Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 107

#107.

Lee Jae sat by the lake, idly plucking at the bowstring.

She waited for the Boy King with a dark expression, but he didn’t appear.

Before she knew it, a squirrel had climbed down from a tree and was now sitting on her head, nudging her to play.

Lee Jae grabbed the squirrel, which was tugging at her hair, and placed it on her shoulder. Then, she spoke to it for no particular reason.

“Turns out, I was the quack [a fraud or charlatan]. Right, Squirrel?”

After pondering deeply for the past few days, she realized why the divination had been so ambiguous.

‘The arrow is flying towards the western border, the Daimon reconstruction army’s camp. I’ll bet on that.’

The arrow had indeed flown from the western border, but that wasn’t the whole story. Ilias was on Daimon’s side, but considering the Grand Prince, that wasn’t the whole story either.

Asking a half-hearted question could only yield a half-hearted answer.

Ultimately, the ability to formulate clear questions was also a skill of a shaman.

“Squirrel, they say there’s always a certain number of strange people everywhere you go in the world. It’s like the law of conservation of mass.”

When the squirrel climbed back onto the top of her head, Lee Jae caught it again and gently placed it on her shoulder. She had become so accustomed to it climbing up that her movements were almost indifferent.

The squirrel seemed to recognize it as a game.

“But you know, there should be at least one strange person here too, but what if there isn’t? Then that could be me. There must be one quack in this world, but I can’t find one no matter how hard I look? Then I was the quack.”

So, one should always live life with a humble attitude.

You should live reflecting on yourself, wondering if the fault lies with you.

Lee Jae finished speaking and was staring at the lake with unfocused eyes when it happened.

The squirrel suddenly jumped off her body and scurried away.

Before she knew it, the Boy King was floating before her eyes, radiating his unique aura.

Lee Jae watched the squirrel until it had completely disappeared, then scolded the Boy King.

“Why do you always intimidate the squirrels?”

-Aren’t you satisfied with talking to ghosts?

“It’s because you’re late. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”

“………”

“And I hope you realize that most people would rather talk to a squirrel than talk to thin air.”

Lee Jae retorted politely, as always.

However, the Boy King clicked his tongue. It was because she was wearing a death mask again.

Lee Jae began to complain to the Boy King as if she had been waiting for this moment.

“It seems blood isn’t always thicker than water. What on earth is the Grand Prince thinking?”

Lee Jae couldn’t bring herself to directly ask the Boy King, ‘Why did you have such descendants?’ and phrased it indirectly. He must have understood the hidden meaning, but the Boy King didn’t seem particularly displeased.

-Why, you ask. Maybe your thoughts differ from Roderick’s.

“So, what is he thinking?”

-Isn’t it something like, rather than fighting a losing battle and wiping out the royal bloodline, he’d rather guarantee Daimon’s independence and give up some territory?

Lee Jae knew that it wasn’t entirely wrong.

But she still couldn’t shake off her upset and disappointed feelings.

-And you actually know it well. Why humans act like that.

No one wants to side with the loser.

She knew that the desire to avoid walking a thorny path was the same for everyone.

But when someone she loved faced this situation, she couldn’t help but feel wronged.

If everyone was like that, what about the King who had endured those terrible nights for three years?

What about the person who remained unshaken even after hearing the prophecy that they were destined to lose?

She momentarily muttered something unbecoming of a shaman.

It was actually a shortcut to ruining a shaman’s life, but she had been doing that ever since she met the King.

She couldn’t ignore her own feelings, which she had only suppressed in her past life.

“Without even trying, how can you so easily…”

However, the Boy King chuckled with a somewhat cynical expression.

-Kang Lee Jae. Aren’t there always people like that and people like this in the world? The Grand Prince may think that preventing more sacrifices is the right thing to do.

“Are you taking sides with your descendants now?”

Let’s be consistent crabs [stay true to your nature/beliefs; a Korean idiom].

“It’s the country you founded. Aren’t you upset?”

“And you’re a very great person. If you fought a war for three years, you should have handled the aftermath well! What is this!”

-What?

Lee Jae, upset, suddenly lashed out, and the Boy King laughed in disbelief.

But she didn’t stop there.

“The other former kings too! They’re not entirely without responsibility in this matter. Why should His Majesty bear all the karma alone?”

The Mellon and Russell families plotted treason because they felt insecure in their positions after their abilities declined.

They paid the price for their sins with annihilation, but the results have been circulating for a long time, eventually affecting even the royal family.

Preceding cause, subsequent effect. If there is a cause, there must be a result.

That was the terrifying cycle of causality.

But the five-hundred-year-old guardian spirit was not swayed by such emotional appeals.

He simply shrugged his shoulders.

Lee Jae, who had been seething alone, finally lowered her eyes with a sullen expression.

She doodled on the dirt floor with the end of her bow for a while. Then, she glanced at the Boy King again.

Suddenly, an idea came to her.

Lee Jae put down her bow and quickly clasped her hands together politely.

And she brought out the preface she used whenever she had something she regretted or was curious about.

“Um, but you see.”

The Boy King wore a truly tired expression, and she smiled sheepishly, feeling embarrassed.

-What is it now? Now that we’re close, don’t smile, just say it.

“That sword you have. Is that the Holy Sword?”

Lee Jae remembered the flash of light that appeared even when the Boy King drew the sword only a snake’s length from its scabbard. He nodded readily.

-Yes.

“But that’s just a thought form. Where is the real thing?”

The Boy King looked as if he was asking why she was asking such an obvious question.

-It’ll be in the royal treasury.

“Is that so?”

-Yeah. Noel, was he the 5th king or the 6th king?

Lee Jae answered confidently.

“The 5th king.”

It was worth studying history every night with the handsome reader. She already knew the royal genealogy by heart.

-Was he? Well, anyway, it’s probably buried deep in the royal report after Noel used it.

That’s because after the 5th king, no king who could wield the Holy Sword was ever born again.

But Lee Jae frowned, bothered by another part.

“It’s a little creepy to see you call someone from four hundred years ago like your grandson with that face.”

-That’s the homework that someone like me with eternal youth has to carry forever.

Lee Jae wanted to say ‘Ugh,’ but she prostrated herself because she had something she wanted to ask.

“That sword. Could His Majesty use it later?”

Lee Jae was born carrying the fate of a shaman strongly, even though she hadn’t received a god. She had a little bit of all five families’ abilities.

She could do a certain amount of chohun ritual [summoning spirits], that is, summoning, and she could also create barriers with talismans.

It was her weakest field, but she had experience dismantling formations, and exorcism was the area she was relatively good at.

She could read faces, and she could also tell fortunes with a bow.

Sometimes, other people’s futures would flash by like intuition.

But all these abilities were not even a handful, but only as small as fingernails.

It meant that her abilities were far from sufficient to be used anywhere.

Lee Jae knew very well that the evil spirit that Ilias summoned was too much for her to handle. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if that was all of his abilities.

She didn’t want to put more burden on the King here, but wouldn’t the situation be a little better if they had a good weapon?

But is a five-hundred-year-old sword in good condition?

At that point, isn’t it at the level of an ancient artifact?

She was worried about her husband’s weapon even though her own equipment was lacking.

The Boy King smiled and nodded when Lee Jae asked with a hesitant look.

-Use it as much as you want. After all, the royal treasures all belong to the current king. If Roderick wants to use it, he can use it, why are you asking me?

“Still. Thank you so much.”

Lee Jae just wanted to get permission from the original owner since he was right in front of her. You get into trouble if you touch historical items carelessly.

She bowed politely, but the Boy King suddenly brought his face closer to her.

Lee Jae flinched and leaned back as the distance narrowed in an instant.

“Why, why are you doing this? I’m very uncomfortable right now.”

“Don’t come near me.”

“If I’ve been too presumptuous today because I was upset, I apologize.”

The Boy King only laughed as if he found it amusing.

At that moment, blue eyes similar to the King’s twinkled. He had the same mischievousness as the King, but as if he was about to whisper a great secret.

-Kang Lee Jae, but you know.

“Yes?”

-Do you really think that’s the Holy Sword?

“…What do you mean?”

Lee Jae asked cautiously because she couldn’t understand his words well.

But the Boy King smiled meaningfully and suddenly disappeared.