HRB 83

After a long interval, the Emperor was hosting a hunting competition.

Thanks to this, the social circles, which had been quiet recently, were bustling noisily, regardless of whether they were in the Emperor’s faction or the Noble faction.

For ten years, all festivals and banquets had been temporarily banned due to the war with the Demon King, so the past decade had been a time when society was frozen.

After the Hero defeated the Demon King, everyone cautiously began to hold banquets little by little, and after a certain point, everyone held banquets almost every day like wild horses let loose.

The reason why that momentum subsided was because the Emperor had ordered them to refrain from extravagance, as complete peace had not yet been achieved, and because the news that even Count Almeida had been murdered spread, and nearly ten nobles from the Noble faction were purged. Now, no one, unless they were a fool, didn’t know.

Who was carrying out the purge.

However, Marquis Rodrigo, the head of the Noble faction, was unscathed.

But since Count Almeida was the ninth, and the nobles were shrinking back, fearing that his head would be the tenth to roll.

Although the past ten years had been relatively quiet due to the Demon King, everyone was realizing anew that political strife was originally like this.

Therefore, most nobles participated in the hunting competition hosted by the Emperor, regardless of their faction, fearing that they might become the next target of the purge if they did something that displeased the Emperor.

The Marquis Evans family also occupied a spot in the hunting grounds.

“The youngest gave me a handkerchief, so I’m going to win the hunting competition!”

“Did you think you were the only one who got one? This victory is mine!”

The two brothers of the Marquis Evans family boasted about the handkerchiefs they received from their youngest sister, Boram, and subtly engaged in a war of nerves.

However, the Marquis Evans family, along with the Marquis Rivalt family, was one of the two families famous as Sorcery families in the Reneva Empire, and naturally, the brothers of the Marquis family had no talent for physical activities, so they all knew that winning was impossible.

But in front of their youngest sister, Boram, who had given them the handkerchiefs, they both boasted that they would win.

Boram knew that they had such terrible hunting skills that it would be considered a miracle if the two of them caught even a small animal, but she said nothing.

“What are you talking about! I’m going to win this time!”

Boram watched as her father, Marquis Evans, also shouted that and the three of them confidently headed to the hunting competition. As soon as everyone left, her face changed to an expressionless one, as if she had never smiled.

Her mother, the Marchioness Evans, and her sisters-in-law did not particularly like such events, so they did not appear at the hunting competition at all.

Thanks to that, Boram was the only one who could give out handkerchiefs, so she was responsible for her father and brothers.

But the person Boram really wanted to give a handkerchief to was someone else.

Boram looked out of the tent.

Some young ladies directly participated in the hunting event, but most of them gathered in groups of three or five and held tea parties in one area of the hunting grounds.

It was a cold winter, but thanks to the large-scale Sorcery that Marquis Rivalt, the Emperor’s confidant, had cast over the entire hunting grounds, the atmosphere seemed quite friendly, as if they didn’t feel the cold at all.

Both the Marquis Rivalt family and the Marquis Evans family were famous as Sorcery families, but if the Evans family focused more on combat, the Marquis Rivalt family felt like they were good at everything.

It was impossible to say which was better, but in any case, such Sorcery was impossible for Evans.

“Simon, your Sorcery abilities are still outstanding in this area.”

Her father, Marquis Evans, even said this to Marquis Rivalt, the Emperor’s confidant, who happened to be passing by. It seemed like a compliment and an insult at the same time, but considering Marquis Evans’s personality, who was stingy with compliments, it was a compliment.

The Emperor’s confidant, who was much younger than Marquis Evans, politely thanked him with a gentle smile.

“Come to think of it, wasn’t your brother outstanding in this area?”

The smile on his face faded for a moment at Marquis Evans’s additional words, but he soon smiled again.

“I do have a deficient brother.”

“I don’t remember seeing him recently.”

“He’s not the type to do outdoor activities often anyway. He’s away on business for a while…”

“Is that so? I had a conversation with him before, and there were parts about artifacts that matched well with me, so please tell him that I would like to invite him once he returns.”

What kind of person was Marquis Rivalt’s brother? Boram was sitting blankly in the tent, thinking about that, when someone entered the tent without notice.

It was Arthur.

“What?”

Boram, who had been sitting blankly, was startled and looked around. Only Arthur, who had come to the Evans Marquis family’s tent alone without any attendants, seemed calm.

He looked at Boram, who was horrified, as if it were funny.

“Why are you so surprised? No one will think it’s strange that the Hero came to receive a handkerchief from his comrade.”

He said calmly and took a seat next to Boram as if it were his own tent. His face, which looked somehow tired, seemed like he hadn’t slept much recently.

Boram, who was looking at Arthur with complicated eyes, sighed.

“You sometimes seem to forget that you have a fiancée.”

“That fiancée didn’t even participate in today’s event.”

Arthur scoffed.

Although it was an event hosted by the Imperial family, the relationship between the Imperial family and the temple was not good in the first place. The temple refused to participate in the hunting competition, saying that it could not participate in a hunting competition that involved killing, and naturally, the Saintess, Laila, did not attend either.

Of course, that was the Saintess’s position, and as ‘Count Fontain’s fiancée,’ she could have participated in the event.

But Laila didn’t.

Thanks to that, there was no one to tie a handkerchief for Arthur.

In fact, the handkerchief was just a symbolic thing, but it was a long-standing tradition among Nobles to receive a handkerchief from family, friends, or lovers wishing them good luck.

Boram got up without saying anything and brought an extra handkerchief that she had put aside just in case and tied it around Arthur’s wrist.

“You’re good at hunting and fishing even without this, right? You were the best when we were traveling.”

“Of course, if I step up, first place is guaranteed.”

In fact, Arthur was the best at fishing and hunting among the three men. Augustine tended to avoid killing directly except for the Demon race, and Ketron preferred to quickly smash his prey rather than carefully hunting it by controlling his strength.

Arthur, who was looking around at the handkerchief that Boram had tied, opened his mouth.

“Boram, what about the Holy Sword?”

Recently, Arthur had been asking Boram if she could make a sword similar to the Holy Sword. But even if Boram was an excellent Sorcerer, she couldn’t say for sure that it was possible.

If Boram used her Sorcery to make it look plausible and poured Divinity into it, she might be able to make it look similar.

But a fake would eventually be exposed.

Arthur chuckled, as if he hadn’t expected much, when Boram remained silent.

“I know. I know it’s going to be difficult, no matter how great you are. I was just asking in case.”

“Stop thinking nonsense and retire.”

Boram said in a cold voice.

Recently, Boram had been urging Arthur to retire.

She was persuading Arthur, saying that it was time for him to take a step forward from being a Hero to being a Noble and a politician, as he could no longer make excuses for his injuries, despite his desire to live a leisurely life.

Although he was still young, there would be no problem even if the Hero, who had finished everything, retired early, since he had already defeated the Demon King.

She thought that kind of life suited Arthur better. Not a clumsy imitation of a Hero.

Arthur, who had been hysterical because he had become extremely sensitive after seeing Ketron in the tournament, had only recently calmed down a little.

Come to think of it, Arthur had always been like that, except for the first few weeks after becoming a Hero. He was anxious and sensitive.

In the first place, Arthur was far from being a bold person. Although he had never expressed it out loud, Boram could see that that place was not Arthur’s place.

But seeing that he was still looking for the Holy Sword, it seemed that Boram’s talk about retirement had not resonated with Arthur very much.

Arthur quickly got up from his seat when Boram was about to start nagging.

“I’ll be going now.”

Boram glared at him. He had hated nagging since a long time ago.

“Oh, right, about this.”

Arthur, who was leaving the tent, suddenly raised his wrist with the handkerchief tied around it.

“Even if Laila had come, I would have received it from you.”

Then he shook his wrist and quickly left the tent.

“…Ha.”

Boram let out a breath she had been holding in long after Arthur left. It was like a sigh.

Don’t talk nonsense. If it were you, you would have received a handkerchief from her to dismiss the rumors of discord with Laila that were subtly circulating.

So that could only be interpreted as an intention to comfort Boram, since it was something that would never happen anyway.

But she couldn’t help but laugh at herself for expecting it after hearing those words.

Idiot, fool.

The youngest of the Marquis Evans family, who had been called a genius all her life, had no choice but to admit that she had become an idiot these days.

In the tent, which had become quiet in an instant after Arthur left, Boram sat down as if collapsing.

Arthur, are you satisfied with being the Hero?

Or.

Do you regret it?

She doesn’t have the courage to ask, and no answer comes. But Boram responded to the unanswered reply.

I regret it.

Loving you too.

Not being able to let go of my lingering feelings, even though I know I can’t be your top priority.

Betraying that innocent child too.

Even now, she still dreamed of Ketron, who silently looked at her from time to time, whenever she was about to forget. In front of that gaze that looked at her heavily without any resentment, hatred, or intense emotions, Boram had to wake up with the feeling that her conscience, which she thought she had thrown away, was falling to the ends of the earth.

Boram cast her gaze into the forest where the hunting competition was being held, with a sigh that was probably the nth since that day.

Just then, a bird that was flying up was shot by someone’s arrow and fell to the ground.

For some reason, Boram’s heart sank at the sight.

She didn’t know why.