He Was Kind If I Stopped

She had returned to the past with all her might. She was an emissary used as a political tool by her father. She never wanted to become the concubine of the old king and quarrelled with his grown-up sons until her death.

It was even more rejected for the Concez to decide their future. Just like they abandoned her mother, she didn’t want to let herself be used and thrown away like that.

“My father has very high expectations for me.”

Miella’s voice was filled with a condescending tone.

“Probably.”

Hazel answered frankly, lifted the gun and aimed it to the woods. When Miella gasped at the sight, Hazel smiled lightly when Miella was taken aback by that, and she proceeded to pull his finger on the trigger.

Bang, the sound of the gunshot hurtled through the air, and then a raven was spotted falling down with its wing producing a flapping sound in the process.

“You’re really amazing.”

Lorette clapped her hands and exclaimed when she watched the two from behind. Miella, who had been frozen in her spot, sighed in relief before glaring at Hazel again.

Hazel aimed exactly at Miella this time. Miella seemed to believe that there was another prey behind her, but she still couldn’t loosen up her stiff body this time.

“W-what are you doing…”

Clink, clink.

Her fingertips was stuck at the trigger tight as if they were going to pull the bullet out.

“What are you doing?!”

“Shut up.”

An eerie silence passed by them.

Rustle.

Lorette grabbed the reins with a pale face at the sound of the rustling tree branches in the forest.

“S-Sister, there must be something in the forest.”

Hazel was just aiming in the forest without uttering any words as a response. Miella, who has been yelling vigorously since earlier, also stiffened her body again and withdrew closely to them at the unusual air surrounding them.

Rustle.

After a while, Achilleon, who had entered the deep forest earlier, appeared followed by the sound of tree branches that seemed to be shaking.

He was looking at Hazel with both hands up in the air.

“Drop it.”

She didn’t like the way his mouth sagged up loosely when he said so. Hazel could barely press down the urge to really pull the trigger for a moment and then lowered the gun she had aimed at him.

An enormous gray wolf was carried in the hands of his servants who followed Achilleon from behind.

“…It must be the leader of a wolf pack.”

Hazel said as she opened her eyes widely.

“Probably?”

It was rare to see such a huge wolf. Hunting was obviously harder than before, and they only heard one shot even though it wasn’t long after he entered the deep forest.

“His Highness forgot to load the bullets in his gun.”

Count Burns said while letting out a sigh. Meanwhile the Count looked quite serious, Achilleon was just laid back. After passing over the empty gun to the servant, he looked rather relaxed while picking up the new gun.

“If that one shot wasn’t aimed accurately, I would have been attacked back by it.”

When Count Burns clicked his tongue, Hazel averted her gaze toward the wolf again. There was a hole in the center of the wolf’s head. Hazel shivered slightly at the sight of blood oozing out of the apparent bullet mark.

“I think you couldn’t overcome the smell of blood, even though your shooting skill is considerably good.”

Achilleon said while looking attentively at her.

“Just because I’m good at shooting doesn’t mean I would like the smell of blood. That’s such a barbaric idea.”

Hazel frowned at the wolf being carried out on the cart. Her head was dizzy due to the smell of blood. There was a hole in the middle of the wolf’s forehead, which reminded her of Sisef’s decapitated head.

“What will happen to that wolf pack?”

“They will pick a new leader because they just lost the previous one.”

“…….”

“Or they will disintegrate just like that.”

Although it had died, Miella was flinching when she moved her horse aside at the sight of the hideous appearance as if it could wake up and plunge at her in any moment.

“Now that I catched this as well, I let the Princess have all my preys.”

“…I refuse.”

Hazel turned her head away from the wolf with her face which turned even paler than before. Because she felt nauseous the moment those opened yellow met her gaze. And she could feel the way those eyes pierced her even more.

“You are really amazing. My father also said that it is not easy to catch this kind of wolf.”

Miella said while clapping her hands.

“Your hunting skill is outstanding.”

While hearing Miella’s praise, Achilleon suddenly raised the gun high after taking the one that had been loaded up earlier. Then everyone’s eyes naturally headed to the sky.

There was a bird spinning in a circle above them.

The gun fired into the air and penetrated through the bird’s body, which made it fall right in front of Hazel.

“…It’s Uncle Briden’s bird.”

The bird, which had showed off its wonderful wings to her earlier, had died and landed in front of Hazel. The bird, who had been flapping its wings for a while, inclined its head before it finally stopped moving.

“Do you know this bird?”

He asked nonchalantly. He still asked even though he clearly knew the answer.

“It had annoyed me because it was hovering around like a spy since earlier.”

Hearing he said so, gave Hazel shiver running down her spine.

“It’s the favorite bird of Uncle Briden, he’s going to make a fuss….”

“We’re in the middle of hunting anyway. He just didn’t know it was uncle’s hunting assistant because it had gotten so far away from its master.”

Miella stepped out to cut Hazel off.

“If I tell my father, he’ll be able to get the same bird as much as he wants, so it’s nothing.”

“Well, I don’t think it would be easy, wouldn’t it?”

Hazel responded as if she was being provocative on purpose.

“There are things that even the Concez Family can’t do.”

“Nothing is impossible for our family.”

“Then I’m very proud of Uncle Wilves.”

Hazel smiled at Miella. Sensing the uncomfortable air at that moment, Lorette looked at the two with an anxious look.

“Of course. Because I’m the only daughter of the Concez Family.”

Miella said while lifting her chin.

“Yeah, because you are the most useful daughter.”

“Excuse me?”

Miella looked at Hazel with a look as if she had something wrong.

Seeing her giving such a look, Hazel pulled her horse closer to Miella, and whispered.

“You know well what I mean, right? You’re about to go to Patran, Miella.”

“No way. I told you, my father wants the Princess to become a queen, and my father is doing his best to make me remain, so the queen’s position will surely belong to the Princess.”

Miella said with a haughty smile.

“If I also manage to rise into a high position, I will do my best to be of help for the Princess. We share the same blood, so it’d be nice to help each other even when we get married to different countries, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, the Great Uncle Wilves is also a trader.”

Hazel whispered so that only Miella could hear it.

“Mer…chant?”

Miella’s face was crumpled greatly.

“You have a big dream indeed. However, you do know how weak the support for the Crown Prince is in the Empire, right? Uncle is trying to be prepared, just in case.”

“…….”

Miella gripped the gun with a pale look. Seeing such a gesture, Hazel added.

“If you really wanted to be the Empress, you would have been sent to Prince Sisef, who has a strong maternal family on his side. Why would they shove you to the Crown Prince?”

Hazel smiled and continued.

“You’re just a card just in case.”

“No way father would ever do that.”

“Did you forget? The members of Concez are people who can use their children as much as they want for the sake of the family. You’re no different from those children.”

“…….”

Shaking her head at those words, she then pointed the gun at Hazel.

“Miella?”

Hazel grabbed the horse reins gently as she looked at the gun aimed at her. Sweat came out of her palm, but Hazel didn’t turn her head away.

“What are you doing?”

“You see it.”

Miella replied sharply.

“Apologize to me.”

“…….”

“To me and my father, how dare you insult my family and me…”

Miella said as her hand that was holding the gun shook.

“That gun, you’d better drop it.”

Hazel warned in a hushed voice. However, her heart began to pound loudly.

“Young Lady, please lower your gun.”

The knight who was escorting Miella hurriedly told her.

Bang.

Miella turned the gun and shot at the knight who had warned her.

The bullet hit the direction of the horse’s foot which the knight was riding and bounced off even though it seemed as if she had aimed it accurately at the knight who warned her earlier.

Neighh!

While the horse was thrashing around after being surprised by the sudden fire, Miella’s gun was aimed back at Hazel.

“Sister!”

Lorette looked at Hazel with a shocked look. However, Hazel still gazed at Miella with unwavered eyes.

‘Shoot me.’

Hazel yelled inwardly. She could see Miella’s hand trembling in front of her when they made eye contact with each other.

The sound of a gunshot echoed in the forest, at that moment a large and black shadow swooped her down.

Thud.

Hazel slipped off the horse together with that shadow.

“…….”

When she slowly opened her tightly shut eyes, she realized that she was lying on the soft grass.

“…….”

An eerie silence took over the forest. She could tell the man who was holding her as if blocking her with his body, without having to look at his face first.

“Achilleon?”

“You always call my name only when this kind of thing happens.”

The corner of Achilleon’s mouth stretched out beautifully while looking down at her. His blue eyes slowly skimmed through her up and down as if to examine her slowly.

“Are you… okay?”

Hazel could barely let those words come out of her mouth. It was a strangely unpleasant silence. The moment when a very brief time somehow went by slowly. Hazel had experienced this before.

“That’s why I’m talking to you like this.”

Hazel slowly opened her hands at the damp sensation sticking on her hands. It was none other than Achilleson’s sticky blood that stained her hand.

“Why is your face like that?”

“Blood…Blood.”

He looked too indifferent for a person who was losing blood. He continued to talk as if the oozing blood belonged to someone else.

“Since you have taken advantage of me once, why don’t you use me one more time until you’re satisfied?”

A cool smile hung on his mouth.

“…….”

Achilleon’s body tilted sideways more toward Hazel. The sudden blast of blood made Hazel feel dizzy for a moment.

Srug.

The body which was tilted toward Hazel had gone completely relaxed.

“Achilleon!”

A tearing scream filled the quiet forest.

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