Chapter 10
“Is this an annual event?”
At Ariella’s question, Dmitri lifted his head.
From where he sat above her, his face looked strangely youthful, almost boyish.
He paused briefly, then gave a clipped reply.
“…Yes.”
“What’s the atmosphere of the hunting festival like?”
“Nothing special.”
Ariella shut her mouth before pressing further.
Something about his expression warned her against it.
This is when I really need my chatterbox knight.
Gerald was the kind of man who preferred wagging his tongue to swinging a sword.
Though called a knight, in truth, he was little more than a sentry.
To serve within the palace, knights had to meet certain qualifications dictated by the Imperial House.
But on rare occasions, commoners with the right connections slipped in as lower-ranking knights.
They couldn’t rise in station or earn promotions, but it was considered a stable job.
Such men never went to war; their duties were reduced to menial tasks for the true knights.
Among them, standing guard atop the tower was the most trivial assignment.
But for Ariella, Gerald was like a vent for fresh air.
His love of talking, his endless chatter, had helped her survive countless painful, lonely hours.
The truly absurd part was that she didn’t even know his face.
At most, she’d glimpse his back when the maids opened the door to deliver her meals.
Yet the stories Gerald shared from the outside world were detailed, quick, and endlessly entertaining.
Simply put, he was a man with far too much curiosity.
If he were here now, she thought, he would have explained everything about this hunting festival in an instant.
She glanced around.
No one else seemed willing or able to guide her through this daunting moment.
Not that I could go around asking for a knight named Gerald.
That would be enough to start rumours that the Crown Princess was already keeping a lover before the wedding.
Lost in such thoughts, Ariella and Dmitri stepped out from the colonnade.
Soon after, they reached a broad path, wide enough for several carriages to pass abreast.
It was just as they entered this road that Dmitri spoke.
“When we arrive at the hunting grounds, stay right by my side.”
“What?”
Startled, she looked at him, but no further explanation came.
His expression had grown even darker, as though preparing for battle.
The tension prickled through her, tightening her chest.
The atmosphere shifted the moment they crossed into the hunting grounds.
Dmitri handed her his reins and swung himself onto his own horse.
Black jacket, sleek navy trousers, the proud bearing of his black stallion beneath him.
Gold-trimmed epaulettes and a shorter cloak than usual gave him an unmistakable, commanding air.
The arrogance of his figure erased every memory she’d had of his cruel demeanour.
What came to mind instead was the image of a general riding at the front of a battlefield.
He bent low, whispering something into his horse’s ear before stroking its mane with uncharacteristic gentleness.
A tyrant who communes with animals?
“You must care for that horse deeply.”
For a while, he said nothing, gaze fixed straight ahead.
He didn’t ignore her; rather, he seemed to weigh her words carefully.
Finally, he answered in a low, deliberate tone.
“Yes.
I suppose I do.”
It was such a simple statement, yet it sent an odd shiver through her chest.
Spring hunts were unpredictable.
Some days, not even the smallest animal could be found.
On others, one might stumble upon furious beasts just waking from hibernation.
Ariella lifted her eyes to the sky clear and bright, without a single cloud.
Already, hunters and spectators gathered in the clearing.
Perhaps sensing the charged atmosphere, her horse snorted and tossed its head uneasily.
She dismounted, realising both she and the animal needed water.
But then she felt the weight of a gaze pressing down on her.
Dmitri.
“Forget drawing a bow you’ll be lucky if the string doesn’t snap back and hurt you.”
His face was unreadable in most things, but his disapproval always shone clearly.
She had no rebuttal; she’d never even held a bow before.
Suddenly, Dmitri extended his arm toward her.
“This way.”
He meant for her to ride with him.
“What?
Why?
Is that really necessary?”
“When the horns sound, the horses will all bolt forward at once.
Fall from the saddle, and you might die on the spot.”
“D-Die?”
Surely he exaggerates… right?
Ariella cast her eyes around nervously.
Yet the grim set of everyone else’s expressions seemed to confirm his warning.
Then, from within a massive tent bearing the dragon standard, the Emperor appeared.
He ascended the platform with the languid gait of a well-fed predator.
Silence rippled across the hunting ground.
Frederick’s eyes swept the crowd pausing, for the briefest moment, on Ariella and Dmitri.
It was so fleeting she almost thought she imagined it, but chills coursed down her spine.
Frederick raised a hand, waving it twice.
“Ariella, come.”
Dmitri urged her again.
Hesitant, she stretched out her hand.
He leaned far toward her, grasped her firmly, and with startling ease, lifted her as though she were a dry leaf.
In an instant, she was seated before him on the towering black stallion.
Her heart hammered so violently it hurt.
“The hunting ground makes me more nervous than the battlefield.”
“W-Why?”
Her hands clung to the saddle.
“On the battlefield, the enemy is in front.
In the hunt, they’re behind.”
His low voice sank straight into her ear.
Her entire body stiffened.
“What do you?”
Before she could finish, a blaring horn shattered the forest air.
Hounds barked, men shouted, women laughed shrilly, and the thunder of hooves sent up choking clouds of dust.
Dmitri’s arm wrapped hard around her waist, pulling her tight against him.
His embrace, firm and unyielding, made her feel smaller than ever.
Without pause, he spurred his horse forward, and it leapt into a gallop.
It was her first time pressed so closely against a man’s body yet she had no room to think of such things.
Hhhk.
Though they started from behind, his prized stallion surged forward, overtaking others with ease.
Trees rushed at her like lunging giants, and wind slammed against her lungs.
“Keep a sharp watch on the right side.”
Right?
Which way was right again?
Blinking against the wind, she finally spotted Grey bounding ahead, other hounds trailing behind him.
Mud splashed as the horse thundered through a shallow pool.
Dmitri bent lower against her back.
“Say aloud whatever you see.”
His hot breath grazed her nape, heavy and intimate.
A deeper puddle loomed, and the stallion vaulted it in one great leap.
Ariella squeezed her eyes shut.
“Eyes open.
Right side.”
His command, whispered almost against her ear, carried the weight of warning.
The hounds barked wildly, some veering off in the opposite direction.
Her heart pounded in time with the horse’s hooves she couldn’t tell whose heartbeat it was, his or hers.
Gradually, her vision adjusted, and she began to take in her surroundings.
Triphina’s forest was unlike Forenze.
Even the sudden flight of birds felt foreign, unsettling.
Dmitri was already in control, dominating the hunt as effortlessly as he did the battlefield.
Riders thundered behind them, but none dared pass.
“Two o’clock.
Look.”
The thicket rustled violently.
Ariella called out, and Dmitri snapped his head toward it.
He yanked the reins, and the stallion slowed instantly, obeying with almost eerie silence.
She gasped, a sharp, metallic sound escaping her throat.
“Quiet.”
His broad hand covered her mouth.
She clutched at his arm instinctively, trembling.
A low chuckle vibrated against her back so fleeting she wondered if she’d imagined it.
As she turned to look, his hand slid to cradle the back of her head, pressing her face against his neck.
When the master stilled, even the stallion stilled.
She longed to peek, but he twisted just enough to bury her vision against his shoulder.
Time blurred.
With her sight blocked, every sense focused on the rhythm of breath.
Just as his rough exhalations grew oppressive, Dmitri’s chest heaved once.
Then came the harsh scrape of blade meeting flesh the unmistakable, gruesome sound of something being pierced.
Ariella jerked, desperate to see, but hi
s grip only tightened.
“Haa… haa…”
Her breath caught in her throat.
“Shhh.
It’s over.
You’re safe.”
His unfamiliar voice soothed her, then he whistled sharply into the air.
Only then did his hold relent enough for Ariella to lift her head, heart still pounding in terror.
