Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 106

#106.

The King and Lee Jae were traveling with the entire 1st Knight Order.

There were nearly three hundred of them. The knights spurred their horses onward with unstoppable momentum, the sound of their hooves pounding the earth like thunder.

The King was in the center of the formation, protected by his knights.

The King’s eyes, atop his jet-black steed as dark as his own hair, were clear and sharp.

However, upon closer inspection, there was something odd about him.

The King was wearing a black robe, and something was squirming around near his chest.

Trapped in the darkness within the robe, Lee Jae cried out,

“Your Majesty! I can’t see!”

“I can’t hear you well.”

“You can hear me!”

“It’s too noisy around here to hear you.”

“Ugh! Ughhh! Can you hear me now?!”

“I told you not to ‘ughhh’ because it’s scary.”

“I can hear you, and very well, it seems!”

The King chuckled wryly but didn’t let go of Lee Jae in his arms.

Despite the urgent situation, the knights beside them were stifling their laughter, clearing their throats because of the King and Queen’s conversation.

They were currently heading to the hideout of the Prince and Ilias. Of course, it was just an assumption, based on information gathered by Jade and the 1st Knight Order.

While one could conceal their identity, Ilias’s appearance was hard to forget once seen.

Before leaving the castle, the King and Lee Jae had a slight argument.

‘Are you really going yourself, Your Majesty?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘I’m going to try to dissuade the Prince if he makes an extreme choice.’

There were two possibilities in this situation.

The Prince had either fallen victim to Ilias’s sorcery like the Western Army soldiers, or it was the Prince’s own will.

The King and Lee Jae hoped it was the former.

But they thought the latter was much more likely.

Because when he visited the castle twice, the Prince’s reason was clear.

The only thing that had changed was his opponent.

The King wanted to persuade the Prince one last time if he resisted or made the worst choice.

‘If you go, Your Majesty, I’m going with you.’

‘…Then should I not go?’

He seemed very perplexed, running a hand through his hair as he asked, but Lee Jae shook her head.

Whatever the Prince’s situation, she had to be there where Ilias was.

After all, she was the only one who could see them.

‘Your Majesty, a powerful curse can only end by finding its caster. The same goes for the miasma [a noxious or poisonous atmosphere]. Otherwise, this situation will keep repeating.’

‘Please include me. I really don’t want to be left out.’

‘No, hey, why do you say it like that again…’

The result was this.

“Your Majesty, if we’re here, please let me go now.”

The King jumped down from his horse with Lee Jae in his arms.

Her feet touched the ground, and she diligently searched for an exit from within the robe.

The outline of her round head moving this way and that was clearly visible.

The King held her round waist with one hand and pressed down on her head with the other.

“Stay inside until I call you; it’s dangerous.”

But Lee Jae eventually pushed through the robe and stuck her head out.

When she glared at the King, he scratched the end of his eyebrow and released his grip.

Roderick reached out to a knight beside him.

The knight handed over Lee Jae’s crude wooden bow and quiver, and Roderick took them and gave them to Lee Jae.

“Don’t stray from me. Stay right next to me.”

“Okay.”

Lee Jae knew very well that she was either a cold ghost society or a brutal slaughterer. In the even more ruthless human society, she was just a pea.

With the quiver on her shoulder, she stood next to the King.

At that moment, Jade approached the King.

“Your Majesty, we will handle the raid ourselves. We will leave some guards behind, so please stay here for now. We will report back to you immediately depending on the situation.”

“Alright, be careful.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Jade was about to turn around.

But then the King spoke again.

“Jade.”

“…Yes?”

Jade asked back, puzzled, but Roderick was looking at Lee Jae for some reason. Lee Jae was also puzzled and stared back at him.

Roderick opened his mouth with a very cautious look in his eyes.

“I told you separately, but the one with the Prince is a sorcerer. It’s a foregone conclusion by now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I understand fully. I have also told the vice-captain. We will be especially careful.”

“………….”

“…Your Majesty?”

But Roderick was still staring at Lee Jae.

After thinking for a moment, she belatedly understood what that gaze meant.

He was asking if it was okay to talk about what came next.

Lee Jae nodded quickly without hesitation.

Although her spiritual sight had sometimes been a wound to her, she was fine with talking about it as much as needed for the King. That was why she was here.

Roderick also nodded.

And the words that came out of his mouth were a little different from what she had been thinking.

“The Queen is a very special and… precious person who can recognize that [referring to Ilias’s sorcery]. I heard that’s what Lee Jae means.”

His voice was low, but the words he pressed out had strength.

Lee Jae suddenly felt strange and lowered her head.

Roderick stared at her for a moment and then chuckled.

“Our Queen values her privacy, so keep this to yourself for now.”

“…Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

“Go on, report back whenever something happens.”

Lee Jae looked at the backs of some of the 1st Knight Order running off and then lowered her eyes.

She knew how well the King treated her, but she didn’t think he would say something like that.

Roderick glanced at her and asked slyly.

“Madam, are you crying again?”

“…I’m not crying.”

“Then why do you have that expression?”

“………”

“Should I not have said it? I thought it would be hard for you to just hide it when you haven’t done anything wrong.”

Instead of answering, Lee Jae held his hand tightly.

Roderick held her hand even tighter, and the knights soon surrounded the two of them.

The waiting time was longer than expected. The fact that the King was even thinking of moving himself meant that the information obtained was quite accurate and specific.

But Lee Jae soon began to think it was strange.

‘Do people usually hide in places like this?’

It was quite far from the capital, but it wasn’t exactly a remote area either.

Blending into the crowd could be a way to hide, but the Prince and Ilias were too conspicuous to do that.

Besides, the Knight Commander hadn’t reported anything yet. It felt like there should have been something happening, whether it was a battle or a chase.

A little worried, Lee Jae plucked at the bowstring, lost in thought.

Then she put down the bow and started rolling her prayer bead bracelet.

It was to focus on whether there was any ghostly energy around.

She frowned, muttering incantations, and kept tilting her head.

Lee Jae eventually stopped rolling the prayer beads and stared blankly at Roderick. Similar thoughts were flowing from Roderick’s mouth as well.

“It seems they’re not here.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Jade returned first with a few knights.

“Your Majesty. It seems we were a step late.”

“Did you search properly?”

Then Jade handed the King a piece of paper with a very apologetic look on his face.

The King raised one eyebrow.

“What is this?”

“It’s a letter that the Prince left behind in the place where he was staying. It seems he expected the knights to come.”

The King snatched the letter with a stiff expression.

And as he read the letter, his blue eyes grew colder and colder.

He was lost in thought for a while, holding the paper.

As the silence grew longer, Lee Jae became anxious. When she grabbed the hem of his black robe and pulled it carefully, he looked down at her blankly.

He brushed her hair back once as if to say it was okay, and then showed her the letter as well.

Lee Jae’s expression began to stiffen just like the King’s.

「Brother, this fight will only end when you stop it.

That is the only way to protect even a part of the territory and the people.

We have lost Mellon and Russell, and the balance of power has already tilted towards Daimon.

Next time, I will not avoid you and will meet you in person.

-Edgar

Compromitto Blake [I pledge/promise Blake in Latin]」

Lee Jae was speechless for a moment. The balance of power.

That was a familiar phrase to both the King and Lee Jae.

They could now understand the exact meaning of those words.

Ilias’s power is the summoning of spirits, and Mellon’s corresponding power is the annihilation of spirits.

Schmidt’s power is the barrier, and Russell’s corresponding power is the breach.

And Duncan’s foresight does not affect the balance of power.

The Mellon and Russell families had been exterminated for treason four hundred years ago.

In the meantime, Ilias’s power had manifested, and the royal family’s power had not yet awakened.

In the end, the balance of power had completely collapsed.

The Prince, a royal and a brilliant scholar, may have realized it sooner than anyone else.

That this was a fight that the Cayenne royal family would lose.

So, was the compromise what he chose?

“Post wanted posters at all checkpoints and temporarily control the border. The opponent is a person who uses sorcery to deceive people. It’s not enough right now, so increase the manpower.”

The King gave the order and then paused for thought again.

He actually thought his instructions were meaningless.

Because the opponent had no intention of avoiding or running away.

He was already confident that he would win.

It was when Roderick was still agonizing.

When Lee Jae pulled at his clothes again, he looked down at her blankly.

“Your Majesty, are you okay?”

Her big eyes looking at the King were full of worry.

She looked like she was in pain as if she had been betrayed.

“What’s not okay?”

“………….”

“Why do you have that expression? Did you have feelings for the Prince after all?”

The King made a joke that didn’t fit the situation.

Because he would rather see her angry than see her with teary eyes. But when Lee Jae made an even more sorrowful face, he smiled bitterly.

“Why are you like this? It’s okay. Didn’t we all expect it to some extent?”

“…Because it’s too unfair.”

My heart aches because I feel sorry for you, Your Majesty.

Why do you have to fight such a lonely battle again, when you’ve already fought against vengeful spirits alone?

But Your Majesty.

Maybe the balance of power hasn’t completely collapsed.

I may have only a tiny bit of power, but I can also destroy spirits.

“I will be with you until the end. I will definitely be on Your Majesty’s side.”

I will never betray you. I will trust you.

So, Your Majesty, please don’t ever give up.