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“Yes, you’re right. I’m so sorry I made you come, Lady Tory. This is going to be such a long boring time, and it’s all my fault.”

“Don’t worry about it. I actually wanted to see what a hunting party looks like anyway. I could never join the men because a woman alone can’t accompany them.”

Lady Tory knew the Acreian men well, but she never expected them to leave them behind like this. The ladies brought only one maid each because they were warned that too many people would scare the animals away. Lady Stra sighed in frustration and Lady Tory held her hands.

Lady Stra asked, “So, what should we do now?”

“We need to wait.”

“So this is what Acreian men do, huh?”

In Acreia, the women stayed home and kept it warm while the men went out to hunt. The women waited up until the men returned.

The maids kept the fire going as the ladies waited. Lady Stra regretted asking to tag along. They were all alone in an empty lot with nothing to do. Lady Stra felt frustrated. She murmured, “If I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve just stayed in the castle and chatted with the duchess. And because of me, you are here too, Lady Tory… I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, Lady Stra. I really mean it when I say that I wanted to come and see what a hunting party is like. They rarely take women with them to things like this.”

Lady Stra suddenly felt dizzy. She walked to her carriage to rest and Lady Tory sat by her side to take care of her and let the maids rest. It was only light, so Lady Stra felt much better after lying down a little bit in the carriage.

The two wives of the emperor chatted among themselves. Lady Tory asked, “What do you think his highness will catch on his hunt?” Lady Stra thought of the animal that suited Lucius the First the most and answered, “Don’t you think he will catch a wolf? He is such a good hunter, so I am sure he can do it.”

“A wolf? Well, wolf meat doesn’t taste that good, so… I hope he catches a wild hog since it’s for the National Day feast.”

The two ladies thought differently because they grew up in different regions. Lady Stra, who was from the mid-continent region, favored farm animals while Lady Tory, being from the north, preferred wild animals. In the mid-continent, people got their meat from raising animals while in the north, meat came from the hunt.

Lady Tory grumbled lightly, “Now that I think about it, we never got any wedding gifts from the emperor, did we? I am a little disappointed in his highness.”

“But I thought we all exchanged wedding gifts.”

“In Acreia, a man sends an animal hide to the woman when he proposes. It has to be an animal the man catches himself. The white bear hide is considered the best gift. I understand that the emperor is too busy to go out and hunt himself, and that is why he sent the hides of the animals his men caught, but still… that is not how it is done in Acreia.”

“Oh, so that is why his highness was so eager for this hunt. I had no idea.”

On their first night together, Lady Stra woke up to find Lucius the First quietly measuring her body with his hand. She heard him murmuring, “How many animals will I need to catch…?” Stra didn’t know what he was doing at the time, but now, she understood. Lucius the First was trying to figure out how many animals he had to hunt to get enough hides for all of his wives. Until now, he hasn’t had the time to hunt, so this was his chance.

After visiting Nanaba, Lady Stra finally understood the extent of the Acreians’ obsessions for hunting and animal hides. It made sense because the Acreian weather was so cold. Just a regular cotton coat was not even close to being enough to survive the winter here.

Lady Stra and Lady Tory were laughing and chatting when the first successful hunter returned. Everyone expected it to be Sir Ainno who catches something first, but shockingly, it was Lucius the First. He caught a giant deer. An arrow was stuck in his neck; it was still alive and breathing heavily. Every time it took a breath, the dogs barked wildly. Tory clapped excitedly and Stra did the same. The servants took the deer down from the horse and took it away to be cleaned and gutted.

Poliana was the one who was the happiest to see the deer. She said to the emperor, “That’s the best tasting kind of deer.”

“I know you like it and that is why I caught it for you, Sir Pol. You should take it and eat it all by yourself. Don’t give it to anyone, ok?”

“Hahaha, your sense of humor is still so awful, your highness. It hasn’t improved during the last 10 years.”

The ladies watched enviously as Poliana and the emperor joked with each other comfortably. Lady Stra felt curious so she left her carriage to have a look at the deer. The servants and the dogs moved aside so she could examine it. Stra carefully touched the deer and found that its hair was rough and smelly. Suddenly, Poliana came up to her from behind and said to her, “Lady Stra, you might get a tick from the animal if you touch it.”

“Oh, no!”

Only

Stra immediately stepped back. When she was a princess in her kingdom, she used to raise small deer and rabbits in her garden. The northern deer, however, was much bigger and tougher looking. It looked more like a wild hog. Its antlers were so large and sharp that they looked like a weapon.

Poliana continued, “Your bones would break if it kicks you. Its antler can also puncture you and kill you, so please be careful.”

“Alright.”

After having one more look, Lady Stra nodded. Before she left, she leaned forward to touch the tip of the deer’s antler. It felt rough like a tree bark. The deer was dying slowly, and finally, its eyes rolled back, only showing the whites. The deer continued to breathe harshly, its breath smelling awful.

Stra began to feel nauseous, so she finally stood up to leave. Just then, the deer twisted its body and its legs moved to kick Stra.

To Lady Stra, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. She could see the deer hooves coming at her face, and although it seemed to be happening very slowly, she couldn’t move away. Suddenly, she felt a shadow over herself; it was Poliana who put herself between the lady and the deer.

The next thing Lady Stra felt was pain and shock as her head and her back fell to the ground. She couldn’t think clearly, and her ears were ringing. She couldn’t ear briefly, but within a few seconds, she heard people screaming, “Gyaa! Lady Stra!”