Chapter 132 - 132: Hard Feelings
The night turned late, and with a crimson moon high in the sky, it was finally time to put a stop to the party, as it couldn't go on all night.
The guards headed back to their wagons. All of them were stumbling, and some were even singing drunkenly as they went.
"Ah…"
Aren climbed inside the wagon, almost falling backwards, but luckily, there was a guard behind him pushing him forward.
He sat down, his eyes swimming and his head pounding because of all the booze that he had just consumed.
He was definitely going to have a killer hangover in the morning.
The designed drivers of the wagons took the reins and whipped the horses into a fast gallop, speeding away from the town.
The dirt road took them straight to the Hauwnted family estate. Its towering gates loomed ominously in the distance, casting a dark shadow over the approaching party.
The gate guards opened the gates. They looked sullen and quite annoyed. It was because they couldn't go to the party.
There had to be guards left to protect the estate, and thus, all of the guards couldn't go to the party.
Wagons rolled through the gate and made their way down to the horse stables around the back, where they stopped.
Guards stumbled out of the wagon.
"It was a nice night…"
"…Burp!"
"…Beau was the luckiest one…"
A drunken guard said, then said, "Isn't that right?" as he turned around to look at Aren wearing Beau's disguise.
However, Aren wasn't moving. His head was hanging low. It looked like he was sleeping, and it wasn't a surprise to any of them.
To them, he was easily the one who drank and ate the most.
"Beau is sleeping… Drivers, carry him!"
The guard shouted.
With an annoyed expression, one of the drivers climbed inside the wagon, took sleeping Aren into a carry, and started carrying him inside.
With him wearing the full getup of a guard uniform, he was very heavy, and the driver was panting and sweating while trying to carry him.
He wanted to just drop him to the ground, but if he did that, he would be killed, as the wagon drivers weren't of the same social status as Hauwnted's guards!
The driver took "Beau" to his room and dropped him on the bed.
"Drunk asshole…"
With poison in his tongue, the driver said, and then left.
In that moment, Aren's eyes opened, and while holding his head, he sat up and looked around the small crowded room.
He pretended to be sleeping, as he didn't know where his room was, so he would just be stumbling down the estate's hallways like a fool.
Thus, he decided on just fake sleeping and letting someone carry him into his room. It was the easiest way to find out where his room was.
"…I shouldn't have drunk that much."
Aren said annoyingly, then stood up and stumbled around the room as he went through Beau's things.
He hoped that there was at least some kind of schedule that Beau was keeping so he would know what his duty as a guard was tomorrow.
In the end, he went through one of the drawers and found a sheet of paper. It had the whole week's schedule written down.
"Tuesday I have gate duty. Wednesday I have forest patrol duty, and Tuesday as well, but…"
What interested him the most were Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
"Friday, I have prison guard duty. That's perfect. Saturday and Sunday… The Hunt."
On the sheet of paper, Saturday and Sunday had only one thing written down—the Hunt—and it looked like it would take two days to complete.
'…I need to find out what the Hunt consists of, and if it is possible for me to skip that.'
Aren rubbed his chin, folded the sheet of paper, and put it back inside the drawer.
…
Tuesday morning, Hauwnted Estate Gate.
Standing at the top of the wall, Aren and another guard stood still like statues while staring down at the dirt path.
The dirt path was the only thing that led to the estate, and while they were guarding that, there were forest patrols walking about.
'Hauwnted family is really taking good care of their own safety. It is indeed suspicious, and I wonder what twisted shit they're doing here.'
Aren thought, still trying to recover from his hangover, and his gate-guarding partner was in the same boat.
He was chugging water to help with the headache.
"…By the way, I forgot to ask yesterday. That woman you went to the back with, where did she go?"
The guard partner of his asked.
"…Agh, I don't really remember. That night is a little bit of a blur."
Aren said with a wry smile.
"Oh, what a shame. You shouldn't have drunk that much. Did you even forget about the whole sex thing with her?"
"Nah, I remember that, haha."
Aren said with a chuckle.
His partner was burning with envy, but it was fine, as his real love was Athena Hauwnted, the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.
In that moment, three horses galloped down the dirt path. Two guards mounted two horses, and at the front, a handsome-looking man riding a white horse led the way.
"It's the young lord, quickly open the gate!"
The guard shouted.
Aren pulled the lever, and the gates creaked open. Just in time too, as the horses were galloping towards them at full speed and ran through the open gate.
"The young lord must be training for the Hunt… I wonder how many rabbits he will catch this time around. Last time there were about forty rabbits, and he caught twenty-two!"
The guard said.
"…The Hunt is this weekend, right?"
Aren said.
"Yeah. I have been sharpening my blade all year long in preparation. I want to win and marry Athena. It is my dream."
The guard said.
'…It sounds really important.'
Aren thought.
"What about you, Beau? If you happen to win the Hunt, what will you ask from the master?"
"…Haha, what do you think?"
Aren asked with a smile.
"You dirty devil. That's the only thing in your mind, is it? No hard feelings about who will win, right?"
The guard said.
"…Yeah, no hard feelings."
Aren said.