“hm?”

    “are you seeking marriage with him in order to become an empress?”

    ‘what are you talking about? that’s what i’m trying to avoid at all costs.’

    ‘however, i couldn’t state it directly, because reynard’s face was now serious, without a hint of humor.’

    raynard grabbed yurina’s hand. his long fingers slipped between hers and squeezed tightly. in their case, such a gesture was like insisting on an answer.

    “you wrote about him in a letter. i don’t like him.”

    “i hate him more than you. and i’m not interested in the place of the empress.”

    raynard laughed, breaking the oppressive atmosphere.

    “may it be so. if you don’t like it, i don’t like it either.”

    yurina changed the subject, looking at reynard’s face.

    “now it’s my turn to ask questions. where the hell have you gone again?”

    “oh, right.”

    raynard put his hand in his pocket, as if he had just come to his senses. yurina’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw the thing in his pocket.

    a handkerchief was in his hand. the same handkerchief she had recently sent to reynard.

    “did you really go to get it?”

    on the day of his departure, yurina already guessed that it was all about the handkerchief. it would seem that the only thing that could separate them after a year of separation was this handkerchief. but soon this ridiculous assumption flew out of her head.

    but reynard still went for such an absurd thing.

    “the messenger went further than i thought. everything took longer than expected. my luck that you sprayed the letter with perfume. i tracked the package by scent.”

    he slipped the handkerchief into yurina’s hand, who was still standing there puzzled.

    “you need to hand it to me personally.”

    yurina smiled and covered his hand with a handkerchief. at that moment, raynard grabbed yurina’s hand and kissed her fingers. it wasn’t a kissing dance, a cycle of touching and retreating, but a kiss that lasted longer than usual.

    he smiled at yurina, bit her fingertips, and then let go. his warm breath touched her fingertips and yurina somehow felt her cheeks get hot.

    yurina avoided his gaze and saw that riggs was looking in that direction.

    “we need to go. my brother has been staring at you all this time.”

    “yeah.”

    “and one more thing… be careful. i didn’t give up on a deer’s head, a fox’s tail, or a rabbit. just come back safe.”

    raynard chuckled, as if wondering what the hell she was talking about.

    yurina laughed after him, saying that this story is about her brothers.

    “but before i left…”

    he folded the handkerchief and put it away, then leaned down to the level of yurina’s eyes. now, he gently took yurina by the cheek, tilted her head to the side, and felt her neck.

    suddenly, yurina frowned at the tingling in the cut.

    ‘how did you even notice it?’

    he removed the bandage the healer had put on her and carefully rubbed the scratch with it. soon the tingling pain subsided.

    “how the hell did you see it? i hid the cut.”

    raynard, who was stroking yurina’s now clean neck with the back of his hand, now came out with a touch of arrogance.

    “how could i have missed any detail about you?”

    after escorting raynard and her brothers out hunting, yurina went to the temporary tent assigned to marquis carthia. there were already several people in front of the house.

    that was the purpose of her arrival at the tournament.

    the primary purpose of yurina’s participation was to contact other noble houses on behalf of her sick mother. she greeted the guests with a gentle smile on her lips.

    the age of the guests who arrived varied. there were children the same age as yurina, and there were middle-aged nobles, their parents, as well as the old nobles who were those grandparents.

    yurina was completely exhausted even though she had just met them and greeted everyone. it was the first time she had met so many people, so even before dinner she felt exhausted.

    “i’ll take care of them.”

    when yurina showed some weariness from the constant crowds of visitors, sir aaron noticed this and sent the guests back. thanks to that, yurina was able to catch her breath.

    refreshing her makeup with betsy’s help, yurina suddenly looked into the corner of their house.

    “she won’t stop.”

    emily sat alone in the corner, storm clouds gathering over her head. she had been in a bad state ever since she cut yurina’s neck in the morning.

    “she was really looking forward to the tournament.”

    emily, who was born and raised in the capital, didn’t leave the capital until the age of 16. it was understandable. a commoner like emily could rarely leave the capital with the luxury of traveling by carriage.

    besides, she had to take care of her family, so she had neither the time nor the money for such an undertaking. she said that she had never even been with her family at leman lake, located on the outskirts of the capital.

    emily was overjoyed when she heard that yurina would take her to this hunting competition. it was very sweet to see a girl of the same age blush as she imagined great knights competing in skill.

    until last night she was agitated, but now she was sitting there dead.

    “emily.”

    when yurina called out to her, hugging her knees and drooping, emily suddenly woke up in amazement.

    “yes? did you call me, milady?”

    she hurried and stood next to yurina.

    “should i fix your hair again? i think it’s all right.”