Rosie's Games

Chapter 50: Prince 1

"Take her back," the Duke instructed the two other attendants. "Lady Rosalind and I will continue the hunt."

The Duke was using a handkerchief to wipe the black blood off of his sword.

"The Princess needed a healer, her blood had turned black," Rosalind added. "I have performed some basic treatments on her wound but it is not sufficient. You must hurry."

The two attendants who didn't actually see the fight earlier nodded their heads as one of them lifted the Princess.

"Take half of the snake and put it in your spatial bag," the Duke instructed.

"I don't think I can put anything that was alive in my bag," she said confused. If she put a dead body inside, it would rot. Her spatial bag could not store anything that was once alive; even if it was still alive or dead.

For a moment, the Duke stared at her spatial bag then nodded and used his own to store the meat that he had cut in half.

"We should get going, the show hasn't even started yet," the Duke said.

"The show?"

"Let's find shelter for the night," the Duke continued. "After absorbing all that darkness, I am certain that you are not tired yet. Or am I wrong?"

"No. You— You are right." But how did he know about it? Absorbing that much energy was going to give her so much energy, she could stay away for three straight days. However, she could still trick her body into sleep.

After walking deeper and deeper into the woods, they found another large tree. The Duke immediately suggested that they climb the tree instead of sleeping on the ground. The two were able to rest for a few hours before they had to get up and continue hunting.

Rosalind found out two things in the short time that she was with the Duke. First, the man was very accommodating but, he was pretty much silent the whole time they were together. The second was that he was very good at cutting the animals up as if… he had been doing the same thing for centuries.

The fact was both impressive and horrifying at the same time. He fought with other demonic beasts as she watched him from the side.

She wasn't an outstanding fighter and he understood that. So, he did all the fighting while she did all the other work, like preparing the meat that they were going to eat and even roasting it. She was once a wife and, although Jeames never asked her to cook anything in her past life; she made an effort to learn how to cook just to impress him.

This time, however, she was doing it to survive.

After a day of seeing the man hunt, Rosalind was sure of one thing; the Duke was the most powerful man that she had met in either one of her lifetimes.

He was not only strong, but he was very powerful and fast. He would first try to confuse his prey with his speed and just as his prey would show a little bit of weakness, he pounced and end their lives without mercy.

The rumors about the Duke liking blood seemed to be true as Rosalind witnessed how the man would intentionally cut the animals up while they were still alive, letting the dark blood flow nonstop. However, Rosalind could not blame the Duke for doing this.

First and foremost, the Duke was only killing demonic animals that were larger than him, animals that could easily kill other hunters.

After a day of hunting, the two decided to once again stay in a tree since it was safer and easier for them to hide from both other hunters and animals.

"So, why do you think they increased?" she asked.

"The demonic animals?" Lucas answered as he leaned against the bark of a tree, his eyes closed.

"Yes."

"Even the North is asking that question."

Rosalind nodded. This event actually happened in her past life too. There was going to be a demonic monster surge in the North and the Duke would handle it with his people. Sadly, they were largely outnumbered, and while they were able to kill thousands of animals, they were not able to stop the others from going south.

At that time, the South suffered great losses, prompting them to send some support to the North and even some supplies for the soldiers. Then the surge ended.

The tragedy passed and became a part of history.

However, now that she thought about it, it seemed that the Duke had something to do with it after all. Did he intentionally let those animals pass to teach the Empire a lesson?

She couldn't help but wonder what the Duke's goal was all along.

"Perhaps something attracted their attention to the South," he said after a few minutes of silence. She was about to ask him more questions when they heard footsteps and what seemed like… sword fighting.

She immediately looked at him and realized he was already staring at her.

"Your Highness, you must run! I will fight them!" a voice said.

"Alright," the recognizable voice responded. She frowned. It was clearly Prince Lawrence's voice. Again, she looked at the Duke. He raised an eyebrow in response as if asking her if he should help the Prince.

She shrugged in response.

If this was in her past life, she would have told the Duke to help him, but this time, she no longer considered herself a citizen of the empire.

In that case, the Duke could do whatever it was that he wanted to the Prince.

He could save him or let those people kill him.

Rosalind would pretend she saw and heard nothing.

"Interesting," she heard him mutter. Then, without waiting for another second, he jumped off of the tree and disappeared into the darkness.

Rosalind frowned.

She could have followed the man, but she didn't. She decided to wait.

There is no point in putting herself in danger just to save that poor excuse of a prince. josei