Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 52

Following his heart – Episode 52

#52.

Lee Jae, having stepped out of the carriage, scanned the temple building.

Thanks to Hailey’s memories, the place wasn’t unfamiliar to her.

However, she perceived things that Hailey hadn’t.

Lee Jae’s face clouded over.

“Hailey.”

“Yes?”

Roderick wore a sulky expression.

“You said you wanted to come, so I cleared my schedule. If you look like that, I’ll be very disappointed.”

“Stop trying to read my expression.”

“Then at least tell me why you look like that.”

Lee Jae sighed softly. How could she explain that a huge demon was looming over the temple?

Regardless of whether she could confide in the King, this was a problem that could incite widespread panic.

“Go back if you don’t want to.”

“No. Let’s go in.”

If malevolent entities lingered where priests resided, it suggested a lack of individuals with spiritual prowess. Nevertheless, Lee Jae resolved to meet the priests.

Prayer wasn’t solely about power.

Several clerics emerged to greet the King and Queen upon their arrival.

Lee Jae meticulously examined their faces.

A gleam flashed in her eyes as she focused intently.

People with spiritual power possess unique auras.

Even Granny Youngsan had a tiger marking on her left cheek and a wolf on her right.

When viewed head-on, it created an extraordinary image that defied simple description.

However, as she detected no one exuding such an aura, Lee Jae offered a faint smile.

Could it be that no one in this world possessed spiritual sight? That seemed improbable.

She addressed the priests,

“Could someone offer a prayer for His Majesty?”

At the unexpected request, Roderick appeared reluctant.

Since the onset of his mana deficiency, he had explored numerous remedies.

But none had proven effective. In fact, he wouldn’t have taken the medicine Lee Jae gave him last time unless she had personally prepared it.

This time, he couldn’t disregard the Queen’s sincerity, so he stepped forward with a slightly disgruntled expression.

The priest inquired with a serene expression,

“What kind of prayer would you like, Your Majesty?”

“Just anything.”

Then Lee Jae waved her hand and said to the priest,

“Please pray for His Majesty’s health, a peaceful life, and inner peace.”

Roderick stared at Lee Jae.

He felt that the Queen’s words were more conducive to his peace than the priest’s prayer.

But he nodded briefly to the priest to proceed.

The priest bowed deeply to the King.

And with a somewhat nervous face, he took the King’s hand.

The priest’s lips moved incessantly. Lee Jae didn’t know what he was saying, but she piously put her hands together.

*May he be healthy. May he be peaceful. May he always be happy.*

And when the lengthy prayer concluded, Roderick swept back his hair and said to the priests,

“Someone pray for our Queen too.”

Lee Jae grabbed his clothes with a ‘Ugh’ feeling.

Roderick, mouthing ‘why?’, leaned towards her.

Lee Jae whispered,

“How favorably do you think the gods will regard me if you order a priest of God like that?”

Roderick swept back his hair again and said,

“Someone, please pray for our Queen… I beg you. Should I kneel?”

Priests were also human. Somewhere, there was an impolite sound of stifled laughter, but the King was joking, so he chuckled.

As Lee Jae stepped forward, Roderick said,

“Pray that my wife will never feel lonely.”

Lee Jae briefly lowered her head, touched by his unexpected sentiment.

When she glanced up at him, Roderick nodded silently.

Lee Jae held out her hand to the priest. Then the priest bowed politely and took her fingertips.

She was someone who could perceive and sense intangible power.

She couldn’t see anything in front of her.

She didn’t feel any energy at her fingertips.

The priest’s prayer held no power.

But she realized that she had just received a profound prayer from the King. It was because the King’s words were sincere.

A warm energy swept through her body, and that energy lingered for a while after the prayer ended.

After the prayer, the King and Lee Jae each donated a considerable sum of money.

People glanced at them as they exited the temple.

They were dressed more modestly than usual and came out quietly, but they couldn’t blend in with the believers. In fact, rumors had spread that the young man and woman were the King and Queen, and people were gradually gathering.

However, they could only observe from a distance because of the armed knights.

But young children are often oblivious to such complexities. After hearing that the handsome man was His Majesty the King, one child ran excitedly. It was a girl with her hair tied in pigtails.

“Your Majesty!”

The knights stood guard in front of the King, but Roderick waved them away.

The child, who had been hesitant at the sight of the knights, smiled brightly when Roderick nodded. And she clung to the King’s leg.

Seeing that, Jade thought sullenly.

*Even children recognize handsomeness. Why doesn’t Her Majesty the Queen?*

Roderick, chuckling at the sight of the creature clinging to his leg like a cicada, picked up the child. And he asked somewhat mischievously.

“Do you even know what ‘His Majesty’ means?”

This time, Lee Jae thought.

*What’s wrong with that person? His tone is the same even to a child.*

But the child smiled shyly and shook her head, saying she didn’t know.

So Lee Jae and the knights laughed a little.

The child’s mother, who had belatedly run over, didn’t know what to do and trembled as she knelt down.

When Lee Jae glanced at her, Jade quietly helped the child’s mother up.

The little child, unaware of the situation, hung on Roderick’s neck with both arms, perhaps simply drawn to his handsome appearance. In the meantime, the doll the child was holding fell to the ground with a thud.

Roderick said to Lee Jae,

“She seems to like me.”

“It seems so.”

“Aren’t you jealous?”

“There’s no need to say such things to a child.”

“Why? I was a little annoyed earlier. Don’t you know that children grow up quickly?”

“…I guess the prayer was not enough.”

Lee Jae thought with a serious face.

*His Majesty seems to have been out of his mind since the carriage.*

*Shouldn’t we have ventured out of the castle?*

Seeing her sullen expression, Roderick chuckled.

The King lifted the child high above his head and then lowered her. And he dusted off the doll that had fallen on the ground and gave it back to her.

“Okay, now go to your mom. Play with your doll.”

But the child hesitated, twisting her body.

Roderick squatted down to meet her eye level.

Then the child held out the doll she was holding to Roderick.

“Your Majesty, a gift.”

Roderick scratched the end of his eyebrow, looking a little embarrassed.

It was clear that the thing she was holding tightly was the child’s favorite doll.

It felt like taking away something precious if he accepted it; he didn’t need it even more, and if he refused, the child would be hurt.

Seeing that, Lee Jae approached Roderick and whispered in his ear.

“Take it and buy her a new doll.”

Roderick smiled at Lee Jae.

“Our Queen is wise as well.”

The King held out both palms to the little girl.

Then the child put the doll on it and ran to her mother, looking shy.

Lee Jae smiled as the child hid behind her mother and peeked out.

Roderick stared blankly at Lee Jae and then hugged her from behind.

Then he playfully put his chin on the top of her head.

The King’s party stayed at the temple until the servant brought a new doll.

Only after the new doll was delivered to the child and seeing the child’s mother bowing so low that her nose touched the ground did they leave.

Lee Jae felt much lighter, but Roderick looked a little embarrassed from the moment he came out.

It was because he was holding a doll that was difficult to deal with in his hand.

After thinking about it, he soon found the answer.

*Give all the cute things to the Queen.*

“Here, play with it.”

He put the doll in Lee Jae’s arms.

People couldn’t help but laugh.

The Queen’s expression looked much more uncomfortable than the King’s earlier.

She couldn’t muster any affection for the doll’s cuteness.

Jade tilted her head.

*No, she cherishes that grotesque sculpture, but why can’t she make such an expression when she sees a doll? Objectively, this one is much more appealing and cute.*

“Do I look like I’m at an age to play with dolls?”

“Then should I hold it?”

“Why not?”

“People will find it more visually pleasing if you hold it. I look like a pervert if I hold it.”

*So it’s right for you, who is cute, to hold it.*

But Lee Jae looked like she didn’t understand.

“Why? Your Majesty is cute too?”

Roderick was so dumbfounded that he burst out laughing.

“Ah, yeah. Thanks for the compliment.”

He kept chuckling as if he was dumbfounded.

After briefly recalling his memories, Roderick said,

“I haven’t heard that since I was ten years old.”