Chapter 58

The ladies gathered around her.

A squirrel, a white rabbit, a pheasant… the young deer were by far the best.

They didn’t expect that Asilia would even catch a deer, so the ladies constantly praised her.

“Your Highness, you are great.”

“I can’t believe you caught a deer, so you must have a knack for hunting.”

“After all, foxes with good blood are special.”

Asilia accepted their compliments with a proud smile. In fact, there were stories they didn’t know.

As soon as the hunt began, Asilia led her followers into the deep forest.

It was a place where there were a lot of prey that the forest keeper told her in advance. However, Asilia’s fox did not perform as well as she thought it would.

Rather, the hawk of the countess, who followed Asilia, caught the prey pretty well.

Asilia, whose pride was hurt, glared at the countess.

The countess was at a loss and promised to hand over all her prey to Asilia.

Feeling a little better, Asilia praised her, and the other ladies handed over their prey as tribute to Asilia.

Asilia, who turned the prey caught by the ladies into hers, seemed to be number one to anyone.

It was natural because she extorted the prey of nearly ten people.

Asilia looked around, shrugging her shoulders. Most had returned, but Rosena, the third princess, had yet to be seen.

“The third princess has yet to come.”

“Maybe she is too embarrassed to come back because she is empty-handed.”

When Rania, who was standing behind her, smiled and said so, Asilia became satisfied.

She had been taking Rania with her since a while ago, and it was good that she could please her.

In addition, she liked Rania even more because she boldly showed her dislike for Rosena.

She knew a lot about Rosena as well as her weaknesses, so Asilia thought she would be useful in the future.

“Lady, would you like a cup of tea at my palace later?”

Rania’s eyes widened at Asilia’s question. Rania couldn’t close her mouth, which was gradually parting, so she covered her mouth with her palm.

At the thought of taking one step closer to Asilia’s small social circle, Rania could not hide her joy.

“It is an honour!”

Not long after, the horse on which the empress was riding slowly approached, and the empress looked around lightly, and then her eyes stopped at Asilia.

Asilia’s shoulders shuddered at the empress’ gaze.

Asilia wanted to one day become like the empress.

The empress was always stubborn, never placing anyone on an equal footing with her. And the empress was in great power, second only to the emperor.

If the empress was on Asilia’s side, it would not be just a dream for her husband, the second prince, to ascend to the throne after pushing the crown prince away.

“You’re great, Second Princess.”

The empress said, squinting her prey.

Asilia did not miss the timing and bowed her head.

“Thanks to the grace of Your Majesty the Empress.”

The empress did not show any expression despite her flattering words. It was just a reckless gaze.

“Is everyone back now?”

As soon as the empress finished speaking, the sound of horseshoes came from behind.

Everyone’s eyes naturally turned towards the sound.

“Oh my God.”

Everyone looked at Rosena with their mouths wide open at the sound of someone’s voice.

Countless preys were lined up behind Rosena. It was like a small mountain of prey because of how many were caught.

Rosena had a calm face despite the fact that she had caught so many prey.

On the contrary, Rosena’s fox walked in triumphantly with its chin raised.

“….”

Asilia bit her lip slightly. So far, it seemed she still occupied the winner’s seat. The number of prey also seemed to be similar, so it was worth saying that Asilia, who caught a deer, was superior.

As Asilia comforted herself, Rosena stopped.

The servants rushed to check the preys, but Rosena did not put down the full sack containing the preys.

Asilia asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Third Princess, why are you carrying the sack?”

At that, Rosena smiled leisurely.

“Sorry. I haven’t even displayed half of it yet.”

The hunting contest ended in a landslide victory for Rosena.

When Rosena had brought all her prey, no one present could be silent.

This was because the total number of preys caught by the other ladies were less than that of what Rosena had caught.

In addition, there was even a deer with white tail that usually did not show up.

Asilia, who was elated to have caught a young deer, had nothing more to offer.

Asilia, who bit her lips, grabbed the riding gloves.

“Did you do something, Your Highness? How can you catch so many on your own?”

Asilia stepped forward and raised objections.

Then Rosena answered, looking through Asilia’s prey.

“Your Highness caught too many on your own, too.”

Asilia was speechless for a moment. She wondered if Rosena knew that she had extorted prey from the people around her.

“My fox is a great hunter. But isn’t the fox of the Third Princess a fox without any lineage?”

As Asilia tenaciously dug in, a commotion spread.

As she said, Rosena’s fox was a very common breed and had no lineage. Even if such a fox caught the prey, the murmur of how much it would catch spread.

“I saw it.”

At that moment, everyone turned their heads towards the voice that suddenly appeared. There stood Ibella.

“I’ve been with Her Highness the Third Princess. I will testify if necessary.”

Her calm words stirred them up again. But no one spoke out against Marchioness Lionel. Because no one wanted to lose Ibella’s favor.

At once the atmosphere tilted toward Rosena.

Asilia also shut her mouth without further arguing.

“The winner of this hunt is the third princess.”

The empress, who was watching for a while, opened her mouth. It became quiet around, and the empress nodded at the aide next to her.

The aide came up with a blue velvet box.

“Third Princess.”

The empress, who picked up the brooch, beckoned to Rosena.

In front of many ladies, Rosena stepped forward.

A large sapphire cut into a circle lit up in the sunlight.

Rosena took a moment to estimate the price of that sapphire. At least, Illian’s tuition for several years would be covered…

While she was alone in her thoughts for a moment, the empress stood in front of Rosena’s nose. And she whispered as she fastened the brooch to Rosena’s chest.

“You run like a colt without knowing the place and time. You don’t even know what lies an inch ahead.”

As Rosena raised her head, the empress fell away.

The empress looked at Rosena with cold eyes and said,

“I look forward to your performances in the future.”

The empress immediately turned around. As she walked away without saying that the hunting contest would be over, Asilia hastily followed the empress.

There were as many excuses as the stars in the sky she had for the empress.

The empress, who was walking ahead, stopped for a moment and looked at Asilia.

Asilia looked at the empress with a very flushed face.

“Your…”

“Second princess. I am disappointed in you.”

Asilia’s face hardened upon the cold eyes of the empress which was as if she was looking at a bug.

The empress, who looked at her pale complexion, went on her way.

It was only one sentence. But for Asilia, the sky seemed to be falling along with those words.

“….”

Rosena stood tall and looked at Asilia.

Asilia had a distraught face.

Rosena, who was about to turn her gaze away, found Rania standing next to Asilia.

Rania was talking to Asilia eagerly with a worried face. It was a face she had never seen before.

The atmosphere subsided in an instant, and the ladies did not know what to do.

The empress had gone without saying that it was over, so she was not sure if she should stay. Then, someone approached Rosena.

“Your Highness, congratulations.”

It was Ibella who had turned away from all the crowds.

Rosena smiled at Ibella.

Although the empress’ words were offensive, it didn’t happen for a day or two that she showed hostility towards her.

Rosena had something to give to Ibella, and suggested she have a cup of tea.

“If you have time after this, would you like to go to my palace?”

“Thank you for the invitation.”

Rosena and Ibella went out of the forest.

Originally, there was a small meeting between the ladies after the hunting contest. However, there was no atmosphere to hold the meeting, and the empress, the organizer, had also left first.

Rosena didn’t even want to attend, so it was a good thing.

Rosena turned her head toward the place where the preys were gathered. And she sent a small signal with her fingers.

“Huh?!”

A commotion broke out among the servants who were dragging the prey.

The animals, who were pretending to be dead, suddenly got up and started running away.

Ibella smiled broadly. Rosena was happy to see her like it.

Rosena and Ibella were talking about something that had happened recently.

There were no tiring conversations that were formal or dignified. Just hobbies or small daily stories, or hot topics.

While they were chatting for a while, Ibella put down her teacup.

“Your Highness… Do you know Marquis Jurgen?”

Rosena’s eyes widened at the unexpected name.

Marquis Jurgen was a close friend of her father and the owner of the letter she found in her father’s room.

When she saw the wax seal on the envelope, she knew it was the Marquis Jurgen.

But it had been a long time since she heard any news about him, and Marquis Jurgen was quite far from the capital.

She wanted to hear about her father from the marquis, but she couldn’t find an excuse to meet him.

Rosena looked at Ibella with a face wondering why she suddenly mentioned the Marquis. Then Ibella smiled brightly and said,

“He’s my father.”

Rosena looked at her for a moment, wondering if she had misheard.

“My father wants to see you.”

Rosena, who blinked slowly, opened her lips slightly.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t thought about asking about Ibella’s parents.

Since she’s Marchioness Lionel, she just guessed that her family must have been a pretty great family.

“What happened to the marquis…”

As Rosena blurted her words with a puzzled face, Ibella replied, caressing the teacup.

“In fact, the reason why I attended the second princess’ tea party last time was to meet you. My father asked me to.”

Her father had asked her earnestly, and she was going to go just to look at her face, but during that short time, Ibella was fascinated by Rosena.

And she thought she wanted to get along with Rosena, apart from her father’s request.

“I don’t know why, but my father told me that he was a close friend of Count Estarot.”

Rosena’s heart pounded. She couldn’t believe the marquis wanted to meet her first….. It was a great opportunity for Rosena, who had been waiting to meet him because she couldn’t go far alone.

“Since my father is coming to the capital on this Founding Day, I hope you will see him then.”

On Founding Day, most nobles of the empire came to the capital. Then she could have a natural meeting with the marquis.

Rosena smiled at Ibella.

“Of course.”

He might finally be able to reveal a secret that Rosena doesn’t know.

***

After Ibella returned, Rosena took her clothes and headed to the bathroom at the end of the Third Prince Palace.

It was the biggest bathroom in the Prince Palace, and there was a bathtub made of marble.

The Third Prince Palace was small, but the bathroom was large enough for several people to wash together.

She used it when she wanted to take a slow bath instead of a quick shower.

Rosena walked to the bathroom. As she opened the door, the bathroom was full of steam, perhaps the water had been preheated.

The view turned blurry for a moment because of the steam coming from inside.

Rosena immediately took off her tight riding suit.

She wanted to go into the water quickly because she sweated a little while walking through the forest.

And it was the moment when Rosena took off all her clothes and slowly turned to the bath.

“Rosena?”

Yerhan was looking at Rosena in the bath.

Rosena was so surprised that she looked at Yerhan without even thinking about screaming.

Yerhan, seen through the light water vapor, rose from the bath. He, like Rosena, was not wearing anything.

Perfect muscles from the neck to the waist hugged the body.

Drops of water dripped from the tip of his hair and fell on his body.

Rosena, who looked at his body unconsciously, apologized belatedly.

“I, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.”

She didn’t even feel any signs of presence, so she thought there was no one here.

She couldn’t believe she threw her clothes off as soon as she came in without even checking it….

Rosena was so embarrassed that she stuttered, her neck dyed red.

“… I, I’m leaving.”

Rosena picked up her clothes in a hurry. It was difficult to put on new clothes or to wear sweat-soaked riding clothes again, but in any case, getting out of this place was the priority.

The sound of water filled the bathroom vividly. Yerhan, who stood up, sat down again.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea to take a bath together…”

Sitting on the edge, he leaned on his arm and whispered.

“What do you think?”