STUT 16

Chapter : 16

Do your best to endure.

The two maternal uncles admired the handkerchief they had received as a gift.

“Clearly, you’re not very good at embroidery. Your mother didn’t have much dexterity either. Don’t be too discouraged.”

“Aster, you really have no filter when talking to your niece.”

As Sharloff tightened the knot, Cesar stroked his scabbard with a grave expression.

“When did you prepare this?”

“I got it ready a few days before the hunting tournament.”

Both of them silently fiddled with the handkerchiefs.

Besides the ones she had given the two uncles, there was one left. That one was for Benjamin.

“Is there any game you want?”

“Won’t His Highness the Crown Prince take everything anyway?”

When Sharloff replied with a smile, Cesar’s expression turned strange.

“I heard they released a rare blue bird in the grounds. Shall I catch it for you?”

“If you get the chance. Don’t overdo it by going too deep into the forest.”

Their light conversation ended there. The two uncles became busy inspecting the knight order.

The hunting grounds were in general in a state of bustle.

“I heard they released a black wolf into the grounds.”

“They say it’s twice as big as a normal wolf.”

“That’s not all. They also released plenty of black and white leopards, so watch your life. Don’t get careless and end up having your throat torn out by prey.”

This time, many rare beasts had been released.

Black wolves, black leopards and white leopards, as well as white martens and red martens, and even white tigers and black tigers.

Small animals like martens would be near the entrance, leopards around the middle, and wolves and tigers deep in the forest.

They even said there were black bears native to the Fontria Forest, so if you wandered too deep with half a mind, you’d be easy prey for a bear.

“That’s brutal.”

Sharloff covered her lips and laughed softly. Aster smiled back.

“A knight lives and dies by his competitive spirit. Are you heading back to the tents like this?”

“There’s still one more handkerchief left. I want to give that first.”

From across the way, Benjamin turned his head. Their eyes met in midair.

“I’ll go see His Highness too.”

Benjamin was in a crimson uniform. A white cloak hung from epaulettes embroidered with the imperial crest.

From head to toe he looked cumbersome, but since it was an official event, he stood there with a resigned expression.

Spotting Sharloff and her group, he came straight toward them.

“Don’t you have something to give me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think carefully. You do have something to give me. If you don’t, the House of Windsor won’t be able to hide its deep disappointment…”

Sharloff took Benjamin by the wrist and pulled him into a place with fewer people. Behind the tents was relatively quiet.

“Sharle.”

Benjamin stared down at the wrist being held, then placed his other hand over it.

“How long are you planning to hold on?”

“The hunting tournament is about to start.”

“So it’s not because you want to walk hand in hand with me.”

Benjamin pulled his wrist free. The way he gently wrapped her wrist and pushed it away was natural.

His gesture was light, and the emotion on his face was calm.

Benjamin fixed his scabbard to his uniform trousers and rested one arm on it. In that posture, he slowly looked Sharloff over.

“Where did you leave your crossbow?”

“I entrusted it to Katarina for a moment.”

Fingering the sword at his waist, Benjamin asked again,

“Have you practiced with the crossbow?”

“Yes. I’ve gotten more or less used to handling it.”

“‘More or less’ won’t do.”

His warning was firm.

“When you pull the trigger, think of hitting the head of someone you hate. Be decisive.”

“…Think of hitting what?”

Benjamin lightly brushed Sharloff’s cheek.

“What kind of prey should I bring you? I’m not fond of hunting tournaments, but if you’re here, it’s fine. I’ll fetch you something.”

“What are you saying…?”

“Wait, Sharle.”

Benjamin pressed his cheek to the nape of Sharloff’s neck. His shallow breath touched and scattered across her skin.

As Sharloff stammered, Benjamin turned his head and met her eyes.

At that short distance, their gazes locked.

A strange breath passed between them, and Benjamin whispered into her ear,

“Then you’ll be the queen of the hunting tournament, Sharle.”

Stroking her red hair, Benjamin murmured,

“Stop it… Benjamin, that tickles.”

“You must be very ticklish.”

“You’re breathing right into my ear—what do you expect?”

“Sharle is kind.”

“I have something to give you. Just a moment.”

Sharloff took out the last remaining handkerchief and placed it in Benjamin’s palm.

“Did you embroider this yourself?”

“……”

“You have quite a pitiful level of skill, Sharle.”

Benjamin looked at the embroidery and chuckled softly.

“Was it, ‘pull the trigger like you’re aiming for the head of someone you hate’?”

Turning to Katarina, Sharloff said,

“Katarina, bring the crossbow.”

“Sharle, that would be treason.”

Benjamin toyed with her wrist.

“Then tie it on yourself.”

Sharloff tied the handkerchief onto Benjamin’s scabbard.

The hunting grounds were empty. The knights and nobles had left for the hunt.

“Everyone’s gone.”

“They’ll be back soon.”

Sharloff looked down at the empty assembly ground and started walking.

“Miss, that’s not the way.”

Sharloff suddenly stopped.

“Did I take the wrong path?”

So it was the opposite way. Even as she traced back the route with her eyes, she didn’t feel like turning around. It felt as if something was gripping her ankle and pulling her underground.

And soon, she learned why.

“It hasn’t even been that long since the madam died, and already he’s having a child outside…”

So she’d come the wrong way—the Tuteo family’s tents were this direction. Here and there, a few maids could be seen.

“Let’s go back, Katarina.”

Just as Sharloff was about to turn back, she froze at their next words.

“They say the master even dug up the dead madam’s grave. He covered it with dirt for now, but…”

“Keep your voice down! Someone might hear!”

Sharloff’s expression twisted like that of a demon.

Who dug up whose grave?

Of course, Mother’s urn isn’t there. After all, who was it that took the urn out of that grave with her own hands…?

She herself had dug up the grave and clutched her mother’s urn as she headed for her maternal relatives’ home.

Sharloff looked down at her own clenched fist. Her mind went blank.

She jerked her head up and scraped at the tree bark with her nails. The bark crumbled with a rustle.

“Dig up the grave…”

If her father dug up the grave, there was only one reason.

He must have set the urn as bait, thinking to seize me by the nape. Just like in the previous life, when my very existence strangled Mother’s life.

“You really are determined to drag me back out.”

Brushing back her hair, Sharloff headed toward the Tuteo family’s tents.

“Ah, miss?”

“Why is the young lady here?”

The maids tried to stop her.

“Move.”

Katarina shoved them aside with her scabbard.

“P-please, you can’t go in right now—!”

She pushed aside the canvas and entered. Inside, a noblewoman with curly brown hair was smiling as she toyed with a teacup.

“What brings you all the way here?”

“Good to see you again, madam.”

“I was completely fooled, you know. I didn’t even recognize you as that family’s young lady.”

Chloe was standing in the Tuteo family’s tent, laughing behind her hand.

She was her father’s mistress—the woman who had taken her mother’s place.

“Everyone, leave.”

At Chloe’s natural command, the maids withdrew.

“Shall I take a look at my stepdaughter’s face?”

Sharloff smiled smoothly.

“Katarina, wait outside.”

At Sharloff’s nod, Katarina stood guard at the tent entrance.

“She’s my daughter, so may I speak casually? The master says I should embrace you, but as your mother, I should prepare my heart to fully hold you, shouldn’t I?”

A moth, rushing toward its place of death, flutters its wings before me.

“At least if you want to cling to that child’s thin thread of life, listen carefully.”

Regrettably, for now I have no intention of breaking your wings.

“If you ever again dare to call yourself my mother or call me your daughter, I’ll bury you alive. So mind your conduct.”

Strictly speaking, we’re strangers—worse than strangers. What family could I expect from a father who even gave up custody?

“You won’t understand in the slightest why I’m acting this way. You won’t find any reason in my actions, nor do I ask for your understanding.”

Sharloff muttered with a smile,

“Asking you to understand someone who crawled out of a grave—that would be my greed.”

I decided to cut the Tuteo family off, so why do you keep hovering before me? I thought I’d severed it, so why does it still remain?

Sharloff stepped forward.

You have no idea. The child who struggled in death thrashed in agony until the very last moment.

The day I went back to the Tuteos with a stiff, cold body—

You were there, digging up my own mother’s grave. Mother and daughter died like that. After living lives worse than beasts, we were torn apart and killed.

“Why… did you do that?”

“What?”

“Why—why? Why on earth did you do that?”

“Don’t come closer.”

“……”

“Don’t come any closer!”

Chloe cried out wildly, and one of the maids who had been waiting outside came back in.

“Madam?”

With reddened eyes, Sharloff whispered,

“Hold tight to what you’ve got and endure.”

I should have left that house earlier. If I had, maybe I could have prevented someone’s miserable death.

To Sharloff, the Tuteo family were the traces of past regrets.

It feels as if my very birth became someone’s sin. If only I had been given a little more time…

Then I wouldn’t have lost Mother like that.

How ridiculous. So ridiculous that tears fall.

“I told you not to come!”

Unable to contain her rage, Chloe hurled the teacup. It struck Katarina’s sword and shattered.

Glass fragments from the shattered cup grazed Sharloff’s cheek. She slowly touched it.

“That hurts.”

It stings.

“Miss!”

Mother. Mother. These people treat me as worse than a beast.

Benjamin, was that what you said? If someone in front of you gets in your way, picture the face you hate and shoot for the head.

“Katarina. Bring the crossbow.”

“……”

“I said, bring me the crossbow.”

She loaded a bolt and aimed straight at her target. Focusing on Chloe’s head, Sharloff pulled the trigger. Bang—the bolt skimmed past her temple and lodged into the pottery behind her.

Crash—with a sharp shattering sound, the pottery broke apart and fragments scattered everywhere.

“Try that filthy habit of yours one more time. Next time, I’ll put a bolt straight through your head.”