A King is Born on the Road

When Iris came out of the temple, Hayer’s face, which was always relaxed and mischievous, was overlaid with a bitter expression for the first time.

He cut down the sacred tree that Tilla planted to save humans from monsters. That was only known to very few people in the Knights of Tejas.

If the people of Luwan found out that he had cut the sacred tree, Hayer would be excommunicated forever, and it would be a more terrible punishment than being executed.

Even for a hero who crossed the forbidden land and stopped the monsters that almost flocked to Luwan, it remained unchanged.

Hayer grew up as royalty, and yet chose to cut the tree, even though he would have known it better than anyone else.

In that sense, Iris thought he was a pragmatic person, and more than that, she thought he was a person with a sense of justice that felt almost childish.

When Iris didn’t say anything to him who didn’t enter the temple, Hayer asked back, rather puzzled.

“You didn’t ask? Why didn’t I enter the temple after coming all the way here?”

“That’s…”

Iris wanted to comfort Hayer. It was painful not being able to enter the temple, enough to make that playful man bitter.

Iris said.

“It’s not like God is in there. There’s a statue.”

“…….”

“You must have your own way of greeting God.”

Saying that, Iris tried to smile a little.

Hayer, however, did not smile, but looked at her for a moment and then turned away.

Iris looked at his back and wondered if her comforting words had gone wrong and hurt him.

With that concern, she involuntarily let out a deep sigh, and Hayer looked back as if he had heard it.

“Oh, I…”

Iris tried to excuse her sigh, but Hayer opened his mouth.

“Thank you.”

“Pardon?”

Iris asked back, but Hayer turned away without answering any more.

* * *

The day the sacred tree was cut down.

Hayer spent a long time kneeling under the tree and praying.

He was baptized exactly one year after birth, just like any child of a noble family in Luwan.

Since then, until the day of cutting down the sacred tree, he would visit the temple once a month and pray under any circumstances.

Problems that began in forbidden land were clearly growing, and some of the mountain peoples lost their lives to the monsters.

During a battle around the sacred tree, one of his subordinates wounded the sacred tree, giving Hayer an important realization.

At the same time, Hayer and several of the most outstanding knights in the Knights of Tejas felt the monsters stop.

Then he couldn’t help but notice.

The sacred tree no longer serves to block monsters.

Rather, the role was reversed, and it was playing a role in raising the spirits of the monsters.

As soon as he noticed it, Hayer had no choice but to decide to cut down the sacred tree.

Is there any other way? It was the only thing that saved countless people.

He cut off the sacred tree after a long prayer, and though he didn’t know at the time, there was a scar on Hayer’s back. It was a small wound, like being pricked by a rose thorn.

Hayer tended to heal quickly from all wounds, but not this one. No matter what medicine he used, it only grew bigger and bigger.

He accepted that it was a ‘curse’ that Tilla placed on him.

He thought God would never forgive him. It was a sadness at a depth that was different from that of a human being excommunicated.

“You must have your own way of greeting God.”

Hayer recalled Iris’s voice to him, who was suppressing his sadness in front of the temple. Those cold eyes that looked at him.

He hasn’t entered the temple since he cut down the sacred tree. This is because he thought that Tilla, the god of creation, would think that he had cut down the gift they gave to humanity.

So he had never dreamed that he would hear such comforting words from those icy eyes.

While he was thinking about it, Iris entered the building on the right side of the temple to receive the nameplate.

It was a place where believers were made new nameplates suitable for their status.

Perhaps Iris had a nameplate, but it belonged to a nun belonging to a convent, so she would now be making a new nameplate proving the existence of a princess.

While waiting for her, Hayer met with the Tejas Knights, who entered the temple.

“Captain!”

Annamaria and Hencke ran to him excitedly. Seeing his subordinates being happy to see him made him laugh.

* * *

While Iris was talking to the bishop, a new nameplate was being created.

The nameplate is made of wood that grows well in Luwan. One could be identified according to the nameplate’s appearance, and the nuns carried black and gray colored nameplates.

The new nameplate Iris received this time was plated.

“Princess, would you like to see some jewels?”

The bishop asked. In the Lepos family and the noble families, there were times when the closer one was to succession, the more splendidly decorated they were with jewels.

But Iris shook her head.

“It’s fine.”

There was no need for jewels since her succession to the throne had not yet been determined.

Iris hung the gold string on the nameplate and lifted it with both hands. It was a splendid and beautiful thing.

Her new nameplate felt unusually heavy. The nameplate she had as a queen overlapped.

When she packed her nameplate and went outside, she saw the Knights of Tejas gathered and making a lot of noise.

As soon as she saw the knights who she had lost one by one on their way to the North Gate, Iris bit her lip, fearing that tears would come out without her knowledge.

But if a woman they saw for the first time suddenly cried, it would be too absurd for them.

As she held back her tears, Hayer’s right-hand, Annamaria, whispered to Hencke, his left-hand.

“Why is she like that? Does she have a bad impression of us?”

“Let’s see, aren’t most impressions okay except for yours?”

“Hey, you punk. Bring it on.”

“I can deal with you.”

Just as they did when they first met, Annamaria and Hencke continued to bicker without a break.

However, she’s never seen a real fight between them after saying all that.

Rather, the camaraderie between the two was so affectionate that she doubted that they might be in love at first. Although it’s completely subsided now.

As the second son of an aristocratic family, Hencke, who learned how to greet the royal family, got down on one knee and greeted her.

“I am Hencke Haywin, the son of Dale Haywin and vice-captain of the Knights of Tejas.”

“I am Iris Lepos, daughter of Celios Lepos.”

After the two greeted each other, Iris asked Hencke, who stood up, to shake hands. He smiled and they shook hands.

Annamaria said.

“Let’s have a drink since everyone is in the capital!”

Then Hayer sighed and said.

“You’re going to crash another bar. Drink moderately.”

“You’re not going to drink moderately either, Captain!”

“I’ve never broken anything.”

“I didn’t break it to break it, either. It was broken because a weak object was brought.”

Annamaria grumbled and went to the bar she often went to when she came to the capital.

Hearing the words ‘crashing the bar,’ Iris followed after her, and the owner of the bar was rather excited and forgot to put on his shoes when he ran outside. Perhaps the Knights of Tejas had raised their sales quite a bit.

afterword

iris never gets drunk so hayer will instead bc my man drinks every damn day!!