England, the island of Great Britain, Surrey, Epsom.
Ordinarily, Epsom Racecourse would host the world-famous Epsom Derby on the first Saturday of June, but this year was an exception. Because of rain bands from the outer edge of a typhoon, the organizers had been forced to postpone the race by a full week.
And because of that, Xingyun Liuge—the newly crowned American Triple Crown winner who had already entered the Derby—was able to take part in the second leg of Britain's Classic Triple Crown as well.
Considering that Liuge had also only made it into the 2000 Guineas and the Kentucky Derby because of sudden torrential rain, some troublemaking reporters had published a whole article about it, calling her a "child of the weather" blessed by the gods.
Otherwise, from a meteorological point of view, it was genuinely hard to explain these two "accidents." Why was it that every race she wanted to run somehow ended up waiting for her?
The Anglican bishops seized the chance to boost their own presence, which really made people wonder whether that mysterious, god-soaked article had been commissioned by them in the first place.
Liuge, of course, could not care less. As long as those people did not come bothering them, that was enough. And considering that Anglican bishops had to be appointed through the Prime Minister anyway, Britain's state church ought to understand perfectly well what "secularization" meant.
So the girls turned their attention back to Epsom Racecourse.
This course was especially distinctive. Instead of the usual layout, it formed a rare loop-like shape, roughly a giant horseshoe when viewed from above.
The Derby was just over 2400 meters. The race began from the far end of that huge U-shape, starting with a long uphill stretch. Once the runners reached the highest point, they entered a broad sweeping turn. After a short section of comparatively level ground came the famous Tattenham Corner, where the horse girls had to turn while descending. Past that was a long straight, but the course still sloped downward.
And yet it was not simply downhill all the way. Near the finish, the slope abruptly changed again into an uphill rise that lasted until the line itself.
So although the Epsom Derby had a long straight and wide turns, the terrain itself was extremely unusual, and it was widely regarded as a race that put tremendous demands on a horse girl's stamina.
It was worth mentioning that stamina was one of the most important measures of whether a horse girl could win long-distance races. Combined with the fact that different countries and regions defined "middle-distance" and "long-distance" differently, races like the Epsom Derby were considered long-distance in some places and middle-distance in others.
Chihaya Yui stared seriously at an overhead map of Epsom, using the capped tip of her pen to trace lines along the course. Anyone who did not know better might have thought she wanted to become a horse girl herself and run the track in person before offering advice to her runner.
Xingyun Liuge found that rather amusing.
After all, Kitahara Jones and Oguri Cap had exactly that kind of relationship. Kitahara had even asked Liuge for advice for Oguri before, apparently believing Oguri would listen to her.
An outsider might easily get the wrong idea and think Oguri had feelings for her. But Oguri probably just saw her as a rival, right?
Since parting in America, Liuge did wonder how Oguri was doing. She was probably happily trampling all over Central's turf by now.
So that the horse girls at Central would not think Oguri was some one-of-a-kind exception, Liuge had deliberately spoken to Fujimasa March before leaving and told her to transfer to Central too.
As for the others... honestly, even after one helping of green juice, Liuge still did not think they could consistently win graded stakes races. At best, they might become consistent place-finishers. But the world was wide, and there was no harm in walking out and seeing it for themselves. So Liuge treated them all equally and encouraged them to go.
Go out and see the world? No.
Give the horse girls of Central a little green-juice-shaped shock? Absolutely yes.
Sirius Symbol knew nothing about the changes among the Kasamatsu girls. She assumed Liuge was simply projecting her own experience onto them, imagining that these regional horse girls could become major competitors too—but Central's turf was a completely different beast.
Still, because she so desperately wanted Liuge to return to Japan, Sirius Symbol chose to keep quiet. She did not want to sour the mood of America's newly crowned Triple Crown winner.
What if she annoyed Liuge and made her think, Actually, America's better after all? That would be the kind of despair there was no recovering from.
Sirius glanced toward Agnes Tachyon, hoping the "reinforcement" Symboli Rudolf had selected would finally prove useful, but...
This peculiar horse girl showed no intention whatsoever of helping Central's cause. She enthusiastically offered suggestions to Liuge and Chihaya Yui, as though she had fully joined the team and forgotten all about being a Central horse girl herself.
Sirius got a headache just looking at her. She badly wanted to sit Tachyon and Daiwa Scarlet down for a serious talk and remind them of the weighty mission on their shoulders.
And then, just like that, Latifa spoke up.
"Ahem. Xingyun's an American Triple Crown winner now, which means there'll definitely be swarms of reporters lurking outside the hotel every day. To keep them from interfering with her normal training..." She paused, cheeks faintly pink, looking unexpectedly lovely—so lovely it made a person want to grab her and kiss her silly until her whole face was covered in lip marks. "I have a proposal."
"A proposal?" Sirius had expected something minor, like switching hotels. Even Cuihe's family connections might have been able to help with that. She had never imagined Latifa was about to drop a bombshell on them.
Epsom. The country villa district.
Sirius's face went so green it nearly matched the lush roadside shrubbery.
Only then did she remember: this girl was not just any horse girl.
She was a princess of Dubai.
And when people thought of Dubai, they thought of desert and black gold, white headscarves and fingers covered in rings.
On one side stood a tall, bright modern villa. On the other rose a castle steeped in the weight of history.
Standing between them, Latifa smiled and said, "Pick whichever one you like."
Daiwa Scarlet was sweating at the temples.
"I thought she was just some ordinary companion we met on the way, but she's actually a little rich girl... Xingyun-senpai really is something else..."
A rich heiress had gone all the way to America just to race? Horse racing really did have extraordinary charm.
But Agnes Tachyon reached out and poked Daiwa Scarlet in the waist, making the ripe fruit hanging from Scarlet's chest bounce slightly. Then she corrected her "slip of the tongue."
"Not a little rich girl," Tachyon said. "A very rich girl."
To make sure Scarlet fully understood, Tachyon flapped one wide sleeve and traced a gesture across her own flat chest, then threw Scarlet a meaningful look.
Get it?
At first, Daiwa Scarlet did not.
But the more she looked, the redder her face became, until she reflexively hugged her chest.
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I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
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