A King is Born on the Road

The next morning.

Iris woke up to the sound of swearing outside the window. It was loud enough that it woke up her tired body that was deeply asleep moments ago.

When she pulled back the curtains a bit and looked out, three rugged men were threatening a merchant.

Eventually, she couldn’t sleep any longer and was about to get up, but she heard a thump from where she was, and Annamaria, who was sleeping on the other floor, was walking towards them.

Hencke followed right behind.

“Anne, hold it in.”

“Hold it in? Hold it in? I woke up in the middle of my sleep, how can I hold it in?!”

Then, she alternately punched the three thugs who threatened the merchant.

Even though she remembered how many enemies the two of them had easily killed on their way to the North Gate, seeing it again made her body tingle in fear.

The three thugs couldn’t even scream before they fell on the floor.

Hencke was pretending to stop her, but if you look closely, he was encouraging her from the side.

Annamaria spat at the fallen thugs and turned around, leaving them alive as if she was benevolent.

“Let’s live quietly, quietly.”

Hencke said, and returned to the building with Annamaria.

Iris was convinced that if the Knights of Tejas had stayed in the capital instead of being stationed in the forbidden land, their notoriety would have grown in an instant.

After everyone got up, Iris came out to get into the carriage, and Annamaria, who had been struggling with sleeping in the morning, was waiting as a guard and companion.

Annamaria was about a hand taller than Iris, and her body itself was large.

Later, Annamaria got down on one knee in front of Iris and greeted her like Henrique did the day before.

“I am Annamaria of the Knights of Tejas.”

There was a moment of silence.

Annamaria, who was completely unaware of the etiquette of the aristocracy, greeted her like Henrique did after seeing and learning from him.

Annamaria raised her head slightly, wondering if something was wrong.

Iris opened her mouth slowly at the look of her eyes.

“I think shaking hands will be enough between people of the same sex.”

“…Really?”

“In the north, yes, Dame Annamaria. In the case of the same sex, you only have to bend your knee to your Lord.”

Perhaps Annamaria was embarrassed by her words, as she got up quickly and said, taking Iris’s outstretched hand.

“Thank you for telling me right away. I almost do this every time. I don’t have anyone to greet… Ah, no wonder. That’s why the captain entrusted me as the guard, huh?”

“What do you mean… ah.”

Iris also nodded, knowing what it meant.

Hayer must have known that Annamaria was not familiar with manners, but he seemed to think that her superior would make his subordinate less uncomfortable by pointing out and explaining.

Annamaria said.

“Unlike me and Hencke, the captain has a delicate part.”

“I see.”

“Let’s go.”

When Annamaria nodded, Iris tilted her head slightly in reply and followed her to the carriage.

Iris looked at Annamaria’s back with an inexplicably complex face.

After a moment, they got into the carriage together and headed to the port of Everhart.

Iris was a quiet person, but she knew that Annamaria, the always talkative Tejas Knight, was very uncomfortable with silence.

She felt sorry for Annamaria, who desperately kept her mouth shut to be polite, so Iris eventually spoke first.

“To get to the forbidden land, you have to meet the mountainous Kawat people. What about them? What kind of people are they?”

When she threw out a subject that she could talk about excitedly, Annamaria’s expression brightened and she said,

“I’m actually from a very poor area so… From the first time I followed the Knights across the Kawat people’s home, my heart moved a little toward them.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Making a living is important, but things like religion were actually a very low priority to me.”

There were people like this.

Iris nodded in wonder, and Annamaria continued.

“In fact, when we first went to Kawat, there were a lot of complaints from the Kawat people. Especially about the Luwan royal family. Uh, sorry.”

When Annamaria realized that Iris was a member of the royal family, she shook her head, saying it was okay.

Then Annamaria continued with relief.

“It’s a mountainous area, so they’re not in a situation where they can farm, but they keep telling them to build it, and if they don’t pay taxes, they’ll kill them all.”

“Ah.”

“But the damage the monsters did was so serious that as we stopped it, they gradually opened up. To be honest, I quite liked the beliefs of the Kawat people.”

“How is it?”

“As you know, the Kawats already believe that the god of all things disappeared… Don’t they, the people, have a doctrine that they should live with the heart of God, help each other, and protect our sacred trees?”

“Right.”

“But, in the words of the captain, it was surprisingly nice to see them living a simple life and praying faithfully.”

“……”

“That’s how the Kawats and our Knights came to respect each other.”

Iris nodded.

She firmly believed that Tilla was the god of all things and the only god. Therefore, the Kawat’s terrible idea of the disappearance of the god was unacceptable even once she had returned through the passage of time.

But in this life, Iris had the idea that she had to accept it.

Sid Lepos, the king who couldn’t accept it, made Luwan suffocate after failing to scream in the war.

She closed her eyes and thought for a moment about the Kawat doctrine. However, it has not yet been accepted, so she swept it away from her sinking heart.

“…To think Tilla has disappeared.”

Annamaria smiled and chuckled at Iris’s painful words to herself.

“Why is the princess struggling to accept it?”

“It’s just…”

Iris thought for a moment and went on.

“Because the areas where we live are next to each other.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s a waste of resources to be wary of each other and fight.”

It was an economic issue.

Annamaria nodded in agreement with her words and said.

“Like Everhart and Hall, right?

“Yes, I heard that the two families are also on very bad terms.”

“It’s not too bad. It’s terrible to see people with jobs that belong to the other. When a farmer enters Everhart, or a merchant enters Hall, they beat each other up, whether they die or not.”

Annamaria said, as if it were pathetic.

Iris sighed, already worried about whether there was a way to improve their relationship.

Moments later, a carriage with two people arrived at the port of Everhart.

Iris, who got off the carriage, blinked at the scene she saw for the first time in her life.

There was a huge market in the harbor of Everhart. It is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day without closing, so you can get all the things in the world.

There was an abundance of strange or familiar smells of spices, and foreigners spat out unknown words and passed by Iris mercilessly.

After being pushed around like that, Iris managed to enter the Everhart Gold Exchange. There, she confirmed the amount of gold she would inherit from the gold Celios inherited and deposited in the Everhart safe.

Annamaria’s mouth dropped when she checked the number with Iris.

“Wow, is the princess rich?”

The amount Iris could own with her bloodline alone was quite large.

But Iris knew again from the money she received that the Lepos family was on the verge of bankruptcy.

The Lepos family borrowed a huge amount of money from Everhart, and the debt was growing. Half of Iris’s inheritance was also mortgaged.

Iris returned to the market with the documents she received from the gold exchange office for silver.

Iris, who was looking for a flower shop in the market, first found a handkerchief shop and asked Annamaria.

“I’m thinking of buying a handkerchief, do you need one too, Dame?”

“Handkerchiefs? Aren’t those things only carried around by nobles?”

“I don’t know. I was asked to buy it as a gift for a maid of the Asheri family.”

After hearing Iris’s words, Annamaria burst into laughter.

“Your Highness is the only princess in the world who runs errands for a maid.”

“Is that so…?”

Annamaria’s words were not wrong, so Iris stood up and also burst into laughter.

Iris bought a handkerchief for the maid, Annie, with the yellow color she wanted and lined with blue pigment sold on a remote island.

Annamaria liked the handkerchief she chose, so she bought two of the same and gave one to her as a present.

Annamaria said with a happy expression on her face.

“I like it. Thank you.”

Iris smiled silently at Annamaria’s gratitude, and then asked her.

“Hayer… What kind of things does he like?”