the (half) fae Illuga theory/au but the discovery is both accidental and horrifying bc it was via Lohen absentmindedly handing him smth and all of a sudden he hears hissing and a scream and turns to see Illuga clutching his smoking hand in agony and then its OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT
imagine bc Nod Krai was originally a part of Snezhnaya they had and continued the old tradition of never using iron for anything as to not harm any fae esp bc theyre nobles so there was never any risk of iron burns until the KoF showed up
and Lohen is so confused but he sees the smoking hand the pained expression and the item dropped on the ground and while he doesnt immediately recognize hes a fae depending on how well versed he is on fae lore he puts 2&2 together that the item caused the injury and quickly kicks it away from Illuga while rushing for medics and trying to help or at least hold him until experienced help arrives
then while Illuga is recovering and dealing with the revelation of his apparent bloodline Lohen and Varka proceed to both research fae and crackdown on anything known to harm fae in the Keep
all iron objects are replaced with a different material, salt is to be kept in containers and only taken out for immediate use, bells are banned including the Bell claymore, etc etc they take the safety of their direct allies seriously
(also Lohen is totally distracting himself ans avoiding Illuga since he was the one who burned him by handing him iron without a second thought)
(Illuga cant even notice immediately bc hes busy with self discovery so once hes done he has to be stunned that he apparently has to go even longer without seeing or hearing from Lohen)