CH 87

“You’ve been there.”

King Eswa watched Iris’s party dismounting their horses to be polite to the king.

Looking at the enormous size of the Royal Knights, the Knights of Tejas seemed to be only a small crew.

King Eswa, who regained his composure at that fact, asked.

“I have no doubt that you have been to the Traitor’s Labyrinth. If you’re the king of Luwan, you must earn the trust of the citizens of Luwan. Do you have any proof that you’ve been to the labyrinth?”

Hayer, who considered the current king to be incompetent, almost burst into laughter for a moment, but the Asheri pretend not to hear anything, and so he erased his laughter.

《t/n: what it means here is that the Asheris act normal/indifferent, so he, as an Asheri, stopped himself from laughing》

Soon Cadella, who was next to him, got off the horse.

As the child stepped forward, King Eswa made a strange expression.

Hayer said from behind.

“He is Cadella, the illusionist.”

“…I can’t believe it.”

Hencke, who heard Annamaria muttering to herself, winked at her to shut up. The two began to fight again with their eyes.

* * *

Since there was a record of ‘Cadella’s Treason’ in the history books, from then on, they had to start comparing the ‘Cadella’ that Iris brought from the Traitor’s Labyrinth with the ‘Cadella’ in history.

However, when historians in the royal palace tried to take Cadella away, Cadella ran away and hid behind Annamaria and Hencke.

“I’m not going!”

When he came to the royal palace, he didn’t seem to trust anyone but the people he was with.

Hencke had no choice but to say to Annamaria.

“Let the loser raise him.”

“Ah, please…”

After the two prayed desperately to each other, they played rock-paper-scissors.

There, Hencke sighed and said to Cadella.

“I’ll go with you.”

“…Okay.”

“It’s not easy to respect the elderly.”

Hencke grumbled and picked up Cadella. And disappeared along with the historian.

Meanwhile, King Eswa saw the expression of his cousin, Celios.

Seeing her child’s glory in front of her eyes, she had a confident look on her face.

The glory of the child was the glory of the parents. Luwan’s people took it for granted that a child’s achievements were attributed to the ability of the parents who gave birth to that child.

King Eswa remembered Sid Lepos, his son who lost the duel not too long ago. And he saw Hayer, the victor. Compared to that sun-like man, Sid felt terrible.

King Eswa said to Hayer.

“My son.”

“……”

Hayer, for once, failed to control his facial expression.

Before long, he understood why Eswa called him ‘son.’

The two who entered the Traitor’s Labyrinth were Iris and Hayer. And it was the two of them who got out of there.

Jealous of Celios’s delight in Iris’s achievements, King Eswa was now treating Hayer as a son.

Hayer, who was always good at hiding his emotions, gritted his teeth because he couldn’t do it this time. However, he soon regained his smile and approached King Eswa, who was waiting with open arms.

“Father.”

Hayer recalled Eswa Lepos when he was ten years old. Eswa, who was much more energetic than now, poured hatred on Hayer for a long time.

Hayer sometimes wondered why Eswa was so persistent in bothering him. He’d rather kill him coolly, or put him in a dungeon and forget. Why did you spend your own time doing something that was neither of those things?

Hayer thought that King Eswa, who hugged him and patted him on the back too much, was not as big as he remembered, and was even weak.

The giant Eswa Lepos that the ten-year-old Hayer remembered was no longer there.

‘It wasn’t a big deal.’

Hayer thought so.

After growing up, he saw that Eswa Lepos was nothing special.

Hayer laughed at the fact, but Eswa seemed to have dimly realized why his son was laughing. Seeing him shudder for fear that his son might kill him.

* * *

The verification of Cadella was not over, but a party welcoming Iris and the Knights of Tejas began right away in the royal garden.

As the summer was coming to an end, it was a little hot and the temperature was incredibly moderate in the evening.

The party attendees, who had been rigid at the start, slowly relaxed as the temperature became moderate and began to drink.

“Tell me about the maze!”

“How was it?”

Thanks to this, both Hayer and Iris had to suffer from questions from all sides.

Before they knew it, Hayer was taken by the men and Iris by the women, and sat at their respective tables.

Iris was not drunk from the beginning of the evening thanks to her strong alcohol tolerance, but the people at the table with her were all drunk and laughing and asking her questions about the maze.

Everyone lost interest in Iris’s way of speaking, where she recited the truth without any exaggeration. So the topic changed in the middle.

“So. What are you going to do with Sir Hayer? Marriage? Just enjoy?”

Iris answered the question from a noblewoman at the table.

“We are talking in a positive way.”

When talking about the maze, people who were bored no matter how much it was explained, couldn’t like this answer about Hayer.

At first, she thought they liked love stories, but when she thought about it more, it wasn’t. What people want to hear is a fantastic story, not reality.

However, Iris and Hayer’s marriage was intertwined with infatuation, so it seemed entertaining from the beginning that it aroused interest.

And most of all, seeing Hayer smiling and talking in the other group, that man himself was a fantastic being. His story was so interesting.

* * *

Madeleine struggled to escape the people’s eyes.

Sid Lepos was becoming more and more violent.

Initially, Sid forced her to resemble Iris, in order to swap Madeleine for Iris.

But now she was just considered a mistress, hoping that the mistress would look just like Iris and behave just like her.

Madeleine was sure Sid Lepos had his heart on Iris, though he never admitted it.

The day passed when she trained harshly all day and cried at the beating that fell on the way.

Madeleine knew the baby in her womb was struggling, so she decided to run away.

She struggled out onto the balcony, feverish. And from there, she climbed down on the rope she barely got and landed in the garden.

She thought it was impossible to just run away. And she recalled Peter Wick, Celios’s escort knight who protected her from being beaten to death by the ruffians from Sid last time.

Possibly Iris’s father.

Madeleine felt she should ask Peter Wick for help, perhaps because she heard the rumour from Sid.

It was time for Madeleine, who ran frantically, to think about how to get into the east building. A maid came running with wide eyes.

“Your Highness! Why are you here? Your hair is a mess.”

Madeleine looked back at the maid who called her ‘Your Highness.’ When she thought about it after being puzzled, it seemed that she had mistaken herself for Iris.

Madeleine said in a trembling voice.

“Alcohol… I must have drunk too much.”

“Gosh, I see.”

The maid hastened to help Madeleine.

Soon the two entered Iris’s bedroom. Madeleine covered her face with the blanket, fearing that she would recognize her face under the candlelight, which was not recognizable in the dark, and said.

“Light… can you turn it off?”

“Ah, you’re dizzy from the light! Why did you drink so much?”

“They kept giving me…”

“I knew this would happen one day. You don’t worry about drinking too much. You are someone who is still weak.”

Madeleine glanced at the royal maid.

Hearing her voice, she was the maid whom Madeline had heard talking outside when she was in Sid’s bedroom.

The frightened reactions of the maids when dealing with Sid, there was not a shred of it in this maid here. Just by looking at her genuinely concerned attitude, she could tell how Iris would normally treat her.

Madeleine closed her eyes briefly under the warm blanket. She has never felt this kind of peace in her life.

When Madeleine checked the time, it was already 11 o’clock. Now past 12 o’clock, all the maids in the east building will change shifts, including the maid who knows she’s here. Then she thought no one would know that she came in.

Madeleine prayed that Iris would not know she had entered here.

And how long has it been?

Hearing a voice outside, Madeleine rushed into the closet and hid.

Then the door opened and Iris entered. She was staggering as if she was drunk, and Hayer was helping her in.