Chapter 59
Iris forgot how to breathe under the weight of her fear.
She covered her face with both hands and tried to breathe slowly.
Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.
She wanted to burst into tears, but she knew crying won’t change anything. It wasn’t time to cry, it was time to think.
‘Hold it together, Iris. You have to keep your head straight. It’s not the time to just shiver in fear.’
The first thing to do is find out the cause of this phenomenon and see if she can wake everyone up.
She lowered her hands that were covering her face.
“Uh…”
A small groan. Iris thought she heard wrong.
“Damn…”
Even though his voice was hoarse as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep, she could tell it belonged to Keivrand.
She tried to get up, but there was no strength in her legs, so she sat there and looked at him.
Groaning, Keivrand was struggling to lift himself up.
“Why all of a sudden…”
Keivrand, barely managing to sit up, turned his head and opened his mouth wide when he found Iris.
He froze with his eyes widened, as if he had witnessed a ridiculous situation.
“Kei…are you okay?”
It was only after Iris spoke with care that Keivrand breathed in.
“Irie, how the hell…”
As Keivrand muttered in confusion, his line of sight turned to the white pouch in front of Iris.
His gaze shifted from the pouch to Miranise and then to Iris as he thought hard.
As a man who has experienced numerous battles, he didn’t panic when he saw everyone lying on the ground.
He kept his eyes closed for a while as if he were organizing his thoughts.
Iris watched him with anxiety.
What’s all this about?
She had the Sleep Stone last, so it was her fault?
Did the Sleep Stone do this because she wanted to get rid of it?
Is he angry with her?
Keivrand, who opened his eyes again, asked.
“You’re not hurt anywhere?”
Iris nodded her head.
“All right, Irie. Now let’s find out what happened. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Keivrand said plainly as he lifted himself up.
He approached Iris and reached out his hand, but she couldn’t even lift a finger.
“There’s no strength left in my body.”
At Iris’ words, Keivrand narrowed his eyebrows.
He thought about something for a moment and then sat down on one knee in front of her.
“Irie. What happened?”
“I took the pouch from Grand Duke Fiano. And…I squeezed the Sleep Stone. And then… something strange happened. It felt like all the energy in my body was absorbed by the Sleep Stone.”
Keivrand covered his mouth with one hand.
His blue-gray eyes, which rarely faltered, showed movement.
He stared at Iris’ face for a while without breathing, as if he were shocked.
His behavior made her increasingly nervous.
Was this her fault? How can she fix this?
Is it even possible to fix this situation where all the nobles, including the Crown Prince, are asleep?
“Irie, you’re…No, that’s not important right now.”
Keivrand’s expression revealed that his head was a mess, but he soon shook his head and placed his hands on Iris’ shoulders firmly.
“Irie, it’s going to be okay.”
Iris thought it was really heartwarming to hear that it was going to be okay.
Despite this absurd situation, Keivrand made her his first priority.
He held her in his arms as they walked between those who had fallen asleep.
Looking closely at the people who had collapsed here and there, she felt once again how big this was.
He sat her down in a chair and spoke.
“Let’s fix this before more time passes.”
“What should I do?”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
“But…”
“Just stay, Irie. It’s okay.”
Iris clasped her hands together. She felt pathetic for not being able to do anything in this situation.
Keivrand trudged along and sat next to Jamie.
As he put his hand on Jamie’s forehead and instilled his force, the grudge of the sacred object on Jamie began to fade quietly.
Although he could sense the power of the grudge from the sacred relic that attacked Jamie, it still took quite a long time.
He had never seen the grudge of a sacred relic have such a strong influence.
Perhaps not even Venerable Count Green, his predecessor, has seen anything like it.
‘No, I’m sure none of my ancestors have either.’
It wasn’t long before Jamie opened his eyes wide. The shaking blue eyes stopped on Keivrand.
“I had a good dream, boss.”
“Get up, Jamie. Something big happened.”
Jamie, who got up, looked around.
“I suppose so. What the hell is going on here?”
“It’s the Sleep Stone. We need to fix this situation.”
Jamie didn’t ask why this was happening. Quickly wracking his head, he spoke.
“Then, we better wake up Eddie, boss.”
“Yeah.”
Keivrand went to Edward and neutralized the power of the sacred relic as he did so with Jamie.
Edward jumped up and shouted.
“Why are you waking me up? I was having a good dream…? What’s this…? Ha! What’s this? What’s happening?”
“It’s because of the Sleep Stone.”
“Sleep Stone? What about it? Brother, wasn’t it in your hands?”
“There’s a reason. For now, our priority is to fix this.”
Edward was different from Jamie. He didn’t want to ignore the facts.
“No, Count Green. You can’t sneak out of this and ask for my help. I’m the vice-captain of the Order of Holy Knights, and if you can’t manage the sacred relics, I have to point it out.”
That’s right. Keivrand couldn’t just ask him to cover up all this because they were family.
He was conflicted.
To be honest or to mix lies.
The conclusion was quick. If he lies to Edward now, he will soon find out the truth anyway.
“There was a small incident earlier.”
Keivrand explained what happened with Miranise Fiano and Iris.
Edward stood with his arms folded as he listened to Keivrand’s explanation, then he glanced at Iris who was sitting in a chair and shook his head.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Kei. What you’re saying right now sounds like sister-in-law can handle the sacred relics. Isn’t that impossible, Jamie?”
With the current situation, Jamie wasn’t in a position to answer.
Jamie, rarely surprised, was staring blankly at Iris and holding his breath.
Edward tapped Jamie on the shoulder.
“Hey, Jamie. What’s with that look on your face? If you react like that, it makes it seem like Kei’s words are true.”
“Boss, Miss Iris…Really this… Are you saying she can handle sacred relics? And to this degree?”
“Yes, Jamie. Otherwise I can’t explain this situation.”
“Ridiculous…”
Jamie staggered.
Edward frowned.
“You believe him, Jamie? That’s ridiculous. I understand that you want to sugarcoat your sister-in-law nicely. I know you want to make her look like a competent woman. But this is going too far. Does it make any sense that she can handle sacred relics? To this degree? I’m sure it’s because the grudge of that damn sacred relic got out of control and released its power.”
“Iris didn’t fall asleep, Eddie.”
“…!”
“And even though it was for a moment, I fell asleep.”
“No way…!”
“Yes, Eddie. Me, a guardian. I didn’t neutralize the power of the sacred relic. Even if the sacred relics naturally emit explosive power, it can’t overcome my neutralizing power.”
Keivrand is able to neutralize the sacred relics in his possession because his power was stronger than the sacred relics. In order for the power of the sacred relics to overcome the power of the guardian, it was necessary to borrow the power of those who can handle sacred relics. The borrowed power also had to be very powerful.
The fact that Iris used the Sleep Stone, and that the power had put even him, the guardian, to sleep meant that her power in dealing with the sacred relics surpassed his.
Edward touched his forehead with one hand.
“Ha, that’s ridiculous.”
“Whether it makes sense or not, the explanation of the situation is over. Now we need to focus on fixing it.”
After Keivrand spoke sternly, Jamie spoke.
“Let’s attribute it to the Lambas.”
The Lambas were wildlings living deep in the southwest jungle. For a wilderness tribe, their influence was rather large. It was on the same scale as a small country.
“Lamba, that’s fine. I’ve been working with the Kingdom of Alzrek on my way north lately. The city that borders the southern jungle is heavily damaged by them. Lately, the Empire has its eyes on them also.”
Edward regained his composure as he recited the information he knew.
Jamie added.
“The Emperor of Gavizar must be on edge because of the situation with the Kingdom of Alzrek. Because of such circumstances, it’s no wonder the Green family of the Gavizar Empire was attacked by the Lambas.”
“We can say we subjugated them.”
Jamie nodded at Keivrand’s words.
“That’s right, boss. The Emperor will feel good about having a thorn removed once he hears this. Even if he thinks the sleep incident is strange, we’ll pretend we don’t know. The same goes for the nobles here.”
“And if I, the vice-captain of the Order of Holy Knights, is asked, I’ll say it’s a crime to assault my family. The Emperor would have no doubt. And no one else would dare to doubt me who is from the Divine Kingdom.”
“Okay. This was done by the Lambas. Jamie, you thought of what you’re going to tell the guests, right?”
“Of course, boss.”
“Before we wake up the guests, we need to find out how far the Sleep Stone’s influence has gone. Jamie.”
Jamie nodded and quickly turned into a big eagle.
Watching Jamie fly up, Edward asked.
“Does sister-in-law know everything?”
“Yeah. They say there’s no secret between couples.”
“You don’t have to add that last part. Because it’s gross.”
Keivrand smirked.
Soon Jamie returned and sat in front of Keivrand with his wings folded. He raised his head and looked at Keivrand as he spoke.
“The whole city of Rondiban has fallen asleep. Not only humans, but also animals.”
Keivrand swallowed a sigh.
He didn’t expect the Sleep Stone’s influence to reach the entire city.
How much power does Iris have?
No, does it make any sense that even though she had used this much power, she just lost strength from her body and there’s no big problem?
Regardless, he couldn’t show his agitation in the presence of Iris who already looked anxious.
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To Keivrand, who barely managed to keep a calm face, Jamie spoke.
“Boss, we’re screwed aren’t we.”
== Translator’s Note ==
1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section .
2. Lamba was translated literally because there’s really no easy way to translate made up words.