Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 111

#16. As the Heart Leads

#111.

The King and Lee Jae, roused from sleep in the middle of the night, approached the window.

Lee Jae was focused on something, and Roderick could feel that something too.

Lee Jae, staring into the darkness with a gleam in her eyes, nodded.

“Your Majesty, it’s coming.”

The King turned and strode away.

Opening the door a crack, the King addressed the people lined up in the hallway.

“Chamberlain, light the fires throughout the castle immediately.”

This was to resist the eerie energy surging in like a tide of black water, pushing it back as much as possible.

The castle staff had already prepared for this, dividing their tasks beforehand.

The chamberlains gathered kindling outside and started fires, while the maids lit candles in every room.

The castle, previously veiled in dim moonlight, instantly blazed with light, as bright as midday.

“The 1st Knight Order will immediately search the castle grounds and the capital.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Even if they aren’t part of the Prince’s faction, arrest anyone who appears suspicious.”

“Understood.”

Knights in groups of six or seven scattered to patrol the castle surroundings.

When the King returned to the room, Lee Jae was gazing out the window with a grave expression.

She was running prayer beads through her left hand while raising her right hand slightly, and the King could sense a palpable energy emanating from her fingertips.

Roderick moved the statues closer to the window and asked, “What is it? What do you need me to do this time?”

“……”

“Hey?”

Lee Jae hesitated to answer.

She had prepared as best she could, but the situation was still precarious.

The evil spirits that had been battering the barrier, trying to break through, were now circling it. This had to be because the King’s energy was noticeably different than before.

The evil spirits were drawn to the castle, targeting the King, but they couldn’t even approach the barrier because of the King’s own power.

But she couldn’t ask the King to step back. Lee Jae wasn’t confident she could handle them if they all rushed in at once.

“Lee Jae, answer me.”

How long had it been? Finally, her lips parted.

“I think I should just shoot them.”

“……What?”

The King wondered if he had misheard, but Lee Jae repeated herself with a pious expression, like a devout priest.

“I have to take them down one by one. I can’t think of any other way.”

Lee Jae retrieved her bow and arrows, which she had placed in a corner of the room.

Then, she sat on the windowsill and aimed an arrow at the weakest-looking vengeful spirit.

After firing three arrows in quick succession, Lee Jae leaned further out the window.

Looking around, she carefully adjusted her position.

She was planning to go outside.

The safest place was inside the room, protected by the carefully erected barrier, but the view was too limited from there.

Roderick, understanding her intention, stopped her.

“Wait a minute. Hold on.”

Roderick grabbed the window frame with one hand and vaulted over it.

Then, he reached back, grabbed Lee Jae’s waist, and gently lowered her to the ground.

Lee Jae, once her feet were on the ground, immediately looked up at the night sky.

Dozens of vengeful spirits still floated in the air, their eerie eyes fixed on the King and her.

After a moment of silence, Lee Jae glanced up at the King.

She slyly tugged on the King’s sleeve.

“Your Majesty.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Don’t leave my side, okay? If you have something urgent, it can wait.”

“……Where would I go? Why are you talking like that?”

“I know, I know. I’m just a little scared… No, never mind, I was just saying.”

Lee Jae had fully provoked the vengeful spirits and rushed out of the trench, so to speak.

Without the King, she, who had drawn their ire, would be in grave danger.

The role of the human amulet had shifted.

Lee Jae was now using the King as a shield and bait, diligently firing arrows.

As the arrows in her quiver dwindled, the number of vengeful spirits also decreased.

But Lee Jae was growing increasingly preoccupied with one particular worry.

By now, their opponent would have surely noticed.

That there was someone protecting the King.

Or they might think that the power of the royal family had awakened.

Since their attacks had repeatedly failed, they would know that harming the King with this level of evil spirits was unlikely.

‘What on earth are they planning? I have to stop this fight where I keep getting dragged along.’

Lee Jae wore a worried expression, but she continued to nock arrows and fire.

The chamberlains and maids had gathered behind her, watching Lee Jae.

In fact, to them, it simply looked like Lee Jae was diligently shooting arrows into the air.

The arrows that pierced the vengeful spirits traced a parabola and fell to the ground.

Only the King could feel the oppressive darkness receding.

But at some point, the onlookers began to doubt their eyes.

The arrow that Lee Jae shot shattered in mid-air.

Her eyes, which had been momentarily lost in thought, sharpened.

Lee Jae bit her lip and nocked another arrow.

She poured even more energy into it than before and released the bowstring, but an even stranger sight unfolded before the people’s eyes.

The arrow, flying in a parabola, suddenly plummeted straight down.

As if it had struck a solid wall.

Lee Jae narrowed her eyes and carefully studied the evil spirit.

Then, the outline of the evil spirit became more vividly clear in her spiritual eye.

Lee Jae barely managed to suppress a shudder.

She felt a sense of déjà vu from the shape of the evil spirit, which was smiling eerily.

Like the evil spirit that had tried to strangle the King, it was covered in thick, black fur.

Lee Jae, who had vomited a bucket of blood to destroy the previous one, closed her eyes for a moment.

She needed to calm her mind.

And when she opened her eyes again, she didn’t hesitate to prick her palm with the arrowhead.

Roderick hurriedly grabbed her wrist, shouting, “What… what are you doing now!”

The beads of blood were already welling up and trickling down her palm.

But Lee Jae’s expression was indifferent.

“Your Majesty, this works best.”

Such a vicious evil spirit wouldn’t be affected by animal blood.

“……No, then use mine. I’m right here.”

Roderick, losing his composure, belatedly reached out to cut his own hand, but Lee Jae quickly pulled the arrow back.

“It has to be your own blood. I told you before.”

“The curse has to find the caster of the curse. The spell is originally endured by the person who casts it. The person who casts it is also responsible for the failure.”

It was half true, and half a lie.

If it had to be her own blood, she wouldn’t have been able to use animal blood at all.

But Lee Jae didn’t want to reveal the truth.

*Your Majesty, I can’t stand to see you get hurt either. It’s not just you who feels that way.*

“It’s okay. I didn’t prick it very deep. It’s like getting pricked by a needle while embroidering.”

“……You, I’ll deal with you later. We’ll talk about this later.”

Roderick gritted his teeth.

Despite the serious situation, Lee Jae smiled faintly.

It was a smile that escaped her without her realizing it.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not scared at all when Your Majesty says that now.”

She nocked an arrow and looked at the night sky again.

She stared at the evil spirit and chanted the mantra.

‘Penetrate stone with metal.’

‘Oh spirits, the arrow that humans shoot with all their might pierces through rocks.’

Then, a jeering black face materialized before her.

Lee Jae knew exactly what that face meant.

The evil that easily destroys humans. Someone like you. Someone who has lived a life of kneeling and prostrating.

Lee Jae struggled to calm her wavering heart.

Before releasing the bowstring, she looked up at the King.

And she glanced at the people behind her.

The King is always by her side, and other people are with her too.

Surprisingly, it’s not as scary as last time. She’s not lonely either.

She nodded.

‘Okay, let’s do it. Let’s see if this arrow can pierce you or not.’

She bit her lip tightly and released the tightly drawn bowstring.

The arrow seemed to pause in the air for a moment.

But it moved forward steadily, as if breaking through an invisible wall.

When the arrow, carrying her energy, finally pierced the evil spirit’s forehead, Lee Jae dropped the bow to the floor.

“It’s done. Your Majesty, it’s done.”

The King could feel it too.

He was already turning around and urging the people.

“What are you standing around for? Bring the bandages, quickly!”

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, they’ve already gone to get them. Just a moment… There, there they are.”

Roderick snatched the bandage from one of the chamberlains and wrapped it around her hand.

But even as he did so, Lee Jae kept looking at the sky.

There were four vengeful spirits left.

A number she could handle.

Lee Jae looked at the fire burning the pile of kindling and quietly asked, “Could someone light a fire and bring it to me?”

It was Deborah who lit a branch, pushing aside the chamberlains.

Lee Jae made eye contact and took the branch from Deborah.

And before anyone could stop her, she walked forward a few steps.

Since the remaining vengeful spirits couldn’t come closer, she would go to them this time.

Lee Jae burned the bundle of amulets she had taken from her arms and recited the last spell of the battle she had faced today.

It was a spell containing Hailey’s wish and Lee Jae’s heart, to commemorate her.

“Human triumph. Humans can take control of their destiny. Someday… they can overcome the heavens.”

The night sky above was clear.

It was the most perfect defense battle fought so far, and a quite successful repelling.