Chapter 70
"What did you just say......?"
In the midst of the people murmuring like mad, Audi Prama, wearing a dazed expression, blankly repeated my words.
I answered again with a cold, expressionless face.
"I said I'm participating in the hunting contest too."
There had never been a precedent in the empire's history for a woman to enter the hunting contest. It was truly bizarre. The participants were supposed to be all nobles who have reached adulthood, after all.
But a lack of precedent doesn't mean it's impossible.
To put it simply, no woman had ever tried to enter before, but the criteria didn't specify gender. So all I had to do was be the first.
"A-Are you lying to me because you don't want to give me your token!?"
I scoffed at Audi, who still hadn't come to his senses.
"You seem to be misunderstanding something. You're not important enough for me to lie to you."
Lies need a reason, and I had none for this car bastard.
Giggling erupted from the surroundings just as Audi's face flushed red with anger.
Audi Prama is authoritarian, greedy, patriarchal, and has a massive ego—he can't stand being humiliated in front of people.
I recalled the info on Audi that Kal had mentioned offhand, which I'd brushed off since he wasn't important.
Even Kal saw him as insignificant as an ant passing by, so he hadn't said much— that was all I knew.
But it's enough.
I smiled chillingly. More than a little pissed at his dismissive attitude toward me, I had no intention of letting this car bastard off easy. I planned to crush him so thoroughly he'd never recover.
"Y-You! How dare you insult me like that......!"
"How dare is the phrase that suits you, Count Audi Prama."
I wiped away the chilly smile I'd barely been holding and faced him with a cold, expressionless stare.
Audi's face twisted in shock at my suddenly shifted tone.
Audi was a count. I was the daughter of a duke. No matter how you sliced it, I outranked him. I'd used formal speech before simply because it was easier.
But now that he'd been rude, I had no intention of humoring him anymore.
"How dare you act so brazenly and expect courtesy from me?"
I twisted my lips and glared at him. He flinched and trembled at the faint killing intent I let slip, but he still glared back defiantly.
His failure to grasp reality proved that ignorance was a sin too.
"Even so, isn't it too much to lie!?"
"Lie about what?"
"No matter how much you didn't want to give me your token, to lie about entering the hunting contest in front of so many people!"
Realizing he couldn't handle me alone, Audi appealed to the surrounding nobles.
I scanned the crowd coldly, spotting Kal amid the masses—looking like a demon on the verge of casting magic—and sent him a mental message while glaring.
This is my business. Don't interfere.
This is because of me......!
I'll handle it. If you trust me, stay out of it.
Kal ground his teeth, his foot twitching as if he might charge forward anyway. Even seeing the furious madness pooling in his eyes, I just turned away.
This was my problem.
"Fine. Why do you think it's a lie?"
"Why?!"
Audi declared triumphantly.
"Women can't enter the hunting contest! How could a woman hunt!?"
Oh...... this is...... some next-level bullshit I've never heard before.
I gaped for a moment. I faintly heard Diego Solatine stifling a laugh behind me.
Throbbing heat rose to my pounding temples, and I pressed them hard.
This won't end nicely.
In other words, I was completely furious. To drill into him that I wasn't someone to be mocked—and to make a spectacle of it—I decided to escalate things.
I slowly stroked my chin.
"Judging by your demand for my token, you're entering the hunting contest too, right?"
"Pardon? Of course."
I flashed a confident smile at the puzzled Audi.
"Then what if I enter the hunting contest and bring back more game than you?"
The crowd erupted in shock, and Audi's face hardened. He must have taken it as an insult.
Comparing myself to you is the real insult, you car bastard.
I twisted my lips into a smirk at his blatantly displeased expression.
As a Sword Master, making a bet with some unknighted fool was humiliating in itself, but I'd endure it to crush him utterly.
"That'll never happen!"
"And if it does?"
I fixed him with a piercing glare. Audi flinched hard.
"Then you'll have to take responsibility for the rudeness you committed."
Audi stepped back. It seemed involuntary, crushed by the subtle killing intent wafting from me.
I reined it in with a deep breath and flashed a twisted smile.
"If you bring back more game than me, I'll accept your love confession."
The crowd exploded at my words. Audi's face lit up like he'd stumbled into unexpected fortune.
He'd started this to get revenge on Kal, but now it was turning into a chance to date the duke's daughter—he was thrilled.
I felt Diego flinch sharply behind me. But with zero intention of losing, I spat coldly at Audi's face.
"But if I bring back more game."
With an icy expression, I walked toward him in slow, deliberate steps—like a predator stalking prey, laden with intimidation.
How can I humiliate this car bastard the most?
There was nothing I could possibly gain from him. He wasn't better than me in a single way.
But I wanted him to pay for dismissing me.
He hates being humiliated in front of people the most.
My eyes gleamed like a beast eyeing fresh meat as I ground out the words.
"Then, at the hunting contest award ceremony in front of all the nobles, you'll kneel and kiss the back of my foot."
Kissing the back of the foot was a vassal's gesture of submission to their lord.
The crowd stirred wildly.
I met the gazes filled with shock, doubt, admiration, and enmity with poise, twisting my lips in a sneer. Audi's face stiffened.
His clenched fists trembled.
He must have felt utterly humiliated at being dismissed.
You think I forgot how you've been ignoring me all this time?
I cursed him inwardly while smirking outwardly.
"What, scared? You just said women can't hunt. Oh dear, if you're not confident, you could back out now......"
"Who's not confident!?"
Audi bellowed, bristling. He added pleadingly, as if bargaining.
"But you have to promise to accept me too! And you have to catch the game with your own strength! No help from the duke or his son!"
This bastard still thinks I'll need help from others......
I ground my teeth at his smug certainty. Honestly, I wanted to whip out the dagger hidden in my dress jacket and plant it in his car face right then, but I barely held back and replied coldly.
"Of course. I swear it to the sun."
In the sun-worshipping Solatine Empire, swearing to the sun was as binding as a death vow.
Audi shrank back slightly at my confident tone.
"See you at the hunting contest."
It felt like boiling lava scorched my veins. A shiver ran through me from the long-forgotten rush of raw fury and competitive fire as I grinned chillingly and pushed through the surrounding crowd with bold strides.
The hunting contest would be my debut as a knight. It looked like it was going to be a very flashy one.
***
I stormed out onto the terrace, exhaling roughly. My head, flushed red with anger, cooled slightly in the night breeze.
Leaning against the railing, I gazed at the beautiful imperial palace gardens stretching beyond the terrace.
"That fucking dog bastard...... I should've ripped him apart bone from flesh and fed him to Devera......"
I chewed over the vulgar curses I hadn't dared spit in front of his face, the alcohol-fueled impulse surging strong.
My speech had always been rough, born a commoner and living as a mercenary.
But as the duke's daughter now, my words tied directly to the Crisis name's honor, so I had to suppress my emotions often.
......This pisses me off so much.
Leaning back against the railing, I gripped it with outstretched hands until it nearly crumbled. A faint crack sounded as it cracked slightly.
I forced down the rising fury with deep breaths.
Having lived suppressed since childhood, I was skilled at bottling emotions.
A slum orphan girl had no power to fight injustice, so I'd crushed my feelings until I couldn't even summon anger.
But even so, there were exactly two things that made me lose control.
One is insulting my family. The other is dismissing my skills.
Until recently, that "family" frame held only Aria, but now it included two more.
Having come to love Kaiser and Kal Crisis too much, I absolutely couldn't tolerate them being insulted.
And my skills...... they're the one thing that proves my worth.
Lips pressed tight, I slowly caressed the dagger hidden in my bosom.
Unless formally knighted, carrying blades to banquets was forbidden, but I'd smuggled it in anyway. I bathed with my sword nearby, slept with it by my head—I couldn't leave it behind just for a banquet.
Kaiser, Kal, and Aria always told me I was precious. That I didn't need to prove my existence, that just being me helped them—with such sweet words.
But......
I let out a soft breath and stared at my right hand.
A hand so scarred it was unbelievable for a noble—fingers broken and healed multiple times from countless mishaps, thick calluses, gashes torn and mended, now grotesquely deformed.
I've proven my existence with the sword all this time.
I'd lived my whole life in darkness. Compared to the years rolling in magic beast gore, my life as Kashmir Crisis was laughably short.
I couldn't voice it for fear of upsetting them, but I still couldn't fully believe in my own value.
I had no idea if I had merits beyond being a powerful swordswoman.
The sword is everything to me.
My world—proving my life by protecting Aria with the blade—was slowly expanding as I met more people.
Yet the sword still occupied so much of me. It was my sole pride. The life I'd swung it through was my proof of existence. My strength was my worth.
That's why I couldn't let Audi dismiss my skills.
Rustle.
Snapped from my thoughts by footsteps beyond the curtain, I tensed.
......Someone's coming.
As the steps drew nearer, I frowned at the curtain—then yanked it open just as they reached it.
Swish.
And the face I met.
Vanilla scent brushing my nose, I blinked.
"......Crown Prince?"
It was Crown Prince Diego who'd come looking for me.