Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 12

#12.

“Pardon?”

Lee Jae, who had been watching the people scatter as if they were vengeful spirits fleeing a talisman [an object believed to have magical powers to ward off evil], asked the question.

Awakened from his sleep, Roderick was slightly more curt than usual.

“Move aside a bit.”

“……”

She wanted to tell him to go to his room and sleep comfortably, but Lee Jae knew his bedroom situation all too well.

If Roderick had nightmares there, that would be fortunate. The probability of not even being able to fall asleep was much higher.

He repeated his words several times, which was rare, as if unsure how she interpreted the Queen’s expression.

“I won’t do anything, so just lend me the bed. I really can’t sleep.”

Roderick was saying something akin to ‘trust me, bro’.

If someone else had said it, she would have scoffed, but Lee Jae knew it was genuine, so she couldn’t say anything.

After observing the King’s complexion and energy for a moment, she stepped aside slightly.

He then climbed onto the space she had yielded, as if he had been waiting for it.

The bed lurched greatly once due to the weight of the sturdy man.

Roderick closed his eyes as soon as he lay down, but Lee Jae was wide awake, staring at the ceiling.

It was almost a month since they had married, but this was only the second time she had lain in the same bed with him. It was hard not to be conscious of it.

Feeling like she couldn’t fall asleep, she glanced sideways and turned to lie on her side.

Then, she slowly pushed the pillow she had been using towards him.

He frowned and smiled with his eyes closed.

“It’s okay, you use it.”

“I have another one under my legs.”

Only then did he lift his head slightly.

Having achieved her purpose but still unable to fall asleep, Lee Jae continued to look at Roderick and asked.

“Is it okay to lie in bed together even if you don’t accept a handkerchief from a wife who has a lover?”

This time, he seemed genuinely taken aback, covering his eyes and laughing out loud.

“You’re cute, but I don’t think you should be saying that so confidently to your husband.”

“Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

*I was just wondering if you were being sarcastic last time.*

*I was curious, so I just teased you a little bit.*

“I won’t bother you. Now, really go to sleep.”

Lee Jae wriggled, pulling up the blanket and trying to fall asleep.

In fact, she was also in very poor condition.

And just as she was about to fall asleep, Roderick said.

“I’m sorry about that time. I didn’t tear it on purpose. You might not trust me, though.”

“……”

“If I act violently again, don’t hesitate to call Jade or the others.”

It was only after a while that Lee Jae understood what he meant.

Roderick was talking about what happened on their first night.

She felt so embarrassed that her sleepiness vanished.

“……It wasn’t Your Majesty who did that.”

“……”

“It really wasn’t.”

“……”

“……It wasn’t.”

He didn’t answer for a long time. But he felt her continuing to look at him, so he nodded slightly.

“Okay, now sleep.”

He still didn’t seem to believe her.

Unable to hide the feeling that the King was a little pitiful and her own discomfort, Lee Jae glanced at him several times until she fell asleep.

About an hour passed after that.

Lee Jae opened her eyes feeling suffocated. And she flinched.

Roderick, who had been lying neatly a little distance away, had somehow turned his body and was clinging to her. And because the place was a bed, not a sofa, the position was much deeper than before.

They were facing each other, and he was holding Lee Jae’s head with one arm and pulling her back with the other.

Indeed, when a man says ‘trust me, bro,’ you should deeply doubt it at least once.

After being frozen for a long time, Lee Jae decided to endure it for now.

She knew that his body was doing that to survive.

Roderick’s innate energy became active when he was close to Lee Jae. It could be because of the talisman, or because Lee Jae was someone who diligently purified her energy.

But it was definitely an awkward situation, so Lee Jae closed her eyes and counted sheep.

She thought she could have fewer strange thoughts if she fell asleep again.

However, hot breath kept touching her head, and he kept trying to hold Lee Jae tightly.

Right thoughts. Good thoughts.

Lee Jae, this person is a patient. He’s also your husband, but first of all, he’s a patient.

His body and mind are still very sick. So you have to feel sorry for him.

As Lee Jae persuaded herself with the mind of a seeker cultivating her mind and body, she began to reach the limits of her wholesome thoughts as he intertwined his legs with hers.

The grudge of a virgin ghost, a prosperous afterlife [an idiom expressing extreme frustration and repressed desires].

*Is it now? Is now the time? Ah, I don’t think so.*

And his hand, which had been wrapped around her back, groped along her waistline and slowly moved down.

“Ugh..”

Feeling a chill, she shuddered and cowered.

Roderick’s hand stopped just above her buttocks. It was a very precarious position.

*No, not there! There are no talismans there!*

The talisman is in my bosom.

*That doesn’t mean you can touch my chest, but if you come down any further without permission, I won’t stand still!*

Unable to sit still, Lee Jae finally moved.

“Your Majesty, please move away a little bit… Please.”

*We are husband and wife, but we haven’t known each other for very long, have we?*

*And people originally need a proper sense of distance.*

She tried to push his upper body with both arms and pull her hips back.

That was the problem.

Roderick, who seemed to be falling away for a moment, instead turned his body, which had been lying on its side, towards Lee Jae.

Then, his solid body pressed against her chest, and Lee Jae made a sound of ‘ugh’.

*Why are you so physically fit?*

Half-crushed, she pinched him lightly. But Roderick, who had embraced the refreshingness of a human sleeping pill, a human talisman, seemed very satisfied.

Rather, a languid and pleasant sound of ‘mmm’ came from him.

“Ugh… Don’t breathe there.”

*Is this what it feels like to be prey captured by a beast?*

As he properly intertwined his legs and looked for more space to dig in, Lee Jae couldn’t stand it any longer. Her body kept trembling at the unfamiliar sensation that swept through her entire body. Their sensitive parts were touching each other without any gaps.

Lee Jae had no choice but to clench her fist and pat his back, bang, bang.

“I can’t breathe. Please let me go! The position is too weird!”

Then Roderick opened his blue eyes. For a while, he had sleepy eyes.

But after a while, he seemed a little surprised when he grasped the situation.

The Queen, whose face was flushed red, was almost half-crushed by him.

Moreover, she even had tears in her eyes.

“No, that’s not it, it’s just too…”

Confused by the Queen’s rambling appearance, he quickly raised his body.

Lee Jae reflexively pulled the blanket up to her neck, but he, on the contrary, snatched up the blanket she was covering.

“Ah! Why are you doing this…”

Lee Jae was startled, but after confirming that her clothes were intact this time, he gently covered her with the blanket again.

Roderick sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face for a while.

And he stared blankly at Lee Jae.

He had done something like a leech without intending to, and he had a somewhat embarrassed expression.

He slowly reached out and grabbed her shoulder once, and gently stroked her apricot-colored hair.

It was a while later that she realized that was his way of apologizing.

“Sorry.”

“……”

“Hailey, I’m sorry. Were you very surprised?”

Seeing her pulling up the blanket with a pitiful face, Roderick immediately got out of bed.

“…I’ll leave right now, so be comfortable.”

The couple, who had futilely blown away the cheat key of the first night when a man and a woman could get close in the same room, were embarrassed even by a slightly deeper position.

And Roderick couldn’t leave right away as he said. Strangely, his feet wouldn’t move.

He didn’t remember being coercive.

Rather, he felt strangely light on his feet now.

But Roderick, who had many concerns about his mental state and was also concerned about the Queen’s expression as if she had met a pervert, scratched the end of his eyebrow.

He carefully stroked Lee Jae’s forehead.

“Hailey.”

“……”

“Please answer me. Are you not going to talk to me now?”

“……”

“Are you perhaps scared of me now?”

“…No, it’s not that.”

*It’s not that you did it on purpose, but I’m also embarrassed.*

As he came out with a much kinder and more careful attitude than usual, Lee Jae strangely felt ashamed and embarrassed.

She fiddled with the blanket, not knowing what was wrong or why she felt this way now.

Then Roderick, who was looking at Lee Jae with a troubled expression, left the spot as it was.