Into The Forest

Walking off without any further comments, she nearly rooted for the confused king. "You can't just leave!" He whisper yelled, trying to grab his arm only for his touch to be completely dodged. The further out into public they got it was clear he had to give up and accept what happened during the ceremony.

Mounting his horse with her sat inbetween his legs, she had never been more uncomfortable in her life and felt as though the riding would kill her, not the hunt. Hearing galloping, she noticed the attendant appearing up beside them, sweatdropping. "Duke, I do not mean to question your wisdom, but are you trying to actively kill her?" He asked, her savior.

Giving an annoyed look reminiscent of a certain someone she couldn't point a finger on, he clicked his tongue. "Would you prefer me to do this?" He asked, floating her in the air as she was now feeling pure dread and misery, as it in fact, could get much worse.

Another two faces appeared, riding up towards the Duke. It amazed her momentarily anyone outside the family would approach him, or rather where even was his family during the preparation stage? Did they hate each other that much? Actually, that one was quite obvious.

"Duke Argyris! I don't think you noticed us earlier but I wanted to wish you luck!" A man with light blue locks said with a bright and cheerful smile, she recognized him as the head of the Leventis household. Being grabbed, she found herself in the hands of a woman, this one with midnight black hair and an observant gaze.

"I'm sure he noticed, but ignored you as always," she hummed, not paying attention to the sulking male and glared at her father. "Although the king said he gave permission for a baby to attend in his speech, he never said why, care to tell?" She asked.

Scoffing, he rolled his eyes in response as the duchess begun grabbing at her chin. "She's definitely an Argyris from her eyes, I wonder what you're plotting this year, nothing good ever comes from the Argyris family." After giving her two cents, the woman returned her, much to her dismay.

Being set back into her original spot by the wind, she was back at square one, the most unenjoyable ride ever. Riding up was Isaac, intervening with their conversation. "Pardon my intrusion, but there are ten minutes before the gates open." As doll like as ever, his expressions were stoic and his voice was monotonous.

Nodding, the blue haired man smiled and thanked him. "I'm pretty ready, so I'd like to talk with Duke Argyris! It's been forever since he'd spoken directly to me, nearly two years. I tried talking to him at Princess Rosalyn's party afterward but he threw me out into a tree." Blinking at him, this man was persistent if nothing else, because no way a man could be that clueless.

She also didn't even remember him attending, just where on earth was he amongst the crowd? Both her father and brother shared the same expression for a split second, as though they were staring at an idiot. "I told you he was ignoring you, there's no way he's just not noticing you if he's sending you into trees again." The duchess budded in, rubbing her temple.

Much to the two's dismay, her father and brother were forced to listen to the other two talk around them, one oblivious and the other just seemed keen on trying to pry information out of them. She really hoped she'd never have to encounter them in the future, but the second she thought that she felt as though she had goosebumps.

Shooting the gun in the air, the gates opened and her father and brother took no time to race off, not bothering about the duchess and duke. She felt her safety diminishing by the very second as a few minutes passed and she wanted to cry. She was being forced in too many motions and felt herself lifted up in the air repeatedly after each jump as he immediately begun darting into the depths of the forest, his horse jumping over fallen branches and animals he deemed beneath him.

Keeping up with him, Isaac rode nearly side by side as though he were trying to beat him to the spot. As the duke's horse leapt across to a certain path, Isaac diverted instead of following, instead choosing to go towards the right, leaving her with the duke, so much for protection!

As he rode off, he spotted Nyx's horse coming from a different direction, already there without a bead of sweat on his head. He made the right choice giving Nyx the faster horse out of the two, it seemed. Coming to a halt, Isaac gave his command to Nyx. "Everyone should be out of the entrance, use your magic now."

"Gotcha, as ya wish boss man." Closing his eyes, Nyx took a deep breath and folded his legs as he sat on the floor, his breath becoming ragged as he coughed up a light bit of blood, but continued. Several minutes passed before Nyx finally got up, rubbing his eyes and mouth with his sleeve which he immediately ripped up, tossing it into his satchel.

"Now I gotta fake an attack for ya." He huffed while pulling out a vial, downing it instantaneously to help with the aftermath of his magic, later. Heading off to the beast in the water, Nyx went to subjugate it until he found out if Isaac had the biggest catch or not outside it. He knew the Duke would never steal from others as he expects no one to steal from him.

He didn't expect Nyx to be able to handle everyone, that would be far too suspicious, but what he's done was more than enough. One by one the participants begun feeling sluggish and exhausted, some nauseated and others begun screaming in fear, though that last part wasn't abnormal for the hunt. Not just the participants, it should include the audience soon enough.

It was a major pain to sneak out at night and morning just to set up an alibi, along with getting what they needed from her, but the vial would be more than worth it if there's not enough evidence to bring an Argyris a guilty sentence even if the duke or other siblings put everything together.

Pushing through the effects, he begun galloping off again. Isaac pulled his bow and shot at a few animals, making sure to get their blood on him but leaving their carcasses just in case there really was an unknown beast they'd release like previously, it would emerged from the nearby perfect spot due to the heavy smell of the animals. As he made his move towards the duke, a calm and calculative grin adorned his face, his bloodlust was beginning to show as he thought about how the duke was handling it.