Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 35

#35.

Rodrick and Ijae were lazing around since morning.

Recently, he had discovered a new source of amusement.

It started the day he jokingly asked, ‘Should I just leave?’, and Ijae looked genuinely dejected. It seemed she really wanted him to stay.

“Hailey, I think I’ll sleep in my room tonight.”

However, Ijae was quite perceptive.

Realizing he was teasing, she readily nodded.

“Yes, please do.”

Rodrick frowned.

“Ah, that stings a little.”

He glanced at Ijae and saw her smiling faintly.

“……Aren’t you even going to ask if I’m really hurt now?”

“You’re just saying that.”

“Our Queen is growing up.”

Ijae burst into laughter, and Rodrick stared intently at her face.

Waking up in the morning, embracing a fluffy apricot-colored fox, was incredibly satisfying.

Of course, there were some difficulties. They were a man and woman in their prime.

When they were close, they sometimes felt like they were losing their minds.

At such times, Rodrick would jump up and return to his room.

But sadly, he was even more likely to lose his mind in his own room.

When he couldn’t sleep and returned with an awkward expression, Ijae felt sorry for him.

When she went to the sofa and curled up, Rodrick felt even more sorry for the little fox.

In the end, he would lift Ijae and move her to the bed, while he slept on the sofa.

He couldn’t understand how such an absurd situation could happen to newlyweds.

But when he thought about it, this marriage and the promise were all his own doing.

So, if Ijae knew what he was thinking, she would have replied with a gentle face.

That’s just karma.

“Come here.”

Rodrick pulled Ijae close again and put his arm around her.

At first, Ijae’s expression was just amused, but it gradually became strange.

The arm that had been casually placed around her waist slowly moved, caressing her side. Before she knew it, his thumb was tracing the shape of her ribs as if confirming their form.

Glancing up, she saw his blue eyes filled with amusement. His face expected a reaction, and his hand was ready to go anywhere depending on that reaction.

“Your Majesty, what are you doing?”

“What?”

“Your fingertips are very impure.”

“You know that too?”

Slightly flustered, Ijae glared at Rodrick.

“Do you think I’m a child?”

“If you were a child, I wouldn’t do this. I’m not that dirty.”

“………….”

“Hailey, if you don’t like it, don’t just stay silent, kick me instead.”

Ijae wore a complicated expression.

The intensity of the physical contact seemed to be increasing.

Now, even outside, he would sometimes try to hug her.

He didn’t want her to leave his embrace and wanted to be in contact with her in any way possible.

It wasn’t that she disliked it.

But the King knew nothing.

He didn’t know why he felt comfortable when he was with her, or why he had come to embrace her.

Was it okay to be like this?

Honesty is so important in relationships.

As the human amulet [a person or object believed to have protective powers], lost in thought, tried to subtly remove his hand, Rodrick quickly took his hand away.

He scratched the tip of his eyebrow.

He wondered if he had been too forward this morning.

But when she got up and left, Rodrick looked puzzled. When she sat at the table and picked up a carving knife, he raised one eyebrow.

“What are you doing?”

“Carving.”

“Shouldn’t you be…… resting?”

“No. I’m going for a walk today, and I’ll start receiving guests from tomorrow.”

Her answer was so firm that Rodrick had nothing to say.

And Ijae’s condition really seemed fine.

She had been as pale as someone about to breathe their last, but from the very next day, her complexion wasn’t bad.

Rodrick thought the Queen’s condition was strangely fluctuating.

And that was what Ijae had thought when she first saw the King.

Kang Ijae was using just enough power to recover, just enough to prevent the vengeful spirit from touching her.

*Qi* [vital energy] can be sufficiently restored with rest. However, if it falls below a certain level, it can no longer be recovered.

It was the same principle as a person with a severely weakened immune system never being able to get up again.

“Still, it seems too early.”

“Not at all. I’ve rested too long because of Your Majesty.”

*Can’t you understand my feelings that the patient isn’t me but Your Majesty……?* You couldn’t, could you?

Ijae chuckled.

Rodrick didn’t know, but she had even eliminated one of the vengeful spirits he had brought in last night.

The method was to open the barrier to lure it in and then close the barrier again.

It was a method she had learned when eliminating the snake ghost, a cruel tactic of trapping and relentlessly beating only one enemy.

“What are you carving this time?”

Rodrick asked, sitting across from her.

“Something stronger than what I gave you last time.”

“Does that mean…… an even more bizarre creation will be born this time?”

Ijae burst into laughter.

“Your Majesty, you keep expecting things. Are you getting influenced by my taste?”

“Hailey, I’m sorry, but objectively, this is a taste that’s hard to be influenced by.”

“Wow. You’re saying such pretty things from the morning.”

“I’m giving you a heads up in case you get hurt when I’m not around.”

But despite speaking so spitefully, Rodrick couldn’t take his eyes off her carving.

The Queen was simply carving a piece of wood.

The things that came out were all bizarre.

At first, he thought it was funny. He thought she was a funny and strange woman.

But Rodrick had been feeling different emotions lately.

The face carving the wood was serene and silent. And sometimes, it looked strangely lonely.

So, he wasn’t being influenced by someone’s taste.

He was just falling for a person.

Having left her room after a long time, Ijae was feeling refreshed.

She headed towards the lake as if she were a person bewitched by a water ghost.

Rodrick thought that the Queen was deliberately trying to make him worry. The Queen’s maids thought similarly.

The Queen had an incomprehensible stubbornness.

Even though the King showed all sorts of dislike and worry, she insisted on the promenade with a smile.

Ijae sat by the lake for about an hour waiting for the boy ghost, but the surroundings were quiet. Perhaps the boy ghost genuinely thought Ijae’s persistent requests were pathetic.

She eventually gave up and got up from her seat.

“Your Majesty, are you going in?”

“Yeah. ……No. Maybe I’ll go to the adjutant [military officer who acts as an administrative assistant]. Is that okay?”

“Yes, of course.”

The head maid, who had been waiting at an awkward distance, secretly felt relieved.

But the situation that made the King shudder at the Queen’s walking route happened once again.

Ijae stopped abruptly, and the maids’ gazes followed Ijae.

People were murmuring in a bewildered manner. Lawrence was looking at the Queen, perhaps on his way back from training.

The most embarrassed person was the Queen herself.

“Why…… is he coming this way?”

“………….”

“Huh?”

Even if she asked, the maids wouldn’t know. Ijae’s pupils wandered around.

Sensing that it would be difficult to avoid him, she turned her back to avoid the situation.

But Lawrence was also a knight.

He strode forward, closing the distance, and called her.

“Hailey. Just a moment……”

It wasn’t Ijae who reacted to that urgent call, but the head maid.

“How rude! How dare you call Her Majesty the Queen by her name? Even if you know each other personally, this is inappropriate.”

Ijae was momentarily moved and teared up.

*Deborah, thank you.*

*I wasn’t sure before, but you’re competent, and we clearly work well together.*

Lawrence realized he had made a slip of the tongue and quickly bowed his head.

“Your Majesty, I was impudent. Please forgive my rudeness.”

“No, it’s okay, it’s okay.”

It wasn’t an official occasion, but she quickly corrected herself and was polite.

It seemed better to keep a distance in any way possible.

“Please give me a chance to talk for a moment.”

After hesitating, Ijae eventually turned to him.

The man with handsome and refined features stared at Ijae for a while.

“Say what you have to say.”

She felt like she was being punished.

Her heart still ached. But she didn’t know that feeling guilty about not being Hailey would be like this.

Because the man’s eyes looking at her were still affectionate.

Flustered, Ijae eventually lowered her head.

“I heard there was an accident the day before the royal wedding.”

The royal family and the Duncan family tried to cover up the scandal, but those who knew, knew.

“Was it because of me?”

“No. It was just a coincidence. You…… don’t have to worry about it.”

But Ijae knew that Lawrence was the biggest regret Hailey had left behind.

So, only this emotion had not yet been weathered away and remained.

Lawrence didn’t seem to believe Ijae’s words. He glanced at the lake and said.

“Why did you do such a terrible thing?”

“………….”

“Didn’t I say that I would always wish you happiness and protect you as a knight?”

Ijae, who had been looking down, raised her head at those words.

It wasn’t in Hailey’s memory, but it was something she had confirmed in her diary.

As their eyes met, she felt the same heart-wrenching pain again.

But Ijae suppressed it and said clearly.

“No. You shouldn’t do that.”

“………….”

“The relationship between the two of you…… ended a long time ago.”

*You and Hailey have to let go of your lingering feelings. If Lawrence did that, Hailey couldn’t rest in peace.*

So, this emotion had to be resolved quickly.

But the young knight just kept looking at the Queen.

Smiling faintly with a lonely face, he said.

“Then why…… are you crying now, Your Majesty?”

Ijae realized that she was shedding tears again and was very embarrassed.

Lawrence offered a handkerchief as if presenting it. His smile contained the regret of not being able to wipe them away himself.

Ijae shook her hand as if refusing and stepped back.

Lawrence reached out again to hand her the handkerchief,

but Ijae, fidgeting, fled the scene.

A few hours later, Rodrick, who heard this news in its entirety, wore an extremely displeased expression.