“His Highness likely invited others precisely to prevent that from happening. You can tell just by looking at the other participants. None of them seem particularly gifted riders.”

At Olivia’s addition, Selina and Tilda both looked touched by the prince’s consideration.

Consideration? He could have just not held this ridiculous competition in the first place.

Blair, as always, was the exception.

“Now that everyone has gathered, allow me to explain the rules!”

The prince’s palace chief chamberlain began announcing the rules in a booming voice, as though mocking Blair’s private thoughts.

“Starting from this line, the first to reach the finish line at the far end of Lake Reuden will be declared the winner.”

It was not an official equestrian competition, so there were no complicated regulations of any kind.

“Additionally, the highest-ranking frons will receive a bracelet made from the ‘Leaves of Tamira,’ a special gift from Her Highness the Queen.”

“The, the Leaves of Tamira?”

Selina’s eyes went wide. With good reason. The Leaves of Tamira was a famous emerald that even Blair had heard of.

There was an old legend in the Kingdom of Eiron that a great roble oak had grown from the very spot where Tamira, goddess of the forest, had died. The gemstone was said to hold a mysterious light like the leaves of that oak, and so it had been named the Leaves of Tamira.

This large emerald had been cut and set into three pieces, a bracelet, a pair of earrings, and a necklace, and by all accounts it was the queen’s most treasured jewel.

The chief chamberlain opened a gold-worked case, and the famous gem-set bracelet came into view.

“To think I’d see this in person……”

Selina, who had a deep appreciation for gemstones, murmured in a daze. The other frons were equally transfixed by the bracelet glowing with its luminous green light.

It was, Blair had to admit, in a different class from any other gem she had seen.

“That, I genuinely want.”

Olivia said, admiring the beauty of the stone. She already wore the expression of someone who considered it hers.

The highest-ranked frons would almost certainly be Olivia, by a wide margin.

Blair had enjoyed riding since she was young, but she had never competed the way Olivia had. She wasn’t entirely sure of her own level.

What was certain was that she was nowhere near good enough to beat Olivia, with all her years of structured training.

Well, the gem is beautiful, but it’s not exactly something I need right now. And I couldn’t sell it later anyway.

Selling a gem gifted by the queen would land her in prison for lese-majeste before the day was out.

Besides, there was something more important to Blair than any jewel right now.

A chance to speak with Prince Kalintz. She needed to find a moment alone with him and find out, once and for all, what he actually wanted from her.

Blair let her eyes drift toward where Kalintz was. He sat on Nox’s back with a blank expression. Horse and rider alike looked like something out of a painting.

His face really is something, though……

Blair found herself staring without meaning to.

That was why she failed to look away in time when Kalintz turned his head and their eyes met.

In that instant, the corner of his mouth lifted. That ominous smile made Blair’s stomach drop with worry about what he was scheming now.

❀❀❀

“Everyone, please take your places at the starting line!”

At the chief chamberlain’s call, all the participants lined up in two rows.

Blair gave Fitz’s mane one pat and took her place in the back row. Scanning the backs of the riders ahead of her, she realized Prince Kalintz was not among them.

She had assumed he would be at the front, and had planned to follow close behind him when the moment came. She looked around.

“Looking for someone, it seems.”

A low voice came from beside her. Even without turning, she knew the voice belonged to the very person she had been looking for.

“…… Yes. Fitz seemed to be desperately searching for Nox.”

Blair returned his own words from the invitation back to him, her voice perfectly composed.

“Haha. You really are something, Miss Blair.”

At the prince’s laughter, Blair could feel the other frons shooting sharp looks in her direction. With all eyes on her, she said nothing and fixed her gaze straight ahead, gripping the reins.

“By the way, you didn’t seem particularly interested in the jewel.”

“…… I don’t know much about gemstones.”

Kalintz paid no mind to Blair’s refusal to look at him and moved even closer. He drew near enough that their feet in the stirrups were nearly touching, and murmured low.

“Then how about a wager between the two of us.”

“A wager……?”

She finally turned to look at him, and startled at how close he was, her breath catching.

His amber eyes held the full force of the sunlight, and Blair felt herself nearly pulled in. She flinched and leaned back instinctively.

“Whoever reaches the finish line first gets to ask the other for anything they want.”

“That’s not fair. You have the advantage.”

He was almost certainly far better than her in riding, swordsmanship, scholarship, and any number of other things. And his horse, Nox, was the finest in the kingdom.

“If I wait here at the starting line until you’ve rounded that corner up ahead, that should be enough of a handicap.”

Blair looked at the point he indicated. It was farther than she expected. Thinking through the route to Lake Reuden, there were no particularly difficult obstacles, and with that kind of head start, she had a real chance.

“…… Anything at all?”

“Well, within what either of us is actually capable of. What do you say, Miss Blair?”

He answered in that same tone of his, impossible to tell whether formal or casual.

Blair studied his face in silence. She had no idea what he was after by proposing this wager, but there was nothing in it that worked against her.

If she won, she could demand the answer to why he had been paying her all this attention.

No, wait. If I’m going to ask for something, I could get him to promise he’ll never choose me as princess consort.

The thought hit her and her eyes lit up.

“All right. I accept the wager.”

Whether he had been behaving strangely toward her all this time and whatever his reasons might be, none of that mattered so much anymore. If she could walk away with the certainty that the Withered Garden was hers, she could live without knowing why.

“Well then, you know the terms. Good luck.”

Kalintz smiled his strange smile and put some distance back between them.

At the same moment, the chief chamberlain’s booming voice rang out.

“When I lower the flag, please begin. One, two—”

Blair fixed her gaze straight ahead. A steady, appropriate tension settled into the hands gripping the reins.

“Three—! Go!”

The red flag swept down, and every rider spurred their horse at once.

Every rider except one. Prince Kalintz.

He remained at the starting line, motionless, wearing that unreadable smile.

Ernst, his guard knight, glanced back at the prince, shook his head, and slowed his own pace. He seemed accustomed to these kinds of sudden developments and didn’t appear particularly bothered.

Meanwhile, Blair had started from the back row and was watching for an opening to push forward.

Olivia was in the lead, as expected. The son of House Barrel and Viscount Theodore were, just as Olivia had said, well behind the front, their riding skills leaving something to be desired.

Selina’s horse was struggling to pick up speed under the weight of her heavy gown, and Tilda, an inexperienced rider, was in much the same situation.

Tilda in particular could barely hold her posture and was practically clinging to the horse.

Tilda would be better off withdrawing entirely.

Blair watched Tilda’s precarious silhouette and readjusted her grip on the reins.

“Fitz, let’s cut to the outside and push forward from there. You can do it, can’t you?”

Fitz let out a vigorous snort and began to pick up speed in sync with her breathing and her hands.

The wind started to cut against her face as momentum built, and Blair overtook the others one by one.

“What! I can’t believe it! She could actually ride this whole time?”

Selina, who hadn’t even known Blair could ride, shrieked in her sharp voice as Blair breezed past her. Seized by jealousy, she began spurring her horse without thinking.

The horse, already irritated by the heavy and cumbersome dress, promptly bolted in the wrong direction entirely.

“Hey!! What is wrong with you! You’re not listening to me!”

Blair clicked her tongue at Selina’s shrieking and kept riding.

Before long, the distant speck that had been Olivia’s back grew noticeably closer.

Olivia glanced over her shoulder to see who was catching up, and her expression shifted with clear surprise when she saw it was Blair.

Sorry it’s not the prince, Olivia.

Olivia’s face went cool for just a moment before she let out a sharp breath and pushed her horse faster.