“Your Highness!”
The brown mare carrying Anya skillfully leaped over fallen tree trunk debris, dodged rocks, and galloped north beyond the Lake of Memory. So fast and nimble was she that Bluoa, chasing after them, had to suffer scratches from tree branches several times. Had he changed his mind about participating in the hunt after showing such a lukewarm attitude throughout with that half-dead face?
The way he spurred his horse appeared almost fierce. Recalling Raniel’s ugly lips gritting his teeth beneath his helmet, Bluoa couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. It was satisfying to see that perpetually irritating Imperial Knights Commander making such an expression.
“Shh.”
Bluoa hastily pulled the reins to stop his horse. While he had been momentarily distracted, Anya had already dismounted and was carefully examining footprints stamped in the mud. Bluoa deliberately stood close beside Anya, pretending to be nonchalant. Not having taken Anya’s side earlier remained uncomfortably lodged in his throat like a fishbone of debt.
“You can read these things too?”
Gentle eyes briefly rested on Bluoa’s face. It was an expression that seemed to ask why he was still following, but unfortunately, Bluoa was a man who knew no shame. He was someone born holding power that allowed him to never know shame his entire life. Bluoa smiled brightly and knelt beside Anya, crouching down together.
“What is this?”
The White Forest, belonging to a temperate climate, became muggy throughout when summer came, as if holding moisture. So the ground became damp as if retaining water, which made it easy for animals or humans to leave traces. Anya’s hand rested over the footprint stamped in the mud. His gaze briefly lingered on the hand covered in quite a few scars for a prince. The delicate hand was a mess of large and small wounds.
“B-Bluoa, sir?”
“Ah… I was momentarily lost in thought… Please continue.”
For someone carrying a child, he certainly looked pitiful enough to evoke sympathy. Bluoa also had mistresses who occasionally came to him claiming to be pregnant, and even though it was clear the child wasn’t his, he always did his best to provide generous support. Of course, there was Madame Shonda’s tremendous nagging and sharp glares.
“It’s s-similar to a deer… but much larger. It’s probably a r-reindeer.”
Bluoa shook his head while looking at the white cheek, still not completely rid of baby fuzz, glimpsed between the flowing long hair. Well now, am I the one who has to protect him?
“You even know deer footprints?”
He decided to escape from his thoughts and focus on this situation.
“My t-teacher is someone who knows a l-lot about this and that.”
While wandering the forest with Sabelli, Anya had picked up not only magic and swordsmanship but various other things. Beyond the lake of Tildyen, the forest had no particular life force detected, but when spring came, many things returned, he had said. And because humans were the most fragile beings within it, to survive, one must listen carefully to the many pieces of information the forest provided, Sabelli had said.
Chewing tobacco leaves across the campfire, he had added that while the forest sometimes gives humans their daily bread, sometimes without realizing it, humans themselves become the bread and get eaten, so one must be careful.
“Teacher? Ah, Tildyen has scholars too. But there’s not just reindeer footprints here.”
Bluoa, as if already assimilated to Anya, similarly traced the marks left by the forest’s living creatures beside him.
“R-right. Looking here, these footprints…”
Among dozens of reindeer footprints stamped chaotically, other faint footprints were mixed in here and there. Sabelli had taught him many common footprints seen in the forest, but he’d never seen these before. Perhaps they were beasts that only inhabited the White Forest.
“They’re quite large.”
As Bluoa said, they were much larger than the reindeer footprints. And other footprints were visible too, similar to human footprints. But somehow they were closer to bare feet than shoe prints. Had there been anyone among those attending the hunt who went barefoot? Considering propriety, it would be unusual for anyone to do such a thing at a hunt where everyone was watching.
Anya, who had been sweeping his hand once across the ground, tilted his head at the stickiness he suddenly felt. Red blood stained Anya’s fingers.
“What is this…?”
Bluoa asked in alarm. Anya quietly looked at his hand. Was it reindeer blood? Then were these human footprints left by knights under Royster? Had they gone out hunting reindeer again? Anya recalled the black eyes that had gleamed beyond the rocks. That moment when the sparkling eyes had fallen with a death cry—even recalling it again made his mood sink terribly.
“I need to f-follow these footprints.”
When the sun was covered by clouds, occasionally deep darkness would visit the forest. As the surroundings darkened in an instant, a flock of crows flew up from the north, crying noisily caw caw. When anxiety was detected in Bluoa’s eyes, Anya untied a bag from Mil’s saddle and handed it to him.
“It’s the B-Black Serpent. I’ll go a-alone from here.”
Bluoa grasped the bag with a reluctant expression.
“Your Highness, if you go further north from here, you’ll reach the necromancer’s ruins. That’s cursed territory even within the White Forest. I don’t think we should go.”
The combination of tangled footprints was very strange. Whether the bloodstains belonged to reindeer, humans, or some unknown beast, it needed to be investigated.
“Besides… aren’t you pregnant?”
Bluoa suddenly blurted this out while firmly grasping Anya’s wrist. Anya took a deep breath, exhaled only half, and removed Bluoa’s hand. Thanks to that, his agitation was concealed without showing.
“I’m not… pr-pregnant. Stop spreading f-false rumors.”
His face, completely hardened, showed a firm warning light, but it also looked fragile like glass that would easily shatter the moment a small crack formed.
“Fine. Let’s say you’re not. But we can’t go there by ourselves. No, we mustn’t. Let’s call Lord Evernight.”
“L-Lord Evernight?”
“Do you think your husband would really stay still if he heard this story? He’d jump up and more.”
Though he spoke boldly, even Bluoa couldn’t be certain as he trailed off. This time Anya grabbed Bluoa’s wrist.
“Even if you c-call him, that person w-won’t come. Anyway…”
Anya gritted his teeth and spoke as if chewing out each word. Even trying to calm down, the moment Evernight’s name came up, he couldn’t withstand the waves that rushed in suddenly, like someone throwing a stone into a calm lake. The corners of Bluoa’s eyes narrowed thinly.
“No, he needs to know about this. If he finds out later, it’ll only cause bigger trouble.”
While they faced off in tension for several minutes, the forest gradually grew darker, and the two didn’t notice the energy. So they didn’t even catch the sound of hoofbeats galloping toward them.
“Your Highness!”
Bluoa was startled at the sight of a horse charging fiercely from behind Anya and hastily snatched Anya’s arm, confining him in his embrace. The two bodies tangled together as they fell sideways and rolled once.
“Are you alright!”
Bluoa checked on Anya in alarm. He examined various places like arms and legs to see if Anya was hurt. Then he raised his head, and they were both flustered at the gaze they met in that instant. Anya’s face had turned deathly pale as he instinctively wrapped his arms around his lower abdomen.
“Aaaah!”
The person who had hurriedly stopped their horse came running hastily while screaming, “I’m sorry!”
“…Lord Sisou?”
“Your Highness?”
That person was surprisingly Sisou. Dazed at the sudden encounter for only a moment, soon a black warhorse appeared beyond Sisou’s shoulder. At the same time, the ground shook faintly. Anya thought perhaps his own heart was shaking along with it.
“……”
Hair as dark as night fluttering in the breeze, the metallic sound of finely crafted gray armor fitting snugly against his body clashing, the black cloak swaying gently among the rustling leaves, and those blue eyes that furrowed slightly the moment they met his own. All of these things together made Anya’s heart sink with a thud.
“Lord Bluoa Shonda.”
Evernight’s voice was calmly subdued as if frosted.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
His cool gaze rested briefly on Bluoa’s hand placed on Anya’s waist, then pierced into Anya’s face. It looked exactly like a reproachful gaze, so Anya quickly removed the hand resting on his belly.
“What do you mean, what? I’m supporting someone who’s hurt.”
Bluoa seemed flustered at Evernight’s appearance but soon regained his composure. Your Highness, you’re alright, aren’t you? Try standing up. Like a caring older brother fussily looking after a younger sibling, he helped Anya stand. The hem of Anya’s clothes around the waist area, caught in Bluoa’s grip, was crumpled in the shape of his fingers.
“I’m f-fine. J-just let go.”
Anya hastily got up from his position while watching Evernight’s reaction. Suddenly his lower abdomen was pulled strongly and a groan, “Hk,” escaped without him realizing.
“Are you really sure you’re alright?”
Bluoa knelt down in front in surprise and almost embraced Anya while pressing firmly around his waist area, asking “Is it around here?”
“That’s enough, Lord Bluoa.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
Bluoa answered Evernight somewhat perfunctorily while not taking his eyes off Anya. His well-shaped hand pressed around Anya’s waist area like a massage. Sisou swallowed and alternately looked at Bluoa and Evernight. He could see his lord’s jaw muscles twitching. Evernight, who had leaped down from his warhorse, walked over heavily and roughly removed Bluoa’s hand from Anya.
“You’re startled. Stop it.”
At the sudden informal speech, Bluoa’s eyes widened slightly.
