Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 131

#Extra Story 3.

When Someone Runs at You

#3-1.

Lee Jae actually had a concern.

The Cayenne royal family had few heirs.

Not many carried the Blake family name.

In life, you sometimes encounter people who attack you by picking on your personal circumstances. But in retrospect, those people rarely have genuine affection for my life or lasting interest in it.

Lee Jae knew this well and knew she shouldn’t be swayed by it, but she didn’t like anyone adding to the King’s burdens.

There would surely be many people chattering about the succession issue, but the King showed no sign of concern to Lee Jae.

‘Why isn’t a child coming?’

It felt like it should be happening. I diligently calculated the dates with high probability.

She was almost at the point of wanting to ask the *Samshin Halmeoni* [Korean Grandmother Spirit who grants children] why.

In the end, she worried and brought it up to the King first.

“Roderick.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Don’t you want to have a child?”

Then the King, who was getting ready to sleep, paused and looked at her.

He asked cautiously.

“Why? Do you… want to have many children?”

“I do, but actually, I don’t really know.”

Of course, there was anticipation.

But to be honest, Lee Jae was also a little scared.

She lacked confidence because she had no memories of her parents.

And she was also afraid that the child might have the same *si* [visions] as her.

It wasn’t entirely within her control, but she worried that if the child was saddened by those eyes, it would ultimately be her fault.

“But why are you suddenly bringing this up?”

“Suddenly? I mean, succession talks will come up during meetings, won’t they?”

The King frowned slightly at those words.

He guessed the reason for the worry on his wife’s face.

He asked, spitting out the words in a chilling voice.

“Who is it?”

“Pardon?”

“Who put those words in your head?”

“No, no one did…”

Lee Jae denied it, but he was certain that she had heard something somewhere.

Nobles had often brought up such topics even in the early days of their royal marriage.

They stopped after he made it clear, but he wondered if the arrows had turned towards his gentle wife.

The King started to get annoyed, wondering if he should review the audience logs again or check with the head lady-in-waiting.

He said to his wife first.

“My dear, people don’t all think before they speak like you do. If someone says something, just think they’re saying it because they have a pathetic life, and ignore them.”

“……”

“Or think they lack empathy. Haven’t you seen such ignorant people before? There must have been quite a few?”

“No, why are you getting so angry again? Isn’t it normal for husbands and wives to discuss things like this? I was worried that there might be something wrong with me…”

Lee Jae stroked the King’s furrowed face, and the King sighed.

Of course, he wasn’t angry at his wife.

Succession was important to the royal family, close to an obligation.

But the King also found it hard to resist the urge to smash the audience chamber.

He was upset that his wife was feeling down and anxious about this.

The King’s brother was executed for treason under the national law, but it wasn’t as if there were no other relatives with the Blake name. There were plenty of options.

“It’s not like we can control it by worrying about it. If you’re fretting about it tonight, of course, I won’t feel good either.”

“……”

“And do you think I’m living with you because I need an heir right now?”

“……”

“Are you saying you won’t live with me if we don’t have a child?”

“I understand what you’re saying, so let’s just sleep.”

“I’d love to get some sleep.”

The King said gruffly, but he pulled Lee Jae closer to him.

And he started patting her small back.

As if telling her to sleep without worrying because he was there.

Lee Jae buried her face in his chest and secretly smiled.

She felt much better because her husband spoke as if it were nothing.

She actually felt reassured.

Lee Jae rubbed her face against his chest for no reason, and the patting became even more tender.

Lee Jae wasn’t the type of person who frequently visited doctors.

She had never been seriously ill except for exorcisms.

Besides, she was better at understanding her body condition than others. Someone who cultivates their *gi* [qi, energy] every day can’t help but look into every corner of their body.

Lee Jae sat cross-legged and circulated the *gi* [qi, energy] inside her body once more.

And soon, she tilted her head.

‘My body definitely feels different than usual.’

She couldn’t explain it exactly, but she had been feeling a subtly foreign energy since earlier.

Clearly, a different energy than what I possessed.

A small but undeniable presence.

She circulated the *gi* [qi, energy] inside her body several times and continued to ponder.

Then she soon realized something and her eyes lit up.

Could it be that a child has come?

Lee Jae’s eyes began to fill with half expectation and half anxiety.

At the same time, her husband was in the study.

The King’s attendants looked perplexed.

Because the King’s pattern was different from usual.

In the early days of their marriage, thanks to the human sleep aid that was the Queen, the King would often take naps on the sofa or in Arthur’s Forest.

He would fall asleep anywhere as long as he had the Queen’s lap; he was so sleep-deprived and desperate.

But that was now a thing of the past.

Since his sleep rhythm had completely stabilized, the King had never taken a nap.

He always went to sleep in his wife’s bedroom at a consistent time.

So when the King suddenly lay down on the study sofa, the head attendant cautiously suggested.

‘Your Majesty, since you’re resting, why don’t you go to your room and rest comfortably? Her Majesty the Queen is also in the room right now.’

‘I’m just going to close my eyes for a moment and get up. Don’t worry about me.’

But the time he said he would rest for gradually lengthened.

Later, it became embarrassing to even call it a nap, and the attendants began to exchange glances.

‘Could it be that he didn’t sleep well last night? Her Majesty the Queen also seemed tired today.’

‘The two of them are still hot… Ah, never mind.’

The commander of the Knights, too, looked at the King soundly asleep with somewhat strange eyes.

Jade, who had come for a report, looked around when the head attendant shook his head.

Finding the King, he lowered his voice and asked the head attendant.

“Is His Majesty sleeping right now?”

“Yes, he has been for quite some time.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him sleep like that.”

“Indeed.”

In the end, the commander of the Knights, like the other attendants, stood against the wall and waited for the King to wake up. His schedule was also packed, but he couldn’t dare to wake the King.

The room was quiet, almost peaceful. They say sleep is contagious.

It was an afternoon when even the eyelids of the waiting attendants grew heavy.

The quiet peace was broken when the King let out a low groan.

“Umm…”

Dozens of eyes turned to the King at the same time, and his handsome face was frowning in his sleep.

People watched the King silently, holding their breath.

The King became quiet again for a while. People were about to turn their eyes away, thinking he wasn’t waking up, but the King continued to groan intermittently.

And the sound of his breathing and the occasional utterances gradually became rougher.

In fact, it was something that ordinary people usually experienced in their sleep.

However, the people of the castle, especially those who served the King, were quite sensitive to this.

This was because they had belatedly realized that most of the problems the King had experienced were related to sleep or the night.

The commander of the Knights was ready to run to the Queen’s palace and carry the Queen, even if he had to carry her on his back.

And then, the King was actually having a strange dream.

He was strolling through the castle with his beloved wife when a lion the size of a house lumbered through the castle gates.

Roderick looked closely at the beast, but strangely, he didn’t want to draw his sword.

But from then on, the lion started running around and wreaking havoc on the castle. When it hung on a tree that wasn’t its size, the tree snapped with a crack.

After destroying several trees, the lion went into the lake and splashed around.

Then the squirrels living nearby scurried away.

Finally, when the lion even struck a historic stone statue in the middle of the castle with its front paw, Roderick frowned.

‘That thing is really tearing down the whole castle.’

This could only be described as outrageous.

However, what really flustered Roderick, who had been watching, was what happened next.

He saw the lion’s bright yellow eyes, which had been searching the surroundings, were directed precisely at the Queen.

As the lion rushed towards the Queen at a terrifying speed, the King quickly hid her behind his back.

‘No. Don’t touch my wife.’

‘Absolutely not.’

The lion tried to pounce on the King, who was blocking its path.

At that moment, a faint voice reached the King’s ear.

As if trying to pull it out from his subconscious, it felt like someone was possessing him.

“Your Majesty. Your Majesty?”

The King frowned and barely opened his eyes.

What was in front of him was not a lion but a familiar face.

The commander of the Knights was looking at him with a very worried expression.

“Are you alright?”

“……”

“Forgive my rudeness. It seemed you were having a bad dream, so I woke you.”

When the King didn’t speak, the commander of the Knights asked cautiously.

“Shall I bring Her Majesty the Queen?”

“……No, I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

The King’s voice was much hoarser than usual.

He looked around.

The attendants were all looking at him with surprised faces.

The King sighed but quickly fell into thought. It was a dream he hadn’t had in a long time, and it was hard to call it just a nightmare, and it was too vivid for a dream.

‘What is it, this strange dream?’

Habitually sweeping back his bangs, he realized that there was cold sweat on his forehead.