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“Even though Your Majesty is not physically by my side, I believe you are in close proximity, allowing us to witness how our fortunes intertwine at this particular distance.”
“That’s an intriguing notion. The potential to influence one another despite the absence of physical proximity. If distance holds no significance…”
Naturally, that wasn’t the sole reason.
During his absence, Ainar must have been involved in something significant, as Lyna wouldn’t have been sitting idly, sipping tea.
She felt compelled to uncover the activities of the individual who had blackmailed Becky.
Even though she had settled all her debts, she couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling that she needed to unravel the mysteries surrounding the Bolsheiks.
How foolish she felt.
She acknowledged her foolishness, even while expressing her intentions to depart from the family, caught in sentimental emotions.
No. If she truly aimed to break free from her past obsessions before regressing, she had to resolve lingering matters.
It was only right for her to clean up the mess she had created.
“… Lyna?”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t you going to give me a handkerchief?”
“Why not?”
Lyna handed him a flawlessly clean handkerchief with a subtle sheen, a faint smile gracing her lips.
“May it bring you honor.”
She didn’t utter the customary words wishing him a safe return.
Because Ainar wouldn’t be in peril.
Ainar then touched the elegant name embroidered on the corner of the white handkerchief, wearing a slightly disappointed expression before speaking.
“Don’t you wish for my safe return?”
“There’s no need to wish.”
If a bystander were to hear it, they would have praised her words by referencing his legendary hunting competition record.
However, both Lyna, the speaker, and Ainar, the listener, knew that her words held a different meaning.
Lyna calmly tilted her head and added,
“Do you want me to vouch for you?”
If it weren’t for Ainar, she would have humbly bowed her head in response to her own words.
But, as expected, Ainar shamelessly nodded his head.
“Yes, I want you to speak for me.”
“Please return safely.”
It was a formal remark, lacking sincerity, but Ainar seemed content with it, emitting a soft laugh.
In response, a faint smile formed on Lyna’s lips, reminiscent of a toothless grin.
“I will bring you honor and ensure a safe return, as you desire.”
“I have no doubt.”
Hearing that there was not an ounce of doubt in her statement, for some reason, a fluttering sensation arose in Ainar’s heart.
She was merely stating a fact.
Because she was the only one who knew what kind of luck he possessed.
But why did Lyna’s belief bring him such pleasure?
Was it because she was the only one who shared a secret that no one else in the world knew?
Then, a hand—larger and rougher than the one that had passed the handkerchief—grasped Lyna’s wrist.
Before Lyna could react with surprise, Ainar deeply lowered his waist.
In the next instant,
With a significant shimmer in his blue eyes, his warm breath gently brushed against her cold palm, as if igniting a fire.
Ainar pressed a deep, very deep, kiss onto Lyna’s palm.
A gesture of utmost reverence towards the one to whom he would offer his triumphs.
Lyna gazed down at Ainar in that manner.
His breath emitted a comforting warmth that spread across her palm and seeped beneath the surface of her skin, tenderly enveloping her once-hardened heart.
Soon, Ainar, raising his head, gently pulled Lyna closer.
As he held her slender waist, small enough to be encircled by a single hand without any gaps, Lyna leaned in until their noses almost touched, and whispered.
“Did you have to do this?”
They had agreed to publicly declare their relationship in front of everyone gathered here.
Thus, they had boldly called each other’s names, ensuring that the exchange of the handkerchief was conspicuous.
However, she had no memory of consenting to such an intimate act.
As Lyna squinted her eyes, Ainar whispered with a smile.
“It wasn’t necessary. I just felt like it.”
Looking up at him, Lyna maintained her expressionless demeanor, but she couldn’t help but chuckle at Ainar’s ongoing explanation.
“I simply wanted to do this.”
Lyna’s gaze softened, and Ainar playfully added.
“Besides, it’ll surely annoy Smith even more.”
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason, but it was the only one he could articulate at the moment.
He himself hadn’t fully grasped the other reasons yet.
Ainar’s sincerity towards Lyna was still so faint and elusive that he couldn’t quite discern its essence.
“That’s a persuasive argument.”
At Lyna’s response, laced with a hint of laughter, Ainar released his hold on her waist and stepped back.
Respectfully, he lightly tapped the side of his chest twice with his fist before deftly wrapping the handkerchief, as delicate as a rose petal, around the sword’s hilt.
As a gust of wind blew, the edge of the handkerchief fluttered, causing him, in the midst of turning around, to hesitate.
Lyna had tugged at his sleeve.
Before Ainar could fully pivot, Lyna placed a feather-light kiss on his cheek.
“For luck.”
As her lips brushed against his skin, she whispered in his ear as she moved away.
“You know you didn’t have to go this far, right?”
In response to her brief remark and whispered words, Ainar laughed like the sun.
And a smile bloomed on the lips of Lyna, who bid him farewell.
The same thought arose in the minds of those who had been observing the two, who had indisputably become the central figures of this hunting competition, as if they had made an unspoken pact.
From affectionately addressing each other by name as soon as they met to exchanging a handkerchief while wishing for luck.
The circumstances were so transparent that there was no room for misunderstanding.
“Indeed, His Highness the Second Prince and Lady Bolsheik.”
They left their sentence unfinished, but it was evident to anyone.
The relationship between the two individuals was completely different from before when they had been indifferent to each other…
“It seems there was a reason why His Majesty the Emperor didn’t say anything significant.”
Unless they severed the one-sided relationship with the royal family, the emperor wouldn’t be able to exert pressure on the Bolsheiks.
“And the Duke of Bolsheik as well.”
In fact, from the Bolsheiks’ perspective, there would be no distinction between the third and second princes.
Both princes were powerless pawns.
“No, they say Lady Bolsheik firmly rejected him.”
“She wouldn’t go to such lengths if she rejected him…”
“Only the two of them know the intricacies of their relationship…”
Among the buzzing crowd, someone cautiously broached the topic.
“Does this mean that His Highness the Second Prince also has his eyes set on the Crown Prince’s position?”
No one responded.
Or rather, they couldn’t respond.
After a silence where everyone watched each other, an elderly individual broke the silence.
“Unless His Highness the Second Prince speaks up, no one will know for sure.”
As the official hunting competition commenced and participants gradually made their way into the forest, Jane, who had been quietly holding her breath amidst the crowd of servants, retrieved the robe she had concealed and discreetly donned it.
Since servants were generally prohibited from entering the hunting grounds, she couldn’t wander around in the distinctive uniform of a Bolsheik servant that Hans had obtained for her.
She let out a huff, taking one step and then another towards the forest, rubbing her chilled fingertips due to the nerves that gripped her.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to resort to more arduous methods. She could slip in during the midst of the hunt as originally planned and obtain what she needed without much difficulty.
“I got lucky.”
A few hours prior…
“Jane! Jane!”
Hans’s boisterous voice, panting and calling out for Jane, reverberated throughout the house.
“Jane! Come out quickly! It’s urgent!”
With his already imposing physique, waving his arms, and shouting, it was inevitable that the usually quiet and modest house would descend into chaos.
Startled, Jane exclaimed, “Hans.”
From within the house, a voice that displeased everyone resounded, but Hans didn’t shrink back or shut his mouth like he usually did.
In fact, he approached Jane with a brisk pace, frantically waving something in front of her.
“Hurry up! Get ready quickly!”
“What’s happened?” Jane’s voice, unusually composed, sharpened as even her serene expression gave way to a frown.
Only then did Hans hand over what he had been brandishing and speak.
“It’s a permit. The imposter Bolsheik is participating in the hunting competition!”
And now…
Jane had managed to fasten the first button, ready to administer the concoction she had prepared for the imposter who had assumed her rightful place—Lyna.
Since the recipe was exclusive to the Bolsheik household, no one would be able to discern the nature of the medicine she was concocting.
Furthermore, as nobody knew her true identity yet, her presence here would disappear without a trace.
Jane’s lips curled into a faint smile as she glanced at the Bolsheik ger.
She had only taken the first step, but she was resolute in reclaiming her rightful position.
“When the real one returns, the imposter must vanish.”
Jane’s smile grew even more faint as she made her way towards the forest.
However, unlike Jane, who was confident that she would go unnoticed, there was someone who immediately recognized her.
“Jane?”
A familiar name—one that was far too familiar—slipped through Lyna’s slightly parted lips.