CH 14

“Do we know each other?”

Hayer bent down for a moment and examined her face, but it couldn’t be.

He was originally good at memorizing faces, and Iris had a unique energy that was hard to forget even if he met her once.

When Hayer came out of the bedroom with doubts, Ritero Asheri, the head of the family, approached him leisurely with his hands behind his back.

“What did you talk about?”

His maternal grandfather’s first greeting showed that he had an impressive view of Iris.

Since Ritero was a very reserved person, he rarely showed such obvious interest.

As soon as he came out of the room, Hayer held the white fox at his feet and said.

“She doesn’t seem to want to marry my brother.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

“She looked nervous. As if something that must be done is at hand.”

At Hayer’s words, Ritero nodded. It seemed the same to him.

Ritero said.

“She’s a girl with a big wall. I don’t think she’s a good fit for your brother.”

《t/n: big wall as in hard to read/get close to, or something along those lines》

“Are you saying that she doesn’t suit him because she has a big wall?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

As Ritero turned around, Hayer strode out, stroking the white fox, Con.

From the king’s point of view, Hayer may not resemble him, but to Ritero, no matter who the father was, both of his grandchildren were children that resembled his daughter.

In addition, both children were Asheri, born with many unique personalities.

Ritero judged Iris to be bold and brilliant. He looked back at Hayer, who was following him and being beaten by his white fox’s tail for not coming home often.

He was still young, and there were times when Hayer still looked ridiculous, but he was a man who enjoyed taking the right path.

Until a rebellion, the world would try to suppress his rebellious temperament, Ritero thought.

The problem was, Iris lying there looked like Hayer in that way, too.

Iris was impressive to Ritero, but he didn’t want to approve of meeting his grandchildren.

When the two men went outside, Sid Lepos’s horse approached in the distance.

Ritero moved to his room because he didn’t want to side with anyone in his grandchildren’s quarrel.

In the dry winter, sleet fell for the first time in a while, and began to cling to the fields and clothes one by one.

Sid got off his horse and faced his brother.

“I think this has given you guys enough time to talk, so I’ll take Miss Iris back.”

At his brother’s words, Hayer stood with his hands behind his back. Sid stopped coming closer at the action.

Hayer stood there, thinking about what to say.

Hayer had enough force to fear no one in Luwan, but his opponent was on the move with 30 knights, including himself and one of the top three knights. It was impossible to win a fight.

However, there was no reason for Sid to choose to lose power significantly in an armed clash with Hayer.

After a brief confrontation like that, Hayer opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want you to take Miss Iris.”

“Why?”

“Hm. Because I fell in love at first sight?”

Hayer’s nonchalant reply made Sid’s face wrinkle.

“What are you talking about?”

“We just talked about this and that, and she fits me so well.”

“If you’re going to say something like that, get out of here.”

“No, Sid.”

Hayer said as he unsheathed his sword.

“When arguing over a woman, it’s a procedure to have a confrontation.”

Sid looked incredulously at Hayer’s words.

But he wasn’t wrong. If you had a fight over someone you love, it was legal to apply for a duel and fight each other.

Sid said.

“You haven’t forgotten that I have the right to use a fill-in, have you?”

“If you use a fill-in, you’ll only lose your men.”

Hayer’s words were not even bluff, let alone a tone that showed confidence. It was only logical, since winning a duel was so natural for him.

He couldn’t back down right away because of his pride, so he gritted his teeth and said.

“I don’t know what kind of whim this is, but eventually Miss Iris will marry me. For political reasons or whatever. There will be many reasons.”

“All right. But for now, if you don’t intend to duel with me, leave.”

At Hayer’s words, Sid glared at him, clicked his tongue, and gestured to his men to back off.

Of course, there had to be a way to rush in, knock Hayer down, and take Iris.

However, if he did, he would be recorded in the history books as a trashy person who dragged a group into beating up his younger brother.

To leave a dirty name in history, for both the royals and the great nobility, was a terrible thing to dream of.

Sid mounted his horse and looked up.

Iris woke up and was coming out to the balcony.

From the side, Hayer looked up at the balcony and clicked his tongue.

“You’re stubborn. Don’t breathe in the cold air.”

“It’s hot…”

“Drink water, something cold.”

Hayer went up the stairs to finish nagging, and Sid met Iris’s eyes from the balcony.

It was miraculous that she had survived swimming in the icy water.

Sid thought Iris had a strong body despite what it looked like.

* * *

Iris sighed at the burning heat of her body.

It was so hot that she wanted to fall asleep on the balcony, but even Asheri’s doctor insisted that the cold wind would not be good.

As for Hayer, he felt resentful for his lack of care for others while being injured himself, but if he kept pursuing sweetness like this for a short time, in the long run, she would only spend more time lying in bed, so he blamed her for being impatient.

She stood there for a moment to get some cold air before Hayer came up.

When she saw Sid near the garden of the annex, he didn’t look good. Iris has already noticed a huge change in Sid’s position.

In the past, since he met Iris, he had never faced anything that could damage his pride.

As soon as he married Iris, all eight of the great noble families, who were preparing to cling to Sid’s legitimacy, agreed that he would ascend the throne, so right after the marriage, his half-brother Hayer was the only rival.

However, Hayer’s injury became more and more serious, and he couldn’t increase his own power much, let alone rebel, so there was no one in the world to scare Sid.

Iris did not know whether hurting his pride would be poison or medicine for the character Sid Lepos.

The more she thought about it, the more absurd she felt as she wondered how she could not know so much about Sid even after living as a couple for six years.

But, apart from absurdity, it was also a relief. In any case, that man wants to marry her only to be a king comfortably, and there was no emotion mixed in the slightest.

Emotions were always soggy and sticky, and it was difficult to remove neatly.

While she was thinking, she inadvertently made eye contact with Sid. His face was distorted.

Then Annie, the maid who greeted her first, grabbed her arm and raised her up.

“You’re driving me crazy, really! You must have been impatient to die!”

Iris hurriedly tried to get up at her touch, but her legs gave out and she collapsed.

Even though she was small, Iris was quite tall, so Annie was flustered and called Hayer.

“Young Master!”

“Yes.”

Only then did Hayer come, bend down, and hold out his hand.

Iris put her hand over his and gave her permission, and Hayer picked her up.

Hayer, who put Iris back in bed, said.

“We leave in three days. In the meantime, if you’re not well enough to ride a horse, I’ll go alone.”

“Then you won’t know the cure?”

“I don’t think Miss Iris knows how to cure it right now.”

“…If you don’t trust me, why would you take me?”

When Iris asked and expressed her doubts, Hayer, who was crossing his arms, shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I hate this marriage.”

“…….”

“I don’t think my bed will be comfortable if I let my brother have an unhappy marriage.”

19 years old. He was much more unruly than the Hayer Iris knew.

afterword 

waiting for hayer to fall head over heels for iris and waiting for sid to kindly fuck off like bro that’s ur cousin idc how distant u two are it’s fucking weird and the fact that they look so similar to each other… icky icky