Chapter 103

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 103

Chapter Title: Suspicion in the Blood

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"Wolves! Wolves have appeared!"

The forest echoed with screams and chaos.

The royal hunting grounds, which were supposed to be safe, erupted into pandemonium at the sudden arrival of the ferocious beasts.

"Kyaaah!"

"Run! Get away!"

The royal knights hurriedly drew their swords and nocked arrows aimed at the wolves.

Forget the hunting tournament—people scrambled out of the forest in a frantic dash, gasping for breath.

They were utterly stunned with shock.

Thank goodness Baldina's knights had swiftly and powerfully dispatched the wolves. Had they been even a moment slower, who knew how many casualties there would have been.

In the meantime, the knights emerged carrying the slain wolves on their shoulders.

"G-Grand Duke, if it's not too presumptuous, may I hold onto your arm just a little? I'm so terrified I can't take a single step."

Birna trembled, her shoulders shaking as if gripped by fear.

The sight of those cart-sized monstrous beasts being tossed out one by one made everyone's legs go weak.

The Queen Dowager furrowed her brow with a grave expression.

"What in the world is going on? Why have these wolves appeared in the hunting grounds? Didn't you confirm they were safe?!"

"Please, execute me. The breeding season is long past—how could this have happened..."

The chief huntsman, responsible for managing the forest, could only bow his head repeatedly.

"We've dealt with all the wolves, so everyone can rest easy. But have all the tournament participants made it out safely?"

The knights asked urgently.

"Is anyone still in the forest? If you don't see someone, report it to me immediately!"

It would be a disaster if anyone was still trapped inside or had been attacked by the wolves.

People craned their necks, scanning for anyone missing.

Then someone noticed and shouted loudly.

"Her Highness the Princess and Young Duke Claudio are nowhere to be seen!"

"We've found Young Duke Claudio!"

Samon was discovered unconscious beneath a massive tree in a secluded spot far from the tournament grounds.

Nearby lay a horse that had been savagely torn apart and killed. It looked like it had been overwhelmed by a pack of wolves.

"It's Her Highness the Princess's horse!"

Someone shouted upon spotting the saddle and reins.

"Samon!"

Catherine screamed and lunged forward.

Why was her son lying there collapsed? Him getting hurt wasn't part of their plan for today.

"Are you okay? Come to your senses! My son, Mommy's here!"

She shook his body wildly, crying out hysterically.

Whether her brute strength moved the heavens or not, Samon opened his eyes.

"M-Mother...?"

He looked utterly bewildered. His mother was wailing, and knights had surrounded him in a semicircle.

Where was this? What had happened?

"Oh, you're awake! Thank the gods. Samon, I thought I'd lost you."

Catherine clung to him and ordered the knights to fetch a physician.

"I thought the wolves had gotten you..."

"Wolves...?"

Samon blinked in confusion, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. Catherine whirled around and bellowed.

"What are you waiting for? Fetch the physician! My son's in this state, and you're just going to stand there gawking?!"

The elegant noblewoman was gone, replaced by a shrewish tirade that left the knights momentarily flustered.

At that moment, Jason sensed something off.

The wolves the princess had unleashed. The young duke found alone.

In that case, then—

"Where is Her Highness the Princess?"

At the Grand Duke's pointed question, the knights snapped out of their daze induced by Catherine. The princess was nowhere in sight.

'Medea is missing?'

Samon jolted fully awake as well. His last memory was the moment he'd turned to look back at Medea.

"Young Duke, where is Her Highness?"

The knight captain asked. It was only natural.

He had been the princess's hunting partner and had entered the forest with her just moments ago.

"...Th-that's..."

Samon had no idea what to say. The plan had gone so disastrously off-script from what he'd expected.

Who had attacked him?

Where had Medea gone?

Their eyes slowly drifted downward.

Blood was splattered across Samon's body—fresh, bright crimson.

Even Samon was startled.

"Th-this isn't my blood..."

He stammered without thinking.

"Young Duke, is this your sword?"

A knight picked up the blade lying at Samon's feet.

The edge was coated in thick, sticky blood. Beside it still lay the horse's corpse, ripped apart by wolves.

"Young Duke Claudio. What have you done to the princess?"

The bloodied sword of the young duke.

The princess's dead horse.

The knight voiced the single hypothesis forming in everyone's minds.

Samon's face drained of color. He waved his hands frantically in denial.

"I-it wasn't me! Someone attacked me, and I lost consciousness!"

But he himself was unscathed—not a single wound—merely drenched in blood.

So whose blood was splattered on Samon?

"I didn't do anything to Medea!"

No one believed him amid the extraordinarily suspicious circumstances.

The princess had vanished from the hunting grounds.

Her horse lay dead, mauled by a wolf pack, while her partner, Samon, had been found passed out and covered head to toe in blood.

In this highly suspicious situation, the Queen Dowager staggered upon hearing the news of her granddaughter but issued steady commands.

"Sise, assemble a search party right now to find Medea. The rest of you—investigate everything she ate and wore today, every person she met or spent time with, without omission. We need to find out who targeted the princess."

Her instincts, honed from years at the pinnacle of the royal court, told her this was no accident.

'Someone targeted Medea... The Kazen delegation? Still harboring grudges from that duel...'

She shot a glare toward the Kazen envoys.

'They must have seen her as a thorn in their side and tried to remove her. I should have realized it when they insisted on the hunting tournament. Foolish me.'

The Fourth Princess was flustered too, unable to meet her eyes.

Yet suspicion alone wasn't proof.

"Your Grace the Queen Dowager! We found this on Her Highness's horse!"

A knight conducting the search brought over a blood-soaked sachet and opened it.

Dried herbs tumbled out. A knight who sniffed it declared,

"It's a scent that lures beasts. This must be why the wolves attacked Her Highness's horse."

Clear evidence that the princess had been deliberately targeted.

The one who would know best who had it in for Medea was Samon, the last person with her.

All eyes turned to him at once. He gaped in shock.

"I-I don't know. I have no idea why that was on Medea's horse. Someone attacked me, my vision went black, I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, it was just now. Please believe me, Grandmother."

"Claudio, are you saying you didn't kill her and then lie about it?!"

The Queen Dowager bellowed savagely, her cry like a beast's howl.

Samon dropped to his knees, protesting his innocence.

"Grandmother, I swear on my life. I absolutely did not harm Medea—Her Highness the Princess!"

But drenched in blood as he was, no words of his could sound like anything but an excuse.