Unlike in Felicia’s timeline, people were less strict about birth dates and thus birthdays. The calendar was based on the lunar year, mostly having 12 months but occasionally having 13. Thus any baby born on that occasional 13th month was in for a headache for the rest of their lives. Rather than do something sensible like reform the calendar system to fix this, they simply tacked on a secondary way of identifying births or events: the seasonal system.

The seasonal system was how people celebrated birthdays, or more precisely, birth seasons. Thus, a day out of each season was set aside for everyone to celebrate their “birthday”. Those born during that season were all given gifts and free food from family, friends, and neighbors. Marchants saw an opportunity to make money and, with their urging, these celebratory days were eventually turned into some of the biggest jubilees of the year. Thus the Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer Natal Jubilees were like a strange mix of Thanksgiving, New Years, and Christmas holidays in Felicia’s world. Nobles would use these times to hold enormous parties at their houses, with the higher status celebrating only their birth and ignoring everyone else.

Rido and Montana Marron were born during the summer, and thus celebrated their “birthday” during the Summer Jubilee. Regardless of whether the person was commoner or noble, all children participated in the Jubilees for their birth. Depending on where a person lived and the season of their birthday would depend on what kind of activities were included in the Natal Jubilee. The Summer Jubilee was considered the best Jubilee for food, Spring for games, the Winter Jubilee the best for gifts, and Fall had a little bit of everything.

Felicia had only attended one Natal Jubilee in the Fresa March before deciding not to do that again. The corruption and disparity of wealth was never more obvious than during the Jubilees. Those with a lot of wealth paraded around and showed off, expecting to receive but never give, while everyone else was lucky to get an apple for a gift.

It was thoroughly depressing and because Felicia didn’t have the power to fix it, only felt worse for attending. People would look at her with angry eyes, blaming her for their poverty.

Marron County was a different story. It was well managed and the people were happy. Their Jubilees were filled with laughter and good natured teasing. The citizens knew which Marron family was born when and gifted them things when they showed up at a Natal Jubilee. When Montana attended a Summer Jubilee she would be loaded with randomly gifted sweets, breads, vegetables, and small handmade goods before the end of the day.

When the county citizens realized the little black haired boy was a visiting noble who was also celebrating, they would give him similar gifts too. At first these were just extra things they happened to have on hand, but as the years passed and they got used to him being there, they would have something prepared specifically for him.

One year he got sick, making it so he couldn’t attend, so all his extra gifts were given to Montana instead, doubling her gifts that year. She only gave him half his gifts when he visited later, claiming with an innocent face that the food would go bad so she did the only sensible thing and helped him by eating it all.

Based on the dark expression on the Countess' face and the slight look of embarrassment from the Count, she had definitely eaten someone else’s gifts without permission.

Felicia envied the Marron family for having such cheerful, good hearted people in their county. She hoped to someday have that for the Fresa March and Mora County, but she didn’t know how long that would be.

The 16th birthday was special. It was considered the first step to adulthood. There were two seperate celebrations: the Natal Jubilee and the Coming-of-Age Ceremony. How the coming-of-age was celebrated varied wildly depending on sex and social class. Men and women had very different ways of celebrating and different classes also had different expectations.

For sons of a higher noble, they held a week long, grand competition in four basic skills: horseback riding, archery, sword fighting, and knowledge. Winners of each competition would get a prize from the King, a unique title, and a dinner with the King.

Because it was a national competition and there were a lot of people attending, the young noblemen were first divided into regions: north, south, east, and west. Regions would compete first, the winner declared the “Regional Champion” and receive a copper medal. Second and third place regional winners received green painted wood medals. The unfortunate losers won plain wood medals.

Then the regional champions would compete in the same skills, only with more complicated games, to get “the best” medals. First place got a solid gold medal, second place got a silver medal, and third place a bronze medal. The titles were dependent on what they won in. For instance, the boy who won in archery got the title King of the Sky, second place got Prince of the Sky, and third place got Lord of the Sky.

If a boy won all three gold medals, the King would grant him one request. If a boy earned all silver medals, he would be given a gift selected by the King. And third place would be given money. It was extremely rare for anyone to win all the gold, silver, or bronze medals.

Boys both loved and hated this process.

If they won even a single painted wood medal, they would bring honor to their family, gain the admiration and envy of their peers, and look exceptionally good in front of the young ladies. It was a chance to prove they were more than hot air and all their work over the years counted for something. Winning in the games was something that they could boast about for the rest of their lives.

However if they walked away with only plain wood medals, it was the same as being labelled mediocre. They passed, but only by virtue of being there. This wasn’t exactly a shameful thing, as there would always be more losers than winners, but to be shown they were ordinary, or worse be shown incompetent, for everyone to see… it wasn’t uncommon for boys to start having nightmares an entire year before the competition even started.

These series of competitions were originally called “Noble Sons Coming of Age Competition”. This was a mouthful and over time people got lazy, shortening it to “Son’s Age Games” and finally “Sunage Games”.

The Sunage Games were held to the west of the capital of Salvias, where the King lived, near the Royal Forest. This was the only place that had enough space for all the games and guests.

The Sunage Games were huge business in the capital, tripling its size as nobles from all over the country came to stay. If a person didn’t book a room at least a year in advance, they would be forced to camp outside of the city. Sometimes there was no hope of getting a room even when trying to book in advance, as certain years would just have too many sons coming of age at once and the city couldn’t hold everyone.

Many nobles came a week in advance, as the Sunage Games were THE time to network with other nobles. Bets were made, some legal and some not-so-much. Nobles compared themselves, treating their children like objects to show off to their peers. Factions grouped together, covertly or overtly taking stabs at each other.

Whether the son did well or just got a participation trophy was the fear of every parent involved, particularly the men who had also experienced this terrible but wonderful week themselves. If the event was nerve-wracking for the boys, it was also stressful for the adults.

It happened that Querido’s 16th birthday landed on a year that would break records for attendance. Though Felicia had tried to book a room almost a year and a half in advance, she was denied no matter where she went. Even the places that were typically used for commoners had nothing available.

This meant they’d have to camp.

If it was 100% Calle on the inside, she’d have thrown a tantrum to end all tantrums. She would have simply refused to attend, leaving a huge emotional scar on her son for being so selfish. As a high noble she’d always had the best and was unwilling to suffer even the tiniest amount. Thankfully Felicia was blended in nicely at this point, so there was only a sense of disgruntlement at the inconvenience and a lot of complaining.

Though it had been 10 years since she’d come to this timeline, Felicia could still clearly remember her original life. And as Felicia Li Yun, she’d gone camping plenty of times with friends and family. And not all those times were cozy either, as at least one friend relished doing “survivalist” type camping. She could at least comfort herself knowing she wouldn’t be forced to sleep under a make-shift tent of twigs and leaves….

Valor was now a fully trained valet and would naturally follow Querido around no matter where he went. Fijo, his younger brother, had decided on being a knight when he turned 11 years old. He was currently training under Lord Curtidor as his personal Squire, and thus followed the retired knight around like a tail wherever he went. Tierno, their sister and the youngest, had decided on being the Marchioness personal maid, a lady’s maid. After being vigorously trained for 2 years by Housekeeper Alta, last year she’d finally passed all her tests and officially stood by the Marchioness side.

All three were loyal, reliable, and talented in their own ways. They were part of a small handful of people who understood what was really going on in Fresa March. Despite technically being lower status and commoners, because they were part of the inner circle they got treated more like family.

For Rido, they were good companions and friends. Whether he was naturally serious or it had been forced on him by the circumstances of his birth and early years, it was thanks to their presence that he learned to loosen up as he grew older. He could laugh, tell jokes, tease and be teased because of them.

Felicia particularly enjoyed Tierno’s company and took her along rather than depend on the other lady’s maids of dubious moral character. Since she practically raised the girl, Tierno was familiar with Calle’s temperament and needle-like mouth. As long as the circumstances permitted, she would speak freely around Felicia. Ever since firmly grasping the language, she took every opportunity to talk.

On this trip, thanks to having to camp, more servants would be required to come. The extra people along with the required guards from the Viscount, made the entourage large enough that small crowds would form as they passed through the March like they were some strange parade.

Lord Curtidor was left to “man the fort”, otherwise known as Fresa Mansion. Fijo, however, would be going along with Rido. The boys attending the Sunage Games were allowed a single attending servant during the competitions. It was standard practice to take a Squire, who was usually familiar with horses, armor, and weapons. The more experienced the Squire, the better, as they could often help their Young Lord in the competition.

Technically Valor could have taken his younger brother’s position. He was good enough with horses he could have easily won a gold if he’d been allowed to participate and proficient enough in everything else to at least be helpful. Unfortunately, valets shouldn’t be good enough to compete with the Young Lords in anything. And his skills were never meant to be shown off to begin with. He could only watch on the sidelines and silently judge everyone else for not living up to his standards.

“The Capital is so big!”

“Tie, get back in here!”

Tierno had stuck almost her whole body out of the carriage window to get a better view of the Capital ahead of them. Valor grabbed her by the arm and pulled her body back in, causing her to land awkwardly on the seat with a thump.

Rubbing her rear, she scowled at her older brother.

“I just wanted to see it better…”

“You can see the city just fine once we’re actually there.”

“But the view isn’t as nice when we get closer…”

Valor snorted. “How you managed to become a lady’s maid with this kind of embarrassing behavior is just beyond me...”

“How is it embarrassing?!”

“What do you mean “how”? Is there any other maid sticking their whole body out of a carriage like you?”

Tierno raised her delicate face high, “That’s because none of them have a master as wonderful as mine! Hah!”

“If you think she’s so wonderful, how about you stop embarrassing her.”

Tierno furrowed her brow and leaned over to Felicia and asked cutely, “I’m not embarrassing you, am I Marchioness?”

Felicia had been watching them quietly on the side, amused by their argument. She wrapped her arm around Tierno and chuckled, “How could the girl I personally raised and selected as my maid ever embarrass me?”

Truthfully, Felicia envied the young girl’s freedom. She wanted to poke her head out of the carriage and ogle the capital from afar too. But as a woman nearing 50 she’d never live it down if she did...

Tierno gave her brother a triumphant look.

“Marchioness!” Valor looked thoroughly exasperated. “If you keep spoiling her like this, one day she really WILL do something to make the Fresa family look stupid!”

Felicia clucked her tongue and whispered loudly to Tierno, “This valet is a little too serious, don’t you think? I wonder how I should deal with him, mmmhmmm.”

“What do you plan on doing Marchioness?” Tierno whispered loudly in return.

“Mmm, is he still ticklish?”

Tierno nodded, grinning evilly.

Valor blanched and leaned away, warning them, “None of that now!”

Felicia flickered a glance over at Rido, who was watching them with interest. This trip had been boring and he was glad for the distraction. When he saw his mother looking at him, he blinked in response. She gave a barely perceptible nod in Valor’s direction.

Valor had just enough time to realize he was being ganged up on before Rido reached over and tickled his rib cage, just below his armpit. This spot was particularly sensitive on Valor and he burst out laughing despite himself. While he was doubling over, his sister attacked from the other side.

After several minutes of tormenting him, they finally stopped. He sat there gasping, clothes and hair a mess, glaring at everyone angrily. There weren’t many people who knew he was ticklish, it just happened two out of the three people who knew his weakness were in this carriage.

At 22, Valor had grown tall and handsome. Even though he was genuinely annoyed with everyone, it didn’t diminish his good looks. He vaguely reminded Felicia of a Indian actor named Roshan from her original life. Just slap on some shiny bronze skin and cyan hair and eyes and they’d look related.

As to how she knew this particular actor’s name despite not being very familiar with Indian entertainment, well… at one point, she had a friend who was VERY into Bollywood…

Felicia was keenly aware of people’s looks because her host was a very shallow person. Calle liked being surrounded by “pretty things”, including men, and was jealous of women who she felt looked better than her. With Felicia there, the jealousy became negligible, but the desire to be surrounded by beauty held strong. Though Felicia tried hard not to judge people by their looks, she couldn’t help favoring people who were good-looking thanks to her host.

All three siblings were of a similar “level” in the looks department. The highest level in fact. Even the original handsome guards brought in all those years ago did not hold a candle to them. As far as she knew, Querido was the only one who competed with the two boys, as for the youngest sister… Felicia still hadn’t found anyone in Salvias who came close.

The only thing keeping Valor from being swarmed by women of all ages at this point was the nasty rumors about him being the Marchioness Fresa’s “plaything”. Most women didn’t dare compete directly with such a notorious high noble like the Marchioness. As a servant, Valor had limited means to fight for himself when accosted by high ranking women so he found it ironic that his reputation as a noble’s plaything was actually keeping him from becoming a real noble’s plaything.

Fijo had a boyish charm that was attractive but in a different way than his older brother. The fact that he was a Squire saved him from any love woes. Even though he was amicable to the ladies attention, his training didn’t give him many chances to meet up with anyone. The Lord also gave women interfering with his pupil's training the stink eye and a lot of scolding. Basically, Lord Curtidor was the “dragon protecting the princess”.

Teirno was perhaps the most vulnerable of the three. Beautiful, young, and carefree, she tended not to worry too deeply about anything. At least within the mansion, no one dare lay a hand on her. She had two older brothers that would wallap anyone who tried and the Marchioness and Heir as her backing. But outside the mansion...

The position of a lady’s maid was high among commoners but nothing to nobles. She was pretty enough that some scum noble or noble's son might try to drag her away and rape her. Felicia privately taught her some basic self-defense moves early on as a precautionary measure and strictly instructed her to never go out alone. If something unavoidable happened, she was to do whatever was necessary to defend herself, knowing that the Marchioness would support her.

During this trip, the Marchioness would have her sleeping in her tent rather than in the servants’ quarters as an extra layer of protection. Felicia hoped that would be enough to prevent the worst from happening.

The Fresa group wouldn’t be going directly into the capital, but staying between it and the Royal forest. To help keep some kind of order in the chaos, the area for noble’s to set up their tents had been cordoned off using posts and rope. The rope had small colored flags hanging from them with noble’s heralds stitched on indicating which area was for each noble family. Fresa had bright red flags and a dancing fox.

The size and placement of the area a noble got was directly proportional to how favored they were by the king. Unfortunately, the Marchioness had not left a positive impression on Salvias royalty and had gotten a relatively small plot in the north.

This northern plot was far from the city and the Royal forest. Being far away from both meant it was also far away from fresh water and shade, very inconvenient since it was the peak of the summer... It took almost two weeks to get to the capital and then to find out their location was so poorly placed and small…

Everyone in the Fresa group had dark faces when they saw how callously they’d been treated.

Felicia could only blame herself. It was unlikely the King had personally set this up, but instead had it handed off to someone in the castle. Since she had abandoned the Noble’s Faction and had no connections in the King’s Faction, paired with her terrible reputation, she had no friends in the capital.

She could only cry invisible tears at the bed she’d made for herself.

After deciding who should go where, Felicia had nothing left to do. Obviously the Marchioness couldn’t do manual labor, but it was so hot that being outside was unpleasant.

Thinking about it, she decided it was better to scope out the capital and maybe take a peek at the competition grounds. If she was going to be hot no matter what she did, she might as well be doing something interesting in the meantime.

She walked over to her son, face flushed unpleasantly from the heat and grumpily demanded, “This heat will be the death of me! Where’s that fancy horse of yours? Get it saddled with the pillion seat and take me out to look around.”

A pillion seat was a secondary seat attached to the back of a horses’ saddle, allowing two people to comfortably sit on a horse at the same time. Women could and did ride horses in Salvias, with unmarried girls riding side saddle and married women going astride. The difference was that noblemen were pressured to learn to ride at a young age while noblewomen were not. Many women choose not to learn because it was dangerous compared to using a carriage. There was even an extreme view among some that women riding horses was vulgar, a “man’s activity”.

Alas, Calle Mora was of that latter type.

Though Calle’s reason for disliking it was not because men did it. She hated horses. Or more precisely, hated animals in general. Even cute bunny rabbits were viewed as vermin. This was why hunting and guard dogs were forbidden near the mansion. In fact, the only time Calle liked an animal is if it was cooked and on a dinner plate.

Felicia thought about trying to change this aspect of her host. She wanted to at least ride a horse! But it took 6 years just to get this stupid host to tolerate sitting on a pillion seat, and that was after a lot of coaxing. Felicia decided this was a battle she wasn’t willing to continue and simply gave up in exasperation.

Rido wiped his moist forehead with his sleeve and glanced up at the sky, squinting at the blazing sun.

“I really wish they would hold this earlier in the year. The heat really is abominable.”

“Stupid boy, don’t you know? This is the only time of year where the roads all over the country will be dry making it easy for everyone to travel. And with the lack of rain, the event is less likely to get stormed out.”

“I suppose that’s true. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the roads were cobbled and we go do all the competitions indoors?” Rido said whistfully, unphased at being called stupid. “Then it wouldn’t matter what time of year we held the Games.”

Felicia looked amused, “If you’re going to have a foolish dream, why not also wish for a building that was cold enough inside it felt like winter?”

He glared at her this time and complained, “Mother, why must you bring up your fantastically impossible ideas right now? Just thinking about a room with winter air... I resent the heat even more and feel I’ll sweat twice as much!”

Felicia laughed heartily, wishing she could tell him that it wasn’t impossible. Though there were plenty of differences between her original timeline and this one, the materials required for some type of industrial revolution were all there. It was just a matter of time before someone figured it out.

“Are you sure you want to ride?” Rido returned to the topic she’d brought up originally.

“Do I need to repeat myself to you?”

The young man sighed, “Well alright. I’ll get Glorious saddled. What do you think? Should we head over to the Royal Forest first or the Capital?”

“Forest. Closer.”

“Mm, alright then!” He walked away, calling out to Fijo along the way, “Fijo, get your horse saddled with a pillion! Mother and Tie and I are going out for a ride!”

Fijo had been helping set things up and looked at Rido in surprise, “You sure you don’t want Valor to go with you?”

“Who would be in charge of the servants if we all left? You?”

“Ah… right.” Fijo had no authority over anyone as a Squire. Valor and Tie were valet and lady’s maid, making them the highest ranked servants in their group. On outings like this, when the nobles were gone, they were in charge.

It’s just that he wasn’t used to following proper protocol. It was rare to have all three siblings out on an official function like this. Usually they visited the Marrons family together and that was about it. And the Marrons were a laid back family, not the types to stick to conventions.

Since camp was being made and things were being unpacked, it took a little longer than usual to get the horses set up. Tierno could ride side-saddle and astride, taking after her horse-loving ancestors, but there were no spare horses for her to ride here. The draft horses she might have used needed proper rest after pulling so much for so long.

With some help from her son, Felicia got onto the pillion seat and then wrapped an arm around his middle for extra stability.

Rido felt her vice like grip around his waist and said in exasperation, “Mother, you aren’t going to fall off.”

“Don’t talk about falling, idiot!”

“Even though you were the one who insisted on riding...” He muttered to himself in annoyance. He didn’t understand why his Mother kept asking to ride when she clearly didn’t like it. It’s not like anyone was forcing her into it...

“What was that?” She asked with particular sharpness.

“I was just saying,” He cleared his throat, “Glorious has always been a good girl, very stable. No need to fear.”

Felicia simply grunted, unwilling to continue a fruitless conversation. It’s not like she didn’t know her cranky behavior was uncalled for. She couldn’t help it. Getting this unruly host to sit on a horse was already an achievement, getting her to like it? That would probably take another 6 years...

It took them almost 20 minutes to get to the Royal Forest. Along the way they got to see other noble families with their tents in various stages of being set up.

“Hm?” Felicia noticed white flags with a howling wolf stitched onto them hanging from a large roped off section of the grounds, “Is that the Invierno Family herald?”

Rido looked over and nodded, “I believe so. It must really be packed this year if they couldn’t get a room in the capital.”

“Poor them!” Felicia said sarcastically, “Look how much space they were given and how close they are to the competition grounds. They’ve even got nice shade trees! I bet it’s a five minute walk to the nearest water source too. Those pampered, pasty—”

“Mother,” Rido cut her off, “let’s not insult people while standing in front of their house, or tent in this case, alright?”

“Do they think they’re royals?” She scolded loudly. “They’ve already got the best spot on the camping ground, but now they expect everyone to be nice to them?”

Rido decided retreat was the better part of valor and flicked Glorious’ reigns to hurry them past Invierno’s campsite. The sudden speed increase caused his Mother to gasp and then cling to him more tightly, instantly silencing her.

He was afraid she might really start something with how foul her temper was right now. If it was someone of the same rank he wouldn’t mind, but the Invierno were a Ducal house. They really couldn’t afford to offend them.

After riding a little further they came to a stream that had several large trees casting shade over it. Rido found a nice spot and suggested they take a break. Felicia agreed and pretended she didn’t see his look of relief when she got off his horse.

“Where are you going?” She asked when he didn’t dismount.

“I was thinking of taking a look at the race courses. I believe we passed by the forest course on the way here.”

“Ah, reconnaissance!” She gave his dangling leg a pat and smiled, “You aren’t needed. You may go.”

He hummed and turned to Fijo, “Stay with Mother—”

“No, take him with you.” Felicia instructed firmly.

“But—”

Felicia waved her hand dismissively, “What’s going to happen to me here? It’s not like I’m alone, I also have Tie.”

Rido made a face, really not willing to obey but also knowing she wouldn’t give in either. When it came to safety concerns, she always prioritized him. This was a slowly growing point of contention between them.

“Fine.” He conceded after an internal struggle, “But Mother, do be careful. Stay away from the water. I know you can swim but that dress is heavy and will drag you down. Don’t get within grabbing distance of strangers either. Nobles aren’t all gentlemen.”

Felica rolled her eyes at him. This stream likely didn’t go higher than her waist, how could she drown in it? As to the other problem…

She smiled pleasantly while speaking viciously, “If any ruffian dares touch me, I shall make it so their family line stops with them.”

“Me too!” Tierno agreed enthusiastically while making a ruthless grab and break motion.

Fijo shifted uncomfortably on his horse. The Marchioness was frighteningly good at teaching his sister various ways to bring a grown man down.

Felicia raised her hands and made a shooing motion.

“As I said, you aren’t needed. Away with you!”

“Don’t worry Heir Rido,” Tierno added, “I will watch over Marchioness and keep her out of trouble.”

Rido chuckled a little and nodded. “I will depend on you then, Miss Tia.”

“Exactly who do you two think is the child here?!” Felicia asked indignantly.

“Have a good rest Mother, I’ll be back later.” Rido smiled, guiding his horse around and leaving.

Felicia put her hands on her hips, brows pinched together.

After he left, she harrumphed, “How long have I lived? Do I need a child to watch me?”

“I’m not a child, Marchioness.” Tierno said in a sing-song voice.

“You are 15, barely out of your mother’s womb!”

Tierno looked at the Marchioness helplessly. Who ever saw a baby as big as her, huh? On occasion Marchioness Fresa was a very silly woman.

“By that logic I’m a baby. I had no idea Marchioness had a baby for a lady’s maid.”

Felicia pursed her lips and squinted her eyes, “You sassy peasant.”

“I only learn from the best.” Tierno pointed to the stream, “Should we take off our shoes and soak for a bit? This heat really is terrible...”

Felicia glanced around and, seeing there wasn’t anyone nearby, nodded with a pleased look on her face. Even showing off an ankle was considered scandalous in this era, so they had to be careful. Teirno was one of the few people who would “let loose” with her like this.

They both took off their shoes and socks, hiked up their skirts and put their warm feet into the cool water. In unison they sighed in relief.

“Where do you think Heir Rido will place?” Tierno asked, making conversation.

“Well…. He is my son, taking after me—”

“-making him the most excellent child in the land.” The young girl giggled, used to the Marchioness’ strange way of speaking. “I take it you think he’ll place highly?”

“Yes, 4th place.”

“Fourth?” She thought for a moment and then widened her eyes, “Do you mean for him to win the regional and lose the national game?”

“Precautions must be taken.” Felicia gave a half hearted smile, “I am already compromising by allowing him to win something as piddly as the regionals.”

Tierno pursed her lips, “If only it wasn’t for that stupid Vis—”

“AH!”

“—sorry… that stupid guy, Heir Rido could show off his true talent.” She kicked her feet in the water angrily. “That guy is so hateful! Why won’t he die already?!”

“Hah, it is indeed a great mystery how he has survived all these years.”

“Great shame, you mean.” Tierno picked up a pebble and threw it as far as she could, pouting. “Everyone thinks Heir Rido is incompetent.”

“Mmm.” Felicia looked out into the rippling water. “Though it is a shame he will not live up to his real potential, it will already be a challenge to win the regional games. As to the national, he will need self-control and a keen eye to lose well.”

“Lose well?”

“If he just doesn’t try that’d make the entire Fresa March look foolish. He must look like he put his all into it and simply could not win. That is quite difficult to do in it’s own way.”

———

Rido and Fijo rode their horses towards the Forest Route. During the regional games, the horse racing was simply based on speed and horse care, but the national games were more difficult. The Forest Route weaved through the Royal Forest and was just difficult enough that a person without a certain skill level could get seriously hurt.

The Forest Route was the last competition for horse riding and determined who would win the gold, silver, and bronze medals. All four regional champions would compete in this race, meaning that one of the four wouldn’t win a medal at all. That needed to be him.

There was no rule stating competitors couldn’t scope out the route beforehand. As everyone involved was a high noble’s son, safety was important. Surprises were viewed as potential dangers, so everyone could take a peek if they wanted.

Besides learning the route for the competition, it was also a pleasant trail to ride through when going at a leisurely pace, as the trees provided quite a lot of shade. They weren’t the only one’s using the trail, as other boys had gotten the same idea.

Two young men came up behind them and started talking:

“I say, is that Heir Fresa?”

“Black hair and eyes with a bronze servant next to him? Seems like it.”

“Huh… I wonder if he feels like metal…”

There was a long pause and then a sound of reigns being flicked and horses surging forward.

Fijo only had enough time to turn around in alarm when the two noble sons reached him, hitting him on after the other. One hit him on the shoulder and the other on the arm, very roughly too.

As they galloped away they could be heard laughing and saying, “I guess he’s not made of metal!”

Rido turned on his horse saddle and asked, “Are you alright?” a little stunned by the sudden act of violence.

Fijo was rubbing both spots with a grimace. “I think I’ll bruise a little but that’s about it.”

That would not be the last time, at least half the boys who saw Fijo did as the first set had done. When it became clear they weren’t stopping, Rido had Fijo put his horse close to the edge of the path and then rode beside him. However this only gave the bullies a reason to be more vicious and they started throwing small stones and sticks in place of hitting Fijo with their fists.

After watching Fijo get pummeled every few feet, Rido couldn’t take it anymore.

“Let’s just go back.”

Fijo had an ugly expression but shook his head. “I can take it.”

“But you shouldn’t HAVE to take it.”

Fijo’s expression softened slightly at these words. This kind of mentality was why he wanted to be a knight. He wanted to protect this kind of person and be part of his strength.

“Do you plan on doing this course without any preparation?”

Rido made a face, “I can go by myself later.”

“Hah, that’s not happening and we both know it.”

The Marchioness prioritized her son’s safety above all else. He wasn’t allowed to go anywhere by himself. Fijo knew this bothered Heir Rido to no end but he also wasn’t willing to take any risks.

“What is the point of having my dagger if you’re all going to—”

He stopped speaking, body tensed, as another group of boys came up from behind. They saw Rido and Fijo and immediately began talking about them. One of them got off their horse and picked up a sizable rock, mounted his horse again and raised his arm, obviously ready to throw it.

Rido was livid. They’d been putting up with this harassment until now because it was more or less harmless. However, that stone could split Fijo’s head open!

He immediately turned his horse around and unsheathed his dagger, furious and ready to cut the other boy up regardless of the consequences. This all happened in the span of a few seconds, Fijo hadn’t seen the malicious actions going on behind him and only saw Rido prepare to commit some serious act of violence.

“What are you doin—”

A scream sounded from behind and he turned around in surprise.

“Why did you hit me?!” A boy with orange hair was leaning over his horse, holding his head.

The perpretrator spoke calmly, “Do you think because your father is a Count you can get away with murder?”

The one speaking had light silver hair that was almost white and deep silver eyes. He sat tall in his saddle, clearly taller than his companions by a head.

“What are you talking about?”

“If you’d thrown that rock and hit his head, he would have died.”

It was only then Fijo understood. Someone had intended on harassing him again. He glanced at the rock near the horse's feet and saw its size, his face going dark. No wonder Rido had taken out his dagger. That rock really could have taken his life!

“I wasn’t going to throw it to kill him!”

The silver haired boy sneered, “So it’s fine to seriously injure him instead?”

“He’s just a servant!”

“Just by his dress it’s obvious he’s a Squire, with a Knight as his Master!” The boy scolded and then frowned, “And even if he was a servant, he’s clearly the servant of an Heir. Disrespecting the servant is the same as disrespecting the master. If I’d known you didn’t even understand such a simple concept, I’d have never let you follow me around.”

“He is a third son,” Another boy spoke up in the group, voice jeering, “You can’t expect much sense from them.”

The orange haired boy trembled slightly and tried to plead, “Heir Nubarron, I—”

“Don’t speak my name!” Heir Nubarron looked at the trembling boy in disgust, “People might misunderstand and think I willingly spend time with you.”

With that, he flicked the reins of his horse and sped up. The other boys sped up their horses to stay near him. They didn’t dare comfort the orange haired boy, lest they lose favor with the Heir of the Invierno Duchy.

Heir Nubarron didn’t stop as he passed Rido, only casting him an indifferent glance. Rido had just enough time to nod in thanks before the group was gone.

All that was left behind them was the orange haired boy. The boy looked up at Rido and Fijo and his face burned with shame. He turned his horse around sharply, causing it to winny, and galloped away. Other riders further down the path cried out in alarm as he rushed past, almost knocking into them.

For a while neither Rido and Fijo spoke, simply continuing down the path before them.

“So that was Heir Invierno of the Great Northern Duchy…” Fijo finally commented, “I think he’s alright.”

Rido didn’t say anything, just furrowed his brow.

Seeing that Rido did not agree, Fijo couldn’t help being surprised.

“What, you don’t like him?”

“No… he did help us both out of a tough spot. I am grateful, it’s just…” Rido’s words pittered out into silence, brow furrowing even further.

“It’s just what?”

“I don’t know, for some reason I don’t like the smug look on his face.”

Fijo's face slackened in amazement and then burst out laughing.

“Did he have a smug look?”

Rido held his hands palms facing up and shrugged, showing he was exasperated at himself.

“That’s why I said I don’t know.” He sighed and folded his arms across his chest, muttering in annoyance, “I didn’t care much about winning nationals before, but after seeing that guy… I really… I really want to beat him into the ground… show him I’m better...”

Fijo raised his eyebrows, “Don’t let the Marchioness hear that.”

“I know, it’s just an impulse. I won’t act on it.” He unfolded his arms and took his horses' reign again, “It’s a shame though. If we were in the same Region, I could directly compete with him and show him who’s better. As it is, I’ll have to lose to him.”

“Lose to him— oh! You think he’ll win the Northern Championship?”

“Definitely.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Rido hummed slightly, “He’s similar to me, I can tell just by looking… ah, maybe that’s why.”

“Huh?”

“I dislike him because he’s like me.” He ran his fingers through his hair and gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Like two hawks fighting over a single territory...”

Fijo blinked but didn’t comment further. Perhaps from another young man’s mouth, it would have sounded arrogant. But Fijo knew how truly talented Heir Rido was and how astonishingly accurate his ability to read people was. Lord Curtidor, his master and teacher, had said he’d never met anyone as brilliant, and Fijo agreed.

But knowing all that only made Fijo even MORE curious about Heir Invierno rather than less.