Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 16

#16.

Loderick, now sitting up in bed, gazed out the window with his blue eyes.

It was dawn, the time just before sunrise.

Last night had been turbulent. But perhaps because every day was sleepless, yesterday wasn’t particularly bad enough to prevent him from sleeping.

Turning his gaze from the window, he looked at the bedside table.

He raised an eyebrow at the grotesque sculpture, which looked more comical than scary.

“Does it really work?”

Even though he thought it was ridiculous, he honestly found it a little funny. *Strange woman*, he thought.

Loderick flicked the nose of the ugly sculpture with his finger and got out of bed.

It wasn’t a great morning, but it wasn’t a bad one either.

However, as Loderick got out of bed, the vengeful spirits that had been hovering around him all night followed.

The wraiths that had been eyeing him from outside the window also rushed in, giggling.

「March 10, 499. I will tell Lawrence tomorrow.

To abandon everything and leave Cayenne with me.

But I also know very well that he will refuse.

Is it because I’m a fool, as others say, that I want to say it even though I know I’ll be rejected?」

Lee Jae couldn’t bring herself to read much again today and closed Haley’s diary.

Usually, she would close it because she was dumbfounded, but today it was because she couldn’t hide her troubled heart.

If a person’s heart opens over time, then Haley must have loved her lover very much.

Lee Jae didn’t feel much emotion even when she thought of Duke Duncan, but her heart ached when she read the passages about Lawrence.

This feeling lingered like the embers of a fire, even after Haley’s soul had perished.

As she was lost in thought, the queen’s maids began to bustle about.

“His Majesty is at it again…”

She overheard the maids whispering to each other.

Lee Jae glanced at them, hearing ominous words such as *dual personality* and *madness*.

Then, noticing the queen’s gaze, they startled and pretended to be busy with other things.

She could have called them over and asked, but Lee Jae stared blankly in the other direction.

As she turned her gaze, Ham’s spirit, who was crouching on the shelf, spoke as if he had been waiting.

-Loderick is going crazy again.

“………”

-He must be completely out of his mind today.

“………”

-Lee Jae, you’ve got quite the husband.

Ham’s spirit, mimicking the king’s tone, giggled.

It sounded cheerful, but she didn’t feel like laughing with him, so she sighed.

Lee Jae beckoned to the head maid.

“Deborah, where is His Majesty now?”

After hearing the answer, she stared blankly at her rosary bracelet.

Perhaps because the person who made it was unskilled, it was already scorched in places even though she hadn’t used it much.

Lee Jae sighed and closed her eyes.

The expression full of anguish and worry didn’t seem like the lovely Haley.

But when she opened her eyes again, the queen’s eyes were clear, like those of someone who had made a decision.

“Let’s go quickly.”

Lee Jae got up from her seat.

It was fortunate that the place where he had once again expressed his madness was his study.

She wouldn’t be able to stop the rumors, but she could minimize the number of people who saw it. People who had already witnessed this side of him a couple of times didn’t completely block the queen’s entry. Nevertheless, Jade spoke in a worried tone.

“I’ll step in if necessary, but please be careful. I’m the only one here who can really stop him. Honestly, I wish you wouldn’t go at all. In a little while, he’ll calm down again.”

Jade was worried about her safety, but also about Haley being harmed and her father using it to his advantage.

Lee Jae listened in silence before stepping inside.

Everyone has a natural healing ability. It’s just that some people have it stronger and some have it weaker.

The reason Loderick had been getting better was because his mind had always won.

But what happens to that person’s life in the meantime?

You all actually think that person is crazy.

Just because someone is strong doesn’t mean they don’t need help.

Lee Jae called out to Loderick.

“Your Majesty.”

“………”

It was an animalistic look that made people step back.

Several blue blood vessels were already bulging on his neck.

Yet, whether it was professional ethics or loyalty, the servants were clinging to the king’s pants to stop his rampage.

Lee Jae, who had been staring blankly at the miserable sight, said in a calm voice.

“…Are you alright? I came because I wanted to ask Your Majesty for a cup of tea today.”

“………”

“I think I came at a bad time again. But today’s tea will have a much better fragrance than last time.”

Lee Jae smiled weakly. She could already feel the suffocating air pressing down on her.

It wasn’t fortunate that it was the study, as people thought.

This place had a much worse aura than the king’s bedroom or reception hall.

This place should have been used as a warehouse.

Knowing that it might look a little strange, Lee Jae eventually took off the bracelet from her wrist and held it tightly in her hand.

She had been unsure about the condition of the bracelet since earlier.

She rolled the rosary beads between her thumb a few times.

And she chanted an incantation to calm her own mind before repelling the ghosts.

*What is shaking is only your heart. So if you keep your will upright, everything will flow according to reason.*

Lee Jae took another step closer and looked at Loderick’s eyes and the vengeful spirits hovering around him.

*Those who obey the heavens will prosper, and those who defy the heavens will perish.*

*Heaven and earth are eternal and everlasting.*

*Beings, now follow this law of causality.*

People noticed that the queen was trembling.

At that moment, people felt sorry for her.

Even if there were many eyes watching, it couldn’t be easy to not be scared when a man as strong as the king was glaring like that.

Lee Jae was actually sweating and holding back vomit.

But eventually, overcoming the dark energy and pressure, she approached him and grabbed the king’s wrist. And without hesitation, she led him to the sofa.

“Come this way.”

When the queen sat right next to the king, thigh to thigh, people had tense faces.

The queen was staring straight ahead.

She had a very upright posture, but it was like a young animal showing its neck and vitals to a predator.

But the strange thing happened again this time.

The king seemed to be getting better.

Why? What did the queen do to make His Majesty calm down again?

After this happened about three times,

people gradually began to have strange thoughts.

The small queen looked like the king’s suppression squad.

And Lee Jae, feeling the darkness gradually fading, gave him time to get better for a while.

After a while, Lee Jae felt him looking around.

And when she heard Loderick sigh, she glanced sideways.

It worked. He was back. His blue and clear eyes were looking at her.

“…Did you sleep well last night?”

The queen asked with a pale face, and Loderick nodded.

“Yes.”

“I guess my prayers didn’t work well. I guess the gift was too shabby.”

Loderick denied it when Lee Jae smiled with a sorry and listless expression.

“I told you I slept well.”

“………”

“Why? Do I look like I didn’t sleep again?”

“No. It’s not that.”

They were silent for a while.

Of course, only Loderick was, and Lee Jae was repeating several spells in her head again.

And then, Loderick, who was brushing back his hair, said.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t ever come when I’m feeling like this again.”

“………”

“I can’t guarantee your safety.”

“…………”

“You actually have that much sense, don’t you? …Right?”

Lee Jae closed her mouth at the unexpected words.

And she looked at him with an unknown gaze.

*This was stingy for the price of the amulet*, she thought.

*Your Majesty, do you know how much these amulets are traded for in the secular world?*

*Grandma Youngsan was able to make a living by writing just one amulet a year. Mine is about a hundredth of that. Carving a totem pole takes a long time, so I don’t carve it for just anyone.*

But Lee Jae smiled faintly even as she thought that.

She seemed to know why he was speaking vaguely, mentioning his mood, and yet the underlying feeling that came out didn’t feel bad.

But on the other hand, she also had to feel a certain anxiety.

Lee Jae had often seen shamans ruin themselves by feeling pity for people and doing things beyond their capabilities.

Once they started feeling rewarded for depleting their energy, the life of a shaman was over.

In that respect, Grandma Youngsan was a very worldly shaman. Even though she was more capable than anyone else, she wouldn’t even open her mouth if it seemed like she was going to ruin her own life. She was a cold and sharp old woman.

“Your Majesty, I think you’ve forgotten, but I’m Duncan.”

“………”

“Please treat me the way you used to.”

*I’ll back off if my life is in danger anyway, so let’s keep a proper temperature. Let’s not raise it any further.*

But unlike her somewhat cold words, Lee Jae slyly grabbed his wrist again.

Loderick’s calm eyes stared at her, and people were watching the scene with increasingly bizarre expressions.

When Lee Jae looked at his palm lines and pressed somewhere again, Loderick’s expression turned a little sour.

Lee Jae’s expression also turned sour.

*This person even has good palm lines. He really was a cheat character.*

*You have everything: physiognomy [facial features], aura, and palm lines, but you also have vengeful spirits? Why is this happening?*

“Haley. I asked you this last time, but.”

“Yes.”

“…What are you doing?”

Feeling a little guilty, Lee Jae bit her lip slightly and said.

“You exercise, so you know. I’m just rubbing a stiff spot. You seem very tired.”

“………”

Because he had only seen people trying to deceive him, Loderick was good at recognizing other people’s lies.

But that was also true of Lee Jae, who was a little more in touch with the truth of the world than others.

There is a saying *to deceive ghosts in the world*. It means you can’t deceive them.

But even she, who had fought against such cunning ghosts, often looked into the unspoken feelings of people.

In the end, they were both lying and deceiving each other to some extent today.

When Loderick closed his mouth, Lee Jae, feeling a little relieved, grabbed both of his shoulders.

She could feel his body fighting its best to protect its owner.

Even though she was letting him do what he wanted, the king still seemed dumbfounded.

He looked at Jade again with a fierce gaze, questioning something.

*Why is the queen acting like this? Am I the only one who thinks Haley is strange?*

But even if he had asked out loud, not many people would have agreed.

What was strange was the king from before, and the king who was still now.