83. Hunting Competition (1)

“Eek.”

“No, needlessly taking life is what’s truly ignorant. Let’s not do things like hunting anymore.”

“Hunting is a traditional pastime in the North. Everyone has finally come to accept me, but what if they start looking down on me again because I’m afraid of something so trivial?”

“What rude fellow?”

Bang!

The loud noise that shook heaven and earth started again.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear what you just said.”

“Looking down on you? Who would do that? You’re already the Grand Duchess of the North.”

“Darius……”

I felt grateful that he was protecting me, but also worried. What if the guests really did look down on the Grand Duchess for being weak?

“Stay with me today. Your duty is fulfilled by just lying down with me in the tent.”

“Is that really okay?”

“Of course it is.”

The sense of responsibility to maintain my place as the Grand Duchess and the fear from the noise made me hesitate.

Bang!

“Huk!”

My hesitation didn’t last long. With the continuous gunshots, I quickly buried myself in Darius’s arms.

“Then, please stay with me for a moment.”

“Of course, I’ll stay with you until I calm down. Come, let’s go to the tent.”

With my eyes tightly shut in Darius’s arms, trembling at the gunshots, I didn’t notice how people were looking at us.

“They say he’s like a rabbit and his wife is like a fox.”

“Here, it’s a fox-like husband and a rabbit-like wife.”

“Anyway, male foxes are the scariest.”

“Stop saying useless things about our lord and quickly fill up the prey. Including the Grand Duke’s share, hurry.”

“Yes, yes. Some people are just bitter because they don’t have a wife.”

“Should I hug you instead? Sir Calvin, I’m so scared of the gunshots!”

“I don’t want you, you idiot!”

* * *

Darius laid me down in the tent and held my hand.

“Are you feeling better now? Should I make the tent darker?”

“I don’t usually get startled by loud noises. Today is strangely……”

Since when had I been afraid of gunshots? Did I ever have such a habit?

〈……nette.〉

〈……Anette. ……I’ll wait…… above.〉

〈……ta-tang. Bang. Don’t worry about…… this later……〉

Ah.

‘My head hurts.’

Whenever I heard gunshots, something tried to surface in my mind, but as if warning me not to remember, a headache would come and throb in my head.

“Alexander seems to be getting along well with Rose because of his gentle personality. Who would have thought such a gentle Alexander would have such a difficult godfather.”

“What?”

“Count Alexei. The godfather of the Eastern Count’s heir.”

The man who had been constantly picking fights with Darius at the hunting ground was Count Alexei, the godfather of Alexander, who was about to get engaged to Rose.

I had thought he was a good person who guided his orphaned godson to the harsh North at such a young age, but he turned out to be a terribly unpleasant person.

〈Hmph, why on earth should my godson get engaged to someone from this unremarkable rural place!〉

〈Ugh, what’s this smell? Why is there manure smell in the garden…… How uncultured!〉

Since arriving in the North, he had been nothing but confrontational.

Among the targets of Count Alexei’s criticism was the cotton field I was researching, trying to somehow make the seeds sprout.

〈Even in this bleak North, beauty exists. Why haven’t I seen someone like you at court until now? You’re too beautiful a jewel for the North to hold. I’m grateful for this connection, even if it’s only now.〉

So when Count Alexei greeted me with excessive flattery, I was already in a bad mood.

〈I’m not a jewel. I’m a woman who smells of soil. My level seems to match perfectly with our precious Northern people.〉

〈What……?〉

〈If I have any beauty, it would be my heart that tries to live with the Northern people without looking down on the North. The manure-spread field that you just said doesn’t match the Grand Duke’s garden is a field I’m personally researching. I’m studying crops that could help the Northern climate.〉

Apart from his twisted personality, Count Alexei was an exceptionally handsome man. He didn’t seem used to being rejected by women and didn’t truly believe my rejection.

Recalling that memory, I complained to Darius.

“That person acts strangely.”

Count Alexei kept criticizing the North at every opportunity, while on the other hand, he constantly complimented me.

Asking if I was bored living here, saying I must surely regret not having debuted at a court ball before coming down to the North. His compliments had obvious intentions.

“What did he do to you?”

“Nothing like that.”

Darius’s expression immediately hardened. Darius had already been upset by Count Alexei’s blatant flirtations directed at me.

“How could such a person be the princess’s fiancé?”

“Indeed.”

Darius quickly replied.

The late king’s youngest daughter had chosen him as her fiancé based solely on his appearance.

Since he knew this reason himself, he probably felt inferior to Darius, who had not only looks but also ability.

Outside the tent, the sound of gunshots could be heard very faintly. Staying close to Darius, those sounds no longer bothered me much.

Unlike most people in this era who mainly fought with arrows and swords, Count Alexei used advanced technology.

A gun. People called Count Alexei, who used this strange weapon, the shooter of magic bullets.

“What about your hunting, Darius? Really?”

“That’s fine.”

“Stop saying that and go out now. You should catch at least one.”

Darius burst into laughter.

“It really will be fine. I have good connections.”

* * *

“The winner, Darius Inkheart! The Grand Duke of Inkheart is today’s hunting competition champion!”

“Thank you. I’m even happier that everyone seems to have enjoyed today’s hunting competition.”

“Woooo!”

While everyone cheered, only Count Alexei gaped in disbelief.

“This is absurd! How can the Grand Duke of Inkheart be the winner!”

“What’s absurd? Can’t Count Alexei see the mountain of prey piled in front of the Grand Duke’s tent? It looks like the most here to anyone.”

“When the hunting competition results are determined by the amount of prey, what’s there to be unsatisfied about?”

As Count Alexei complained, the Northern people started to chime in.

“Today the Grand Duke didn’t even aim a single arrow himself!”

“How would the Count know that?”

“Since prey doesn’t just go and lie down by itself, the Grand Duke must have shot them when Count Alexei wasn’t looking.”

“Our Grand Duke is such an outstanding warrior, that’s nothing special.”

“Eeek, even if he secretly shot once or twice, does the amount of prey make any sense!”

The Count shouted, increasingly agitated, but no one took his side.

“My, Count Alexei, I thought you were concentrating on your own hunting, but you were actually focusing all your attention on the Grand Duke’s hunting?”

“No wonder he kept missing. He shot a lot, but the results were……”

“He was just noisy. All the animals ran away.”

Count Alexei was already disliked by the Northern people. Someone who constantly compared the North unfavorably to the capital whenever he opened his mouth couldn’t possibly be liked at this hunting ground.

Meanwhile, Darius remained calm.

“Isn’t the winner the one who caught the most prey, regardless of the method used?”

“You, you call yourself a warrior! Aren’t you ashamed of this result!”

“Ashamed?”

Darius smiled.

“I achieved with my reputation and virtue what the Count couldn’t achieve despite sweating and scouring the entire hunting ground. What is there to be ashamed of? Perhaps the Count thinks I should have chosen noble methods and lost for the sake of a guest’s honor?”

“To receive help from others is a warrior’s disgrace!”

“As I understand it, the Count included prey caught in traps in his count. Who dug those traps for you?”

“That was just using capture frames…!”

“Yes, I merely used my knights as ‘capture frames.’ Since Inkheart prepared the hunting competition, I happened to have more ‘capture frames’ than the Count.”

Darius had not left my side all day. He hadn’t touched the hunting at all, but when we came out of the tent in the evening, prey was lying in front of our tent, already pierced by arrows.

‘He said there was nothing to worry about.’

“Is this really worth making such a fuss about? It’s just a hunt for socializing. How ugly.”

“He should behave more quietly. Making a scene in someone else’s territory.”

“What can we do with someone so obsessed with such things…… You know his nickname, right?”

People whispered.

Count Alexei’s face contorted. Watching that face closely, Darius spoke leisurely.

“I may be the winner, but as a host, I can’t ruin a guest’s mood. Let’s do this. The win wasn’t that important to me anyway, so Count Alexei can take the prize. That should satisfy you, right?”

“No need, who would want such a…!”

“The Grand Duke graciously yielded, yet he’s still being petty.”

“Just stop already. What more does he want?”

Under people’s criticism, Count Alexei finally had to accept the prize reluctantly.

“The award will be presented by Lady Anette of Inkheart.”

“Despite all the talk, thank you for participating in today’s hunting competition, Count Alexei.”

“Thank…… you…… for allowing me…… to participate in this…… good opportunity.”

The Count’s face was understandably unhappy as he received the prize.

After the award ceremony ended, as we were cleaning up to leave, Darius approached and said,

“I forgot that Anette would be presenting the award. I shouldn’t have given up the prize.”

“Stop teasing the Count. He was thoroughly humiliated today.”

“Anette, you just made a wrong choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“Defending another man to stop your husband from criticizing him is not the right choice. It makes me jealous.”

I could clearly see that Darius was pretending to be upset, but grateful for his company today, I played along.

“Then what’s the right choice?”

“You should stop my mouth.”

“I can’t stop it with words.”

“Physically, then.”