20.
When I came out after changing clothes, the duke was waiting for me in front of the tent.
At the sight of his back in thin hunting clothes that revealed the lines of his body, my steps came to a halt of their own accord.
Well, he would have had to change as well.
I felt bad that I had unintentionally forced the duke to change somewhere other than his own tent, and yet,
my gaze was honest.
His broad shoulders led into a lean, unencumbered back, the volume of his muscles standing out with every movement.
My gaze slid as if bewitched along the slender line of his waist, so striking in contrast to his thick chest.
His long, straight legs boasted proportions so perfect they were almost hard to believe.
Considering I had suffered the entire way here because of the length of those legs, it was hardly surprising.
He had a bow and quiver slung over his shoulder, with a dagger and longsword fastened to his thigh and waist respectively.
He had also changed into tall boots, and the whole look suited him perfectly.
Far more than when he was dressed in a formal uniform buttoned tightly up to his chin.
As if bored, he casually flicked the dagger fixed to his thigh out, tossed it, and caught it again, his handwork as light and supple as a waterbird.
The moment I finally lifted my gaze from his fingertips, my eyes met the duke’s.
“……”
“……”
How long had he been watching?
Now that I thought about it, there was no way he hadn’t sensed me coming out of the tent.
“……Your clothes changed, so.”
Even I thought it was a poor excuse.
Resolving that I would never stare as if possessed again, I approached him with an awkward expression.
“The clothes fit you well too, Baron. That’s a relief.”
The duke turned fully toward me and took out something unexpected from his breast pocket.
It was a hair tie.
I glanced at his hair, cut so short that I wondered whether combing it would even serve any purpose, then quietly accepted it.
His aide must have packed this too.
In any case, as I roughly gathered my hair with it and tied it into one tail, the duke, who had been watching in silence, began walking ahead at just the right time.
Without thinking much of it, I quickened my pace and walked beside him.
I felt him tilt his head and glance at me, but his gaze soon disappeared.
And then I had the chance to see, from the duke’s point of view, what expressions the other nobles wore when they looked at him.
From everyone who greeted him, I sensed an emotion closer to fear than displeasure.
They could not even look the duke straight in the eye.
Occasionally, there were even people who flinched in surprise and backed away.
Honestly, I did not understand.
What part of him was supposed to be frightening?
Intending to check again, I stole a look at the duke’s face.
Though expressionless, he did not look angry.
Moreover, he did not look like a brutal murderer or a blood-crazed slaughterer either.
It was just that I could faintly feel his characteristic murderous air naturally blended into his presence.
For some reason, I did not find it particularly repulsive.
Come to think of it, I was rather dull to this sort of pressure, to the point of being numb to it.
Thanks to that, even when I had roamed all sorts of back alleys and crime-ridden districts searching for the culprit who had fed the potion, I had never once been intimidated by ordinary criminals.
Julie simply scolded me, saying it was because my nerves were thick.
“But why is that woman with His Grace the duke?”
“Don’t tell me that rumor was true?”
“Pardon? What rumor?”
“Ah, you haven’t heard? Well, you see……”
Several days had already passed since I had openly received my appointment letter, so it would not be strange if rumors had spread.
Just then, the aide appeared with a sullen expression.
“Baron, did you not prepare a horse separately?”
It was not exactly a question to ask someone who had not even known she was coming to the hunting festival.
Before I could answer, the aide pointed to one side and said,
“It seems they have brought over horses belonging to the imperial family for those without prepared mounts. Go choose one.”
Then he immediately said to the duke,
“Duke Kanesion wishes to see you for a moment.”
I readily withdrew.
It was certainly not only because I did not want to see Duke Kanesion’s face.
By now, it was not even surprising that when everything had happened, he had incited the nobles from behind the scenes and made them do all sorts of things to me.
In any case, thinking that I would be riding a horse for the first time in a while did not put me in a bad mood.
When I had first become a baron, everything had been new and interesting.
Rohwinas had taught me many things.
Riding a horse was one of them.
After walking a little, I found a temporary stable set up in a corner.
The horses brought by the nobles were gathered nearby as well. The stablehands who had accompanied them looked busy feeding them things like hay or carrying buckets of water.
The soldiers did not seem to know who I was.
Perhaps they thought I was a newly arrived noble; when I said I had come to choose a horse, they even vacated the place entirely for me.
It felt strange.
That they had forgotten me.
Even though they remembered the madwoman who had gone so far as to feed a potion to a highborn nobleman to bring him down.
Whether I felt bitter on my own or not, the soldier diligently went so far as to personally lead over a brown horse that looked as though it had not had much human handling.
“How about this horse?”
But by then, my eyes had already gone to a black horse grazing alone at a distance.
“I’d like that one.”
“Pardon? That horse, you mean?”
The soldier, who had been about to dissuade me, shut his mouth when the black horse walked out obediently as I took its reins and led it, accepting my touch calmly.
“Why? Is it not allowed?”
“Pardon? No! No, no. Um…… there is no problem.”
As I was quietly stroking its mane, a commotion suddenly rose beside me.
Startled by something, the horses began bolting in every direction.
A cloud of dust rose thickly, and faint screams and the sound of hooves echoed all around.
The soldiers and stablehands, pale with panic, hurriedly chased after each horse’s rump.
Judging by the scene, it seemed one horse had suddenly gone wild, and the horses nearby had all bolted as if in a chain reaction.
“W-why is this horse acting like this! Shh, shh, I told you to calm down!”
Sure enough, a white horse of extraordinary size came bursting out last, with a squire hanging from its side.
The face of the squire, swaying this way and that while clutching the reins with a deathly pale face, entered my view.
It was, as expected, a face I knew.
Beside him, the soldiers did not dare try to subdue it carelessly and only stamped about, shouting.
“Hey! I asked whose horse this is!”
“Bring its owner at once! At this rate, both people and the horse will be hurt!”
In the end, the squire reached his limit, lost hold of the reins, and fell on his backside. Finally freed, the white horse snorted majestically and pawed the ground.
People rolled across the ground here and there, avoiding the hooves it raised threateningly.
As the excited horse bounded about in all directions, it looked as if it might trample someone and cause a disaster at any moment.
Faced with the dangerous situation unfolding before my eyes, I sighed and handed my horse’s reins to the soldier.
“Ah? Ah, I, I am……”
Leaving behind the visibly flustered soldier, I approached the side that had become a complete mess.
I frowned, coughing at the dust that entered my nose with each breath.
I raised my voice and called loudly.
“Adilo!”
Wheeet! I whistled and called the horse’s name again.
“Come here, Adilo!”
The horse, which had been ferociously displaying its foul temper without the slightest restraint, suddenly whipped its head toward me.
I knew the owner of that white horse, which had eaten well and rested well until its coat gleamed, and even its temper had gone rotten.
Seeing Adilo charge at me outright foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled back, I let out a deep sigh,
then sprang aside as if dodging and lightly climbed onto the saddle.
Realizing someone had mounted him, Adilo thrashed about madly, trying to throw me off.
He reared up on his hind legs, then shot forward at once, enough to make me feel motion-sick.
Honestly, that temper of his hasn’t changed at all.
……Maybe because he takes after his master.
I gripped the reins tight, pressed my thighs close against him, and lowered my upper body.
“Adilo! Stop, Adilo!”
When the ongoing contest of strength didn’t go his way, Adilo’s spirit slowly began to break.
Someone who had apparently fallen right in front of us and was crawling away turned to look this way, his face going white.
“Aagh!”
At the same moment the man screamed and ducked his head, Adilo stopped his charge.
He flicked his tail and, as if uncertain, lowered his head and snorted.
“Easy, Adilo.”
As if he had never been furious at all, Adilo grew docile and puffed out his breath.
“Do you finally remember me?”
I smiled and gently patted Adilo’s neck.
The dazed attendant was staring blankly at me from a distance.
When I beckoned, he finally came to his senses and hurried over.
But when Adilo lifted his head, the attendant flinched and stepped back.
Only after I pulled the reins taut did he hesitantly come closer and stand beside us.
“It can’t be your first time handling him. Did you make a mistake?”
“……Yes. While I was looking away, he just… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not me you need to apologize to.”
The attendant, his face pale, kept nodding over and over.
I was about to hand over the reins and dismount, but in the end, I said one more thing.
“It’s not as though this brute’s foul temper is anything new. How did you ever think to leave him with the other horses?”
“Th-that’s…….”
The moment I saw his troubled face, I regretted asking.
I’m not even his owner. Why did I ask?
I swept back the hair that had fallen forward and frowned.
“I don’t know the circumstances, but now that things have come to this, you’d better move him somewhere quiet.”
“Yes, yes……. I’ll do that!”
I looked at the attendant, wondering when this fellow would ever become reliable, then withdrew my gaze.
It was because I had been reminded of our estate’s coachman, who was forever sickly and groaning.
Right, as long as he’s healthy, that’s enough.
When I dismounted, the attendant quickly seized the reins.
He looked afraid I might simply leave.
Regardless, Adilo pushed his head toward me and tried to lick me here and there.
As I leaned my upper body this way and that to avoid him, laughter escaped me.
“Did you miss me?”
Your master can hardly bear not to tear me apart whenever he sees me now.
I gently stroked the side of Adilo’s face as he stood before me, pretending to be meek and bobbing his head.
Then I quietly rested my cheek against him and lowered my eyes.
“Do you want to come to me?”
Leave your master behind.
I chuckled to myself.