The Elf Journey In The Western Fantasy World-Chapter 36: The King’s Slip

The reason he had asked about the stones in the first place was to test whether this king remembered their first meeting.

Now it was clear.

Although this king’s personality, speech, and behavior were identical to Seoryun’s, a fake would always be a fake.

Who could forget the first meeting with a friend?

Especially when that meeting was so profound that it remained etched in one’s memory for a lifetime.

Suddenly, Darius lost interest.

Pretending to go along with this fake king’s charade was exhausting.

The impersonator hadn’t even bothered to fabricate a proper memory.

What a poor actor—no matter how convincing the exterior, if the essence was different, then it simply wasn’t the same.

"No, it’s just that before I became Your Majesty’s personal knight, my teacher often punished me by making me squat in front of the stone pile, reflecting on my mistakes." Darius spoke without blinking, effortlessly making up an excuse. "The memory is so vivid that it’s hard to forget. So when I didn’t see it today, I just wanted to ask."

Seoryun let out a small breath of relief.

As long as the stone pile had nothing to do with him, then that was fine.

However, even though Darius had given him an explanation, the uneasiness in his heart did not subside.

Instead, it grew stronger.

"So that’s how it is. Looks like your teacher had a tough time with you, Darius," Seoryun said with a chuckle.

Darius felt a pang of resonance. "Yes, my teacher was very strict." This, at least, was the truth—his teacher had indeed been harsh.

Seoryun glanced up at the sky.

The sun was already beginning to set.

Conveniently, the garden led directly to the venue for today’s banquet.

Only one final step remained in his plan.

As long as the banquet proceeded smoothly tonight, he wouldn’t have to worry about anything afterward.

By then, all of the capital would be talking about how close the king and Darius were.

After all, today was the day the king was formally legitimizing his lover.

Thinking of this, the king’s smile became even more sincere.

He turned to Darius and spoke in a cheerful tone, "It’s getting late. The banquet is being held just past the garden. Shall I lead the way?"

Darius refused without hesitation. "There’s no need for Your Majesty to trouble yourself. I am already grateful for the opportunity to meet you today, but unfortunately, I have urgent matters to attend to in the capital and cannot delay. It’s a shame I won’t be able to witness Your Majesty’s wedding. As you said, it’s already late, so we should take our leave."

With that, Darius bowed to the king before turning and walking away.

Illiya and the others followed suit, mimicking Darius’s actions.

They bowed and simply said, "We take our leave," before departing.

Seoryun’s gaze remained fixed on their retreating figures, his expression gradually twisting.

The once-handsome face contorted into something grotesque.

He murmured incredulously, "He refused... He refused me! He actually refused me!"

"How dare he refuse me? This shouldn’t be happening!" Seoryun ranted, his tone growing increasingly manic as he repeated the same words over and over.

"He refused me. He refused me. He refused me!"

"He’s starting to suspect me!"

As the king’s personal knight, Narae felt a chill run down his spine as he observed his ruler behaving so differently from usual.

And now, this strange, erratic reaction...

Unconsciously, he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, gripping it tightly.

Then, when he heard the words "He’s starting to suspect me," an icy realization hit him.

Recalling Captain Darius’s unusual behavior earlier in the day, a terrifying thought suddenly formed in his mind.

Narae knew his thoughts were inappropriate, especially now that he was the king’s personal knight, but he couldn’t stop himself from overthinking.

He wasn’t the most senior member of the Royal Knights.

In terms of experience, he didn’t even count for much.

Looking back now, it made perfect sense—out of all the seasoned knights, he was the ideal choice precisely because he had little interaction with the king.

First, because he hadn’t spent much time with the king, most of his impressions came from rumors.

If he noticed anything odd, he would likely just blame misleading gossip.

Second, he was a newcomer, practically invisible within the Royal Knights, someone with little presence—easy to control.

No wonder no one fought for the position of the king’s personal knight after Captain Darius resigned and roamed the continent.

At that time, those who were truly familiar with the king must have already sensed something was wrong.

That was why the position landed on him.

No wonder his seniors had approached him when he first took up the role, trying to sound him out.

Back then, he had assumed they were just mocking him.

What a huge misunderstanding.

He really needed to find an opportunity to apologize after today.

Narae replayed everything in his mind and came to a painful realization—the fool in all of this was actually himself.

No wonder that over ten years ago, Captain Darius had told him he looked clever.

He must not have meant clever—just naïve.

The more he thought about it, the more miserable he felt.

Narae let out an old-man sigh, casting a melancholic glance at the king, who was throwing a tantrum.

He was itching to get away from this mess.

Fortunately, his knightly discipline stopped him from acting on that dangerous impulse.

Instead, he put on an indignant expression, stepped forward, and supported the king, preventing him from collapsing onto the ground.

"What’s going on with Captain Darius? Your Majesty prepared a banquet for him in good faith, and they just rejected it like that? That’s too much!" Narae huffed in "righteous anger," his tone carrying a hint of complaint. "And getting this worked up just because Your Majesty is marrying the queen? That’s really confusing."

Narae casually shifted the topic, redirecting the focus onto how Darius and his men had left in anger over the king’s marriage to the queen.