Previously
After consulting with Litero, Heyer confronts Prince Sid and halts his attempt to claim Iris by challenging him to a duel. Sid refuses the fight and withdraws, while Iris collapses from lingering fever after watching the confrontation.
A King Is Born on the Road
Even so, that side of him did not feel like a stranger to the Heyer she knew.
Iris nodded and spoke.
“In that case, thank you. I'll get better… within three days, if I can. Well enough to reach a port city.”
“A port city?”
“I want to go to Everhart.”
Located directly south of the capital, Everhart was the largest port city in Luwan.
Merchants often said that a trader adopts the faith of whatever land they set foot upon.
True to those words, Everhart was one of the few places in Luwan where heretics could travel openly.
So many merchant vessels docked there that people claimed what could not be found in Everhart could not be found anywhere in Luwan. Yet with so much coin changing hands, public order was poor.
Most merchants passing through Everhart moved in entire caravans and hired mercenary bands, constantly guarding their wealth with fierce vigilance.
“Very well. Let us go to Everhart.”
Heyer nodded.
Relieved by the thought that if she slept like the dead for three days, she would at least make it to Everhart, Iris asked,
“By the way… how did you get Sid—Prince Sid to give up and leave?”
Heyer replied nonchalantly,
“I told him that if he wanted to take Lady Iris away, he would have to duel me.”
“A duel?”
“Yes. A duel.”
“A duel… what?”
Iris’s eyes went wide.
Only belatedly did she realize what pretext a duel would carry under these circumstances. He had to have framed it as a duel between rivals in love.
“H-how could you make up an excuse like that?”
“It was the only idea that came to mind at the time. Regardless, it got us out of it, didn't it?”
Heyer wore an expression that asked what harm there was in telling a little lie like that.
Iris could not think of any better alternative either. Even so, her already burning face felt as though it were growing hotter.
To Heyer, their relationship might have been light enough to pass off a claim of being romantic rivals without a second thought, but not for Iris.
He constantly reminded her of the dependable, stalwart man she had spent three months beside, and his rejection echoed endlessly in her ears. Each time, her chest ached.
Iris forced a smile and nodded.
“You're right. It resolved the matter, so that's enough. Thank you. Now, truly, I won't be stubborn—I'll get some sleep.”
Heyer looked far from convinced by her words, but he decided to take her at her word for now and stepped out.
* * *
Three days was a long time to spend doing nothing.
Iris had slept for a full day and a half before finally coming to her senses. Yet once she awoke, she felt surprisingly well. It was thanks to Annie, who had pitied her and nursed her with such attentive care.
After climbing out of bed, she went to express her gratitude to Litero for harboring her.
Litero had suggested playing chess whenever she grew bored, and having indulged in enough parlor games during numerous social functions over her six years as queen, Iris readily agreed.
From then on, right up until Heyer finished preparations for their departure, Iris sat by the hearth in the first-floor drawing room playing chess with Litero.
Iris murmured,
“…I lost again.”
“Fortune seems to favor this old man today.”
Iris looked at Litero's leisurely demeanor with wonder.
She had not won a single game against him. Even if she had, she felt certain he would maintain that exact same composure.
“Why can't I win?”
Litero chuckled at her question. Signaling the butler to clear the board, he spoke.
“You do not strike me as someone who spent her whole life in a convent, Lady Iris.”
Iris felt a pang of unease at his remark, but Litero continued smoothly.
“To me, nineteen years is a mere blink, but to you, it must feel like a lifetime. In that time, surely far more has happened to you than can be put into words.”
“That may be true, but you are straying from the point, Lord Patriarch.”
Litero burst into laughter once more. Then, looking at her as if she were his own grandchild, he said,
“The point remains the same. I have lived longer than you, Lady Iris, and in that time, I have observed many boards.”
“You mean to say you are familiar with far more moves.”
Iris soon recalled the game Heyer had devised during those three months, and her head drooped.
“…It seems Sir Heyer took after you a great deal, Lord Patriarch.”
To become familiar with more moves.
Only now did Iris realize once more that the game Heyer had led during their journey to the North Gate had not merely been a way to pass the time.
He had likely been convinced that once they reached the North Gate, there would be another chance. Even if he hadn't been entirely certain, his deductions had clearly reached that possibility.
Heyer had wanted whoever crossed the North Gate to possess the playbook for victory, even if that person was not himself.
Iris closed her eyes tightly before opening them again, recalling his final moments.
Litero beamed with quiet satisfaction, evidently pleased to hear his grandson took after him.
“He may seem like a troublemaker, but he possesses unexpected depth.”
“I know.”
“I am glad to hear it. Those wild, unruly subordinates of his were the only ones who ever noticed.”
Exchanging remarks, the two began another match.
Just then, Heyer stepped into the drawing room.
“Shall we go?”
“Could we finish just this game before leaving?”
When Iris asked, Heyer tilted his head toward the window, checking the position of the sun.
“Go ahead.”
He strolled over to inspect the board, letting out a dry chuckle.
“There's quite a gap in skill between you and Grandfather. I take it you haven't won a single game?”
“…”
Iris glared at him for teasing her.
Pretending to cower in fear, Heyer pulled up a chair and sat down beside them.
Resting his chin on his hand, he watched the board for a while until the game, inevitably, ended in Litero’s victory.
Though she tried not to show it, Iris pressed her lips together in frustration before offering her courtesies.
“…That was entertaining. Thank you for keeping me company.”
“It is I who should thank you. It must have been tiresome for a young lady to humor this old man.”
Once their pleasantries were finished, Heyer spoke.
“I left some clothes in your bedroom, so you can change into them.”
“Thank you.”
With that, Iris left the drawing room.
After she departed, Heyer began a game of chess with his grandfather using the pieces the butler had reset.
Heyer asked,
“Why didn't you go easy on her?”
“Hmm?”
“You always go easy on people when you play against them. You only win one out of every few games.”
Litero was well aware of his own skill at chess, and as Heyer said, he customarily held back when playing guests.
The only person he never went easy on was his grandson, Heyer.
Being relatively open before his grandson, Litero replied,
“I do not play chess merely to win, nor does Lady Iris.”
“Really? Because she looked thoroughly irritated every time she lost.”
“Indeed. And yet, after losing like that for two days straight, she still sat right back down.”
Heyer paused at Litero's words.
Litero moved a piece and continued,
“If it felt like I went easy on someone, there was a reason for it. But Lady Iris has no need for such pretenses. There was no cause for it, so there was no need to hold back.”
“…”
“In the end, it is people like her who come to master the most moves.”
Heyer nodded at Litero's explanation, then asked,
“…Then why don't you ever go easy on me, even when I get frustrated and throw in the towel?”
In an instant, the outcome of the match was decided.
Litero answered his grandson playfully,
“Because watching you get worked up is far too entertaining.”
“Grandfather!”
“See? Look how amusing it is.”
Litero chuckled, while Heyer ground his teeth, resolving to win next time.
A moment later, word arrived that Iris had finished preparing. As Heyer rose from his seat, Litero finally asked the question he had withheld throughout his grandson’s three-day stay.
“Were you truly injured?”
Heyer answered casually,
“I met someone who knows the remedy, so it will be resolved soon enough.”
“That is a relief.”
Litero nodded, clasping his hands behind his back as he turned to leave without a parting word, saying only,
“Do not make an old man bury his own grandson.”
Heyer lingered for a moment, watching his grandfather walk away.