Taang-! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of shots being fired rang out before Adrian had a chance to pull the trigger.
If he’d used that many bullets, he should’ve easily hit at least one of the many deer present, whoever it was must’ve been a terrible shot.
The herd of deer all panicked and ran away at the sound of the gunshots, but Adrian didn’t panic and fired straight at the deer that Colin targeted.
Taaaang-!
The deer screamed and fell to the ground. The servant waved the Duke of Kingston’s flag and shouted.
“It’s a hit!”
Colin was so excited that he pulled the reins and ran to get a closer look at the deer.
After all, this was Adrian. He aimed for the thin legs to do as little damage as possible to the hide, and even though the deer was moving quickly, he was right on target.
It was an impressive feat of hunting skill. The servant ran over with joyful strides carrying the net.
Colin called out excitedly to Adrian. The more he looked at it, the more he realized how beautiful and unique its antlers were.
“I’ll take this deer, please, give me this one, wow, it’s going to be worth a fortune!”
“Holy shit! What are you doing, you bastard!”
Just then, a man covered in mud came out of the grass, cursing at Colin.
* * *
The man, covered in mud and limping, pointed at Colin, swearing at him.
“This is mine! You must be a bastard who doesn’t even know the hunting rules!”
“What?”
Their eyes met. It was Ted.
As soon as Ted saw Colin, his eyes widened and he started shouting.
“You, you!”
“Do you know me? I don’t know you.”
The beastman’s eyes glowed dangerously. The look in his eyes said, ‘pretend you don’t know me or I’ll kill you.’ He was really going to cut him in half if he showed any indication of familiarity.
Ted was aggrieved, but there were a lot of eyes on him at the moment, and he remembered his father’s warning that he would be thrown out of the house if he ever mentioned that day again. He snapped out of it, barely able to compose himself. Now was not the time for this. The deer!
He hadn’t hunted a single animal since morning. As he limped out of the headquarters in his hunting clothes, there were snickers and dismissive glances directed at him. His stomach began to churn.
Only a boar? That’s not even funny. Surely he’d get a huge kill and flatten the noses of those who mocked and ignored him!
He rode his horse and hunted with his weak ankles, but got stuck in the mud and couldn’t catch a single thing.
After a few hours, his stamina, concentration, and morale plummeted, and he was unable to catch even smaller animals like rabbits and foxes.
He wanted to excuse himself by saying that he was not in the same condition as in the morning, but now even the servants who came with him were subtly ignoring him.
Then came the deer. Ted realized that the animal hadn’t actually been hit by his bullet. But that didn’t matter now.
“I shot the deer! Hey, hurry, put my name on it and take it back to headquarters!”
He insisted, ignoring Colin, and hurriedly tried to put his name on the deer.
How dare he, that bastard, put his name on a deer when he wasn’t even a nobleman. Moreover, now that there were more eyes on him, Colin wouldn’t be able to treat him as harshly as he had last time.
But Ted’s servants, though they’d heard his orders, were unable to obey, they’d clearly seen the other man hit the target.
“My goodness, that’s the deer our Lord shot!”
Colin shook his head, dumbfounded, and Adrian’s servant ran over blocking the path of Ted’s servants. Ted then pointed his finger at Adrian’s attendant angerly.
“What are you doing? This is my deer! How dare you steal my animal? Do you want to die?”
“No, it’s just…”
“Stop.”
“Lord Kingston?”
Amid this commotion, Adrian approached them. Some beggar covered in filth was swearing, pointing a finger at his aide and attendants. He spoke with a cold voice.
“How dare you treat someone from the house of Kingston so rudely. You dare to insult the Duke of Kingston?”
“No, that’s not it…”
It was a disaster. Adrian Kingston was the owner of the deer? His ability to hit a running deer in the leg was frightening.
But he couldn’t back down now. He looked at the deer, grasping at straws.
Was it luck? If there was a bullet lodged in the deer’s leg, it would be clear who it belonged to, but the bullet had cleanly cut the leg tendon and exited the animal.
And there were both Kingston and Carlton casings scattered around the area. Ted began to insist.
“I got it! Do you think this swift beast could be shot down with just one bullet?”
Wow, really? Adrian was getting tired of this. It wouldn’t be a big deal if they didn’t get the deer, he could just get something else for Colin.
He didn’t want to get involved in this unnecessary hassle. But he wasn’t an idiot who wouldn’t claim his kill as his own.
“Well, it looks like you didn’t catch anything yet.”
Adrian muttered, jerking his head toward the servants behind Ted, not even bothering to cover his disdain. The servants’ sacks were empty, every last one of them.
“I will donate it to the Lord.”
“What, what did you say?”
Were there really such idiots in this world who couldn’t even understand when he told them to take it and leave?
“I don’t like repeating myself, however-“
A cold voice penetrated Ted’s ears. Ice-cold blue eyes looked him up and down, judging him. One corner of his mouth tilted up, and he smirked. It was obvious ridicule.
A mud-covered figure, devoid of any semblance of dignity. It was a stark contrast to the man who sat stiff and erect on his black horse, dressed elegantly in hunting clothes.
“-I will kindly repeat this. I’ll show you some chivalry.”
‘Chivalry’ was a word reserved for young ladies. Even the way he spoke was as if he were talking to a lady. It’s wasn’t enough to ignore him, he even treated him like a lady!
Ted blanched at Adrian’s tone and behavior, which was even more unpleasant than hearing the double insult. He clenched his fists and his whole body trembled.
Whether Adrian did it on purpose or not, his horse turned its head away as well.
Ted’s servants cautiously took care of the deer, and then they started fighting over who would go to the headquarters with the animal.
They wanted to get away from Ted’s viciousness and foul temper as quickly as possible.
“Is there a problem? Is anyone injured?”
Over the commotion came the sound of galloping horses and the appearance of a young man who’d barely shed his adolescent looks. Evan Haleson. The organizer of this hunting gathering and heir to the House of Haleson.
He quickly turned to his servants and ordered them to find out what’d happened.
He didn’t care what happened to the idiot covered in mud, but if it involved Adrian Kingston, that was a different story. In fact, the truth was very important. He’d receive a report back shortly.
“I just want to go back, Haleson. This is getting boring.”
As expected, Adrian responded indifferently to Evan without giving a detailed explanation.
“Yes, senior! I heard you’ve already caught a lot. I’ll guide you back to the mansion.”
And with that, Ted was left to stare at the backs of these noble sons, who treated him as if he were not only a fool, but also invisible.
* * *
Evan and Adrian ran nonstop to the hunting headquarters. To Evan, Adrian was a respected academy senior. They were in the same advanced special class and had quite a bit of contact even though they were in different grades.
Moreover, Evan’s older sister, Diane, and Adrian’s older brother, Archduke Leonhard Kingston, were in an arranged marriage. Evan and Adrian were going to be in-laws.
His blood relative was to become the Archduchess. It was a very fitting title for a member of the Haleson family. Therefore, ever since his academy days, he’d tried to become close to Leonhard and Adrian.
But it hadn’t been as easy as he thought. He’d heard Leonhard Kingston had a very cold and stiff temperament and wasn’t one to let go of anything easily, but Adrian, who was friendly with everyone, was surprising.
Evan even became involved with Adrian with a mentor-mentee relationship, but Adrian never cared for him any more than the other juniors.
Evan couldn’t help but feel upset. Just signing a marriage contract with such a great family was an honor.
That’s why Evan tried so hard to speak to Adrian in a way that would make him feel more intimate with the man.
“Seniors. How was the hunting?”
“It was fine. Did you have a good time?”
“It was an honor to see such respectable people after so long.”
Stiff. His way of speaking was becoming more and more like his older brother. Evan felt sad when he remembered what he was like when they were little. Adrian ruffled Evan’s hair and spoke harshly.
“Don’t say that to me. It gives me goosebumps.”
“Ahaha, I’ll send a message to my sister to prepare the refreshments sooner.”
Evan was about to order the servant behind him to run at full speed to deliver the news to Diane when Adrian shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it, it’d just be annoying. Think about it, Haleson. The ladies would run over in droves.”
“Yeah, well, it was my sister’s idea, and I couldn’t stop her. To be honest, I don’t really like it either.”
“Let’s go in through the back door quietly.”
“Alright! I’ll lead you to a passage no one knows about.”
They deliberately rode to the outskirts of the mansion, left their horses in the care of a servant, and entered stealthily through a small side door.
