CH 15

It was a giant grey animal. It was a beast that she’d only read about in novels, and so her mouth gaped open automatically.

There was a luxurious part of it that was made of ivory, but it was on a living animal. Its grey color all over its large body didn’t seem to match the light-colored ivory at all. The picture of a huge, elegant animal in Carynne’s mind, which she vaguely imagined, was broken.

“This animal is a beast called an elephant, and it uses its nose as though it’s a hand. It drinks water with its nose, too! You’d find no other animal that drinks water with its nose. Who would like to try?”

“But I did die from water up my nose back then.”

“Pardon? What fool would die like that?”

“…Be quiet and just watch.”

It was an extraordinary animal that was completely different from the usual animals that appeared in the fief, like deer, birds, and wild boars. It had no fur, and its ears were bigger than a gigantic drum.

It didn’t have the elegant color that she imagined, but it still had a peculiar charm to it.

The elephant performed various tricks to prove just how smart it was, and as it moved its nose, it was a completely different movement that could be seen compared to other animals. As though it was a hand, the nose was used to pick up and give things.

Amongst the cheering audience, Carynne also reached out her hand. She wanted to touch its long nose.

“It’s dangerous. Please don’t do that.”

Borwen retracted Carynne’s hand.

Annoying. Scenes were bound to happen and people were bound to die. Of course it was dangerous for Carynne. But death was a trivial thing for her. Those who interfered in the things she did were nothing more than obstacles to her entertainment. She pulled back her hand and reached out to the animal once more.

She made eye contact with the elephant. Carynne found it interesting that the humongous beast’s eyes were so small. And for a brief moment, she smiled.

The large elephant then approached her. Carynne reached out her hand. Was it going to shake her hand with its nose?

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

“This bastard!”

Its steps did not stop.

The trainer noticed the animal’s unusual behavior. He stabbed the elephant on the side with a small spear. Then, as blood flowed out, a woman screamed as she saw it.

However, even though its thick skin was pierced, the elephant did not stop stepping forward. The trainer stabbed it with the spear again, but the weapon fell off in no time.

The booming steps continued down the stage. The beast approached the audience’s seats and came closer to her. Carynne was filled with joy. Someone else in the audience finally stood up, screaming, but it was too late.

The trainer shouted and blocked its way, diverting its attention—but it was meaningless. He could no longer stop the elephant.

Boom.

“You can’t!”

“AAACK!”

Crunch, crunch.

Horrific sounds. Blood splashing. The man wielding the spear, crushed.

For a few seconds, the shocking sight paralyzed the crowd into a deafening silence.

Nobody moved. Until the ringleader shouted.

“Get out of there right now! Hurry!”

Then, screams filled the air quickly. People ran towards the small exit. However, those who were overwhelmed with fear got tangled and collapsed.

In a blink of an eye, they were seizing each other by the ankle. Chairs fell to the ground and were left abandoned.

Pandemonium broke loose in that circus tent. It was a living hell.

“Milady! This way!”

Borwen got to his feet and removed the chairs blocking the way in front of Carynne and Donna. However, the good seats that they had were too far from the exit.

Any chair or any person was too small compared to the elephant, so the giant beast continued towards Carynne without any interference. There was a circus staff member blocking its way, but the elephant just swept him away with its nose and continued trudging forward.

Nothing can stop it. Carynne stared at the elephant. That nose was quite strong. She marveled at it.

“Ah—”

“KYAAAAA!”

A child had been pointing at the elephant in excitement, but the child’s bones were soon crushed as the elephant drew closer. Its heavy foot also landed on a woman, who had tried to get the child out of the way. More chairs were broken.

The elephant was fast approaching still. Carynne raised her head. Borwen was blocking Carynne and Donna. Its hefty body slowly came forward, and the animal and Carynne met eyes once more.

The elephant knelt down. Carynne hadn’t reached out yet.

She smiled.

Someone covered her eyes.

It happened along with a tremendous roar, and Carynne wanted to dig her fingernails into the hand that was over her eyes. Cover my ears, you dolt! However, rather than enduring the loud sound, she had to cover her own ears immediately.

Even so, the ringing in her ears bothered her. There was a high-pitched ‘beeeeep’ shaking up her brain. Then, she heard another gunshot.

It’s loud, stop it, I said it’s too loud! Leave. Leave it alone!

The shouts of her heart couldn’t be heard.

The smell of gunpowder poked at the tip of her nose, and as she opened her eyes, she coughed.

“Ah…”

As expected. That’s right. The elephant was right in front of her, the shadow of its huge body covering her. Its gray body had holes and blood strewn everywhere. As expected, it couldn’t be helped either. Carynne walked closer to it.

Even a large animal like this, even if it had such great strength. Its life ended while lifting things and crushing people. Dozens of bullets were embedded in its skin, but as she halted after her first step, she saw the accurate shot in the middle of its head.

It’s obvious who did it. This kind of role wasn’t given to just anyone.

Carynne approached the elephant. Its breath hadn’t stopped yet. But even with treatment, it didn’t seem like it would survive. Rather than a matter of treatment, an animal that had harmed humans would not be allowed to live.

Its skin was thick. So bullets could pierce this kind of skin, too. Even if she hadn’t touched it, she could feel its warmth. Carynne reached out. She wanted to touch its long nose.

“Step back!”

Someone—no, Carynne knew who it was.

He grabbed her arm roughly, and she stumbled as she fell back. Nobles spoil the fun in a place like this, too. This man was Raymond’s squire, Xenon. He’s here, so of course, this guy’s here, too. Again, this time, he’s here. It’s just not fun…

Carynne looked towards where the initial sound of a gunshot came from.

He’s here. The golden devil. The marksman with magic bullets.

Raymond.

Her lover for more than a hundred years. Her male lead. Her knight.

The man who didn’t even know her face right now.

The distance between them was quite far, but there’s no way she couldn’t recognize him.

There’s no way he wouldn’t take notice of Carynne either.

She turned away. ‘Now’ was not the time to pay attention to him. If he was close enough when he helped her, Carynne would have expressed her gratitude, but since he helped from afar, she ‘didn’t’ know and stopped caring.

This was how the first meeting went. But more than Raymond, Carynne wanted to see the animal in front of her, to see its nose move before it died.

Tak. Xenon grabbed Carynne’s shoulder roughly. Seeing his hand on her, she spoke.

“Let go.”

“Fuc… Get out of the way, woman.”

“…I’ll forgive your insolence. But you’re the one who needs to get out of the way.”

Borwen then rushed in and stood between Xenon and Carynne.

“Thank you for sorting it out. Milady is still young, so…”

“Damn it, then educate her better! Get out of my way!”

As Xenon replied to the servant roughly, he knew that it was the girl who would be bothered, so he just loaded his gun without saying anything more. Carynne covered her ears again. And Xenon finished it off.

“I’m a footman of the Hare manor, Borwen Lewis.”

“Xenon.”

“Ah…”

“I’m just a huntsman, so you can be at ease.”

“Please don’t say that. On behalf of Milord, I would like to express my deep gratitude to you for saving the young lady and for taking care of the situation. Please allow me to extend the honor of inviting you to the residence. You will be given a rightful reward.”

“Shouldn’t your lady be the one saying that?”

At the following sarcastic remarks, Borwen hurriedly turned to Carynne.

However, Carynne couldn’t be found anywhere inside the circus tent.

“Donna! DONNA! Where’s Milady?!”

“Ah, really. Now it’s a missing child that needs to be looked for… That young lady is doing all sorts of bothersome things.”

Xenon shrugged and instead looked towards the place where his master was standing. Xenon couldn’t see him well, but his master, in turn, would see him clearly.

He was a sniper with excellent eyes.