It was a completely dark night, but fortunately, the moon was bright. I was able to quickly find the cliff from which Veronica had fallen.
It was thanks to my eyes that I was able to see the path while supporting her and carrying her. It was also possible because I had almost memorized Tilatha's map.
Anyway, I managed to find the corpse of the red-furred beast or something, and it wasn't long before I found the horse Veronica had tied up.
The horse waited quietly, as befitting a loyal animal. I tied the dead fox tightly to the saddle and grabbed a thick blanket from my pack. That was all I needed to prepare for Veronica.
Now my nose was three feet away. I returned to the blue marker and grabbed my bag of traps from under the tree.
At the lakeside where white-horned doe deer were said to appear, not even the nose hairs of common deer, let alone doe deer, were visible. Instead, kitsch grass was spread out nearby.
I broke off the grass stems, crushed them with a stone, and applied them to the sharp iron traps.
I hid the traps in the bushes where the red berries were. I didn't forget to cover them with dry grass. When I set up both large traps, I was almost exhausted.
I filled my water bottle and returned to the cave.
I said I would do it as quickly as possible, but it seemed like quite some time had passed. The campfire was half-extinguished.
Veronica stood guard with her sword in her hand, then looked at me with surprise. It seemed like she really didn't expect me to come back.
"How...."
“Are you going to keep doing that?”
When I asked playfully with a shrug, she lowered her sword in bewilderment. I took the broken cookies out of my bag and split them in half with her.
“Eat some.”
We ate and drank in silence for a while. Compared to the food we had eaten in the palace, the snacks were so dry that they were pitiful, but at that moment, they tasted better than anything else.
“I’ve tied the game to the horse. I hope it gets better enough to ride tomorrow.”
She paused for a moment but didn't answer me. Her expression was heavy as if she was angry about something. She even looked upset.
If we could have been honest with each other, I could have told Veronica not to let her heart be troubled, that it wasn't because I had a particularly good heart.
I just didn't want to steal anything more from her. Status, fame, men... She had already lost so much because of my lies.
Late at night. Veronica has a fever.
In the slums, fever with chills was a common illness. Most people suffered from fever when they were seriously injured.
It was usually when you were stabbed in the thigh with a spear by a country lord's private soldiers, fell while repairing a roof, or was kicked by a horse's hoof.
If you were lucky, it passed easily, but if you were unlucky, you would be sick in bed for days.
Slum dwellers who could not afford to pay for a doctor would always flock to quack pharmacists.
The number of herbs prescribed by the quack pharmacist was two or three, and the one that took up the largest proportion was digitalis.
The slum people would boil digitalis and drink it when they had a headache, a severe stomachache, or even severe constipation. In Georges, it was almost like a regular medicine.
Thanks to that, I was quite calm when Veronica got a fever. I wrapped her in a thick blanket and moved her a little closer to the fire while she was shivering.
Most of the herbs in the bag were crushed, but the digitalis grass had a unique smell that made it easy to distinguish.
I put water and dried digitalis in a dented bowl and boiled it over a campfire.
“Drink.”
When the herbal tea had cooled down a bit, I handed it to Veronica. It was heartbreaking to see the bags under her eyes and her lips dry and pale.
Veronica hesitated for a moment, then downed the entire large glass in one go.
“Ugh, ugh...”
She held her throat weakly and retched as if she had been betrayed.
Well... I know because I tried it. That boiled water was so tasteless.
“You have to drink it three times.”
“Three, three times...?”
Her eyes were wide and red from the heat. Judging from the tears that were welling up, she must have been quite annoyed. Perhaps the nobles felt even more disgusted because they did not eat digitalis grass.
When I think back to when I was sick and ate some kind of medicine, all the medicines the palace doctor prescribed tasted sweet. It was as if they had honey or sugar in them.
I offered her another glass and spoke soothingly.
“It tastes like this, but after eating it, your stomach will feel better and your fever will go down. Your skin will probably get better too.”
Veronica narrowed her eyes as if she were suspicious, but she obediently drank the tea I made for her. Even though she was frowning.
“Now, get some sleep.”
“If you give me a blanket, where will Your Highness sleep?”
“That was yours from the beginning. You know that.”
“...”
Veronica remained silent for a while. I wrapped the blanket she had dropped more carefully and filled the fire with a little more firewood.
Veronica yawned slightly as if she was sleepy. The digitalis pool seemed to be taking effect.
When you wake up after a good night's sleep, your mild fever will be gone as if it had been washed away. After drinking three glasses, you'll be well enough to ride a horse tomorrow.
Veronica, who had been yawning constantly, suddenly opened her mouth.
“Your Highness, you are truly a strange person.”
What? I turned my head away from poking the fire. Seeing that her eyes were almost closed, I guessed that she was completely drunk, either asleep or on drugs.
...Is that how the digitalis grass works? Wait, did I boil the wrong grass?
“It’s really, really weird...”
Veronica mumbled like that and then suddenly closed her eyes.
I carefully placed the back of my hand against her nose. I could feel her breathing, light but steady. That was fortunate. It seemed like the food I had fed her wasn't poisonous.
I woke up cold, crouching near the campfire. The embers had almost died out while I had been dozing off.
Waking up in the South to the cold. If any other George native had heard that, they would have laughed their heads off. There were a lot of people who actually died of frostbite in their sleep there.
I threw some wood and rags to start a fire. The ash stung my eyes.
Veronica was still fast asleep, oblivious to anything. I replaced the wet towel I had placed on her forehead with a new one.
It seemed like dawn was about to break. The sun had not yet risen, but the sky was bright. The morning dew was damp, and from the lakeside, a thick fog rolled in below my knees.
I instinctively realized that this was the 'time' that Tilatha had spoken of. As I held the dagger hanging from my waist tightly in my hand, I felt an inexplicable surge of courage.
I quickly grabbed my leather bag and ran towards the lake. I had a feeling that there would be something good caught in the trap.
If I'm lucky, it might be a white-antlered deer.
The grass had grown up to my calves in one day. The path was not rough, but it felt like I was pioneering a completely new path.
As I got closer to the lake, the moss made it slippery. Soon, the lake came into view through the trees.
At first, I thought it was exactly the same as yesterday. Nothing had changed.
"Ah..."
But as the hazy fog slowly cleared, I almost let out a loud gasp.
A white deer was standing on the lakeside. The sun, which had just risen, cast a diagonal line across the lake.
A body as white as snow, with sparkling white horns and hooves. An overwhelming sense of awe, as if you had met the legendary unicorn in person.
I was half frozen in place, unable to even breathe properly.
Because it was so far away, the deer didn't seem to see me. It was leisurely strolling around the lakeside.
I was lost in the unrealistic sight when I suddenly came to my senses. The poor beast was heading towards the bushes where I had set the trap.
It was said that Tilatha's iron trap was so sharp that it would never miss an animal that came near it. Moreover, the kitsira grass gave off a scent that made the trap smell bad and dulled the deer's sense of smell.
The distance between the trap and the deer was getting closer and closer. Suddenly, it felt like catching something like that and dragging it out for people to watch seemed very sacrilegious.
If I catch the deer, its beautiful white horns will be hung in the hallway of the Princess's palace as a symbol of my victory.
I hated even thinking about that. After all, my goal wasn't to become the ultimate winner of this competition. My goal was to drag it out as long as possible and delay Princess Veronica's ascension to the throne.
This is to buy time for Laskan and Cesare to find the real Princess or prove Duke Kairak's charges.
No matter how well I did, the Emperor's position would never be mine, so the thought of having to hunt such a sacred deer was something I absolutely did not like.
I hesitated and picked up the stone. Then I threw it with all my might towards the other side of the lake. Because of my lack of strength, the stone did not make it to the other side of the lake.
It hit the water and made ripples with a splashing sound. The deer raised its head as if on alert when it heard the sound.
I picked up a slightly larger rock, this time throwing it not at the other side of the lake, but at the metal trap I had set near me.
Chakang!
The trap snapped shut with a loud bang.
The guy rolled his feet a few times in place as if he were surprised, then disappeared into the forest. It happened in an instant.
“...”
It would be a lie if I said I had no regrets at all. Everyone has a natural desire to win.
If I had taken the deer, I would have killed a greater game than anyone else.
If you get a thumbs up from the examiners in the first match, the competition will definitely go on to a third match.
Above all, when Veronica shows off her red fur or something, I won't have to show my dirty, empty hands and be laughed at.
But then again, that was all for that reason. Just vanity. Feelings that were too extravagant for someone like me, who wasn't even a real Princess.
It was thanks to my eyes that I was able to see the path while supporting her and carrying her. It was also possible because I had almost memorized Tilatha's map.
Anyway, I managed to find the corpse of the red-furred beast or something, and it wasn't long before I found the horse Veronica had tied up.
The horse waited quietly, as befitting a loyal animal. I tied the dead fox tightly to the saddle and grabbed a thick blanket from my pack. That was all I needed to prepare for Veronica.
Now my nose was three feet away. I returned to the blue marker and grabbed my bag of traps from under the tree.
At the lakeside where white-horned doe deer were said to appear, not even the nose hairs of common deer, let alone doe deer, were visible. Instead, kitsch grass was spread out nearby.
I broke off the grass stems, crushed them with a stone, and applied them to the sharp iron traps.
I hid the traps in the bushes where the red berries were. I didn't forget to cover them with dry grass. When I set up both large traps, I was almost exhausted.
I filled my water bottle and returned to the cave.
I said I would do it as quickly as possible, but it seemed like quite some time had passed. The campfire was half-extinguished.
Veronica stood guard with her sword in her hand, then looked at me with surprise. It seemed like she really didn't expect me to come back.
"How...."
“Are you going to keep doing that?”
When I asked playfully with a shrug, she lowered her sword in bewilderment. I took the broken cookies out of my bag and split them in half with her.
“Eat some.”
We ate and drank in silence for a while. Compared to the food we had eaten in the palace, the snacks were so dry that they were pitiful, but at that moment, they tasted better than anything else.
“I’ve tied the game to the horse. I hope it gets better enough to ride tomorrow.”
She paused for a moment but didn't answer me. Her expression was heavy as if she was angry about something. She even looked upset.
If we could have been honest with each other, I could have told Veronica not to let her heart be troubled, that it wasn't because I had a particularly good heart.
I just didn't want to steal anything more from her. Status, fame, men... She had already lost so much because of my lies.
***
Late at night. Veronica has a fever.
In the slums, fever with chills was a common illness. Most people suffered from fever when they were seriously injured.
It was usually when you were stabbed in the thigh with a spear by a country lord's private soldiers, fell while repairing a roof, or was kicked by a horse's hoof.
If you were lucky, it passed easily, but if you were unlucky, you would be sick in bed for days.
Slum dwellers who could not afford to pay for a doctor would always flock to quack pharmacists.
The number of herbs prescribed by the quack pharmacist was two or three, and the one that took up the largest proportion was digitalis.
The slum people would boil digitalis and drink it when they had a headache, a severe stomachache, or even severe constipation. In Georges, it was almost like a regular medicine.
Thanks to that, I was quite calm when Veronica got a fever. I wrapped her in a thick blanket and moved her a little closer to the fire while she was shivering.
Most of the herbs in the bag were crushed, but the digitalis grass had a unique smell that made it easy to distinguish.
I put water and dried digitalis in a dented bowl and boiled it over a campfire.
“Drink.”
When the herbal tea had cooled down a bit, I handed it to Veronica. It was heartbreaking to see the bags under her eyes and her lips dry and pale.
Veronica hesitated for a moment, then downed the entire large glass in one go.
“Ugh, ugh...”
She held her throat weakly and retched as if she had been betrayed.
Well... I know because I tried it. That boiled water was so tasteless.
“You have to drink it three times.”
“Three, three times...?”
Her eyes were wide and red from the heat. Judging from the tears that were welling up, she must have been quite annoyed. Perhaps the nobles felt even more disgusted because they did not eat digitalis grass.
When I think back to when I was sick and ate some kind of medicine, all the medicines the palace doctor prescribed tasted sweet. It was as if they had honey or sugar in them.
I offered her another glass and spoke soothingly.
“It tastes like this, but after eating it, your stomach will feel better and your fever will go down. Your skin will probably get better too.”
Veronica narrowed her eyes as if she were suspicious, but she obediently drank the tea I made for her. Even though she was frowning.
“Now, get some sleep.”
“If you give me a blanket, where will Your Highness sleep?”
“That was yours from the beginning. You know that.”
“...”
Veronica remained silent for a while. I wrapped the blanket she had dropped more carefully and filled the fire with a little more firewood.
Veronica yawned slightly as if she was sleepy. The digitalis pool seemed to be taking effect.
When you wake up after a good night's sleep, your mild fever will be gone as if it had been washed away. After drinking three glasses, you'll be well enough to ride a horse tomorrow.
Veronica, who had been yawning constantly, suddenly opened her mouth.
“Your Highness, you are truly a strange person.”
What? I turned my head away from poking the fire. Seeing that her eyes were almost closed, I guessed that she was completely drunk, either asleep or on drugs.
...Is that how the digitalis grass works? Wait, did I boil the wrong grass?
“It’s really, really weird...”
Veronica mumbled like that and then suddenly closed her eyes.
I carefully placed the back of my hand against her nose. I could feel her breathing, light but steady. That was fortunate. It seemed like the food I had fed her wasn't poisonous.
***
I woke up cold, crouching near the campfire. The embers had almost died out while I had been dozing off.
Waking up in the South to the cold. If any other George native had heard that, they would have laughed their heads off. There were a lot of people who actually died of frostbite in their sleep there.
I threw some wood and rags to start a fire. The ash stung my eyes.
Veronica was still fast asleep, oblivious to anything. I replaced the wet towel I had placed on her forehead with a new one.
It seemed like dawn was about to break. The sun had not yet risen, but the sky was bright. The morning dew was damp, and from the lakeside, a thick fog rolled in below my knees.
I instinctively realized that this was the 'time' that Tilatha had spoken of. As I held the dagger hanging from my waist tightly in my hand, I felt an inexplicable surge of courage.
I quickly grabbed my leather bag and ran towards the lake. I had a feeling that there would be something good caught in the trap.
If I'm lucky, it might be a white-antlered deer.
The grass had grown up to my calves in one day. The path was not rough, but it felt like I was pioneering a completely new path.
As I got closer to the lake, the moss made it slippery. Soon, the lake came into view through the trees.
At first, I thought it was exactly the same as yesterday. Nothing had changed.
"Ah..."
But as the hazy fog slowly cleared, I almost let out a loud gasp.
A white deer was standing on the lakeside. The sun, which had just risen, cast a diagonal line across the lake.
A body as white as snow, with sparkling white horns and hooves. An overwhelming sense of awe, as if you had met the legendary unicorn in person.
I was half frozen in place, unable to even breathe properly.
Because it was so far away, the deer didn't seem to see me. It was leisurely strolling around the lakeside.
I was lost in the unrealistic sight when I suddenly came to my senses. The poor beast was heading towards the bushes where I had set the trap.
It was said that Tilatha's iron trap was so sharp that it would never miss an animal that came near it. Moreover, the kitsira grass gave off a scent that made the trap smell bad and dulled the deer's sense of smell.
The distance between the trap and the deer was getting closer and closer. Suddenly, it felt like catching something like that and dragging it out for people to watch seemed very sacrilegious.
If I catch the deer, its beautiful white horns will be hung in the hallway of the Princess's palace as a symbol of my victory.
I hated even thinking about that. After all, my goal wasn't to become the ultimate winner of this competition. My goal was to drag it out as long as possible and delay Princess Veronica's ascension to the throne.
This is to buy time for Laskan and Cesare to find the real Princess or prove Duke Kairak's charges.
No matter how well I did, the Emperor's position would never be mine, so the thought of having to hunt such a sacred deer was something I absolutely did not like.
I hesitated and picked up the stone. Then I threw it with all my might towards the other side of the lake. Because of my lack of strength, the stone did not make it to the other side of the lake.
It hit the water and made ripples with a splashing sound. The deer raised its head as if on alert when it heard the sound.
I picked up a slightly larger rock, this time throwing it not at the other side of the lake, but at the metal trap I had set near me.
Chakang!
The trap snapped shut with a loud bang.
The guy rolled his feet a few times in place as if he were surprised, then disappeared into the forest. It happened in an instant.
“...”
It would be a lie if I said I had no regrets at all. Everyone has a natural desire to win.
If I had taken the deer, I would have killed a greater game than anyone else.
If you get a thumbs up from the examiners in the first match, the competition will definitely go on to a third match.
Above all, when Veronica shows off her red fur or something, I won't have to show my dirty, empty hands and be laughed at.
But then again, that was all for that reason. Just vanity. Feelings that were too extravagant for someone like me, who wasn't even a real Princess.
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