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Chapter 18
“Please accept this. I’ve spent quite a long time preparing it for you, Your Highness.”
“I’m grateful that you prepared something for me. But… didn’t you just say only one can be received?”
“That is correct. So Your Highness may simply choose between Skene’s nyux and mine.”
“Such…”
He did not bother hiding his trouble. With an awkward expression, he ran a hand through his silver hair and even let out a groan. Strangely enough, that honest reaction made something in her chest tickle. Enough to ignore Skene’s sharp glare beside her.
“They are both so beautiful that I cannot easily choose.”
Glossa’s nyux was soft enough to seem as if it would slip from his hand. Black fabric embroidered with golden thread—colors representing the Waster Empire. A woman who hid ambition beneath the mask of elegance felt nauseating.
Hippolotes looked back and forth between the delicate hands of the two women and sighed in feigned regret. That reaction heightened their anxiety.
Just as Glossa stepped forward to speak again, Hippolotes returned both nyuxes into their hands.
“It is too difficult to choose between the two of you. I gratefully accept only your feelings for wishing me safety.”
“…What? Wait, Lord Hippolotes!”
Skene, who had been confident that he would choose hers, realized too late what was happening and panicked. She tried to run after him as he turned away, but Glossa grabbed her arm sharply.
“What are you doing? Calm down.”
“What?”
Glossa’s voice was low, trembling with restrained emotion.
“Do you not see the eyes watching us?”
Only then did Skene glance around and drop her shoulders. Her frustration showed clearly, but she eventually pulled her arm away.
“…Mine was much more beautiful.”
Glossa gave a faint, bitter smile and returned to her seat with an elegant posture. Yet the veins on her hand gripping her red chiton betrayed her tension.
For a brief moment, a thought had crossed her mind—about the man.
And the realization followed immediately:
The one he was waiting for was neither Skene nor herself.
Strangely, once that thought settled, her heart became calm, like a still lake.
Something like a thorn snapped cleanly inside her.
Guilt vanished without a trace.
* * *
Compared to the Waster Empire, Titen was far more confined.
Hippolotes watched the nobles rush forward recklessly into the forest, but he did not hurry. He and his attendant, Kakos, entered the hunting grounds at a leisurely pace.
“Incredible. Their stupidity is honestly exhausting,” Hippolotes said.
“Indeed. At that rate, all the prey will flee,” Kakos replied.
“Well, I suppose there’s a limit to where they can run. I understand their excitement.”
He showed little interest in the childish game of hunting, even though he was supposed to bring back a deer for Princess Ezra.
Kakos urged him impatiently.
“Shouldn’t we hunt a deer as well? At this rate they’ll all be taken.”
“If that happens… I’ll just take one from a noble.”
“Are you serious?”
Hippolotes glanced at him.
“Did you believe that?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so.”
As they joked and moved deeper into the forest, Hippolotes suddenly spotted something. A faint smile crept onto his lips.
In a flash, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, hiding behind a large tree.
The bow bent into a crescent shape, perfectly steady. His red eyes narrowed in focus.
The arrow shot forward in an instant.
It pierced the eye of a boar mid-motion. With overwhelming force, it tore through the beast’s skull and lodged into the ground behind it.
“Direct hit!” Kakos shouted.
Across the clearing, King Hieros lowered his bow in shock. The deer he had been aiming at had fallen first.
When did he get there?
Hippolotes emerged calmly from behind the tree and bowed slightly.
Hieros dropped his arrow in shock and quickly turned his horse around.
Hippolotes followed.
It looked less like hunting—and more like pursuit.
Hieros, realizing he was being chased, turned pale.
He shot another arrow in panic, but it barely grazed Hippolotes, striking a deer instead, which collapsed.
Hieros looked back.
“Forgive me, Lord Hieros. It seems our prey overlapped by chance.”
“By chance? Are you serious? You’re not deliberately following me?”
Hippolotes dismounted quickly and bowed.
“If I offended you, I apologize. I promised Princess Ezra I would offer her a deer.”
“Ezra asked you for a deer?”
“I offered it of my own accord.”
“…Do you even know what offering a deer means?”
Hieros scrutinized his bow.
No nyux was attached.
That meant he had rejected all three princesses.
Hieros’ expression darkened.
“I understand perfectly.”
A dry wind passed between them.
Hieros threw down his bow and tightened his reins.
“Follow me. You’re not skilled enough to offer a princess.”
Interest flickered in Hippolotes’ red eyes.
The dull hunt had finally become entertaining.
Everything was proceeding exactly as planned.
* * *
A long time had passed since the hunting horn sounded.
Ezra, who had been repeatedly pressing her ear to the stone door, finally noticed something—there were no longer any servants chatting outside.
She had been aiming for the top of the stone tower all along. She had never been there, but perhaps from up high she could see him.
With that faint hope, she pushed the door.
It did not open easily. It groaned and resisted, as if locked.
But slowly, it began to move.
With one final push, the door suddenly swung open.
Startled by what she had done, Ezra stared at her reddened hands. The door had not been locked. Dust simply hung quietly in the air.
Just as she was about to step inside—
A presence behind her.
Without thinking, she immediately knelt.
“I-it was open, so I—!”
She curled her body, bracing for punishment.
“Calm down, Your Highness. It’s me.”
A familiar voice.
Ezra slowly lifted her head.
Matari stood there, expression as firm as stone.
“You must not kneel like that,” Matari said, reaching out a hand.
“Yes… yes.”
“What made you open the door?”
Matari clicked her tongue at Ezra’s bloodied knees.
“…I wanted to go to the highest place.”
Ezra couldn’t lie.
After a pause, Matari spoke.
“If only for a moment, it is permitted. I will escort you.”
Ezra’s eyes widened.
“Come.”
“…Have you changed your mind?”
“N-no! I’m going!”
Together they climbed the spiral stairs.
The tower was dark and damp, covered in cobwebs, but it didn’t matter.
At the top, another door stood.
When it opened, afternoon sunlight poured in.
“More beautiful than I expected,” Matari murmured.
The wind swept through freely.
The world beyond shimmered like a surface of water filled with light.
