A King is Born on the Road

Iris continued.

“Why are you here?”

Six years ago, Celios checked Iris as if she were a slave, and as soon as she knew that she was a fool who couldn’t do anything, she left.

So still, Iris didn’t know why Celios was here.

Celios answered Iris’s question.

“The great noble families are divided into two. Five families think that Sid Lepos, the eldest son of the king, should be king, and the other three think that you and I, my daughter, are the enemy.”

Hearing that, Iris burst out laughing.

Good grief.

Now she realized why her mother came to see her.

Celios thought that there was a very slight chance that her daughter would become king.

No, even if there was no possibility, she seemed to want her to at least fight fiercely for the throne, prove herself, and raise the honour of her mother.

Six years ago, at the first reunion only Iris remembered, after a few words of conversation, she left because she thought there was no hope for her daughter, but not this time.

Celios continued.

“From Sid’s point of view, there will be no easier answer than marrying you. Anyway, if a child is born between you two, that child will have legitimacy that no one can fault with. It would be easy to reach an agreement between the eight families.”

An agreement of the eight families.

The words put strength into Iris’s grasp.

A major premise that Hayer said should be overturned.

The agreement lowered the vigilance of all families, causing Luwan to be pushed out of absolute power after the war. So the first thing Iris had to do was avoid this marriage.

* * *

After a moment, a young soldier outside the convent rushed in.

“His Highness Sid Lepos is coming!”

Celios, who received the news that the king’s eldest son was coming, said.

“He seems to be coming to propose.”

As Celios said, Sid’s purpose was to propose.

Iris told Celios.

“If I follow him right now, I won’t be able to avoid getting married. After I get married, the possibility of me sitting on the throne will disappear.”

Her daughter was unexpectedly well aware of the situation.

Celios said, wondering.

“Of course it is. It would be almost impossible to refuse the proposal of the king’s first son.”

“Lend me your clothes.”

Celios then immediately opened one of her boxes of clothes without asking why. Then she chose a dress from there and let Iris change.

The dress Celios chose was of dark wine-colored silk.

The cape worn on top of it was of high quality, with about two-thirds of the fabric embroidered with gold and green threads.

On top of that, a gold bracelet was placed on top of the modest dress and fixed to the forearm.

After a while, Celios saw Iris dressed as an aristocratic woman, and laughed regardless of the urgency of the situation.

It was better when she was dressed as a nun. Now she was obviously the daughter of Celios Lepos.

Iris looked at the expressions of the people around her and took notice of them.

Rather, she laughed at how ridiculous the situation was, which surprised even Celios, who was known for her boldness.

What is she going to do now? Celios was watching, and Iris returned with an old and worn shawl she used in the convent.

And the maids surrounding her reached out in surprise as she carefully wrapped it around her head.

“My lady!”

Iris didn’t care and completely covered her face with it.

Celios couldn’t keep her mouth shut at the unbelievable scene.

Only pagans covered their faces with cloth like that.

Of course, there were often cases where pagans from neighbouring countries and nobles from Luwan got married.

At that time, the pagans converted, and until they were completely converted, they covered their faces with anything so that God could not see them.

Iris had seen a pagan priest several times in her life, so she had copied them.

Luwan was a pagan-exclusive country to the extent that there was no law punishing the killing of a pagan.

Therefore, in the eyes of those who have been faithful since birth, it was unimaginable to disguise themselves as pagans, no matter how important their lives were.

Celios said, disappointed by her daughter’s behaviour.

“You’re a lunatic.”

Iris, who had been raised in a convent, was still exclusive to pagans.

Iris’s white hand, covering her face and posing as a sinner, was shaking. She was also afraid of angering her god.

But she remembered that Luwan had died because of the exclusion of pagans.

And she also knew that Luwan survived at least because Hayer broke the taboo and cut down the sacred tree.

When the cloth was wrapped around, Sid Lepos, the nephew of Celios’s fifth cousin, the king’s son, and the eldest son, entered the convent.

Sid Lepos got off his horse and walked towards Celios with an air of self-confidence. And politely bowed with the air of a knight.

“Aunt.”

Even though the shawl covering her face made it so that she couldn’t see, Iris remembered this man.

However, considering that they had lived as a couple for six years, there actually was no significant memory worth mentioning.

In Sid’s face, she saw the face of his brother, Hayer. However, above all, there were parts that resembled Iris so much that the distance of sixth cousin felt too close.

The black hair characteristic of the royal family—the Lepos family—the cold white skin, and the dark blue eyes that gave off an icy crystal-like aura were the same. On top of that, the slim-looking face line was also similar.

Somehow, that resemblance sometimes offended Iris.

Fortunately, Sid was also forced to marry out of necessity, and showed no interest in her.

“Welcome.”

Celios greeted him in a manner that was neither particularly unpleasant nor welcoming.

Sid Lepos opened his mouth with a subtle smile.

“Aunt said she would come here, so I came here to see if I could finally see her.”

《t/n: “her” as in Iris》

“Oh, no. My daughter isn’t here.”

When an unexpected answer came back, Sid narrowed his eyes for a moment.

Celios became angry whenever she talked about the need to consider her daughter’s succession to the throne, citing legitimacy.

Still, it would not be possible anyway, so she had just run this long way from the capital, thinking that everything would be sorted out if she solved it by marriage.

But now lied that her daughter isn’t here.

Sid’s suspicions began to return, that Celios still had a desire to put her daughter on the throne.

“Aunt, it is not right to lie in such a reverent place.”

“Did your father teach you to denounce the words of an adult as lies?”

“Do not insult His Majesty.”

“You insulted me first.”

At Celios’s words, Sid smiled and gestured to search the convent.

Then many soldiers, incomparable to Celios’s party, began to search the convent.

While they were searching, Sid walked freely among Celios’s group and checked each and every face. Then eventually, a pagan woman came into his view.

Celios said, as Sid looked down at her as if he were looking at a bug.

“Don’t be so rude since she’s a lady from a noble family from Siere.”

“…….”

He didn’t like the fact that a pagan was in the convent, but the Luwans were rather tolerant of conversion compared to being cruel to pagans.

Of course, it would be the same rejection even with conversion, but those who loved their nobility like Sid wanted to show their generosity to the world.

In any case, Sid was displeased with the pagan who covered her face and did not want to go near her.

Meanwhile, the soldiers who scoured the convent returned empty-handed.

Celios said.

“As I just said, a lady from a noble family was brought here because she wanted to convert to marry my friend’s son. We can’t let a pagan into a war, can we?”

“…….”

Sid’s gaze turned back to the pagan.

It doesn’t make sense.

Celios was the essence of an arrogant royal. There should be no direct participation in the harsh work of converting pagans.

So that pagan woman should be Celios’s daughter.

In Luwan, there were only lunatics who would cover their head and pretend to be pagan. Celios’s daughter grew up only in a convent, so even more, she couldn’t have done such a disgusting thing.

But…

‘Why is that woman suspicious?’

afterword

and here he is… the scummiest man on earth!