Chapter 26

The Crown Prince, huh.

Come to think of it, Riorem said he received an additional reward from the king on the condition that he sides with the Crown Prince.

That is, the king tacitly accepted and tolerated my true identity.

“Hmm.”

I picked up the letter again.

Now I clearly understood why the previous letter was so long and grandiose.

‘In the end, it was deliberately written that way to bother Riorem.’

I couldn’t help but snicker.

“What do you think, Riorem? Do you want to comply with King Arete’s wishes?”

“Would I want to?”

A cold, even sharp reply came back.

“In that case, you’d better learn how to hunt this week. Is there any noble-born retainer nearby? It would be good to quickly learn just the important etiquette and practice archery.”

“Maybe.”

Riorem frowned.

“…Teumesa will know well.”

“Oh, you said he’s from the Bongshin family.”

Riorem grimaced at my words.

Since I found out that Teumesa came yesterday, he had been reacting like that continuously.

It seemed that he was simply displeased by the fact that I had any relationship with someone other than himself.

‘Was he always this obsessive?’

I gently stroked the back of his hand to soothe him.

“Then leave that matter to Teumesa. But it would be better to talk about it next time. Today, we have to write a reply to the king’s letter.”

“Is it okay not to call him?”

He blatantly showed his displeasure.

Apparently, he expected me to call Teumesa separately and talk to him alone.

I shook my head.

“Isn’t it something you can say? More than that, I want to know where we can go hunting now. Is there a forest inside the castle? It would be fine if the trees are thick.”

“There is, but… why do you ask?”

“I think I can teach you how to use hunting dogs. Of course, the beasts I released weren’t normal animals, but it shouldn’t be too different.”

It was an arrogant remark, actually.

A slave teaching his master.

Especially when I didn’t even know much.

But Riorem would take it differently.

Even though he wanted to humiliate and dominate me, he also longed for the remnants of the Lady Peroa within me.

As expected, Riorem didn’t punish the arrogant slave.

“Call a maid and get ready to go out. I will see if there is a hunting dog we can take with us.”

He left the bedroom with his pants bulging at the crotch.

Getting ready to go out didn’t take long.

No need to prepare hunting clothes; a simple outfit would suffice.

Most of the time was spent covering my hair and face.

Actually, Riorem was the one who was slow to prepare.

Teumesa fiercely opposed this outing.

After a long discussion, Riorem and I came out to the yard behind the mansion.

It was my first time here.

“The trees have grown quite densely.”

I said admiringly.

It wasn’t a big forest, but it was enough to hunt small animals.

Maybe not wolves, but wild dogs would live here.

But naturally, Riorem wasn’t focused on the forest.

“Do you really have to bring hunting dogs too?”

Riorem said as he quietly looked at the leash in my hand.

A black hunting dog was tied at the end of the leash.

“You can’t teach you just by words.”

“But…”

“Say that only after you follow what I show you properly.”

Riorem looked down at his hand with a dissatisfied face.

He was holding a leash too, but unlike the black dog calmly sniffing beside me,

Riorem’s dog was pulling the leash as if trying to go ahead.

“You have to make the dog focus on you. Try pulling the leash like holding on a bit more.”

“But this one wants to go forward, don’t you think?”

“A hunting dog chases only when the owner tells it to. If it just goes whenever it wants, what’s the difference from a wild dog?”

Riorem shut his mouth.

A smile escaped me unconsciously.

‘You couldn’t even decide your own likes or dislikes, yet why do you hate suppressing a dog’s instincts so much?’

Of course, it was interesting.

That a man who couldn’t even figure out what he wanted or liked himself would feel uncomfortable about this.

‘It’d be better to catch something first and then take a break. He can’t focus anyway.’

But there was a problem.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed that Riorem hated training the hunting dog.

Woof!

Riorem’s dog barked loudly and jumped up to eye level at once.

At the same time, the leash snapped with a snap.

“Ah! Catch that one, Rio…”

I called out to Riorem, but it was already too late.

The dog that broke free ran deep into the forest.

Watching the dog that eventually disappeared into a speck, I muttered without realizing it:

“The dog really takes after its owner.”

“That’s not my dog, though.”

“Did I say it looked like you?”

“Hah. Well, that’s good. Now that there’s something to find, it’ll be easier to focus.”

Saying that, I handed the leash in my hand to Riorem.

Fortunately, this time the tracking went smoothly.

The black dog was experienced, but it was mostly because Riorem had started to concentrate.

However, another worry arose.

I glared up at the sky visible through the dense trees.

It was still blue, but hints of red were creeping in.

Besides, we had gone deeper into the forest than expected.

“There are two dogs trained in this forest, so we won’t get lost… but Teumesa will be angry again.”

I didn’t care if Teumesa got mad at me.

But I wanted to prevent the gap between Riorem and Teumesa from widening.

Someone like Teumesa would be hard to replace.

“Of course, if Riorem finds out I’m thinking this way, he’ll complain again.”

I watched Riorem follow the dog’s trail.

Riorem had a talent for tracking.

Maybe because he was naturally sharp, he was quick to find fresh traces.

Such meticulousness probably helped him rise to his position.

“It must have also helped him evade being tracked.”

I smiled, remembering a long-ago event.

The day I learned Riorem was missing, I released the hunting dogs to search for him.

By chance, the last place he had visited was my bedroom.

The dogs roamed the palace, following the strong scent he left in the room.

But we couldn’t find him.

Until Riorem started mercenary work in a country without slavery, his whereabouts were completely unknown.

However, after becoming a mercenary in another country, news of him came frequently.

That was because he didn’t hide his origins.

Thanks to that, I could hear through my fiancés that the runaway slave had become a mercenary and settled in the kingdom of Arete.

“It’s quite ridiculous that I’m teaching such a man how to use hunting dogs.”

Some time later, we finally found the runaway dog.

“…Unbelievable.”

Riorem muttered upon seeing it.

Of course, I had similar thoughts.

How could a dog that broke its leash and ran away be lying peacefully on a bench in a treehouse?

I approached the dog lying comfortably and took out an extra leash.

“This time, hold it properly before it runs away.”

Riorem followed me silently.

Contrary to expectations, putting on the new leash was not difficult.

The dog lay still without moving.

“Ha… so we caught the dog.”

I looked up. The sky had already turned to sunset.

“Do you remember how far we came in, Riorem?”

“It took about an hour and a half to get here.”

The sun would set before we even got out of the forest.

“Teumesa will come to get on my nerves again.”

I stood up, tying the dog to a post on the railing.

If something was going to happen anyway, I might as well be comfortable.

“Can you check if anyone’s inside?”

“There’s no one. The nearby footprints are a few days old.”

Like a ghost.

I honestly admired this and headed for the treehouse.

The door was unlocked.

The furniture—bed, table, chairs—was all intact.

“Looks like a shared place for hunters.”

“Ah.”

I let out a breath of surprise.