Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 81

#13. I’ll Show You the Real Me, Just for You

#81.

“Around the time the 3-Year War intensified,

the Duncan family was the first to surrender to the Allied Forces.

Next was Russell, and then Mellon.

The Duncans never make the wrong choice.

– From ‘Writings to Future Kings,’ page 25”

A report from the military was underway in the conference room.

“They almost breached it again?”

The King’s face showed no anger anymore.

He simply sat askew, nodding for them to continue.

The military nobles, already feeling guilty, perceived that expression as contempt. As if he were saying, ‘How incompetent can you be?’ Which was true.

“We apologize. The guards almost opened the gate again. This time, it wasn’t just one.”

“Did we gather all the dimwits in the Western Army?”

Roderick finally frowned. While everyone else cleared their throats and avoided eye contact, Jade was the only one who could stare directly at the King.

*Your Majesty, the Royal Prince is also in the Western Army. Your brother.*

Roderick, with a scowl, was about to say something.

It was a rebuke about how such an incident could happen again when he had ordered a reorganization of the guards’ duty system.

However, he paused for a moment.

A strange intuition flashed through his mind.

“How many were there? The guards, I mean.”

“There were a total of Mahon in charge of the fortress that day, and three guards caused the problem. All three were in the same group.”

“Have they been interrogated?”

“We have… but they haven’t confessed properly.”

The military noble’s voice grew smaller and smaller, as if fading away.

It wasn’t a matter to report with pride.

However, Roderick nodded briefly and spoke with a rather lenient attitude.

“Bring them.”

“Pardon?”

“Bring them all and have them sit before me.”

The military nobles were troubled by the King’s strange request.

“Your Majesty, they have already been executed summarily according to military law.”

This time, Roderick wore a truly annoyed expression.

He turned his head to look at his friend.

The commander of the 2nd Knight Division, who was also the head of the Western Army, had been scouted by the 1st Knight Division Commander from the time he joined.

“It seems the commander of the 2nd Knight Division is just as unintelligent.”

“……”

“Does the Western Army’s leadership still not know what’s most important?”

As the arrow flew, Jade avoided eye contact, and instead, the old noble, who was the head of the military, answered.

“Your Majesty, that is the military code. An example is needed to maintain discipline among the soldiers. Moreover, they were said to be in a state where they couldn’t communicate, as if they weren’t in their right minds.”

Roderick’s face grew even more serious at those words.

Until recently, he had thought it was bribery, but a new seed of suspicion had sprouted.

Could it be a symptom similar to what he had experienced?

Of course, it was nonsense.

But there was someone who proved that nonsensical things kept happening. None other than his wife.

Lee Jae had said that someone was cursing the King.

She called it ‘sal’ [a type of curse or hex].

If so, who was casting the ‘sal’? Duke Duncan?

The King stared silently at the Duke. Duke Duncan, who would usually have added a word, was lost in thought for some reason.

‘Should I ask the Queen?’

In fact, the best person to discuss this issue with was the Queen.

However, Roderick was not very inclined to do so.

He didn’t want to burden his wife any further.

The image of her crying sorrowfully, saying that someone was cursing him, kept lingering in his mind.

It was the first time he had seen her cry so openly.

Since some time ago, the King felt only pity and sorrow when he looked at his wife.

When she was Duncan, he felt sorry for her because she was Duncan. He wondered what she had done wrong to be born with a fate that would betray her family if she took his side.

After finding out she wasn’t Duncan, he felt sorry for her for a different reason.

He wondered why she had to come to him with such abilities and go through such hardships.

This marriage was the luckiest thing in his life. If it weren’t for his wife, he would have gone down in history as a tyrant who ruined the country.

But was this marriage truly fortunate for his wife as well?

Roderick sighed and ordered the military.

“If such an incident occurs again, send them to the castle without summary execution. I will interrogate them myself.”

“Your Majesty, we will ensure that such a thing does not happen again.”

Then, the King smiled for the first time since the meeting began.

Everyone could tell that it wasn’t a good sign at all.

It was a smile like that of a carnivorous animal wanting to tear apart its prey in front of it.

“If I were you, could I believe those words?”

“……”

“I kept giving you chances. Then you should have given me trust.”

Even half as much as my wife.

“If you have a mouth, anyone can answer. Wasn’t it the duty between a lord and his vassals to repay opportunities with trust?”

“……”

“Don’t make me say it multiple times, send a message right away. Say that if such a thing happens in the future, I will interrogate them. Jade, send a separate message to the Royal Prince as well.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The King no longer flew into a rage as he used to, and his words were cold and rational.

The nobles in the hall thought.

*When did His Majesty become so cold-blooded?*

The answer was one. The King had become a completely different person after the royal wedding. Just like the Queen.

None of the King’s words were wrong, and no one could open their mouths.

Only a heavy silence filled the hall.

After dismissing the meeting, Roderick’s face was quite calm as he walked down the hallway. His mind was filled with different thoughts than before.

He asked Jade.

“Where is Lee Jae now?”

“Pardon?”

“Where is the Queen?”

People had expected the King to head to the Queen.

What surprised them was that the term used to refer to the Queen was very unfamiliar.

Jade carefully asked back, wondering if he had misheard something.

“Your Majesty, isn’t the Queen’s name not that?”

But the King was nonchalant.

“It’s a nickname.”

“……I apologize, but isn’t the nickname not that either?”

Wasn’t it Bean, Acorn, and Fox?

*Not that you’d be curious, but among ourselves, we call her Human Sleep Grass, the short leader of the pro-Prince faction.*

“It’s a new nickname. Pretty, isn’t it?”

“……Yes. But what does it mean?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask her sometime.”

People were completely speechless, and Roderick chuckled as he looked at their faces.

The Queen’s real name was Lee Jae.

But there was no way to change her name, and there was even less of a way to declare that the Queen was not Hayley.

That would only hurt her.

The Queen had said that she liked the name Hayley too, but Roderick wanted to restore her name even in this way.

In fact, the King was mistaken in some ways.

It was the Queen’s name, after all. Whether it was Hayley or Lee Jae, the only person who could call it out loud was the King from the start.

Whether he changed her name or declared it, it was the same.

“So, where is the Queen?”

The head attendant gave the answer.

“She went to the historian.”

“Is that so?”

Roderick pondered. He wondered what that little bean was up to again. Then Roderick felt sorry for her again.

He knew now. She had never done anything for herself.

If there was only one wish for herself, it would probably be…….

‘*……I wanted to wander around wherever my feet took me.*’

That would be the only one. But because he couldn’t grant that one wish, he decided to give up on being a better husband.

*I can’t let you go. I can never let you go alone now.*

Roderick, who had been lost in thought for a moment, said to the waiting attendants.

“I’ll wait in the Queen’s palace.”

Then the attendants and knights tried to move at the same time, but he waved his hand.

“You don’t have to send a separate message. Don’t rush the Queen.”

Jade stared silently at his friend.

*Wow……. This is getting serious.*

It had been a little over three months since he had brought the Queen over here.

The King had been dragged in, of course, and had already sold his soul to that side long ago.

Jade realized. Love was something that could easily overcome obstacles like rival families.

Lee Jae, who had borrowed several history books from the historian, headed to the lake.

It wasn’t that she had anything special to say to the Boy King, it was just a habitual walk.

She sat blankly on the flower bed and skimmed through the books.

They were full of letters she couldn’t understand.

The historian just thought that was the case and made a list, but it was the maids who found Lee Jae strange. It didn’t seem like the King had ever taught the Queen those letters.

Lee Jae slowly turned the pages and muttered to herself.

“*Bulipmunja* [불립문자 – A Buddhist concept meaning truth is not established by letters]. Truth is not established by letters.”

But in fact, I have a high-performance reader in my room that can read those letters.

As expected, people have to use their brains.

The Boy King appeared when she was smiling contentedly.

Sensing a powerful energy, Lee Jae glanced over her shoulder.

But unlike usual, the Boy King was looking intently at her face.

“What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?”

Lee Jae quickly touched her cheeks with an anxious expression. She wondered if her unfortunate countenance had gotten even worse.

But the words that came out of the Boy King’s mouth were completely different from her expectations.

-Your face looks better?

“Me? Does it?”

-Yeah. You used to sit around with a gloomy look every day. Did something good happen?

There wasn’t really anything like that.

Lee Jae shook her head, but the Boy King chuckled.

The mischievous blue eyes reminded her of the King. He asked as if he knew.

-Is Roderick treating you well?

“……”

-Does he let you rest at night?

Lee Jae’s pupils, feeling pricked, wandered here and there.

*Could it be that it shows on my face? Is this the principle of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements that our ancestors spoke of?*

But in fact, everyone in the castle was feeling it.

Strangely, when one person’s condition improved, the other person’s condition worsened.

When one side was fine, the other side was sick.

When the person who had been sick got up, the other person was out of their mind again.

But these days, both of them had shiny faces, as if violating the law of conservation. In fact, the best thing was their expressions.

Lee Jae, who had been embarrassed, flared up.

“This is not polite. Even a ghost shouldn’t do this. Don’t take more interest in someone else’s marriage than necessary.”

She argued fiercely, but the Boy King was indifferent.

-It’s good if you have a good relationship, why are you so embarrassed about getting married?

Lee Jae had nothing to say, so she just stared intently at the calm lake.

Then, she suddenly remembered a topic and quickly changed the subject.

“Hey, but.”

-What.

“The person who cast ‘sal’ on His Majesty last time.”

-…….

“Who is it?”

Now, the Boy King was looking at her with a fed-up expression.

It meant that it was time to give up.

-You have a more tenacious side than you look.

“How can a living person fight a vengeful spirit without this much?”

She had promised the King not to do this anymore.

But Lee Jae couldn’t do that. She knew very well that this wasn’t the end.

Lee Jae had eliminated dozens of vengeful spirits.

People who didn’t know well would think that she attacked while destroying the vengeful spirits, but what she did was defense, not attack.

If Granny Youngsan had seen it, she would have clicked her tongue, saying, ‘That clumsy thing.’

The curse must find the caster of the curse. If it’s such a powerful ‘sal,’ you have to know the person who’s casting it to see the end.

*Your Majesty, I’m sorry. I lied again last time.*

*But I think I can’t stop here anymore. Because I love you so much.*

“It’s okay now, so please just tell me.”

“……”

“You said you couldn’t tell me because it’s a heavenly secret, right? But you saw it last time. I’m ready to bear any punishment.”

“……”

“Could it be that I’m too insignificant to pay the price with just me?”

The Boy King, who had been listening quietly, chuckled at the word ‘price.’

The smile seemed like mockery, but it also seemed to contain pity.

That was true. To him, humans were weak and foolish beings, but at the same time, they were pitiful and lovable beings.

*Kang Lee Jae.*

*You wouldn’t know that I don’t want you to pay the price with just you.*

*I am Roderick’s guardian spirit, and that’s not what Roderick wants.*

And Lee Jae, looking at the Boy King, felt it.

*That’s really not a human face. Humans can’t have so many faces at once.*

She stared at him, losing her mind to the powerful energy swirling around her.

The sacred air swept widely through the castle.

It was like a purification.

The Boy King soon withdrew his extraordinary energy and stared into the distance.

-Kang Lee Jae.

“Yes.”

-I won’t say the same thing again. Don’t try to find out heavenly secrets in this way. The punishment is much heavier than you think.

The punishment is not just for you, and you must not die here.

-Go now. Roderick is waiting in the room.”

Lee Jae, who had not received the answer she wanted, sighed and lowered her gaze.

But at the sound of the King waiting, she shook off her clothes and stood up.

She bowed politely to the Boy King. It wasn’t the answer she had begged for, but she could feel that he had given her advice from her side today as well.