Chapter 43

Phyllis stopped his horse. The trail they had been following had abruptly ended. Kesen, who had been following behind, dismounted and approached a nearby rock. With an awkward expression, he said,  

“There’s blood here. It seems to be theirs.”  

The bloodstains on the ground were frozen. It appeared some time had already passed.  

Phyllis clenched his fist tightly, dismounted his horse, and approached.  

“You should just stay up there. Watching you makes me feel hurt myself.”  

Without saying a word, Phyllis sat down and stared in the direction the blood trail led. The fabric wrapped haphazardly around his thigh was soaked with blood, but he didn’t feel any pain.  

They had already wasted too much time. There was no room for further delay.  

“Are you really going to go?”  

“I’ll take this path. Please check the other side.”  

Noah Velcarid must already be chasing them.  

He couldn’t afford to relax. Somehow, they had to find those men. The participants were wandering through the forest, so even if the men tried to escape, their options would be limited.  

As Phyllis climbed back onto his horse and grabbed the reins, Kesen sighed and spoke.  

“Be careful. Don’t get hurt while stumbling around.”  

It was a rough but concerned remark. Without responding, Phyllis moved forward immediately.  

The snow covering the forest revealed more traces. Over the chaotic hoofprints, there were other tracks.  

Before long, Phyllis stopped his horse. Amid the trampled snow, there was something that looked like a human footprint.  

Phyllis stared at the footprint without moving, then slowly drew his sword.  

‘It might not even be Karina.’  

Nothing was certain. From the sudden appearance of the wolf pack to the motives of the men who had kidnapped Karina, everything was unclear. A single footprint could tell him nothing.  

Even so, his instincts were speaking.  

‘If Karina really escaped from them…’  

The horse’s legs, which had been still for a while, began to move slowly and then picked up speed. The drawn sword sliced sharply through the wind. His resolve was also sharpened like a blade.  

If Karina had truly escaped from their clutches, if she was being pursued alone…  

‘Hurry up and go!’  

If the trembling hands that had saved him were still shaking with fear…  

As his mind raced, he heard voices from somewhere.  

“…I’m telling you! You idiot.”  

“Idiot? Are you done talking?”  

Someone was arguing. Phyllis dismounted and silently approached the source of the voices.  

“Am I wrong? Whose fault is it that things turned out like this…?”  

“Seems like you’ve forgotten something. The one who lost their mind at the end was you.”  

“Damn it, so should we just die together?”  

One of the arguing men, his tone sharp, ruffled his hair roughly.  

Their exposed faces were unfamiliar, but Phyllis was sure of it.  

They were the ones who had taken Karina.  

Phyllis gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and was about to approach when he froze at their next words.  

“Shut up and listen to me. I’m sure neither of them would’ve died.”  

The moment he understood those words, his body moved instinctively. By the time he regained his senses, he had already been spotted.  

The two men, who had been ready to flee, seemed relieved when they saw Phyllis was alone.  

“Oh, it’s the Young Lord of the Herwin Earldom. Out for a stroll, are we?”  

The man standing behind sneered mockingly. The larger man standing closer, who seemed to have been injured by someone, was covered in wounds.  

“Where’s Karina?”  

Phyllis passed by one of the men and approached the one behind him.  

“Who knows? Why are you asking us?”  

“Because you’re the ones who took her.”  

Before the man could finish his sneering tone, Phyllis’s calm, steady voice echoed around them. Sensing the shift in atmosphere, the mocking man averted his gaze. He still didn’t seem willing to answer.  

It didn’t matter. Without hesitation, Phyllis swung his sword.  

“Huh… huh?”  

The man who reflexively stepped back collapsed with a bewildered expression.  

Blood seeped from the cleanly sliced part of his thigh.  

“Talk.”  

Phyllis crouched down and gave the terrified man a final warning.  

“If you don’t want to die.”  

***

“This one’s not it, and neither is this one.”  

A group of pure white rabbits trembled inside a human-made enclosure. Kamil picked up a rabbit, inspected it, and carelessly tossed it behind him. The rabbit barely landed on the ground and bolted away without looking back.  

“This is annoying… Should I just flip everything over?”  

As Kamil muttered in a lazy tone, the soldiers around him avoided his gaze.  

It had been half a day since they set out to hunt rabbits, and the sun was already setting. They had caught hundreds of rabbits, but the special one the Crown Prince had mentioned was nowhere to be found.  

Kamil’s patience was wearing thin. Finally, he stood up and spoke mercilessly.  

“Kill them all and find it yourselves.”  

“Yes, Sir.”  

His escort knight, Jacob, drew his sword and responded.  

Kamil turned and left the area without hesitation. He was already in a bad mood, with too many annoying things happening lately. Yesterday, the gray wolf he hunted had turned out to be a female, and he had been chased by a pack of wolves for a long time.  

Today, he had ordered two of his subordinates to distract the wolves, but there had been no news from them.  

‘Idiots. I should’ve sent Jacob instead.’  

It was too late for regrets. Kamil cursed harshly and stopped walking. Fortunately, he had ventured deep enough into the forest that no competitors were in sight.  

“Call me if you find it. I’m going to get some fresh air.”  

“Yes, Sir. Please take a break.”  

“If you can’t find it, make one and bring it to me.”  

A soldier, his face pale, bowed stiffly before running off.  

Kamil mounted his horse and turned in a different direction. He planned to venture deeper into the forest. In truth, his goal wasn’t just the Crown Prince’s wish.  

‘A white deer, huh. It was pretty.’  

The image of the white deer Phyllis had captured on the last day of the competition kept appearing in his mind. Kamil had always had a weakness for beautiful or rare collectibles.  

Whether it was an animal, an object, or even a person, he had to have whatever he could get his hands on. If he found the white deer, he wanted to secretly take it to the capital and keep it. He was confident he wouldn’t get caught.  

“Beautiful things are beautiful, even if they die.”  

As he muttered to himself, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes. Reflexively turning his head, he saw the tail of a rabbit moving. Clicking his tongue, Kamil directed his horse toward it. It was probably just another ordinary rabbit.  

“Get lost before I stomp on you… huh?”  

But instead of a rabbit, what he saw was entirely unexpected.  

A man was lying in the snow, carrying a bundle of fabric on his back.  

Intrigued, Kamil dismounted and approached the man. Though he drew his sword just in case, it didn’t seem necessary. Up close, the man was wearing only a thin shirt and pants.  

“What the hell? Is he trying to die? What kind of outfit is this?”  

The man’s hands and neck were red, as if burned, and his condition was a mess. His palms were bloody, and his right ankle was swollen and wrapped with a stone.  

“What’s this? So, it’s a person?”  

“…Wor.”  

A cracked voice escaped as the man, whom Kamil had assumed to be luggage, reached out and grabbed Kamil’s wrist. The grip was so strong that Kamil frowned.  

Shaking off the man’s hand, Kamil removed the fabric.  

“Well, look at this.”  

Inside was a pale, sweat-soaked woman whose face was familiar to Kamil. With an intrigued expression, Kamil stood up and nudged the man’s shoulder with his foot.  

The platinum blonde hair mixed with the white snow stood out vividly.  

Through half-closed eyes, sky-blue irises were barely visible. The man’s cracked lips moved faintly as if trying to speak, but Kamil didn’t care to listen.  

Turning Noah over with his foot, Kamil removed the fabric and pulled Karina out.  

“Karina. Wake up.”  

Speaking softly, Kamil whispered to her, and Karina’s eyelids twitched.  

At that moment, a loud curse accompanied by the sound of rapid footsteps pierced the air.  

“Get your hands off her, you bastard!”  

A red-haired woman came charging toward them. Kamil set Karina down and stepped back.  

Kaya, who had sprinted over, crouched low, drawing a dagger from her waist.  

“Who are you?”  

“Shut up and get lost.”  

Her tone was cold and sharp. Kamil plastered a fake smile on his face.  

“I don’t know what your relationship is with them, but I trust you don’t intend to attack me.”  

Kaya didn’t lower her guard and kept glancing at Noah and Karina’s condition. There was no need to drag this out. Before she could respond, Kamil continued.  

“Let’s take them to the campsite first.”  

“Take them?”  

“I found them below. They’re badly injured and need treatment immediately.”  

“You’re saying you saved the Captain and Lady Karina?”  

Kaya, who couldn’t believe it, looked back and forth between Kamil and the two unconscious people.  

Kamil nodded with a natural expression and took a step forward. But before he could take another step, a dagger stopped right in front of his ankle.  

“Back off. Before I slice you up.”  

The dagger’s blade, as if to prove her seriousness, cleanly sliced through the hem of his trousers.  

Kamil’s brows twitched for a moment, his expression remaining calm.  

In the icy atmosphere, a rabbit emerged from the bushes, twitching its ears. As the oblivious rabbit stepped forward, a shout rang out from the distance.  

“Young Lord Kamil! We’ve found it!”  

The word “found” made Kamil turn his head. Soon, a soldier appeared, dismounting his horse with a bright expression.  

“It’s the rabbit His Highness the Crown Prince mentioned!”