After hearing the story of wolves appearing after wild boars and bears, lmond had a feeling this mont would co. In front of him sat a bewildered Truyde, wearing an astonished expression, and the new attendant, who frowned deeply. It was his first encounter with Marquis Norhox, who leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, eyes narrowing.
“Explain. Do you have so way to summon wild animals over there?”
Truyde’s voice, though asking a serious question, carried a trace of laughter. That was fortunate. lmond answered politely, trying to mask his unease.
“Absolutely not.”
He stressed the truth with conviction, but the new attendant interjected with a sarcastic tone.
“Did the curse of the devil latch onto that Regas?”
lmond shot the new attendant a sharp glance.
“If it’s a curse, then it’s the attendant’s job to break it.”
“What? How dare you—”
The attendant stepped forward, eyes wide with anger, but Truyde raised his hand to stop him. Then he looked at lmond again.
“So you’re saying it’s a coincidence? That they just happened to run into a wild boar, a bear, and now wolves in the Dragon Forest—each exactly three days apart?”
His voice still sounded amused, but his eyes were cold. lmond knew well that this young and handso duke was not to be taken lightly. It was no small feat to consolidate such power right after inheriting his father’s position. His youth ant little.
lmond braced himself and replied firmly.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence. But I also don’t believe Abel is the cause.”
“Then you’re saying the prince is?”
“Yes. He is.”
lmond nodded firmly, and the attendant imdiately raised his voice.
“Watch your words! Are you trying to insult the royal family?!”
This ti, Truyde didn’t stop the attendant. Instead, he addressed lmond directly.
“Do you know how dangerous that claim is?”
lmond swallowed dryly at the chill in his tone. But even under pressure, he responded without hesitation.
“I understand. But before you punish , please take a look at this.”
lmond handed Truyde a book he had uncovered after searching the library for several days. It wasn’t an official royal record, but a diary written by soone who had served the royal family.
“This was found in the section I oversee. It says here that King Thearildi VII often brought animals out of the Dragon Forest when he was young. And in this other book—this one’s about King Kapril, the eleventh monarch.”
lmond opened the second book and pointed to a marked page.
“There’s a similar entry here. And if you look at this one—”
“That’s enough.”
Truyde raised a hand, stopping him. lmond stepped back, beads of sweat gathering on his forehead from the tension. He /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ didn’t dare wipe them away as he watched Truyde’s reaction.
Truyde began flipping through the books carefully. It took so ti, but no one dared interrupt. When he finally looked up, the silence broke.
“You managed to dig this up.”
His tone leaned more toward mockery than praise. lmond lowered his reddening face slightly. He didn’t mind ridicule, as long as the results held weight. Abel had lasted far longer than expected—stronger than expected—so lmond couldn’t allow even a mont to be wasted.
If Abel were to give up and walk away, that might be for the best. But as a disciple of Wielder, lmond couldn’t just abandon him. Only four days remained. If there were no notable changes in the prince, Abel’s opportunity would end in a week.
So even if it was frustrating, lmond had to do whatever he could.
“All right. Let’s go with your claim—for now—that the cause of these incidents was the prince.”
“Th-Thank you, Your Highness.”
lmond finally exhaled and bowed. For now, he could let go of the worry that he’d be punished for trying to help Abel. Then, just as things seed to settle, the Duke asked another question, seemingly offhandedly.
“But it’s strange, isn’t it? He ran into boars, bears, and wolves, and still managed to escape without being caught—while carrying the prince. How do you explain that?”
“Ah, well, I’d attribute it to the training of our sect. Abel’s incredibly strong, with excellent stamina and physical strength. We value physical fitness and train by running up mountains and climbing cliffs barehanded. And, haha, though it’s a little embarrassing, being chased by boars is actually pretty normal for Abel....”
“That’s enough. Let him go.”
Truyde cut off lmond’s proud rambling with a sigh of irritation. As lmond left, looking deflated, Norhox’s voice cut through coldly, as if he’d been waiting.
“Pathetic. Those are the Regas? Climbing cliffs for training? Ha.”
He spat the words with disdain. Truyde frowned, turning to face him.
“Duke Truyde. How long do you plan to play this ga? Do you really intend to let Abel wander Dragon Forest until he becos the prince’s official Regas?”
Truyde glanced over, arms still folded, and answered casually.
“Marquis, you seem worried. If Abel becos the prince’s Regas, you won’t be able to keep playing with the ones that suit your taste.”
“Watch your tongue.”
“Am I wrong? As far as I know, the only thing you do in the Regas Palace is lounge around.”
Norhox’s jaw tightened and his brow twitched, but Truyde remained unfazed. He turned to the attendant.
“There should be private royal records in the palace, right? Look through them. See if these stories hold up, or if similar cases were recorded.”
The attendant glanced down at the books Truyde had presented, then asked cautiously:
“Are you concerned about the prince? Do you think he could be capable—like the kings before him?”
“He should be capable.”
“...”
“It makes sense we never noticed—if his ability is sothing hidden even from the eyes of the snake. Isn’t that right, Marquis?”
Truyde turned his gaze to Norhox. The marquis responded coolly, unaffected by the earlier jab.
“If we never found it, then how can you say it’s a dragon’s power?”
He curled his lip and looked down at the books lmond had left.
“The appearance of animals—that’s more the forest’s doing than the prince’s. The forest’s magic reveals itself in ways we don’t always understand. But if you’re so curious, go ahead and keep digging.”
With a smirk, Norhox pushed off the wall and added with a mocking tone:
“By the way, so of the Regas children seem to know the Duke quite well. Odd, isn’t it? They all have blond hair, green eyes, and delicate faces. The Duke should really work on hiding that very specific preference. It’s the sa taste His Majesty has. Should his n be taking what belongs to their king?”
On this early morning, the entrance to the forest where Abel and the prince were being escorted was filled with tension like never before. Not only had a wolf appeared a week ago, but just a few days earlier, a snake as long as a grown man had shown up. The problem was that Abel, unaware of the snake trailing him, had casually smiled and waved hello. Since then, the soldiers and Ashler, stationed there, had watched the forest as if it were enemy territory.
Of course, only Abel, completely oblivious, stood cheerfully with a lunchbox and fishing rod in one hand and the prince in the other.
“Sir, I’ll be on my way now. I’ll catch lots of fish and bring them back!”
Ashler wanted to refuse, saying it wasn’t necessary, but Abel was already encouraging the prince.
“Your Highness, let’s catch a really big one to surprise Sir. Hehe―”
Unable to say no in front of the prince, Ashler sighed and gestured toward the forest.
“Just make absolutely sure the prince doesn’t get hurt.”
“Yes! Of course! The forest isn’t dangerous at all, so don’t worry, Sir.”
“You don’t call it dangerous when there are wild boars, bears, wolves, and snakes?”
“Th-that’s...”
Abel faltered, then quickly smiled with false confidence.
“Ah, Abel won’t run into them again. Haha, I doubt wild boars, bears, wolves, or snakes would still live in the forest if we built a village there.”
“If you built a village?”
“...I apologize. I’ll be careful.”
Ashler gave him a final warning, and Abel—knowing he was genuinely concerned—looked up at the sky in thought before speaking again.
“But really, I think it’ll be fine now. We won’t see any more wild boars, bears, wolves, or snakes.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Ashler asked bluntly. Abel answered with a strange smile. His eyes held such calmness that, for a mont, Ashler felt like he was looking at soone else. He said nothing more and simply watched Abel take the prince’s hand and walk forward.
Abel stepped into the fog and gently asked the prince:
“Your Highness, what new things shall we discover today?”
Soon, the two figures disappeared into the mist, but Ashler remained where he was. Strangely, Abel’s words had felt convincing—if only for a mont. But he quickly shook it off. How could anyone know if wild boars, bears, wolves, or snakes were still out there... building a village?
Ashler turned back and watched the soldiers nearby constructing a fence. No one had ordered them to, but they had started instinctively after the wave of animal incidents. Determined, the soldiers were confident: even if all four types of creatures attacked at once, they would not be caught off guard.
And yet, sothing deep inside Ashler told him that danger would co again—this ti, from within the fog.
He gripped his sword and aid it at the mist. Let anything co. He would cut it down with a single strike. Was his anticipation noticed?
By the ti the sun rose high above, Abel’s familiar scream rang out from the fog.
“...Ugh...”
“...Ahhhh...”
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Here it cos!
Ashler and the soldiers quickly drew their swords and rushed forward. As expected, sothing had shown up again! Their eyes glead with determination to take down whatever beast erged. Ashler, leading them, stepped forward and waited. But the scream grew louder—and sohow different this ti.
“Kyaahhhhhhh―!!!!!”
It was shrill and terrified—more panicked than before. Ashler instinctively tightened his grip on his sword. What could be more frightening than a wild boar, bear, or wolf? Could it be a whole swarm this ti?
And then, Abel burst through the fog. As always, he was polite—but now his words were desperate.
“Ahhhh! Everyone, run away!”
Not "Move aside"—but run away?
There was no ti to question it. Sothing was behind Abel. And it was making a noise.
“Woooooong—”
Woong?
Everyone looked confused, peering into the fog. Then, black-dotted shapes appeared in the mist. The sound grew louder.
“Woooooong—”
“.......”
A swarm of bees erged.
The reason Abel didn’t get scolded was simple: he too had been stung all over. If one looked closely, the prince had been completely surrounded by bees—but not a single sting had landed on him.
Even so, the soldiers couldn’t look kindly upon Abel as he prepared to head back into the forest.
Most of them couldn’t even open their eyes properly from the swelling. And yet, Abel—his face red and puffed up—was smiling cheerfully. Sohow, it felt like all this was his fault.
But Abel, the one most stung, was simply in a good mood. The soldiers stared coldly, but Ashler—the one who should have glared the hardest—surprisingly didn’t.
Instead, he offered a warm farewell.
“Please have a fun ti.”
“.......”
“I look forward to seeing what the prince catches today.”
Thud.
Abel tightened his grip on the prince’s hand and stepped back. He whispered, concerned.
“You must be hurting from the stings. How about resting today?”
“...Reduce your concerns.”
“Oh! You’re all better now!”
Abel laughed brightly and congratulated him. Ashler, hearing that, reflexively reached for his sword—but stopped himself just in ti. He simply pointed toward the forest.
“Enjoy yourselves until sunset.”
“Yes!”
Abel nodded vigorously and bead. Then, hand in hand, he and the prince vanished once more into the fog.
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