Chapter 4
Chapter 4.
“…….”
Although he looked at her with a displeased expression, Antony ultimately assigned as many as twenty Imperial Knights to escort Agatha when she left.
They were childhood friends, cousins who had been used in the Emperor's marriage schemes just the same, and the only relatives with whom she could bicker yet associate without pretense.
Antony escorted Agatha to the carriage and said.
“Contact me when you receive a reply, Lady Agatha.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness the Crown Prince. I shall take my leave now.”
Agatha, who parted from him with a polite bow at the end, returned to the mansion under the escort of twenty Imperial Knights.
That night.
What arrived with the night visitor was the Crown Prince's swift message.
“Dear Lady Agatha.
The reply you awaited has arrived. I will be holding a hunt in three days, so please attend with the horse we promised.
Your friend, Antony Roxiva.
P.S. Are you alive?”
Reading the last line, Agatha turned her gaze out the window.
Clang, clatter, clang-
The night, where even the small, crescent moon was hidden by clouds.
Below it, Imperial Knights were felling intruders who had poured over the walls.
Though it seemed leisurely, two Imperial Knights, including the Vice-Captain of the Imperial Knights belonging to the Crown Prince, were on standby beside Agatha as she read the letter in the mansion.
A moment later.
Knock, knock-
“Vice-Captain. It’s Windel.”
“Come in.”
The Imperial Knight who entered the inner chamber offered a military salute.
“Thirty-five intruders. All eliminated.”
“Good work.”
While the Vice-Captain, Sir Basley, commended the knight, Agatha beckoned the butler, Allen, who stood beside her.
“Prepare warm bathwater and a prepared late-night meal for the knights. And oil for their swords.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Thank you for your kindness, my lady.”
“It’s nothing. It’s only natural.”
Agatha, exchanging a light bow with the Vice-Captain who thanked her, took out some stationery on the spot.
“To His Highness the Crown Prince.
I am overjoyed to hear that the reply I awaited has arrived. I present the promised horse first, so please accept it.
From Agatha Nobilis.
P.S. Yes.”
The letter, sealed with a single sprig of purple statice, was passed to the butler, Allen.
“Along with the letter, that Black Horse the Crown Prince took a liking to last time? Present it to him.”
“Yes, my lady.”
And so, in the still early late spring, a hunt hosted by the Crown Prince was held at the Imperial Hunting Grounds.
On the day of the hunt.
Agatha woke up early to make it to the scheduled start time of the hunt in the morning. Since she would be riding today, a pre-hunt massage was essential.
After a warm bath, various hunting outfits were prepared before her.
“My lady. Which would you like to wear today?”
“The weather is lovely. Bright colors will suit you very well.”
Agatha, with her close maids, chose a blue shirt, a dark blue jacket embroidered with gold thread, white trousers, and leather boots.
“Should I tie your hair?”
“No. Just curl the ends slightly.”
Her golden hair, like sunshine, cascaded down to her waist, and her makeup was light, barely noticeable.
Long eyelashes cast shadows on her transparent white skin. Beneath them, her purple eyes were as elegant as the purple statice that symbolized her.
A well-defined nose, plump, red lips.
Her deer-like neck and graceful figure, revealed along her slender jawline, were befitting of Agatha Nobilis, who was easily called a beauty even in high society, where many beauties resided.
“You are beautiful, my lady.”
“Thank you.”
Knock, knock-
Just then, a maid entered to announce that preparations for departure were complete. Agatha, finally donning a bow tie and white gloves, left the inner chamber.
“Sir Basley.”
“You have arrived, Lady Nobilis.”
Agatha, after exchanging a brief greeting with the Imperial Vice-Captain of the Knights who was inspecting the procession in front of the mansion, turned her gaze to the horse she would ride today.
The head butler, Allen, who had rechecked the saddle and stirrups, handed over the reins.
“No issues.”
“Thank you for your work. I’m off.”
The brown horse, with its lustrous sheen, was a small but sturdy War Horse, a breed very suitable for riding and hunting.
As Agatha easily mounted the horse, the Imperial Knights and servants boarded their horses and carriages one after another, completing their preparations.
“Shall we go then?”
“Depart!”
The banners of the Imperial Family and the Nobilis Family, held high, fluttered. Agatha crossed through the city under the escort of the Imperial Knights.
The destination today was a relatively close forest, about an hour away from the capital, among the Imperial Hunting Grounds.
An Imperial Knight who had been in charge of the gate inspection returned after a brief conversation and reported.
“His Highness the Crown Prince left the city early, and Marquis Aratus has not yet arrived.”
“Is that so?”
It was likely that the Crown Prince, excited by the horse she had presented earlier, had flown to the hunting grounds.
Perhaps he had even started a preliminary hunt under the guise of inspecting the grounds.
“Good work, Sir.”
“Not at all.”
As the area became less populated, the speed of the horses and carriages carrying Agatha, the knights, and the servants increased.
As the procession slowly crossed a few hills covered in trees and grass, a faint, almost imperceptible sound echoed. The Imperial Knights, reacting instantly, drew their swords and deflected the projectiles flying towards Agatha.
“Ambush!”
“Form a defensive circle! Protect the Lady!”
“My lady, hold the reins tightly. We must break through like this!”
From the center of the protective formation that had formed, Agatha gripped the reins tightly.
If the enemy had been few, they would have dealt with them, but the number of assassins who revealed themselves after the initial failed ambush was not insignificant.
From the grass, from the trees, and blocking the path ahead and behind.
More than a hundred individuals were pouring in, shooting arrows.
“Ride!”
At the shout of Vice-Captain Sir Basley, the horses and carriages accelerated in unison. It was at the moment Agatha and the knights were trying to break through the encirclement, dodging the falling arrows.
“Now’s the time. Pull!”
Thud-
Neighhhhhh-!
A stake trap suddenly sprung from the ground, blocking the procession. The horses of the Imperial Knights, unable to stop in time, impaled themselves, and arrows rained down on Agatha, who had stopped in the gap.
“Kyaa…!”
“My lady!”
Agatha’s fall from the horse was instantaneous. She narrowly dodged the arrows by twisting her body, but she could not avoid tumbling to the ground.
The horse, its body pierced by an arrow, fell belatedly.
Agatha, who barely managed to avoid being crushed under the horse, pushed aside her blood-soaked hair with trembling hands. She had hit something when she fell, and her vision was blurred with red.
Screams of shock echoed from the knights.
“Blood…!”
“My lady! Are you alright?”
Agatha calmly affirmed and drew her sword from her saddle. The assassins, having confirmed their target had fallen, were charging towards the formation with swords and axes.
“I’m fine, so don’t worry about me and look ahead!”
“Kill her! We only need to kill the target!”
Eerie metallic sounds and footsteps echoed all around. Though her torn head throbbed, Agatha calmly assessed the situation.
‘The servants won’t be able to move.’
Even if the assassins weren’t paying attention to the carriages now, if someone tried to escape, a melee would break out on that side as well.
Each knight would have to face about five opponents.
Moreover, the assassins were desperate to target Agatha, who was being protected in the center, rather than the knights.
Agatha, occasionally ducking to avoid stray projectiles missed by the knights, calculated the probability that the Crown Prince, who should be at the hunting grounds by now, would notice this situation.
Around her, knights and attackers were snarling at each other.
“Hold on! If you hold on, His Highness will notice something is wrong and come!”
“Don’t mind the knights! Our target is just one woman!”
Perhaps patrolling knights might discover them and relay the news.
However, the assassins would have planned their actions anticipating such a timing.
Agatha realized that her relatives had orchestrated this.
If they dared to set this trap at the Imperial Hunting Grounds, prepared to face even the Emperor’s wrath.
‘…Can I survive this?’
Creak-
Amidst the fierce battle, a faint sound of a bowstring being drawn caught Agatha’s ear. In her sudden field of vision, an assassin aiming at her was frozen.
The arrow was nocked, the bowstring taut.
Thud-
The one who died first was, surprisingly, the assassin targeting her. Following the arrow that pierced the assassin diagonally, she turned her head in that direction.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-
On the high hill.
A troop of cavalry was shaking the ground in broad daylight, kicking up dust.
The man at the very front, holding a longbow in one hand, was tearing into the assassins aiming at her.
The crest of the family held by the rider was an eagle soaring in the sky.
The sudden reinforcements caused the assassins and the Imperial Knights to react with mixed emotions.
“Ah, it’s the Aratus Knights!”
Thwack, thwack, thwack-*
With each release of his bowstring, the numerous assassins fell dead.
Beneath his deeply pulled hood, Agatha’s gaze met the man’s lightning-like eyes. Though it was impossible to hear his voice from this distance, a low male voice seemed to pierce her eardrums.
“Prepare for engagement.”
A large, firm hand gripped the reins.
The man, Enoch Aratus, descended the hill and began to strike and trample the gathered assassins.
