She could go on to marry Torin and become Crown Princess if she so pleased. If I had no reason to hate her, I had no reason to attempt to kill her, and that meant I had no reason to ever stand trial for attempted murder.
Meaning I could… live.
With Kalon. In Stein.
If it was the case that both Kalon and I were growing real feelings for one another, my plan was simple. We would go back to Stein, get married, and live in a happy little obsessive bubble where we fight monsters, pursue policies to help the people of Stein, and generally mind our own business.
I just… felt weird.
Something about Lillia had made me immensely uncomfortable. I hadn’t necessarily realised it last night because of the shock of her early appearance, but the more I thought about it, something had just seemed a little bit off.
No wonder Kalon had called her what he had. She’d certainly appeared doe-eyed, but the bitterness in her smile when it turned towards me had given away her sweet, kind act.
I was generally quite good at reading people. In my past life, I hadn’t had any other choice. As a lawyer, it was important that I was able to read people’s intentions, and I was pretty spot on when it came to deciphering whether someone liked me or not.
I didn’t think I was being paranoid when I said Lillia didn’t like me.
In fact, I’d even go so far as to say she hated me.
Granted, I hadn’t made the best first impression on her, but still. It’d seemed like a rather intense dislike—far too much for a first meeting.
I had no doubt I would see her again today. In the book, Lillia gave Kalon a ribbon at her first hunt, so there was a chance that she would seek him out at some point.
Would he accept it, though?
This wasn’t the book’s storyline. Kalon and I kissed for the first time yesterday, and it hadn’t exactly been just one quick peck, either. He hadn’t hidden his feelings at all when we’d been on the terrace, and if we’d been anywhere else at that time, I was confident that we might not have stopped at a kiss.
He’d even liked it when my inner possessiveness crept out. Perhaps a bittoomuch, in hindsight, but he’d still liked it. That certainly wasn’t a marker of a man who disliked me.
Surely, he wouldn’t reject my handkerchief today.
I knew one thing, though.
If he took that blasted ribbon from her, I was going to strangle him andher with it.
Chapter Thirty
The Hunting Grounds
I considered myself an educated woman, and thus, I believed I knew what I was getting into when I arrived at the Imperial Hunting Grounds.
After all, I’d read a lot of historical fiction and was in a heavy historical fantasy webtoon binge reading hole right before I’d died, and the benefit of webtoons were that they were illustrated. Therefore, I thought myself well prepared for what was coming.
I had severely underestimated the size of this shindig.
The tents that were set up for the convenience of the non-hunters were on a far greater scale than I’d ever imagined, and that didn’t include the area that was set up solely for the use of those who were participating in the hunt. I couldn’t believe how much coordination went into an event such as this, but I knew one thing.
Thank all my lucky stars that my father hadn’t pushed me to get engaged to Crown Prince Torin instead. Organising the hunt was the responsibility of the Empress and the Crown Princess, which meant I would have been in for a lifetime of this, and I could barely organise a birthday party.
I’d dodged a real bullet here.
Wait.
If one was organised in Stein, would it be my responsibility?
Hmm. I would have to look into that. I wasn’t against a little delegation.
“Watch your step, my lady. The ground is uneven,” Rina said, holding her hand out for me.
