The Royal Deal Chapter 195

[ … words ]

With that, sighs of relief could be heard from many. Alexcent ignored it. He wrapped his hand around Amethyst’s shoulders and walked out of the training ground together. As they walked away, she was curious about something.

“When did you realize I was hiding there?” she asked.

“From the very start,” he said.

I knew it! She hadn’t imaged him smiling. As they walked back to the mansion, she looked at him. His scary demeanor from a while ago was gone with no trace. She wondered how he could be fierce a while ago and so warm now. Amethyst grabbed his hand and pulled it down from her shoulders and locked her fingers in his.

Alexcent looked at her fondly. She as clinging to him with a desperate plea to never change. Amethyst did not want to lose his affection towards her.

***

After they left, Lunia was ambushed by Hill, Buer, Leyrian and Marcus. “Lunia! You escaped all on your own. How heartless!”

“Yes! You are the worst!”

“You were the one who suggested this punishment, but we are the only ones who suffered!”

“Lunia! Do you even know how brutal it was today?”

Surrounded by them, Lunia tried hard to come up with excuses. “I didn’t skip the training intentionally! I had a duty to serve her ladyship!” protested Lunia.

“That is just an excuse! I wasn’t even present on that day and still I had to go through all this!”

“Exactly! You are a section leader as well, but you skipped training. You have forgotten your loyalty!” Gaff, the third section leader, said. Lugent, fourth section leader, nodded vigorously.

“Thanks to you, we got a very fierce training. We improved our skills greatly!” said one of the knights mockingly.

“Let us help you improve your skills as well.”

Lunia, helpless, shouted, “That is why I brought Madam here!”

“What? Now you are just trying to worm your way out. What has that got to do with anything?”

“If I had been training with you all, we would still be going at it even now until and unless someone dropped dead,” continued Lunia, “Which is why I begged Madam to come here today! I helped you and you lot are so ungrateful!”

“Is that really true?” asked one of the knights.

“Yes!” said Lunia, “Tell me why I would have brought Madam here out of the blue then? She was unwilling to come here. She resisted but I convinced her. She was just about to head back. I pushed her in the arena seeing you all were suffering. If the Lord found out that I pushed her in the arena, he would surely kill me! I risked my life, more than any of you, to help you. And you all are so ungrateful!”

Everyone turned to each other. Lunia’s words made sense. Hill embarrassed tapped her on her shoulder. “Good job!” he said, apologetically.

“Whatever,” said Lunia, scowling.

“You should have said something earlier,” said Buer, scratching the back of his head.

“Really? Would any of you had let me get a word in at all? You all just cornered me and started shouting!”

“If the Lord ever orders me to take your head, I promise to make it swift and painless,” said Leyrian, in gratitude. He lacked a sense of humor so one had to understand that that was the greatest token of gratitude he could offer.

“What the…! You call those words of consolation?!” shouted Lunia.

***

As the day of the royal hunting competition approached, Amethyst’s target shooting skills improved greatly. In addition, the screams of agony from the knights in the training grounds also increased.

Amethyst eagerly looked forward to the competition. Alexcent had mixed feeling about it. He was glad that she was happy but queasy of her taking part in it. Irrespective of how he felt, the time flew, and the awaited day arrived.

The hunting competition hosted by the emperor was open to everyone whether they belonged to the royal household or not. Usually, the women hated the hunting, so they gathered with family members and enjoyed the tea while looking at the competition from a little further away. Most families, who didn’t get along, pretended to do so in these competitions so many people were gathered for the event.

Commonly, women were expected to use guns rather than swords to maintain decorum. But many women who had trained themselves to be knights used swords instead. Nobody could dare to tell them otherwise.

After the Empress’s welcome speech, everyone mounted their horses and began the hunt. The Royal Hunting competition was a free and open event. It was more like a festival than a competition and women joined in as well and enjoyed it as anyone would. It was the largest and most famous even in the Sehar Empire.

Since the Duke of Skad was participating with Lady Skad, everyone’s eyes were on them as this was their very first official outing after their marriage.

“Ash, be careful,” warned Alexcent.

“Okay.”

“You should go to the front at all times.”

“Come on, stop nagging. If you keep being like this I’m going to go home.”

“Believe me, nobody would be as happy as me if that happened.” He replied quickly.

“Now you are just being mean. I haven’t been out of the mansion for a long while, you know.”

“Fine. Just be careful. Don’t fall off your horse. Believe me, that happens more often than not.”

“Okay.”