Awkward Move

Rad looked at Bree and Amber walking side by side with Trey towards the castle terrace, noticing an additional carriage joining their procession. It was clear whose carriage it was.

Taking a deep breath, Rad approached Edmond, who was waiting for him at the door. They were about to leave for a visit to the farming region, as Rad had promised Trey the day before.

"Tell me, why do they have to be here?" Rad asked, grumbling.

Edmond responded with a shake of his head, "I don't know, Your Grace. I only found out about it a short while ago when Duke Donovan mentioned that the Duchess and Lady Amber would be joining this journey." Edmond bowed.

"And no one bothered to report this to me afterward?" Rad was the last to know that Bree and Amber would be accompanying them. Trey forgot to inform Rad, making the decision on his own. Now Rad had no voice to refuse, as it was already too late.

Rad might be rough, but he still had the courtesy not to snap and get angry at Trey, his father-in-law. He didn't want to create a scene by rejecting them now.

"My apology, Your Grace. I thought Campy would report it to you," Edmond explained.

"How could that be, sir? Duke Valois and I found out about it simultaneously." Campy bowed behind Rad, looking displeased as Edmond had just shifted the blame to him.

"It doesn't matter who knew first! I want to know why they are coming!" Rad interrupted the argument between Campy and Edmond, his face stern.

"Duke Donovan said they both want to take a stroll. They're tired of being inside the castle."

"A stroll? We're going for work, not a picnic!" Rad growled again.

"Perhaps you could tell that to the Duchess and Lady Amber, so they might reconsider," Edmond suggested.

The suggestion clearly conveyed that he would never want to be the messenger to deliver such a message to Bree and Amber.

In his mind, Edmond gave the nickname "Trouble No. 1" to Bree and "Trouble No. 2" to Amber. He overheard all their arguments on the training field yesterday, so he knew exactly that both women were trouble. Edmond planned to steer clear of both of them.

"Why is Briar here?" Rad cut off Edmond's thoughts with a sharp question, seeing a flash of white among the row of horses.

"The Duchess wants to ride..."

"Riddicolus!" Rad cut in with a curse as he saw Bree approaching Briar with Trey and Amber.

It wasn't hard to guess what conversation had taken place among them, and Rad didn't need to guess because he heard everything.

---

"Can you ride a horse? In the usual position?" Trey repeated Bree's statement with disbelief.

"Yes, I can. I've been practicing riding Briar for a while now. Isn't she beautiful?" Bree stroked Briar's head affectionately.

Although Briar was never officially given to her, after the first day Bree rode Briar, no one else dared to use the horse except for her. Because it was clear that Bree liked Briar so much, Briar automatically became Bree's horse.

"Wow! I didn't expect you to actually learn how to ride a horse, Bree. This is great, extraordinary." Trey also stroked Briar's head in amazement. He was amazed by Briar's presence and also amazed that Bree could ride a horse. Bree used to hate physical activities like this before, so Trey was quite surprised.

"Not too great." A disdainful remark came from the left side, where Amber was.

"We're taking the carriage now. The others are ready to depart," Amber continued, and when Bree looked at her, she could see how Amber's lips narrowed almost to nothing. Of course, Amber hated it when Trey praised Bree wholeheartedly, as he did just now.

Earlier, she looked with awe at Briar, but then she started hating it. She would hate anything that seemed to make Trey pay more attention to Bree.

"Yes, alright. Let's go." Trey waved to Bree and followed Amber towards the horse carriage that would take the two of them.

Trey had ridden a horse as usual yesterday but decided to take the carriage today to accompany his daughter. Earlier, he had hoped that Bree would be in the carriage too, but seeing how happy Bree looked while talking about Briar was enough to make Trey feel happy. He didn't mind Bree's decision to ride a horse on her own.

The one who still minded, of course, was Rad, who was now walking towards Bree with a fierce expression.

"I don't know what your purpose is for joining this journey, but I won't allow you to use Briar for this trip!"

Bree turned, surprised to find Rad right behind her, at quite a close distance. She hadn't been prepared for anyone approaching since she was too focused on Briar.

"Why not? I can ride Briar well now." Bree was ready to resist.

"Only in practice. You've only ridden Briar in training. We're going on a long journey. Hours on horseback!" Rad scolded.

"I... I..." Bree wanted to retort as before, but then realized she shouldn't be rude to Rad, even if her words carried a hint of disdain.

"I usually, umm---practice a lot. It's fine, Rad." Bree wanted to bite her own tongue when she said that, stumbling in her attempt to speak softly, which was not her forte.

"What did you say?" Rad felt something was off but didn't understand what.

Bree shook her head, feeling embarrassed now. Luckily, she was wearing a high-collared coat, which almost covered her pink cheek.

"We'll pass through a very different path than the straight beach, Bree. We'll turn, go up and down, and so on!" Rad continued his lecture.

"I can take Briar from the castle to the beach. It's a quite challenging route, isn't it?" Bree was grateful that she could speak more smoothly. Talking normally to Rad was apparently a challenge.

"There will be many unexpected things on the road. You're not ready for such a long horseback ride! You might get hurt!" Rad continued his scolding.

"Wait, are you sick?" Rad initially scolded as usual but then realized. Bree didn't resist; she just spoke normally.

There were no shouts or reprimands. Just regular conversation, and Bree's face didn't look angry. Just a bit reddish, even though they weren't standing under the sunlight.

The castle courtyard was filled with tall, leafy trees. Despite the bright day, only a few places were bathed in sunlight. So Bree's face shouldn't be red from the sun.

"I'm not sick. I'm perfectly fine." Bree turned away, pretending to adjust Briar's saddle. She was hoping Rad would leave soon. It was too sudden, and she wasn't ready to talk with a soft tone.

"Are you sure you're not sick?" Rad grew more puzzled. Bree seemed too calm, and this raised suspicions for Rad.

Bree shook her head, feeling even more embarrassed now. Her struggle to be sweet to Rad turned out to be much more difficult than simply being angry and shouting at him.