Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 133

#3-3.

The news of the Queen’s pregnancy quickly spread throughout the city and aristocratic circles.

Everyone knew the Queen possessed a mature demeanor.

At times, in serious situations, she even seemed like an old woman.

However, upon hearing the news of her pregnancy, people’s perceptions shifted.

‘Isn’t this like a child giving birth to a child?’

‘Considering His Majesty’s robust physique, it’s unlikely a normal baby will be born.’

‘Why is everyone so negative? The baby could inherit the mother’s traits.’

The King, too, began to share these concerns.

According to the dream, a bean was giving birth to a lion. What should he do about this?

The King seized this opportunity to fulfill a long-held desire.

He announced during a meeting one day.

“As you all know, there’s joyous news in the royal family for the first time in a while.”

“Your Majesty, though belated, I offer my sincere congratulations.”

“Thank you. Therefore, I require your cooperation on a matter.”

“………”

“It appears the Queen requires a period of rest.”

The nobles seated around the conference table exchanged questioning glances.

The King’s words were not particularly unusual and seemed quite reasonable.

However, his gaze held an unusual intensity.

The King, with a sharp glint in his eyes, declared it matter-of-factly.

“The Queen’s receptions will be suspended indefinitely. I will cancel all existing appointments.”

Lee Jae believed that handling one or two matters a day would provide a welcome change of pace.

However, the King remained firm on this point.

“Furthermore, refrain from sending letters with trivial inquiries, feigning concern.”

People belatedly recognized the hidden meaning in his words and lowered their heads.

“If you have urgent matters, address them to me instead.”

The King extended a gesture of generosity, but naturally, no noble would dare approach the formidable king with their concerns.

The King’s expression, as he surveyed the nobles, seemed more refreshed than ever.

Lee Jae steadily progressed through her months of pregnancy.

The King was attentive, bringing her amusing and engaging items, visiting her chambers so frequently that the doorsill began to wear thin. Deborah and the maids meticulously attended to even the smallest details.

During the early stages of pregnancy, she developed aversions to certain foods, but Lee Jae navigated that period relatively well.

However, not every day was easy.

The challenge arose as her due date approached.

The morning sickness, which she thought had subsided, returned with a vengeance around that time.

Given the unusual severity, the Queen’s palace was in a state of high alert, and Lee Jae felt overwhelmed by the slightest odors.

It was difficult to breathe, making it impossible to eat.

Unable to eat, the King, who watched over her, also suffered.

He knew from past experience that forcing her to eat would be futile.

However, as his wife continued to lose weight, he felt compelled to keep offering her different foods, urging her to eat.

One day, such a situation unfolded.

‘Lee Jae, please try this. You don’t want this either?’

‘I want to eat for the baby’s sake, but it’s difficult to keep anything down.’

At that moment, the King appeared visibly distressed.

‘I hesitate to say this… Please don’t take my words too harshly.’

‘Yes?’

‘The baby is important, but I also want you to eat for your own well-being.’

She ate as much as she could as the King placed food in her mouth, but eventually, she vomited.

The King reassured Lee Jae, who felt apologetic, that it was alright and comforted her at length before departing.

However, he remained irritable throughout the day, only sighing deeply.

Consequently, no one dared to mention the Queen or the baby in the King’s presence that day.

The people of the city were concerned but also secretly curious.

What kind of child would be born to cause such upheaval in the castle and make people so anxious?

It was a peaceful curiosity. Until then, no one anticipated the situation would worsen.

However, as the due date drew nearer, Lee Jae’s condition only deteriorated.

Lee Jae had sensed that the baby to be born possessed an extraordinary aura.

Initially, it was a faint aura, but as time passed, the aura intensified.

The baby’s aura was not yet refined or controlled.

The problem was that Lee Jae also possessed a unique aura.

The auras that the fetus could not control clashed with Lee Jae’s aura in various ways.

Normally, she would have been able to harmonize and subdue those auras gently.

However, she hadn’t been eating properly for some time, so she lacked the strength to even perform a simple mantra, let alone control the aura that manifested unpredictably.

The doctor visited the Queen’s palace daily. He couldn’t understand why the Queen’s condition was worsening, but he could see the reason for it, at least to the King.

The King desperately wanted to help.

However, he couldn’t dare to touch his wife’s body.

No one could predict the consequences of recklessly injecting his own aura into her weakened body.

Besides, the King couldn’t manipulate his aura for healing purposes like Lee Jae.

And to compound matters.

As she developed a high fever before her due date, the King felt a profound sense of despair.

The King attempted to force her to take medicine.

However, Lee Jae explained that herbs poisonous to adults would be fatal to the baby, so she preferred to rely on remedies like cool cloths as much as possible.

Ultimately, she had to face childbirth in the worst possible condition.

The doctor, deeply apologetic, had no choice but to inform the King of the potential dangers.

The King trusted his wife’s judgment implicitly.

But now he began to wonder if the lion had attacked his wife because it had foreseen this situation. That it would be too much for his wife. That it would be dangerous.

What if something happens to my wife… what should I do?

Traces of fever blisters still marked Lee Jae’s face.

Her face, gaunt from lack of nourishment, and her arms were emaciated.

The King gazed down at her lying in bed.

But even with her weakened appearance, Lee Jae said. Despite experiencing labor pains for some time, she smiled calmly.

“It’s nothing. Everyone else goes through this. Roderick and I were born this way too.”

Then he, who had been holding back all along, gritted his teeth. He felt on the verge of tears.

“Just because someone did it… doesn’t mean it’s nothing!”

My wife always says it’s nothing.

But has it ever really been nothing?

He was so distressed that he shouted, but then he realized that he had no right to say these words. He took Lee Jae’s hand and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry. Lee Jae. I’m a bad guy. I…”

“………”

“It’s all my fault.”

Roderick found it difficult to shake off the feeling that he had become a selfish person.

If two people planned to have a child and had relations, it was a natural expectation that a child would come.

He knew that the moment was painful and that some people needed to be prepared to die.

But when his wife was on the verge of death, he felt like he had become the most selfish person in the world.

How could this be a noble act? When a person is in so much pain. When she has a dying face.

It’s the result we made together, so why do you have to suffer so much? It’s supposed to be noble, but why is it so unfair?

He kept saying sorry, and then he took off Lee Jae’s hand that was covering her face.

But Lee Jae, who had been smiling faintly, was suddenly crying.

“It’s my child. It’s our child.”

“………”

“Roderick. Don’t apologize to me for this. A person being born is not something to be sorry for.”

“………”

“I want my child to be born with more blessings than I did!”

Lee Jae choked up as she spoke, and Roderick, flustered, quickly wiped away his wife’s tears and nodded.

“You know I don’t mean that. I really cherish you… that’s why. Don’t cry. I feel like my heart is tearing apart.”

“Then Roderick, smile for me too.”

Give me a joke as always, and throw light words as if it’s nothing.

I wanted to receive the good energy that this person had.

So she smiled faintly once again.

“Do you have to come if I call you? It’s a betrayal if you go anywhere else. Everyone said that’s for life.”

“Of course. I’ll keep waiting here. I’ll be praying. It’ll be okay. My wife is talented and smart, so she’ll do everything well.”

The King agreed with his wife’s words and nodded, but he didn’t really know what he was saying.

When the preparations were complete, people advised the King to leave.

But the King stood there like a person whose body was stiff, and it was the commander of the Knights who pushed his back.

And from the moment the door closed, the King’s expression became even more miserable. It was because he realized that there was really nothing he could do from here on out.

The intermittent screams came clearly to his ears. Knowing that she was good at holding back, it felt even more painful.

“Oh, what should I do.”

“…Your Majesty.”

“…Jade. What should I do?”

“Your Majesty, many people are helping by your side. She will definitely be okay.”

“In the end, there’s nothing I can do. I can’t do it for her, and there’s nothing I can do together.”

“………”

“I love her, but how can I be so incompetent?”

The King actually wanted to ask Jade what would happen if Lee Jae couldn’t bear it. What if she dies?

But he remembered his wife’s story that if he said something carelessly, it would happen, so he could only cover his face with his trembling hands.

It was a difficult birth that lasted a full day. Everyone who was with the Queen during the process was exhausted from how much she suffered.

Lee Jae had already cried countless times during childbirth.

Nevertheless, she teared up once again as she looked at the baby wrapped in a soft cloth.

It was because she realized that countless lives in the world were born like this.

With joy like a raging fire and sorrow like a raging fire.

With sacrifices that no one could easily accept and with anxious hearts.

Lee Jae had sometimes thought.

People seem to want to think that they were perfect from the beginning when they are in a plausible position.

They want to turn a blind eye even though they know it’s not true.

It is an uncomfortable truth that our lives cannot be built without the sacrifices of others.

But as she looked at the baby, she had other thoughts.

I was actually very tired when you came into the world, but I hope you don’t know that. I don’t want to tell you that uncomfortable truth. Because some sacrifices were clearly not made in the hope of being rewarded.

So, instead of putting a huge burden on the path of life, she wanted to pray as always.

Just be happy. Live your life to the fullest.

It was when Lee Jae was smiling as she looked at the baby.

The maids who had finished cleaning up called the King.

She asked for his consent as she looked at her husband, whose face seemed to have been severely damaged in a day.

“I think I know why Roderick had a lion dream. I think I know why he smashed everything too, right?”

The room was filled with golden light.

It was a clear aura that a newborn baby could hardly emit.

As the powerful aura, along with the baby in her womb, disappeared, Lee Jae’s complexion was also more comfortable and stable.

“The baby is healthy.”

“………”

“I think I’ve definitely contributed to at least two people since I came here.”

Because she saved one person and helped one person to be born.

“I guess I’m a valuable person to have around.”

But her husband, one of those people, looked like he had gone through hell and back all night rather than being saved.

In fact, even when he was suffering from vengeful spirits, his complexion was never that bad.

“I know, so stop talking… I’m sorry…”

The King couldn’t bring himself to continue.

Lee Jae laughed, telling him to stop because it was all over, and Roderick pulled her small hand that he was holding and buried his face in it.