.
They wore unnecessarily large, showy hats, and their horseback riding outfits had a lot of decorations.
But what caught Rosena’s eye was something else.
Starting with the silver fox, all kinds of foxes were held on a leash by the ladies.
Such foxes have long been kept in human hands and often lost their wildness. But they brought them here to hunt…
Rosena looked at the foxes with a slightly piteous look. The foxes also whined at Rosena.
When Rosena appeared, the ladies who were talking stopped and looked away.
“She’s…”
With a brief hustle and bustle, people whispered to each other.
Rosena slowly got off the horse and looked around. Then a woman from far away was dragging the herd.
It was the second princess, Asilia. Asilia walked towards her with her head up straight.
The ladies she saw at the tea party last time were following in her footsteps. It was like she was becoming an emperor.
Asilia immediately found Rosena and approached her.
“Long time no see, Third Princess.”
She skimmed Rosena from head to toe. She looked anxious to pick up on something. But there wasn’t much to point out in terms of clothes.
It wasn’t as fancy as others, but it was neat and the fabric was great.
Asilia’s gaze came down. And she squinted her eyes.
“Is this the fox of the Third Princess?”
It was too ordinary for a fox possessed by a noble lady.
“What breed? Does it have any lineage?”
Asilia narrowed in on the flaw and asked, arching her brows.
Rosena saw through her intentions and answered leisurely.
“As you can see, it’s the most common red fox in the empire. And it doesn’t have any particular lineage.”
Rosena’s answer made a fuss around her.
Most of the foxes raised for hunting were bred from foxes of good ancestry.
But her fox doesn’t have any lineage, and there it was just a red fox that’s so common that you’ll get stung by one when you go to the mountains. It was lousy to be a princess’ fox.
“Oh my, you didn’t pick it up from the mountain, did you?”
The ladies standing behind them burst out into laughter.
Rosena smiled at the sarcasm that she couldn’t afford to raise a fox and brought a wild fox.
“How did you know?”
At Rosena’s question, Asilia was speechless and kept her mouth shut. She asked, looking at the fox with a look of disbelief.
“Did you really bring it from the mountain?”
“Of course I was joking.”
At Rosena’s answer, Asilia’s face turned a little red.
Asilia tried to raise her voice, but she was conscious of the eyes of others, so she turned around.
“I look forward to seeing how long it takes for you to catch the rabbit with such a humble fox.”
Rosena looked at Asilia, who was gradually moving away, bent her knees and stroked the fox’s head.
She didn’t bring it from the mountains, but she was not completely wrong because it was wandering around the Imperial Palace.
But Rosena was confident that her fox was the best.
While waiting for the empress, Rosena found Rania talking to someone in the distance.
Rania must have received an invitation too, and she also had a hawk dressed up.
Rosena was aware of that hawk. It was a hawk that her father raised for hunting purposes.
It was old enough to hunt, but she seemed to have brought it because she had no animals to bring and it also has good lineage.
Rania looked up if she felt Rosena’s eyes. When their eyes met, she turned her head arrogantly. It was obvious that she would ignore Rosena first.
Rosena swallowed a grin at such a Rania. Now she felt that there was no connection between Rania and herself.
She wasn’t sad. She just didn’t feel any emotions.
“Your Highness.”
At someone’s call, Rosena turned her head.
Ibella was standing right in front of her. She was dressed neatly as if she hadn’t forgotten the purpose of this gathering.
It seemed that Rosena and Ibella were the only two people who came here dressed for in a hunting contest.
“Long time no see.”
At Ibella’s greeting, Rosena smiled comfortably. Finally, someone whom she can talk with a peace of mind had appeared.
When Ibella appeared, the gazes fell again.
These days, two of the most famous people in the social world were standing together, so attention was naturally focused on them.
The people who were anxious to get to know Ibella were hesitating, unable to even approach her because Rosena was next to her.
Rosena slowly opened her mouth as she received the pouring gaze.
“I bought a present for you. Please stop by my palace before you go back.”
“A present?”
Ibella’s eyes widened. She did hear that Rosena had gone on a trip, but she didn’t expect that she had prepared a present.
As Ibella and Rosena were having a small talk, the sound of hooves was heard.
Well-dressed aides rode side by side. And the empress appeared on horseback in the center.
The empress, as always, had an arrogant face.
Asilia tried hard to imitate the empress, but it didn’t come out so naturally.
The eyes of the empress who looked around stopped for a moment at Rosena.
She naturally turned her eyes away and looked down at the ladies without dismounting from her horse.
“Thank you for attending today’s social fox hunt.”
The empress, who was simply expressing her gratitude, beckoned to the attendant next to her.
“There’s a small gift for those who catch a lot of prey.”
The aide held out a small box.
When he opened the lid, a brooch of gold and sapphire was revealed.
Excitement poured out among the ladies who saw it. That was a brooch the empress once wore in public.
The ladies envious of the empress coveted the brooch, their eyes shining.
“Let’s get started.
Along with the words of the empress, the servant blew the horn.
A roar filled the forest, and the birds perched on the trees flew into the sky as if being chased.
The ladies untied the leash of the animals they each brought.
However, the foxes, whose collars had been loosened, abruptly got up from their seats and all rushed towards Rosena.
“!”