If You Wish For A Married Couple’s Duties - Episode 106
“Even if Madam doesn’t work so hard, Madam will still win.”
Baron spoke each word powerfully, like he meant it.
“Because there isn’t anyone here that’s better at archery than Madam.”
“I think so, too. But……”
Dooha let another arrow loose as she spoke.
The arrow cut through the wind and hit its mark again.
This time, it was a rabbit with pale gray hair.
“I’m thinking of only catching those with usable pelts.”
“…Is that so?”
Baron sighed as he looked at the duchess, who seemed more sincere than ever before.
Originally, he knew her to be enthusiastic, but she seemed a little overzealous today.
To shoot an arrow at the prince for the princess’s sake, and being overly absorbed in hunting.
One way or another, they were a well matched couple.
“Yes, so Sir Baron, let me know when you find one that’s good-looking.”
Dooha scanned the surroundings with an arrow nocked on her bow.
She didn’t feel the signs of prey nearby.
Startled by Dooha’s ruthless archery skills, the animals seemed to have fled to another place.
She quickly climbed back onto the horse.
“I’ll take a closer look inside. Sir Baron, guard the cart.”
“Madam, you can’t move by yourself. If you’d wait for a short moment…”
“I won’t stray too far.”
Dooha smiled on the horse’s back.
“And Sir Baron, aren’t you clear about my skill?”
“Even so, there’s no telling what will happen…”
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back immediately if I sense anything strange.”
She pulled the reins like she didn’t have any intention of listening to Baron anymore.
“Madam!”
Baron hurriedly tried to catch up with her, but Dooha was much faster.
Her horse galloped away and disappeared through the bushes.
Baron sighed as he looked at the direction the Duchess had disappeared through.
“…Didn’t I just ask you not to interfere all by yourself?”
It seems like the Duchess’ natural disposition was to not look back once she’d decided on something.
Baron had a bad feeling that he, who’d always fulfilled the duke’s orders faithfully, might have received an order that he couldn’t comply with.
“Excuse me, Sir knight?”
Then, the gamekeeper who was organising the quarry approached Baron.
He scanned Baron’s mood before carefully opening his mouth.
“I’ve finished loading all the quarry onto the cart. What should we do?”
“Follow the Madam…….”
“Sir knight, I think that’s going to be a little difficult.”
The gamekeeper looked at the road where Dooha disappeared and looked embarrassed.
“That path hasn’t been pruned yet, so a cart that’s this big can’t pass through it.”
“Oh no.”
Baron frowned.
In these hunting contests, carts carrying the quarry must be kept by their side.
This was because sometimes, aristocrats that lacked morals tried to take away the prey of aristocrats that were of lower rank than themselves.
‘It’s the Esbaden duchy’s quarry, so who would dare to snatch it?’
Baron pondered for a while before giving the gamekeeper a request.
“I’ll be back with the duchess, so please wait here for a while. You definitely mustn’t hand over the prey in the cart to anyone else, understood?”
“Oh, of course. Who would dare to covet the ducal family’s prey?”
The gamekeeper tapped his chest like he was saying, ‘Just believe in me’.
“I’ll be here waiting without taking another step.”
“Yes, I’ll leave it to you.”
Baron got on the horse and left with his back to the hunting ground.
As he followed the path that the duchess disappeared through, the duchy’s knights followed him.
Unfortunately, none of them noticed that the eyes of the gamekeeper, who was left by himself, shook uneasily.
* * *
Just then, an untimely disturbance occurred at the western region of the hunting ground, which was still like it was planned by someone.
Arrows rained down on a group of knights that were dressed in gold armour to hunt game.
“Protect Her Highness—!”
Julia bit her lip as she stared straight ahead.
The ones that attacked the princess’s party, who were leisurely enjoying the hunt, were a group of masked and unidentified hired killers.
While the knights were bewildered by the sudden attack by the hired killers, they entered a defensive formation skillfully.
“Block the arrows!”
“Where did they come from! How dare they say this is a safe place!!”
The knights yelled as they cut off the shower of arrows that fell from the trees.
But the hitmen didn’t show any signs of agitation.
They just looked down at them like shadows.
“What are you guys doing! Get them to fall off the trees!”
“Sh*t!”
Some of the knights pointed their arrowheads upwards belatedly, but it wasn’t a very wise choice.
“Uwack!”
This was because as soon as they lowered their swords, arrows pierced their limbs like they’d been waiting for it.
More than half of the knights collapsed in an instant.
A knight, who’d barely managed to stay alive, let out an astonished cry at the sight of an arrow embedded in his arm.
It wasn’t due to the pain.
It was because, despite spotting an incoming arrow and avoiding it, a strange phenomenon of the arrow bending and piercing his forearm occurred.
“Your Highness, they seem to be using magic!”
“What? That’s impossible!”
The devices installed in the hunting grounds that were designed to disperse mana were still in good shape.
If they were using magic, Julia should also be able to use magic.
But no matter how hard she tried, her magic didn’t respond.
“It’s not windy, but the arrow’s trajectory has suddenly bent! If this isn’t magic, what kind of harmony is this?”
“Regardless of whether it’s magic or not, let the princess take refuge first!”
“Call for backup! Shoot a flare!”
The signalling flare was with the gamekeeper.
However, it was unknown when the gamekeeper in charge of the princess’s party had disappeared, as there was no hide nor hair of him.
“Aren’t there any extras?”
“The one holding onto the extra flares is gone. The flare was also broken.”
“D*mn it!”
“Your Highness, what should we…”
The knights paused mid conversation and held their breaths.
This is because the rain of arrows stopped and the hitmen jumped down from the trees silently.
‘They’d jumped from such a high place, and yet they didn’t even make a sound?’
No matter how skillful a knight was, not making the sound of a single footstep when jumping from a height of three stories was impossible.
Of course, it might be possible if they had possessed monstrous powers like the Duke of Esbaden.
“Your Highness, we’ll stall them. Please take this opportunity to run.”
“I can’t do that……”
“Please allow us to protect you, Your Highness.”
The princess had selected her knights from the imperial knight’s cream of the crop.
Their skills were known, they also had honour as knights.
Therefore, they were insistent on protecting their master, who’d chosen them.
“Are you treating me as a burden?”
However, the princess wouldn’t lose to anyone when it came to stubbornness as their master.
She wasn’t a coward that would turn her back on those that supported her.
If she left only five or six knights here to save her life, she’ll be too ashamed to ascend the emperor’s throne in the future.
“Listen up. First of all, they’re certainly not using magic.”
“What? Then what……”
“Right now, I don’t know about that either.”
Julia stared at the hitmen, who weren’t moving.
No matter how she observed them, she couldn’t feel the flow of mana from their bodies.
If it wasn’t magic, were they borrowing the power of God?
What on earth did they do to overwhelm dozens of imperial knights in an instant, and send them into disarray?
‘I’d definitely remember hearing about a similar talent.’
The princess’s expression gradually hardened at the faintly perceptible clue that surfaced in her mind.
“It’s dangerous, Your Highness!”
Just then, someone tackled her into a roll on the floor.
Julia’s eyes widened at the scent of wildflowers that entered her nose.
“…Duchess of Esbaden?”
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Delue from 21st
Thank you so much for your hard work and please keep updating!! 💪💪