Chapter 52

“I don’t want to be a burden any longer, so I’ll be on my way now. My deepest gratitude to the great Crown Prince.”

“…….”

Watching Adam recite his so-called appreciation with such a disinterested expression, Judis found himself wishing this wasn’t the same Adam he once knew.

‘Eveline, was it?’

When the warrior had been lying there as if dead, she had been frantic, so Judis had sent her off with the healer to prepare medicine.

Fortunately, the moment Adam woke up, her face lit up.

If she would just leave quietly with the warrior, that alone would be a relief.

However, Eveline’s eyes were sharper than he anticipated.

“Warrior, what happened to your hands now?!”

She must have caught the scent—his hands, covered in blood, mixed with the lingering metallic tang from the wound on his abdomen.

Eveline grabbed Adam’s wrist and pressed him for an answer.

During the tense standoff earlier, his grip had been tight, ready to strike Nine’s carotid artery at a moment’s notice. Shards of broken glass were still embedded in his palm.

It was enough to make anyone wince just looking at it, yet Adam remained unfazed.

Or was he just pretending to be?

As Eveline scolded him, his gaze subtly avoided hers.

‘That warrior?’

Judis couldn’t believe his eyes.

Was he actually on the verge of death, hallucinating? Had he been caught by the emperor while attempting to save the warrior, and now he was seeing things as he hovered between life and death?

No matter what, the emperor wouldn’t kill his only son, but maybe he had left Judis in a half-dead state, causing him to see illusions…

“It was the Crown Prince,” Adam suddenly said.

“……?”

Judis, who had been abruptly singled out, opened and closed his mouth in stunned disbelief.

Before he could defend himself, Eveline’s eyes sharpened with suspicion, completely accepting Adam’s words without a shred of doubt.

Her gaze clearly screamed, ‘I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him…’

“No! His Highness the Crown Prince would never! Well… um… maybe he would…?”

The healer, who had boldly started speaking up in Judis’s defense, seemed to rethink her stance as memories of Judis’s past deeds surfaced.

Seeing Judis’s glare, she hastily added,

“But probably not! His Highness is actually quite soft-hearted—he wouldn’t hurt anyone!”

Now that she thought about it, that seemed to be true at the temple as well.

Eveline nodded slowly, as if finally understanding.

“And that’s why, even though he insists that we shouldn’t demand a raise, he still gives us one? Working under him is really comfortable.”

Watching his subordinate openly whispering for all to hear, Judis clutched his chest in frustration.

Am I the only sane person here?!

None of my subordinates are normal!

* * *

 

“The camp hasn’t been completely dismantled, so head back there.”

“Understood.”

After exchanging brief farewells with Judis’s group, Eveline and Adam rode toward the encampment.

Since Eveline couldn’t ride a horse on her own, she naturally rode together with Adam.

Our warrior is truly amazing.

He even knows how to ride a horse.

While heavy rain had poured inside the depths of Mia’s Forest, the situation outside was different—most of the tents remained intact, with only a few taken down.

However, nobles had begun returning one by one.

Some proudly displayed their game on the ground, though the quantity was small.

Among them, Count Cort’s young lord had managed to catch two fallow deer and was strutting about, shoulders raised in pride.

Watching this scene, Adam suddenly spoke.

“Leaving like this doesn’t befit the spirit of a hunting competition.”

With that, Adam turned back toward the forest.

He returned in less than half an hour.

 

* * *

 

“Baron Aylon has returned with two red foxes.”

“Look at this roe deer. It’s top quality, no doubt about it.”

The nobles, having hastily ended their hunt due to the sudden downpour, gathered in small groups.

Their attendants moved among them, noting down the game they had brought back to determine the winner of the hunting competition.

“Heh.”

Some already knew they had lost, while others basked in the thrill of victory, convinced they had won.

‘That warrior’s maid will surely be desperate to get her hands on my catch.’

If she properly acknowledged his generosity and repented for her past actions, he might graciously grant her one of his kills.

Count Cort’s young lord smiled in satisfaction as he admired his own game.

‘But where is that maid? And the warrior as well… Don’t tell me they haven’t returned yet?’

Not that he actually cared about the warrior’s whereabouts.

But with the maid also missing, the young lord glanced around.

“The maid… No, have you seen the warrior?”

“Ah… Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him.”

“He must have been too ashamed after catching just a single rabbit and ran off!”

The young lord scoffed, bursting into laughter.

That arrogant woman had acted so high and mighty just because she followed the warrior, but what kind of face would she make when she heard her so-called warrior had tucked tail and fled?

Perhaps she’d finally abandon the warrior and become his maid instead.

Lost in his amusing thoughts, he smirked—

“I hope I’m not too late.”

“Huh?”

A voice rang from behind, making the nobles instinctively part to clear a path.

Adam walked forward at an unhurried pace.

On his shoulder rested the carcass of a bear—several times larger than a grown man.

As he set it down with a heavy thud, the nobles, who had been holding their breath, gasped in astonishment.

“A bear this massive…!”

One of the attendants, who had been recording the game, exclaimed in awe.

Even if they combined all the animals the nobles had hunted, nothing would compare to this.

“Warrior…!”

As they stared in shock at the enormous bear before them, their gazes finally shifted to the one who had brought it.

The warrior.

The one no one had expected to win.

Everyone had unconsciously regarded him as nothing more than a young swordsman whose only skill was slaying the Demon King.

After all, the hunting competition was a prestigious event meant primarily for nobles—especially those seeking knighthood.

The nobles, still dazed, only regained their senses when someone finally called out to Adam.

They quickly masked their astonishment with polite smiles, welcoming him.

And up on a platform, standing apart from the others—

The emperor’s eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost.

His expression shifted from shock to fury in an instant.

‘What do you think of our warrior now?’

Eveline could practically feel the emperor’s rage seething through the air.

She grinned in satisfaction, like a child who had just been gifted a sweet treat.

Adam must have felt the same.

A delicious taste of revenge.

Adam had returned with an enormous prize.

The sheer size of his game made it unnecessary to even determine the winner of the hunting competition—his victory was overwhelming.

The nobles were so focused on that fact that they only noticed Adam’s wounds belatedly.

A young noblewoman approached him, but upon seeing something alarming, she let out a small scream. Only then did the others focus on Adam himself.

“This… is that blood?”

Although he had changed into the clothes Judis had prepared, his vigorous movements had caused his wounds to reopen, allowing a small amount of blood to seep through.

Some nobles, noticing his disheveled state, stepped forward to address him.

“Warrior, are you alright?”

“Yes.”

Adam responded in an indifferent, expressionless manner, which made the young noblewoman sigh in relief.

A bear of that size—just one swipe from its claws could have left a grievous wound.

She tried to calm her startled heart.

The young noblewomen, unfamiliar with wounds, assumed he had been injured by the bear.

However, the noblemen who had trained as knights thought differently.

Judging by the shape of the wound, it appeared to have been pierced by something narrow and sharp.

It wasn’t the kind of injury an animal’s claws could inflict.

A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in their minds.

They recalled what had happened before the hunting competition.

‘Didn’t His Majesty show an unusual hatred toward the warrior?’

A faint suspicion arose—the thought that perhaps the emperor had attempted to kill Adam.

No one voiced it aloud, yet they all shared the same thought.

Instead, they merely exchanged glances, gauging each other’s reactions.

That was the power of the emperor.

Eveline felt slightly unsettled, but the moment she recalled what was about to unfold, a smile played on her lips.

Anyone who dared trouble Adam would soon be eliminated.

Her gaze shifted toward a particular figure.

Count Cort.

From the moment Adam had joined the hunting competition, he had been one of the nobles constantly provoking him.

His son, in particular, had been an endless nuisance, going on and on about Adam to the point of irritation.

Like father, like son.

Eveline clicked her tongue inwardly.