CH 85

Annamaria asked Iris.

“By the way, did you really go to the maze? The souvenir is too small to be seen.”

Hayer said with a chuckle.

“She couldn’t help it. He kept saying he’ll follow her.”

“Aha. Well, it wouldn’t have been easy to leave a child alone.”

Annamaria nodded her head in understanding.

Meanwhile, Cadella was walking around the Knights and spraying powder to create hallucinations.

But no one budged. Because everyone is too strong, a small amount of powder does not work. Eventually, only Iris, who was weak, became a little tired, so Hayer told Cadella to stop.

Hencke turned to Iris and said.

“Princess.”

“Yes, Sir Haywin.”

“Really, you did it. You got out of that maze safely. Congratulations.”

Iris smiled at his words.

“Yes. Indeed… that’s what happened.”

“Woah… really… wow, wow!”

“Wooooo!”

The rest of the Knights, who were glancing at Iris, also cheered at once. Congratulations on passing the difficult test.

* * *

Iris and Hayer, who spent a long time in the stone maze and sand desert, were quite tired.

The Knights of Tejas brought an enormous amount of food as they came to pick up two people, plus one traitor.

It seems that Sandra, who had been worried all along since Iris went to the Traitor’s Labyrinth, sent a huge amount of food and good alcohol to the Knights as soon as she heard that she had come out.

As a result, they moved through the desert during the day and spent a row of noisy nights eating and drinking at night.

Iris was a person who didn’t fit in very well with the noisy atmosphere, but on the contrary, Cadella ran around everywhere, wondering what to do because it was so nice outside, and poked at the Knights every day, asking if he seemed to have grown taller.

And Hayer…

Iris was lost in thought as she returned to her tent, leaving the noisy drinking party behind.

The Knights set up a tent so that she could have her own space for the first time in a long while.

However, human beings are strange animals that don’t know what’s wrong with them. She came into the tent to avoid the noisy place, but she felt lonely being alone.

Compared to the time when she crowded into a tent with the merchant women and talked about this and that, being alone again made her feel uncomfortable and lonely.

Iris lay in the tent to forget the lonely time and reflected on what had happened in the maze one by one. Then Hayer’s face came to mind.

With the same goal the whole time, moving along the same path. Having gained so much freedom, she didn’t know what to do.

* * *

Crossing the now-boring desert to the end, the Knights of Tejas returned to the capital.

Iris did not have the stamina to go to the castle after the long desert trip, and Hayer also needed to be prepared when he met his father, so the first night they returned, all gathered at Hayer’s house in the capital.

Hayer returned to his bedroom after drinking the good drink Sandra sent him today.

Returning home, he realized that he had been to the Traitor’s Labyrinth, where even the heirs to the throne were afraid of getting lost.

He followed because he didn’t know how scary it was, but it was amazing that Iris followed through even though she knew what it was like inside.

Anyhow, the important thing was that she got out of the maze.

Maybe in a little while, Kernin Lepos will be out of the maze too, but that’s a different situation. Because the maze will be completely destroyed.

Hayer couldn’t help but think that they had been lucky enough to meet a traitor like Tamati, or even Cadella. He has a good heart, except for the fact that he’s a 71-year-old whining like a child.

He tried to sleep, but he couldn’t sleep and eventually got up.

Sitting in bed, he murmured incredulously.

“…Did I also get insomnia?”

Hayer, who lived without knowing the sense of ‘I can’t sleep,’ made an absurd expression.

He laid on his back again and tried to sleep. After lying down like that… he opened his eyes again.

Then, with a deep sigh, he slowly headed to the room where Iris was sleeping.

As expected, the lights were on, so he tapped on the corridor window.

Iris opened the window. Then, she smiled as if she was glad to see Hayer standing in front of her.

“Are you bored because you’re alone too?”

“Ah, so…”

Hayer slapped his thigh, as if he had finally understood the reason for his insomnia.

He went on.

“It feels so strange. No one snores, no stench. I can’t sleep because I miss it.”

Iris was dumbfounded by Hayer, who missed things that couldn’t be missed, and burst into laughter.

Hayer, who was staring at her, asked.

“Are you sleeping well?”

Iris shook her head at those words. Then she asked Hayer.

“Doesn’t your back hurt?”

The window was just high enough for Iris to rest her elbows on it, and Hayer had to bend down a lot to talk to her.

Hayer got ready to go inside with both hands, and soon jumped over the window and went inside.

“What are you going to do?”

Hayer pointed at the bed with his chin when Iris asked.

“I’m thinking of putting you to sleep.”

“I’m not a child.”

“When you think that way, what if you think that I’m still the captain and I’m ordering you to sleep?”

Iris laughed dumbfoundedly at Hayer’s persuasion, then nodded as if she couldn’t help it.

Iris’s eyes were full of fatigue, but she could not sleep.

As she lay down on the bed, Hayer knelt down beside the bed.

“I had so much time in the maze, didn’t I? So I thought about why you can’t sleep deeply.”

“Hm… what was the reason?”

“I think you worry too much.”

At his words, Iris thought for a moment and then nodded.

“That’s true.”

Iris closed her eyes.

When she closed her eyes, the snowfield where the Luwans were dead would come to mind. But Hayer was right in front of her, so she couldn’t see any of those things. It was a strange thing.

Feeling at ease, Iris closed her eyes and dozed off, then opened them.

When she closed her eyes and opened them, she felt very good with Hayer right in front of her.

She really was sleepy because he was next to her.

She opened her eyes again, closed them, and it was really time to go to sleep.

“…Huh?”

Iris opened her eyes at the sound of Hayer’s voice.

When she got up and looked toward Hayer, Hayer put a hand on his left shoulder, rubbed it gently, and then began to take off his shirt.

Seeing his exposed shoulders, Iris covered her mouth with both hands.

“Ah…”

At the end of the wound, a hard scab was formed from recovery.

Hayer turned to Iris and sat down beside her, finding that she was already crying.

“Iris, are you crying?”

“The wound…”

“It’s starting to heal.”

Iris, who couldn’t speak properly because she was crying, nodded that it was correct when Hayer connected the latter part.

Iris hugged Hayer’s neck.

Iris was trying to stop her tears somehow, as if she didn’t want to show it. Then asked Hayer, who was patting her on the back.

“Why are you so… your reaction is small? Don’t you feel like you’re recovering?”

“No, no. It’s not that…”

Hayer shook his head quickly and sighed heavily, covering his face with his hands. Then he soon began to laugh with relief.

“Thank God…”

Even as he muttered like that, Hayer realized that he was in a state where he had gone through a lot.

The first thought that came to mind when he saw the wound heal was that ‘Iris must be relieved’. She was blaming herself for thinking she was wrong. Rather than dying from the wound, he was more afraid to let Iris down.

And after that thought…

“…Wow, I’m alive, am I?”

It occurred to him.

His talk to himself made Iris cry and eventually burst into laughter. She covered her tear-stained face with her tear-stained hands, crying and laughing, not knowing which to do.

Iris wiped away the tears with her hands and said in a cheerful voice.

“Quickly show it to Dylan. He was really, really worried.”

“Do you want to go with me? That kid’s reaction would be big, so it’s going to be fun.”

“I want to go.”

Iris nodded.

And to show that the wound was recovering, the two visited Dylan’s room, the boot who always treated Hayer’s wound until Iris took care of it.

Dylan, who came out of the room at the sound of a knock on the door, rubbed his eyes with his hands.

“Wh-what are you doing at this hour?”

Hayer said to Dylan, who was taken aback by the leader’s behaviour late at night.

“It’s starting to heal, the wound.”

Hayer and Iris were relatively calm and unresponsive. Dylan screamed in surprise, and eventually all the knights got up. And no one complained about getting woken up today.

afterword 

LMFAO this chapter had so many comments on kkp so i was wondering what happened like did they fuck??? BUT THIS IS A GREAT ALTERNATIVE IM SO GLAD THE WOUND IS MAKING PROGRESS!! hayer being more scared of disappointing iris than actually dying from the wound oh my heart