Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 44

As her heart led, Episode 44

#44.

Lee Jae was exhausted after exorcising two vengeful spirits from the King’s room the previous night.

She was extremely worried that the King might wake up possessed again. Nevertheless, she had been exerting herself these past few days, troubled by something the King had said a while ago.

‘If something happens to me.’

This was probably a human emotion that would lead a shaman’s life to ruin.

But his words had troubled Lee Jae’s heart for a long time, plunging her into contemplation.

She actually wanted to ask.

If something happens to you, what will I do?

Can I really endure that?

Roderick was gazing down at her. Lately, Lee Jae’s face looked tired, and she seemed troubled.

It wasn’t just a day or two that she was lost in thought, staring into the distance.

“Hailey.”

“Yes?”

“You look like you’re about to drop… Anyway, it’s not just a thing of yesterday or today.”

“I think I’ve been spacing out a lot lately.”

Roderick was about to say ‘dying face’ but quickly changed his words.

Because the Queen hated that word.

Only then did Lee Jae realize that everyone around her was looking at her.

Perhaps it was because the King couldn’t take his eyes off her. Even though today was the Prince’s send-off ceremony, his attention was entirely focused on her.

Roderick gently embraced her from behind, wrapping his arms around her.

And he rested his chin on her apricot-colored crown.

“What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well again?”

But Lee Jae, who had been watching the people busily preparing, quickly returned to the real world.

She began to think about what she had to do. This was the life of people who had one foot in the world of the living and one in the world of the dead.

Sometimes, they looked like people who were going back and forth in the eyes of others.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes.”

“Shall I tie a handkerchief for the Prince myself?”

At that, Roderick, who had been worried about Lee Jae all along, looked a little sullen.

“Why would you?”

“The Prince is unmarried, isn’t he? And he doesn’t have anyone he’s seeing, does he?”

“So what.”

“It seems like I’m the only one who can wish him victory and safety.”

With the Queen present, it didn’t seem appropriate for the maids to tie it for him. Lee Jae’s words were perfectly reasonable, but Roderick couldn’t hide his somewhat displeased expression.

“Why is a married woman thinking about giving a handkerchief to another man? Isn’t the Prince a man?”

“We’re family, what’s the big deal?”

Roderick muttered to himself. Family, my foot.

Of course, Lee Jae heard it all.

“I think my definition of family is different from yours.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. If you had such generous thoughts, I’m sorry, but I think your family is me, not Jae.”

Lee Jae chuckled. As expected, Westernization is progressing at a very rapid pace.

“Your Majesty, it’s not because he’s my family, but because he’s Your Majesty’s family.”

“………….”

“And you can just do it. You’re more childish than you look.”

“What?”

Roderick couldn’t help but laugh at his wife, who was constantly breaking her own records for being outrageous.

“This woman is really impossible, I need to shut that mouth.”

When the King grabbed her chin, she knew how he was going to shut her mouth. Lee Jae tried to run away, pushing away the King’s hand.

“Ah, really, why are you acting like a beast these days.”

“Beast? That’s my name, though.”

“………….”

“You really know my name. I thought you didn’t know since you only ever call me Your Majesty.”

Roderick acknowledged it nonchalantly, but the King’s entourage looked very apologetic.

Your Majesty, the name bestowed upon you by the late King is not ‘beast’ but ‘fierce animal.’

The two words have very different nuances, and Her Majesty the Queen definitely didn’t use it in that sense.

Lee Jae tried to step back, but he quickly snatched her waist and pulled her in.

“Hey, did you think there were any men as gentle as I was when we were first married? Who are you calling a beast?”

“Your Majesty, there are so many people in the world… If you look, wouldn’t there be a few more?”

“Ah, are you done talking?”

“Ugh, I understand. I was wrong. I won’t tease you anymore, so let go.”

Holding her in one arm as she struggled, he really did seem like a fierce animal.

But she didn’t know how scary beasts were, and she continued to tease him diligently.

The apricot-colored fox patted Roderick’s chest with her small paws.

When he only chuckled, she decided to change her tactics.

She grabbed his waist and pushed her forehead against his chest, making a fuss.

Roderick looked up at the sky and laughed for a moment. Where did she learn this technique?

When Lee Jae tried to push him over in an absurd way, Roderick subtly hooked her inner leg.

Lee Jae went, “Uh?”

Normally, she would have fallen backward, but he kept supporting her, holding her back. Lee Jae, leaning against him, widened her eyes.

No, Your Majesty. This is a technique called ‘andaeri’ [a leg trip] in our traditional Korean wrestling,

How do you know it?

Originally, a master doesn’t discriminate against tools, and a skilled martial artist doesn’t discriminate against disciplines.

Roderick had simply disrupted her center of gravity when the Queen suddenly tried something strange and went, “Ugh.”

Of course, the husband gave up the victory and protected his wife’s safety.

The King straightened her up without much effort.

“Hailey. Stop it now. It’s fun for me too, but you’ll get hurt if you do this without warming up.”

He knelt on one knee and examined Lee Jae’s ankle, which he had just hooked. Her bones were so thin that they seemed like they would break easily if she fell wrong.

He used to think the Queen’s stride was short, but now he thought it was right for her to walk carefully.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The King, having confirmed that there was nothing wrong, quickly got up.

Lee Jae regained her politeness and nodded. She once again realized the truth of the world: you shouldn’t mess with someone who works out.

But the nobles who had come out to see the send-off ceremony had already witnessed the whole scene.

The scene was somewhat like children playing, and somewhat like lovers playing.

It was that childish, but it was cute and affectionate.

“I felt it at the party too, but Your Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen are really close.”

“It seems Duke Duncan, who wanted to become Your Majesty’s father-in-law so badly, has become a fallen man.”

“Her Majesty the Queen seems to have a more ruthless side than we thought. I heard she fought with the Duke at the conference last time.”

“They say she doesn’t even meet with him properly.”

“The Duke is paying for his sins. If he had embraced her with love, what daughter would do that to her father?”

Lee Jae was listening to all the gossip.

Gossiping about secret stories while making sure they were heard was a very difficult skill.

The nobles were pulling off that difficult feat.

In fact, the King sometimes did that to Lee Jae, pretending to be talking to himself. Lee Jae whispered.

“Your Majesty, I think people are talking about us.”

Roderick also whispered.

“Let them. They’re not saying it for us to hear, but for the Duke to hear.”

Sure enough, Duke Duncan’s face was turning red and blue.

“They’re my people. They’re all working hard, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Oh, are you uncomfortable with it?”

It wasn’t. Perhaps because she had grown up hearing so many bad things, Lee Jae wasn’t easily disheartened by ordinary words.

“No, not at all. It’s enough if Your Majesty is okay.”

With a much lighter heart, she nodded and shared her thoughts on hearing the gossip.

“Your Majesty, the human world is truly a strange place.”

“You talk like you live in a different world.”

She was caught off guard, but she shook her head.

“It’s not that, it just means that it’s tiring to live with your guard up.”

Roderick chuckled, amused by his wife, who was always saying things that sounded like Zen riddles. But Lee Jae just stared at him silently.

In her eyes, the human world was truly a strange place.

Anyone who could see spirits knew. Hell wasn’t just in the afterlife; the path to hell actually started in the human world.

Vengeful spirits were once human, and those who held grudges, and those who caused them, were all human.

But the King’s laughter was so clear… it seemed so far removed from such grudges, so she just smiled.

Before she knew it, the soldiers who had finished the parade were lined up facing the King.

After hesitating, Lee Jae stood next to the King, feeling like she should.

The Prince was the first to salute.

“Glory to Cayenne.”

Then, over a thousand soldiers and knights simultaneously raised their hands and saluted the King.

The King nodded to the Prince.

Lee Jae glanced at the knights in the front row.

She saw the only person among them who was standing at attention. It was the Prince’s friend.

He seemed to be looking at Lee Jae as well.

As their eyes met, she saw his face break into a smile.

Shortly after, Roderick took Lee Jae’s hand and stepped aside.

Edgar, who couldn’t greet the Queen separately, bowed to her instead of saluting.

The Prince’s friend also bowed, and Lee Jae inadvertently bowed her head.

Then, a subtle smile flickered in their eyes.

The Prince soon struck the horse’s reins.

As he raised his sword, the soldiers shouted and all rode their horses together.

Dust storms rose everywhere, and all that could be seen vaguely was their backs.

But Lee Jae waved her hand diligently from that spot until their backs completely disappeared.