CH 70

“That’s a good idea.”

As befits a city full of merchants, Everhart’s representative quickly finished the calculation. He was dressed in rich silk.

Also, the Asheri family representative at the border acted like a fox as always.

“Currently, Luwan is in a precarious position, both in terms of economy and security. At times like this, I believe that His Majesty’s presence on the throne can make a longer-term plan. Of course, the fact that the full moon has risen is not negligible…”

At the words of Asheri’s representative, the other seven family representatives clicked their tongues inwardly,

Anyway, that Asheri family was not called the White Fox for nothing. Put your foot on here, put your foot on there.

Asheri didn’t even hide that they had put it all over the place now.

They can turn over their oath at any time like turning the palm of their hand, revealing that the oath to Luwan is the same.

Still, in Dane’s view, the representatives were generally positive that a candidate for the throne had appeared.

Even though each of them were representatives of a great noble family that was like a kingdom, they all wanted to do anything if they could bring down Eswa, the current king, from the throne as soon as possible. As such, Eswa was a king who made even the most noble family uneasy.

With the exception of the Asheri family, who always did not confirm their answers, King Eswa confirmed that everyone had responded positively and quietly continued.

“So I’m going to test these two new candidates for the throne.”

Several of the representatives mouthed, ‘Two?’ and asked the other representatives.

Of course, there were two that came into people’s minds

Iris Lepos.

Sid Lepos.

But what came out of the king’s mouth was another name.

“My son Sid Lepos has already tested his ability in the King’s Labyrinth several times as a child. Unlike Hayer, he actively utilized the Lepos family’s abilities and quickly escaped the maze. Now I think Iris Lepos and Kernin Lepos should also have their ability tested.”

And King Eswa continued his speech solemnly.

“In the Traitor’s Labyrinth.”

Of course.

There were looks of astonishment among the representatives, no matter who they were.

No one knew exactly what the Traitor’s Labyrinth was, but everyone knew that it was a maze on a different level from the King’s Labyrinth without having to go in.

It was different in scale and in degree of difficulty.

No matter how talented a member of the Lepos family was, they were apt to get lost in the Traitor’s Labyrinth.

Still, they could figure out the way to some extent, so it took them more than a decade to get out of there. But it took three or four months to get out very quickly, almost as soon as they entered.

Claiming such a labyrinth as if it were on the same level as the King’s Labyrinth, and talking about pushing two candidates in.

If they were really ridiculously gifted, and escaped in three or four months, King Eswa would already have a plan. Obviously, something will be done.

Apart from the savagery of King Eswa, on the other hand, the representatives had some agreement with the plan.

The full moon means that the real king has appeared.

The desire to know who the king is will be the same for all who live in the land of Luwan, not just for the representatives of the great noble families.

“All right.”

The representative for the militant Dirpone family said. Then, in a hurry, the representatives of the rest of the families added a word to signify their agreement with Eswa’s idea.

The meeting ended by an overwhelming vote difference.

Seven to one.

All agreed except for the Asheri family, who abstained.

At this meeting, it was decided to send Iris Lepos and Kernin Lepos into the Traitor’s Labyrinth and test them.

* * *

The news quickly spread to Iris Lepos, who stayed in the east building, and Hayer, who was staying at his house on the outskirts of the capital.

Hayer laughed at the news of the ‘Traitor’s Labyrinth Test’ delivered by the messenger.

It was none other than Iris Lepos who told him this news now.

Celios Lepos and Peter Wick made a fuss over their opposition to the marriage, so the two had been exchanging opinions with each other through messages for a while.

Hayer’s goal, as always, was to cut down the sacred tree, so he asked Iris to know the exact location of the sacred tree.

Iris found the sacred tree closest to his current location.

At the southern end of the Traitor’s Labyrinth. In the desert that spread across the two countries, it was a place close to the border with Siere.

Hayer first contacted Iris like this.

Then the answer came back from Iris.

Seeing her clear handwriting made him smile for some reason.

Hayer was thinking that he wanted to be with Iris as soon as possible. Travelling with her has always been fun.

The two decided that entering the Traitor’s Labyrinth was the best course of action, but it was not a place where they could enter freely because they wanted to.

Then, as if by a twist of fate, King Eswa just in time declared that he would test Iris and push her into the Traitor’s Labyrinth.

Thanks to that, Hayer, whose will to go through the Traitor’s Labyrinth and to cut down the sacred tree in the desert became even clearer, came out to the courtyard of his house.

Originally, the Knights were not allowed to be stationed in his house. It was because the king feared that Hayer would revolt. So Hayer has so far avoided bringing a large number of knights together in this house.

But not today. He was responsible for escorting Iris Lepos, who would be tested for her ability as a member of the Lepos family, to the entrance to the Traitor’s Labyrinth.

It was legal to gather here today.

All the Knights of Tejas were standing in a corridor.

Hayer was standing in the middle of the corridor, the far end of the courtyard, looking at them. He bought this house every morning to do this, and now he can use it like this once.

There was affection in Hayer’s gaze as he looked at his subordinates, and pride was felt in the faces of the knights standing with their hands behind their backs.

Hayer said.

“With the help of our Knights of Tejas, it has been reported that there are no more monsters crossing the forbidden land in the mountains.”

After saying that, he moved into the courtyard.

To calm his emotions, he paused for a moment and then opened his mouth again.

“As everyone expected, I cut the sacred tree with my own hands.”

As expected, no one in the Knights was surprised by his words. It was because the knights remembered the time they, led by Annamaria, heard a sound like earth shaking one day.

The sacred tree, which seemed to last forever, fell down and was losing its light, and Hayer was kneeling down in front of it and apologizing.

No one had seen him cut the sacred tree, but many in the Knights had guessed his painful decision to cut Tilla’s sacred tree.

Hayer soon took off his shirt. At that moment, complex emotions that could not be sorted were mixed in the eyes of all the Knights.

Their feelings were not all the same.

In particular, Annamaria and Hencke, who considered themselves Hayer’s closest aides, were angry that the leader had hidden from them the deep-cut wound that stretched to his shoulders and back.

Unable to hold back their anger, the two’s faces turned red and blue.

Hayer continued.

“This is a wound that was made the moment the sacred tree fell to the ground. Maybe Tilla has cursed me forever. So I’ve been hiding this from everyone.”

“……”

“But this curse was left only on me, and we defeated the monsters. And Tilla sent me Princess Iris, who has a cure.”

Hayer continued in a voice that made even the listener feel confident.

“So I came to regard this not as a curse, but as a quench for Tillla to make me stronger.”

But his words were mixed with lies.

Still waiting for Hayer, Dylan closed his eyes for a moment because he wanted to avoid the lie.

What cure?

So far, his wound has shown no improvement.

Dylan still had to live with the fear that Hayer might one day collapse and die because of that wound.

While Hayer was talking to the Knights, Dylan’s gaze saw two people just entering Hayer’s house. It was Iris Lepos and Peter Wick, who came with her to escort her.

Dylan wondered what Iris was thinking now.

Maybe she’s also afraid that the wound won’t heal.

Dylan thought, perhaps, she too had a fear of uncertainty about the treatment outcome.

I was just holding it back. Even if my heart is broken and the fear that a precious person might leave comes like a wave, I’ll just suppress it…

afterword

me realizing hayer is just going through it the whole damn novel with his wounds but that won’t stop him from being horny (jokes..!)