Chapter 56

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Lips and Contact
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“Aren’t you going to catch it?”

Ariadne whispered to Cesare. *He who catches the ‘Golden Deer’ approaches the throne.* Count Cesare de Como, a man of the king’s blood, has captured the ‘Golden Deer.’ It was a story Cesare would have adored. If he were to catch the ‘Golden Deer’ and return to the tent today, it would undoubtedly be hailed as the most noteworthy event of the hunting festival. Ariadne quietly prepared to dismount from Cesare’s horse. The weapon he had brought was a powerful bow that required two hands, useless to him now with one arm out of commission. His best chance was to charge on horseback and throw a dart. She had to give him the horse if he was to catch the ‘Golden Deer.’ She knew all too well how much Cesare loved being the center of attention. Besides, she’d been hearing him go on about the ‘Golden Deer’ across two lifetimes until she was sick of it. So, Ariadne naturally assumed Cesare would leave her behind and gallop off to catch it.

“I’ll give you the horse. I’ll get off on the left, so you can jump on from the right.”

Cesare replied evenly to her whisper.

“No. I’m not going to catch it.”

“What?”

At Ariadne’s question, Cesare looked up at her and said.

“To catch that thing, I’d have to leave you behind and rush into the forest. How could I do that?”

He added, almost as an excuse.

“It’d be a pain if I lost you in the forest. Let’s just go.”

Ariadne was so surprised by the unexpected turn of events that she was momentarily speechless. It was a foolish thing to ask, but she had to.

“Didn’t you want to catch it badly? All you ever wrote about in your letters was the ‘Golden Deer.’”

“I did want to catch it, but…”

He glanced at Ariadne. He wanted the ‘Golden Deer,’ but a much greater prize, the maiden he craved, was right before his eyes. Winning her heart seemed a better bargain than the hide of a ‘Golden Deer.’

“It’s not like today’s my only chance, is it?”

Sensing the presence of humans, the ‘Golden Deer’ perked up its ears and stared intently at them. After a brief staring contest, the deer gave a shiver and bolted into the thicket.

“Drat, struck out today.”

Cesare stretched his back, half-disappointed, half-relieved. Though he’d said it was fine, he’d been experiencing a slight internal conflict. With the ‘Golden Deer’ gone, there was nothing left to worry about. His mood brightened, and he cheerfully guided the horse to the stream where the deer had been drinking.

“I didn’t catch the ‘Golden Deer,’ but since it drank from here, let’s just say this stream is the ‘Fountain of Eternal Life.’”

He motioned for Ariadne to dismount. As she moved to do so, he assisted her with one arm, adding.

“Let’s quench our thirst and wash up here before we go. Who knows? Maybe washing your ugly face with water from the ‘Fountain of Eternal Life’ will make you pretty.”

Ariadne shot Cesare a glare as she got off the horse. The water in their canteens was nearly gone, and she happened to be terribly thirsty. Ariadne cupped her hands and took a sip from the stream. The water was bitingly cold, jolting her senses awake.

“By the way, my lady, so you do read my letters after all?”

“Pardon?”

“You never replied once, so I thought you were just tearing them up without reading them! This is great, I’ll send you lots more from now on, okay?”

*She had been tearing them up…* Ariadne turned her head away awkwardly. Seeing Ariadne’s silence, Cesare scooped up some stream water and washed his left cheek. There was a long gash there. It seemed he had gotten an abrasion from scraping against the ground when they fell. Dirt and blood washed away in the cold water.

“Ooh, that must hurt.”

“Yeah. It hurts.”

“You may not know this, but it’s much cooler to say ‘I’m fine’ in moments like this.”

“I’m cool no matter what I do, so it’s fine.”

Ariadne shook her head as she looked at Cesare, then, noticing his disheveled state, she had a sudden realization. Since they had tumbled on the dirt together, her face must also be covered in dust. Careful not to smudge the eye makeup Sancha had applied that morning, Ariadne washed her face in the stream as well. As she was focused on washing her face, she suddenly felt the warm touch of another person on her forehead. - A soft peck.

Cesare had kissed Ariadne’s forehead. Ariadne, startled, sprang up like a jack-in-the-box.

“What are you doing!”

Cesare took a step back, his broken left arm hanging at his side and his right hand raised in a gesture of surrender.

“Sorry, sorry, you just suddenly looked so pretty after washing your face with water from the ‘Fountain of Eternal Life’!”

“Seriously, I told you not to do this!”

“What, can’t a knight get this much of a reward for saving you from a collapsing horse?”

They bickered as they walked down along the stream, with Cesare leading the horse as they walked side by side. The late afternoon sun was slowly setting. * * * The meaningless small talk between Leo III and Duke Mireille was incredibly long and, for the most part, inappropriate. They told lewd jokes with Queen Marguerite sitting right there, and the Duke, despite being there to represent a future bride, rambled on about the sexual customs of aging nobles. Utterly fed up, Alfonso found himself constantly scanning the area outside the tent. From his seat in the VIP section, raised in the center of the tent, he could see most of the people coming in, but Ariadne was nowhere to be seen, save for a fleeting glimpse from afar that morning.

‘Did she actually go hunting? She never seemed to be that fond of exercise.’

Most of the ladies were inside the tent, sipping tea and chatting. Only a peculiar few had gone out to hunt themselves.

‘Could she have gone for a walk with another man?’

The hunting festival was an event where young men and women were particularly prone to falling for each other. Every year, couples would venture into the forest, claiming to be going ‘hunting,’ only to spend hours ‘searching for prey’ and returning empty-handed. Alfonso’s fist clenched unconsciously, but he quickly shook his head to dispel the ominous thought. Ariadne didn't seem to be on close terms with any men.

‘That’s impossible. She’s such a prickly girl.’

Her laughter, her jests, her exaggerated bravado, and the glimpse of glass-like fragility peeking through—these were things only he knew. But evening was drawing near, and hunters were returning in small groups. By five o’clock, the award ceremony had even begun. Some knight who had caught the largest boar received praise from Leo III, showed off the valor of the Etruscan people before Duke Mireille, and was given a laurel crown by Queen Marguerite. Throughout this entire process, the black-haired girl was nowhere to be seen.

‘Did she go home early?’

He had a feeling she hadn't, but he tried to convince himself otherwise. Ariadne’s wicked stepmother and venomous stepsister were still in the tent, but since Ariadne wasn't close to them, it was plausible she might have left first.

- “Your Majesty, Count Cesare has not yet returned.”

Avoiding the eyes of Queen Marguerite and the delegation from the Kingdom of Gallico, Leo III’s secretary whispered softly into the king’s ear. But Leo III, making the secretary’s efforts futile, shot up from his simple throne and exclaimed loudly.

“Cesare?”

At the familiar address, the faces of both Queen Marguerite and the Gallico delegation hardened simultaneously. Queen Marguerite was mortified that the people sent from her family had witnessed the poor treatment she received from her husband, while the Gallico delegation was suspicious, wondering if the princess they were negotiating to send to Etruscan would suffer the same fate as Queen Marguerite. How a woman from their family was treated after marriage was her own problem. But the succession passing not to a child she bore, but to one of tainted blood, was a matter of profit and loss. However, Leo III acted even more ostentatiously than he usually did when doting on Cesare, as if his pride would be wounded if he couldn't display at least this much authority in front of his wife and the delegation from his wife's home country. Leo III’s secretary pressed a hand to his forehead. He felt a fever coming on.

“Send men into the forest! Find him at once! The sun is about to set!”

“Ah, Your Majesty! Someone is coming out of the forest over there!”

At someone’s voice, everyone turned to look in the direction he pointed. The bushes rustled and shook as Cesare emerged, hacking a path with his hunting knife. Following behind him was Ariadne, holding the horse’s reins. Both were a mess, with minor scratches from branches and the aftereffects of their fall.

“Count de Como!”

Leo III spotted Cesare and called out his name loudly. Fortunately, with the Gallico delegation watching with wide eyes, he didn't commit the blunder of calling him by his first name with a fond look. Leo III’s secretary breathed a sigh of relief. This was also a line Leo III had drawn for himself. He adored and cherished Cesare, who was the spitting image of himself and Countess Rubina, but he had no intention of ever granting him the right of succession. In official settings, Cesare’s title was still ‘Count,’ a mere court noble without even a proper hereditary fief. Hearing Leo III’s call, Cesare staggered forward but still managed to kneel on one knee before the king, showing his respect for the royalty.

“Your Majesty’s loyal subject greets Leo III, the sun of the kingdom.”

His impeccable greeting as a loyal subject was short-lived. Cesare grinned and held up his left arm.

“I broke my arm falling from my horse, so please excuse me from the part of the greeting where I place my hand on my knee.”

Leo III asked in surprise.

“Count de Como, what happened? Since when do you fall from a horse?”

“Well, it happened while I was saving a lady in distress.”

*As a man, I couldn’t just stand by, of course,* he added in a low voice.

“In distress? Who?”

Leo III’s gaze immediately shifted to Ariadne, who had emerged with him.

“Some insolent person attacked Lady de Mare with a hunting crossbow, putting her in quite a predicament. If I hadn’t found her in time, something terrible could have happened.”

Cesare was deliberately escalating the matter in front of the king.

“What? Who would dare commit such an outrageous act at a sacred hunting festival?”

“I heard he is the nephew of Lucrezia, Cardinal de Mare’s mistress. A knight’s squire, they said. A man who should be honing his skills to earn his knighthood, yet it seems he doesn’t know the first thing about chivalry, does he?”

A murmur went through the crowd. Lucrezia’s nephew was an unfamiliar name in high society. However, a few people vaguely remembered Zanobi’s previous misbehavior.

- “Ah, wasn’t he the one who whistled at the de Mare family’s débutante ball!”

- “That ruffian from back then?”

- “A country bumpkin, not a ruffian.”

Drawn by the murmuring crowd, Lucrezia, who had come out to see what was happening, turned deathly pale upon hearing the story. She looked around frantically.

“Zanobi, where is that brat Zanobi.”

Lucrezia, in a state of panic, spotted Zanobi at almost the same moment Leo III let out a furious roar.

“Drag that insolent cur before me at once!”