The first corner Kalintz had pointed out was drawing near, and Blair sharpened her focus.

She was readjusting her grip to take the corner with as little lost speed as possible, when it happened.

“Kyaaaaaah—!!!”

A piercing scream tore through the air from behind. Tilda’s voice. Blair yanked the reins hard to slow down and looked back.

Tilda’s horse had lost control and was thrashing wildly. Selina’s runaway horse had apparently startled Tilda’s as well.

“Help me!! I’m scared!!!”

Tilda’s screaming and flailing only made her horse more frantic. If she fell from that height, she could be seriously hurt.

Blair hesitated for a moment, then looked ahead again. Olivia, still in the lead, had also turned at the sound of Tilda’s screaming. But she quickly snapped her head forward and rode on, pretending not to have seen.

“Unbelievable. She’s something else.”

Blair muttered the words like a curse, then wheeled Fitz around and started riding back. Far in the distance, she could see Kalintz finally spurring Nox into motion from the starting line.

“Tilda!! Stop screaming and stop struggling! You’re making the horse worse!”

Blair shouted until her throat burned. But Tilda had already gone into a panic and couldn’t hear her.

Blair drove Fitz at full speed and reached Tilda, then began talking her down with as steady a voice as she could manage.

“Tilda, trust me! You have to go limp. The horse is too worked up right now!”

“Blair? P-please help me! I feel like I’m going to die!”

Tilda screamed, her face streaked with tears.

“You actually will if you keep this up! Close your mouth first, lower your body! Stop pulling the reins like that!”

Tilda fought down the scream rising in her throat and forced herself to listen. The horse, which had been rearing and thrashing, gradually began to calm, and soon settled.

“There! Tilda, it’s all right now!”

But Tilda had nothing left. She didn’t hear Blair’s words and slumped forward in the saddle, half-unconscious.

The sight of her was alarming, but Ernst arrived not long after and quickly pulled Tilda down from the horse and steadied her.

“Sir Werner!”

Blair dismounted and ran to Tilda.

“She appears to be exhausted. I don’t see any serious injuries.”

Ernst looked Tilda over carefully and let out a short breath of relief. Then another set of hoofbeats closed in fast.

“Ernst, get her to Mediang right away. She might have cracked a rib.”

Kalintz swung down from Nox’s back and swept his dark hair back as he spoke.

“Yes, Your Highness. I’ll take Miss Tilda back to the palace immediately.”

Ernst waved urgently at the prince’s palace knights rushing over with a transport cart and spoke.

“Go straight to Mediang and—”

“Ow!”

A sharp voice cut through Kalintz’s instructions, delivered with an expression utterly devoid of emotion.

It was Selina, who had been standing at a distance making a fuss.

“Your Highness, I think I’ve twisted my ankle a little……”

Selina drooped her brows and put on her most pitiful expression.

“Ow. I really can’t walk at all, Your Highness.”

Good grief.

Blair felt her temper rise at the sight of Selina performing every ailment she could think of the moment Kalintz appeared. This time, she couldn’t find it in herself to brush it off with a tolerant smile.

“Selina, because of you, Tilda almost—”

“Selina Vallenberg. You have a remarkable inability to read a situation.”

Blair’s words hadn’t finished before a voice cut through, low and cold enough to raise the hairs on her arms.

“Wh, what? I was only just—”

Selina stumbled over her words at the ice in Kalintz’s voice.

“It may not have been intentional, but two people nearly died because of you. What exactly is wrong with you?”

“Two is an exaggeration! And I didn’t know Tilda’s horse would—”

“No one is safe near a horse that’s lost control like that. Tilda’s horse got worked up because of yours in the first place. Blair’s horse could just as easily have done the same.”

He kept pressing, jaw tight. Selina’s face went red, and her eyes filled with tears.

“And who told you to wear something so—”

“Your Highness. The race isn’t over yet.”

Blair cut Kalintz off on impulse.

She was furious at Selina too, but she didn’t think Selina deserved to be criticized for her outfit by the prince on top of everything else. After all, why had she worn something so impractical in the first place.

She did it all to look good for him, and he genuinely doesn’t see it.

“……”

Kalintz raised an eyebrow and looked at Blair with what seemed like genuine interest. The frozen edge of his expression had softened, almost imperceptibly.

“There’s another transport cart coming from over there, so please wait and ride back in that.”

Ernst, who had been watching the exchange, sighed and informed Selina in a flat tone. Then he hurried off with the cart carrying Tilda.

Selina looked shaken enough that she said nothing, just stared down at the ground despite Ernst’s words.

“So, when you said the race isn’t over yet.”

Kalintz turned to Blair, his voice notably gentler than before.

“Oh, that…… I meant exactly what I said. It isn’t over yet. Ha.”

Blair continued, half-wondering herself what she was saying.

“Our wager has nothing to do with the others, does it? It’s just whoever crosses the finish line first between the two of us.”

“…… So you’re saying we start again from here.”

“Nothing stopping us.”

Kalintz stared at her for a moment, then let out a short laugh.

“I noticed it earlier, when you turned back for Miss Tilda. You really are fearless, Miss Blair.”

She couldn’t tell whether he was mocking her or not, and had no idea how to respond, so she just stroked Fitz’s face instead.

“All right. We start again from here. A wager is a wager. This time, however, there is no handicap.”

Blair turned to look at him with a mildly surprised expression.

She had been about to say the same thing herself. Turning back for Tilda had been her own choice, and asking for a handicap again after that felt wrong somehow.

She just hadn’t expected him to say it first.

“That face says you’re not happy about it.”

“…… Let’s just say I had too high an opinion of your sense of chivalry, Your Highness.”

Blair grumbled under her breath as she climbed back onto Fitz. Kalintz settled into his saddle and said.

“Ah, it’s just that I really want to win this one.”

His amber eyes, warm with the afternoon sun, met hers with open directness. Something about that look made Blair’s face go hot before she could stop it.

“Besides, having seen you ride, I don’t think a handicap is necessary.”

He smiled with what looked like genuine interest and added the words. The smile made Blair feel oddly self-conscious, and she cleared her throat several times for no real reason.

“We count to three and start at the same time.”

Blair gave a small nod without answering.

“One.”

His smooth voice settled against her ear.

“Two.”

Her slow, steadying breath lifted into the air.

“Three—!”

Two riders spurred their horses at once, and a fresh wind swept across the wide open meadow.

For the first stretch, the two were nearly even. Nox and Fitz, running side by side for the first time in a while, seemed genuinely delighted and raced with obvious enthusiasm.

But the difference in their builds was too great, and Fitz had already spent himself calming down beside Tilda’s panicked horse. He couldn’t quite find his best pace.

Blair began to fall behind Kalintz, and her mouth went dry.

I should have just taken the handicap instead of being stubborn.

She was watching his back grow smaller with a sigh when a faded signpost caught her eye in the distance.

“Hunting…… grounds entrance?”

In that instant, a thought struck her like a flash of light.

The route to Lake Reuden, where the finish line was, went all the way around the forest that housed the hunting grounds. Which meant cutting straight through the hunting grounds forest would take her directly to the finish line.

Taking that path, overtaking Kalintz would be easy. With any luck, she might even catch up to Olivia, who had ridden far ahead.

Blair didn’t deliberate long. She pulled the reins and turned.

She veered quickly onto the path toward the hunting grounds, and in doing so, failed to notice the small, faded text at the bottom of the signpost.

[No Entry. Area inhabited by dangerous wildlife.]