Chapter 52: I Stole Yeuju's First Love
Finally, the morning of the Hunting Festival arrived.
The festival lasts for five days, with the hunting competition taking place over three days and banquets held for the remaining two.
The hunting competition is held in the Golden Forest, which is managed by the royal family.
The trees in the Golden Forest have a unique property that blocks the flow of magic, making it an excellent place to test pure hunting skills.
'In other words, it's also a good place to assassinate someone.'
Because of this, the festival wasn't held for several years when Emperor Aster's regime was unstable.
This time, holding the Hunting Festival was almost a declaration that Aster's regime had solidified.
Apart from that, the Hunting Festival was also a celebration for couples.
Participants would gift their prey to the person they had their eye on, and if the person accepted, they would attend the banquet together.
"Miss, you need to get ready."
Lily's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
She was excited at the thought of trying on the dresses that had arrived recently.
"The shirt material looks really good."
The beige shirt was made of a soft and breathable material.
It was so light that it felt like I wasn't wearing anything, and it clung to my body.
I put on white pants and soft, well-polished leather boots.
Then Lily came out with a small wooden box, decorated with the royal crest in relief.
"This arrived a while ago."
She slightly opened the box, revealing a small necklace inside.
The pendant was a heart-shaped piece of blue magical stone.
'Even if I wear it with my hunting outfit, it won't be visible. Why did they give me a necklace as a gift?'
"There must be some other reason."
"Any gift is good. They said you should definitely wear it."
Since I was supposed to meet someone later, it didn't seem like a bad idea to wear it and show it to them.
I put on the necklace, fastened all the buttons on my shirt, and put on a dark gray jacket over it.
"I'll tie your hair up for you."
"Make it high, so it's not bothersome."
Lily skillfully brushed my hair and tied it up high.
My hair swayed pleasantly around my shoulders.
"By the way, the Duke left earlier."
I doubted my ears at Lily's words.
"Yes, he has been preparing for this hunting competition for a long time."
Yesterday, during dinner, there was no mention of him attending.
Moreover, Father usually dismissed hunting as barbaric.
"Early this morning. He said he needed to check something in advance."
He could have left with me, but his actions seemed suspicious.
With my suspicions, I got into the carriage with Lily and headed to the Golden Forest.
Father and I didn't have many secrets.
We weren't particularly close, but he had never deliberately hidden anything from me like this.
While lost in thought, the carriage had already reached the clearing at the entrance of the forest.
There were a few large tents and a platform prepared for people to rest.
As soon as I got out of the carriage, someone approached as if they had been waiting.
Daniel, dressed in a dark green hunting outfit, greeted me first.
Lily, who was standing beside me, gave him a light glare, but Daniel wasn't the type to back down from such a look.
I decided to give up and respond to him appropriately.
"Why are you here for the hunting competition?"
Daniel was a perfect humanities student.
Even though the academy held a hunting competition every year, he never attended except for the final year when it was mandatory.
"Heh, heh, heh. It just happened this way."
He laughed awkwardly, but I had a rough idea of the reason.
Tatiana must have asked him.
"Be careful not to get hurt."
In any case, it was none of my business, so I decided to pretend I didn't know.
When I turned my gaze, I saw the Duke's carriage approaching from a distance.
The carriage door opened, and Tatiana got out, holding Wilhelm's hand.
'Is the Duke not coming?'
Actually, if Wilhelm was representing the Duke's family, it wouldn't matter if Andrew didn't come.
But for someone who had been the subject of scandal, to send his beloved wife alone seemed odd.
"The Duke has been busy lately. He said he went on a business trip to the south."
My attention had already shifted from Tatiana and Wilhelm to something else.
The carriage carrying the servants who had come to attend to Tatiana had arrived.
As people started to get out, I looked for the woman I had seen in Robert's family portrait.
The woman with long, loosely tied auburn hair looked visibly bored.
It was clear to anyone that she didn't want to be there.
'If the conditions were right, she might be interested.'
I planned to meet her separately soon and left the spot.
"I need to talk to Father."
Daniel hurriedly bowed and stepped aside at the mention of Father.
I headed towards the Pioneira family's tent.
"Goodness... Lily, am I seeing this right?"
"Yes, it's the Duke. He went out in that outfit this morning."
Father, who disliked hunting even more than Daniel, was dressed properly for the occasion.
His stiff-looking purple jacket seemed to be a recent design, suggesting he had it tailored recently. Moreover, he held a well-polished, shiny gun, looking quite serious.
I quickly approached Father.
Father, spotting me from a distance, blushed and hid his gun behind his back.
"Father, what are you doing here?"
"Huh? I came to participate in the hunting competition..."
His evasive gaze confirmed that he had other motives.
"Why did you suddenly decide to participate when you didn't say anything yesterday?"
"Well, just because. It hasn't been held for a long time."
His attempt to dodge the question was highly suspicious.
He must want to gift prey to someone.
A voice I never expected to hear here rang out.
I turned around to see Mother, wearing a similar jacket to Father, approaching me with a wide smile.
"Oh, I didn't know you were also attending, dear?"
"Um, I didn't know Mother and Father were attending either."
Mother looked flustered and avoided my gaze.
I narrowed my eyes and looked back and forth between them. Something must have happened while I was busy with other things.
"Miss, the opening ceremony will start soon. Would you like to meet His Majesty in advance?"
Lily, who had been observing the situation, quickly interjected.
"No, I think he'll be busy with preparations, so I'll meet him after the competition ends."
Lily's attempt to help was in vain.
However, Aster saved them.
"Everyone, please come out as the opening ceremony is about to begin."
At the butler's announcement, I whispered in a low voice.
"After today's schedule, you must tell me what has been going on."
People started to gather below the platform.
I scanned the area around where Tatiana was standing. Raymond was smiling charmingly and trying to please her.
'Wilhelm's eyes must be shooting sparks.'
I saw Wilhelm glaring at Raymond and Daniel standing a bit away from them.
'Why is he acting so weird over there?'
He kept looking around as if he had done something wrong.
Moreover, he was strangely keeping his distance from Tatiana.
Under normal circumstances, he would have joined the group without hesitation and tried to get her attention.
"His Majesty, please come forward!"
At the butler's loud voice, I turned my gaze.
Aster, who had climbed up the high platform, was wearing a hunting outfit of the same color and similar design to mine.
Due to the intense workload over the past few weeks, he looked even sharper than usual.
"I am delighted to finally open the Golden Forest, which I haven't shown you for a long time. I am also deeply moved to give the opening speech for the traditional hunting festival that has been held for many years."
The opening ceremony began with Aster's casual remarks.
The hunting competition lasted for three days.
The first day was for the women's division, the second for the men's, and the last day for the mixed division.
The women's division was originally less popular, but it started to gain explosive popularity from the year I graduated from the academy.
Thanks to the heroic efforts of the male leads who rushed to protect Tatiana during the academy's hunting competition that year.
"I hope all of you will have good results in the hunting competition that will take place over the next three days."
After a short opening speech, Aster smiled with a slight twinkle in his eye.