Rumours spread quickly in the royal palace that Celios was opposed to Iris and Hayer’s marriage, and that Iris was likely to challenge the throne.

The rumour reached Sid Lepos, the king’s eldest son, who had never imagined that Iris would be his rival.

And he was now facing a more serious problem than that of Iris Lepos, who doesn’t seem to be much of a competitor.

It was because a woman with his own child was standing in front of his eyes.

Madeleine Lepos, Kernin Lepos’s daughter, was standing in the middle of Sid’s office, crying sadly.

Kernin, who brought his illegitimate daughter, was staring at Sid with a sad look.

“My daughter is pregnant with your child. You knew that, but you tried to hurt Madeleine?”

“I didn’t know. Is there any proof that the child is my child in the first place?”

Sid tried to get away with it with a straight face. He knew it wouldn’t work against Kernin, but he thought he should try.

However, he received Kernin’s more than expected shouts.

“I can prove it right away by bringing even a sage. My daughter swore to Tilla that the child in her stomach is yours! Can you swear to Tilla that this child is not yours!”

His tiger-like rant made him feel chills. But he wasn’t that easy either.

“What if that child is mine? What does that change? Even so, she is a daughter with no honour.”

“Even if this child is illegitimate, the fact that you touched my daughter remains unchanged.”

Kernin said.

“If you continue to avoid it and do not marry this child, you’ll be tried by facing a duel with me. You defamed my daughter.”

“Uncle!”

“Your subordinate Meppo is still bedridden, so he can’t fight the duel. Who can you appoint as your fill-in right now?”

Sid gnashed his teeth at his words. However, even with such anger, as Kerrnin said, there was no knight in Luwan who could deal with him one-on-one except for Meppo.

Kernin Lepos said, looking down at Sid.

“When I think about living in a country where you are king, I think it would be better to die and go to Tilla’s side. How can a man who tries to kill a woman with his child be a good king!”

It was obvious why Kernin brought Madeleine, a daughter he had never been interested in, to push her to marry him. Because Kernin himself wants to be king. At the same time, it is to talk about a good king.

Sid was disgusted by Kernin’s desire.

The throne was given to him.

Sid grew up knowing and learning that way from the moment he had his first memory of life when he was very young. He never took it seriously for a moment that there was a rival for his throne.

In particular, among them, Iris Lepos—an ignorant fool who grew up in a convent all this time and knows nothing—is not a threat to him in the slightest.

But his uncle…

His uncle, Kernin Lepos, had the face of a traitor.

Sitting at the head of the Royal Knights who were to protect the royal family, he looked as if he would not obey anyone’s orders.

He was a man who would wield a sword to seize the throne at any time if he had a justification.

“First… yes, I understand.”

Sid, who always had a hard time with such an uncle, told Kernin Lepos to avoid it right now.

“I’ll do as uncle says. It’s my child, so I’ll take responsibility.”

“Yes. You thought it out very well.”

Today, Kernin left with his illegitimate daughter after satisfactorily saying that, having planned to catch his weak point first.

Sid’s breathing became rough with anger.

He had to get out of this situation.

If he marries Kernin’s illegitimate daughter, King Eswa will surely be furious. Eswa himself was born in the belly of a mistress, so he was a person who was severely obsessed with bloodline in return.

Iris Lepos was the only one that caught his eye so far.

But she’s an illegitimate daughter.

She was also an illegitimate daughter with his younger brother, whom Eswa did not like very much. It was clear that the road would run wild.

After thinking for a while, Sid found his own method along the way.

It was intended to endanger both Iris Lepos and Kernin Lepos at the same time.

He ran straight to the king’s office.

* * *

Sid Lepos immediately headed to the drawing room attached to the king’s bedroom.

He sat on the sofa, waiting for his father, and looked around the space that would one day be his.

Flamboyant and luxurious furnishings were changed according to their taste whenever the paramour they loved changed.

At the news of his son’s arrival, the king rose from his bedroom with a click of his tongue. Since his son went to the convent to pick up his bride, the royal palace has been noisy all the time, and there has been no peaceful day.

King Eswa walked out into the drawing room with a tired look on his face.

Sid hastened to say, before his father showed his displeasure.

“Have Iris Lepos and Lord Kernin ever been tested as a Lepos?”

“Come to think of it, I don’t think so.”

Iris Lepos was Sid’s own match for marriage. When she was appointed queen, such a test was not necessary.

On top of that, Kernin Lepos also had no reason to be tested because he had never been a candidate for the throne.

Sid continued.

“You must test them both in the Traitor’s Labyrinth.”

“The Traitor’s Labyrinth?”

“Yes.”

Neither Sid nor Eswa had ever entered the Traitor’s Labyrinth.

The Traitor’s Labyrinth was a complex place where even the previous kings, who were known to be powerful in the Lepos family, lost their way for a long time.

In addition, it was dangerous because it was a place to confine those who committed treason or heinous crimes.

Sid said, pointing to the sky.

“The full moon has risen, father. That means that someone, born strong enough to be the king, can enter the Traitor’s Labyrinth and come out.”

“Hmm…”

“Father, you have to confirm who was born with the qualifications of a king. Isn’t that what Tilla wants?”

Sid knew about the fear of his father, King Eswa.

He had been in fear since the full moon. The thought that one day the real beloved king whom the moon loves might appear. There was an inherent fear that the king might overthrow him, who was still too young to step down from the throne yet.

It wasn’t that the fear was unrealistic. If a new person appeared, who all the great noble families supported more than the current king, Eswa had no choice but to give up the throne.

The royal family wouldn’t be overwhelmed if it was just one great noble family that joined together, but if the eight families joined together, even the royal family could not move.

King Eswa pretended to accept his son’s suggestion carefully. But maybe, in fact, that’s exactly what he’s been hoping for all this time.

He would be satisfied with just sending Kernin Lepos, but he thought it would be better to send Iris Lepos with him as well because there is not enough justification.

The girl who made Celios Lepos look like she succeeded in revenge in front of him.

They won’t be able to escape the Traitor’s Labyrinth. Tilla could not have given them the ability that was not given to himself.

If those two people were trapped in the maze, there would be nothing happier than this. It was so easy to get rid of the competitors.

Without further delay, King Eswa summoned the representatives and ministers of the eight families.

* * *

Representatives from the eight noble families gathered in the king’s office.

Eight families were spread throughout Luwan, and their representatives lived in the capital. They were mainly the younger brothers or second sons of the family head.

Dane Hall was also just attending the meeting as a relative of Sandra Hall and a representative of the Hall family.

Eswa opened his mouth deliberately with modesty.

“I think the fact that the full moon has risen proves it. In Luwan, a better king than me raised his head.”

At his unexpected words, the representatives’ eyes were all on Eswa.

Eswa continued.

“Don’t you think so? I’m here for Luwan… Yes, if there is a better king for this land, I am always willing to give up this throne.”

Until now, Eswa has always been on his own and was lazy. Usually just drunk or held by mistresses. Since there were few meetings like this, in fact, there was little gathering of representatives from the eight families in the first place. He was an incompetent and dishonest king.

It was only when it was first revealed that the queen had been raising another man’s child without the king’s knowledge that he garnered the sympathy of the Luwan people for a very short time, but that was it.

His brutal torture and imprisonment of the child left a particularly bad impression on those with children. It was because Hayer was too young at the time.

In any case, Eswa finally seemed to have the mindset he should have had from the beginning of his reign, like it was finally time to die.

‘What’s going on?’

The representatives of the eight families exchanged glances with each other.

afterword

here we go,, this arc won’t get dragged out for too long dw guys

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