The Huntress's Fury
After the day of tragedy, Hini wandered the land with Uncle Maxwell, living wherever they could.
Hini's talent extended far beyond mere tree-climbing.
She possessed an innate focus that bordered on perfection, sharp eyesight, and a delicate yet precise control over muscle movements.
She was, quite simply, a born archer.
To such a degree that she could fell a swift roe deer with arrows she had crafted from tree limbs herself.
Hini handled the beasts she captured with complete indifference.
It was simply what she had learned beside a hunter, and the sight of blood and flesh held no revulsion for her.
One day, as they wandered and life continued in its quiet rhythm, Hini and Maxwell discovered a village in the woods near the capital.
This was a settlement born of those who had endured the tyrannies of a corrupt noble and could bear it no longer.
The villagers, in dire need of protection, asked the pair to remain and stay with them.
The fact that they were a village formed by refugees from the nobility stirred something deep within Hini.
Upon hearing the details, Hini turned to Uncle Maxwell and proposed they settle here together.
Maxwell accepted her request without hesitation.
How long had they lived in the village before the war erupted and Rotinzel's soldiers surged toward the capital?
The villagers, unaware even of the conflict, made no move to flee.
When the Rotinzel army finally searched the woods and located the settlement, disaster struck.
In the end, it was Uncle Maxwell who faced the soldiers and fell.
That was the truth of it all.
'If I had never asked him to stay here, Uncle would still be alive.'
Hini blamed Maxwell's death entirely on herself.
At the same time, a deep disgust filled her toward the villagers who had allowed their own safety to cost him his life.
Yet she could not abandon them.
She felt exactly the same now.
"Not this time. Absolutely not."
Hini walked through the village, warning the people that the Rotinzel army had arrived.
A little time passed. An old man emerged from the house carrying a basket of food.
The only dishes he set before them were potatoes and some unidentified roots.
"I am fine. Please eat this yourselves."
It was not that the food was insufficient.
Rather, the food was clearly needed more by this weary old man who had endured so much hardship.
Jeanne rose from her seat.
"I have troubled you enough. I will take my leave."
"The night is already falling. Perhaps you could stay the night..."
The old man grasped her sleeve, trying to hold her back.
Jeanne gently pushed his hand away.
As she stepped outside, the villagers surged forward, brandishing whatever weapons they had—scythes, plows, clubs, and other crude implements.
"What are you doing?"
Fabian shouted, his voice booming toward the crowd.
Fear etched the villagers' faces, but beneath it burned a raw, seething rage.
Their hands trembled, yet they gripped the weapons tighter.
The village elder stepped forward.
"Why are you all like this?"
"The Rotinzel scouts have appeared outside the village, sir. The only way for us to survive is to use those outsiders."
One villager pointed a trembling finger at Jeanne and Fabian.
Jeanne swept her gaze over them coldly.
"What are you planning to do with me?"
"I once saw the king himself in passing! Those damned blue-haired fools!"
Jeanne touched the end of her own hair.
The faint silver sheen in her blue locks marked her as royalty. Anyone could recognize a noble by that alone.
Even without a heraldic badge, the hair served as proof when convenient, though it often brought nothing but trouble.
"If we hand this royal girl to those Rotinzel dogs, we can take their daughter in exchange!"
"And our son."
"My wife too!"
Only then did Jeanne understand the strange tension that had been hanging over the village all along.
'So that was it.'
The lack of livestock, the children's sudden cries at the sight of strangers—all of it had been caused by the Rotinzel army's first arrival here.
And they had taken several villagers with them.
For labor, for their own twisted desires—whatever the reason.
It was a terrible, but entirely understandable, thought from people who had lost everything and now saw a royal prize they could trade for their loved ones.
Screams of fury at the royal family rang out from every corner.
"What are you, anyway?! What have you done for us?! Why is it only we who suffer?!"
"The royal family didn't protect this village—they were protected by a hunter and his disciple!"
Thud!
A stone struck Jeanne's body.
She could have easily dodged it, yet she took the blow without flinching.
"It's because of all of you! What does it mean to be a knight? What does it mean to be royal?! What did you do while my husband was dying?!"
A woman screamed with a voice torn raw.
The raw grief of losing the one person she loved most poured out at Jeanne.
When she was expressionless, Jeanne's face was cold and unyielding. Even strangers found it hard to approach her without fear.
The villagers, though trembling with dread, did not dare stop her from turning on them.
Jeanne bit her lip hard.
She was already fighting the enemy; could she turn her blade on her own people?
She closed her mouth tight and gripped the rosary at her neck.
'Their words that the royal family is to blame... they are not entirely wrong.'
As a member of the royal family, she had her own share of responsibility. Even if some might claim otherwise, it was the duty that came with being born noble.
Jeanne took a step forward. Fabian tried to stop her.
"There is no need for you to face them."
"No. I must."
Jeanne stood before the furious Hini with clear resolve in her eyes.
Fabian looked at his master with worry in his gaze.
Yet the clear blue of Jeanne's eyes remained steady and unwavering.
"I am sorry. I do not know how much one royal daughter is worth, but I will apologize to everyone I left behind."
Jeanne lowered her head. The villagers, who had been about to rush forward, froze.
"Truly, I am sorry. All of you are citizens of this country. The fault lies with me and the royal family for failing to protect you."
"Who asked for that kind of apology?"
Yet the villagers did not retreat in awe of the royal daughter's bowed head, as old stories sometimes claimed.
One apology from a princess was not enough to wash away the deep wounds carved into their hearts. The emotional chasm was too wide already.
"We only want to get our families back. For that, we need your lives."
Jeanne lifted her head at the shout. Sadness filled her expression.
At that moment, a sharp voice cut through the air.
"What are you all doing?!"
Hini ran forward with surprising speed and leaped between the villagers and Jeanne.
Her sharply upturned eyes showed her fury clearly.
"Are you out of your minds? I don't like royalty either! But bowing your heads to those Rotinzel soldiers who could tear you apart and handing them over? To the enemies of Uncle's killer?"
She hated nobles too, yet showing servility to the ones who had killed Maxwell was no less loathsome.
"But Hini, the only way to save the captured is this."
"As precious to me as Maxwell was to you, so is my daughter to me."
The villagers tried to persuade Hini.
After listening to the situation and calming her heart, Jeanne spoke up.
"I understand that your families are now prisoners of the enemy. Why did you not ask me for help?"
Jeanne asked the villagers directly.
They kept their mouths shut and looked away.
They had never thought the nobility would help, so they never considered asking.
Hini thought the same thing.
"Ask for help? Me? A knight?"
Hini frowned.
She had learned the cold reality of pleading with a knight for help when she was twelve and paid the price with her family's lives.
"All nobles are the same."
Jeanne could not deny it outright.
She knew that such words would only fan Hini's anger.
Hini turned away from the villagers.
"In any case, I will bring back the captured. So do not think about sacrificing anyone for nothing!"
At that moment, a man on guard near the barricade ran forward, waving his arms frantically.
"They're here!"
"What is it?"
"The soldiers are already at the front of the village!"
The villagers erupted in panic at the news.
Those who had decided there was no choice but to hand Jeanne over stepped forward again.
While Hini faced the villagers, Jeanne gestured to Fabian.
"Knight Fabian. As the royal princess, I command you. Eliminate every enemy outside."
"Understood."
Jeanne nodded.
The villagers, who had assumed Fabian was one of them, simply let him walk out to confront the Rotinzel soldiers who had entered the village.
Fabian left to fight the enemy.
Hini hesitated, unsure whether to stay and solve the internal problem or go help Fabian against the attackers.
She concluded that the enemy outside was more urgent and followed him.
Yet she need not have rushed.
Before she could even release a single arrow, Fabian had already encountered the enemy and begun defeating them one after another.
Each swing of his sword claimed a life.
Six ordinary soldiers were nothing to Fabian. He finished them all without even catching his breath.
Watching Fabian calmly wipe the blood from his sword while standing amid the corpses, the villagers trembled with fear.
They had been wrong to provoke him. They realized that even if they all attacked together, they could not stand against him.
And then.
"Haha."
Hini let out a hollow laugh.
"It was that easy?"
Uncle had lost his life facing just three Rotinzel soldiers.
Yet the knight had dispatched six of them so effortlessly, as if enjoying a mid-meal snack.
If only that knight had been here, Uncle would still be alive.
It was meaningless. And deeply unfair. A wave of helpless rage rose inside her at the thought that Maxwell's death had been for nothing.
Tears streamed down her face.
"No. I'm fine."
Hini wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stood up.
They had saved the people. That was enough. Uncle would surely have said it was for the best.
Seeing the power of the knights, the villagers would no longer charge recklessly.
Thinking that, Hini slung her bow over her shoulder.
'Now it's my turn.'