The Prince's Prey
Canna opened her eyes.
“...Ugh.”
She grimaced at the stinging pain that shot through the back of her head.
“Where... am I?”
A forest... it seemed.
The night was pitch black. Even the moonlight had been devoured by the darkness, making it nearly impossible to see her surroundings.
All she could make out were the trees standing densely around her.
Why am I here?
Amid the dizziness swirling through her skull, a memory flashed into focus.
That’s right. Someone struck me on the back of the head.
She had spent the day treating patients, then quietly returned to her room at night and fallen asleep. It was an unfamiliar place, but Sylvien had assigned a guard knight outside her door, so she hadn’t been particularly worried.
Then I heard a loud thud from outside.
At the same time, the door burst open and an intruder broke in, knocking her unconscious.
And when she opened her eyes, she was here.
Which means the knight guarding my room was taken out as well.
Someone of that caliber wouldn’t be an ordinary fighter. Just who could have done it?
“Have you come to your senses?”
“...!”
She turned her head and met a man’s gaze. No, it would be awkward to call him a man; his face was still boyishly young.
“You...”
The boy bared his teeth in a grin.
“Why the shock? Did you think you’d never see this body again after the way you treated it?”
Damn it. A curse rose unbidden to her lips.
It was that worthless scoundrel she had encountered in the sub-dimension.
Wasn’t he a commoner?
He had been dressed modestly with no attendants or guards, so she had assumed he was one. But now she saw otherwise. He wore clearly expensive hunting attire, and a knight stood beside him with a sword at his hip.
That knight is the one who kidnapped me.
And this boy was most likely the knight’s master.
At that moment, the boy roughly grabbed Canna by the collar and yanked her forward.
“I am a prince. A mere commoner bitch like you has no right to lay a hand on me.”
A prince?
Startled, Canna stared at the boy in a daze. If he wasn’t the First or Second Prince, then...
Could it be the Third Prince Cassil, the one infamous for his debauchery?
She had heard he was exiled to a distant land. Was this that place?
Then I was kidnapped by imperial knights?
Imperial knights were among the most skilled warriors in the empire. If one of them had come at her in earnest, no one short of their equal could possibly stand against them.
Then Cassil formed a vicious smile.
“You will pay for the crime of assaulting a member of the royal family with your life.”
“...I am also a noble.”
Since her opponent was using status to crush her, she saw no further reason to hide her own.
“I am Canna Valentino. Wife of Duke Valentino and the eldest daughter of the Addis family.”
“Huh?”
Had it been completely unexpected? Cassil’s eyes widened.
Did it work?
The next instant, a snort of laughter slipped through his lips.
“Hahahahaha!”
As expected, Cassil clutched his stomach and howled with laughter.
“Don’t make me laugh! Sure, the Duchess of Valentino does have black hair. So you’re trying to impersonate her, I see. But I saw the woman once at a party. She looks nothing like you. She’s an unbelievably ugly creature.”
“That was me. At the time...”
“Ah, enough with the ridiculous lies. If the Duchess of Valentino were a beauty like you, the duke wouldn’t have neglected her all this time. Isn’t that right, my lovely lady?”
Cassil didn’t believe a word. Living in this isolated port city, it seemed rumors about her had yet to reach him.
“But don’t worry. I won’t kill you right away.”
He gave her body a light shove.
“Run.”
“...”
“Run deep into the forest. And I will hunt you.”
A dark premonition surged over her.
Now that she thought about it, Cassil was dressed in hunting clothes. The bow slung over his shoulder and the quiver packed with arrows only confirmed it.
The realization sent chills racing from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
No way.
Is he really planning to hunt me?
Canna staggered backward. Cassil tossed a small canteen toward her.
“You’ll get thirsty while running. Drink from time to time.”
“...”
“Well? Aren’t I being remarkably merciful?”
With those words, he lifted his arrow shaft and smiled playfully.
“I’ll only count five minutes before I come after you. So you’d better start running.”
“What?”
Clang!
The wine glass slipped from Balix Venecia’s hand, the lord of Venecia.
“What did you just say, Izek?”
“H-His Highness the Prince... has kidnapped the physician Duke Valentino brought with him. He declared he would conduct a human hunt.”
Balix let out a low groan.
That prince. He had been behaving himself, but in the end he had caused this kind of trouble at the last moment.
Human hunting, of all things.
That barbaric pastime some nobles enjoyed using slaves as prey. Balix himself occasionally indulged in it, so he felt no particular guilt.
What the prince did was none of his concern, but why did the target have to be the physician Duke Valentino had brought!
“She clearly won’t return alive. What are we supposed to do when Duke Valentino learns of this!”
“His Highness ordered me to keep my mouth shut so no one would know, but... I thought you, my lord, ought to be informed.”
“You should have kept it from me too! Now I’ve become an accomplice!”
Balix shouted in fury, then collapsed onto the sofa as a wave of dizziness hit him.
“Tell no one, Physician Izek.”
There was no helping it.
Spilled water could not be gathered again.
Now that it had come to this, they would have to bury the matter completely. Only then would no sparks fly in his direction.
“However, if the woman’s death becomes known... we will claim she was suspected of being infected with the Black Fog and was killed.”
“Pardon? But Duke Valentino clearly stated that was not the case...”
“You know this as well, but soon His Grace Duke Alexandro Addis will arrive.”
Alexandro Addis. At that name, Izek fell silent.
“The imperial family sent him after hearing about the sailors’ strange illness. He is someone who can definitively determine whether the sailors have been infected by the Black Fog. No matter how capable Duke Valentino may be, he cannot match Duke Addis’s experience. Years of accumulated knowledge cannot be ignored.”
“...”
“Moreover, I have heard that Duke Addis harbors a deep hatred for black hair. It is said that is why he even cast out his own daughter.”
He had heard the duke had driven away and mistreated his own child simply for having black hair.
A man who found black hair so repulsive would surely offer an opinion favorable to them in this matter.
His Grace Duke Alexandro Addis’s arrival is a stroke of luck amid misfortune.
Balix sighed.
“Where did His Highness say he was going?”
“Pardon?”
“I will join the hunt as well.”
Izek’s eyes widened. He had been furious only moments ago, yet now he wanted to participate?
“Since things have reached this point, that woman must die! If she survives and the truth leaks out, the responsibility will fall on me as well! I will be blamed for failing to properly supervise His Highness!”
And this would be the perfect chance to share the ‘same secret’ with the prince. Men who held a secret in common naturally grew closer. Balix kept his ulterior motives to himself.
Besides, I’ve been wanting to go on a hunt soon anyway. This timing is perfect.
After a brief silence, Izek offered cautiously.
“In that case, may I accompany you? The lord might sustain an injury during the hunt, so it would be wise to bring a physician along.”
Despite his words, the physician clearly wanted to join the hunt himself. Balix nodded heartily.
“Of course. Let’s be off, then.”
The time given was five minutes.
After five minutes, the prince would come after her. He would track her down and loose his arrows.
To evade him, she needed to flee as far as possible, yet...
“Ugh—”
Canna did not run.
Instead, she was frantically climbing a tree.
“Huff, huff.”
Who knew she could climb trees so well!
They said that in the face of crisis, superhuman strength could emerge.
In this moment, Canna understood those words with painful clarity. The thought that her life was in danger had caused unknown power to surge through her.
“Whew, whew.”
Lying flat on a thick branch, Canna opened the pendant on her necklace.
Good thing I saved some instead of using it all.
The poison powder that made the entire body sting.
She had used a tiny amount on Josephine and kept the rest rather than discarding it.
Canna felt like kissing herself for that decision.
What? Giving me the canteen was an act of mercy? Fine. Taste your own mercy.
She poured the powder into the canteen. After shaking it thoroughly to dissolve the contents, she steadied her breathing.
You’re dead.
Even as she thought it, the tips of her fingers trembled violently.