Chapter 5 (Part 10)

“I heard the rumors, but it’s true.”

“I heard he achieved his nine-year unrequited love…”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen the Duke smile so genuinely.”

“Me too. He always smiled, but his eyes were cold.”

“Do you think the Duke will win first place in the hunting competition today?”

“Of course. He wouldn’t miss an event like this.”

As the knights observed Anthus’s affectionate demeanor, Yuliana’s expression began to darken.

“Is there something worrying you, Lia?”

“The hunting competition seems so cruel.”

Yuliana sighed as she watched the knights preparing for the hunt.

“I feel the same way. While I understand hunting for survival, coming to a competition to deliberately kill animals is…”

Anthus stopped walking and looked at Yuliana with sorrowful eyes.

“Honestly, I… dislike hunting.”

“I remember you saying that even in war, killing people is painful for you.”

“Yes… Taking a life is too cruel.”

The knights who overheard this looked at Anthus with astonishment.

Anthus, who led the charge and killed many enemies without blinking an eye, was saying this. He always won first place in the hunting competition unless he chose not to participate out of boredom. There wasn’t a knight who didn’t know this.

However, the knights’ expressions became awkward as they watched Anthus, who agreed with Yuliana’s words and said he disliked hunting and found the battlefield distressing. But they wouldn’t say anything. Their lives were precious.

“But as the head of the Duke’s household, I felt the pressure to always come in first place in competitions, which was tough for me.”

“It’s hard for you, my gentle Yan, to be summoned to war because you are strong… and to be forced to hunt. Just a moment, Yan.”

To comfort the distressed Anthus, Yuliana handed him a yellow handkerchief she had diligently embroidered with red thread.

“This is…”

Anthus’s pretty eyes curved into crescent moons.

“I promised.”

Receiving the handkerchief, Anthus was amazed. Like a child holding chocolate, he clutched Yuliana’s handkerchief with a sparkling face and looked at her.

Yuliana smiled brightly at the blushing Anthus.

“Can I tie it around your wrist?”

Anthus’s pupils shook violently. With a look that hoped she would tie it quickly, he extended his left hand and nodded. Yuliana rolled the handkerchief into a long strip and tied it around Anthus’s extended wrist.

“Lia.”

Anthus quietly stared at the handkerchief wrapped around his wrist. His hand trembled slightly with joy.

“I am so happy today.”

Anthus, looking at the handkerchief, said with a flushed face. Yuliana thought it was worth the effort to embroider the handkerchief as a gift when she saw Anthus smiling like that.

“Since I received this handkerchief, I should bring you the best hunt…”

Yuliana shook her head from side to side.

“No! It’s okay if you don’t hunt because you dislike it, Yan. Just return safely.”

“Lia… Are you really okay with that? Even if I don’t hunt and come in last place?”

“Killing life forcibly… It pains you.”

“Of course, but still…”

“I’m giving you the handkerchief as a lover, not to win first place in the hunting competition. Even if you come in last, I will be very satisfied as long as you return safely. I mean it.”

“Thank you, Lia.”

To convey his overwhelming gratitude, Anthus pulled Yuliana into his arms and hugged her.

Then he slightly bent down and kissed her cheek.

“I’ll be careful, and when I get back……. Again…….”

“Again?”

“Kiss the scared puppy again.”

Anthus kissed his yellow handkerchief and looked at Yuliana affectionately as he spoke.

“Okay. But don’t overdo it, Yan… Avoid wild beasts if they appear!”

“Yes. I will just spend some time in the forest and return.”

Anthus escorted Yuliana to the gathering place of the noble ladies and bent down to kiss the fourth finger of her left hand.

People who saw this were very surprised and whispered among themselves. Kissing the fourth finger means “I want to marry you,” so it’s not a place to kiss unless you are a couple about to get married.

Yuliana touched the handkerchief on Anthus’s wrist once more as he was about to leave.

“Come back soon.”

People around them looked at Yuliana and Anthus with envy, jealousy, and surprise, but the two paid no attention to them. They only regretted having to part now.

“I really don’t want to part from you, Lia.”

“But you have to go.”

Until the hunting horn sounded, Anthus and Yuliana kept saying, “I’ll be back,” “It’s hard to part,” “Be careful,” and didn’t think about separating. In the end, the impatient Rockbellion knights came and forcibly took Anthus, who wouldn’t leave Yuliana’s side.

* * *

Right after Cloud’s short speech ended, the hunting began. This time, the prize for the winner was a beautiful pearl the size of a fist that emitted an opal light.

The men participating in the hunt ran into the forest to win. But Anthus entered the forest slowly.

Certain that Yuliana would adore him even if he didn’t hunt much, Anthus just rode his horse around, thinking about what he could bring her that she would like.

“There aren’t any pretty flowers around here…”

Looking around, Anthus fixed his gaze on a tree.

“I’ve found a good gift.”

Thinking of Yuliana smiling brightly and liking the gift, Anthus couldn’t stop smiling.

But sensing someone’s presence, Anthus’s mood began to sour. It was the presence of someone he really didn’t want to meet—Beonar.

“If it isn’t the Duke Rockbellion.”

Anthus raised his twitching eyebrows and glared at the approaching Beonar with displeasure.

“You should be hunting. Why are you looking for me, Young Marquis Fedeurus?”

“I have something to say.”

Beonar had broken up with Sophia due to the strong opposition from Earl Lumichua.

Because of Sophia, he’d gotten rid of all the women he’d been seeing. And the person who came to mind was Yuliana.

But hearing that Yuliana had become Anthus’s lover made him grit his teeth. However, he heard rumors that Anthus was marrying Ophelia. The idea that Anthus was casually seeing Yuliana before marriage infuriated him.

“Yuliana is not a toy, Duke Rockbellion.”

“What? A toy?”

“Although she is a woman I abandoned, seeing her with you, Duke Rockbellion, I thought you suited each other. I wished her happiness as her ex-fiancé. But meeting Lia while talks of your marriage with Princess Ophelia are ongoing is not right!”

It was a clear provocation disguised as a rumor. Anthus laughed and dismounted.

“Marquis Fedeurus, do you not know what to say and what not to say? How can you call your ex-fiancé a woman you abandoned?”

Anthus took a step closer to Beonar.

“That’s why there are rumors that you lost the position of head of the family to the second son.”

Standing in front of Beonar, Anthus lowered his head and whispered.

“I am confident that Yuliana won’t abandon me. But Marquis Fedeurus, you were abandoned, right? Who will pick up a discarded man?”

Anthus lifted his head and spoke with a natural smile.

“Still, I’m grateful. Because you had an affair with Sophia, you broke off the engagement with Lia. So, I will soon send you a gift.”

Anthus began to release the Sword Master’s mana towards Beonar. Eventually, Beonar couldn’t control his trembling legs and collapsed.

“You call my woman discarded, like you threw away trash and then put on a smug face?”

Anthus pressed Beonar’s head down with his hand, making him look at the ground.

“You think the name Rockbellion is a joke?”

Beonar felt humiliated. But he couldn’t move his body.

“I have no intention of getting engaged or married to Princess Ophelia. For a mere marquis’s son to come to the head of a ducal family and say such nonsense… Tsk.”

“That’s not it!”

“I want to throw down a white glove and challenge you to a duel, but that feels like bullying the weak, so I won’t.”

Anthus gradually retracted his killing intent. Thanks to that, Beonar could control his trembling body.

“Shall I declare a territorial war between Fedeurus and Rockbellion?”

Beonar involuntarily gulped. A territorial war out of nowhere… It felt like his head was falling into a deep abyss.

“Duke… A territorial war is not simple… I did abandon Lia, but… Ack!”

Anthus roughly grabbed Beonar by the collar and pulled him close.

“Marquis Fedeurus, I have many nicknames. Cold-blooded, Ice Duke, Poison Mushroom, and so on. But I don’t care what people call me. I don’t even pay attention. Do you know why?”

Anthus’s grip tightened.

“Because I know well that what people say about me can greatly change their situation… So I don’t care what they call me or say about me. However…”

Loosening his grip slightly, Beonar fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

“What they call the woman I love matters a lot.”

Anthus lifted Beonar’s chin slightly, making him look into his eyes, and released an even stronger killing intent.

“Lady Sophia married into another family, right? That’s my second gift to you, Marquis Fedeurus.”

“What do you mean by a second gift?”

Beonar sat on the ground, pale. Anthus stood in front of him, drawing his sword.

“And now you have one chance left.”