Chapter 51: Chapter 51
“Sir, everyone is ready.”
As it turned out, the entire event was a huge success. At least, in terms of the fun everyone seemed to have. But instead of joining the party and drinking with everyone, Saulus opted to stay completely sober. Instead of donning casual clothes now that the pretend hunt was over, the general was covered from head to toe in the winter officer’s uniform of his legion.
“Good. Let’s start the operation. Units one and two, move out.”
Used to covert sabotage missions, Saulus felt no pressure when giving his orders in a quiet voice instead of shouting them so loud everyone would hear them through the noise of the battle. Quiet or loud, it didn’t matter. His veterans would listen to his directions either way.
“Group one in position.”
The report came when Saulus openly moved out from the forest, travelling towards the queen’s tent. By the time he reached the tent he was aiming for, the whisper from the location where the second unit hid announced the beginning of the plan.
“My queen, if you would excuse me, may I come in?”
Normally, entering the private tent of the monarch right after retreating due to a bad mood would be considered either a great honor or signify an even greater arrogance. Thankfully, not only was Saulus the second most important person in the entire rebellion, but he was the one who orchestrated the entire situation in the first place!
“Oh, it’s you Saulus! Come in.”
Responding as if there was absolutely nothing going on, Venna invited the general inside. But once Saulus stepped into the tent, he froze.
“What the hell do you think you are wearing?”
Now, safely hidden away in the Queen’s private tent, he could finally speak what was really on his mind. And seeing Venna dressed in the most elaborate hunting suit he could ever believe existed, Saulus felt his strength leaving his entire body.
“What? Isn’t it cute?”
Looking down on her own figure, perfectly accented by the design of the dress, Venna looked at her childhood friend with a puzzled look. Changing her expression to one of mischief, she swirled around, presenting her looks from all possible angles.
“What do you think?”
Venna asked with a slightly flushed face, once her body stopped moving. Even though her daily life didn’t require all that much of physical activity, Saulus wasn’t willing to believe that just turning herself around like that was enough to make her red from exhaustion. And that meant her face could imply only one thing.
“You look really beautiful, no, adorable in it. But didn’t you want to experience a proper hunt? If you just wanted to spend some time with me in peace, then you would surely know that hunting is not the occasion for that outfit.”
Taking a risky guess and openly voicing it, Saulus had to do his absolute best to stop his surprise from appearing on his face when he noticed how Venna’s blush only grew brighter. Before the situation got out of hand, he cleared his throat to bring Venna’s attention back.
“Here. I brought a proper outfit with me, just in case. Now, tell me. Do you really want to go hunting? Because if not, then I will call it off…”
Dropping a small package containing light, leather armor, Saulus pointed his hand towards the outer end of the tent, behind which his men were standing by. But before he could even finish his sentence, Venna proved that even being a queen didn’t slow her reaction time down.
Rushing forward, she caught the package without a shred of hesitation. Almost failing to stop before crashing right into Saulus, she quickly backed a few steps away, with her cheeks reaching the limit of how red they could turn.
Seeing how Venna moved to unpack his small gift, Saulus didn’t dare stay in the same place. Turning around on his feet, he approached the side of the tent before sitting down directly on the ground.
“I will take it as a yes. If you were to go into a forest in that dress, you would lose half of it on the random branches before we would find even a single animal. Taking all the noise and inconvenience into account, it would end up as a stroll in the forest rather than a proper hunt. This outfit will make it easy to move around without alarming the animals.”
Given how the real hunt that was going on in the background, and the event for the nobles couldn’t merge into a single organized entity, the part of the forest near their current position should be full of the animals that were escaping the onslaught in the other parts of the woods. That alone should make fulfilling Venna’s task fairly easy, yet it didn’t mean they could get careless. Especially with the other kind of threat that he had to keep in mind.
“Okay, okay. Just give me a moment to change.”
Already facing away from the girl, Saulus didn’t need to move at all. Soon, the rustling sound of the cloth rubbing against skin reached his ears, suddenly turned into a deep desire to take a peek at what was happening behind his back. Thankfully, even the elaborate dress that Venna was wearing was rather easy to take off, while the leather armor had to be easy to put on. Before his curiosity could take the better of his morals, the enticing sound finally ended.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
Finally turning around, Saulus could take a look at Venna dressed in something that, in his book, fitted her far more than the elaborate clothes she had to wear as a queen. Even though the cut of the armor was fairly simple, it still did a good job at bringing forth all the charms necessary for the girl to be considered beautiful.
“Good. Then let’s not waste any time. The sooner we depart the better the chances that no one will notice!”