Chapter 266: Winter Hunting

"Dear Mr. Peter,

"It is so nice to hear that we have a Vladimir family member here in Ural. Now, the storm has stopped and the weather has cleared up, therefore, in order to celebrate the upcoming spring and welcome our distinguished guest from afar, I would like to invite all the nobles in town to join together for a winter hunting in the forest belonging to my manor. May I have the honor?

"Baroness Carleena Lottnico."

That was a fancy invitation, made of fine cardboard and printed with sunflower patterns, with her elegant and beautiful handwriting in Schachran language. The invitation also had the unique feminine scent, left by the mature and beautiful noble lady who wrote the invitation.

"Baroness Carleena Lottnico..." Lucien just heard the name from Sergey, who he suspected to be a swindler, so he was now feeling a little hesitant.

The caravan members saw that Lucien did not say a word after reading the invitation, so they asked out of curiosity, "Mr. Peter, which is this noble inviting you?"

It was not Lucien's first time receiving invitations like that. Many suzerains had invited him before because of the family name, Vladimir. Out of a noble's courtesy, Lucien had accepted many invites and attended many parties.

Although after when the suzerains knew that Peter was only the son of a lord who failed to inherit the title, they became quite cold to Lucien, those invitations still brought the caravan good convenience in the empire.

"It's from Baroness Carleena," answered Lucien straightforwardly. Schachran Empire had a vast territory and countless important and small nobles. Lucien really did not know them well, except Count Witte, and he was expecting that the caravan members could provide him with more information.

After having some good wine with his lunch, Berdychiv's face looked flushed, and his red nose looked even brighter, "Baroness Carleena! Haha... A real beauty from Ural! A widow! She has all the wealth left by the baron, and Mr. Peter, you've got no idea how many young nobles are longing for winning her affection. The beauty, the manor, and the wealth... Think about it."

Berdychiv was still a bit drunk. He looked at Lucien trying to give him hints, as this had always been the traditional topic among men.

"Baroness Carleena is called Black Widow and the Vain Fox," added a blonde and green-eyed girl, a bit unhappily. "She was born in a noble family, and she's also the niece of the count's second wife. But years ago, she rejected all the young nobles who were pursuing her and married Baron Lotnikov, a widower with no offsprings, who was at that time forty-six years older than her for the sake of wealth and his title. Baron Lotnikov's health condition was quite good when they first got married, but five years later, the baron aged a lot and got really sick. Soon, he passed away."

"Irina, don't spread rumors," said a gentleman in the caravan. "Look around, we're in a fancy hotel in Ural, not in the middle of nowhere. What if some nobles heard it?"

Berdychiv waved his hands, "Relax. Trust me, those nobles want people to spread Baroness Carleena's bad name. So they can have less competitors. Those nobles don't care about the baroness's reputation. They want the title, the money and the beautiful body."

"She does have a bad reputation. She started inviting young nobles to her manor and having those extravagant parties only half year after the baron passed away."

"Anyway," Lucien smiled, "the baroness has invited me, and we're not in any hurry to leave. I should be polite and not let the hostess down."

Lucien had to play and maintain his noble reputation well. As he was not the only noble invited, the winter hunting should not be risky. And as long as he refused to be greedy, Lucien was confident that he would not be swindled.

After all, at that moment, Lucien himself was, in fact, a swindler as well.

Hearing that, the several caravan members had mixed feelings. Some started playing jokes, while some did not look too happy.

Lucien stood up and slightly nodded to them with a smile, "Then, see you tomorrow, everyone."

After he said that, he closed the book Работаактёранадсобой (An Actor Prepares) in his spirit library.

...

The land was covered with a thick layer of snow. Tall and big pines, from time to time, shook off the snow to get rid of the heavy burden. Several big, black Ural dogs shot out as fast as arrows, chasing after the rabbits.

Suddenly, an arrow shot from afar penetrated a gray hare very precisely.

Applause followed. A young noble tried to please the noble lady, "Impressive! Carleena, your archery has improved even further!"

Carleena lifted her bow in a triumphant way, then she turned around and said to Lucien, "Mr. Peter, now it's your turn. Vladimirs are all good archers."

Baroness was around twenty seven or twenty eight. Her soft blond hair was tied back, and there was always a smile matching her big blue eyes. Her slightly pouty red lips were like flower petals. The black hunting jacket outfit showed the beauty of her figure lines. Seeing that, many young nobles could not even remove their eyes from the baroness.

Lucien had seen women more beautiful than her, so he just took a polite glance at her and replied, "Thank you, Lady Carleena. The glory all goes to the family. But, honestly speaking, I'm more of a close combat person than an archer."

Lucien pointed at the two swords on his waist. Then, although he was being polite saying this, Lucien still quickly shot an arrow and it directly got a hare in the snow.

The key point of archery was stability and good vision, and they were no problem for Lucien.

"Umm... Clearly, you're really being humble, Mr. Peter. Your archery is close to knight level. You should teach me when you have time." Carleena stared at Lucien with her big blue eyes out of admiration.

This made other young nobles quite unhappy. A black-haired noble picked up his bow and said, "He's close to knight level. But let me show you what real knight-level archery is!"

After saying that, he shoot an arrow so fiercely that it was almost covered by fire. The arrow directly shot through a huge tree and went right into the eye socket of the animal behind it, leaving its fur totally undamaged.

He turned around and put on a complacent smile, "Peter, you see that? Of course, I wouldn't mind practicing sword with you either."

Before Lucien said anything, Carleena smiled sweetly, "Nice extraordinary bow, Barshac."

The implication of her words were clear. Then, Carleena turned to talk to other nobles. Her great social skills made this whole evening warm and cheerful.

...

In the forest some distance away from the nobles, two guys in black cloak were staring in Carleena's direction. When the young nobles started to scatter in the forest in order to find the best gift for Carleena, one man said to the other, "Mianka, you turn yourself into a winter bear later and attack Carleena. Make sure that the first round of attack miss the target. Then, you attack the blond noble guy beside her. After injuring him, you run away pretending that you were beaten by him."

"No problem, Niake." As the tall guy was saying, his body was covered by a layer of gray light. When the light disappeared, the guy had turned himself into a big, white bear.

Winter bear was a common magic creature in Schachran Empire. A fully grown one could have the power of a knight.

Niake grinned and said, "Mianka, control yourself a bit, so you won't directly beat him by accident. And be a good actor when you retreat. Don't make him suspicious."

"Relax. I got this," responded the white bear.

After a couple of minutes, a huge winter bear popped out and directly rushed toward Carleena. Screaming, Carleena barely dodged the bear's attack and then she hurriedly sought for Lucien's help.

Then, the huge winter bear raised its giant paw in front of Lucien. Seeing that, Niake put on a smile. Everything went exactly how they planned. Now, the next step would be Mianka hurting the noble man and then running away.

All of a sudden, after a flash of light, the winter bear fell over in front of Lucien's horse with a bang!

Lucien, on the horse, was holding a long, blue sword, with his back straightened. As he stared at the bear, it burst out gray light again and revealed its real look—the black-coated guy.

Seeing that, Niake almost dropped his jaw, "What's going on here?"