A King is Born on the Road

Vered looked dumbfounded for a while, then asked back in a rather agitated voice.

“…What do you mean by corrupted sacred tree? What nonsense are you talking about! It is also the power of the sacred tree that the princess can find her way. If that power had been corrupted, how could the princess have escaped the Traitor’s Labyrinth?”

“Madam, you weren’t like the Kitasha family just now.”

“……”

You don’t deny it until you check it with your own eyes. It was a matter the people of the Kitasha family considered important.

However, it was different with the sacred tree. The Kitasha family was a family that bloomed on the power of this sacred tree. Hearing an insult to the sacred tree, Vered denied Iris’s words on the spot as unprecedented.

“…Nonetheless, it can’t be.”

“Madam Vered.”

Iris risked her life to tell the truth to the Kitasha family who kept secrets.

“The sacred tree is already exhausted.”

“……”

“The tree now does not protect us from monsters, but only serves to make the monsters explode like pouring oil to a fire.”

“……”

“On that point, Madam needs to confirm.”

It was neither an order nor a request.

Iris believed that any representative of the Kitasha family would surely dig into this incident to be recorded in history. So this was merely a reminder of what Vered Kitasha had to do.

Vered gazed at Iris with mysterious eyes.

Vered Kitasha, the eldest daughter of the Kitasha family and the mother of two children who inherited the Kitasha family name, struggled to rule out the subject in order to consider Iris Lepos’s words.

The sacred tree was the source of the power of the Kitasha family.

Vered said.

“If the sacred tree is corrupted, how can the people of my family still write down an accurate history?”

“Couldn’t it be the innate power of the Kitasha family?”

“……”

Vered was lost in thought for a moment. And after bowing her head slightly, she left the library. She had no choice but to look into it since she had doubts. It was her blood-driven job.

After Vered left, Iris sighed heavily, exhausted. There were many people who had a knack for making others uncomfortable in the royal palace. Maybe she was one of them, Iris thought.

She forcibly pulled up her exhausted energy. She was overdoing it. It was time for a break.

Iris checked what Vered had transcribed about Zeniel Bronte. She could finally read it because she had rewritten it neatly on a new piece of paper. After examining it for a while, she put it in her bag, and headed for the east building.

The front of the building was noisy for tomorrow’s party. Agatha, her lady-in-waiting, came running, but when she saw Iris’s face, she freaked out and backed away.

“What’s wrong with your face?”

“Huh? Is it not good?”

Iris, who had never been told in her life that she was not pretty, asked with wide eyes. Agatha immediately calmed down and clicked her tongue in response.

“It’s pretty. It’s because you’re so pale. Hurry up and get some sleep. At any rate, pretty kids don’t know how to save their faces.”

She wanted to ask how she cared for her face, but for now, she didn’t talk about things she didn’t know and listened to Agatha’s grumbling.

Agatha asked.

“So, when is the groom-to-be coming?”

“Hmm…”

He said he would come before the party, but strangely, there was no contact.

Iris still believed in his promise, and spoke in a confident voice.

“He’s coming, soon.”

“If there is a party, you should have come the day before. Lord Hayer or you. Trusting only your face…”

Hayer sometimes trusted his face and acted charmingly, but not herself. Iris felt wronged to be tied up with Hayer.

In any case, it was true that Iris, whose parents were getting married, had to be better dressed and cared more about than Hayer.

Iris washed herself in the bathroom and lay down in bed to get a good night’s sleep in her own effort for the next day. Even though she was so tired, she thought for a moment that she missed Hayer. She could see him tomorrow, so she tried to sleep, suppressing her needless anxiety.

───  ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅  ───

Hayer had difficulty keeping himself under control for a while because of his wounds. After soaking in flower water, the night continued when he was drunk on painkillers and sent to faint or sleep.

Hayer, who was spending time recovering, was ready to start as soon as he could get up.

Hayer draped his clothes over his still scarred body. Since he made a promise, he had to go to the capital. He couldn’t send her to that important event without an escort.

“He told the captain to enter the country immediately, as he is the only heir to the Siere royal family, the Lassor family.”

The remaining energy of the painkiller mixed with the contents delivered by the courier Edwin.

He will not enter the country.

But what happens after that?

The extent of Siere’s forces was unknown in Luwan.

No, do you want to know? The incompetence of the royal family was fatal in the position that the border has been and should be protected in the future. In any case, Hayer got on the horse.

Ato, vice-marshal of the Knights of Tejas, asked anxiously.

“Captain, wouldn’t it be hard to get to the capital now?”

“You worry about everything.”

Hayer drew up the corners of his mouth.

“Edwin will take responsibility if I fall.”

Then Edwin, who was ready to return to the capital with Hayer, said.

“I can’t take responsibility. The captain is twice my size.”

“Think of it as training.”

“My training is to become quicker, not stronger.”

“You’ve run out of loyalty.”

“There was never…”

Playing around like that, Hayer gathered the energy to start. However, as he got on the horse while being seen off by the Knights of Tejas, his expression hardened again as he ran through the meadow heading to the capital.

Edwin, who predicted his expression without even seeing it, spoke as he drew closer.

“Captain, shall I go back to Siere?”

“I need a moment to think.”

“Yes, understood. Please tell me anytime.”

Edwin replied and moved away again.

It was time to clear his head while he was running. Hayer thought about what was to come in the future while running through the empty field where no terrain appeared for a while.

On the day of Celios and Peter’s wedding, Iris caught sight of the boutonniere prepared for Hayer.

It was an orange gerbera matching the colour of his eyes and the necklace she wore around her neck. To accommodate the party that starts in the afternoon, the boutonniere picked was selected with the flowers for today’s luncheon.

As Iris looked at the flower, Annie, the Asheri family maid who was arranging her clothes, said.

“The young master will come soon. I’ve never seen the young master fail to keep his promise in my life.”

Then Iris answered with a smile.

“Yes. I know he will come.”

However, the problem was that Edwin’s expression, who left after meeting her, was dark. It kept coming to mind. Iris didn’t think she was a very perceptive person. So she tried to think that it would be a useless worry.

“Princess, you have to leave now.”

Iris sighed at Madeleine’s words.

Since it was her parents’ wedding, she was sure they wouldn’t pay too much attention to her.

So isn’t this too much?

She thought, but Agatha wouldn’t stay still if she said it, so she kept her mouth shut.

Iris walked to the temple of the royal palace. Agatha was busy arranging the guests’ seats until the very end. There must have been a lot of work to do, but she was grateful to Agatha for doing this for her.

Agatha, who was busy checking the seats, noticed Iris entering the temple and stopped her urgent moving and talking. Then she looked at her with affectionate eyes and pointed to her seat.

“Here is your seat. And don’t eat food. I didn’t bring it to eat. It’s decoration. Most people here won’t eat them. You can grab something simple at the dinner party later.”

“All right, all right. The nagging…”

“I’m telling you because you’re not interested in social events.”

“Therefore, I know, so you don’t have to tell me that much.”

After such a quarrel, Iris went to the place Agatha told her about and sat down. She was the closest family member, so she had arrived before the other guests came.

From where she sat, she could see Celios Lepos in her wedding dress and Peter Wick in his formal suit.

Even before the wedding, they seemed to be arguing about something they disagreed with. But soon, as if Peter Wick had told a joke, Celios looked at him with exasperation. Then, Peter Wick checked the surroundings and hugged Celios tightly.

It seemed that he was only looking around and not looking up. She heard he was an excellent knight, but he was completely out of his mind because he had his lover next to him.

Iris looked at the two for a moment before fiddling with the boutonniere in her hand. Then someone jumped over the chair next to her and sat down.

Looking sideways, Iris’s eyes widened.

“Is it mine?”

Properly dressed in the uniform as the Knights of Tejas leader, Hayer pointed his chin at her hand.

From the moment Iris felt his presence, she hid her thumping heart and scolded him.

“You’re late. An escort should have been here the day before.”

“So. Won’t you give it to me?”

“I’ll give it to you.”

“Here.”

Hayer pushed his left chest out for her to put it on him personally.

Iris, who had been oppressed by unknown anxiety since Edwin left, burst into a small smile.

afterword 

can the world pause for a second, let these two breathe, and let them get married PLEASE they can never catch a break