Raina provoked her again, as if to block any excuse to escape.
Thalia bit her lower lip and glanced down at Khan. Despite the chaotic atmosphere, Khan was surveying his surroundings with a calm gaze, showing no signs of agitation. He looked as if he accurately understood the unfolding situation and was trying to grasp the racetrack in advance.
Thalia pointed to the right as a test.
“Go over there.”
Khan, with his ears pricked up, cautiously moved toward the direction her fingertips were pointing.
Thalia briefly harbored suspicions—wondering if Khan was trying to imitate the sight of people riding on horseback, or if it was moving as if it had accurately understood her instructions—but she held her head high, conscious of the gazes around her.
Before anyone realized it, not only the jockeys but also the ranch workers and farmers passing by had gathered around the pasture. Thalia, who had been carefully looking around at them as they whispered amongst themselves and cast intrigued glances, soon looked straight up at Raina.
If she backed down now, rumors would spread that the Grand Duchess was intimidated by her young sister-in-law and backed down. She would be ridiculed if she lost the race, but at least she wouldn't be mocked for running away to avoid a fight.
"Alright, I'll accept the challenge."
"Then, let's get started right away."
Raina immediately turned her horse around and approached the flag installed closest to her.
"We are starting from here."
Thalia led Khan straight to Raina's side. Then, she whispered into Khan's ear, emphasizing each word.
"See that flag? Follow that flag. Don't stray."
One of Khan's ears folded downward. It was a habit that appeared whenever he was dissatisfied with something.
Thalia feigned a threat.
"Listen up, if you lose to her, I won't let you get into bed for a week. So you have to win no matter what."
Khan's eyes, which had been filled with dissatisfaction, suddenly widened.
Khan, who had stiffened his body as if in shock, soon straightened his posture and firmly planted his legs. He seemed to have roughly understood the threat.
Thalia untied the woolen cloth wrapped around Khan's neck, handed it to the guard, and tightly wrapped her arms around his thick nape. Then, she gestured toward Raina with her chin.
“I’m ready.”
Raina, who had been giving a mocking look, soon shouted loudly at the jockey standing beside her.
"Give the start signal!"
As if he had been waiting for this moment, the man untied the strap from his belt and raised it high. Soon, he forcefully lowered his hand, signaling the start of the race.
Thalia raised her arm to signal Khan to run. However, before she could give the order, Khan was already running across the dry grass like the wind
At that violent movement, her body lurched backward in an instant. Thalia screamed and lay flat on Khan's back. She had learned horseback riding as a child under Barcas's coercion, but it was of no help at this moment.
Thalia hugged Khan's neck even tighter so as not to roll to the floor.
Every time the wolf's long, strong legs kicked the ground forcefully, her body floated up and sank repeatedly, and her vision swayed dizzyingly as if swept away by a current. It was so disoriented that it felt as though jer body had melted away in the raging wind.
"Faster! Faster!"
She screamed, swept up in an inexplicable excitement. Understanding the command, the wolf sped up even more.
She could feel the dry wind lashing haphazardly across her sweat-soaked face, hair, and the hem of her clothes. However, she could not feel the slightest bit of discomfort.
She lifted her face, flushed with excitement, and filled her vision with the sky drawing closer and the meadow swaying violently like waves.
At that moment, an intense sense of liberation overwhelmed her, as if all the worries and sorrows weighing on her heart had vanished.
She burst into laughter that was close to a scream.
"Amazing, Khan! Don't stop! Keep running!"
She could feel the sound of the horses' hooves chasing closely behind gradually fading away.
Thalia gave herself over to the stormy sprint, disregarding the convulsing of the thighs tightening around Khan's back and the forearms wrapped around his neck.
The physical unnaturalness and pain that had always dominated her—all of it faded away. All she could perceive was the pounding of her heart, the heat of the blood rushing through her body, and the singing of the air striking her ears.
Thalia shouted even louder.
"Hey, Khan!"
Khan ran unhindered through the overgrown wildflowers.
She wondered how long she had been clinging to Khan's body like that. She could faintly see the red flag, which had been far away, rapidly approaching.
Immediately, thunderous cheers erupted from the surroundings. Thalia realized she had won. However, she had no desire to stop.
She urged Khan to keep running along the edge of the pasture. However, her body seemed to have already reached its limit. The strength drained from the arm wrapped around Khan's neck, and her upper body rapidly tilted to one side.
She frantically flailed her arms to regain her balance, but her body had already slipped halfway off Khan's back. Eventually, Thalia tumbled onto the thick grass.
With a heavy thud, the world spun around once. Thalia, having rolled a couple of times lightly along the gentle slope, gasped for breath and stared blankly at the blue sky for a while.
Khan, who had run over to her side in surprise, growled as he buried his wet nose in her face. She suddenly burst out laughing at the sight of the wolf. Jer whole body was numb, and her limbs were trembling, but she felt strangely light.
"I'm fine, so calm down."
Thalia pushed away the wolf's head that was wildly gnawing at her face and neck, then carefully sat up. Fortunately, it didn't appear that anything was broken.
She let out a small sigh of relief and staggered to her feet.
At that moment, a dark shadow suddenly fell over her head, and long, strong, muscular arms wrapped around her shoulders.
Thalia flinched and looked up. Lucas, who had arrived at some point, was looking down at her with a face as pale as blood.
"Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere...?"
Lucas frantically scanned her up and down.
Thalia, who had been frozen with a flustered expression, shoved Lucas away and raised her eyebrows.
"Why are you here?"
"While on patrol, I witnessed my sister-in-law riding a wolf and chased after her."
Lucas answered in a stiff voice and reached out his hand to her shoulder again.
"More importantly, are you okay? If you happened to hit your head or neck while falling, it could cause problems later..."
"I'm perfectly fine, so don't make a fuss."
Thalia, having harshly pushed his hand away, shook the dry grass off the crumpled hem of her clothes and looked around. She had run so frantically that she could see guards and onlookers rushing toward her from quite a distance.
Thalia slowly approached them with trembling legs.
"You all saw that clearly, right? I won."
Raina, who had been standing quite a distance away with a sulky expression, walked toward her with a reluctant look.
Her flushed face clearly showed signs of anger, but she appeared unable to deny the result in front of so many people.
She lifted her pointed chin high and spat out coldly.
"Okay. You won."
Thalia approached her sister-in-law and flashed a threatening smile at her face.
"Don't ever argue about Khan again. If you dare to blabber on about whether my wolf is useful or not even once, I'll throw your steed—which has been proven to be even more useless—to my competent wolf as food."
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