## Chapter 161 – 161. Dawn Riot
#161. Dawn Riot
As Kang Hyun-woo was setting up the tent, Iris and Sylvia left the campsite and headed into the forest.
Throughout their walk in the dark forest, their conversation continued without end.
Of course, Iris mainly led the conversation.
Iris asked Sylvia many things. What she had been doing, if she was feeling well, what the situation in Pelledia was like, and so on.
At first, Sylvia responded to the questions with a faint smile and sincerity, but as time passed, her expression gradually darkened.
“Sylvia…? You don’t look well. Are you alright?”
“…It is an honor that Your Majesty is concerned. I am only slightly fatigued, but there are no major issues.”
There was no awkwardness in the conversation between the monarch and her subject.
However, Iris seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
“It’s a reunion with my sister after 200 years. How about we drop the formalities for a while when it’s just the two of us?”
“…”
Iris Lemeria Vaihart Pelledia.
Sylvia Mervis Wintervane.
As indicated by the royal family name Vaihart and the duke’s family name Wintervane, the two were not blood-related sisters.
Instead, they had formed a bond since childhood and regarded each other as sisters.
Iris, who was an only child, treated Sylvia like a younger sister, and Sylvia also followed Iris as an older sister.
However, much had changed since Iris ascended the throne. Sylvia, who was not even a blood relative, could not treat her as casually as before, now that she was in a position above all others.
Thud.
Sylvia, looking distressed, suddenly knelt and sat on the ground.
“Syl, Sylvia?!”
“…Your Majesty, I still remember that day.”
Although 200 years had passed, the day of the rebellion, which she could never forget, vividly came to mind.
The day Resilia’s rebellion as a subject succeeded, and Iris was imprisoned in the dungeon beneath the World Tree, Sylvia was present at all those events.
As the vice-commander of the 1st Royal Knights.
“I beg Your Majesty to punish me for failing to protect you due to my incompetence. I take this opportunity to earnestly request your forgiveness.”
Sylvia’s forehead touched the ground.
Iris, flustered, approached her, but Sylvia remained motionless.
“Sylvia, you don’t have to do this…”
Sylvia’s shoulder, which Iris carefully touched, was trembling slightly.
“…I still vividly remember the moment Your Majesty was imprisoned in the underground dungeon by the rebels. I still feel the helplessness of having to watch blankly like a fool. On that day when I fled abroad to avoid the purge, I even rationalized everything by saying it was to save Your Majesty someday, just to alleviate my petty guilt.”
She seemed to be speaking indifferently, but Iris, who knew Sylvia better than anyone, knew how she felt as she confessed her faults.
Iris recalled Sylvia’s oath ceremony.
If she had lived an ordinary life, she would have married the heir of another high-ranking noble family as the eldest daughter of the Wintervane Duchy and lived a life envied by many. Iris felt guilty that Sylvia had become a knight.
If she hadn’t said those words when they were children, Sylvia would never have become a knight.
Iris carefully observed Sylvia’s hands on the ground. They were the hands of a swordswoman, full of calluses and scars that didn’t match her beautiful appearance.
Swoosh, Iris lowered herself to Sylvia’s eye level and covered her hands.
“Come on, get up. You’ll hurt your knees.”
“Yo, Your Majesty… I…”
“Do you want me to say it twice?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Watching Sylvia hurriedly get up, Iris realized that she didn’t know what had happened to her over the past 200 years, but she seemed to know how to treat her.
The past that Sylvia had told her while walking through the forest was like text devoid of any emotion.
Of course, some might say that it was wrong for a monarch to worry about how to treat a subject, but for Iris, Sylvia was not just a connection formed by such a simple relationship.
For Iris, Sylvia was like her only family, along with the World Tree.
“Aren’t you curious about how I escaped from that underground prison, Sylvia?”
After hesitating for a moment, Sylvia cautiously nodded.
Iris smiled at Sylvia and took her hand.
“Shall we take a walk for a while?”
The two listened to the sounds of insects as they walked through the familiar forest for elves.
Of course, the monsters that dominated the night in the great forest were suppressed by Sylvia’s aura and couldn’t even approach.
“To get straight to the point, the one who saved me was none other than Hyun-woo.”
“Hyun-woo…? Are you perhaps referring to that per… that person?”
“Yes, although it hasn’t been that long.”
Iris recalled that day. The day Kang Hyun-woo suddenly appeared in the underground prison where no one had visited for the past 200 years.
Her meeting with him, who had fallen from the light filling the underground prison, brought a new breeze into her life.
“Sylvia would be surprised to hear how much has happened in the fleeting days I spent with Hyun-woo. I want to tell you everything if possible, but then it will be dawn.”
Iris began to tell Sylvia about the days she had spent with Kang Hyun-woo as if she was having fun.
From meeting the World Tree in the underground prison to him risking danger to defeat the monsters in the underground dungeon for her.
Of course, she didn’t mention that Kang Hyun-woo came from another world or that they had spent the first night together.
The former was a secret between Kang Hyun-woo and herself, and she knew that the latter was a fact that Sylvia couldn’t handle.
Not only in the royal family, but also in elf society, nobles were never allowed to sleep with a man before marriage.
Even if the partner was a fiancé, it didn’t change anything.
Of course, it wasn’t the same for commoners. In the first place, there were hardly any cases like that due to the low libido of elf men.
‘…Considering Hyun-woo’s libido, it will take another two or three hours.’
While telling Sylvia various stories, Iris thought of Kang Hyun-woo and the two mothers who must be having a very hot time right now.
In fact, she didn’t intend to make such a suggestion to the two from the beginning.
However, the way the woman named Grace looked at Kang Hyun-woo throughout the meal seemed unusual, so she cautiously brought it up, just in case.
Of course, she didn’t expect the woman named Bella to cooperate as well.
‘With Hyun-woo’s charm, it’s only a matter of time before the two of them fall deeply in love.’
Iris dreamed of a royal palace filled with children someday.
Of course, they were all Kang Hyun-woo’s children.
The issue of lineage, whether commoner or noble, didn’t matter.
After all, Kang Hyun-woo’s children were the same as inheriting the noblest lineage in the world.
“Not only did he save me from the underground prison, but Hyun-woo also saved the sisters who were about to be kidnapped by slave hunters, you know?”
“…I see.”
The smile never left Iris’s lips as she talked to Sylvia.
Of course, it was a smile she could make because she didn’t know the disaster that would happen a few hours later.
***
The campsite became a mess due to the sudden intrusion of an uninvited guest.
I sighed as I looked at Sylvia.
“Are you sure you want to point a sword at me?”
It was hard to believe that she was the same person who had used honorifics and said that I was Iris’s recognized partner and would become the royal consort of Pelledia until dinner.
“…It is undeniable that you saved Her Majesty, but how dare you commit adultery and think you can discuss the position of royal consort.”
“Adultery?”
I turned my head and looked at Bella and Grace. My semen was dripping between the legs of the two people who were sleeping soundly naked.
For the record, I put on my pants as soon as the slash hit the tent, so at least I wasn’t naked.
“Well… I know what you’re misunderstanding, but shouldn’t Iris be the one who’s angry? What right do you have to cause such a ruckus?”
“Ha! What right?”
Sylvia’s beautiful brow furrowed at once.
“Alright, then I will punish you as a knight of Iris.”
“Knight?”
This time, a hollow laugh came out of my mouth.
No, maybe it was a sneer.
“…What’s so funny?”
“No, it’s funny. The Knights who couldn’t do anything when Resilia betrayed Iris, are now punishing me for adultery?”
As soon as I finished speaking, Sylvia trembled.
Her hand, which was sweating, trembled, and soon the pure white mana that had bloomed on the sword disappeared.
I wanted to say a few more words, but it seemed that this was not something I should be involved in any further.
“Sylvia!”
Iris, who had returned to the campsite, shouted at Sylvia.
“What is this rudeness?!”
“But, Your Majesty…! That man is committing adultery…!”
Sylvia pointed to the sleeping Bella and Grace.
“Haa… I was the one who suggested that the two mothers sleep with Hyun-woo.”
“Yes…? What do you mean…”
I vaguely thought that might be the case, but I never thought it would be true.
“I can’t say that I’m not at fault for not telling you in advance, but that doesn’t mean that rampage and rudeness are tolerated.”
“…”
Sylvia, who dropped the sword from her hand, seemed shocked.
“Apologize to Hyun-woo immediately.”
Iris’s attitude was firm. Her voice, which had sunk low as if she would not accept any further arguments, quickly dominated the surroundings.
Sylvia approached me. Her complexion looked bad enough to be noticed from a distance.
“…Please forgive my rudeness.”
“Well… I already have a precedent for forgiving apologies.”
As I tapped my shoulder with my finger, Sylvia lowered her head without saying a word.
“Sylvia, finish cleaning up the campsite and ask Bella and Grace for forgiveness.”
“…I will obey.”
“It’s late, so we’ll end it here for now, but you’ll have to formally ask Hyun-woo for forgiveness when it gets light.”
While Iris was talking to Sylvia, I left a few suitable clothes near Bella and Grace’s heads.
They were tired from the continuous sex, and they were able to not wake up despite the commotion thanks to the barrier, but that would only last for a short time.
“Hyun-woo.”
Just in time, Iris, who had approached, gently hugged my arm.
“Could you spare me some time?”
