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Chapter :4
“……”
Though he looked at her with sharp eyes, Antoni ultimately assigned no fewer than twenty imperial knights to escort Agatha on her way back.
They had been childhood friends, cousins who had both been used in the emperor’s marriage schemes, and the only blood relatives who could bicker yet still get along without reserve.
Seeing Agatha off to her carriage, Antoni said,
“I’ll let you know when the reply arrives, Lady Agatha.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. I shall take my leave.”
After parting with proper courtesy at the end, Agatha returned to her mansion under the guard of twenty imperial knights.
That night.
Along with an uninvited visitor came a message from the Crown Prince that had arrived with remarkable speed.
“Dear Lady Agatha.
The reply you were waiting for has arrived. I will be holding a hunting party three days from now, so I hope you will attend, bringing the words you promised.
Your friend,
Antoni Rocsiva.
P.S. You’re still alive, right?”
After reading the last line, Agatha turned her gaze toward the window.
Clang, clang, clank—
Even the small crescent moon shaped like a curved eyebrow was hidden behind clouds that night.
Below it, imperial knights were cutting down intruders who had poured over the walls.
Though things seemed calm, beside Agatha as she read the letter in the mansion stood the deputy commander of the imperial knights under the Crown Prince’s command, along with two other imperial knights, all on emergency standby.
A moment later—
Knock, knock.
“Deputy Commander. It’s Windel.”
“Come in.”
An imperial knight entered the inner chamber and saluted.
“Thirty-five intruders. All have been eliminated.”
“Good work.”
As the deputy commander, Sir Basley, praised the knight,
Agatha gestured to the butler standing beside her, Allen.
“Have warm bathwater and the prepared late meal served to the knights. And oil for maintaining their swords.”
“Yes, milady.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Lady.”
“It’s nothing. Only what’s proper.”
After exchanging light bows with the deputy commander who offered his thanks, Agatha took out some stationery on the spot.
“Dear Your Highness the Crown Prince.
I am overjoyed to hear that the long-awaited reply has arrived. I hereby present first the words I promised, so please accept them.
From Agatha Nobilis.
P.S. Yes.”
She tucked in a sprig of purple statice and sealed the letter before handing it to Allen.
“Along with the letter, send the black horse His Highness was eyeing last time. Present it to him.”
“Yes, milady.”
And so, in the still-early late spring,
a hunting party hosted by the Crown Prince came to be held at the imperial hunting grounds.
On the day of the hunt.
Agatha rose early in the morning to make it in time for the hunt scheduled to begin before noon. Since she would be traveling on horseback today, a massage beforehand was essential.
After finishing her warm bath, she found a wide array of hunting outfits prepared before her.
“Milady, which will you wear today?”
“The weather is so nice. Bright colors would suit you very well.”
With her attendant maids, Agatha chose a blue shirt, a dark navy jacket embroidered with gold thread, white trousers, and leather boots.
“Shall we tie your hair up?”
“No. Just curl the ends a little.”
Her sunlit blonde hair flowed neatly down to her waist, and her makeup was kept so light it was barely noticeable.
Long eyelashes cast shadows on her clear, pale skin. Beneath them, her violet eyes were as elegant as the purple statice that symbolized her.
A high bridge of the nose, full red lips.
Her deer-like neck and graceful figure revealed along her slender jawline made her worthy of being called a beauty even in high society, where beauties were plentiful—Agatha Nobilis indeed.
“You look beautiful, milady.”
“Thank you.”
Knock, knock—
Just then a maid entered to report that preparations for departure were complete. Agatha, now wearing a bolo tie and white gloves, left the inner chamber.
“Sir Basley.”
“You’ve come out, Lady Nobilis.”
After exchanging light greetings with the deputy commander of the imperial knights who was inspecting the procession in front of the mansion, Agatha turned her gaze to the horse she would ride today.
Allen, the head butler, who had finished rechecking the saddle and stirrups, handed her the reins.
“There are no issues.”
“Good work. I’ll be off.”
The glossy brown horse was small but sturdy, a military breed well suited for riding and hunting alike.
As Agatha lightly mounted the horse, the imperial knights and servants in turn mounted their horses and boarded the carriages, finishing preparations.
“Shall we go then?”
“Depart!”
The flags of the imperial family and the House of Nobilis fluttered high. Agatha crossed the city under the escort of the imperial knights.
Their destination today was a forest among the imperial hunting grounds, relatively close—about an hour from the capital.
After briefly speaking with the knight in charge of inspection at the city gate, an imperial knight returned and reported,
“His Highness the Crown Prince has already left the city early, and Marquis Aratus has not yet departed.”
“Is that so?”
Excited at seeing the horse she had presented, the Crown Prince must have flown off to the hunting grounds.
He might even have begun a bit of preliminary hunting under the pretext of inspecting the grounds.
“Thank you for your trouble, sir.”
“Not at all.”
As people grew scarce, the procession of carriages carrying Agatha, the knights, and servants picked up speed.
Just as they had slowly crossed a few hills thick with trees and grass—
Ping—
A tiny, faint sound rang out. Instantly reacting, the imperial knights drew their swords and knocked away the hidden weapons flying toward Agatha.
“An ambush!”
“Form up! Protect the lady!”
“Milady, hold the reins tight! We must break through like this!”
At the center of the protective formation that had already formed, Agatha gripped the reins firmly.
If their numbers had been small, they might have dealt with them and moved on, but after the first failed surprise attack, the number of assassins who revealed themselves was far from ordinary.
From the grass, from the trees, and even from the paths ahead and behind—
Well over a hundred were pouring in, loosing arrows.
“Charge!”
At the shout of the deputy commander, Sir Basley, the horses and carriages all surged forward. Just as Agatha and the knights were cutting through the rain of arrows and about to break the encirclement—
“Now! Pull!”
Thud—
Neighhhh—!
From the ground, suddenly raised stake-spears blocked the procession. The imperial knights’ horses, unable to stop in time, crashed into them, and in the opening, arrows poured toward Agatha, who had been brought to a halt.
“Ah…!”
“Milady!”
Agatha was thrown from her horse in an instant. She narrowly twisted her body to avoid the arrows, but couldn’t avoid rolling across the ground.
Her horse, its body pierced by arrows, collapsed moments later.
Barely escaping being crushed beneath it, Agatha brushed aside her blood-soaked hair with trembling hands. She couldn’t tell what she had hit when she fell—her vision was red as well.
Shouts of alarm rang out from all around.
“Blood…!”
“Milady! Are you all right?”
Calmly assuring them she was fine, Agatha drew a sword from the saddle. Having confirmed their target had fallen, the assassins were now charging toward the formation with swords and axes.
“I’m fine, so don’t worry about me—watch the front!”
“Kill her! Just kill the target and we’re done!”
Grating metallic sounds and pounding footsteps echoed from every direction. Her torn scalp throbbed with pain, but Agatha coolly assessed the situation first.
‘The servants won’t be able to move.’
Even if the assassins weren’t paying attention to the carriages now, the moment someone tried to slip out, blades would start flying there as well.
Each knight had roughly five or six opponents to deal with.
Worse still, the assassins were desperate to get at Agatha, who was being protected in the center, rather than the knights themselves.
From time to time, ducking her head to avoid hidden weapons that slipped past the knights, Agatha weighed the chances that the Crown Prince, who should be at the hunting grounds by now, would notice something was wrong and come.
Around her, knights and attackers were shouting at each other.
“Hold out! If we endure, His Highness will notice something amiss and come!”
“Don’t bother with the knights! Our target is just that one woman!”
Perhaps patrolling knights might discover them and pass on the news.
But the assassins must have anticipated even that interval before acting.
Agatha realized that her relatives had resolved to see this through.
If they dared to carry this out in the imperial hunting grounds, prepared even to incur the emperor’s wrath—
‘…Can I really make it out of here alive?’
Creak—
In the midst of the fierce clash,
the faint sound of a bowstring being drawn caught Agatha’s ear. In the corner of her vision, she saw an assassin crouched and aiming this way.
As he nocked an arrow, bent the bow, and drew the string taut—
Thud—
The one whose breath was cut short first was, instead, the assassin who had been aiming at her. Following the arrow that pierced him at a slant, she turned her head in that direction.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—
On a tall hill,
a troop of cavalry was charging, kicking up dust and shaking the ground in broad daylight.
At the very front rode a man holding a longbow in one hand, tearing through the throats of the assassins who had been aiming at her.
The crest borne by his riders was an eagle soaring through the sky.
With the sudden arrival of reinforcements, despair and hope split between the assassins and the imperial knights.
“Th-that’s the Aratus Order!”
Thud, thud, thump—
Each time he released his bowstring, another of the countless assassins lost their life.
Beneath the deeply pulled hood,
Agatha’s eyes met the man’s, flashing like light. Though there was no way his voice could reach her from this distance, it felt as if his low words struck directly against her eardrums.
“Prepare to clash.”
His large, firm hand tightened on the reins.
The man—Enoch Aratus—then charged straight down the hill, smashing into and trampling over the massed assassins.
