24 Chapter 24

4.5 Hunting

The butler of the capital residence of the Marquis Durak was surprised by Aurest's visit.

"If it's the Marquis Durak and Master Celtic, they have already gone out..."

Today, the Crown Prince and the Durak family were supposed to hunt in a hunting ground owned by the Imperial family. Because of that, the Durak family left for hunting early this morning. The Crown Prince had to be on the hunting ground by now. To the butler's question, Aurest replied with a polite smile.

"It wasn't until this morning that I remembered that there was a document I had to get from my uncle, but it seemed like our roads have crossed."

"Can you tell me what it is? I'll look it up."

"It's okay. You won't know. I'll take it myself." Aurest strode into Durak's private study.

It was well known among the nobility that Aurest followed his maternal uncle like a father, and that the Marquis Durak cared for his nephew like a son. The butler also knew him so well that he did not stop Aurest. A smile was erased on Aurest face the moment he got into his study. With a cold face, he searched the Marquis Durak's desk, drawers and bookshelves.

Aurest couldn't tell exactly what he was looking for. In fact, he didn't even want to find it. But unlike the wind, Aurest found what he was looking for. It was the contract between Marquis Bloomlodrin and Marquis Durak. Aurest read the contract carefully. He read it three or four times, memorized the punctuation, put the contract back in its place, and ran the horse to the hunting ground.

It was cloudy all over, but there was no sign of rain. The wind was soft and dry. After arriving at the hunting ground owned by the imperial family, Aureat jumped off the horse.

"Uncle! Celtic! Rain!"

"Has Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince come?" Ellace, the Marquis of Durak, warmly welcomed Aurest. The second son, Celtic, and the third daughter, Rain, were friendly to the Prince. The Marquis' wife and Little Marquis* stayed in the house to manage their estate, so there were only three Durak family members who attended the hunt.

(*little marquis is what the official heir of a Marquis was called)

It was time to take a break from driving the deer* for a while and getting tired. Aurest watered his horse and wiped it's fur by his hand. Ellace, Marquis of Durak, watched with his back.

(*like driving the deer so that they could hunt it)

"You still love that horse."

"This is a gift from my uncle. I should be able to handle it with care."

"I'm glad. So, didn't you give me it a name?" Aurest was unusually awkward.

"It's Snowflake."

The black horse has a white dot like a snowflake in the forehead, so it goes well with its appearance. It was also true, however, that the name was less dignified to attach to the words of the Crown Prince. But Marquis Durak laughed, thinking that Snowflake were much better than bluff names like Thunderstormer and Blizzard.

"Why don't you take care of your servants if you know how to take care of your own horse?"

"My uncle. I'm used to making fun of the knights, but I still don't know what to do with the officials. Please tell me if I have any mistakes."

"The Marquis Bloomlodrin did a great job in suppressing the rebellion of Rowental, but he refused to be rewarded by the Imperial family. He couldn't spare the loyalty and deprived him of what he had to return."

"Are you saying to give up Rowental's right to inherit?" To be precise, it was an invitation to 'make the Princess give up the inheritance rights of Rowenthal'. Anyway, the Princess was like a doll of the Crown Prince, so there wasn't much difference.

"Yes, I know it's a waste, but you have to give up for something bigger."

"Ahhh." Aurest stroked Snowflake's nose, spitting out meaningless sighs. If it had been the usual Aurest, it might have followed the words of Marquis Durak. Even if the Marquis Durak had the intention of profiting in the middle, he could have closed his eyes that much for his father-like man. It would have been if Celtic hadn't coveted what he shouldn't.

"Celtic. Are you hiding something from me?"

"What are you talking about suddenly? I'll tell Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince..."

Celtic sat down on a stump and checked the bow. He was a sharpshooter who could shoot a hawk flying in the sky, but he was always humble. Aurest asked stealthily, sitting next to Celtic, shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Don't mention the Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, don't mention the knight or whatever. Let's talk as a man-to-man, a friend-to-friend, a blood-stained family." He whispered in Celtic's ear. "Hey, my friend, my cousin, Celtic, Sally, little Durak... So how's my sister? Do you like her?" Celtic even blushed and smiled brightly.

''Aurest. I didn't know you already knew. I was going to say it slowly."

"Even if I don't know, there are so many rumors. Some people bet over when you will announce your engagement. What can I do with a pair that really go well together..."

Aurest said with a smile as if he had heard some good news, but he wasn't smiling inside out. He wanted to rip the mouths of all those who were talking about the scandal of the second son of the House of Durak and the Princess.

He didn't want to admit it, but Celtic Durak was well qualified as the husband of the Princess. If Aurest let it go, the two will surely unite in the blessings of all. He will dare not let that happen.

Why do they keep drooling over what he have, Celtic, Maternal Uncle?

If they were really his blood, they shouldn't have.

Never!

The Durak family will pay for coveting what they should not covet.

Aurest, who was moving alone, shuning others, settled under the shadowy bush. And quietly waited for the time. It was a fact that others did not know well, but he knew how to endure.

A stag with graceful outstretched horns appeared from the other side of the tree. The deer bowed its long neck to graze. As the rotten air was heard, the deer trembled and ran out suddenly.

Aurest took the bow and sword back and ran through the shadows to pursue the deer. The sound of breaking the wind was heard again and again. The deer who had been running for a long time fell down.

Aurest stopped, exhaling, looking down at the deer. The deer was lying on the floor with hot blood. It's body was studded with arrows with crossed black and gray arrows.

Celtic Durak was the only one wearing that arrow collar. The biting black and round eyes of the deer looked up at Aurest. Something similar to compassion easily touches Aurest's heart.

'Poor thing. You look miserable.'

Aurest laughed at self-help.

'No, am I in a position to pity someone? I'm betrayed by my relatives that I trusted, isn't it a ridiculous and miserable situation?'

Now he doesn't have much time. Soon the man with the arrow will come to check his prey. The deer was completely out of breath. The compassion-like thing that touched Aurest's heart disappeared without leaving a trace. From the quiver on his back, Aurest pulled an arrow that looked exactly like the one stuck in the deer's body. The Crown Prince clenched his teeth. And he stuck it on his shoulder.

5. The Spreading

"Oh, ahhhh!"

A man screamed.

"Idiot, jerk, jelly, slime!"

"Ugh, what the hell is the problem this time?" Jedis in her pants clenched her teeth and kicked Gereint out. Gereint screamed and escaped desperately. I squatted in front of the door and yawned loudly.

I heard someone being beaten, so I wonder if an assassin came to me, so when I woke up, the siblings were fighting. Even pretending to be, Jedis was overwhelmingly advantageous. I wasn't wanting to intervene in other people's family affairs, so I thought it would be better to go back to bed and even sleep.

"Why is Aurest' knight's here?" Suddenly I dozed off. Both the lady-in-waiting and the knight were speaking with lowered voices, so it could not be heard well if you did not concentrate. I stood close to the door.

"Ugh. It's His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince. Watch your language. Lord Gareth's ears are so damn bright like a real dog."

"Sir Gareth sneaked out with Asilah, so don't worry."

"It would be nice..." Jedis, who kicked Gereint once more, plunged into the floor. Gereint sat down next to Jedis' glances. A brief silence followed. Thanks to that, I dozed off.

"Gerry. It's not too late now. Consider changing to someone else."

"How did I come up here and say that?" Gereint shook his head fluttering. "We have our His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince. A lucky prince who doesn't have any brothers or high-ranking relatives to fight for the throne. It's safest to be under His Imperial Highness and who is likely to succeed." Jedis was silent for a moment.

"Why doesn't he have a younger sibling? He has our Imperial Highness."

"Your Imperial Highness? "Her" Imperial Highness the Princess?" Gereint laughed. "You don't mean it, do you?"

"She was a better person than what we heard..." Jedis turned, scratching her head. "Okay, I don't know. If you feed the Crown Prince five laxity, you won't have any hope*."

(*if he slacks off at Aurest, Aurest won't even give him any slight of hope)

"Don't go anywhere and say that. You can be a dog food*."

(*you can be someone who was minced very thinly and fed to a dog)

"Go ahead and ask what happened."

"I don't like it? It's obvious if you don't listen to His Imperial Highness' personality. So what did I say? Don't even dream of the Crown Prince. This handsome oppa* is all worried about you, but my foolish little sister doesn't even to what I am saying."

(*informal way of girls addressing their older brother)

A strong blow sound.

"I'm pissed on my poor oppa about being close to my Imperial Highness..." (Jedis)

"Shut up." (Gereint)

"Can you introduce me to a handsome, rich, and young knight?" (Jedis)

"If it's a handsome, rich, and young powerful person, I'm not interested." (Gereint)

"You are very subjective and your dreams are twisted." (Jedis)

Another hitting sound.

"You have no idea what happened outside today?" (Jedis)

"I've been shaving Sir Tristan all day, and I know a lot." (Gereint)

"Sir?*" (Jedis)

(*Jedis was wondering why Gereint was referring to Tristan as "Sir")

"Ah, it's a habit."

"Today the Crown Prince broke an appointment with the Marquis Bloomlodrin to watch a play."

"Whem, he must have been angry because he picked the play instead of the military. His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince may do that. So what?"

"The rich and cultured aristocrats. There's no place like a theater where rumors come and go faster. And the Crown Prince finally heard of Lord Celtic and Her Imperial Highness."

"So they are really together? Jedis. Do you know anything?"

"If there's anything going, there's something coming, right?"

"Okay."

Rock-paper-scissors!*

(*in korean, they said it as "가위, 바위, 부!" (kawi-bawi-bo!) two or more can play this. They will draw either rock, paper, or scissors, rock overpowers scissors, scissors overpowers paper, paper overpowers rock. I don't know if you have a version of it in your country too but in my country, we have, we do it as "Bato, bato, pick!")

Younger sister's side won.

Jedis waved beams in the air and performed a victory ceremony.