A King is Born on the Road

Fortunately, Hayer soon regained his smile at Iris’s scolding.

He looked at Iris’s shoe on top of his foot and said.

“There’s also a big difference in shoe size.”

“How big are your feet?”

“It’s the right size for me.”

“The height difference is not that much…”

“You must think you’re really tall.”

Hayer’s words gave Iris strength as she stomped on his foot. Hayer exaggeratedly trembled, and even pretended to limp as he walked.

They soon arrived at the office door. Meppo Behad, the vice-captain of the Royal Knights guarding the door, said.

“This is where His Majesty the King resides. Be quiet, please.”

Hayer faced Meppo at his cold words.

If one had to pick the three strongest knights in the land of Luwan now, one would say Hayer Asheri, Kernin Lepos, and Meppo Behad.

When he stood in front of Meppo, there was a chill in the corners of Hayer’s eyes, which were bent with laughter. It was human nature that famous military commanders wanted to compete with each other at least once.

Meppo was about half a span shorter than Hayer, but she could feel the competitive desire in his strong eyes.

Iris had never seen Hayer look like he was trying to pin someone down like that. She felt, perhaps, that Meppo was one of the few competitors in Hayer’s world.

Hayer looked very strong just by looking at his appearance, but from Hayer’s attitude, it seemed that the results wouldn’t be known until they were put together.

Meanwhile, the office door opened.

While Hayer waited outside, Iris walked inside.

King Eswa was leaning back with one hand on his temple, with Royal Knights Commander Kernin Lepos standing to his right, and Sid Lepos to his left.

Iris greeted them, but King Eswa, who had his throne high up on the stairs, was just staring at her silently.

When Eswa did not open his mouth for a long time, Sid, who thought it was time for him to speak instead, opened his mouth.

“Do you think this makes sense? Running away with my brother?”

However, no matter what Sid said next to him, Iris was looking at Eswa in front of her.

Sid pointed at her again and said to Eswa.

“Your Majesty, that guy Hayer resembles his father whose face he doesn’t even know. He resembles the guy who has no guilt for stealing someone else’s lover.”

“……”

“Iris Lepos was the woman I chose first.”

A ‘chosen’ woman.

Iris kept her mouth shut.

He was exactly as Iris remembered. You have to have everything you want to get rid of your temper. It didn’t matter if it was a wild animal or a person.

Eswa, who was looking down at Iris with a grave face, opened his mouth.

“You grew up well.”

“…Thank you.”

“Marrying Sid was a favor I did for you.”

Eswa continued, clicking his tongue as if he were looking at a foolish child.

“Sid is the one who will sit here when I die. Then you’ll be queen. Why did you run away with someone you didn’t even know before you had the chance to become the highest woman in Luwan?”

“Because I don’t want to be queen.”

Her words silenced the office for a moment.

Iris said, turning to Sid.

“Did you hear that? I have no intention of becoming the queen. So take someone else to the seat.”

Sid made eye contact with Iris when she said that.

He chuckled at Iris’s spirit. It came back to mind. She ran away from him and stood on thin ice.

He originally felt uncomfortable with the Lepos family’s face, which resembled his.

But not now. Ever since that day, he’s been looking for a face like Iris’s. But the more he looked, the more he felt that it wasn’t her.

Sid turned to his father, and luckily Eswa sided with his son.

“We cannot leave a scandal in history from the royal family where a younger brother steals his older brother’s bride. Iris, I forgive you for your childish behaviour. It’s an order, so have a marriage with Sid.”

Iris felt like she was going to vomit within the short time of listening to Eswa.

The end of this marriage was so vain, so empty. As she thought she should run away, Sid told Eswa.

“After running away once, there is no law saying not to run away again. The crimes committed by those two are clear, so we’d better lock them up at least until the wedding.”

At Sid’s words, Iris glared at him.

“I refused to get married from the beginning, how can that be a crime?”

Because she was right, Sid remained silent and only frowned.

If there were no other eyes here, they would accuse her of refusing to marry as a crime, but there were quite a few people outside the corridor and in the office.

When it got very noisy inside, Hayer, who had been standing outside the office the whole time, stood at the door and greeted Eswa.

“Your Majesty, I am Hayer Asheri, the leader of the Knights of Tejas.”

Instead of answering, Eswa clicked his tongue.

It was Hayer Asheri who did not resemble himself at all and continued to pretend to be his son for more than 10 years.

Even if the queen had an affair, he wouldn’t have been so angry if Hayer hadn’t been such an outstanding talent in every way.

The queen met another man because Eswa had a mistress first. He enjoyed holding his mistress before the queen’s eyes and humiliating her.

One day, the queen stopped being ashamed of such an appearance. It was his mistake that he did not recognize it, even though Celios was making the same relieved expression.

At that time, both women were pregnant, laughing at his lineage.

Even though Sid and Hayer were both children from the queen’s stomach, everything was significantly different.

Hayer had already surpassed Sid’s swordsmanship skills as a child, had far more knights pledging allegiance to the boy, and also had a beautiful face.

His lineage had to be the best in the world.

However, looking at Hayer Asheri, Eswa was overcome by an unbearable sense of inferiority.

Eswa always thought that if there was only one sage, he would have cut off his head immediately. But he slaughtered all the sages, and no sages were found anywhere in the land of Luwan.

The only proof that Hayer was not a royal now was that he got lost in the maze.

However, not everyone in the Lepos family was good at finding their way. Even Eswa was slower to find the way compared to previous kings. Therefore, Hayer’s name could not be erased from the royal family just by getting lost in the maze.

“Asheri.”

Eswa called Hayer ‘Asheri,’ an ostracism that he could at least do.

Hayer politely got down on one knee and said to Eswa.

“I love Princess Iris Lepos.”

“……”

Eswa paused and eventually straightened up.

“So please allow me to fight a duel.”

Eswa’s mouth formed a faint smile that could not be seen.

Duel. A duel.

Sid is not as good at swordsmanship as Hayer, so of course he will use a fill-in.

However, there were many knights in the Royal Order that were as good as Hayer. If he was lucky, he might have a chance to end the life of Hayer Asheri, using this duel as an excuse.

Iris’s eyes were wide open, perhaps taken aback by Hayer’s unexpected answer. However, Hayer did not look back at Iris, but kept his eyes on the floor.

Hayer, who fixed his gaze on the floor, seemed to be afraid of himself. Eswa felt satisfied with the appearance, so he decided to do Hayer a special favor.

“Fine.”

Sid sighed at the permission.

He looked at his uncle, Kernin.

No matter how much Kernin was the captain of the Royal Knights, Sid could not make him a fill-in for the duel. If he did that, Kernin might come swinging his sword and look down on him.

In the end, the answer was Meppo, who was the vice-captain and his training partner since childhood.

“The battle will be fought by Sir Meppo Behad.”

When his name was called, Meppo appeared toward the door and answered Sid.

“I will win without fail, Your Highness.”

afterword 

things r getting so intense my buttcheeks r clenched fr!! also made the text fully white instead of the default but idk if it’s better lol