Book 3: Chapter 29
When I awoke again, I noticed a familiar classical flower pattern overhead. I turned around and saw Lucia who hugged my arm tightly as she took even breaths. I then lifted up my left arm, looked blankly at my arm that was smooth and without a wound mark, and fell into a daze.
Everything was surreal like a dream. It was like the entire contest was just a dream of mine and I never actually participated in the deer hunting festival. My hunting gear should still be hung up on the wall, while Lucia should’ve just finished her night patrol, and I was in a daze as I looked at the cheat-items mom gave me.
The deer hunting festival was so weird that nobody wanted to admit it. It turned into something else completely. I was supposed to be the one who killed a white deer king, and yet it became a “come kill me” plan. Talk about the mantis stalking the cicada while unaware of the oriole behind.
A lingering fear continued to loom over me after experiencing the dagger stabbing through my skin and into my chest. The memory of being oxygen deprived while sniffing my own blood after having my throat slit gave me goose bumps. Such a realistic memory couldn’t possibly have been a dream. It was a true experience, the experience of living through a chaotic and dangerous deer hunting festival. I wasn’t this scared when I was down in the sewers at humanity’s nation, but I in all honesty truly felt helpless this time.
Had the white deer king not arrived in time, I’d most likely be a cold corpse in mom’s embrace by now.
“Your highness… Don’t… Don’t go… I beg you… I beg you…”
I suddenly heard some soft whimpers. Lucia hugged my arm even tighter, closed her eyes tightly and a tear formed by her eye.
I gently stroked her head and softly said: “It’s alright, I won’t leave.”
Lucia had medical herbs placed on her red and swollen eyes. I don’t know what she went through outside, but her body was covered in wounds and her breaths were weak. Her eyes were so swollen they didn’t look like they could open. I was worried and afraid that what she cried weren’t tears but blood.