As people were busy inspecting their gear, they stood up straight the moment the trumpet was sounded.
The atmosphere grew serious and tense.
When the long echoes of the trumpet stopped, people wearing hunting garb one by one started walking towards the forest.
Damian was one of the people at the vanguard.
Even so, there were some who were still on the field.
Ten minutes after the sound off.
One rule of the hunting festival states that all participants must go into the forest within ten minutes.
Once more, I scanned the faces of those who had remained in the clearing.
Leo wasn't there.
'Did he go into the forest?'
A heap of people rushed into the forest a while ago, so he must have been one of them.
Acting in that way wasn't very characteristic of a male lead, but you never know.
Whatever reason there may be, I did see Damian go in, so I planned to go back to the barracks immediately anyway.
It would be a problem to meet Leo in a place like this for no reason.
After all, I couldn't check his position with my own eyes, so I just needed to leave the doubts behind.
"Let's go back and rest now."
"Yes, Sister."
Alicia was looking still gazing at the forest with anxious eyes, but after I whispered to her, she nodded.
With our arms intertwined closely, we turned back together.
However, we couldn't even take more than a few steps.
"Your Ladyship."
It was the voice of the person I wanted to avoid the most right now.
I wanted to pretend that I didn't hear him, but Alicia already turned her head.
Inevitably, I also had to look back.
Sunlight poured over the head of the man standing there.
Beneath the sun, his red hair looked like burning lava.
The kind of dangerous and sinister lava that could melt and devour anything at once.
The eyes that met mine were no different.
Our eyes met in the air.
A roguish glance from a mischievous young man who had succeeded in his acts of misconduct.
He gave off an uncomfortable atmosphere almost instantaneously, but he just bent his eyes into crescent moons as if nothing had happened.
"Oh, my. It's been a while."
Young Duke Carter.
As Leo greeted us, he gave us a matching smile.
"How have you been, Your Ladyship?"
"I've been well."
"Lady Alicia, how about you?"
The arrow that was his greeting soon changed its target and turned to Alicia.
I stared intently at Leo's side profile.
He suspiciously looked as if he had come across a sudden prize.
As if he was a beast that had snatched the neck of his prey, which had only a moment's carelessness.
"Ah, yes. I'm fine… I've been well. Young Duke Carter, have you also been well?"
Alicia stammered, but eventually finished her reply admirably.
It's a great thing to see for me, but I wasn't in the least pleased that the person she was talking to was Leo.
"Yes, I also have been well thanks to you two, my friends."
What a laughable thing to say.
After the funeral, we contacted each other only once.
And it was the same case with Alicia, too.
I was worried that they might have exchanged letters secretly, but I know that only one letter from Leo was sent to her.
Just the same with me.
"More than that."
I smiled and spoke up first.
I needed to break the conversation off before Leo would start speaking more with Alicia.
They both turned their gazes to me.
"More than that, don't you have to leave? Judging by your outfit, it seems like you'll be participating in the hunting festival, Young Duke."
"It's alright. There's still nine minutes left."
Dressed in his hunting garb, Leo glanced away as he answered, looking at the clock on the podium.
Indeed, just as he said, the trumpet was sounded less than a minute earlier.
But that's impossible.
With the way time moved so slowly, it left only a bitter taste in my mouth.
"Aha."
At my soulless sigh, the corners of Leo's lips curled up.
"But it seems like your escort knight will be absent from the hunt today. Seeing as he isn't wearing a hunting attire."
His red eyes flashed towards the person behind me.
Towards Cassion, who was holding his breath as he stood guard.
'I wonder if their eyes met.'
It would remain a mystery.
As though nothing special happened, I answered nonchalantly with a nod.
"Yes. My escort knight's job is to protect me."
"Oh, of course. His job."
With the casual reply, his languid red gaze returned to the back again.
This time, it did not end with a light glance.
A deep, sharp gaze like a wild beast that was meant to eat nature's prey.
"Then, may I ask why he's wearing a mask?"
Leo asked, still staring behind me. The way he asked made me suspicious.
'Do you recognize Cassion?'
An unexpected sense of anxiety rose, but I shook it off with a shrug.
Any unnecessary anxiety could also prove to be a bane.
Alicia's curious gaze followed.
Although she hadn't said much so far, Alicia seemed to be curious about Cassion's mask as well.
I replied with a light tone.
"He injured his face during training. The doctor said that he should be careful not to expose his skin to sunlight for the meantime. That's why he's wearing a mask now."
"Ah. Goodness. Did I ask something I shouldn't have asked?"
"It's alright. You didn't intend it."
In other words, it's true that you asked something useless.
So stop being impertinent and just go away.
However, Leo pretended to be unaware.
Even though I'm sure he already caught on to the underlying connotation of my words.
With a mask of relief over his face, he spoke again.
"But you know, it's a shame. I didn't see your escort knight's face the other day because he was wearing a veil. And this time, I couldn't see his face because he's wearing a mask."
Even just once, I want to see what he looks like.
The stealthy glare headed back to the mask.
At this point, it's clear that he was trying to ascertain something.
I wasn't sure whether he had an inkling that Maxwell was Cassion.
Or whether he was just suspicious of a masked man.
Well, it didn't matter which one it was.
Even though Leo's side would slowly find out Cassion's identity, he wouldn't do anything obvious since he already arranged Cassion's funeral before.
"Young Duke."
As I called him with a small voice, his gaze did not even hide its sharpness when it was soon directed back to me.
However, it was only a moment.
Those red eyes immediately had a polite look in them as though that sharpness did not even exist before.
"What is it, Your Ladyship?"
"There's not much time left. Shouldn't you head to the forest now?"
I glanced at the clock and told him anxiously.
Following my gaze, Leo looked at the clock as well. Then, he sighed quietly.
There was only about two minutes left to enter the forest.
"Oh, how time flies when talking to friends."
But even as he said this, Leo didn't seem to be in any hurry at all.
His legs remained firmly rooted on the ground he was standing on.
Then, he looked at Alicia with a small smile.
"So, Lady Alicia."
"Ah, yes."
Alicia's cheeks turned red because she wasn't used to other people calling her by her first name.
Her shy face was as bright as a ripe peach.
And, as her face flushed brighter, so did my anxiety soar.
And that anxiety soon turned real.
"If you don't mind, may I receive a handkerchief from you?"
The unwritten, inevitable rules of this world were so terrible that I almost laughed out loud.
"Um, my handkerchief?"
"Yes. It's embarrassing, but I didn't receive any handkerchiefs today. Going into the forest without one makes me hesitate to go in."
With that bitter smile on his lips, he even looked bashful as he said that.
'Bashful', huh.
Was there any other modifier that did not suit an angst novel's male lead more than this?
Alicia blinked helplessly.
In the first place, her handkerchief was already in Damian's hands.
She soon replied with an apologetic tone.
"I apologize, but I've already given my handkerchief to my older brother."
"Ah, goodness. Then…"
Leo trailed off, a slight hint of regret apparent in his voice.
His red eyes scoured through Alicia. As if he was looking for anything else that he could get from her instead of a handkerchief.
I quickly reached into my pocket.
I was going to hand him a handkerchief before he could even finish searching through Alicia.
With my fingertips, I soon found my handkerchief.
And then.
Suddenly, the red eyes of that man made contact with mine.
Soon, the man's closed lips slowly opened.
"Then, may I receive a handkerchief from you, Lady Rosetta?"
"What?"
My retort was a reflex.
I didn't expect that Leo would want a handkerchief from me. I thought he'd only ask Alicia, but here he was, asking one from me.
"It seems like you have a handkerchief in hand."
Beyond his curved eyes, his pupils glanced down towards my hand.
I also lowered my gaze and looked at where my hand was, and I saw a new handkerchief sticking out from my waist pocket.
At this, I nodded with indifference.
I couldn't say that I didn't have a handkerchief since he already saw that I had one. So, I took it out to give it to him, which I planned to do in the first place.
However, though faint, something uncomfortable rose in my chest.
Very faint.
Yet very, very unpleasant.
After Leo received the handkerchief, he smiled brightly.
"Thank you. I'll be able to head to the forest now without any worries."
"Yes, that's a relief."
And instead of replying once more, Leo lightly kissed the handkerchief.
This was a common practice for someone who had received a handkerchief at a hunting festival.
Because usually, it was a knight who would receive a handkerchief from a lady. Or, a man who would receive a handkerchief from his lover.
Ironically enough, Leo belonged to neither category.
Our gazes met.
Through his curved lids, his red irises betrayed not a single thought he had.
The same with my face, as it was reflected in his eyes.
And so, Leo turned around and headed for the forest.
With a pace that was neither too slow nor too hasty, he soon disappeared into the thicket. At the same time, the trumpet was sounded once more.
Too-tooom—
The second trumpet was meant to be the full-fledged hunt's signal. It also indicated that it was no longer allowed to enter the forest.
I stared into the forest where Damian and Leo were. Then, I took Alicia's hand and turned around.
"Si…Sister?!"
Alicia cried back in surprise at the hasty steps I took unconsciously.
A stopped and glanced back at Alicia.
Facing her, I looked into her clear gaze, which resembled the sun and blinked.
"Ah, sorry. I was a little fast."
Strangely enough, I couldn't get rid of this uncomfortable feeling.