Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 13

#13.

After that day, Roderick stopped visiting the Queen’s chambers altogether.

The King’s people all thought, “Something must have happened.”

But even though he stopped visiting, the King seemed like he wanted to see the Queen.

Monitoring the Duncans’ movements was his job, but that didn’t mean the King had any personal interest in them.

So, all the King’s attendants thought he had become strange.

There was one incident that made them certain.

The King was looking at a piece of jewelry for quite a while, and people glanced at each other, trying to read the situation. It was a tribute sent from a territory with a mine.

‘Is there something wrong? Is this also a sign of madness?’

‘He’s never been like this before.’

People started to get nervous, but Roderick was just looking at a bracelet. To be exact, he was thinking about the Queen while looking at the bracelet.

‘I made this bracelet too. So, can you give me back that carving knife?’

“She’s definitely a strange woman.”

When the King chuckled, Jade and the Chief Attendant exchanged serious looks.

However, contrary to their worries, Roderick’s mood was very good that day.

He was refraining from visiting because he thought the Queen might feel uncomfortable.

Belatedly, he thought, ‘Still, shouldn’t she not treat her husband like a pervert?’

‘Then how would she handle something even worse than that?’

But strictly speaking, it was also true that the Queen was forced into this marriage.

Roderick lifted the bracelet and stared at it for a long time.

“Jade.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Give this to the Queen.”

Jade was flustered and hesitated for a moment, but soon accepted the bracelet with a polite attitude.

“Did you see the bracelet she’s wearing now?”

“…Yes, I did.”

Roderick frowned and smiled.

“Tell her it’s terrible. It’s a monstrosity.”

“………”

“I can’t tell if it’s behind the times or ahead of it.”

‘Why are you picking on the Queen for no reason?’ people thought, but they also felt something subtly different.

The King was just making a joke with a high concentration of sincerity.

So, it felt less like he was picking a fight with Duncan and more like a playful act towards a woman he was interested in.

The King’s attendants were convinced.

‘Something definitely happened that day.’

On the other hand, the Queen’s maids had to confirm once again that nothing had happened.

Because not only the bed and her physical condition but even her clothes were spotless this time.

‘They’re in the same room, but the fire isn’t starting.’

‘They’re both beautiful and handsome enough to enjoy just looking in the mirror, and they’re in their prime, so who has the problem?’

Moreover, the Queen didn’t seem upset at all, even though the King was openly distancing himself.

That was true.

Of course, Lee Jae was a little sad.

She also regretted whether she had embarrassed him.

But when such a well-built man pressed down on her like that, she couldn’t maintain her composure for a moment.

In that sense, the King’s words about whether she was scared weren’t necessarily wrong.

However, the reason Lee Jae wasn’t greatly heartbroken was that she was used to being ignored.

Abandoned by her parents, ignored because she was an orphan, unable to mingle with people because she had divine powers.

People always had a consistent sense of distance and temperature towards her.

That was Kang Lee Jae’s past life.

And around that time, Jade and the King’s attendant visited Lee Jae’s chambers.

It was to deliver the bracelet that Roderick had sent.

“What’s this?”

“His Majesty says the bracelet you’re wearing now is terrible.”

‘Actually, he also said it was a monstrosity… He also said it was a work that the current era couldn’t possibly embrace… How can I say that with my own mouth?’

Even though she held back her words, Lee Jae was slightly annoyed.

“Why is His Majesty judging my taste now…”

“He always just talks like that.”

Jade, having confirmed the Queen’s reaction, subtly defended her friend.

In fact, Lee Jae, who had quite a few questions about Roderick, opened her eyes wide and asked.

“Really?”

“Yes. He definitely used to be like that. These days…”

‘Sometimes his actions are more forward than his words.’

“Well, anyway, he didn’t even say he just picked it up on the way. And he doesn’t usually make things up.”

Jade and the King’s attendant chuckled, sharing a joke that only they knew, and Lee Jae awkwardly laughed along with them.

Deborah glared because she didn’t like that all the messengers were like half-wits.

She felt that it was a gift that was obviously given with care, but they couldn’t even package it properly.

And Lee Jae stared blankly at the bracelet the King had sent.

The bracelet seemed like an extension of an apology, and it also seemed like an expression of his intention that he wouldn’t return the carving knife. That wasn’t entirely wrong either.

Among the carving knives that Lee Jae used, there were some with blades as long and sharp as daggers. This meant that they could be used for self-harm.

And Roderick didn’t trust the Queen enough to give her such an item.

But either way, she didn’t feel bad, so Lee Jae chuckled.

Lee Jae left the bracelet she was wearing on her right wrist and wore the bracelet the King had sent on her left wrist.

Unknown to the King, her weapon wasn’t just a carving knife but this rosary bracelet.

So, even though she had a pretty bracelet, she couldn’t take off her weapon.

“Tell His Majesty I said thank you. Sincerely.”

Then Jade and the King’s attendant bowed politely and stepped back.

While handling occasional meetings, Lee Jae immersed herself in Hailey’s diary again.

In the process, she felt the urge to throw Hailey’s diary several times.

‘Is this the violent feeling of a king tormented by vengeful spirits?’

She was confused whether there was a problem with Hailey’s writing habits or whether she had dyslexia.

Lee Jae’s knowledge here relies on Hailey Duncan’s incomplete memories.

But Hailey’s interests were very different from Lee Jae’s.

Also, she didn’t seem to be a very knowledgeable person.

In the end, Lee Jae put the unfriendly diary back and decided to find the royal historian.

“Could there be something like a royal genealogy? Is it this?”

When the Queen took out a book and asked, the skinny historian looked a little embarrassed.

“Only members of the royal family can see that. I’ll give you other records.”

Lee Jae looked a little puzzled.

She looked back and forth between the embarrassed historian and Deborah.

But in the end, she couldn’t get an answer and cautiously asked.

“I’m His Majesty’s spouse…”

‘So, I’m the Queen, but you’re saying I’m not a member of the royal family?’

Then the historian turned pale, as if he had made a truly disrespectful mistake.

“Ah, no. That’s not what I meant. There are separate letters that only some members of the royal family can read. That’s a copy of it. I didn’t think you would have learned it separately…”

Lee Jae smiled with a sullen expression.

‘That’s like a wealthy family that speaks in a foreign language even during meals.’

But there were such secret records in the place where she lived.

That means this is the most accurate and closest to the truth.

Lee Jae nodded.

“Give it to me first. I’ll take a clean look and bring it back.”

The maids looked puzzled. It was because the King and Queen’s relationship had been very distant lately to ask them to read it or teach her.

In fact, it didn’t seem like they had been very friendly from the beginning.

But Lee Jae borrowed it because she really thought she could see it.

Wouldn’t that eerie thing that has lived in the rooms used by the previous queens for hundreds of years be able to read it?

Returning to her room, she immediately called for Ham’s spirit.

“Come out here.”

-Naa?

“Yes. Can you read this?”

-……..

The spirit rolled its round eyes back and forth.

Lee Jae read the answer from the silence and snorted.

“If you’ve been playing around for hundreds of years, do your talisman [a charm or object believed to have magical powers] worth.”

-That’s not what you said! And I played, but I never ate even once.

“…You’re so lucky.”

But from the spirit’s point of view, Lee Jae’s existence was a misfortune and a disaster.

The spirit, faced with the moment of having to work for the first time in its life, seemed confused by the situation.

-No. Lee Jae. This doesn’t make sense. This world is really full of scams.

“You didn’t have a nose from the beginning. Who have you been scamming since last time?”

In the end, the spirit in the form of a child obediently recited the royal genealogy next to Lee Jae.

-1st King, Boy King Arthur Lux Blake. Passed away at the age of 38 in the year 20 of the Kaien calendar. He defeated the Daimon Empire, which dominated the continent with sinister sorcery, with the Holy Sword. He then declared the independence of the feudal states and the founding of Kaien.

-4th King, Ryan Blake. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Kaien, he implemented an active policy of ethnic integration. He promoted marriages between Mellon, Russell, Duncan, and the royal family.

-27th King, Roderick Perus Blake. Born in the year 470 of the Kaien calendar. Ascended to the throne in the year 497 of the Kaien calendar.

“………”

-That’s the end?

“Why is it already over? Is that all there is about His Majesty?”

-That’s because he’s still on the throne. Originally, achievements are written by the next king.

“Ah ah.”

Lee Jae nodded at the fair and reasonable words.

And she soon realized something as she scribbled something on the paper.

“His Majesty was twenty-nine years old. He’s older than he looks.”

There was only a four-year age difference between Lee Jae,

But there was an eight-year difference with Hailey Duncan.

Lee Jae suddenly laughed.

It was because she realized why the King used strange 말투 [a Korean word referring to a person’s way of speaking or tone] from time to time.

‘Yes, thank you so much, would you like to chat a little, are you not going to talk to me anymore?’ Even though he acted coldly, if her expression didn’t look good, those 말투 would pop out. Like someone trying to comfort her without realizing it.

‘Is that why you’re not cutting off my head and putting up with me even when I act up?’

But in front of the spirits wandering in the afterlife, we are all the same children anyway.

But Lee Jae soon frowned.

A person’s great fortune usually changes every ten years.

That means Roderick is about to reach that point.

And the nation’s fortune changes every five hundred years.

The reason why dynastic states often decline rapidly every five hundred or thousand years is because such national fortunes have a strong effect.

Kaien Year 499.

The king’s great fortune is the nation’s fortune.

But the timing of the king’s great fortune and the nation’s fortune changing overlaps.

Thinking that it was a coincidence, Lee Jae twirled the pen she was holding.