CATB Chapter 25

5. A New Chapter For Transition

Before I knew it, I had quietly slipped out of the hunting grounds. The silence between us wasn't awkward, so neither Belkellion nor I had said anything until we emerged, which I only realized after we'd left.

"My lord!!!"

As we exited the hunting grounds and entered the path connecting to the capital, a clear voice rang in my ears.

'Wow, so refreshing.'

A boy with a bright smile came running toward us. He had lemon-colored hair and wore light clothing - a thin shirt and jacket - but was dressed well enough that he didn't look like a commoner.

"Mile."

A low voice acknowledged the boy's greeting.

Someone he knows? The boy who had been running brightly toward Belkellion suddenly hesitated when he saw me.

"Princess Alexa!"

I thought he'd hesitated out of fear, but there was no trace of fear in the boy who flashed a mischievous smile. What a rare, cute kid. I moved to dismount my horse, wanting to get a better look at the child.

A firm arm caught my shoulder. Unlike with the marquess earlier, this touch was both careful and resolute.

"I want to get down."

When I spoke, Belkellion dismounted first and helped me down. It was perfect etiquette for assisting a lady, but since I was the target, it felt somewhat awkward, so I just smiled. Mile approached us with surprised eyes.

Curious eyes looked back and forth between me and Belkellion. Belkellion spoke.

"Greet her."

"...Ah!...Ah!! That's right! I'm sorry! Princess!! I'm Mile!!!"

"Yes, hello."

With a voice so energetic and lively it was almost loud, Mile bowed in greeting, then immediately grabbed my hand that had accepted his handshake and shook it vigorously.

"Mile."

As soon as I heard Belkellion's stern voice, he swiftly separated our clasped hands.

"He's a child who has only lived in the borderlands, so his etiquette is still lacking. Please forgive the rudeness."

"No, he's cute. It's fine."

"My lord!! That's too much! I know all about etiquette too!! But I wanted to show more gratitude to the Princess!!!"

Mile made a whining voice as he moved toward Belkellion, then immediately covered his nose.

"...But wait... oh my, oh my, what is this smell?"

What smell? I don't smell anything?

Could it be that the poop smell from earlier is still lingering?

I looked at Mile with anxious eyes.

Please don't let the word "poop" come out of this child's mouth.

"My lord! What on earth have you been rubbing all over yourself!!!"

The child let out a shriek and clung to Belkellion, sniffing here and there at his arms and back.

It's not me?

But Belkellion doesn't smell?

"Phew, the scent is vibrating so intensely. There was chaos inside because of the monsters, but with this level of intensity, we're lucky it ended here!"

"Be quiet."

"...Scent?"

I caught a word that stood out strangely in their incomprehensible conversation.

A word reeking of considerable ambiguity slipped right into the ears of a living pervert like me.

Scent?

Isn't that what you use to seduce the opposite sex?

"Yes yes! Monster scent!! With just this one thing, their eyes go crazy and they just...!!!

No, why on earth would my lord use something like this..."

"Mile."

A cold voice cut off Mile's fussing.

At Belkellion's sharp gaze, Mile clamped his mouth shut.

"Wait, Mile, keep going. You're saying the Grand Duke's body smells like monster scent?"

"...Uh..."

Mile glanced at the Grand Duke.

Belkellion blocked my gaze toward Mile and said,

"I'll escort you to the royal palace."

It was obvious to anyone that he was forcibly trying to send me away. I glared at the Grand Duke.

"No, I really want to hear this story."

"It's not particularly important."

He was still blocking my view. I deliberately raised my head to meet his eyes.

With a look that strongly conveyed my desire to hear it no matter what.

Eventually, the Grand Duke sighed and stepped slightly aside.

Mile faced me with a surprised expression.

"Wow... Princess, you're amazing!"

Giving me a thumbs up while sending looks of complete admiration, Mile made me think—

I have no idea what's so amazing, but first I wanted to finish hearing about this scent business.

"Mile, continue with what you were saying about the scent. How did you know the Grand Duke had that smell?"

"Ah...that's..."

As Mile hesitated, Belkellion spoke.

"Mile is a child of the Benusi tribe. Because the Benusi tribe live their entire lives in the forest, their senses of smell and hearing are more acute than anyone's. They know forest creatures almost perfectly."

He even kindly added an explanation.

"Yes! That's why I have a good sense of smell!! But when I first saw my lord earlier, I thought I smelled some monster pheromone... oh my, oh my, when I came right here it was vibrating completely!! I was so surprised, really... where on earth did you get this? It's really difficult to make!!!"

"What's this used for?"

"What would scent be used for!! Oh my~ Princess, you're more innocent than you look!!!"

.

.

This kid has amazing social skills... like the auntie who lives upstairs that I've known for about 3 years...

As Mile grinned and lightly tapped me, Belkellion looked down at him intently.

Mile straightened up again into a proper posture.

"Oh! So! The use is! Monsters go crazy for this scent! They use it for mating!! When female monsters secrete this, male monsters do this and that.... Oh my, I can't say more!!!"

Kid, you already said everything you were going to say, don't act embarrassed now.

Feeling Mile's first impression as a pure little fairy being drastically revised, I voiced the question floating in my head.

"What happens if a human uses this?"

"What happens! Monsters go crazy and attack them!"

I slowly turned my gaze to Belkellion.

"......"

"......"

After a moment of eye contact, I slowly opened my mouth.

"Could it be that your preference is..."

"It is not."

Before I could finish speaking, Belkellion sharply cut off my words. A menacing atmosphere began to swirl.

Geez, if I ask one more time he'll probably hit me or something.

I closed my mouth.

As if to reassure himself, he emphasized once more.

"Ab.so.lute.ly not."

"Oh my, oh my! Princess! You don't think our lord would apply this willingly, do you? Unless he's gone crazy?"

That sounds like saying your lord has gone crazy through rhetorical irony...

"Right now it's coming out even stronger from Kuro! Look at this, look at this!! Ugh! It's here!!!"

Mile ran over to Kuro, who was standing firmly in place, and pointed to the saddle mounted on Kuro's back.

"This one, this one!!!"

He seemed to snatch something hanging slightly inside the saddle, then ran back to us and held out his hand.

In his small palm lay a small leather pouch.

"A scent pouch?"

I picked up the pouch that looked exactly like a scent sachet with my index finger.

I unconsciously brought it close to my nose to smell it. Belkellion, who had been somewhat dazed from the shock of my earlier question, tried to stop me, but the deep musk scent had already penetrated deeply into my nostrils.

This smell...

It's a smell I've encountered somewhere before.

Somewhere my ass, it's the musk scent I've been smelling all along!

When the Grand Duke came to greet me before the hunt started,

By the stream - that masculine scent that kept wafting!!!

Setting aside the damn fact that I had my heart racing over monster scent for now (damn, I really am a beast), there was no way that perceptive man wouldn't have noticed such a smell.

"If monsters smell this scent and attack humans..."

"They'd die, obviously. If those huge things go crazy and attack in groups, what human could survive? Only someone like our lord could come back alive and well. Whew, but it really could have been a disaster!!!"

As soon as Mile finished speaking, the images from earlier swept through my head like a whirlwind.

The monsters that had rushed only toward the Grand Duke from the edge of the forest,

In the field, all the remaining monsters had also rushed toward Belkellion.

"Geez, what bastards again! How dare they target our lord!"

"Yes. What kind of... bastards would they be..."

I couldn't bring myself to curse in front of Belkellion and young Mile, so I swallowed the middle word. And as another thought occurred to me, I whipped my head around to glare at the Grand Duke. He had returned to complete composure and was looking at me calmly.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"This scent, it was there when you came to greet me before the hunt started. You already knew the smell had gotten on you then, didn't you?"

"......"

"You knew and still entered the forest?"

"...I didn't know it was monster scent."

"But you did realize it was some kind of scent."

"......"

What kind of stupid blockhead is this!!!

He entered that dangerous forest without even knowing what kind of scent it was?

"Even if you didn't know it was monster scent, you knew the smell would attract something and still went in?"

I asked again in an incredulous voice. The Grand Duke maintained his silent vigil.

And that meant nothing but the strongest affirmation.

Are you stupid?

Is your head not working properly because your face is too handsome?

So you can't perform this kind of basic inductive reasoning?

He didn't seem like that though?

Having been quite surprised by the Grand Duke's vast knowledge during our conversation in the forest earlier, I hadn't thought he could fail to grasp this level of implication.

I felt myself starting to get steamed up.

Surely it's not the reason I'm thinking of.

My intuition, which always kicks in at times like this with devastating accuracy, had formed a hypothesis.

But that hypothesis was one that would make me burst with frustration just thinking about it, so I tried to console myself that surely the Grand Duke wouldn't be that reckless, and I erased the thought.

"Um...excuse me...Pr..Princess..."

"...Why on earth..."

As I tried to suppress my increasingly angry voice, my throat became choked.

Between us two in the suddenly hostile atmosphere, Mile, who didn't know what to do and was reading the room, tried to speak but stepped far back at the Grand Duke's glance. Even as he led Kuro to a distance, the child kept glancing back at us with concern.

"I didn't know you had such a lack of safety awareness."

"......"

"Would you please tell me exactly why you entered the hunt knowing it would be dangerous?"

"......"

"From what I experienced today, I think I'm well qualified to hear it."

My voice came out cold without me realizing it.

He listened to my words silently but still had no answer.

"Fine. Do as you please."

Since it didn't seem like an answer would come even if I waited longer, I decided to stop asking. I no longer wanted to look at his handsome face that had caused this mess.

"I'll find my own way back to the royal palace. Then farewell, Grand Duke."

I gave a mechanical greeting and turned around sharply with ruthless finality. I couldn't borrow Kuro in this situation, so I'd have to walk to a nearby village first. I'd have to rent a horse there.

Thinking in my head about effective ways to get to the royal palace, I took a step.

Mile was stamping his feet and looking at me, but right now even that cute face didn't seem particularly cute.