A King is Born on the Road - CH 34

“I’m curious.”

She felt like he had to get drunk, so he could skip the early morning training tomorrow and get about nine hours of long sleep.

He was a very light sleeper. She didn’t know whether it was like this before he saw the rampaging monsters or a new habit.

What was clear was that he always looked like he was being chased by something.

Hayer couldn’t refuse the drink a woman offered him, and emptied the glass of hard liquor one after another as she poured it.

Iris smiled without realizing it.

“You’re very weak to women.”

“You’re heartless to men.”

Iris laughed softly at his lamentation.

It was strong enough to make even a huge beast fall. Iris was also used to hard liquor, but this level of hard liquor was difficult to drink without mixing water with it.

As she continued to pour such liquor, Hayer quickly got drunk and gripped the table, feeling dizzy.

“…A woman I don’t understand.”

“Here.”

Iris handed him another glass.

Hayer said, receiving the glass again.

“I understand why you were angry that dying was my dream.”

“What?”

“I had to kill myself, but I was afraid I couldn’t do it.”

He grumbled and downed the drink Iris had given him back into his mouth.

Iris thought that the more drunk Hayer was, the sharper his unique mischief felt. His voice gradually lowered, and there was no tone that made the other person feel better.

But Iris didn’t hate the way he was drunk. It was also the fact that his body was leisurely standing in front of her eyes.

He probably would have looked like that if there was any other woman that wasn’t herself, but it wasn’t bad because she was the one who was here right now.

“Go to bed, then.”

“Good night.”

Hayer dismissed her with the remaining courtesy in his body and headed to bed.

Iris, who was about to leave the room, paused, and then returned to his bed and sat down.

Iris lifted Hayer’s arm, who unconsciously frowned. And like when he shared the cologne, he gently rubbed their wrists and she then said.

“Don’t do this.”

“……”

“It’ll be bothersome if you can’t sleep.”

She said that, and as she rose to leave the room, Hayer grabbed Iris by the arm.

Iris looked back at him.

Hayer’s hand had no strength, but had enough for her to not pull her arm out.

Hayer pulled her towards him. When Iris obediently came towards him, Hayer finally came to his senses and opened his mouth.

“Why don’t you hit me for being so playful?”

“……”

Only then did Iris come to her senses by the lack of laughter in his voice.

She tried to pull out her arm, but Hayer wouldn’t let go. Or maybe he didn’t notice she was trying to pull it out. So she had to tell him to let go, but her mouth wouldn’t open.

Iris wished he had pulled her a little more.

The messenger’s voice was heard outside.

“Captain!”

Iris made an embarrassed expression at the call.

“He’s drunk.”

“It’s all right. It’s just that the messenger is here.”

After he got up with that answer, he burst into laughter at the dizziness.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been so drunk.”

“Have you ever been that drunk?”

Hayer answered with a smile and opened the door.

When the messenger noticed Hayer, who was drunk, and Iris, who was with him in the room, he hesitantly stepped back.

“S-sorry. I’m in a hurry… Oh, then tomorrow, I’ll do it. N-no. This is urgent.”

The messenger was talking gibberish, then closed his eyes tightly and held out a letter to Hayer.

Hayer, realizing it was a letter from his mother, stood still. He opened the letter with a sigh.

We are sinners.

Hayer has heard it from his mother so many times. Therefore, he lived many of his childhood days apologizing.

He carelessly crumpled the stiff cloth on which the letter was written. It seemed his intoxication had increased.

Hayer gestured to the messenger to go.

Iris, who was watching from the side, asked.

“What letter is it?”

“This is a letter from Her Majesty the Queen. She’s asking me to return you to my brother, as if she thought I had stolen his lover.”

He said, and laid down on the bed as if he didn’t have the stamina to care about anything else anymore.

He buried his face in the pillow and murmured.

“Did you expect that?”

“What?”

“That I’ll get a letter that will make me depressed. My mother is a very sad person… and it’s contagious. I don’t even have time to be depressed because I drank too much…”

He muttered and closed his eyes as they were, without refusing.

Iris went on to ask.

“Contagious depression?”

“……”

“Hayer?”

Perhaps he drank too much, as Hayer fell asleep without talking further.

Iris felt a bit sorry for the late drinking, and carefully took out the letter from his hand to check it.

[We are sinners.]

The handwriting, which was written with great force, caught her eye.

Iris folded the letter carefully and put it with his belongings. And without realizing it, she put her hand on Hayer’s back, who was sleeping deeply, and stroked the wound.

He accepted to some extent that the curse of cutting the tree was in his body. And because of the curse, he did not set foot in the temple, thinking of Tilla’s hatred.

Iris gently put her hand on Hayer’s wound and thought.

The fact that the power of the monsters weakened from cutting down the sacred tree means that the sacred tree can no longer block the monsters.

Tilla planted sacred trees to prevent the monsters, in order to create the land for humans to live on.

After all, it was Tilla’s will to stop the monsters, so how could the goddess hate this man?

She caressed Hayer’s wound and prayed to Tilla that he would no longer hurt.

Nothing has been done in the last 19 years.

She prayed for a long time and recited the scriptures, as if she were memorizing them.

“There is no way Tilla hates you.”

She continued with a smile.

“Above all, there aren’t many women in the world who don’t like you.”

He said that depression is contagious when he is with the queen.

She didn’t know much about it because she didn’t know the queen, but she can see that when she’s with this man, the jokes and her way of speaking are gradually becoming more similar.

* * *

It was the first time for even the Knights of Tejas to see Hayer not waking up at dawn, despite being with him for a long time.

“What happened? I can’t believe the captain’s not getting up.”

“Is he sick?”

“Pff, the captain?”

“W-was the monster poisonous?”

The concerns of the Knights of Tejas were spreading so quickly that Iris eventually showed an empty bottle of alcohol and honestly confessed her mistake.

“I… probed him to drink. A lot. Until this bottle is empty…”

Her words made the Knights soon burst into laughter.

“Hey! Princess Iris finally knocked the captain down!”

“I knew it was going to happen eventually.”

She thought she would hear a loud noise for making the captain drunk, but it was rather fun and they laughed to death without a fuss.

“Let’s go take a look!”

“Of course, when else will you see the fallen captain?”

The Knights were busy taking the opportunity to tease anyone, whether it was the captain or anyone else. It seemed to be a separate matter from respect for the leader.

Iris, who was relieved by the pleasant response of the Knights, rushed before the Knights that flocked to Hayer’s room.

Hayer was hiding his wound. That’s why she had to enter the room first and check Hayer’s condition.

Fortunately, Hayer was lying down facing the ceiling and sleeping soundly.

The Knights, who were quietly watching the sleeping angelic face, carefully checked to see that he was still breathing. And as soon as they realized that he was breathing normally, they burst into laughter again.

Hencke said to Iris.

“The more I see her, the more amazing the princess is. I’ve never seen anyone in this world who could defeat our captain like this!”

“What do you mean defeat…”

“Maybe it’s the only defeat after becoming an adult.”

Hencke said so with a big grin.

Seeing that everyone looked happy, Iris also smiled for some reason. Then, along the way, she let out a small sigh of relief that he hadn’t been caught.

Among the Knights of Tejas that are here every day, only one boot knew that Hayer was hurt. No one else knew.

‘…That man will be in big trouble if he gets caught.’

Thinking so, she looked back at Hayer, still asleep.

afterword

me in despair when the mtl was making no sense also i need to look for a better font for those letters lol but i’m so lazy