Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 42

#42.

Roderick and Ijae sat side by side on the high platform.

The people enjoying the celebration of the King’s brother’s return glanced at them.

It was because the King was constantly whispering into the Queen’s ear.

The Queen sometimes nodded with a serious face, and sometimes burst into a clear laugh.

*What kind of secret talks are they constantly sharing?*

The curiosity of the nobles grew, regardless of whether they were pro-royal or anti-royal.

“Hailey, there’s Count Fineman over there.”

“Yes, he is.”

“I heard that the Count recently separated from his wife.”

Roderick was filling Ijae in on the behind-the-scenes stories of high society.

*That person is the Duke’s closest aide, that person is a promising member of the Knights, the Marquis family is in bad financial shape these days, those two are said to be dating.*

Ijae, who was listening with a nod, asked with a smile, “Your Majesty, is this perhaps a lesson right now?”

Seeing the corners of her round eyes crinkling so adorably, Roderick put his arm on the back of Ijae’s chair. Then he gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

The nobles were now openly glancing at them.

It was the first time the King and Queen had appeared together in public since the hunting competition.

The two did not share a deep kiss like last time.

But their relationship seemed much warmer than before.

Above all, the King couldn’t take his eyes off the Queen.

The distance between the platform and the nobles was significant. No one could hear, but he was deliberately whispering in the Queen’s ear. It was an obvious tactic that anyone who had been in a relationship would recognize.

“I heard that Count Fineman asked you to invest.”

“Did you hear about that too?”

“Yeah, I did. Our Queen, she doesn’t seem like it, but she subtly knows how to handle people.”

Roderick was reviewing the Queen’s meeting records one by one.

He initially thought the Queen was naive in all aspects of high society.

Yet, surprisingly, she was adept at avoiding difficult situations.

“Does it cause problems for Your Majesty if I do that?”

Roderick made a playful face and tapped her round forehead with his index finger.

The Queen sometimes seemed like someone who couldn’t continue the conversation without saying that.

“No, it means you did well.”

“I didn’t want to pass on a bad role to Your Majesty. I just thought it would look better that way.”

She reasoned that if she, as the Queen, started to voice her opinions, people would flock to her, which wouldn’t be helpful to the King.

Roderick nodded.

“You did well. I like it when you take them down with me. I’m lonely doing it alone.”

“Then I’ll secretly take them down for you in the future.”

The two chuckled.

“Count Fineman actually has no sense for investment. After becoming a *nouveau riche* [new rich] by luck, he’s been losing money on everything he touches. How did you know that and cut him off?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

*It was just written on his face. That’s what physiognomy is like.*

Roderick, looking at Ijae who was smiling awkwardly, continued, “Anyway, it seems the Countess is finally considering getting a divorce.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, the funny thing is that the Count has been having an affair for quite some time.”

Ijae frowned.

“Is it that you can live with a man who cheats, but you can’t live with a man who has no money? What does our Queen think about this issue?”

“The former doesn’t appeal to me, and the latter seems a bit uncomfortable… Do I have to choose one of them?”

Roderick shook his head.

“No. I don’t cheat, and I have plenty of money, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

“I’m so glad I married Your Majesty.”

“See, isn’t it?”

The two leaned in and laughed at the same time.

Roderick knew that the nobles were glancing at the Queen and him. But he didn’t care about the attention and kissed Ijae on the cheek.

It was a sneaky, thief-like kiss.

“Your Majesty, what are you doing in public?”

“What’s wrong with a couple doing that? It’s not a major offense.”

Ijae put her hand on her cheek and made a sulky face.

But as she turned her gaze to check people’s reactions, she suddenly flinched. It was because Lawrence, who was standing guard against the wall, was staring at her intently.

Roderick, noticing where Ijae’s gaze was directed, clenched his teeth.

He felt like he would utter harsh words if he didn’t stop himself.

“Hailey, control your gaze.”

“…………”

“I’m not particularly restrained just because it’s a public occasion.”

“…………”

“I think I’ll be really upset if you cry again.”

*That bastard has been unsettling her since last time.*

Roderick actually wanted to dismiss Lawrence. He even considered sending the 3rd Knights Division to the western border with the King’s brother.

But he didn’t want to do that, perhaps because of his own pride. It felt like he was giving in first because he lacked confidence in his wife’s feelings.

“Hailey, answer me.”

“…I won’t look. Don’t worry.”

Ijae put her hand on her solar plexus and tried to calm down.

She soon looked at Roderick’s blue eyes and nodded as if to say she was okay.

Ijae’s gaze wandered around the party again.

It seemed better to think about something else.

This time, her gaze stopped at the protagonist of this party.

The King’s brother was a man with black hair and blue eyes like the King.

But he was a man with a completely different aura from the King. He was a little kinder, his speech was softer, and he was much more refined.

“Your Majesty, you don’t look much like your brother.”

“Out of so many people, how do you only notice the men?”

“…………”

“Tell me honestly. You like handsome men, don’t you?”

“…………”

“…You sometimes say really strange things.”

*My firm preference is not for handsome men, but for men with great fortune on their faces.*

“He’s Your Majesty’s brother. It’s the first time I’ve talked to him. What kind of man is he?”

“Then is the King’s brother a woman?”

He joked mischievously and then nodded with a smile.

“Edgar is the scholarly type. Unlike me, he’s been buried in books since he was young.”

Ijae smiled softly.

“Does that mean Your Majesty dislikes books?”

“It means I’m a little more suited to physical activities.”

“It looks like it.”

*The bone structure of a general is not something anyone can be born with.*

*For the King not to wield a sword was to go against his destiny.*

“But why are you sending someone like that to the border? Why not let him live doing what he’s good at?”

“…………”

“The King’s brother… it seems like that’s his destiny.”

The King had a slightly grumpy face.

In fact, it would be much more helpful for the King’s brother to go abroad and do research.

When you see a member of the royal family with succession rights, nobles start to have strange thoughts.

Nevertheless, the reason for sending the King’s brother to the border was all because of his father-in-law.

“Who else would it be because of? My father-in-law wants to put your brother in charge of the Western Army. I don’t like that.”

“…………”

“But since there are constant disturbances at the border, we’re sending a member of the royal family as the strategic commander. Well, it’s like saying that the royal family has done this much, so everyone should shut their mouths.”

“…………”

“The King’s brother is sacrificing himself for me. If you don’t want to give the other party what they want, you have to sacrifice something on this side too.”

“Everyone lives so exhaustingly.”

Roderick chuckled.

“You talk like an old person sometimes. Politics is originally like that.”

She made a sulky face and asked again.

“Why does my father want to send my brother there so much?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you. Why is your father doing that?”

It meant, ‘You grew up in that house for twenty-one years, how can you ask me?’ But Ijae really didn’t know the reason, so she asked back with a troubled face.

“Then why are you against it, Your Majesty?”

Roderick smiled as if sighing.

It was a fresh confirmation that his wife really had no interest in family matters.

“Isn’t your family Duncan? Don’t you know that your roots are Daimon? You should be able to tell that something is different just by looking in the mirror.”

“…………”

“You really don’t look in the mirror at all.”

Roderick clicked his tongue.

His wife clearly had no awareness of how she looked.

Over countless generations, the hereditary characteristics they possessed had faded.

Nevertheless, Duncan was still a family known for producing only beautiful people in the continent.

Hailey had a particularly striking appearance even among those Duncans. Leaving aside the fact that she was beautiful, she had a strong exotic feel like some kind of mutation.

“The unrest on the western border is due to the Daimon revival movement. Isn’t it a very natural choice as a king to eliminate any possible risk factors?”

“…………”

“Well, it’s all old stories.”

The Daimon Empire’s rule over the continent was history from five hundred years ago.

Warning against Duncan was also a teaching that had been passed down from four or five hundred years ago.

It is not even clear whether the rebels are actually descendants of Daimon.

So Roderick has been thinking that the late king’s suspicion was an exaggeration.

But since the Duncan family is strangely persistent, he is getting suspicious and doesn’t want to listen.

Ijae, who roughly grasped the situation, nodded.

But she soon had to make a puzzled expression.

She thought that this was a bit of a sensitive issue to share with her, who was from the Duncan family.

“Why are you telling me all this, Your Majesty?”

Roderick scoffed.

“So what, are you going to run to your father and tell him?”

“…………”

“You can do it if you want. But you’re not going to, are you?”

“…………”

“Am I wrong?”

Ijae was silent for a moment.

“…You don’t trust me, but you trust *that*?”

“I just said what I saw and felt.”

Ijae thought about something carefully.

She realized that the King was suspicious of her, but also trusted her.

It was a very contradictory situation, but she knew why this situation had occurred. She could understand it.

And a soft smile soon bloomed on Ijae’s face as she looked at Roderick. A different light flashed in his clear eyes as he looked at that face.

*I don’t know why. But just now, he felt like he had crossed the wall and touched her fingertips very briefly.*

“Come here.”

Roderick hugged her and kissed her, *쪽, 쪽* [kissing sounds].

Ijae struggled, but Roderick only let go after kissing her several more times.

“I’m not going to ask you to solve it, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

She, who had been shrinking back, shook her head.

“Don’t say that, you can just tell me if there’s anything I need to do.”

“Are you telling me to use my wife?”

“…You’ve been holding onto that word for a long time.”

Roderick chuckled.

“Let’s stop here and go have dinner with Edgar.”

He took Ijae’s hand and raised her.

And he naturally wrapped his arm around her shoulder. When the King gestured, the King’s brother, who was talking to the nobles, also moved his steps.

And before leaving the banquet hall, Roderick gave Lawrence one last warning glance.

It was a warning that if he continued to flirt with someone else’s wife with such wistful eyes, he would really shoot him.