Chapter 37
At first, the gaze fixed on Becky quickly shifted and locked onto Jane.
However, neither the two who received the gaze in turn, nor anyone else, realized that the black tiger was specifically looking at them.
They just thought it was bad luck that the black tiger had singled them out.
“Grrrr.”
As the eyes of the black tiger, crouched low and growling, gleamed, people held their breath but couldn’t take their eyes off it.
They felt that if they looked away even for a moment, it might pounce on them immediately.
In the silence where not even a mouse’s squeak could be heard, only the black tiger’s rough breathing sounded regularly.
The air around the black tiger seemed to distort with the heat radiating from its massive body and bulging muscles.
With each breath the black tiger took, the small arrow fletches stuck in its body trembled.
“Even… even like that…”
“How can it still move…”
Some who weren’t familiar with hunting exhaled in disbelief, seeing the black tiger that didn’t look at all affected despite being riddled with arrows.
But those who knew even a little about hunting would understand that such a monstrous beast wouldn’t die from just a few arrows.
Moreover, judging by the different fletches on the arrows stuck in the black tiger’s body, one could infer that multiple people had shot at it, but no one had managed to inflict a fatal wound.
But what use was knowing this fact now?
With an enraged black tiger right in front of them…
“Grrrr.”
The small arrows and things thrown and scattered by the hunters, which hadn’t bothered it much while it was rampaging about, now seemed to be fueling the black tiger’s anger. It growled, using its entire body as a resonance chamber.
Its body was so large and its voice so low that the ground beneath the black tiger’s feet vibrated with the growl, causing the faint-hearted to collapse or faint on the spot.
Another person who caught someone fainting looked at the black tiger with a dazed expression and muttered as if to himself:
“If… if His Highness the Second Prince were here…”
At that moment, no, from the moment the black tiger had burst in until now, almost everyone there had been searching for one person with one mind.
The one who could resolve the black tiger situation in an instant.
Einar, who could sort out this situation at once.
Riina had also looked for Einar, but still not even a hair of him was visible.
Was it good luck that she was still fine after encountering the black tiger twice, or bad luck to have coincidentally met such a beast twice in this vast forest?
A bitter smile formed on her lips.
No, for her, this was probably very good luck.
If Einar’s luck hadn’t influenced her, she probably wouldn’t even be standing after encountering the black tiger.
As Riina scanned her surroundings, she momentarily locked eyes with Jane, but Jane soon disappeared from view.
Just as Riina’s head turned slightly in the direction Jane had vanished…
-Crunch.
The sound of arrows crumbling miserably under the black tiger’s foreleg rang out as it shook its shoulder, harder than steel, to shake off the embedded arrows.
As Smith’s marked arrow shattered and embedded itself in the ground, the black tiger kicked off.
“ROARRR!”
And of all places.
Yes, truly of all places, the direction the black tiger leaped towards was none other than the Bolshevik ducal family’s area.
And specifically, the spot where Riina was standing.
In reality, the black tiger was just charging towards the grass that gave off a good scent.
It had just rushed towards Becky first, who was relatively closer, rather than Jane who was quite far away.
“Gasp!”
“Good heavens!”
“Kyaaah!”
But to the eyes of those who couldn’t know such circumstances, even though no one had shouted, nor shot arrows or made any large movements…
It seemed as if the black tiger was drawn towards Riina’s direction as if pulled by something, kicking off the ground.
-Boom.
As its massive hind legs stomped the ground, the dry earth cracked with a snap, and a cloud of dust spread.
“Ugh, urgh!”
“Pull!”
The guards protecting Riina didn’t stand idle either.
From the moment the black tiger had burst in, hadn’t they dropped everything they were doing and immediately gathered around Riina?
With the guard captain’s shout, the guards simultaneously released their tightly drawn bowstrings.
-Thud.
-Thud thud.
Some arrows stuck in the ground, but most aimed at the black tiger embedded themselves in its charging body.
Among them, the arrow shot by the guard captain even lodged itself between the black tiger’s eyes.
“Gasp!”
“No! Block it!”
But even with an arrow lodged in the center of its forehead, the black tiger charged relentlessly like a tidal wave, and the guards threw themselves in front of Riina to protect her.
In the next moment.
In that brief instant, Riina, without hesitation, pushed the guards aside and stood at the forefront.
She hadn’t made some grand decision to sacrifice herself for everyone.
She just believed.
Believed that Einar would come before that black tiger swallowed her whole.
It was unreasonable, but in fact, how many events in her life had happened with any plausibility?
They say truth is stranger than fiction.
Don’t implausible things often happen in reality that one would call far-fetched even when reading a novel?
Riina stared directly at the black tiger and opened her mouth.
No sound came out, but she was calling.
Einar.
The guards, Becky, and everyone watching the situation could only gape, their jaws nearly dropping and their eyes bulging.
“My lady!”
“My la…!”
Calls like screams, and the black tiger charging at Riina’s face.
People collectively squeezed their eyes shut.
They could picture what would happen next without needing to see it.
Riina’s neck, so fragile compared to the terrifyingly sharp and incredibly powerful teeth in the black tiger’s blood-red maw, would soon be torn apart.
-Crack!
Indeed, as expected, a sound like something breaking or splitting tore through the air.
And then.
-Crunch.
Along with a sound that made hearts sink, hot blood splattered.
-Drip.
A thick drop of blood splattered on Riina’s cheek, but only one drop.
People began to open their eyes one by one.
No matter how long they waited, they didn’t hear the terrible screams or sounds of a beast rampaging that they had expected.
Eventually, they could only gape at the scene unfolding before their eyes.
A completely different scene from what everyone had expected was playing out.
A sword was deeply embedded in the black tiger’s jaw, right underneath.
Thick blood flowed down the blade, but no one could move a finger.
It might have been a scene they could have predicted if they could have predicted it.
The person they had wished for was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
The Second Prince, Einar.
A man who appeared out of nowhere at the crucial moment when life hung by a thread, instantly cutting off the black tiger’s breath.
Riina blinked slowly.
The broad, firm back filling her vision was covered in a fine layer of dust and completely rigid.
As if by miracle, no, like magic, he had appeared at the perfect moment to save Riina.
Yet Einar didn’t look like the perfect prince from fairy tales or novels, without a speck of dust, not sweating, not breathing heavily.
His clothes were stained with grass and dirt, his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat.
“Huh… huff, huff.”
And his breath was so labored that the rise and fall of his chest was clearly visible.
Moreover, covered in the black tiger’s hot blood, what must the smell be like?
It was a sight that could never be called handsome, even as a white lie.
When a bead of sweat that had been precariously clinging to someone’s nostril finally dropped and shattered on the ground,
Riina’s lips parted.
“Einar.”
Her voice calling him had not a single tremor, causing Einar, who had been breathing heavily, to burst into laughter.
Probably until the moment he intercepted the black tiger, Riina had been watching the beast charging at her with indifferent eyes.
Einar’s shoulders shook greatly as he laughed, picturing the scene as clearly as if he had seen it.
“Phew.”
Then, after exhaling briefly, Einar turned his head towards Riina.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes.”
Despite it being a situation that should have been extremely dramatic, the two involved were as calm as if he had merely caught her about to trip over a stone.
Of course, those watching them were still dazed, staring blankly or rubbing their eyes in disbelief at what they were seeing.
“A drop of blood…”
Seeing the red mark splattered on her white cheek, Einar unconsciously reached out his hand but stopped.
Both his hands were tied up with the sword that had pierced the black tiger’s jaw.
“Einar?”
Riina blinked, but Einar didn’t bother to mention the blood splatter on her cheek.
He had instantly calculated how much impact it would have if he wiped her cheek in this situation where all eyes were focused on them.
Einar, who had been about to pull out the sword stuck in the black tiger’s jaw, decided to let go of the sword hilt altogether.
Letting go like this would terribly damage the black tiger’s hide.
However, this magnificent trophy that would probably be talked about for a long time didn’t hold much meaning for him.
“Riina.”
“Yes.”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Before Riina could open her mouth, Einar wrapped his arm around her waist and stepped back swiftly.
-Thud.
The dust that had just settled rose again as the black tiger’s body collapsed to the ground.
Riina, who had squeezed her eyes shut at the sudden dust cloud and then opened them, found herself face to face with Einar, who had somehow approached right in front of her.
For the few seconds it took for the dust to settle, they gazed into each other’s eyes, looking only at each other.
When finally everyone around could see Einar and Riina clearly,
His head tilted slightly, and his hot tongue slid across her cool cheek.
Einar, who had licked the blood splatter off Riina’s cheek as her eyes widened, whispered:
“I wanted to wipe it off, but my hands are a mess.”
Faranak
I love the lick🤣