Moonlight Ball - Chapter 70

“No,” Iris couldn’t believe her ears, “in the heart?”

No, no way.

Iris looked at Sidrain thinking that there was no way. As she stared at his un-human-like handsome face, he shrugged his shoulders as if it were nothing.

“Yeah, I stabbed the heart first.”

“Wh-why?” Iris asked quizzically.

Why, why did you do something that crazy? Are you insane?! Iris couldn’t help her widened eyes.

Sidrain read her heart correctly. Honestly, most people that knew about this thought like her, ‘Are you insane, are you crazy, are you sick?!’ But Sidrain thought that was a bit overboard.

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

That story was something that he didn’t want to talk about but if she wanted, he would. Iris had the upper hand when it came to emotions. He hinted quite obviously that he didn’t really want to talk about it, perhaps hoping that Iris would say that he wouldn’t have to if he didn’t want to.

Iris’s will, however, was so strong that she wanted to listen to it even if it took three nights and four days to tell. No matter how long of a story it was, she was listening.

How, in what way, a person would feel so hopeless that they felt they didn’t have any choice but to stab themselves in the heart first, that too with a magical sword.

Sidrain stood up as he reconfirmed Iris’s will to listen in her blue eyes. It happened to be that Iris’s bag was completely empty. Iris really brought the picnic mat as one of her workshop items which Sidrain found cute. Sidrain threw the bag in a pond.

“I’ll tell you on our way back.”

Sidrain helped Iris on the horse he had brought. The faithful horse let out a neigh as someone other than its master got on, but as Sidrain reassured it, it calmed down.

The king dragged the horse and walked like a servant. It was disrespectful, but Sidrain who was doing it didn’t seem to find it so.

“You are his Majesty. I’ll walk. M-my clothes are comfortable. I can’t let Your Majesty walk while I’m on a horse,” Iris couldn’t help her discomfort.

“You are a lady and I’m your knight, so this is the right thing to do,” he said simply.

But you’re a king.

Iris wanted to point that out but there was no way Sidrain, the actual king, would be swayed and it wasn’t as if he had forgotten that fact, so she sat quietly. Meanwhile, Sidrain slowly opened his mouth.

“So, it was when I was twenty years old.”

***

In conclusion, Elaine’s method of telling people’s hearts was never wrong. Sidrain was a victor in life, and while he never had to come down from the victor’s rank once, there were times when he almost had to.

When Sidrain was twenty, he was faced with a rather unusual situation. The En Letaires had never once become imperials and within the palace, there was an argument that the royal family had to change. The argument soon grew so big that they couldn’t hold it down. Sidrain’s father, the then King, left the task of resolving the dispute to Sidrain who was the Crown Prince.

“You want me to… subdue the dragon?”

The twenty-year-old Sidrain listened to the order, his breathing hitched. He had to ask again because he couldn’t believe it. But the order remained the same.

“Yes, the Crown Prince yourself.”

This order was basically a death sentence. The King’s plan was to have the Crown Prince killed and in doing so have the public’s opinion turn to favor him. He’d then use that as a shield to calm the nobles’ aggressive requests.

“Yes, Your Highness. I will do as you wish.”

Sidrain couldn’t refuse. He was the Crown Prince, and so he had the obligation to do what was best for the royal family; he knew better than anyone why the King had made such a decision.

He kissed the king’s wrinkled hand and then walked the long hallway in a daze.

Replaceable. That one word circled around his head. Replaceable. Everything could be.

Everything he was able to enjoy and everything he had to endure was something his siblings could have been experiencing as well but since he was the eldest, he had to experience it all. The intense education lessons, the immense power that burdened him and now the order that was basically telling him to walk into his death.

Replaceable.

In this palace, the only person that wasn’t replaceable was the King. Other than that, everyone was replaceable. Everyone knew that well. Meet someone other than your companion, and if there was benefit then there was a divorce.

People were all selfish and didn’t bother hiding their greed. There was no reason to. Anyone could be replaced at any moment, so why would they bother. The future wasn’t guaranteed. If their value decreased, then they could be thrown away at any moment. Everyone knew that so they all tried to enjoy the moment. Sidrain was the same. He was afraid of a day like today, hoping that it would never come.

But that day had come.

The dragon subjugation group started to form. The knights who were ordered to face the dragon were in the same boat as Sidrain as they accepted the order and in turn their fate.

It took about a year to prepare the whole thing and people forgot that the royal family had to be replaced during that time.

Dragon subjugation! How noble of a task. Especially by the Crown Prince himself! They had pride in and supported the royal family and so, the request by the nobles was quieted for now.