Chapter 93

“Are you that worried?”  

Vivian and Duke Tereon Dinever were riding in a carriage together, heading somewhere. As Duke Dinever watched the back of his daughter, who was looking at the rapidly passing scenery, he asked.  

“I understand His Majesty the Emperor’s intentions, but I’m not sure if holding a hunting competition today will ease the anxiety of the Empire’s citizens.”  

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Vivian’s eyes, looking at the streets that seemed colder than usual, were full of worry.  

“It won’t completely alleviate their concerns, but it will have some effect.”

Duke Dinever tapped Vivian’s head lightly, a small smile playing on his lips.  

“Is Ian very upset?”  

When Ian was mentioned by Duke Dinever, Vivian finally took her gaze away from the window and looked at the Duke’s face.  

“Couldn’t we have brought him along?”  

A few days ago, Duke Dinever had given Ian a lot of homework when he insisted on going to the hunting competition.  

Naturally, Ian hadn’t finished the homework, and as a punishment, he wasn’t allowed to attend the hunting competition, which seemed to have upset him greatly.  

That was part of Duke Tereon Dinever’s plan.  

“There will be a lot for you and His Highness the Crown Prince to do today. Ian would want to stick close to you, wouldn’t he? That would make things very difficult for you, Vivi.”  

Vivian fiddled with the buttons on the unfamiliar hunting jacket’s sleeves. The buttons on the sleeves were engraved with the rose emblem of the Dinever family.  

“Still, Ian would have liked it a lot. Louis would find such behavior of Ian adorable.”  

Duke Dinever wondered if that cold man would indeed think so, but he didn’t voice it.  

“Ian needs to gradually become independent from you.”  

“Father, how can you talk about independence when Ian is so young?”  

Vivian’s eyes widened as she spoke seriously, and the Duke burst into laughter, showing his white, even teeth.  

“Did I choose the wrong word? Hmm… Rather than independence, it seems Ian needs to start getting used to being without you, Vivi, bit by bit…”  

At Tereon’s words, Vivian’s eyes trembled slightly.  

“When you get married and move into the Imperial Palace, you won’t be able to be with Ian all the time.”  

“That’s…”  

“Vivi, leaving your young brother behind won’t be easy, but remember, it’s not like you’ll be separated forever, so don’t be too sad.”  

Vivian’s head drooped. Staring at the tips of her riding boots, she bit her lower lip.  

“There’s even an upside to the Mage Tower’s madness.”

Watching his daughter, Tereon crossed his arms and nodded.  

Vivian, who had been staring at her boots, looked up quickly at her father’s incomprehensible words.  

“If those Mage Tower people hadn’t made things this bad, you’d have had to marry in a week, wouldn’t you?”  

At Tereon’s trivial joke, Vivian’s stiff expression softened.  

Duke Dinever, who chuckled along with Vivian, tilted his head as if he had remembered something.  

“But Vivi, you’ll have to ride a horse today. Are you okay with that?”  

Vivian, who had been blinking slowly, dropped her jaw.  

“I-I forgot.”  

Vivian sighed, placing a hand on her forehead and bowing her head. Not being naturally athletic, Vivian hadn’t shown much talent for horseback riding either.  

After learning only the basics of sitting on a horse and walking slowly, Vivian had distanced herself from horseback riding.  

“Of course, you won’t be hunting, but you’ll still have to ride a horse…”  

As Vivian began to feel nervous, Duke Tereon scratched his forehead, feeling the tension himself.  

While the father and daughter were worrying without finding a solution, the carriage continued to approach the Emperor’s forest, where the hunting competition was being held.  

“Vivian?”  

In the end, deciding to try her best to reassure her father, Vivian stood before the white horse prepared for her.  

Louis called out to Vivian, who stood rigidly, far from the horse.  

Watching Vivian, who was staring intently at the horse with her fists clenched, Rayden approached Louis and whispered.  

“Should we prepare a pony?”  

“Are you joking?”  

Louis frowned and tapped Rayden’s arm with his glove.  

“She seems a bit afraid of horses. If she’s scared and mounts the horse, it could be dangerous.”  

Louis nodded at Rayden’s words and exhaled deeply through his nose.  

Although they had prepared a gentle horse, handling a horse poorly could lead to dangerous situations.  

“Vivian, do you think you’ll be alright?”  

When Louis approached and asked, Vivian, who flinched, slowly nodded her head.  

“I think I quite like you.”

Staring at the horse that showed no interest in her, Vivian felt her heart start to beat a bit faster when Louis approached and asked with concern.  

Recalling Louis’s words, Vivian thought she wouldn’t be able to meet his eyes properly, so she stared back at the horse and slowly inhaled and exhaled.  

“Vivian, do you have a fever?”  

Thanks to her hair being tied up, the tips of Vivian’s ears were visible, adorably sticking out. Louis asked, noticing the reddened tips of her ears.  

“What? No?”  

Vivian quickly raised her head and shook it vigorously. Her thick brown hair, tied in one, swayed.  

“Your face is red.”  

Louis raised his hand and placed his palm on Vivian’s forehead.  

As Louis murmured that it didn’t seem like she had a fever, Vivian stepped back, waving her hands.  

“I’m not good at horseback riding, but since I have to ride, I guess I’m nervous.”  

Seeing Vivian flustered and sweating coldly, Louis called Rayden, who was standing a little distance away.  

Vivian glanced at the back of Louis’s head as he spoke to Rayden.  

How could he remain so calm after making such an embarrassing confession? 

Even now, her heart was pounding, and she found it hard to look into his eyes. She began to rationally doubt whether she had dreamed that day.  

Watching his neatly groomed back, Vivian pouted her lips secretly. But when Louis turned around quickly, Vivian was startled and turned away.  

“Vivian.”  

Louis called Vivian as he approached.  

“Yes?”  

Vivian, feeling awkward, answered in a small voice.  

“Come with me for a moment.”  

Louis grabbed Vivian’s wrist and started walking somewhere.  

“Where are we going?”  

Holding Vivian’s wrist with one hand and the reins of the horse she was supposed to ride with the other, Louis began walking in the opposite direction of the hunting competition.  

As the tent set up at the entrance to the hunting grounds grew distant, Vivian, being dragged along, asked urgently.  

“Special lesson.”  

Louis replied to Vivian’s question and quickened his pace. Vivian struggled to follow him, glancing at the horse that followed quietly beside them.  

After walking through a large forest of trees, a rather wide field spread out before Vivian.  

“Now, get on.”

“What?”  

Louis, holding the reins tightly, gestured toward the horse with his chin.  

“Surely you can mount it, right?”  

As Vivian stared blankly at him, Louis tapped the stirrup.  

“Place your foot here…”  

“I know that!”  

Vivian, blushing and tucking her wind-tousled hair behind her ear, interrupted Louis’s explanation, which started with the very basics.  

“I know that… But I’m a little scared. When the horse starts moving, my body stiffens.”  

Louis, looking down at the quietly embarrassed Vivian, slowly opened his mouth.  

“Later, when His Majesty the Emperor arrives and the hunt begins, you’ll have to ride the horse and stand in front of the nobles as a display. Will you be alright?”  

“Do I have to do that too?”  

Hearing this for the first time, Vivian’s voice rose.  

Louis, seeing Vivian’s eyes widen, chuckled and tapped the saddle.  

“First, try getting on.”  

It was her first time attending a hunting competition. At royal hunting competitions, it was customary for the Emperor to declare the event open while riding with the Crown Prince and Empress.  

After that, the men prepared for the hunting competition while the women rode horses and socialized, but Vivian, attending for the first time, didn’t know any of this.  

Suppressing her fear, Vivian approached the horse and, after repeatedly asking Louis to hold on tight, placed her foot in the stirrup.  

Seeing Vivian mount the horse with surprisingly light movements, Louis was inwardly impressed but had to suppress a laugh.  

As soon as she mounted, Vivian lay flat and clutched the horse’s mane tightly.  

“If you pull like that, won’t it scare the horse more?”  

When Louis tapped Vivian’s hand, she shook her head vigorously.  

“The horse is moving. I have to hold on tight.”

Well, a living horse would move; if it stayed still, it wouldn’t be a horse.  

To make matters worse, as the person on top of it got agitated, the horse started twitching its tail and shifting its rear.  

“With such skills, how on earth…”  

Louis began to wonder if he should follow Rayden’s suggestion and get a pony immediately. However, imagining Vivian sitting dignified on a pony next to the Emperor, Empress, and his horse, Louis shook his head vigorously.  

“Didn’t you say you could manage a slow walk?”

“Five, five years ago, I certainly could…”  

Louis slowly closed his eyes and opened them at Vivian’s words.  

“So you haven’t ridden a horse even once in five years?”  

Clinging to the horse, Vivian nodded quickly.  

“Vivian, move forward a bit.”  

“What?”  

Vivian turned her head toward Louis and asked again.  

“Move forward a bit and sit.”  

“Why…”  

“Just do it.”  

Swallowing hard at Louis’s urging, Vivian mustered the courage to inch her bottom forward. Though it seemed like she barely moved from Louis’s perspective, he knew it was Vivian’s best effort.  

Louis grabbed the front of the saddle and leaped up.  

Thanks to Rayden, who had learned from Vivian’s maid that she didn’t enjoy horseback riding, Louis easily took a seat behind Vivian on the calm, slightly smaller horse.  

“Lou-Louis?”  

Surprised by Louis suddenly sitting behind her, Vivian quickly straightened her upper body, feeling Louis’s presence far too close behind her.  

“Wow, you can sit up well.”

Vivian was about to retort to Louis’s teasing question when the horse started moving, and she closed her mouth again.

“Now, reach out and grab the reins.”

Vivian tensed her body even more, feeling Louis’s chest slightly touch her back and his breath near her ear.  

“I-I can do it, so Louis, please get down.”  

“Do you expect me to believe that? Soon His Majesty the Emperor will arrive. If you don’t get somewhat used to it before then, it’ll be troublesome for you, not me.”  

Louis was right.  

Vivian, furrowing her brows, closed her eyes tightly, then slowly opened them and reached for the reins as Louis instructed.  

“Straighten your back more.”  

Startled by Louis’s words, Vivian straightened her back.  

“Lift your head and keep your eyes forward.”  

Barely managing to lift her head and look ahead, Vivian squeezed her eyes shut again at the unexpectedly high view.  

“How do you expect to ride a horse with your eyes closed? Don’t be afraid, I’m here, so open your eyes.”  

Louis said, adjusting Vivian’s grip on the reins. Though she wore riding gloves, Louis’s firm hand was reassuring to Vivian.  

“Now, let’s start slowly.”

Once Louis was on the horse, it seemed to find its balance and began to move smoothly.