TPOTLPIM Chapter 21

As the morning of the horse racing competition dawned, spectators formed lines heading toward the circular arena near Alpensio Palace.

The front courtyard of the circular arena bustled with all kinds of carriages and people, and there were even nobles raising their voices to place bets on the winner.

Unfortunately, Cecilia was walking alongside Rosein.

"Don't feel too uncomfortable. Our man specifically asked us to look after you."

Rosein spoke primly while keeping her gaze straight ahead.

"Right. So this is how it ended up."

"Can't you at least say you're fine, even if it's just empty words?"

"I already use plenty of empty words in front of others. Don't I?"

When the two women arrived at the circular arena, they met Dmitri, who had come early and was waiting.

"Welcome, Lady Cecilia! I've been waiting for you."

"Lord Dmitri! Am I interrupting your date?"

"Since Teros is busy, we must escort Lady Cecilia."

Because family members and relatives of competing riders received the privilege of sitting in the front row seats, the three of them were able to occupy the very front row of the spectator stands.

Three rows behind where Cecilia sat, Asen was with Hadel.

'It's Cecilia! And Lord Teros isn't even here. She must feel uncomfortable being with Lady Rosein.'

Asen gazed down at the three people sitting side by side with a pitying expression. She leaned her head forward, about to call out to Cecilia.

"Asen, don't disturb Lady Cecilia."

Beside her, Hadel wore an indifferent expression, his beautiful eyelashes fluttering as he looked bored.

"What am I disturbing? Lord Teros isn't here right now, and Cecilia is alone."

"Don't you know she's currently with her future brother-in-law and sister-in-law? To adapt well to the ducal family, she needs to get along with them too."

"Ugh! Brother. That's for Cecilia to decide!"

When Asen pounded her chest and burst out, Hadel's previously languid eyes widened.

Soon after, the trumpet sound announcing the riders' entrance echoed through the arena.

The riders came to the front of the spectator stands leading their horses on foot, not mounted. They stood in a line, remaining in that position as if waiting for someone.

Eventually, women descended from the spectator stands to give victory kisses to the riders.

Scanning the descending women with his eyes, Teros spotted Cecilia running toward him.

Her voluminous light green dress resembled today's refreshing weather. Even the bonnet on her head was lovingly charming, suiting her well.

Cecilia ran over, breathing heavily, and came right up to Teros before straightening her back.

A smile caught at the corners of Teros's mouth at her serious expression, as if she intended to conduct a solemn ceremony.

While the high priest's prayer honoring the courage of the competition participants continued, the riders and women stood facing each other as if time had stopped.

Teros lowered his gaze to meet eyes with Cecilia, who was looking up at him.

Their gazes intertwined in the air.

There are emotions that can be shared through eyes alone. Though all they did was stand facing each other without a single word of conversation, Cecilia had never felt Teros so close as in this moment.

The high priest's prayer ended, and it was time for the victory kiss.

"Where God's banner points, there lies your path."

After reciting the prepared prayer verse, Cecilia kissed her own hand and then brought it to Teros's cheek.

Like a tamed horse responding to her touch, Teros gently lowered his eyelids.

The moment she saw that expression she could only occasionally glimpse, Cecilia felt a strange sensation. Her whole body grew hot, and a tickling feeling rose from her stomach. She had to admit it. 'I must like seeing Teros like this.'

As she tried to remove her hand from Teros's cheek, a large hand covered hers, making it linger on his cheek a bit longer.

It was a very brief moment, but it felt like eternity.

When the trumpet sounded announcing the competition would soon begin, Cecilia pulled her hand away from Teros's face as if awakening from a dream.

"I'll be cheering for you!"

Cecilia urgently called out to Teros, then turned and ran back to the spectator stands.

The crowd's cheers poured down over the circular arena. The path back to the spectator stands felt unreal, like walking on clouds. The thumping sound rising from deep within her body and echoing in her ears was drowning out the arena's cheers.

Having barely returned to her seat, Cecilia calmed her pounding chest from running.

The horse racing competition was one of the few days when nobles, who had to maintain decorum, could freely release their passion. Near-frenzied hot enthusiasm was melting the arena's air.

Dmitri was informing Rosein about this competition.

"It's a rare big match in recent years. There's Sir Dustin, who won two consecutive years, and Sir Lauren, the rising star from this year's lance tournament - they're evenly matched, but with Teros joining in, we can't help but be thrilled!"

He whistled loudly.

Rosein noticed that Prince Dant's name wasn't mentioned in all this and let out a snicker.

It was a waste that she had smiled so brilliantly at someone who, by Dmitri's standards, wasn't even mentioned as a championship candidate.

The riders had already moved to the starting line.

Since the starting line was quite far from the spectator stands, the riders standing in the distance looked like small dots. Now the only way to distinguish them was by the large banners bearing their family crests that their horses wore.

'There he is!'

Scanning the horses with her eyes, Cecilia was able to spot the horse bearing the Jeminick family crest. Although Teros had received the title of Marquis D'Anstone based on the border territory name granted by the Emperor, he was still a member of the Jeminick family. Both horse and master were well-built, so now that she had found them once, she felt she could recognize them even without the banner.

What Cecilia couldn't see from her distant vantage point was that Teros was actually soothing his horse, which was inexplicably doing rough bucking and frothing at the mouth.

The horse that had been docile when receiving the victory kiss was now in a strange state after coming to the starting line to begin the race.

"Thunder, what's wrong."

Mounted on his horse, Teros gently stroked the horse's neck, soothing the trembling animal.

Soon Thunder began twisting his body up and down as if rejecting his master on his back, giving his rider jarring jolts.

It was strange. He could force the horse to run, but since it was a cherished animal and wouldn't act like this without reason, Teros decided to dismount and examine its condition directly.

There was still some time since it was still preparation time before the start.

"Thunder!"

Pink foam was constantly flowing from the horse's mouth. It was clearly mixed with blood.

Neigh- neigh neigh-

The horse's cries sounded like they were expressing pain. The up and down twisting must have been agonized struggling.

Meanwhile, watching this scene from afar, Cecilia looked puzzledly at Teros, who had suddenly dismounted and was examining his horse.

She thought he had finished preparing for the start, so why had he dismounted again?

Like with Rox, Teros communicated quite well with animals, so perhaps he wanted to say something to Thunder before the start.

Without deep thought, Cecilia watched Teros placing his hand on Thunder's head and examining him.

"Ah!"

At that moment, the spectators simultaneously let out short cries. High-pitched screams were mixed in too.

Thunder, who had reared up on his hind legs, attacked his master. Teros, who had looked like a dot, could be seen tumbling to the ground in an instant.

That dot-like scene felt unreal, like a puppet show.

Up close, it would surely be a horrific disaster.

Thunder didn't stop rampaging and continued leaving fierce hoofprints around where Teros had fallen.

Cecilia shot up from her seat. Looking to the side, she could see Rosein and Dmitri looking up at her with startled eyes.

"I have to go!"

"Wait, Lady Cecilia!"

Dmitri grabbed Cecilia's wrist and made her sit back down.

"It's dangerous to go now. Thunder hasn't calmed down, and there are other horses too. The race officials will handle it!"

As soon as Dmitri finished speaking, the other riders' horses, which had been standing in line, also began to get agitated. Though they were usually well-trained horses, they had begun to panic at Thunder's sudden outburst.

Depending on the horses' skill level, some stood their ground, some rampaged as much as Thunder, and some horses began racing forward like arrows released from their strings. Since not all the participants were master riders, riders falling from their horses began appearing one after another.

The wretched cries of horses mixed with the screams of fallen riders, echoing through the vast circular arena. It was a sound that was painful just to hear.

In the midst of all this, Teros could be seen barely getting up and approaching Thunder to calm him.

"No. Don't go near him."

Cecilia clasped her hands together and spoke desperately. Though Teros couldn't hear her, she hoped it would reach him. She would rather Teros abandon Thunder and flee far away.

Following this, race officials who had run out joined forces with Teros to drag Thunder to the back of the arena. Other officials calmed the other riders' horses and checked for injuries.

"Asen."

Hadel, who had been watching this scene from afar, spoke to Asen, who was watching the chaos with a tearful expression.

"Get ready. It's time to use healing magic."

Asen and Hadel hurried to the back of the arena.

Officials were taking the rampaging horses to the imperial stables, and riders could be seen lying on the ground or sitting in shock.

Hadel had rushed over thinking their magic would be needed, but when it came to actually healing, there was a part that made him hesitate.

Healing magic should only be used for knights injured in battle. Though he had been secretly using healing magic for the health of royalty and nobles alike, would it be acceptable to openly use healing magic even at such an official event?

Hadel grabbed an official who was commanding the workers and organizing the chaos.

"Please obtain His Majesty the Emperor's permission for me to use healing magic."

The official nodded and sent someone to the Emperor, who would have been watching from the special seats.

"Hadel."

At the calm call, Hadel immediately approached and sat close to Teros, who was sitting with his back against a pillar.

"Heal my horse first. You can recognize it since it bears our family's banner, right?"

Of course he could. Hadel looked at the black horse being dragged away, writhing in pain. Despite its life fading, the black horse was still full of strength due to its massive build.

"Yes. Once His Majesty's permission comes down, I'll heal Your Lordship's horse first."

"No, right now."

Hadel's green eyes trembled slightly. Did this man Teros think he was above the Emperor?

Teros's sunken gaze was saying that if he didn't follow his command, something more terrible than not having the Emperor's permission would happen.

Biting his lips, Hadel finally squeezed his eyes shut and ran toward where the black horse was.

'Someday you'll have to pay the price for working me so thoroughly.'

The Emperor would certainly give permission anyway. The Emperor wouldn't want either Teros, who was military personnel, or his horse to die or be injured. It was just a matter of procedure, but if he insisted on getting the Emperor's permission first and that damn horse died, Teros was ready to blame him for everything.

"Stop!"

Calling to the officials who were leading the horse away, Hadel approached the rampaging horse. The horse couldn't keep its body still for even a moment. Its kicks to the side and back were fierce.

Being careful not to get kicked by the horse's hooves, he had no choice but to gradually infuse healing power. After concentrating for quite a long time, battling with the horse, he could see an official who had received the Emperor's permission running toward them.

As soon as permission was granted, Hadel shouted toward Asen.

"Asen! You heal the other riders. You can do basic healing properly, right? Don't have stray thoughts and do it by the book."

In the end, today's horse racing competition couldn't be held. Originally, today was supposed to be the preliminaries, with finals tomorrow, but the Emperor announced that instead of canceling today's race, tomorrow they would hold everything including the finals all at once.

As soon as the situation was resolved, Cecilia frantically searched for Teros's whereabouts.

Running to the back of the arena, she found only chaotic horse hoofprints and bloodstains scattered on the dirt ground.

Just seeing the bloodstains made her heart pound and feel dizzy, and Cecilia barely managed to stand as her legs threatened to give out.

Dmitri and Rosein, who had followed her, earnestly comforted Cecilia. Whether Rosein's comfort was sincere was unclear, but Cecilia was precarious enough right now to need to rely even on those false consolations. She leaned on Rosein's shoulder, trembling frantically.

"He probably wasn't hurt too badly, Lady Cecilia."

Dmitri comforted her in a gentle voice, but Cecilia was only scared and frightened.

The three of them ran toward Alpensio Palace.

At the entrance to the men's quarters, Cecilia grabbed Asen, who was coming out after healing the injured.

"Asen! What happened to Lord Teros? Was he healed properly?"

Asen's eyes widened as she studied Cecilia's expression, then she smiled vaguely.

"My brother healed him well. He should be in his original lodgings within the palace now."

As soon as she finished speaking, Cecilia grabbed Dmitri and begged him to take her to the lodgings where Teros was. Since the lodgings within the palace were used by nobles with blood relations to the imperial family, Dmitri's accompaniment was necessary.

Asen stood still and watched Dmitri's retreating figure as he consoled and led Cecilia away.

Even Asen, who was slow at grasping people's emotions, could tell well enough. The emotion Cecilia was feeling right now was more than simple worry.

There was one more person standing beside Asen, watching the two figures walk away - it was Rosein.

'She's like a fox.'

Rosein's sky-blue eyes were colored with anger. She couldn't understand Cecilia being so greatly worried about Teros, and even now she didn't like how Cecilia was leaning on Dmitri as if nestling in his arms, stumbling.

Hot flames seemed to rise from her stomach, but she couldn't reveal these feelings in front of Dmitri. Cecilia was definitely trying to seduce her fiancé on purpose right now. Perhaps that girl had been meeting Teros all along for moments like this.

Grinding her lips with her own thoughts, Rosein suddenly felt a gaze watching her from the side and turned her head.

In Asen's green eyes observing her expression, there seemed to be a hint of looking down on her. As if shaking off that offensive look, Rosein flicked the hem of her dress with a sharp snap.

"What are you looking at?"

Rosein ignored Asen and followed behind Dmitri and Cecilia, who were walking ahead.