Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 9

As the Heart Leads – Episode 9

#Chapter 3. Who Are You People?

#9.

Roderick Perus Blake.

Calling the king by his middle name was taboo.

However, most Cayenne citizens knew his name.

A reigning beast. That was the king’s nickname, and soon, his name.

But the king had another nickname.

A mad beast.

It was secretly talked about among the nobles, and its origin was also his madness.

Lee Jae and the maids were outside from early morning.

It was because the king and knights were leaving for a hunting trip for two nights and three days.

The royal family owned a private hunting ground, and many kings throughout history enjoyed the activity. But historically, no king had gone hunting as often as Roderick.

Roderick knew he had madness, and he wanted to relieve the destructive desires that sometimes arose without any chance of control, even in this way.

However, Lee Jae, standing far away, had an uneasy look on her face.

Her feelings were complicated.

The king might be better off going outside the castle. His bedroom was like a haunted house and a cemetery.

But Lee Jae had something else she wanted to say.

‘I don’t think you should kill.’

But how absurd would this Buddhist-like remark sound to him and the knights?

It would look pious, though.

‘Why am I so worried?’

He was a person who bothered her in many ways.

Meanwhile, as Lee Jae sighed, Roderick, who had finished preparing, stared at her.

“Hailey Duncan.”

“Yes?”

When Lee Jae asked back, he said.

“Don’t just stand there, come over here.”

However, unlike his somewhat blunt tone, he turned his horse directly and approached Lee Jae.

He seemed to be in a pretty good mood, unaware that she was contemplating the ten evils of Buddhism.

It was understandable. His surroundings were much cleaner than inside the castle.

Even the few things that were there moved far away as Lee Jae got closer.

She decided to put aside her worries and anxiety.

“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“…What do you mean?”

He took his hand off the reins and leaned back slightly.

“Like asking me to catch something for you.”

Lee Jae laughed. She was thinking about not killing, but she was dumbfounded to hear such a thing.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I’m not interested in that at all…”

“Then tell me to have a good trip.”

Only then did Lee Jae understand what he meant and nodded.

“Yes, have a safe trip.”

“Okay.”

But Roderick didn’t seem to be leaving yet.

He stared somewhere and said in an indifferent tone.

“Don’t you even have a handkerchief to tie to the reins?”

When Lee Jae turned her gaze to where Roderick was looking, she saw a maid tying a handkerchief to a knight’s bow.

Then the knight bent down from his horse and grabbed the maid’s cheek.

And he bit her lip hard, not caring about the eyes of others.

Lee Jae, who saw a scene so affectionate that it was creepy, frowned slightly and looked up at the king.

Roderick added, as if interpreting that expression.

“I was just kidding.”

“…”

“I don’t want to receive such a thing from a wife who has a lover.”

So what was he trying to say?

Lee Jae had a clueless expression, and Jade next to her had an even more clueless expression.

It was as if the king was picking a fight with the queen who was just standing still.

“You’re silent again.”

“You said it was a spectacle.”

“Why are you leaving out the rest? You also said it was much better.”

Lee Jae, who didn’t have anything to say, replied appropriately.

“I understand, so have a safe trip. Don’t get hurt.”

And don’t go crazy.

Lee Jae, who swallowed what she really wanted to say, took a step away from him.

And when the queen cut off the conversation, he chuckled. He had a truly spectacular expression, but it didn’t seem like he was making that expression because he was particularly displeased.

She could feel it to some extent now.

The gap between his true personality and the appearance he showed when the vengeful spirit incited him was too great.

It might seem obvious, but it wasn’t true.

Vengeful spirits like people who have negative thoughts, gloomy thoughts, and wounded hearts.

And at that moment, Roderick, who had been watching Lee Jae, said.

“Don’t go to places like the waterfront.”

It sounded like he was talking to a child, but it wasn’t.

When Lee Jae hardened her expression and looked at him, his eyes, which had seemed languid until just now, were also sharply watching her.

Lee Jae realized that this was what he really wanted to say.

The king was warning her not to die carelessly.

Lee Jae nodded silently.

“I’m leaving.”

“…”

When the king struck the reins, his knights followed him.

「February 7, 499

My father told me to marry His Majesty the King.

I love Lawrence.

Doesn’t my father love me after all?

I don’t want to die.」

Lee Jae was looking at Hailey’s diary again today. It was a diary from about three months ago.

She had half given up on reading Hailey’s diary in chronological order.

It was because Hailey’s diary was so unkind and short.

In that she sparingly used sentences, it seemed that she was rather a person who had compassion for trees.

“Why did you die when you didn’t want to die, you idiot.”

Lee Jae pouted her lips, closed the diary, and put it back in the desk drawer.

She got up from her seat and stared blankly out the window.

She felt sorry, but Kang Lee Jae was an inevitable fatalist.

Humans cannot escape the fate and destiny given to them.

It means that you can avoid minor misfortunes, but you cannot change the major threads that run through your life.

Hailey Duncan eventually died because it was her fate to die, even though she wrote that she didn’t want to die. Lee Jae, who was cold but a fatalist, thought so.

Amor fati. Love your destiny.

There is a concept called love of fate [Amor fati in Latin] in the world.

And they say to love even the hardships and adversities given to you.

But that is something they can say because they cannot ‘predict’ ‘exactly’ ‘what’ kind of hardship will be given to them and ‘how much’.

How many people can love their fate even knowing exactly the depth of the pain to come?

Lee Jae, who had never affirmed her fate, left the study with a slightly bitter face.

Then maids and knights immediately followed.

Lee Jae asked Deborah.

“I want to take a walk, can I walk around a bit?”

“Is there any particular place you would like to go?”

“No, not really, but I was wondering if I could just wander around aimlessly like this.”

Then Deborah smiled kindly.

“Her Majesty the Queen can go anywhere in the castle. If His Majesty were here, you could even go to His Majesty’s bedroom.”

Lee Jae, who felt that she was making an adult joke as she smiled somewhat mischievously, waved her hand, laughing.

“Oh, I don’t like that place.”

Then the people who followed pricked up their ears.

In fact, Deborah, who was testing the queen a little while making a joke, asked.

“Why?”

“Well, it’s just a little… should I say scary.”

Who would go to a haunted house for a walk that should be enjoyable? I’m not a YouTuber.

Lee Jae mumbled with that meaning, but people understood it in a different meaning and nodded.

Having seen such a sight, it was understandable that the king was scary.

In the end, Lee Jae wandered around the castle without a clear destination and stopped in a well-maintained garden.

In the middle of the garden was a lake as large as a decent mansion in diameter.

Then Roderick’s words came to mind.

‘Don’t go to places like the waterfront.’

Lee Jae, who was staring blankly at the lake, sat on a flower bed far away from it.

She muttered to herself in a small voice that the people around her couldn’t hear.

“I wouldn’t go to the waterfront even if you pushed me to go.”

Even so, she couldn’t take her eyes off the lake when it happened.

Lee Jae suddenly felt a chill down her spine.

It wasn’t because of an ominous energy, but because it was too powerful.

Lee Jae was so resentful of the wide angle of view of humans.

Even though she was stubbornly looking ahead, she could see a large white horse on her right.

It was driving her crazy, and now the man even got off the white horse and sat next to Lee Jae. It was the big Western ghost she saw at the wedding.

The vengeful spirits that Roderick drives around are only numerous, not this powerful.

Even the spirits that Yeongsan Grandma serves are not this strong.

Lee Jae, who was already overwhelmed by the momentum, froze.

Should I just get up and leave? That would be the best.

When Lee Jae glanced, the maids and knights were either watching her from a distance or enjoying the scenery.

Just as she was about to get up to go to them, the Western ghost spoke to her.

-You can see me, right?

Can you not talk to me like it’s so obvious?

I’m a human and you’re a ghost. Guardian spirits are also ghosts!

The world we live in is clearly different, so stop crossing the line as you please!

Lee Jae squeezed her eyes shut.

But whether that was the answer, she heard a chuckle next to her.

-You’re not really Hailey Duncan, are you?

“…”

-Roderick is coming.

Lee Jae tried hard to pretend she didn’t hear.

-He seems to be badly hurt. He doesn’t have an heir yet, what is he going to do?

At those words, she jumped up.

Lee Jae, who was flustered and unable to do anything in her place, tried to go to Deborah.

Then she heard a sneering voice from behind.

-Look. You can hear everything.

Lee Jae, feeling overwhelmed, turned around.

Then some kind of spirit emanated from her as well.

“Are you kidding me right now? Playing with people’s lives? Are humans that insignificant to you?!”

The blue-eyed spirit shrugged and showed off his energy.

“If it’s a joke, I’m really…”

“…”

“It’s not like I can do anything about it.”

Lee Jae, who immediately backed down, turned her back on him and ran quickly towards Deborah.

An airy laughter that only she could hear echoed from behind.