Sebastiene came in looking all handsome and polished in his black butler's uniform. He was smiling as usual but his expression immediately turned to shock then horrified.
"My lady!" He quickly took the comb from me and looked me up and down, terrified. "What are you wearing?"
"Dress." I answered nonchalantly.
"But why that dress?" He asked pointing at my dress with disgust.
"We are going into the forest." I pointed my thumb toward the back. "I wanted to wear something light and easy to move in."
"The forest?" He looked at me with a frown. "Why?"
"Didn't you hear? A wolf attacked the maids earlier and took our meat. The meat they prepared for dinner. The prints lead back to the forest." I answered him casually.
"A wolf huh?" Sebastiene whispered thoughtfully.
He looked at me again and frowned.
"Still, you shouldn't wear something like that." He said and walked back to my wardrobe.
He started taking out dresses, stared at them and put them back in. It went for like five minutes before he was satisfied with what he was holding.
"Please change into this." He passed me the dress and went out.
I lifted up the dress. It was a black long sleeved dress with turtle neck design. I had a medium sized white bow just below the neck. I changed into the dress and looked at the mirror. The skirt is just above my ankle and the sleeves were just enough to cover my arms.
"Are you done, my lady?" Sebastiene asked from outside my door.
"Yes." I replied and he came into the room again.
Sebastiene took one glance at me and started to bring me things like shoes and accessories.
"Seb, I'm going to the forest to hunt wolves, not to a fashion show." I told him in a sarcastic way.
"My lady, please remember that as a lady of House Castellan, you always have to look your best." He smiled as he kneeled down.
He took my feet and carefully put on a pair of low-heeled black boots. He then proceeded to comb my hair softly and braided it down. He added some diamond clips in my hair.
After he was done, Sebastiene took a long look at me before nodding in satisfaction.
I looked at the mirror and saw how prettily dressed I was. It looks like I was going to a hunting trip with the king. But even though I was dressed rather over the top, I was able to move quite freely in it.
'Oh well. No one is going to say anything about it anyways.' I sighed.
I looked at Sebastiene and frowned.
"I did not expect you to like dressing up little girls Seb." I teased.
Sebastiene chuckled.
"I just have a knack for it as a butler, my lady." He winked.
Sebastiene walked me to the training grounds again. Everyone looked at me in a weird way.
'I guess I do look weird for wearing such clothes.'
I looked up to Marionne who was looking at me like I was a dog she wanted to pet. She was even blushing when I caught her!
"Ehem." Haktor cleared his throat. "My lady, would you like to look at the map?
"No." I declined. "I have been inside the forest before, and there will be a number of us so it should be okay."
"I see. Then, shall we head there?" Haktor asked and I nodded.
He led the way to the back and into the forest holding the map. Sebastiene and I were behind him, and Marionne was beside us. The knights were behind us in formation.
When we went in a little further, a knight informed us that some drops of blood were on the bushes so we went and examined it.
The blood was already dried, like it was from yesterday or early this morning. It couldn't be the blood from the wolf that came in today. We searched the surroundings for more blood but the next was already a few meters far.
"It seems that the wound isn't deep since the blood drops are not close to each other." A knight who was around sixteen with orange hair and freckles spoke.
"Not necessarily," Haktor answered as he walked towards us from a few meters back. "There is also a possibility that the wounded can jump high and fast."
I looked at Sebastiene who was rubbing his chin.
"I saw a blood and paw prints up ahead, my lady." Haktor informed.
We went and examine the paw prints that Haktor saw. It was the same size as the ones inside the house.
"Then, there could be wolves living in this forest. It's normal right?" A brown haired knight whispered.
"Wolves have smaller paws than these. It's much too big to be a normal wolf." Marionne replied to the knight.
"There is also only a single wolf." I pointed at the paw prints. "Wolves are usually in packs. They hunt and m9ve together."
"But it could be a lone wolf, my lady." The knight with glasses replied.
"Lone wolves are very rare and don't usually grow this big." I shook my head in disagreement.
"What the lady says is true, regular wolves and demon wolves or even lycans would always move in groups." Sebastiene agreed with me. "Most lone wolves are like adolescent males, looking for a partner or a pack. A wolf thus big could be considered an old one, which should be in a pack."
"Then.." The knight with glasses looked at Sebastiene who nodded.
"This is not a regular wolf but most probably a demon wolf or a lycan." Sebastiene stated.
We moved further into the forest when Haktor suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong general Haktor?" Sebastiene asked as he stood in front of me protectively. He bacame attentive and alert.
The knights also became wary of the surroundings, moving closer to each other.
Haktor turned his head a little and spoke.
"There's a dead body here."