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Chapter : 17
What Should I Do with You?
Benjamin slowly sat down beside a waterfall.
Deep within the Fontrea Forest. Beside him lay a pile of hunted game.
Benjamin casually sheathed his knife and washed his hands in the flowing lake.
“We’ve caught the white tigers. But there’s no sign of any black tigers.”
The Windsor family’s knights, who had been hiding nearby, revealed themselves.
“This area is all white tigers as well. It seems the black tigers are in another sector. Shall we head deeper into the forest?”
Aster lowered his head to meet Benjamin’s eyes.
Benjamin looked up and smiled faintly.
“Aster, you found me early.”
“You keep shaking off the knight escort, Your Highness. Should we be tracking you instead of the prey? At this rate, we won’t just fail the hunting competition—we won’t even find game to present to Sharlophe.”
Aster, having found Benjamin, perched himself on a rock opposite him. By nature, Benjamin never allowed people at his back. That was also why he usually traveled alone outside.
“Escorts aren’t assigned so that you can lose them.”
“My apologies. It’s become a habit, I suppose. Still, we were together in the hunting grounds the whole time, weren’t we?”
Cesar emerged from deeper in the forest, gripping someone by the nape of the neck.
“It seems the Empress Consort is going more insane by the day. Sending assassins openly into the hunting grounds?”
“She’s been growing weak lately. Looks like her vision has gotten quite blurred too.”
After confirming once more that the area was safe, Cesar sheathed his sword.
“We’ll need to pay closer attention to your protection from now on.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“I heard you shook off the Windsor escort again recently.”
Recently, Windsor had assigned him guards. No one in the imperial family could be trusted lightly, so Windsor had detached a knight order to protect him. Yet Benjamin had lost them and gone undercover again.
“Take off their masks and check their faces.”
“We did. They’re all unfamiliar.”
“That should take care of today’s hunting competition prey.”
Benjamin suddenly grabbed the nape of a black tiger emerging from the forest. The black tiger was twice the size of an ordinary tiger, yet he seized it in an instant.
“Your Highness, what did you just catch?”
“No wonder I couldn’t see any. While I let my guard down for a moment, this thing nearly grabbed my neck instead of the other way around.”
“Do you have no sense of danger at all?”
“Looks like it wandered into black tiger territory. Shall we stop here for today? Aster, shouldn’t you head out as well?”
The black tiger growled, then was knocked unconscious by the scabbard of Benjamin’s sword.
“Please refrain from such dangerous actions.”
“There’s plenty more dangerous than this.”
“I will escort you out now. The weather doesn’t look good.”
Benjamin lifted his head at Aster’s words.
“Indeed. Dark clouds are gathering.”
From outside the forest, dark storm clouds rolled in, swallowing the entire area.
The hunting competition was still in full swing deeper inside.
Benjamin had ventured too far in. At this rate, he might get caught in the rainstorm on the way back to the gathering point.
“It will pour soon.”
Aster voiced his concern.
“Is it darker because we’re deep in the forest?”
Benjamin quietly scanned the outside.
“I think we should head out.”
He unbuttoned his stifling uniform.
“I have a bad feeling.”
“It would be best to leave before it gets any darker.”
A blue bird fluttered quietly near his head. Benjamin reached out as he watched it fly beside him.
When he caught it with both hands, the bird that had been flapping settled calmly on his palm.
“Are you telling me to take you with me?”
Its gentle flutter continued atop his hand.
Why do you treat me like I’m less than an animal?
Why do you trample me down and throw me to the bottom again…!
“This bitch has gone crazy…!”
Sharlophe loaded a bolt into her crossbow and pulled the trigger. The pent-up rage in her chest slowly faded.
‘Was that relief?’
It hadn’t been long since she buried her mother’s urn, yet her father had brought his mistress into the house…
And that mistress had come holding her stepsibling’s hand…
“Next time I’ll shoot you right in that mouth.”
“Eek!”
As she loaded another bolt, Chloe clutched her head and crouched down. She thought it would feel refreshing to see this, but it didn’t.
“Stop it! Stop it! Damn you!”
When Sharlophe lowered the crossbow, Chloe let out a shaky breath.
A faint noise came from behind. Outside the tent, a maid and a small child stood frozen. The maid holding the child stepped back in panic.
“Mom?”
Henrietta reached out to Chloe. The child who had been smiling brightly soon grew dejected.
Children are sensitive to their parents’ expressions. People say they don’t know any better, but when a parent looks dark, the child becomes anxious too.
“Don’t touch Henrietta!”
Still, she’s cute since she’s your own child, huh.
Sharlophe placed a hand on Henrietta’s head.
Such a small head. Too small for me to do anything about right now.
Your parents’ sins aren’t your sins, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for me to like you either.
“I’m sorry to you.”
Henrietta.
“But still… what can I do?”
That family is that kind of family. You were born into that kind of family. You’re not guilty, but neither is my malice.
Sharlophe withdrew her gaze from Henrietta and brushed her hair back as she looked down at the maid blocking her path.
“Get lost.”
The maids who had gathered after hearing the gunshot hesitated.
Sharlophe looked at them one by one, then removed the loaded bolt from the crossbow.
Boring. Tedious. I hate this place.
“Let’s go. I’m tired.”
Katharina understood and cleared the way.
She was dozing lazily inside the Windsor tent when she heard the rain.
Tap. Tap.
Raindrops echoed outside the tent.
Sharlophe rose from the cot and stepped outside.
The rain grew heavier, and noblewomen who had been strolling outside hurried back to their tents.
“Did they say it would rain today?”
It had been clear until morning. Now storm clouds darkened the whole forest.
The clouded sky poured water down, and puddles formed all over the muddy ground.
“Miss, you’ll get wet if you stay here.”
As Sharlophe stepped out, Katharina brought an umbrella.
“Where did this rain come from all of a sudden?”
“It seems to be a sudden shower. Dark clouds gathered all at once. People are starting to return from the hunting grounds as well.”
There was still a long time left before the competition was supposed to end, but in this state it would be hard to continue.
If the rain went on, it wouldn’t be strange for those who went out hunting to lose their way.
“What about His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“There’s been no word yet.”
“And my two uncles?”
“No news from them either.”
The tent stood at a moderate distance from the forest entrance. Taking the umbrella, Sharlophe walked toward the clearing.
Raindrops pattered against the umbrella.
Water trickled down, soaking her shoulders, and the hem of her dress grew wet.
As the rain poured down refreshingly, people from the hunting grounds hurried out to take shelter.
“People are starting to come out of the forest.”
Sharlophe tilted her head.
“If they’re coming out, my uncles should be here soon too.”
She could probably stop worrying.
The hunting competition was halted midway due to the rain.
“Wouldn’t it be better for you to wait inside the tent, Miss?”
“It’s been a while since I last saw rain. I want to walk a bit. Tell me when my uncles arrive.”
The yellow umbrella was flashy but blocked her view. After staring at it, Sharlophe set it down.
When she placed it on the ground, Katharina hurried to pick it back up—
“It’s fine.”
Sharlophe refused.
“I just want to walk.”
“You’ll catch a cold. If I let you go like this, the lord will scold me later.”
Sharlophe gazed up at the rain pouring over her head, feeling strangely contemplative. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d stood in the rain like this.
“It’s refreshing. And the smell of rain—it’s been so long.”
“…I really don’t understand you, Miss.”
“I want to get wet.”
“If the two from the Windsor family saw you like this, they’d be shocked.”
Sharlophe enjoyed the moment of leisure. The inside of her chest cooled. Her red hair darkened as it soaked up rain. When she reached out, raindrops touched her fingers and scattered.
“His Highness will come back in a bad mood.”
“Pardon?”
“He doesn’t like getting wet in the rain.”
Later, she learned that the day the deposed empress was executed, it had been during a torrential monsoon.
She was brought to the scaffold under the pouring rain, and her head was severed there.
Benjamin had been there too, unofficially.
When he became unusually sharp-tempered during the rainy season, his close aides eventually figured out why.
“But Miss, you’re completely soaked. What will you do if His Highness sees you like this…?”
“Who knows. Maybe he’ll call me foolish?”
Still…
“Why does this make me feel more relieved?”
As she stood there blankly, someone approached. When Sharlophe lowered her gaze, a small child was looking up at her.
“This.”
Henrietta picked up the umbrella from the ground and handed it to her. It was the yellow umbrella Sharlophe had set down.
Sharlophe twisted her wet hair and smiled.
“Why are you giving that to me?”
“Use it.”
“Why would I accept your kindness?”
There was no reason to show you kindness, and no reason to receive it either.
Sharlophe pushed away the umbrella Henrietta held out.
“Don’t come near me.”
The umbrella rolled across the muddy ground.
“It makes me uncomfortable when you do this.”
Water ran down her fingers, her warmth faded, and her lips grew pale.
Just as Sharlophe was about to turn away, the child grabbed her back.
“You should use an umbrella.”
Henrietta pressed the umbrella into her thin hands and moved away toward the maid.
When you’re like this, I really hate it. It makes me feel so miserable.
Sharlophe stood there blankly when the forest entrance grew noisy. People were gathering around the entrance to Fontrea Forest.
“What’s that? Something seems to be coming out of the forest.”
“People are coming out, aren’t they?”
“No, that’s not it. The ground wouldn’t shake like that just for people! A bear—a bear! A mad black bear!”
