A King is Born on the Road

“Take your hands off.”

“If you’re going to say no to everything, why did you say you would allow it?”

“I didn’t expect you to do such a strange thing.”

“I was crazy and strange. I accept it.”

“You have to self-reflect.”

“You don’t like it. Then I have to fix it.”

It was when Hayer said that and pulled Iris’s body closer to him.

With a knock on the door, Edwin’s voice was heard, the courier who had left to deliver the letter to the King of Siere.

“Captain, are you here?”

“Busy.”

“Ah! Yes! I’ll wait without disturbing you.”

At Edwin’s nonchalant reply, Iris blushed and pushed Hayer away, arranging her clothes.

“Not busy. Do come in.”

“We’re busy.”

“Then we… They’ll know we’re doing this.”

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

“How can you not worry?”

“They already know we’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s deeply misunderstood.”

Iris’s eyes widened at Hayer’s nonchalant reply.

“Who is misunderstanding?”

“The Knights of Tejas. And the people in the east building… I said no at first, but it seems like they don’t believe me.”

“…I’ve been in a convent all my life?”

“That’s the really interesting part. You might think I seduced you, but everyone thought you were playing around with me without a heart. It was no use explaining.”

“Why… why? No matter how I look at it, you seem to be brandishing me… even now.”

“…It’s not that I’m brandishing, but I understand your feelings of injustice. But what should I do if you look like this?”

At Hayer’s words, Iris asked, narrowing her eyes.

“What do I look like?”

“You just heard it. It looks like you’re going to play with my heart and throw it away.”

“How did that come about…?”

Whether Iris was frustrated or not, Hayer seemed to have no qualms about the role of being played with and abandoned.

Shocked, Iris eventually pushed Hayer away. Then Hayer sighed, pulled her clothes back on, and removed his hands from her nightgown.

As Iris tried to hurry out, Hayer grabbed her by the shoulder in her thin nightgown, turned her around, and put her back on the bed.

“I will go.”

“Ah. Then…”

Iris pointed to Hayer’s mouth, her words trailing off. Then Hayer glanced in the mirror.

Realizing that the cosmetics applied to Iris’s lips had gotten on his own, he ran one hand over his lips. After that, to cool off the heat, he stood in front of the door, took several deep breaths, and left the room.

* * *

When Hayer came out sooner than expected, the courier Edwin tilted his head in puzzlement.

“Why are you coming out already?”

“Iris kicked me out.”

“…Did you not do it properly, by any chance? That can happen.”

“…I’ll take care of it. More than that, have you already been there?”

“Ah, yes. Fortunately, the King of Siere was outside the capital and close to the desert. That’s why I met him…”

Edwin handed over the letter with an awkward expression.

What Iris sent was good letter paper in a jewelled box, but what returned was an ordinary one.

Hayer clicked his tongue, and Edwin joined in.

“No manners, zero.”

“I think we’ll have to deliver another letter, so take a break.”

“Yes, I understand.”

When Edwin said goodbye and left, Hayer came into the room with the letter.

Hayer handed the letter to Iris, who had been tidying her disheveled hair.

Iris also checked the ordinary letter paper and looked somewhat reluctant, but as the fate of the country was at stake, she had no choice but to open the seal.

She beckoned to see it together, so Hayer sat next to her, checked the letter, and laughed.

Hayer, who checked the letter, murmured.

“He’s already asked Luwan for help in Siere.”

“After rejecting it, the leader of the Knights Tejas, who is said to have driven out the monsters, sent a letter saying he was visiting Siere, so it’s not unreasonable to not trust it.”

Iris was staring at the letter with a serious expression.

It was around March of the following year that Siere started the war. There is only about a year and a half left.

Her mind became more complicated than before she sent the letter.

The King of Siere, Karl Lassor, may not have been trying to start a war from the beginning. Perhaps it was a great justification, to ask the King of Luwan for help and be rejected.

Even so, the fact that he brutally killed the people of Luwan and took over this land remained unchanged.

Hayer leaned down and said, looking into Iris’s burning eyes.

“I’ve never seen you so angry. You’re a person who doesn’t want to show your emotions.”

“…Did I?”

“You wrote a letter to someone you hate so much. On such a nice letter paper. To save more people.”

“……”

Hayer continued, looking at the poor letter paper sent by the King of Siere.

“You truly are an amazing and fun person.”

At his words, Iris dropped the letter without realizing it.

“I know you’re someone who’ll keep walking. That fact alone is enough for you to be amazing and fun.”

On the way to the North Gate, Hayer, who was dying after cutting down the sacred tree, said so to Iris.

“Don’t love me then. Never.”

When she heard what Hayer told her once again, she remembered the words that he said after that.

I won’t listen to what you say. Never, I won’t listen.

Iris thought, and gently embraced Hayer, who picked up the letter.

Hayer perplexedly bent over and asked.

“Do you like being told that you’re fun too?”

“Hm… isn’t that a great compliment from the Knights of Tejas?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Hayer replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Iris let him go, and spoke seriously.

“I’ll have to write a letter to send back to the King of Siere.”

Iris was troubled, and Hayer had the same worry. However, no answer came, so Iris sighed deeply and said.

“I’ll go to bed for now, and I’ll think about it more tomorrow.”

“Shall we do that?”

Hayer said and stood up. And as he was about to leave after making her bed, Iris grabbed his arm and said.

“By the way…”

“Yes.”

“…Never mind.”

Iris said and let go of his arm.

Hayer casually looked into the mirror. There was a man who was blinded by lust, who couldn’t do it even if he tried to be good.

The colleague next to him was thinking of a cause, but it was pathetic that he had not completely escaped her soft skin left on his hands. What’s more pathetic than that, of course, is that he couldn’t even hide it.

While Hayer clicked his tongue, Iris, who was worried, raised her head and looked up and said.

“If we’re going to get married, it doesn’t matter when we sleep… right?”

“As for marriage…”

“I told you, I don’t care who your father is. Just, I think it’s reasonable for us to get married to each other. I don’t want to get embroiled in marriage with another man because of my lineage again. It’s just… that’s all.”

Hayer had noticed Iris’s reluctance to sleep with someone, beyond her complete lack of expectations.

As if she was expecting a kiss and considered it important, seeing Hayer’s body heated up, she was also suppressing her negative mind and asking this.

Iris asked.

“…What you want, right?”

Instead of answering the question, Hayer ran a hand through Iris’s hair and kissed her. And still enjoying the kiss, he untied the ribbon of Iris’s nightgown that hugged her neck.

Is it okay to do this? His head was complicated, but he couldn’t do it. He wanted to play it out if there was anything she wanted.

He was still thinking only of Iris’s satisfaction. He thought in his head whether he was such a good guy. Or was it like waiting for a master to obey?

It wasn’t either, by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just that, until now, she’s always been right for him.

He didn’t know if this was yearning, love, or camaraderie, but Hayer Asheri wanted to make Iris Lepos’s wish come true as much as possible.

If she wanted to be king, he would let her be king, and if she wanted to be his wife, he would let her be too.

Whatever she wanted, he wanted to make it happen. It was only after he had been convinced of that that he let go of the instincts he had been holding back.

afterword 

u guys don’t understand i’m screaming giggling crying kicking my feet curling my toes gripping the sheets folding inside HOLY COW!!