“I heard your injury is bad enough that you can’t ride a horse, so I thought we ought to visit you ourselves,” said the king.
“Though under ordinary circumstances it should be you coming to His Majesty’s pavilion,” added the queen.
They were sitting on seats hurriedly prepared by May and the guards.
“Thank you for your kind visit, Your Majesties,” replied Estelle, her face pale.
The king and queen’s visit was not unlike a surprise attack. Not only Estelle, but also her aides were all pallid. Sierra was the only one who looked no different from usual, her mana included.
“We are grateful that you took the time to come here. Though I have heard Your Majesty is unwell too...” said Sierra.
At that, Sachis shrugged, looking tired of the topic. “Was unwell, to be precise. I’m fine already, but people around me make a fuss about it and won’t let me into the forest.”
Sachis wasn’t participating in the hunt this time. Officially, it was because he’d caught a cold a week prior and still hadn’t fully recovered. However, the hushed talks of his failing health from when he’d first collapsed were threatening to come up again.
As he was before Estelle now, his complexion didn’t look unhealthy, but considering it was possible to hide the paleness of cheeks and lips with makeup, she couldn’t know for sure.
“It has been quite a while since I last saw you, Lady Sierra,” said Truteliese, covering the lower half of her face with the folding fan in her hand.
“It certainly has. Assisting my son and other matters have left me rather busy, so I have not been able to visit in a long time,” Sierra replied.
“Oh, I must admit I thought you were avoiding me, since you didn’t come see me for so long.”
“I apologize if it felt that way. As ever, you have my love and respect, Your Majesty.”
“Why, I’m most pleased to hear that, if you’re telling the truth.”
There were smiles on Sierra and Truteliese’s faces as they had their chilling exchange. Both their mana was dark, and Estelle could tell at a glance they hated each other. The fact both of them were beautiful made their back-and-forth rather intense.
“As for you, Lady Estelle, I suppose I haven’t seen you since the memorial service.”
With the queen setting her sights on Estelle, the latter grew nervous.
“That is correct, Your Majesty. Thank you for inviting me to the royal seats that day.”
“Yes, you weren’t supposed to be able to sit there yet. He’s such a troublemaker. And then you up and leave because you feel unwell. Perhaps His Majesty collapsed because he caught your cold.”
“I apologize if that was the case,” replied Estelle after a pause.
The queen’s words were strict. Oddly enough, however, her mana wasn’t all that dark. Although it was dark, Estelle felt like it wasn’t as dark as the queen’s words either.
She was strange today. The mismatch between the queen’s mana and what she said was the same as it had been at the opera house.
“Enough, Truteliese. My fever began more than a week after the service. I don’t suspect I caught it from Lady Estelle,” Sachis cut in.
Every time Estelle saw Sachis, the negative emotions he felt toward her subsided more and more. She didn’t know if he’d given up or approved of her, but either way, she was happy about it.
“I wasn’t blaming her,” said the queen. “I simply heard she came down with a cold on a different occasion afterward, so I was worried she might have a weak constitution.” Looking embarrassed, she snapped shut the folding fan in her hand.
Sighing at her high-handed and hostile attitude, Sachis stepped in again to mediate. “Lady Sierra, Lady Estelle, I believe it’s about time we took our leave. Truteliese, I know you want to talk to Lady Estelle more, but we should be going back to our pavilion soon.”
Making a bored face at his words, the queen got up.
“Thank you for your visit,” Estelle said once again. She was about to get up in a hurry in order to see them off, but Sachis stopped her.
“No need. Your foot hurts, does it not?”
Giving Estelle a smile, Sachis left the pavilion together with Truteliese and his bodyguards, known as the Sovereign’s Guard.
✦ ✦ ✦
Liedis was irritated, because Lucius, the chief officer of his palace, hadn’t planned things well, leaving Liedis unable to set off deeper into the forest.
While the hunting contest was a military exercise, it was also a competition: participants earned points for hunted game, depending on type and weight. This forest had various kinds of wild animals. Hunting bears would earn you the most points, with deer coming in second.
Liedis wanted to head deeper in as soon as possible in order to get the highest score. For as long as he could remember, Liedis had always had to be superior to his half brother. He’d always been compared to the way his half brother had previously done in all fields—not just studies, but his physical ability and aptitude in art too.
Fortunately, Liedis had proven more talented in almost everything. Pretty much the only area in which he couldn’t win was playing musical instruments.
Which was why everyone around him said Liedis should become the next king. He agreed with that notion. It was in Rosalia’s best interests that the superior man sat on the throne. And yet, his father wouldn’t accept the application submitted by Duke Marwick—Liedis’s maternal grandfather—to change the order of inheritance.
That was because, even though he was superior to everyone, had ample mana, a special power, and stronger backing than his half brother, the law of inheritance prioritized the oldest sibling. And Sachis had said there would have to be a good reason to pervert the law.
Liedis had to continually prove his superiority over his half brother. Which was why his patience was at its limit as he was stuck at the entrance to the forest.
He’d taken a break from the Royal College and joined this hunting contest because Duke Marwick had strongly requested it. His grandfather must’ve wanted to take as many opportunities to display Liedis’s superiority over Arcrayne as possible for the next three years, until Liedis became an adult.
“Hey, when will things be ready? My brother must be killing game as we speak,” he said irritably.
No matter how outstanding Liedis was, he might not be able to win against his half brother if he didn’t have enough time to search for game.
“My apologies, Your Highness. I shall accept full responsibility. Please wait a little longer,” replied Lucius, bowing with a humble look on his face.
If Liedis ended up losing to Arcrayne, Lucius would surely be punished by the duke. All employees of Liedis’s palace were related to Duke Marwick.
Frankly, Liedis couldn’t come to like that part of his grandfather. He found it unpleasant that they could be mercilessly replaced at any moment if the duke wished so, no matter how much Liedis liked them.
Unfortunately, however, Liedis currently didn’t have the authority to manage the personnel of his Aquarius Palace. His birth mother Queen Truteliese held that right at the moment.
She was his grandfather’s puppet. She couldn’t oppose him, though that may have been only natural in Rosalia where women didn’t have much power.
Liedis didn’t hate his grandfather, who was nice to him, but as he had gotten older, the prince came to notice things about him that he didn’t like. Frankly, sometimes he was bothered by how his grandfather tried to always be in control and have his way, as well as by his grandfather’s nationalism.
When he became an adult, he would be less shackled by his grandfather and have more freedom. One part of it would be the authority to manage the employees of the Aquarius Palace. Liedis couldn’t wait to grow up.
Hunting at these contests was generally done in pairs of hunting dogs and huntsmen; the former would drive the game toward its master, who would then shoot the prey.
As Liedis waited in annoyance, wondering when things would finally be ready, one of his palace’s senior staff ran up to Lucius and whispered something in his ear.
“Your Highness,” said Lucius, approaching the prince.
“Is everything finally ready?” Liedis asked.
“It is. You will not be able to find better game than the kind which shall appear before you shortly. Please use this.”
Lucius handed the prince a heavy saber.