Previously
Struggling with high fever, Iris strikes a bargain with Heyer, offering a remedy for his incurable shoulder wound if he prevents her forced marriage to Sid. Heyer reveals that Sid is already residing at the main estate, but he agrees to protect her and let her travel with the Tehas Knights.
The King Is Born on the Road
“Do we know each other?”
Heyer bent down briefly to inspect her face, but that was impossible.
Not only was he naturally good at remembering faces, but Iris possessed a distinct presence that was difficult to forget after a single encounter.
As Heyer stepped out of the bedroom, wondering about it, Litero Asheri, the patriarch of House Asheri, approached leisurely with his hands clasped behind his back.
“What did you talk about?”
Seeing his grandfather take the initiative to inquire like this showed that Iris had left quite an impression on him.
Litero was a man who rarely showed his inner thoughts, so it was uncommon for him to display interest so overtly.
Heyer scooped up the white fox that had rushed to his feet the moment he stepped out of the room, answering,
“It seems she doesn’t want to marry my brother.”
“I knew that much without needing to be told.”
“She looked anxious. As though she had something she must do hanging right before her eyes.”
At Heyer’s words, Litero gave a nod. It appeared he had seen the same thing.
Litero said,
“She is a bold young lady. I doubt she would suit your brother well.”
“Are you saying they wouldn’t suit each other because she’s too bold?”
“Yes, precisely that.”
As Litero turned around, Heyer followed with long strides while stroking Con, the white fox.
From the king’s perspective, Heyer might have had aspects that were unlikable because he did not take after him, but to Litero, regardless of who their fathers were, both maternal grandsons merely shared resemblances to his daughter.
Moreover, both boys had been born with plenty of the Asheri family’s characteristic traits.
Litero judged Iris to be bold and shrewd. He looked back at Heyer, who was trailing behind and getting swatted by the fox’s tail for not visiting home often.
Heyer was still so green that his youthful bravado sometimes seemed laughable, yet he was a man who enjoyed walking an upright path.
Short of an outright rebellion, the world would try to suppress that rebellious streak of his, Litero thought.
The trouble was, Iris lying in that room also resembled Heyer in that regard.
While Iris impressed Litero, he had no wish to approve of her getting involved with his grandsons.
When the two men stepped outside, the horse Sid Repos rode drew near in the distance.
Litero headed to his own quarters, having no desire to take sides in a fight between his grandsons.
In the dry winter air, sleet fell for the first time in a while, clinging to the fields and their clothes one flake after another.
Sid dismounted and confronted his brother.
“I believe I’ve given you plenty of time to talk, so I will take Lady Iris back now.”
At his brother’s words, Heyer stood with his hands behind his back. At that gesture, Sid stopped without approaching any further.
Heyer stood in place, considering what to say.
While Heyer possessed martial prowess that left no one to fear in Luwan, his opponent was traveling with thirty knights, including one who ranked among the top three alongside himself. Winning a fight here was impossible.
Yet from Sid’s perspective, there was no reason to choose a violent clash with Heyer and suffer severe casualties.
After standing at a brief standoff, Heyer spoke.
“I’m sorry, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t take Lady Iris.”
“Why?”
“Hmm. Love at first sight, perhaps?”
At Heyer’s nonchalant reply, Sid’s expression crumpled.
“What utter nonsense is that?”
“I just spoke with her, and we suit each other remarkably well.”
“If that’s all you have to say, get lost.”
“Come now, Sid.”
Heyer unfastened his scabbard and held it in his hand as he said,
“When quarreling over a lady, a duel is the proper procedure.”
At Heyer’s words, Sid wore a look of disbelief.
Yet he was not wrong. It was codified into law that if two men were to dispute over a woman they loved, they could challenge each other to a duel.
Sid said,
“You haven’t forgotten that I have the right to name a champion, have you?”
“Naming a champion will only cost you a subordinate.”
Heyer’s words carried no bluster, nor was it even a boastful tone. Winning a duel was simply so self-evident to him that he had merely spoken logically.
Unable to back down immediately because of his pride, Sid ground his teeth and said,
“I do not know what whim took hold of you, but in the end, Lady Iris will marry me. Whether for political reasons or whatever else, plenty of justifications will follow.”
“Understood. But for now, unless you intend to duel me, leave.”
At Heyer’s words, Sid glared at him, clicked his tongue, and gestured for his men to withdraw.
Of course, there was the option of swarming him, beating Heyer down, and taking Iris right then and there.
Yet doing so would leave him recorded in the history books as a piece of trash who brought a mob to beat his own brother.
Whether for royalty or high nobility, having a foul name left in history was a nightmare they never wished to fathom.
Sid mounted his horse and glanced up.
Iris, perhaps having briefly awakened, was stepping out onto the balcony.
Beside him, Heyer clicked his tongue as he looked up at the balcony.
“Stubborn as always. I told you not to catch the cold wind.”
“It’s hot…”
“Drink water, cold water.”
Heyer climbed the stairs to finish his scolding, and Sid’s eyes met Iris’s as she stood on the balcony.
Surviving a swim in freezing water was miraculous indeed.
Sid thought that Iris actually had a stronger constitution than she appeared to.
* * *
Iris sighed at the burning fever coursing through her body.
She felt hot enough to wish she could fall asleep on the balcony, but even the Asheri physician had firmly declared that the cold wind would do no good.
Heyer constantly carried injuries himself, so what right did he have to care about what others did? She felt aggrieved, yet seeking a moment’s relief would only prolong her time bedridden in the long run, leaving her more inclined to blame her own lack of patience.
She stood there to catch even a moment of the cold wind before Heyer came up.
Looking at Sid in the annex garden, she saw his sour expression. Iris realized that, from Sid’s perspective, a staggering change had already occurred.
In the past, from the moment he met Iris, he had never once encountered an event that bruised his pride.
The moment he married Iris, the eight great noble houses that had been poised to dispute his legitimacy all agreed to his ascension to the throne, leaving his half-brother Heyer as his only rival right after the wedding.
Yet Heyer’s injuries had grown progressively worse, preventing him from building his own faction, let alone committing treason, so there had been no one in the world for Sid to fear.
Whether having his pride wounded would serve as poison or medicine to a man like Sid Repos, Iris could not know.
The more she thought about it, the more absurd it seemed that she could know so little about Sid despite being married for six years.
Yet separate from the absurdity, she also felt relief. In any case, that man wished to marry her solely to become king without resistance, devoid of any emotion.
Entangled feelings were always clammy and sticky, making them hard to sever cleanly.
As she was thinking, her eyes casually met Sid’s. His face was contorted as he looked at her.
Just then, Annie, the maid who had first greeted her, took her arm and pulled her up.
“Good heavens, truly! You must be itching for an early grave!”
Hurried by her badgering, Iris tried to stand, but her legs gave out and she collapsed with a thud.
Though slender, Iris was rather tall, so Annie called for Heyer in distress.
“Young Master!”
“Coming.”
Only after being summoned did Heyer approach, bend down, and offer his hands.
When Iris placed her hand on his to grant permission, Heyer scooped her up into his arms.
Laying Iris back on the bed, Heyer said,
“We leave in three days. If you haven’t recovered enough to ride a horse properly by then, I’m going alone.”
“Then you won’t learn the remedy.”
“I don’t particularly believe Lady Iris knows the remedy even now.”
“…If you don’t trust me, why take me with you?”
When Iris asked with lingering suspicion, Heyer, his arms crossed, shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, you said you hated this marriage.”
“…”
“I have a feeling I wouldn’t sleep easy at night if I left you to an unhappy marriage with my brother.”
Nineteen years old. He was far more willful than the Heyer Iris remembered.