Chapter 54 - Deep In The Arte Forest
Sister, I'm The Queen In This Life
Cesare rode the horse without hesitation. Cesare's black horse came close to Ariadne's horse.
"Get your foot out of the stirrup!"
Cesare stretched out his upper body and hugged Ariadne. Ariadne hastily shook off the stirrup on the top of her foot, but her foot did not easily fall out of the remaining stirrup, which was made for ladies and was wide and low on the top of the foot.
After many twists and turns, she succeeded in removing her right side, but her left stirrup did not come off her foot. As Ariadne struggled to get off her feet, male-strong arms lifted her up, supporting her full weight, and Ariadne lifted herself up from her brown horse onto Cesare's black horse. She had to move. However, the stirrup on her left foot was still in place.
As Cesare's horse lunged in front of her and put distance between herself and Ariadne's horse, her body almost slipped out of Cesare's arms because Ariadne's foot was caught in her original stirrup. Cesare paused for a moment before picking up Ariadne and hugging her tightly.
"..."
Ariadne's horse, just as Cesare had seen, caught its hind leg on a rock, staggered once, and fell to its knees on the floor from its right hip. As soon as one of the four legs collapsed, the other three collapsed in an instant. Because Ariadne's left foot was caught in her stirrup, both Ariadne and Cesare, who was embracing her, tilted sharply to the left at the same time that Ariadne's horse fell.
'If this continues, both of us will collapse!'
Cesare decided to jump off his horse. He took his foot out of his stirrup, let go of the reins he had been holding with one hand, and kicked his horse's side, sending his horse forward. And as soon as his horse took off, he jumped off his horse, holding Ariadne in his arms, and fell from his back, rolling loudly on the floor.
"Surprise...!"
As she jumped into the air, the angle between the stirrups and her feet changed, causing Ariadne's feet to fall out of the stirrups of the collapsing horse, and Cesare, holding Ariadne in his arms, was able to safely roll two times and land on the ground.
Boom!
"Ugh..."
The sound of Ariadne's horse falling, Cesare, and Ariadne in Cesare's arms falling to the dirt echoed loudly in the small clearing in the forest.
After enough time for the dust to settle, Ariadne opened her eyes slightly in Cesare's arms, and as soon as she confirmed that there was no problem with her body, she crawled out of his arms.
She was so happy that she was standing with her feet on the unshakable ground. She asked after the man who was lying on the floor with his body wrapped around her.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Cesare, on the other hand, was still lying on the ground in the forest clearing. There was a moment of silence.
"Are you dead?!'
Ariadne was embarrassed. She was looking around to see if he was breathing and if I should put a feather under his nose.
Zanobi's arrow was still stuck in Ariadne's horse's butt. Would you mind if she put the feather from that arrow under his nose?
At that time, a tenor-tone voice trembled.
"Hey, it was nice when a beautiful woman was in my arms, but she left so quickly."
It was a living Cesare, at least with his mouth. Ariadne sighed with relief that he was not dead.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
To her question, Cesare's chosen answer was pampering.
"My arm hurts. I'm going to keep lying down."
When Ariadne looked down at Cesare in astonishment, he made eye contact with her and smiled brightly, drawing a half-moon with his deep water-colored eyes.
"My arms are already open. Wouldn't you fit right into my arms?"
He had his left arm open in an arm pillow position. Ariadne shot pointedly without even flinching.
"Stop talking nonsense and get up. If you keep doing this, I'll kick you with my arm and foot."
Ariadne walked up to Cesare's side and tried to lift him up by his outstretched hand as he lay on his back. But Cesare's loud moaning startled her and she let go of his hand.
"Ouch! It really hurts."
When she looked closely, she saw that his left hand, which was wearing a deerskin glove, was swollen. Unlike his right hand, which had some slack in his gloved hand, only the glove on his left hand had tension.
"I think I need to take this off quickly. Take it off."
Normally, this would have been a remark that would have kicked the back of his head with my booted foot, but it was swelling so quickly that she felt like she had to take it off quickly.
Ariadne whined and peeled off his green buckskin gloves, being careful not to touch his upper arm. Ariadne asked, gently pressing his left arm over his sleeve.
"Which side hurts the most?"
"A little higher, ah! There!"
Cesare fell from a horse and apparently broke his forearm, below the elbow. With Ariadne's medical knowledge, she could not determine whether the radius on the thumb side or the ulna on the little finger side of the two bones was broken.
"We have to go back quickly. I need to put a splint or something on it right away."
Ariadne looked around. Cesare's horse was quietly grazing on the edge of the clearing, but Ariadne's horse was lying on the ground, breathing heavily. After tripping on a rock and falling, the joint of his right hind leg was completely bent, so much so that the broken bone could be seen through the fur.
Zanobi's arrow was still lodged deep in her horse's butt.
"Give me the knife."
Cesare pointed to his belt, where, in addition to the club he always wore, he had a hunting knife. It was a Toledo hunting knife that was long enough to be a short sword, but short enough to be a long sword.
Ariadne took out a hunting knife and used the blade to scratch the bottom of the chemise she wore under her riding clothes, then tore it with all her strength to make a makeshift bandage. She then looked to see if there was anything she could use as a splint, and when she found none, she gathered some twigs and wrapped them in a makeshift bandage to make a support.
She then wrapped the rest of the makeshift bandages around Cesare's wrists and just below his elbows to make a splint.
"What, Lady, did you have this kind of talent?"
"When you grow up on a farm in the countryside, you learn all kinds of things."
The pain seemed to have gotten better after making a solid support and tying it tightly. Cesare stood up, shook off the fallen leaves and dirt from his body, and grabbed the reins of the Rottweiler that was grazing on the grass. He saw Ariadne's horse lying on the floor.
"This guy is hopeless."
Ariadne's eyebrows wrinkled. As far as she could see, there was no way to take her horse outside of Orte Forest, and with his legs completely broken, even if she returned, there seemed to be no outcome other than him becoming meat for slaughter.
"What should I do?"
"It would be better for this friend if I killed him here. If I'm left here alone, he might get eaten alive by a pack of wolves."
Ariadne felt sorry for the horse, but she agreed with Cesare that it was the best thing for the horse. When she nodded, Cesare took her hunting knife from Ariadne and, using only her right hand, expertly cut into her horse's carotid artery.
The horse resisted for a moment, then became quiet and stopped breathing. Ariadne closed the horse's eyelids. Cesare did not stop there, but tore apart her horse's buttocks with his sword and collected Zanobi's arrows that were stuck in them.
"How did this happen? Whose arrow is this again?"
Cesare asked, wiping the bloody hunting knife on the grass and putting it back into its sheath.
"Well, it's a long story. All we have is time, right?
"Speak slowly."
Cesare looked at the shape of the clearing in the forest where they were. Incredibly tall coniferous trees towered high into the sky, and mossy tree trunks and rocks were dotted around. The autumn sun was shining slightly lower than the peak in the sky.
"I think it's around lunchtime. Have you eaten?"
"No."
Cesare took out a piece of dried beef jerky from his horse's saddle, put one in his own mouth, and handed one to Ariadne.
"It must have been quite deep since it ran for quite a long time. I kept heading north based on where the tent was, so I decided to go south using the sun as a reference point, and when the road was blocked, let's follow the sound of water."
It was a reasonable story. Ariadne also agreed to this point.
"Okay then, shall we ride the horse? You're going to ride in front, right?"
"I beg your pardon?"
There were two people and one horse.
"No, then I can ride in the front and you can ride in the back? Are these my words?"
"You can just walk!"
"Why on earth do you want to walk while leaving a fine horse alone? Ah, would you like to spend the night in the forest with me, my chaste and religious Lady de Mare?"
"Shut your mouth."
***
There was a fierce debate going on.
There were a lot of soldiers standing around, maintaining tight security to prevent anyone from eavesdropping. A total of about 10 negotiators seated on either side of a long wooden table were still fighting, with only some finger food and water to drink, even though it was well past lunchtime. He couldn't find a single common alcoholic beverage.
"The Etruscans cannot help but worry about the status of their bride-to-be."
The head of the Etruscan working group was Count Marquez. He put pressure on his opponent by handing over the pedigree and family tree of Lariesa, Grand Duchess of Valoa, written on parchment.
"I am well aware that the Grand Duke of Valoa is the 7th cousin of His Majesty Philip IV, King of Gallico, and a collateral relative of the royal family. However, he is only a collateral of the royal family and not the monarch of the Dominion. It is the law for a monarch to enter into a marriage with another. Our Prince Alfonso is the only son and heir to the throne of His Majesty King Leo III."
The Gallico delegation was in a cynical and sarcastic mood throughout.
"So, are you planning to bring home a Grand Duchess from the Grand Duchy of Stemheim? Or do you prefer being the Princess of Brunnen Kingdom since she has a higher status?"
Count Le Vien, the head of the Gallico mission who recited the names of small countries with weak national power despite being a monarch, said that he would not bring the Princess of the Kingdom of Brunnen instead of the Grand Duchess Lariesa as the Prince's companion.
He looked at Count Marquez with deep emotion. The Kingdom of Brunnen and the Grand Duchy of Sternheim were either kingdoms or autonomous Grand Duchies based on the monarch's lineage and lineage from the former Rattan Empire, but they were very poor small countries in the cold north.
But Count Marquez did not give in.
"In the first place, the reason we decided to take the daughter of the Grand Duke's family as our Prince's companion was because that woman was none other than the Grand Duchess Susanne. She believed that if she was a noblewoman of high reputation and excellence like Grand Duchess Susanne, she would be able to serve as the state mother of the Etruscan Kingdom even if her status was slightly lower. But wasn't she changed to Princess Larriesa at the last minute? I hope you can understand our despair."
"What do I do when she passes away!"
Grand Duchess Suzanne, the eldest daughter of the Grand Duke of Valoa, was a wealthy woman whose reputation extended beyond borders. She was the daughter, renowned for her outstanding beauty, strong faith, and wise and thoughtful personality. Unfortunately, last summer, when she was in Montpellier, the capital of the Gallic Kingdom, she contracted an epidemic and passed away.
Larissa was Susanne's quiet younger sister who did not stand out.
"If the bride changes, the dowry must also change."
Count Marquez finally revealed his true intentions.
"Please add 20 cannons and the gunpowder recipe for the Gallico regular army to the bride's dowry."
In an instant, extreme tension arose in the negotiation room.
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