A King is Born on the Road

While the knight of the Royal Knights affirmed at once that such a thing could not exist, Iris could not be so sure.

“Find me, child of Lepos. This tree can no longer protect us…”

She did not blindly believe what she saw as hallucinations, especially the appeal of the monsters after collapsing in the Traitor’s Labyrinth. But obviously, through the hallucination, Iris learned that the roots could be used for the wounds caused by the sacred tree, and it worked. Therefore, the hallucination could not be declared completely delusional.

With puzzled faces, the two wrote on their respective papers about the sage, ‘Zeniel Bronte,’ that Kernin will bring.

The knight said.

“Anyway, I’ll get going. I don’t know if the captain will be satisfied with this, but…”

The knight, who trailed off his words, once again bowed politely.

“Thank you very much for your help, Princess.”

Iris replaced the farewell with a smile, and again looked for data on the traitor Zeniel Bronte.

Iris, who stayed up all night looking for historical records at the same time as preparing for her parents’ wedding, widened her eyes at the blood dripping on the desk.

“Ah…”

Her nose was bleeding from worrying too much with her unhealthy body.

Iris hurriedly wiped the blood with a handkerchief. Then, slowly, she turned her attention to the book.

It was a book from 342 years ago. The book was so old that it was hard to read properly.

All the books on history were made in Kitasha, one of the great noble families. Kitasha was a heavy-mouth family, so it was clear that they would not change the books unless it was a royal decree.

After thinking for a moment, Iris pulled the book closer. Then she made a small cut on her finger with the sharp point of her earring and dripped blood on the page of the book.

“…Bad, really.”

After muttering to herself, Iris took the bloodstained book and spoke to the royal librarian in the royal library.

“I dirtied the book. Could I possibly order a new copy?”

Then, the royal librarian, who was dozing off because he had no reason to be called, suddenly came to his senses.

“Yes, of course, Princess! How much damage was done?”

When asked by the royal librarian, Iris opened the book. Then the royal librarian freaked out and said.

“H-how did the blood… come to think of it, don’t you look pale!”

“Ah, I’m a bit tired…”

“You don’t look just tired!”

“I’ll just change this book and rest.”

“What a true princess… Anyway, this much damage… a problem that would be disconcerting to even call it damaged will be resolved by the Kitasha family representative.”

Iris smiled at the expected flow of the conversation.

“Really?”

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

The royal librarian stood up as he spoke.

“She is staying on the top floor just in time, so I’ll bring her.”

“Thank you.”

“Please sit down, Princess.”

As the royal librarian brought her to a chair, Iris sat down without a second thought. She wondered if her face was that serious, so she looked at her reflection through the tinted glass of the window, but she couldn’t tell from that.

Shortly afterwards, Kitasha’s delegate, Vered Kitasha, arrived at Iris’s location. She was a typical northern woman with sky-blue eyes that seemed chillingly cold.

Vered asked in a sharp voice as soon as she introduced herself to Iris.

“You damaged the book?”

“The royal librarian said it is not to the point of damaging…”

“It’s too much to damage a history book.”

…It wasn’t damaged.

Iris wanted to protest, but kept her mouth shut because it felt damaged even in her own opinion.

Vered Kitasha snatched the book from her hand and placed it on the table. And after checking the part where the nosebleed was, she cut it off with a small knife that had a string on the back of the book.

After taking out the bloody book page, she pulled a piece of paper out of the bag she brought. Then she started to write down the bloodstained book page.

Iris was impressed by her neat and beautiful handwriting. All the history books she has seen so far had that handwriting. It was Kitasha’s handwriting.

“Your handwriting is beautiful.”

Vered ignored Iris’s honest praise. In fact, rather than ignoring it, it seemed correct that she was concentrating on her work and not listening.

There were about three pages stained with blood, and Vered was transcribing them perfectly.

Iris noticed that she had memorized almost all the history books.

It was natural that the Kitashas, who produce all the history books of Luwan, knew well about the traitors. However, they were tight-lipped, and they remained silent about what they had to keep secret, even if the king would come to wipe out Kitasha.

Even so, she wondered if she might be able to find help with an urgent matter. Iris asked Vered a question while she was just finishing the second chapter and moving on to the next chapter.

“Has there ever been a child born between a monster and a human in history?”

When asked like that, Vered looked coldly at Iris. Then she opened her mouth calmly.

“Why are you asking again what you’ve already confirmed in this book? Are you testing me now?”

“No! No way. It’s not like that.”

“It is said that Zeniel Bronte is a child born between a monster and a human. He is a man of the north, and by the time he was born, he was closer to the monsters than anywhere else.”

“Are you from the high mountains?”

“I am a Luwan. There is a village in the high mountains where the Luwans live. Most of them are fugitives.”

“Really?”

“Really?”

Iris belatedly realized that Vered was just cold, not angry. It was now that she was really angry.

“You don’t believe the book written by my family?”

Iris shook her head quickly at her words.

“I just thought it was a curious story. It’s hard to believe.”

“The Kitasha family does not write lies in their history books. If it was written that a child was born between a monster and a human, there would have been clear evidence that it looked like that.”

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t that I doubted Kitasha’s ability.”

It was not until Iris apologized immediately that Vered’s anger ended. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be a person who held grudges even after hearing an apology.

Iris said cautiously.

“Zeniel Bronte is said to have come out of the Traitor’s Labyrinth this time.”

“He entered the Traitor’s Labyrinth 342 years ago, so he would have died.”

“No. They say he came out alive.”

“That can’t be true.”

“Is there any data that can tell us more about him?”

“I am the source.”

“Will you tell me?”

“Perhaps.”

As expected, Vered was reluctant to say the contents of the history book. It was because of Kitasha’s family custom of believing that it was right not to ask and answer in order to record an accurate history.

Without a word, she went back to transcribing the third chapter. Iris, too, was just asking, so there was nothing to feel hurt about.

All the books in the library were copies. The originals were all owned by the Kitasha family. However, even these copies were repeated.

The items in the royal library were written in Kitasha’s handwriting by a member of the Kitasha family. It was the same book as the original.

It was a mysterious work. The ink used only by the Kitasha family quickly took root in the paper and dried up to prevent it from smearing.

Vered tied the book tightly with string again. It was such an old book that there were traces of replacement on the new paper, so Vered wrote down her signature in the corner of the new paper. It meant that she revised it herself.

Iris admired the craftsmanship of the Kitasha family in history books. It was thanks to the people of the Kitasha family who regarded historical records as their business that made even the reckless King Eswa worry about his name in history.

“If the paper is of a different age and does not have the signature of a member of the Kitasha family, it must have been modified by someone else.”

“That’s a fake.”

Vered said emphatically.

“Even if there is a ruler who forces us to revise the history books, the Kitasha family will never write history other than facts.”

Iris nodded, and Vered continued.

“So act right, Princess. Always.”

Having said that, Vered stood up. And she went on.

“As you know, the Kitasha family is close to the sacred tree in the north. The energy of the sacred tree guides the Kitasha family to an accurate history. With the help of the sacred tree, we are always watching the royal family’s activity.”

It was said that the sacred tree would tell the people of the Kitasha family the exact route of history. So the Kitasha family were both great historians and great detectives.

Iris recalled the Kitasha family before crossing the North Gate.

During the war, contact with the Kitasha family was completely cut off. Iris thought that the monsters, which had probably been running amok due to the northern sacred tree, had annihilated the Kitasha family.

She opened her mouth.

“What if.”

Iris made a quiet noise, then shut down for a moment. And asked Vered again.

“If the sacred tree was corrupted, would false history be written?”