Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 108

#108.

After talking with the Boy King, Ijae went to see the King, Loderick.

The King was just finishing a luncheon meeting with some military personnel.

“Is it because my wife is so virtuous that you come to find me first?” he asked teasingly, but he didn’t seem to dislike Ijae’s visit, as he kept chuckling.

“But have you had lunch?”

“Not yet.”

Loderick frowned slightly. “Are you a child? Are you not going to eat unless I take care of you now?”

“I’m not a child. Nothing bad will happen if I eat an hour or two late. And Your Majesty, that’s not what’s important right now.”

“Then what is important?”

Ijae gestured for him to come closer.

Loderick, puzzled, bent down, and she whispered like someone plotting a theft. “Your Majesty, where is the royal treasury located?”

“You haven’t been there before?” Loderick asked, inwardly agreeing with himself.

Ijae wasn’t particularly interested in such things, which made her sudden interest all the more strange.

After staring at her for a moment, he nodded. “Let’s go.”

“…”

“I’ll take you. Let’s go together.” Loderick held out his hand, and Ijae quickly grabbed it and followed him.

The royal treasury was located on the lowest floor of the royal castle. Dozens of guards strictly guarded the entrance, and they quietly closed the door as the King and Queen entered.

Ijae frowned slightly. The treasury was literally shining. The King was as rich as he had once boasted. The fact that gold and silver treasures were not neatly displayed but piled up and scattered everywhere was proof of that.

Soon, Loderick raised an eyebrow as Ijae began rummaging through piles of gold and jewels.

He let out a hollow laugh and squatted down next to her. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not really interested in this kind of thing… or were you?”

Ijae glanced at him, reading a somewhat embarrassed and regretful look on his face. So she said half-jokingly, “Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t like money?”

“Ah, if that’s what it was, you should have said so sooner. I suddenly feel like a pathetic man.” He didn’t like the idea of not being able to get something his wife wanted; it was a blow to his pride. Was it a problem that he assumed she wasn’t interested because she was indifferent even when he gave her a bracelet?

“So, what do you want?” he asked curiously. Ijae chuckled and shook her head lightly. “That’s not it. I just wanted to see the Holy Sword.”

Loderick wore a somewhat ambiguous expression. It was late, too late, but he wanted to give his wife anything she wanted. But Ijae’s request didn’t seem to mean that.

“…Why the Holy Sword all of a sudden?”

“Everyone needs their own weapon to fight with, right?”

The King belatedly understood her intention. Compared to the Daimon Reconstruction Army, the Cayenne army’s power was obviously superior. Ijae’s abilities were also clear. The issue was how much power Ilias actually had, and whether the power of the Cayenne royal family could be fully awakened and what role it could play in this battle.

Ijae’s thought was this: just as a person born with divine power awakens that divine power when frequently exposed to demonic energy, wouldn’t the royal family’s power be easily manifested if they kept the Holy Sword by their side?

Weapons originally had their own energy – the devotion of the person who carved and forged the weapon.

The King nodded and quietly pointed to one side. “The Holy Sword is over there.”

Ijae’s head turned sharply. At the end of the King’s finger was a long glass case containing a long sword, as if to prove that it was different from the gold, silver, and blades piled up haphazardly.

Ijae approached it as if possessed, but soon tilted her head with a puzzled look. It wasn’t because of the traces of time felt in the sword; rather, the sword was in good condition compared to how old it was, proof that later generations had valued it. What made her serious was that no matter how much she put her hand on it and tried to infuse her energy, she couldn’t feel any miraculous energy.

As Ijae continued to frown, Loderick asked with a puzzled look, “But are you really telling me to fight with that?”

“…”

“This might sound a bit much, but I think I could break that old sword blade with my fingers.”

“…”

“Is it different for the dead?” Come to think of it, his wife had always used crude wooden objects as weapons.

“…Yes, it is, but Your Majesty, are you sure that’s the sword that King Arthur used?”

“There are no lies in the records passed down through the royal family. If it’s a story that can’t be told, it’s better not to write it down.”

Ijae nodded, but still looked doubtful. “Then are there any other swords?”

The King silently spread out the swords piled up in the corner of the treasure vault. The two of them stared intently at the swords for a long time, but neither Ijae nor the King, whose senses had become sharply honed lately, could sense any special energy.

In the end, she had no choice but to look back at the Holy Sword with a hollow expression.

The negotiations with Bodor were smoothly coordinated, and only the signing remained. It also meant that preparations for the Daimon subjugation were underway. Last night, the diplomatic envoys from Bodor, the commander of the Southern Army, and the deputy commander of the Western Army arrived at the castle.

The King was about to have a chat with the diplomatic envoys and had come to see Ijae. “My wife, won’t you come with me?”

“Me too?”

“Yeah. The coordination is all done, so we’ll just exchange a few words and then sign.”

Ijae, who was looking at her diary in the study, seemed to contemplate for a moment. “But I don’t necessarily have to be there, do I? There are no problems with Bodor, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Ijae calmly asked about the situation, and Loderick nodded, but didn’t seem completely happy. Of course, there were no problems with Bodor, but he and she had argued several times over Bodor. However, Ijae really had no interest in politics unless it was directly related to the King’s safety. In fact, she felt that if she were there, the King would only be more worried.

“Then please talk comfortably, and if anything happens, please let me know. I’ll be doing what I was doing.” As Ijae replied in a neat tone, Loderick had no choice but to nod. But after quietly closing the door and coming out, he had a somewhat blunt expression. It was because he felt strangely rejected again today over something trivial.

He muttered as he walked to the conference hall, “Is it such a big deal to come and sit next to me?”

The King’s people who were following him bowed their heads. Only Jade asked with a smile, “Does Your Majesty like the Queen that much?”

“Yeah. Why?” Although the tone was indifferent, it was an immediate answer.

Jade sensed the King’s uncomfortable and resentful feelings and added, “Since there have been awkward topics discussed among multiple parties, isn’t it possible that she avoided the seat in consideration of that? It’s probably her intention to let you talk in a comfortable atmosphere.”

“Well, that’s how she talked about it.” Loderick nodded casually, and Jade began to list the stories he had heard. It was one of his jobs to gather all sorts of rumors circulating in the castle and pass them on to the King.

“It’s true that Bodor was secretly disappointed. Well, it’s as close as a marriage alliance can get, but what definite means are there?”

“Useless talk.”

“If Your Majesty were unmarried, you would have considered it to some extent, wouldn’t you?”

“That’s a very unnecessary assumption. Anyway, it’s fortunate that the Queen came to me before that. People call this kind of thing the Queen’s heavenly luck.”

The blunt tone and expression were still the same, but if you listened carefully, the conclusion was close to boasting. However, when a certain word came out of Jade’s mouth, the King frowned this time.

“In fact, the Bodor princess was thinking about it quite positively.”

“Who the hell is spreading that kind of talk?”

“Didn’t the commander of the Southern Army come with the Bodor envoy? That’s where the story came from.”

“What’s there to be positive about? When has she ever seen me?”

“I guess she heard a rumor somewhere that the King of Cayenne is a burly handsome man. In fact, it’s quite a famous story on the continent, isn’t it?”

It was true that the King was objectively a handsome man with a good physique, and that it was well known. However, Jade also had a strong intention to subtly joke with his friend.

Loderick scoffed at the ridiculous story as if he was dumbfounded. “Hasn’t she heard the rumor that the King of Cayenne is a crazy bastard who throws tantrums at the drop of a hat?”

The people who were following him froze for a moment. It was too sensitive a past to simply say it was a past event. However, Loderick was now unreserved in talking about his past madness, which he had kept silent about. He had given his closest aides inside stories about the history of the kingdom, the background of the enemy, and even hints about the Queen’s abilities. It was because he was also preparing to fight step by step.

“…Didn’t you explain that the madness wasn’t for that reason? And more than anything, you don’t do that these days.”

“That’s thanks to the fox [Ijae] working hard to perform her tricks.”

Jade wore a somewhat bitter expression. The King seemed to be slightly uncomfortable, but no matter what story he told, he was ending it with a boast about the Queen.

“If you hear any more strange stories, you can say it for me instead: ‘The King of Cayenne has gone sane this time because he’s afraid of being abandoned by the Queen.'”

“…”

“Or that he’s living while groveling.”

“There’s no need to say that…” Isn’t that too dishonorable for Your Majesty alone?

Loderick read the inner thoughts from Jade’s expression, and chuckled. “Will that kind of pride protect the peace of the family?”

“…”

“Enough with the useless talk, let’s go.” Loderick swept back his hair as if he was annoyed and strode towards the conference hall.