Reborn as the General's Useless Daughter-Chapter 61: Royal Hunting grounds (Part-1)

At the foot of Mt. Philanos, which lay like an emerald wall in the east of Elysia, rising quietly behind the Imperial Palace, by the time Zora arrived, dozens of grand tents were already stretched across the field like a temporary empire with the banners of Elysia snapped crisply in the morning wind. Armor clinked, guards barked orders, and attendants moved in brisk lines preparing supplies.

The instant her carriage rolled into view, the lively noise thinned into a ripple of whispers. Countless gazes pivoted toward it.

Yesterday’s storm had already swept through the capital: Minister Henry’s humiliation in the Prince’s Manor, Scarlett’s injuries, the Prime Minister’s frantic attempts at secrecy. Rumors were weeds; the more he tried to stamp them down, the faster they sprouted.

Scarlett, once a high-flying peacock who flaunted her status as future Crown Princess, had suddenly vanished from public sight. To the keen-eyed, this disappearance was more revealing than any confession.

Luna, in particular, had been watching closely. Scarlett had seized the very position she once coveted and had always enjoyed parading it in front of her. Now that she had gone silent, Luna sensed blood in the water.

A little digging told her everything: the Prime Minister’s mansion had been monitoring the Prince’s Manor like a hawk and had sprinted to the palace the moment Prince Kael and Zora returned. When Luna herself rushed over to observe, she arrived just in time to see Minister Henry dragging Scarlett away, the girl’s blood spattering faintly across the palace steps.

She didn’t know the cause. She didn’t need to. Scarlett emerged injured from the Prince’s residence, and that alone was enough to ignite the capital.

By the time the sun rose over Mt. Philanos, the entire city was buzzing.

A future Crown Princess was humiliated.

A Prince—once dismissed as useless and timid—striking back.

And now, Princess consort Zora was walking straight into the center of attention.

"I heard Scarlett prepared for months for this hunt," someone whispered. "She devoured a Strength Boost Potion, too. And now she isn’t even here. Her injury must be serious."

"The prince’s temperament seems different lately. Ever since he married, the wind in the palace has shifted."

"Luna’s here too. If she clashes with Zora, I wonder what will happen..."

Eagerness lit the crowd like sparks on dry grass.

Luna herself waited near the viewing area, excitement brightening her eyes. She had stoked this situation into a proper spectacle. With Scarlett disgraced, this hunting game is surely a chance for her to gain attention back.

A servant’s crisp announcement cut through the air.

"Princess Consort Zora has arrived!"

From the carriage, Zora stepped down, her posture calm as still water, her silhouette outlined by sunlight.

Ahead of her, the grand hunting field opened like a golden stage, its boundaries fenced in imperial yellow, radiating prestige and authority.

This hunt would continue for three days. The tents behind the arena served as temporary rest quarters, and most participants had already gathered inside the grounds.

When Zora appeared, conversations paused, breaths stilled, and all eyes naturally drew toward her—not with ridicule, not with doubt, but with something approaching awe.

Something had changed in her.

Her skin glowed subtly beneath the light, her posture carried an effortless sharpness, and her aura—once weak and easily overlooked—now pressed faintly against the senses, calm yet undeniably powerful.

Even those who had never believed in her talent felt their expressions shift.

This was not the waste they remembered.

This was someone else entirely, like a new Phoenix reborn from the ashes...

*

Zora stepped onto the hunting grounds like a brushstroke of moonlight dropped into daylight.

That quiet, frost-clean aura around her made people instinctively lower their voices, as if she were a celestial figure passing through mortal dust.

Her features, refined to ruthless perfection, held no weakness from any angle. Even the smallest movement carried a natural nobility that made onlookers forget to blink.

"I swear... she’s even more stunning than before."

Someone whispered, and the sentiment spread through the crowd like ripples on a lake.

Heads nodded. Hearts pounded.

Zora’s beauty no longer belonged merely to the mortal realm. The title of Imperial City’s First Beauty had not simply returned to her. She had surpassed it.

"No wonder the Crown Prince regrets losing her," another man muttered. "If we had a wife like that, we’d burn incense every day in gratitude."

Laughter followed, tinged with sincere envy.

Even though she was married, Zora remained the most mesmerizing presence in Elysia. Once labeled a blind, crippled failure unworthy of cultivation, she had risen from ashes with a radiance strong enough to blind all who underestimated her.

Every noble young mistress who used to dazzle the social circles now dimmed in her shadow.

And the two who resented her the most... burned the hottest.

Luna’s eyes were pools of venom the moment she saw her sister step forward. The memory of her own disfigurement—unresolved and unforgiven—gnawed at her, feeding that fire.

Beside her, Icarus clenched his jaw until the veins in his neck stood out. His broken arm, still not fully healed, hung uselessly at his side, a humiliating reminder of the power Zora now wielded.

"Sister," he growled under his breath, "you must avenge me. Because of her, I can’t even join the hunt!"

Luna’s lips curved into a smile sharp enough to cut.

"Rest assured, Icarus. I’ve already prepared everything. This time... she won’t walk out of the hunting grounds."

Her eyes glimmered with cruel certainty.

Meanwhile, Zora ignored the vicious stares following her like barbs and headed for the line where the participants gathered. Ministers she passed greeted her with polite bows; admirers stared with dazzled admiration; enemies simmered in silence.

She paid none of them the slightest attention.

Those worth acknowledging, she nodded to.

Those who wished her ill, she dismissed as noise.

Luna, however, was never satisfied with being ignored.

"Hmph, Zora," she called loudly, a mocking sweetness coating each syllable, "why didn’t you bring your prince today? Are his crippled legs so shameful that he doesn’t dare appear?"

A hush fell instantly.

Everyone turned.

Of course, the sisters would start again. They were incapable of peace.

And truthfully, many had wondered why Prince Kael had not arrived with his wife. The two had been inseparable ever since the wedding.

Zora slowly shifted her gaze toward Luna.

Her expression didn’t flicker.

Her tone didn’t change.

But her reply sliced through the air like a cold blade.

"Ah, Luna," she said lightly, "I told you before—don’t appear in public without warning."

Her eyes curved with a soft smile as she added, "You’re too ugly. You’ll scare people."

The silence that followed was shattered in an instant—into gasps, muffled snorts, and unabashed laughter.

Luna’s face twisted. "You..."

And the hunting grounds—already blazing with anticipation—ignited fully.

The hunt had not yet begun, but the first arrow had already been loosed.