A King is Born on the Road

“…Isn’t it obvious? Who else is eligible to succeed the throne besides me?”

“There’s Hayer.”

“He’s not even your son.”

“It’s still a doubt, not a certainty. Unless the sages prove it.”

Sid’s expression crumpled at King Eswa’s words.

King Eswa pretended to yield to Sid’s requests when he was upset, dragging Hayer in front of the weeping queen and sending him to the dungeon to starve him to death, but now he said that it was unclear unless it was confirmed by the sages.

King Eswa finally spoke slowly as he looked at his son, who could not hide his expression.

“And Celios’s daughter. Did you say her name was Iris?”

Sid laughed at the remark.

“She is a woman who lived in a convent until she was 19. What would she know about being king? As soon as you put such an ignorant woman on the throne, there will be no one who does not know that Luwan will be ruined.”

“As I said before, there is no guarantee that the full moon is for you.”

Sid’s face was completely distorted by his words.

In that moment of anger, he remembered Iris Lepos standing on the ice.

That cold and beautiful face made his whole body tingle whenever he thought of it.

He wanted to see that gaze again, those eyes that were afraid but suppressed the fear as hard as she could.

Sid left the office and headed to the west wing where he was staying.

Entering the room, he saw the women brought by his men waiting in the waiting room. All were women who looked like Iris.

Sid was going to choose one of them, a substitute, and set them up for the wedding.

* * *

Sid examined the faces of the commoner women who were dragged in without knowing why and were trembling with fear.

Still, it was worthwhile to search the capital. One of the five looked quite like Iris.

Perhaps even Celios, who had abandoned her daughter for 19 years, would not recognize her, Sid thought.

Sid said.

“Leave this girl behind and lock the rest in the dungeon. Don’t let anyone speak until May 1st.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After greeting him, his guards took the other four and disappeared.

Sid checked the face of the remaining one. There was nothing to say. Looking at her face, it was clear that she was the illegitimate daughter of someone from the Lepos family.

“What is your name?”

“It’s Madeleine.”

“Whose daughter are you?”

“My… I know my father is a royal.”

When asked exactly, she was the illegitimate daughter of his uncle, Kernin Lepos.

Can there be a more perfect substitute than this?

Sid was satisfied, but he didn’t intend to end it here. This illegitimate child was only a precautionary measure, and on May 1st, he intended to somehow set Iris herself up at the wedding hall.

Right now, Iris was on the run with Hayer. So if Hayer let Iris go, the rest would be easily solved.

Sid left right after hiring a tutor to educate Iris’s substitute, Madeleine.

The last place he arrived was the basement of the west wing. There were rats everywhere, and the floor was cold even in summer.

When the door opened, he saw the queen, Peonia Lepos, sitting in a rocking chair and knitting.

“Your Majesty the Queen.”

Peonia was still knitting, as if she couldn’t hear.

She saw before her eyes the son that was suspected to have been born from infidelity suffering terrible hardships instead of her, and asked the king to divorce her, but even that failed.

King Eswa effectively confined the queen in the basement of the west wing where there was no light. The queen then had two children there, but both miscarried.

After that, somehow, her perception of the world reduced significantly, so she couldn’t hear sounds well and couldn’t focus on anything.

“Mother.”

When Sid called again, Queen Peonia looked up.

“What’s the matter?”

Now she answered back.

Sid said.

“It’s very unfortunate… It seems that the council of elders is again saying that Hayer should be detained in the dungeon.”

Queen Peonia’s hands stopped at his words.

Sid put down the paper that he brought and said.

“What to do? That man ran off with the woman I was going to marry.”

“Sid, he’s… That child can’t anymore. I can’t stand it any longer.”

Queen Peonia’s hands and voice trembled.

“I’d rather kill him…”

Little Hayer’s screams reverberated in her mind.

Queen Peonia covered her ears with her hands and trembled all over.

Sid said, putting a quill pen in his mother’s hand.

“So write it down. Bring my woman back. He listens to his mother very well, doesn’t he?”

“Then… will you forgive him?”

“Yes, I will.”

Peonia, relieved, hurriedly picked up her pen and began to write a letter to Hayer.

It was a letter screaming to bring back the woman who will marry his brother.

* * *

Since entering the mountainous area, Iris has had to climb the mountain with the knights. However, the terrain was so rough that Iris couldn’t keep up with the speed of the knights at all.

Feeling apologetic and depressed, she saw the knights stop and make a bet.

There was a lot of noise and a bit of swearing, and then someone came running to Iris because he came last.

“Hello, Princess! My name is Camille! I’ll carry you on my back!”

“What? W-wait… what?”

While Iris was perplexed, Camille, a freckled boy, was already in a forklift position.

Annamaria spoke cheerfully when Iris was taken aback by the lack of explanation.

“Isn’t this all training, too? From now on, we will take turns training to carry the princess on our back.”

“That… am I a thing?”

Hayer calmly responded to the rebuttal she barely managed to utter over her embarrassment.

“Yes, I’d appreciate it if you could think of it that way temporarily.”

“Hayer!”

“Now, allude to yourself. I am a thing, I am a fragile transport, so the carrier must be careful.”

Perhaps it was a measure to make the existence of Iris, who is a burden, feel like a ‘fun burden’ at least.

Camille stood up and said as Iris reluctantly sat on the forklift.

“Uh… It’s a failure, Captain. It’s so light that I can’t really train… Argh!”

Annamaria sat on and said.

“Come on, let’s go, you punk!”

“Yes!”

Camille did not refuse and rose.

Camille started running even after picking up two people.

Iris was surprised that even this boy, who is still an apprentice, had such strength.

Annamaria, feeling uncomfortable from the lack of space, soon got down from the lift to help her subordinates, who were staggering under the weight of a great deal of food.

Iris was uncomfortable at first, but soon adjusted to sitting.

Sitting on Camille’s back as they climbed the cliff, she looked at the setting sun in the distance.

“The sunset is pretty.”

“Is that so! I want to see it too! Please describe it!”

Iris burst into laughter at Camille’s energetic voice.

While talking about this and that and looking at the scenery, Iris moved comfortably into the middle of the mountain.

Perhaps they heard rumors that they were passing by, but there was no beast in sight despite it being said that there were many. Perhaps this place has already come under the jurisdiction of the Knights of Tejas.

When the party arrived near the forbidden land, the Kawats welcomed the Knights of Tejas warmly.

“You’re back!”

“Oh wow, you brought a lot, too. Enough to feed us all.”

The welcoming voices were smeared with affection.

Iris was amazed at how those who believed in Tilla and those who believed that the god had died harmonized so casually.

In her head, she thought she should compromise with the pagan people and ask for help, but it got caught in her heart and was not accepted.

However, when she actually met pagans like this, her worries felt meaningless.

The faces of the Kawats who found Iris brightened, and soon poked at Hayer and said.

“Whew, no matter what, how could you bring a lady here to marry? What a pain.”

“In any case, I don’t know women like this…”

As they were nagging, Annamaria shouted.

“Ah! I’m hungry! Give me something to eat!”

“Aigoo, they’re going crazy saying they’re hungry as soon as they get here.”

As if seeing a mischievous daughter, the villagers diligently started cooking after receiving food.

Iris watched the scene happily and headed to the quarters where the Tejas Knights were stationed to unpack.

afterword

sid is such a weirdo and creepy i hate him so much so icky ew ew ew he’s fucking crazy bro that’s ur cousin idc how distant you two are or how it was common back then that’s a hard no!! pls go back to being disinterested like in the past