Chapter 9.1 – Hunting Festival (Part 1)

The end of spring, still comfortably warm thanks to the not-yet-scorching sunlight and the occasional cool breeze. As summer approached, the Imperial family would hold a hunting festival to wrap up the social season.

Given the purpose of the event, it focused more on socializing than hunting, so most of the animals released as prey were neither large nor threatening.

However, even if the main purpose was socializing, since the event was called a hunting festival, there had to be people willing to participate in the competition and go hunting. So the Imperial family prepared a reward that would tempt anyone.

It was said to be a very rare silver fox.

Silver foxes were not only few in number, but the right to manage them belonged solely to the Imperial family, making them extremely valuable. The silver fur of the fox, said to be incomparably fine and soft, was equally precious.

Confident that it would catch the eye of the luxury-loving nobles, the Imperial family released one silver fox each year along with the other prey. The person who caught it would be honored as that year’s winner and awarded the hunted fox as is.

The condition of just one fox, only once a year, made people continuously crave the rare silver fox. Some participated in the hunt for the trophy, while others did so to acquire a gift to propose marriage to their beloved. Even those who had already reached the ranks of winners and received a silver fox put their names on the list of participants, driven by greater honor and greed.

A tradition related to this emerged not long after the first hunting festival was held.

Those not participating in the hunt began giving handkerchiefs embroidered with the family crest and name of their lover or family member as a way of wishing them victory. In most cases, the recipient was more often a lover than a family member, and recently it had become established as a sign of confessing one’s feelings to someone they had a crush on.

Among lovers, it meant “I wish to marry you, or I accept your proposal.” Among those who weren’t lovers, it meant “I like you.” It had become a method of confession that no noble in the empire was unaware of.

Except for one person.

“Ah.”

Ria was in the midst of adjusting her embroidery, taking advantage of the long preparation time that had started early in the morning for attending the hunting festival. Just as she thought things were going smoothly, a short groan escaped her lips at the sudden sting. Blood began to seep from where the needle had pricked her.

The maid who was helping with her makeup immediately brought a clean cloth to stop the bleeding on her finger. The action was quite familiar because this wasn’t the first time it had happened.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. I guess I don’t have a talent for this.”

Even though she wasn’t making new ones from scratch, but just modifying a few places, she had been pricked by the needle numerous times throughout her grooming. It was embarrassing how easily she had thought it would be, considering it similar to cross-stitch.

“You’re doing well. Creating four pieces with family crests in such a limited time isn’t easy even for skilled embroiderers.”

As the maid’s comforting words suggested, Ria had quite good skills for someone who had just started embroidery. The problem was that she had to make four handkerchiefs from scratch, and each one needed to be embroidered with different complex crests and names.

It was like asking a beginner to do an advanced application version.

Moreover, the difficulty increased as Ria wanted to embroider their names in the Imperial language. Even though it would look like the Imperial language to them if she embroidered in familiar Korean, she didn’t want to do that.

She had decided to live in the Empire, by their side, so she wanted to go the extra mile and embroider in their native language.

“That’s right! Even skilled embroiderers would have had to stay up for several nights to make four by the hunting festival. But you finished them long ago, miss!”

The maid doing her hair from behind chimed in to comfort her as well. It wasn’t wrong. The handkerchiefs had been completed a week ago. She had been preparing them little by little on her own even before Serena suggested that it would be nice to give handkerchiefs at the hunting festival.

It was just that after hearing Serena’s words, an endless desire to make them neater and prettier kept bubbling up, causing her to keep working on them. No matter how she looked at them, they seemed endlessly clumsy to her eyes.

“Thank you for saying that. Ah, could you bring me the ointment Serena gave me? It’s in the drawer over there.”

Unable to tell those earnestly comforting her that the quality would probably be better if skilled embroiderers had spent several nights on it, Ria swallowed a sigh and finished her embroidery. Thanks to the ointment Serena had given her, at least she had avoided the spectacle of her hands becoming a mess of holes.

However, perhaps because it had been needed too often, when the maid brought the ointment from the drawer and opened the lid, it was empty.

“It seems you’ve used it all up. The container is completely empty.”

“Ah.”

“Shall I call for the court physician? You were feeling tired anyway, so you could take some medicine to boost your energy as well.”

Ria nodded at the maid’s worried tone. The container was quite large, and if she had used it all up, she would have pricked her hands many times now. It wouldn’t be strange if what she had embroidered was her hands instead of handkerchiefs.

Not long after, the grooming was finished. The bright yellow dress was light enough for easy movement, yet of a suitable thickness to be neither too hot nor too cold. Her long hair, reaching down to her waist, was gathered into one and tied prettily with a ribbon of the same color, fully revealing her slender, long neckline.

Diamond accessories adorned her ears and neck. The jewelry was made of hundreds of small diamonds densely packed together, making it more valuable than a single large diamond.

“It feels like I’m dressed too elaborately for a hunting festival.”

“It’s called a hunting festival, but it’s really no different from a social event. You’ll probably see nobles who have come dressed as lavishly as if they were attending a banquet when you get there.”

As Ria was fiddling with her dazzlingly bright earrings while listening to the maid’s words, she heard a voice from outside the door saying that they had brought the court physician. Ria moved to the sofa and told them to come in.

Soon, the court physician entered the room, greeted her, and approached, taking out some medicines.

“First, I’ve prepared medicine that will relieve fatigue and boost your energy, as I heard you were feeling tired. I think you should take this today instead of your usual medicine.”

Ria took the medicine, held her breath, and swallowed it all at once, then immediately reached for the chocolate on the table. The court physician watched this with a chuckle and took out an ointment from his bag.

“I heard you pricked yourself with a needle.”

“Yes. A bit… a lot?”

Ria smiled sheepishly as she popped a couple more chocolates into her mouth and held out both hands. Each individual wound was so small that it could only be seen upon close inspection, but there were so many pricks here and there that it was impossible not to notice. The court physician carefully applied the ointment to each spot.

“I didn’t know before because you never mentioned it.”

“I had ointment that Serena gave me. When I told her I was nervous about people noticing because I kept pricking myself with the needle while I was trying to prepare the handkerchiefs as a secret for four people, she gave it to me. It was very effective; the wounds would disappear quickly after applying it.”

“So you sought me out today because the ointment ran out, I assume.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“Ho ho, how could that be? What’s more important is that you don’t have even these tiny wounds left on you.”

Otherwise, who knows what those four would do. Ria laughed softly, taking the court physician’s additional comment as a joke. Of course, for the court physician who knew well how extremely sensitive they became when it came to the young lady, it was a comment full of sincerity.

Soon the treatment was finished, and the court physician put away the ointment he had taken out. Ria seemed to have something to say and hesitated for a moment before carefully speaking up. 

“Um… Doctor. There’s something I’d like to ask.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

The court physician stopped what he was doing and straightened his posture, nodding. However, Ria didn’t speak right away and glanced at the maids around her.

Fortunately, before she could say anything, the quick-witted maids bowed their heads and left the room. Finally, with only the court physician and herself left in the room, Ria carefully opened her mouth again.

“I… haven’t had my monthly cycle yet. Is there possibly something wrong with my body?”

At first, her physical condition wasn’t good, so she didn’t have the energy to worry about it, and then she thought it had become irregular due to the many events she experienced while coming here. The court physician hadn’t made any particular mention of it either, so she thought it might be fine, to some extent.

But at this point, she couldn’t help but think about it seriously. It had already been over three months. The one thing she could be sure of, at least…

‘I’m not pregnant.’

That was certain. The four men had said they regularly received contraceptive injections, and she didn’t show any of the early symptoms she vaguely knew about. Her fatigue was largely due to being worn out by them, so it wasn’t related.

Above all, if it were pregnancy, the court physician who examined her daily wouldn’t have missed it.

“I don’t think it’s pregnancy, so I was wondering if there might be some other issue with my body.”

“Hmm. Has it been like this consistently since the day I first saw you until now?”

“Yes.”

After pondering for a moment at her affirmative answer, the court physician began the examination, saying he would take the liberty. In fact, he was certain it wasn’t pregnancy, as he would have known already if it were, but he was checking just in case. Since she had been weak and imbalanced from the beginning, it could have been confused with other symptoms.