I Refuse This Life, Your Highness! - Chapter 15

The day of the hunting tournament had arrived. A flock of birds, released from their sacks, flew up with a flurry over the deep forest’s tree shadows. I paused for a moment to watch the flapping wings and the feathers gently drifting down.

People were checking their horses and weapons. It seemed the Duke had not yet appeared. I stood at the front, slightly apart from the crowd, dressed in my hunting attire.

I could feel the occasional glances. A priestess from a powerless noble family, the Lamiya family. From the very beginning, I was the subject of curiosity. However, the temperature of the gazes was somewhat milder than before.

It had only been a few days since I arrived at the Duke’s castle. In my past life, within such a short period, people had already started looking down on me due to the Duke’s coldness. This time, it felt better. The Duke seemed… kinder to me, or at least it appeared that way.

If in my past life, the gazes had been blatantly dismissive, now they were a mixture of curiosity and intrigue.

“Princess.”

I heard Erma’s voice but didn’t move.

It was the time I had been waiting for.

“Princess,” Erma called again as he approached, two knights following him.

I turned only then and saw Erma standing with the knights, holding something.

“What is it?”

“I’ve brought the bow and arrows for you, Princess.”

The Steward was in charge of overseeing all the tasks related to the hunting tournament, so it was natural that he would handle my weapons. If he had done it properly, that is.

I glanced at the plate the knights were holding behind Erma.

On the plate, covered in satin, lay several luxurious bows. As I looked at them, I had to hold back a smile. It was just like last time.

The heavy bows that I couldn’t possibly pull, and nestled among them, a child’s bow.

It seemed that Erma was determined to embarrass me once again.

Unless I were a fool, I wouldn’t allow myself to go through the same thing twice.

Thankfully, Erma had acted just as he had in the past life. It felt like I had received both the test and the answer. The humiliation of my past life would now fall to Erma.

“Hmm, Erma.”

I called to him, arms crossed.

Erma lowered his head deeply. Anyone who saw him would assume he was the loyal Steward of the Duke’s castle.

“I’d appreciate it if you could check the bow I was going to use. Why don’t you take the lightest one there and catch a bird for me?”

“Pardon?”

Erma seemed startled by my sudden words, looking up at me.

The gazes that had been glancing at me from the moment Erma arrived became more blatant.

“What could this be about?”

“It seems the Princess has asked the Steward to catch a bird.”

“Oh my.”

I heard whispers that seemed to find it amusing.

“It’ll be a short amusement before the tournament begins.”

I tilted my head and spoke. These were the same words I had said in my past life.

‘If the Princess catches a bird, it will be a brief amusement before the tournament.’

That’s how it happened last time, and I was forced to grab the bow, only to find that it was a child’s bow. Back then, I was too nervous to notice and trembled as I tried to string an arrow.

Erma had prepared this humiliation for me once again.

Erma was now stuck, unable to do anything, rolling his eyes as he looked at me.

“Hurry. Do it, please.”

As the words “please” came out of my mouth, the surrounding crowd became louder.

“Indeed, Steward. Let’s see your skills with the bow.”

“The Princess has spoken so seriously.”

Eventually, Erma had no choice but to pick up a bow. Following my instructions, he gritted his teeth and picked up the most nimble, ivory-colored bow from the plate.

The situation was different from my past life. In my past life, even if I hadn’t shot the bow, if I had realized it was a child’s bow, Erma would have been the one to suffer the embarrassment for preparing such a thing.

But now, if I pointed out that the bow was wrong, Erma would be the one to suffer from the absurd mistake. He would be embarrassed for not noticing. If I pretended not to realize and picked up the bow like before, I would become the subject of ridicule. It was a no-win situation for him.

I decided to help him out.

“Steward?”

“Yes, yes, Princess.”

Erma, sweating with embarrassment, looked at me.

“Isn’t that a bow for children? Were you that small back then?”

“Uhh…”

I gave him twofold humiliation.

Erma’s gaze fell to the bow, and as laughter passed through the crowd, his face turned bright red. I smiled and said,

“Well, it actually suits you quite well. How about I make one like it for you as a gift? Of course, for adults, though.”

“……”

“Don’t refuse.”

“Th-thank you, Princess.”

Erma’s lips trembled so much that only I could see it. Maybe, some people here had already figured out that Erma was intentionally acting like this, and I was doing it on purpose too.

“It seems there was a mistake in the preparations. Please bring a new bow.”

I gestured to the knight with my words, and the knight holding a panel with arrows hurriedly disappeared, then returned. Several properly made adult-sized bows were placed before me.

After choosing the one that fit best in my hand, the sound of a horn echoed.

It was the sound announcing the start of the hunting tournament.

“Ha…”

As I inspected the bow, I turned my head and saw the Duke had appeared in the center.

‘Huh…?’

Did he look this way?

It seemed like the Duke’s gaze briefly shifted towards me. Was it a mistake?

I mounted my horse a little later than the others and headed toward the forest, bow on my back and the reins loosely held.

The forest, with sparse trees, was filled with sunlight.

The sound of leaves brushing against the wind was like a song. As I squinted my eyes, quietly feeling the sunlight and the sound, I heard slow hoofbeats approaching.

I thought it might be some persistent noble following me, but when I turned around, it was surprisingly the Duke. There was a faint scent of blood from him.

“Did you catch something already?”

“A wolf.”

He slowly approached me.

“If we prepare it now, we could make fur in time for winter.”

“Yeah…”

He seemed like someone who would wear wolf fur well. No, perhaps he was already meeting Leia? It seemed like it would suit her too, just as it suited him.

“It’s a wolf with a bluish tint to its fur.”

I see… It would indeed be more beautiful. It would suit Leia too.

“Blue wolf fur is a specialty of the Duchy. The Duchess should have at least one.”

“…”

While I had been vaguely thinking of Leia, I closed my mouth for a moment. The Duke tilted his head, puzzled. I stared blankly at him and asked.

“Me?”

“Yes, you, Duchess.”

Why would he say that to me?

Luckily, I quickly snapped back to reality and gave an appropriate response.

“Ah… Thank you. I think it will be really beautiful.”

Though my voice was a bit absent-minded. Fortunately, the Duke silently gestured deeper into the forest with his chin.

“There’s a corpse over there, but would you like to see it? I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Thank you for the warning.”

Then, it seemed like the Duke smiled faintly.

“Has your archery improved?”

I had been receiving training from a knight who specialized in archery for the past few days. Though I hadn’t improved drastically in just a few days, it seemed like I had made some progress.

Instead of answering, I drew out my bow and attached an arrow with my mark on it. A flock of cranes happened to be flying across the sky.

I aimed my arrow at the sky and drew the string with a snap. Unfortunately, the arrow didn’t hit the bird and fell to the ground. The Duke, who had been watching, spoke.

“Birds move quickly, so you need to adjust your aim differently. Also, your arms are too spread out. If you do that, your strength will be scattered, and the arrow won’t fly far.”

The Duke urged his horse closer to me, coming within a distance where our bodies could almost touch. At that distance, he corrected my posture as I held the bow.

By adjusting the angle of my arms and the shape of my fingers, my posture became much more stable. He didn’t stop there; he held my hand and drew the string together with me.

Thwack.

With the cheerful sound of the bowstring, the arrow flew high into the sky and pierced through one of the cranes. The bird fell to the ground.

“Well done.”

“That was mostly thanks to Your Grace.”

“Then try it yourself this time.”

Could I do it…? I recalled the posture the Duke had corrected and shot again. A crane flying across the sky was pierced by my arrow and fell in an arc.

I caught a bird by myself! A surge of excitement rose within me.

“Good. Two cranes is not a bad result.”

“Right, especially for a Duchess.”

My mouth, slightly agape, let the words slip out. I immediately realized my mistake. The Duke’s expression was strange.

“Ah… That was an unfortunate comment.”

Erma always said that. Whether I did well or not, it was always ‘for a Duchess, that was good,’ or ‘for you, that was good.’ It was a phrase that perfectly defined my limits.

The Duke seemed to take my words in a somewhat bitter way.

“After all, being a Duchess in a man’s body wouldn’t make you happy.”

“No, no. That’s not it. I’m Lamia. I knew I would marry a man and become a wife. I’ve been trained accordingly.”

It was something my parents always emphasized. “You’re Lamia. You’ll marry a husband, have children, and live the life of a lady of the house. Remember that.”

After a while, the Duke nodded.

“Right, if that’s how you feel.”

He swiftly dismounted from his horse and looked at me.

“Shall we walk for a moment?”

At his words, I also dismounted and began walking. The sunlit forest path, walking calmly with the Duke, felt almost unbelievable.

Suddenly, the last moment came to mind.

What had he been trying to say? He didn’t know anything now, but… As I absentmindedly looked at the Duke’s face, he reached out and gently touched my hair.

I flinched in surprise, and he softly whispered to calm me.

“You look good.”

His fingertips had touched the hairpin. It was a simple compliment, but my face turned red. To avoid blushing more, I tried to cool my cheek with a cold hand, but then regretted it, thinking it might look even stranger.

The Duke withdrew his hand from my hair and took the reins.

The horse snorted and exhaled.

“We should go back now. I need to win so that your reputation as a Duchess is preserved.”

“Ah, yes… Be careful, Your Grace.”

“You too.”

With a brief farewell, he urged his horse and disappeared deeper into the forest. I stood in the sunlit forest, watching his figure disappear for a long time.

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