Chapter 93: 93. Hunting start

"A real man would never leave a woman alone in the forest, Kaivan!" said Kaivan’s grandfather.

Riki tried to quickly process the situation. It seemed that Kaivan’s grandfather wanted to bring Kaivan closer to Ellaine. No wonder Kaivan had said earlier that he didn’t want to join the hunting competition. Perhaps he already knew that his grandfather wanted to bring him closer to Ellaine.

Ellaine herself did not seem to show any meaningful expression. She just remained silent and smiled slightly.

"Grandfather, she has an assistant to accompany her, right? And Ella, say something!" replied Kaivan, looking very annoyed with his grandfather who always wanted to bring him closer to any girl.

Kaivan had never been on a date before, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in women. He just wasn’t interested in having a relationship or anything like that. Not with Ellaine, because Kaivan only considered her a regular friend.

"Kaivan is right, I can go by myself, Grandpa. Besides, I can take care of myself, and Leni is with me too," said Ellaine, pointing to the woman who looked cunning.

Because Riki had to save the girl, he and Kaivan couldn’t stray far from Ellaine.

Riki patted Kaivan on the shoulder, "It’s okay, Kaivan, we can go together. Once we’re in the forest, we can split up to hunt our own prey. That girl has a female assistant, so let’s just go with them together, right, Mr. Velhart?"

The old man laughed when he heard this. He was happy that Kaivan’s friend supported him.

Meanwhile, Kaivan pushed Riki’s hand away from his shoulder, annoyed that Riki had suggested such a thing.

Finally, the race began and all the participants set off.

Since they were all rich people, most of them rented horses for hunting. But there were some who did not use horses, instead using small vehicles that had no problem entering the forest.

Riki set off with Kaivan, riding a big dark brown horse. Since there was only one horse left at that time, Riki could only sit behind Kaivan.

Riki knew it was all Kaivan’s grandfather’s doing, who provided only a few horses so that Kaivan would have no choice but to ride with Ellaine.

But in the end, Ellaine rode with her assistant, named Leni, who was in front.

Riki could almost hear the woman’s curses just by looking at her expression when Riki suggested they going together. Leni was already happy because Kaivan refused to go with Ellaine.

Several times, Leni deliberately sped up or slowed down her horse so that Kaivan would go ahead or stay far behind.

However, Kaivan kept up with the pace of Leni and Ellaine’s horses.

Riki whispered to Kaivan when Leni tried to stay far behind Kaivan again.

"I don’t know why, but I suspect that woman, Kaivan," whispered Riki.

"She seems to prefer going alone rather than together, right? Let’s go ahead, Riki," said Kaivan.

"No, you idiot! We have to stay with them. My suspicion is... it seems like Leni wants us to leave quickly because she wants to do something bad to Ella."

Kaivan furrowed his brow, although Riki couldn’t see Kaivan’s expression at that moment. However, because he knew that Riki often helped people, Kaivan thought that Riki had a special radar for finding bad people.

"Are you sure?" asked Kaivan.

"I’m very sure, Kaivan."

"Then, we’d better pretend to leave, then follow them quietly. I want to know if that woman really has bad intentions towards Ella," said Kaivan.

Riki patted Kaivan on the shoulder, happy that Kaivan finally had a good idea.

"You’re right, now act like you want them to go first," said Riki.

Kaivan nodded, then slowed his horse down until Leni and Ellaine’s horses were in front of them.

When Kaivan’s horse stopped, they also stopped because Ellaine patted Leni’s shoulder to signal her to stop.

"Kaivan, what’s wrong?" asked Ella.

Kaivan shook his head, "No, Riki suddenly needs to pee, so you guys go ahead, we’ll catch up later," said Kaivan.

Ella nodded, "In that case, Leni and I will go ahead, we’ll meet up again after the hunt is over, okay?"

"Oh, okay."

At a glance, Riki could see the happy expression on Leni’s face.

"Let’s wait until they’re a little further away, Riki," Kaivan muttered.

"Did you have to lie like that? I didn’t need to pee at all," Riki protested.

"Never mind, the important thing is that our plan worked. I’ll take another, more secluded path so we can watch them from there," said Kaivan. He rode his horse away from the previous path.

Soon after, they could see Leni and Ellaine. This time Ellaine was in front, while Leni was behind her.

Riki knew that Leni was doing this so she could secretly stab Ellaine. Leni pretending to teach Ella how to ride a horse was surely just a cover.

Riki also activated the recording function on his system for future evidence.

[Recording started.]

Riki nodded, while continuing to watch them.

"Nothing looks suspicious, Riki," said Kaivan.

"Sshhh! Don’t say anything out loud, and if possible, don’t let the horses step on dry twigs. We’re watching them, remember?" whispered Riki.

"But Leni has been Ellaine’s assistant for a long time. I don’t like Leni. Especially since Leni arrived, my friendship with Ellaine has become strained. Even Angeline and Liz, who used to be friends with her, say that Ella has changed since Leni arrived. But I’m not that suspicious."

Riki clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Be quiet, Kaivan. You just need to focus, I’ll keep an eye on them. Oh— if there’s any deer, just say the word, okay?"

"Okay."

After that, Kaivan tried to focus and be careful so that his horse wouldn’t make any noise.

Meanwhile, Riki suddenly patted Kaivan on the back and said, "Stop, stop."

Leni and Ellaine stopped. It seemed like there was a deer near them. So Ella got off her horse, while Leni remained on hers.

At that moment, Ella tried to focus on the deer, which looked quite large. Meanwhile, Leni was also focused, pulling a small pistol from her pocket.

Both Kaivan and Riki were surprised to see this.

Kaivan forgot that they had to hide, and immediately spurred his horse on so as not to be too late to save Ella.

Suddenly, a small dagger flew through the air just as Kaivan thought he would be too late, because Leni had already pulled the trigger.

The dagger hit Leni’s hand, causing the pistol shot to miss and startling Ella and her deer.

The deer ran away in shock. Meanwhile, Ellaine fell into the grass, automatically turning her body toward the source of the gunshot.

The girl’s eyes widened in disbelief when she saw a pistol in Leni’s hand.

[Recording complete, immediately sent to your phone’s storage]

"Leni, what happened?" shouted Ella, who was still shocked and hadn’t gotten up from her position.

Kaivan dismounted his horse, as did Leni and Riki.

"Nothing happened, miss, I was just wanted to help you to shoot that deer," said Leni calmly. The woman did not look panicked at all.

"That’s a lie, she was trying to kill you, Ella!" said Kaivan, helping Ella to her feet.

Leni began to panic.

"That doesn’t make sense. Why would I do that to the person who employs me and pays my salary?" said Leni, trying not to look panicked so she wouldn’t be suspected anymore.

But unfortunately, Riki had strong evidence. It was clear that Leni had aimed her gun at Ella, not the deer.

"But why did you come hunting deer? Don’t you believe in Ella’s abilities?" said Kaivan.

Ellaine, confused by the situation, remained silent, letting the two argue.

Suddenly, Riki handed over his cell phone, which was playing a video recording made by the system.

At first, Ella was confused when she received Riki’s smartphone, but when she saw Leni, who was ready with her gun, pointing it at Ella’s head, Ella was very shocked.

"You... you’re so cruel to me, Leni!" shouted Ella, her eyes filled with tears.

Leni, panicking because she had been caught, tried to escape on horseback, but Kaivan was faster than her. He managed to catch Leni.

"I’ll take this woman. Send me the video recording, Riki," said Kaivan.

It took Riki quite a while to calm Ella down, whom he didn’t know at all.

"I know you must be sad, Ella. But— um, would you like an apple?" asked Riki. He handed Ella a black apple.

Ella, who was very sad, didn’t care where Riki got the apple from, she just took it and ate it in silence.

Riki also gave Ella two tissues, which she immediately used to wipe her tears.

"I think I’m okay now, thank you for the apple, it was very sweet and delicious," muttered Ella.

"You’re welcome. But are you really feeling better? Should I take you back?" asked Riki.

Ella shook her head, "No, I really want to hunt this time, I want togot something. Because I’m really serious about this hunt. I want to show that I’m not weak."

Riki stood up and held out his hand to Ella.

"Then let’s go hunting together. I know where there are big deer nearby."

Her slender hand took Riki’s outstretched hand, then smiled slightly at Riki.

"You don’t mind me getting that deer? Because we’re supposed to be enemies in this competition," said Ella.

Riki laughed when he heard that, then shook his head, "Don’t worry, there are other bigger deer, but this one is for you."

"What? Let me hunt the bigger one!"

"No, I have to win."

"Cheater!"

"You’re the cheater because I’m helping you, right?"

Ella fell silent because she couldn’t refute Riki’s words. Riki laughed at the girl’s funny expression.