The Crown's Obsession (WN)
chapter-194

Sophie, who was moving in the front held tight on to the reins of her horse in her hand. In the past, whenever they went out to hunt, Sophie was the one who stuck along with Calhoun on her own horse. And right now, the blood in her veins boiled. Not only was the human accompanying to ride with him but she was sitting on the same horse with the King.

How shameful, thought Sophie to herself.

If Calhoun wasn't here, Sophie would have pushed Madeline herself into one of the mouths of a wild animal so that there would be nothing left of her. She had no qualities of a queen. Like a disabled person, she was sitting with the King because it was obvious that she didn't know how to ride a horse.

She continued to glare at her front when she heard Lady Lucy speak to her,

"Lady Sophie, come ride along with me. Lady Madeline is with brother Calhoun," smiled Lady Lucy unknowingly throwing more salt in Sophie's wound. Sophie put up a smile and got her horse to trot next to the vampiress who was only three years older to her.

"I would love to. I heard someone say that there has been quite some nuisance when it came to the bears and stags in there. If we are lucky we'll be able to catch them today," said Sophie while trying to ignore the King and the human who were behind them.

"You are right, Lady Sophie," came Theodore's voice, "There have been recent sightings of the stags. But I doubt we will be able to hunt them. Many early hunters took part in hunting them down so that they could get the stags heads."

"It would be sad if it is true. I was hoping to get a fresh stag's head with antlers to put in my room. The one I have right now is old and looks like it was pulled out from dust," answered Sophie.

"There must be at least one stag left," Lucy said to Sophie, assuring her cousin without looking at Theodore.

The others who were there were trying to keep their horses moving without leaving the grounds and making circles around them, "Why to go for a stag when we can hunt something new?" asked Samuel, Lucy's husband who tipped his chin up, "Word is that there is another animal that has showed up in the forest. Somewhere deep inside the forest which is difficult to be caught."

"Where did you hear about it?" asked Lady Rosamund, intrigue in her voice.

"I heard some of the men in the town speak about it. If there's a possibility why not hunt it?" asked Samuel, a smirk on his lips.

Calhoun looked pleased with this information and said, "We should go and find this new thing then."

"But I want to hunt the stag," frowned Sophie. She had come here to get the human away from the King but Madeline was sitting with Calhoun. At least she wanted the head of the stag.

Lady Lucy noticed how everyone were interested in finding this new animal that had made its way into the forest and Sophie was turning upset, "I will go along with her to hunt a stag."

"Going to hunt the same old thing?" asked Samuel. Madeline noticed the way Samuel's voice changed when he said these words that were directed to Lucy. Somewhere annoyance laid underneath his words and she frowned.

If Madeline was on her very own horse, she would have accompanied the two girls but Calhoun had shown his interest to go along with Lady Rosamund and Samuel. Calhoun looked at others, hearing their opinions on what they wanted to do and then he said,

"Theodore, accompany Lucy and Sophie in their hunt."

Madeline's eyes were quick to move to look at Lucy who didn't look pleased but she bowed her head at the order anyways. When her eyes went to see Samuel, the man didn't bother, and this made Madeline question if things were well inside the walls of the Gerville's mansion as Lucy had said.

Theodore, being Calhoun's trusted man, went along with the two young vampiress as ordered by the King. Madeline turned her head again to look at Calhoun to find a saint-like smile on his lips.

Before Madeline could ask anything to Calhoun, Lady Rosamund and Samuel had started to trot their horses and Calhoun asked her,

"Do you think you will be able to handle Robin?" he was speaking about his stallion.

"I can do that," she answered his question.

"Sweet," he smiled and then said, "Let's not follow the crowd and make the way of our own." Madeline who already knew how to ride a horse, pulled the reins, moving her legs on the horse to get it to trot faster.

Madeline had never stepped inside this forest, therefore she didn't know the route where they were going but seeing Calhoun not question or stop her, she felt that she was going in the right direction.

The forest was thick with lush looking trees that was abundant in its greenery. She could hear birds chirping around the forest, leaves rustling because of the gentle breeze and somewhere far away, she could hear water flowing down. It was a calm and serene scenery that was in front of her, making her relax.

"You asked me a question last night," Calhoun looked at the trees, his eyes sharp and searching for this mysterious animal Samuel had mentioned, "What was that about?" he asked her.

Madeline only moved her eyes to the corner feeling Calhoun's presence behind her, "I was just curious...because you lied about the rabbits."

Calhoun hummed hearing this. Madeline remembered how he had asked her if she would be by his side, meaning to believe him always no matter what. She was curious to know about his mother's death. By what Lady Rosamund said, Calhoun had killed his mother.

"And?" asked Calhoun and Madeline turned back to meet his eyes.

"That was all, milord," said Madeline, her voice sounding much lighter as if she was breathing and basking in the soft sunlight. How would she know which one was a lie or truth? Madeline wanted to know more about his mother, wondering how their relationship was.

By the portraits that were painted, she found the previous King who had a look of frown on his face and he was decent to look at. But the way Calhoun looked, she would have to guess that his mother was a beautiful woman. Someone who had caught the King's eyes and had been pulled into the castle life. But wouldn't his mother have relatives?

She was looking around when Calhoun decided to put his hands around her, positioning the bow close enough for her to see it. Her gaze went to move in the direction where he was aiming and she found a deer that was eating the grass. She pulled the reins of the horse to stop trotting.

Calhoun released the arrow, Madeline felt her hand clench and her heartbeat increased at the sound of the arrow that swooshed to pass-through in the air. When the arrow moved over the head of the young deer, she felt a sigh of relief.