Chapter 53

Inside the tent where the leaders had gathered, a tense atmosphere hung in the air. Everyone was holding their breath, only exchanging glances.

"Hahaha, it's not easy to marry off a son, is it?"

Leo III laughed heartily, taking control of the room.

"Whatever, let's leave the complicated matters to the experts and have a hearty drink as a nation. We need to understand each other first to negotiate, right? Let's share some interesting stories!"

The San Carlo nobles burst into laughter, following Leo III's lead. With the king himself breaking the tension, the Gallico Kingdom's envoys no longer put up resistance and joined in the laughter. They all raised their glasses of Gallico mountain champagne and toasted, but their palms and armpits were already damp. It seemed the negotiations would not be easy.

* * *

Prince Alfonso's situation unknown to her, Ariadne felt depressed and aimlessly rode along the narrow path at the edge of the hunting grounds. She was not a bad rider, but she was not particularly skilled or fond of hunting, so she had no intention of venturing deep into the forest. She was merely circling outside to avoid sitting with Lucrezia, Isabella, and Janobi inside the tent.

"Better to die than to suffer."

Ariadne was about to turn her horse back toward the tent when a piece of trash she thought was well-contained escaped.

"Hey, let's talk a bit."

It was Janobi. He had been chasing Ariadne, covered in dust. He rode a small, muscular horse and approached Ariadne. She frowned and took a step back.

"I have nothing to talk about with you."

"If I have something to say, then there is something to talk about!"

He tried to assert his dominance from the start, approaching roughly. Ariadne pulled on the reins to increase the distance between them.

"Control yourself. There are many eyes watching the hunting event. You don't want to cause a scene in a public place, do you?"

Janobi, thinking Ariadne was bringing up his past mistake, blushed. He was embarrassed by the incident at Ariadne's debutante ball where he whistled at her costume malfunction, drawing disapproving glares from the capital nobles. He resented Ariadne for reminding him of it. In his anger, he pushed her even harder.

"Who's here? If I bury you right now, no one will know."

Janobi rode his horse closer to Ariadne, his pony overlapping with her chestnut horse.

"You have a filthy mouth, don't you? Threatening to bury me? That's not a word a lady would use."

Ariadne thought, 'Isabella must have been whispering to him,' and lifted her chin, staring at Janobi with a calm demeanor. She decided to play it cool.

"What are you talking about? I don't know anything about it."

"Ha! Look at this girl. She has no conscience, lying with a dirty mouth!"

Janobi's voice grew louder, now shouting at Ariadne. He seemed to feel a sense of superiority and pleasure in his outburst. His violent behavior had a reason; he felt like a knight protecting the poor Isabella.

"If you don't know your place, you'll end up in a ditch without anyone noticing! I, Brother Janobi, won't let you torment the poor Isabella again!"

"Hmph!"

Ariadne laughed loudly. She understood why Janobi was so domineering. It was for Isabella, or more precisely, to impress Isabella. There was no way Janobi and Isabella could be true friends, and the only reason he was trying to impress her was clear. Realizing this, Janobi seemed even more despicable to her.

"Even if our appearances are crooked, let's speak straight."

Having assessed the situation, Ariadne changed her tone with Janobi. She calculated that he couldn't harm her. She had strength but chose not to show it and to avoid groveling. Being polite to everyone was a habit she had from her past life, but it wasn't a strategy of superiority. Sometimes, you need to step on vermin to make them realize they are vermin and stop acting up. Ariadne revealed her true feelings, a mix of exasperation and coldness, which she rarely showed.

At the same time, she turned her horse's reins. She didn't want to be alone with Janobi on the narrow path.

"You must be desperate to impress Isabella, but it's meaningless. Even if you pour out your guts, do you think Isabella will even glance at a scoundrel like you?"

Ariadne intended to gallop back to the tent. Janobi's horse was a pony for long distances, while hers was a swift steed. She wouldn't lose to him in speed.

"And I know why you're acting like this, but she's your real cousin. A dirty little brat."

Ariadne's horse pushed past Janobi's pony, heading to the opposite side of the path. Her horse was strong and could easily outpace Janobi's pony. All she needed to do was spur it on. Feeling safe, Ariadne turned to look at Janobi with disdain. She scanned him from head to toe and added a final remark.

"Fix yourself before meddling in others' affairs. You're a leech sucking others' blood. Aren't you ashamed of Aunt Lucrezia?"

This hit a nerve. Incompetence was one of the two major weaknesses Janobi tried to ignore, along with his appearance.

"Damn you! Shut up!"

But Ariadne's insults, fueled by her anger at being cursed, didn't stop there.

"Have you ever earned a single ducat with your own hands? You're a useless piece of human trash!"

This hurt. Janobi always dreamed of a life where he strutted around, successful, with the world's gold flowing to him like iron to a magnet, and everyone admiring and respecting him. But reality was a cesspool. Of course, the world was bad, and the knights didn't recognize his talent, but the fact was that he couldn't earn money. The longer this went on, the more he feared he might not be the great hero he imagined, and the more vicious he became. Enraged, Janobi approached Ariadne, snorting.

Ariadne, seeing Janobi's face turn red, quickly pulled the reins and spurred her horse to head back to the tent. Normally, this would have worked. If Janobi returned to the tent and lashed out at Ariadne, he was just a guest of the de Mare family and couldn't be rude to her. Complaining to Lucrezia wouldn't help, as Ariadne had mostly escaped Lucrezia's influence by receiving her expenses directly from the de Mare Cardinal. Janobi had no connections in the capital, so no one would believe him. He had no reputation to worry about. In short, if she avoided this situation, Janobi couldn't do anything to her. A man with nothing but his pride was the most detestable type.

But there was something she didn't predict. Janobi pulled out a hunting crossbow from his back. Ariadne, seeing the sharp, gleaming arrow, was shocked.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy? Shooting a crossbow at a person?!"

Turning back would make her an easy target. Ariadne spurred her horse into the nearby bushes for cover. But Janobi was too close. He aimed the crossbow at Ariadne's back and fired.

"Taste this, you rotten woman!"

He aimed for the horse's rump, but he was prepared for it to hit Ariadne's back if it had to.

- Thud!

The arrow, fired from a close range, embedded deeply into the horse's rump.

- Neigh!

The horse, startled, let out a long whinny and galloped into the forest, carrying Ariadne. Janobi, left alone, spat on the ground, feeling a mix of satisfaction and unease.

"Spit!"

The woman who dared to defy the great Janobi was in the wrong. The guilt of shooting a crossbow at a person was overshadowed by his anger at someone exposing his weaknesses. I did nothing wrong. That's it.

What if I get caught? It'll be fine. The arrow hit the horse's rump, not a person.

* * *

Cesare was searching the dark forest for animal tracks, his eyes keen and his attention focused. In the forest, animals hide deeply, so he had to listen carefully to every rustle of leaves and every sway of branches.

- Rustle!

- Neigh!

A chestnut horse galloped through the forest at a mad speed, drawing everyone's attention.

"What's that, my lord?"

A subordinate, with a hunting crossbow loaded with an arrow, aimed at the approaching horse and asked Cesare. Cesare, seeing the arrow, panicked and stopped his subordinate.

"It's a person, you fool! Don't shoot!"

Indeed, on the chestnut horse was a black-haired girl, gripping the reins tightly and hanging on for dear life. She seemed too exhausted to even scream. Her neatly braided hair was now a mess, flying in the wind as the horse galloped. Ariadne looked like she was running out of strength.

"She might fall off if we leave her like that."

Cesare looked at Ariadne. It seemed to be a contest between the horse and the rider, but the rider would likely fall first.

"I came to hunt, not to catch people."

After a moment's thought, Cesare spurred his horse forward.

"You all! If you see the 'Golden Deer,' don't catch it! Wait! Absolutely don't catch it! Don't let anyone else get it!"

His obsession with the 'Golden Deer' remained.

* * *

Ariadne was using all her strength to hold onto the reins and stay on the horse. The horse, despite the pain from the arrow in its rump, continued to buck. Each time it landed, she hoped it would calm down, but it always prepared for the next jump. Ariadne was feeling nauseous.

She was gripping the reins so tightly that her hands were bleeding, and it hurt every time the horse moved.

'Ah, this is too much.'

As she considered whether she would be badly injured if she let go and fell, a familiar tenor voice rang in her ear.

"Miss, relax! You can't overpower the horse!"

It was Cesare.

"Loosen your legs! The pressure from your thighs will scare the horse more!"

She followed the voice's instructions, relaxing her legs and relying on the stirrups.

"Good, well done! Lean forward! Your center of gravity is too far back!"

Despite her exhaustion, she tried to lean forward as Cesare instructed. However, as a thin teenage girl, she lacked the core strength to support her body with just her legs. Cesare, thinking from his own perspective, assumed this was possible, but the physical condition of a 20-year-old nobleman trained for war and a 10-year-old girl on a strict diet were vastly different.

As Ariadne followed Cesare's instructions to relax her thighs and rely on her feet, she inadvertently pulled the reins, causing the horse to buck even more.

- Neigh!

The horse was now in a small clearing deep in the hunting grounds, surrounded by fallen trees and rocks. It was circling and bucking, heading toward a fallen log.

Cesare's eyes widened. The horse was about to trip on a rock next to the log and fall.

"Danger!"

As if in sync with his warning, the horse stumbled.