Celine hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "If you insist. I have nothing to hide."
The loose coat on top of her uniform did its job in covering her body. The weather was chilly, so nobody questioned the choice.
She was two months or so away from giving birth. The baby knew it shouldn't show itself yet, so it behaved, not giving its mother any trouble, besides the nausea and back pains, of course.
"How would I know you didn't bribe the physician to lie for you?" Edmund was relentless in trying to make her participate, "We all know how you operate, dear sister."
The way he said 'dear sister' made Celine's skin crawl.
"I forfeit then," Celine said, riding a horse was too risky at this stage, "Take the victory, as you wanted. I will not participate in this farce."
She turned to leave, but the pink head had to step in front of her, blocking her way.
Sitting on top of a horse, the girl looked down at her, which made Celine appreciate the horse on her eye level instead.
"Will you promise to leave me alone after this?" The pink head asked, calming down her horse by patting its side, "Or will you still find ways to make my life miserable?"
"I give you my word, as a lady, to leave you alone after the next competition," Celine replied.
Just wait after she gave birth, then she would make the father and child cheer her on as she drowned this pink rat in the sea of her own defeat.
She had promised Lucian to behave in his absence.
He was late, and that annoyed her more than this competition.
They let her pass, not trusting her words, but knowing they had no choice but to accept them.
Celine walked away, leaving behind a tense atmosphere.
The competition commenced without her, but the horses didn't seem to like the idea.
They suddenly scattered in different directions, dragging their riders along, or breaking the hinges of their enclosures.
There were at least twenty of them outside and around a hundred inside the stables.
The horses became too aggressive, attacking everything in their sight.
Most of the riders managed to jump off in time, but some were not so lucky, and got dragged along the ground, injuring themselves.
"Look out!" someone yelled.
Celine turned around, a horrified look on her face.
A dozen horses were charging at her, their eyes wild, their hooves ready to crush her.
Celine leaped to the side, avoiding the hooves by a hair's breadth.
Another horse came from behind, forcing her to roll forward, barely escaping its path.
She didn't try to protect her face or brace for the fall. Instead, she curled entirely in on herself, her arms wrapping desperately around her swollen belly to form a human shield for the baby.
She made another leap away from the stampede, seeking refuge in the forest by the road.
She found a hiding spot behind a tree, and sat there, catching her breath. She held her belly, feeling a slight pain, but it was not too bad.
The hooves of horses approaching her hiding spot made her tense up.
"Found you."
It was Edmund. He was holding a rope in his hand, his eyes scanning the area as he lured more horses in her direction.
"What did you do to the horses?" Celine whispered, realizing Edmund was the culprit behind this.
"Not me, you, by the look of it," Edmund ran over to her, avoiding the horses that tried to attack him as well, "Why else would you not join the competition?"
Celine jumped back, making him miss.
"Because you knew the horses would go crazy," he answered himself.
Celine's chances against an emerald knight slash shackled were as high as Lucian marrying her. Almost zero.
From what she knew, advanced shackleds wouldn't target people whom they already had bad relationships with.
He should be making a move on that pink rat, not on her. Unless he had something else planned that included her.
"An accident caused by your own foolishness would be a perfect ending to your miserable life," Edmund continued, a twisted grin on his face, "I wish you'd be trampled to death already. Your corpse is overdue."
The screams of the students, the shouts of the guards, and the whinnying of the horses, would definitely drown out her own pleas for help.
"My corpse?" Celine asked, picking up a rock from the ground while running away, stalling for time.
"You've told something to our dear father, that got me tortured for a month straight. I was locked up for half a year," Edmund lured the horses in her direction. "With you gone, he should return to his right mind."
Celine rolled away from the horse's hooves, getting grazed by its iron horseshoe.
The pain made her grunt. She held her belly tighter, feeling a sharp sting.
"It would be a shame if a horse trampled you to death, or a fence impaled you. But accidents happen, right?"
He lassoed a horse's neck, and pulled it toward him, mounting it, and directing it toward Celine.
She knew she shouldn't have been running around like this and hurled a rock at Edmund's head, striking him directly on the temple.
He barely flinched, despite it carrying her curse. She was blessing her child's health at the same time, and doing both at the same time wasn't possible. Fighting with him was simply out of the question.
Celine avoided another horse, knowing he wanted to make it look like an accident and ran toward the woods, where the terrain was more uneven and hard for the horses to gallop.
Father didn't trust her fully, giving Edmund a chance to prove his innocence and she was now paying the price.
For all she knew, Edmund could have persuaded father into believing that she was the one who was shackled.
"Ugh!" She avoided a direct hit, but the horse still managed to kick her in the side, and they both fell to the ground.
The horse recovered, while Celine was left groaning in pain.
She curled up, holding her stomach, her hands still locked over it in blind, maternal panic, praying that the life inside her was still breathing.
That's when she saw a shadow jump out from the trees, landing in front of her. He bent down, shielding her with his body, protecting her from any more harm.
All the horses scattered at the arrival of a new presence.
The person had dark blue hair, a strong build, and a fierce look in his eyes that matched Celine's. He looked like an older version of Edmund, but more rugged and scarred.
"Father..." Edmund whispered.
Father did not respond, nor did he reach for a weapon. Instead, he turned his fierce blue eyes toward the monster wearing his son's face.
The best Northern knights could draw power directly from the earth's core, and the Duke of Rochefort was the absolute apex of that power.
A sickening, crushing pressure bore down on Edmund's shoulders. Even with the durability of his emerald-rank body, he could not resist the sheer, concentrated weight of the earth's core energy.
With a sickening crack, Edmund's knees violently buckled, slamming into the dirt and splintering the ground beneath him.
The immense gravitational force pushed his shoulders down, pinning him to the earth as if he were a common criminal awaiting the executioner's blade. He couldn't lift his arms; he could barely draw breath.
Without a word, the Duke leaped back into the trees, disappearing with Celine in his arms.
Celine coughed, clinging to her father's neck, "My child...Father, my child..."
He looked down on the blood that stained his hands, soaking through her skirt.
Her voice was weak, and her face pale as she used all her strength to bless the child, to keep it safe and sound.
Her father's hold on her tightened as they ran through the forest.
He passed through a secret passage that led them out of the Academy grounds, appearing in the building where their people were stationed.
He barged through one of the doors, and placed her on the bed.
Celine lay there, panting, her hands still clutching her belly.