Chapter 181

Chapter 181

“Does the prince naturally think he’s the one who’s deserving in all this?”

“What?”

“Just a thought. I thought you might be mistaken. When you think about it, isn’t it me who truly deserved Deatrice? The prince merely filled that empty time for a moment, just like he did for Galaba.”

“Like he did for Galaba?” Frederick looked confused. He burst into hollow laughter. However, Lucius’s gaze upon him was icily relentless.

“I couldn’t help but think that the prince is still clinging to the Grand Duke and coveting the throne, just as before. This time, he’s just clinging to a sword to aim for the throne.”

With a casual air, Lucius probed the prince’s most vulnerable spot.

“Without the sword, you are nothing,” he said.

The prince’s face hardened like never before, and in the end, unable to contain his anger, he aimed the gun at Lucius.

“Would you really pull the trigger?” Lucius met the prince’s gaze with a composed expression. His face ignited a fire within the prince’s heart.

The prince had always portrayed himself as someone who could do anything, and he believed he had to prove it again this time.

In the end, the prince lowered the gun and pulled back the trigger. The bullet grazed Lucius’s thigh and embedded itself into the wall.

* * *

“Seems like there’s an injured person?”

Watching the journalists gather, Deatrice almost stood up from her seat unconsciously. Throughout the hunt, even just hearing gunshots made her heart race and filled her with anxiety. Now, there was news of an injured person.

“Who? Who got hurt?”

The ladies-in-waiting asked, pressing for information. The hunting competition was carefully organized, and all the participants were skilled, so injuries were rare. Amidst the busy crowd, Deatrice tried her best to maintain composure.

Whenever she heard the gunshots echoing through the winter forest, she recalled Lucius’s frozen expression from their encounter in the Knight’s Castle underground prison. It was as if she had been transported back to the most dreadful battlefield, unable to forget his helpless face. The fear he felt during those gunshots seemed to transmit to her as well.

However, she also knew how hard Lucius tried to conceal such emotions, so she refrained from making any suspicious moves. She couldn’t ruin his efforts.

With trembling hands, she raised a teacup to her lips. But in that moment, news of Lucius being dragged out, bleeding in the snow, reached her, and she could no longer hold back.

She abruptly stood up, pushing through the crowd in search of Lucius.

“You shouldn’t do this, my lady,” the knights tried to stop her, but Deatrice paid no heed as she searched for Lucius. Even if he didn’t tell her where he was, she knew exactly where they would have taken the injured person. Without hesitating or getting lost, she dashed forward, and the knights formed a line in front of the tent to block her path.

“No one is allowed inside, my lady. Please don’t do this.”

“Why can’t I?”

“The Emperor said…”

“Did he tell you not to identify who inured Lucius? But why?”

“Well, you see…”

They couldn’t say anything and sweat dripped from the knights’ foreheads.

“I thought Lucius got hurt because of his own mistake. But seeing how desperately you’re trying to stop me, it seems like the one who hurt Lucius is someone of great importance, isn’t it?”

Her words left the knights visibly uncomfortable.

“My lady…”

“Don’t you dare say the person inside is not my husband. I saw him being dragged away, bleeding.”

“It’s not a severe injury. We called for a doctor…”

“Step aside.”

“The Emperor’s orders are not to let anyone in.”

The standoff between the knights and her continued. They probably thought mentioning her position as the Emperor wouldn’t help, and they were right.

In this moment, mentioning the Emperor would be of no use at all. Deatrice was angrier at the Emperor, as he was the one responsible for all of this.

“Then arrest me for breaking the rules.”

Deatrice spoke those words and walked through the gaps between the knights. The knights, unable to touch a noblewoman recklessly, awkwardly stepped back. The people inside the tent had already heard the commotion from outside, so they were not surprised when she barged in.

Finding Lucius in the narrow tent was not difficult. As soon as he saw her, he flashed an embarrassed but playful smile, as if he had broken the promise not to get hurt.

“Luci.”

As soon as Deatrice spotted Lucius’s face, she broke down. She didn’t care about the muddy ground or anything else; she just kneeled before him. His uniform was torn, and his wounds were bandaged. In an iron basin on the floor, soiled bandages were soaked in water mixed with blood.

The water in the basin was as red as blood. Did he lose too much blood? She looked around with a pale and worried face. Seeing her like that, he pulled her closer to get her attention.

“It’s nothing. Just a little blood.”

“What about the priest? Where is the priest?”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“It’s not nothing! You’re bleeding like this. Won’t they send for the priest? Oh, they need to cover it up quietly, right?”

“Deatrice.”

Her eyes turned pale. Lucius appreciated her care for him, but at the same time, it pained him to see her always having to confront and fight because of his position.

“Don’t do this.”