Chapter 62
Actually, the sound wasn’t that loud. Lionel didn’t seem to be badly hurt either; his face barely turned. Instead, Kaien’s hand was red and swollen.
But being slapped in front of so many people was humiliating.
“You led such a dangerous beast away by yourself, thinking you were clever, and then you couldn’t even catch it?”
“……”
“If those giant wolves went down to the village and hurt someone, you’d be responsible for their lives.”
As soon as the words were finished, Kaien, who had been barely standing, lost his balance and staggered.
“Your Highness! Are you alright?”
Before Kaien could answer, he lost consciousness.
No one found it strange. In fact, it was more unusual that Kaien had stayed up there for hours without collapsing.
Lionel, seeing Kaien limp in the arms of a servant, called over two royal knights.
“Take care of him.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I’ll carry him. The First Prince, over here…”
One knight lifted Kaien, while the others escorted him away.
Left behind were Lionel, a few royal knights, priests, assistants, and servants tending to the injured.
“You must be very tired. We cleaned up your tent. Go rest,” a servant suggested cautiously, expecting Lionel to be angry after seeing Kaien slapped in public.
But Lionel just spoke calmly, as if it were no big deal.
“I’m fine. More importantly, who’s in charge here?”
“Well… there’s no one leading this scene right now.”
The emperor had already left, and the First Prince was unconscious.
“And Lord Liam?”
“He lost an arm to a giant wolf and hasn’t regained consciousness yet.”
“He’s seriously injured.”
Lionel, speaking in a dry voice that could be either comfort or criticism, gathered the royal knights and started managing the scene.
“Make a list of the injured by severity. Check the stock of holy water, bandages, and supplies. How many are seriously wounded?”
“About six, I think.”
“Do we have carriages or carts to transport them?”
“There are enough carriages, but I’m not sure if they can endure the trip down.”
“Better to call the bishop or archbishop here.”
Lionel selected a few fast knights to fetch supplies from the temple and ordered them to load bandages, holy water, and medicine onto sturdy carriages. At the same time, injured people able to ride were sent down first.
Everyone was impressed by how efficiently Lionel organized everything. No wonder he was called the Crown Prince.
Later, when strange rumors spread that the Second Prince had tried to harm the Emperor and the First Prince by luring the giant wolves, everyone immediately defended him.
“If the Second Prince hadn’t led the wolves away with the cubs, we’d all be dead!”
“And if it really had nothing to do with him, how did he manage to fight dozens of giant wolves without getting seriously hurt?”
“It’s thanks to Lady Roheim! She gave the Second Prince a bow so powerful it scared off the giant wolves…”
“What? She gave a bow that could scare off giant wolves just to burn the other girls’ handkerchiefs?”
“Yes… probably just a mistake. She only wanted to burn the handkerchiefs, right? Haha!”
Although unintentional, the more they defended Lionel, the more Cecilia’s image became that of a woman obsessed with her fiancé out of extreme jealousy.
“I’m back.”
“Big sister!”
Hearing that a giant wolf pack had appeared and the hunt was stopped, I had been worried all day until she returned.
Though tired, she didn’t seem injured.
“Are you okay? I heard giant wolves appeared during the hunt.”
“Yes. There were many injuries, but thanks to the Second Prince, no one died.”
“The Second Prince? What did Leo do?”
“I’ll explain later… Cecilia, here, take this.”
She handed me a thin booklet.
“What’s this? A circular?”
“The Second Prince wanted you to have it. As a reward for the bow.”
“Reward for the bow?”
“What bow?”
My brother and mother looked confused—they didn’t know about the gift I gave Lionel.
I flipped through the circular and explained briefly:
“I gave it to him instead of a handkerchief so he could do well in the hunt.”
“But he gave a circular as a reward? Not flowers or jewels?”
My brother looked displeased. My mother defended Lionel.
“He usually shares magic with Cecilia. Knowing she’s interested in magic, he chose this intentionally. And after all the chaos today, he still thought to give it—consider that thoughtful.”
My sister nodded.
“Right. He specifically said to get last year’s spring circular, so it must be intentional…”
“Cough, cough!”
Suddenly, Eunice, standing behind me, coughed, interrupting my sister.
Everyone looked at her, and I asked:
“Are you okay? Did you catch a cold?”
“No, I just swallowed wrong. But maybe we should let the big sister rest? She looks tired.”
“Yeah, she’s exhausted. Go get some rest, sister. Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m fine. I’ll wash up and go straight to bed. And…”
She looked at me with a complicated expression.
I tensed. My sister always looked like this when she was about to scold me.
Before she could, I quickly nudged her.
“Then go wash up! The bath water’s getting cold!”
“Cecilia…”
“Ahh! I’m exhausted too, I need sleep! Good night, everyone! Mother, sweet dreams!”
I blew kisses and ran to my room. Fortunately, Eunice followed.
“Eunice, you saw my sister’s face just now, right? She looked like she was going to scold me?”
Was it because of the bow I gave Lionel? Did she think I was too obsessed?
“Miss… I think I know why…”
“Really? Why?”
Eunice pointed to the circular in my hand.
“This? Why?”
“You said it’s last year’s spring circular, right? That’s the one.”
“What’s so special about it?”
“It announced that Hellfire was registered as a forbidden magic.”
“……Huh?”
I froze and stared at the cover, then flipped to the relevant page.
It was there on page two.
“It’s true! It really says it!”
“Maybe Miss Beloz noticed that you learned Hellfire.”
“No way. I learned Hellfire today. How could she… wait.”
My sister said Lionel gave me the circular.
“Then Lionel noticed, not my sister?”
But how did he know I had learned Hellfire during the chaos of the hunt?
There was no other reason for him to give me this circular.
I stared at the page and said to Eunice:
“Go check on our family. If my sister knows, she’ll surely tell Mother.”
“Yes, I’ll go check.”
After sending Eunice, I took a deep breath and sat at my desk.
“If Lionel really sent this knowing everything… what’s his intention? A warning? A threat? That he knows I learned forbidden magic?”
I grabbed the controller for my crystal ball.
“Hmm… Leo? Can you hear me?”
