Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 21

#21.

“To posterity.

The core that has led Daimon consists of the Imperial Family and five noble families.

During the long Three Years’ War, the Daimon Imperial Family line was severed,
two families disappeared, and three families surrendered to the Allied Forces, contributing to the founding of Cayenne.

The names of the two are Ilias and Schmidt.

The names of the three are Mellon, Russell, and… Duncan.

– From page 24 of the writings to future kings.”

Duke Duncan brought up the issue of Albert Duncan’s reinstatement again today, but the king cut him off immediately, silencing him.

Then, one of the anti-royalist nobles opened fire.

“Your Majesty, will the hunting competition not be held this year either?”

It sounded as if he was hoping it wouldn’t be held.

Roderick gave an ambiguous answer to gauge the nobles’ reactions.

“We’ll see.”

Duke Duncan chimed in as if he had been waiting.

“Are you perhaps unwell?”

Roderick smiled deeply at the transparent ploy.

The rumors of the king’s madness were already spreading secretly in noble society, and Duke Duncan was the one who wanted to amplify them and spread them further.

“Why? Would you like me to be sick?”

“What are you saying? How could that be? I’m just saying it out of concern.”

“Is that so?” Roderick asked rhetorically and said,

“That’s quite unnecessary concern. I’m grateful that my health has been so good since I married a good wife.”

He meant to mock his viper-like father-in-law, but as he spoke, Roderick realized it was true. He wasn’t always okay, but his head was generally clear, and his physical condition was better than before.

Roderick rested his chin on his hand and stared at Duke Duncan.

How could such a daughter come from such a man?

If you look closely, Hailey has a little bit of his face. But these days, that was annoying. Why do I have to see my wife’s face reflected in that man?

Roderick stared at Duke Duncan’s face for a while before opening his mouth.

And he called out someone other than Duke Duncan.

“First Knight Commander.”

“Yes.”

“Bring that from my drawer.”

“…………”

“The one that arrived the day before yesterday.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

As the Knight Commander left the conference room, silence fell for a moment.

Roderick had a nonchalant expression with his chin resting on his hand, and the nobles who had been trying to provoke the king felt somewhat embarrassed.

Because the king was definitely different from before.

The king was undeniably an intelligent man, but he sometimes exploded and transparently revealed his anger.

However, these days, he was observing the nobles with a blunt and somewhat bored face. But in those blue eyes, there was more sharpness and reason than before.

At that time, Jade, who had returned to the conference room, handed the king an opened envelope.

Roderick received it and tossed it to Duke Duncan.

“Duke Duncan.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

“This is for you.”

“It’s an anonymous accusation that there is a discrepancy between your actual territory income and the tax revenue sent to the royal family.”

“…………”

“Should the royal family launch an investigation? If I had to say, I certainly want to. If the investigation reveals it’s not true, then I will apologize on behalf of this loyal subject.”

Duke Duncan was silent, and the king smiled as if he found it amusing.

*Answer me. If you’re confident, try it.*

The nobles, who felt that his smile was more eerie than when he occasionally showed a fierce appearance, lowered their heads.

“Didn’t you say that you care a lot about the Queen and Cayenne’s honor? While mentioning Albert Duncan’s reinstatement? I would like to give you an answer to that now.”

“…………”

“I hope you stop tarnishing the Queen’s honor.”

“…………”

“I’m holding back a lot, so I’m telling you to stop turning a blind eye.”

The king’s attitude toward his father-in-law was still dog-like today.

But he also showed a sliver of mercy.

“I’ll give you one chance to correct it. Don’t bring it up again.”

The king, who was about to leave the room after dismissing the meeting, turned back, and the nobles paused.

“And the hunting competition next month will be held as scheduled.”

Roderick added briefly and left the room with his knights.

After the king left, Duke Duncan slammed the table with his fist.

The pro-royal nobles couldn’t help but smirk.

Roderick, who had been in a power struggle with the big Duncan throughout the meeting, was now about to face the little Duncan [referring to his wife, Hailey, and her concerns]. And as he entered the luncheon hall, he once again felt that strange sensation that he was now used to.

A clear and refreshing air.

He always felt this way when he went to the Queen’s room.

So he always frowned at the entrance.

*Why is my heart so at ease?*

Meanwhile, Lee Jae, who smiled slightly when Roderick arrived, greeted him in a refreshing tone to start their lunch.

“Was my father running wild again today?”

“If that remark was very unpleasant, I will sincerely apologize, so you should stop it too.”

He felt like he was suffering from his father-in-law at work, and now his wife was nagging him while he was trying to have a meal.

But unlike when he was dealing with his father-in-law, Roderick had a smiling face towards the Queen.

“It wasn’t unpleasant at all. I’m just worried. The hunting competition… how did it go?”

Lee Jae asked cautiously, unable to hide her anxious expression.

Roderick suspiciously observed that face that resembled Duke Duncan, then simply fell into admiring it, and belatedly replied.

“Be careful of knives and water when I’m not around.”

“…………”

“Hailey, do you understand?”

It was quite an affectionate tone, but it meant that it would be held as scheduled.

Then Lee Jae’s complexion rapidly darkened. She even bit her lip anxiously.

She wasn’t a fool. Even while continuing to doubt, she couldn’t deny that the Queen was strangely worried about him.

This situation was really strange, but Roderick didn’t dislike it either, so he smiled with a frown.

“Nothing will happen, so cheer up and eat.”

“…………”

“Hey. Say something.”

The Queen was unusually sullen, and the king comforted his wife, so people watched the scene with a slightly pleased look.

Of course, the king’s close aides all had the same concerns, but they had something to believe in. Because the king’s condition had recently stabilized remarkably.

But Lee Jae knew that this was not such a simple problem. Unable to hide her worried heart, she asked.

“If you break an arm, can’t you cancel it?”

“What?”

“…I guess an arm wouldn’t be enough?”

Roderick rubbed his eyes and smiled before asking.

“Do you think you can break one of my fingers with that wrist of yours?”

“Why? Jade is there, isn’t she?”

*Borrowing someone else’s strength to achieve one’s goals.*

*Your Majesty, you don’t have to do such things yourself.*

Lee Jae looked at Roderick with wide eyes.

“…Wow, you were serious.”

He laughed as if he was very taken aback and pushed a few plates towards Lee Jae without saying a word. It meant not to mention it anymore and just eat.

The king’s people were all smiling, but Lee Jae had no choice but to pick up her fork with a dark expression.

Kang Lee Jae had been out by the lake for several days.

When the Queen went to the waterfront every day and sat blankly, the king showed a much more sensitive reaction than expected. He asked people about the Queen’s whereabouts every moment.

The king, whose madness had disappeared, seemed to have become mentally disturbed in a different direction.

He even summoned the head maid, Deborah.

‘If the Queen does that again, know that you are all dead.’

But Lee Jae was just waiting for someone by the lake. It was the Boy Ghost.

When she was out by the lake, she was very reluctant for people to come near her. And the different temperatures that the King and Queen had created made the working people somewhat distressed.

When the Boy Ghost, who had been making people anxious for days, finally revealed himself, Lee Jae scolded him with a very annoyed face.

“Why are you so late? I knew I was waiting for you.”

-I’m not an easy man.

Lee Jae couldn’t stand it and picked up a branch and snapped it.

And she muttered.

*He’s really playing around. Ugh, that was too annoying just now.*

But Lee Jae was the one who was still desperate. She whispered to the Boy Ghost with a very earnest face.

“Can’t you come with me?”

-Where to?

“You understood everything. Please follow His Majesty to the hunting competition and help him. He’s in danger if he gets out of here.”

To be exact, he was in danger without Lee Jae, and she couldn’t follow him there.

The Boy Ghost asked her with a very amused face.

-Then what are you going to do for me?

“…I’ll do almost anything except risk my life or get hurt.”

– Ah, so you don’t love it as much as your life?

Then Lee Jae frowned because she was a little offended by that remark.

“What kind of love is this?”

-Then what is it?

“A compassionate heart that pities the patient…?”

*Do you, those selfish and arrogant spirits, know the hearts of our altruistic shamans? We’re not doing this for money!*

*People who heal people always have to endure something.*

But the Boy Ghost had an absurd expression.

He returned the sound that Lee Jae had muttered earlier.

-Playing around. Anyway, it’s a good time.

She was annoyed, but the other party was a five-hundred-year-old ghost.

Lee Jae endured it and asked again.

“So what do you really want?”

-Well. I don’t really want anything from you right now.

-Um. Then, do you want to do it with me? Am I really that bad? I’m five hundred years older than you?

“…Wow.”

Lee Jae was speechless and flustered, looking around. Her face was flushed.

*People of the castle! Everyone, come here and look at that ugly Western ghost.*

*Even if a person gets old, they should get old gracefully, and even if they die, they should die gracefully!*

Lee Jae had a disgusted expression.

There was a physiological revulsion, but after having a ghost encounter, humans lose their vitality.

Being haggard wasn’t just a figurative expression. It was ultimately putting one’s foot under the influence of the afterlife.

But even while making a very reluctant expression, Lee Jae asked as if whispering.

“Really… is that the condition?”

-What? Is that all you’re worth? And you say it’s not love?

“No, I’m just checking the conditions before the deal. I never said I would do it! Don’t make assumptions on your own!”

As Lee Jae flared up, the Boy Ghost made a soft laugh.

Then, strangely, experience could be seen in that youthful face.

-Kang Lee Jae.

“…Why.”

-Relationships are more wonderful than you think. Doing it with someone you like is even more wonderful. The act is about the same, but giving meaning and finding happiness is a human privilege.

-I mean, don’t use it as a bridgehead for your prosperous afterlife. You’re young, how can you be like that? You keep focusing on strange things. Enjoy being human.

*So what’s wrong with that now?*

Lee Jae didn’t have a long enough education to have such in-depth discussions, or rather, she didn’t have that [emotional] capacity at all.

As she looked at him with a dissatisfied face, the Boy Ghost shrugged once.

And he added.

-Anyway, I can’t grant your request.

“…What did you say?”

-How can a human try to make a deal with a spirit? Are you out of your mind? Don’t you know that you’re ruining your life?

It was the right thing to say, and it was a constructive answer that wasn’t like a ghost.

If it had been an evil spirit, it would have jumped at it long ago.

But Lee Jae, who had her head down, started trembling from then on.

Gripping her fist tightly, she gritted her teeth as if she was wronged and said.

“Then why did you bring up that story in the first place if you weren’t going to help? I’m very serious! You’re so annoying! I didn’t like you from the beginning anyway!”

-What? Kang Lee Jae. Annoying? Are you climbing up [getting angry]?

The Boy Ghost smiled and explosively raised his energy.

In an instant, Lee Jae, who was startled by the tremendous energy she felt for the first time, became polite again.

As expected, if she had anger management issues, it would be quickly fixed if she met someone stronger than her.

“No. What are you climbing up again? I’m just in a hurry now… I was just trying to be a little cheeky.”

*Were you that upset? I’m sorry.*

The Boy Ghost laughed happily.

And he disappeared leisurely with his white horse.