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69 Chapter

The Token of the Hunting Tournament.

A custom that originated from the legend of the great Emperor Chamberler Sol Latine, revered as the greatest Emperor in the history of Solatine, who received a token from the Empress after his victory in the final conquest war against the continent.

In the Empire, it had become a tradition for brothers, lovers, or suitors of women participating in the hunting tournament to present gifts, such as handkerchiefs.

‘Brother’ or ‘lover’, or someone who is admired.

‘First of all, that guy is not my brother.’

Even if I had such a brother, I would have disowned him.

I looked at the man who stood confidently with his shoulders back, tilting my head slightly and glaring at him with disdainful eyes.

The man seemed to flinch for a moment at my gaze, but then smiled brazenly again.

He had quite a handsome face, but the arrogance filling it negated all pleasant impressions.

‘He’s definitely not my lover.’

No matter how much my head might hurt, I would never date a guy like him. Moreover, I swear I had never seen this guy even once.

He wasn’t even a friend.

‘So, does he want to receive a token as someone I admire right now?’

But that Young Lord was a complete stranger to me. It meant I had no admiration for him.

Trying to gauge the reason he sought a token from me in this public setting, I decided to speak first.

“Excuse me, what’s your name?”

I figured I should find out who this random man was.

His face flushed at my blunt question. It seemed he thought I might know who he was.

“Ah… Ah. The Young Lady of the Kashmir Crisis may not have frequented social events, so you might not know. I understand. I am Audi, the second son of Count Frama. You can call me Wood.”

I didn’t ask for his understanding, yet Audi or Benz or whatever his name was, stared at me, and I simply nodded in acknowledgment.

‘Whatever his motives, let’s finish this quickly.’

I sighed as I looked at the surrounding nobles who had gathered, starting to chitchat noisily over the unexpected commotion.

I didn’t know it back then, having disappeared from the social scene, but Ariya had informed me that rumors about me had circulated after my last debutante event.

I had a bad feeling that this wouldn’t end quietly again, but anyway, I decided to wrap it up quickly.

“Alright, Young Lord Frama. This talk of a hunting tournament token, where is this coming from all of a sudden?”

I lightly ignored his request for a nickname and replied coldly. Audi’s face turned a mixture of red and blue for a moment before he composed himself and put on an enchanting smile.

He was quite handsome, so it wasn’t bad to look at, but I only felt displeasure.

‘What does he intend to do with me?’

I felt my mouth twitch at the thought. While love and affection were foreign concepts to me, I was very familiar with the kind of charm that veiled unpleasant intentions. I stared at Audi with unfeeling eyes.

This open ploy was more apparent than ever.

“I know this is sudden. But… I couldn’t hold back any longer.”

He slightly let his eyes fall in a flirtatious manner. A feigned tragedy spread across his face.

‘If only he could be as handsome as El and act as well as him.’

El sometimes displayed a superficial sense of tragedy too, but due to his perfect acting skills and his godlike appearance, he truly resembled a tragic lily. He could make you unknowingly fall for him, only to later realize it was all a farce.

Audi was certainly decent looking but witnessing his wannabe charm while I was treated daily to the sight of the most beautiful Ariya made it all seem laughable.

I fought to maintain my poker face, even as my features twisted with irritation.

‘It’s me who’s trying to hold back.’

It was I who was suppressing the urge to draw my sword from the deep-seated annoyance and disgust rising within me. As I furrowed my eyebrows in question, Audi assumed a lovesick persona and shouted out,

“My passionate love for Kashmir!”

A stir rippled through the room.

At Audi’s explosive declaration, the crowd began to clamor wildly. I frowned seeing my plan to slip by quietly in jeopardy due to Audi’s recklessness.

“I understand. You must be quite startled. But from the moment I saw you at the debutante, I fell in love with you! So, I would like to receive a token of the hunting tournament from you. Your snow-white skin and ebony black hair…”

‘What nonsense is this?’

I listened to Audi’s passionate proclamation with cold indifference. His acting wasn’t half bad, but after encountering more than enough intelligent monsters who used tricks, I had developed a knack for reading lies. His love confession was so false it was obvious.

‘Why on earth would he boldly confess in such a public place?’

Leaving behind the theater of Audi with all its flowery language, I began to speculate on his true intentions.

I mean, there was only one reason he’d publicly declared his love when he didn’t actually love me.

‘He wants to humiliate me.’

When a public confession happens and the recipient rejects it, it often results in the recipient being criticized without a respite. Especially if the recipient is a woman, she would take the brunt of the blame for not acting properly.

My expression turned icy.

‘But why?’

I had never done anything to earn Audi’s wrath. I narrowed my eyes as memories flitted through my mind, when suddenly, a recent reference to his name sprang to mind.

‘Today I met the second son of the Frama family. He asked me to use psychokinetic magic just once. He claimed he would drive his brother mad and become the Frama family head… something about being well rewarded if he became the head. He was so clingy that I couldn’t stand it, so I just let it go… no, that’s not it. He was so annoying I didn’t have the patience to deal with that trash, yet he acted like I was his best friend. He yelled something about revenge, and it was tiresome. No, no, it was really scary that he wanted revenge. I mean, I was good and returned nicely, so give me some comfort. I’m still in shock right now. Hug me.’

Ever since becoming a Young Lady, I would have tea with Kal, at least once every three days. When I recalled our casual conversation, it all clicked into place.

‘Kal must be too intimidating, so he thinks he will try and torment me by dragging his brother into this scandal.’

Having reached that conclusion, irritation and rage bubbled up from deep within me. Prince Kal was scary, so the Young Lady was laughable.

‘I may have focused on training and not established solid standing, but this is just too much.’

For me to be seen as laughable on this level meant there must have been a significant flaw somewhere. I had withdrawn from society to maintain an air of mystery and the dramatic flair of my identity being concealed, not to be regarded as foolish.

‘Ah… how infuriating.’

While Audi continued rambling on about the ridiculous confession, I roughly swept my hair back, unable to contain my overflowing rage as a faint killing intent leaked from me, causing Audi to shudder, stopping his nonsense for a moment.

“I think this should be enough, Young Lord Frama.”

In that moment, someone intervened.

“Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

Diego appeared, wearing a chilling smile rather than his usual friendly and proper smile.

“I observed for a moment, and it seemed the Young Lady was becoming uncomfortable. This isn’t something to discuss in the banquet hall.”

With an expression that suggested he could order an execution at any moment, Diego skillfully mediated the situation. The sudden three-way showdown startled everyone. I looked coolly at the flustered Audi.

‘The Crown Prince may be terrifying, but I was just crumbs.’

The feeling of rising anger was undeniable. I used one arm to politely push Diego out of my way and stepped forward.

“…Crisis Young Lady?”

His voice was slightly bewildered. I suppressed my rage and twisted my mouth into a mocking smile. It seemed my expression management wasn’t quite successful, as Diego flinched when he saw my face.

“Your Highness, I appreciate the mediation, but I believe this is something I should handle.”

Ever since he asked me to dance at the debutante, Diego had been pestered about my rumored connection with him. As I accepted a few of Diego’s personal tea time invitations, rumors spread about the Crisis Young Lady and the Crown Prince dating steadily.

I had no interest in such rumors, but dealing with the second prince and the competition for the throne would clearly jeopardize Diego’s standing if any nasty rumors surfaced.

If Diego ended up being the mediator in this situation, it would undoubtedly escalate the rumors about him and me even further out of control. This matter needed to be settled by me.

More than anything,

‘I don’t need some prince on a white horse to handle my affairs.’

My affairs were mine to finish.

“First, I would like to thank the feelings Young Lord Frama has shown. However, I have no feelings for you at all. I wish you would stop holding such sentiments for me. I have no intention of entertaining the feelings of someone who publicly creates such turmoil without considering the recipient’s feelings.”

I stepped forward, a cold smile on my lips as I said it sharply. If he truly loved me, he would have spared me the need for such a blunt rejection, but I had no intention of utilizing tact even for him.

Audi’s face turned red in anger. His expression showed he wanted to argue, but was he aware that this was a massive discourtesy? He didn’t open his mouth any further.

“And I’ll have to decline the token for the hunting tournament that will take place in a week for a different reason.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly and twisted my mouth into a crooked smile. This was the product of spending months with Caesar, a gaze that imposed authority, making one’s legs tremble.

As the murmurs among the surrounding nobles swelled, Audi’s face, which was directly in front of me, stiffened with tension.

‘The hunting tournament token is traditionally given by Young Ladies not participating in the tournament as a wish for the men to return safely from the hunt.’

Personally, I didn’t want to give that good-for-nothing brat a thing; I wished for him to be torn to shreds by a beast. Yet officially, there was a different reason.

‘Everyone will know soon enough, so it would be good to make a declaration.’

With an arrogant gaze, I confidently proclaimed.

“I will be participating in the hunting tournament.”

I intended to conquer the hunting tournament.

A massive uproar erupted in the area.

 

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