The Holy Lady, The Curse - Chapter 8 Part 4

“Um, I’m sorry, Sir Seiden.”

Seiden slowly raised his head to look at Hestina.

“Well, um. I want to participate in the hunting festival, but your name was the only one that came to mind.”

A shy blush appeared on Hestina’s face as she made a thin excuse. Seiden stared at her blankly.

“But I didn’t use you.”

“……”

“If I catch the kurkroll, then I’ll really ask you out.”

Hestina finally gathered the courage to convey her true feelings.

Hestina had fallen for Seiden at first sight when she encountered him at the imperial palace. She insisted on going on a trip to the Blackwood family’s villa, of course, to see him. Coincidentally, Hestina knew in advance that Seiden would visit the villa that day.

That day, like Hestina had planned, she went hunting with the Emperor and Seiden. Seiden even taught Hestina how to properly hold a sword without dropping it, as she kept losing her grip on the sword handle. Of course, he left abruptly afterwards. So, it was perhaps something like fate.

Hestina knew that Seiden was a popular man. She knew that many noble ladies admired him, and yet he was a man who had not been involved in any romantic rumors with any woman. It was one of the famous stories about him that all love letters handed over by courageous ladies ended up in the trash. How should one capture the heart of such a man?

While she was suffering from such worries, Geril happened to go on a subjugation mission with him. When Hestina casually asked about Seiden, Geril immediately caught on to Hestina’s feelings. He advised Hestina that to win a popular man, the first priority was to mark him. Tell everyone that this man is the one you’ve set your sights on, so they won’t even think about touching him.

So today, Hestina had marked Seiden Blackwood. In front of everyone. Hestina admitted that her actions were reckless and disrespectful. Nevertheless, she was confident. Confident that she would eventually win the heart of the man before her.

Already lost in a daydream, Hestina looked up at Seiden with eyes half-filled with excitement and nervousness, and soon his dry lips parted.

“I will retire first.”

The words that came out of Seiden’s mouth were quite far from the romantic answers Hestina expected, such as ‘A lady making the first move for a date, how bold. I’ll catch the kurkroll and ask you out, so please wait,’ or ‘Well then, I’ll be eagerly waiting for Your Highness’s invitation.’

While Hestina was taken aback by this unexpected response, Seiden left the banquet hall without looking back.

“S-Sir, wait…”

Hestina tried to stop Seiden, but his steps were too quick for her to do so. Behind Hestina, who was left bewildered, beautiful fireworks burst with a bang, bang, creating a mesmerizing sight.

* * *

After the eve of the festival that had been bustling until dawn with rumors about Princess Hestina and Seiden, the day of the hunting festival finally dawned. The nobles gathered at the waiting area at the foot of the mountain were busy talking about yesterday’s events even before the competition began. Their interest was no longer in the hunting festival itself, but whether Seiden Blackwood would become the husband of the youngest princess.

The excited whispering ceased abruptly at Seiden’s appearance. Everyone glanced at Seiden, but he ignored the gazes and looked around for Bellota.

Soon, his view caught Bellota and Geril walking together in the distance. Geril was sticking close to her side, continuously saying something with a pleased expression. As Bellota was nodding to Geril’s words while walking, her gaze momentarily met Seiden’s, who was staring at her. Seiden desperately tried to hold onto that fleeting moment of eye contact, but failed. Bellota immediately turned her head away after seeing him.

“……”

A voice as bright as the morning sun was heard next to Seiden, who was frozen with a grim expression.

“Did you sleep well, Sir?”

Seiden turned to the side, swallowing a sigh at the familiar voice. As expected, it was Hestina. She was properly dressed in hunting attire, as if she really intended to participate in the competition.

“Look forward to it. I’ll definitely catch the kurkroll.”

Hearing that, the nobles who were eavesdropping on their conversation stirred again. Hestina inwardly smiled with satisfaction at the people reacting according to her intentions.

The nobles were surprisingly loose-lipped, and people loved rumors to a sigh-inducing degree. Especially if the rumor involved a man and a woman. So it was certain that after the hunting festival, rumors about her and Seiden would spread not only in the capital but throughout the empire. Everyone would know that Seiden was the man she had set her sights on.

Although Seiden’s impassive reaction, bordering on complete indifference, was a bit concerning, Hestina had done a lot of research on Seiden. He was originally known to be a brusque and cold man, to the point of being icy.

Hestina decided to set aside her expectations of winning him over immediately. The important thing was, as Geril said, to mark him first. To prevent other women from harboring futile feelings for him. And if she kept challenging, eventually Seiden would realize. That she, who bravely challenged him without wavering even at such non-reactions, was his destiny.

“Well then, I wish you good luck too, Sir.”

Hestina smiled brightly and turned around, running off to prepare for the competition. Only after the annoying princess had disappeared did Seiden look at Bellota again. Bellota, standing a few steps ahead, was still conversing with Geril. Occasionally, words like ‘donation amount’ and ‘orphanage’ could be heard loudly from Geril.

Seiden also knew that Geril had decided on the theme of a charity hunting festival for this hunting festival to win Bellota’s favor. It was a shallow trick, but one that would inevitably work on Bellota.

Even until the competition started, Bellota did not look back at Seiden. In the end, Seiden had to set out without even greeting Bellota once.

“Three, two, one!”

As soon as the starting fireworks burst from the magic tool with a bang, the participants all pulled their reins at once. Among them, the ones who took the lead were Seiden, Geril, and Hestina. The three people, who were aiming for first place more than anyone else on Mount Tatenia, rode their horses like mad and disappeared into the mountains.

Bellota, who had been watching them, finally let out a slow sigh. She couldn’t stop the belated self-reproach that washed over her.

“……”

Bellota was bewildered by her own strange behavior. She could have at least told Seiden to come back safely. It wouldn’t have seemed strange for a saintess to say such words to the Holy Knight Commander… She could have at least greeted him with a nod.

She knew that Seiden had been watching her from behind until the last moment before he prepared to depart. She felt ashamed of her strange stubbornness that made her ignore Seiden until the end, which she couldn’t understand herself.

“Saintess, please sit over here. It will take a while for the competition to end. If you get tired, you can go to your room for a while.”

When a kind noblewoman approached and spoke to Bellota, who was standing alone, Bellota snapped out of her sinking thoughts and turned to look at her. Behind the noblewoman who was smiling gently, she could see women huddled together, passionately discussing Hestina and Seiden. The atmosphere among them was as if Seiden and Hestina were already engaged.

After taking a moment to catch her breath and compose herself, Bellota soon showed a gentle smile.

“Thank you. But I think I need to go to my room for a moment. I just remembered something I left behind.”

“I see! Go ahead then.”

The noblewoman smiled and let Bellota go. Bellota bowed slightly and quickly moved her steps to escape this space filled with talk of Seiden and Hestina.

* * *

While Bellota had retreated into the building to avoid the gazes of the noble ladies, Seiden had also ventured deep into the mountains. With his eyes burning with determination, he thoroughly searched places where monsters might be hiding, utilizing his experience as the Holy Knight Commander who had been on countless subjugation missions.

Thanks to this, he had consumed half of the magic stones distributed by the imperial family, the event organizers, in less than an hour. However, he was far from satisfied with just half. Seiden intended to use all the magic stones before the competition ended.

The mere thought of Geril daring to stick close to Bellota and speak to her was enough to make his stomach churn, and the idea of that guy possibly winning first place and making a wish full of ulterior motives to Bellota was unbearable.

Seiden relentlessly drove his horse, this time searching for places where the kurkroll might be. Of course, catching the kurkroll had nothing to do with winning first place. However, since the Emperor had announced before the competition that whoever caught the kurkroll, a rare monster specially brought in, would receive a prize regardless of their ranking, he had to claim that as well.

It would be a disaster if Geril caught the kurkroll. That guy was the type who would use the kurkroll as an excuse to entangle Bellota even if he lost first place. So, he had to cut off that possibility at the root.