Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 48

As her heart led her – #48

Having completely cleared his schedule, Rael was by the lake.

Lee Jae’s face was sulky, feeling very upset with the boy king who wasn’t helping at all.

“Can I grow some medicinal herbs in Arthur’s Forest?”

-Why are you asking me that?

“Then who should I ask?”

-It belongs to the royal family, so you should ask the current king.

Lee Jae pouted, as if he were talking nonsense.

“I’m not that naive, you know. I’m not a pushover!”

-What’s with you all of a sudden? Why are you so angry?

“How can I not be? I’m actually a very short-tempered person. Even if he becomes His Majesty, if you say no, it’s a no, right?”

As the apricot-colored fox clenched her fists and huffed, the boy king smiled and sat next to Lee Jae.

As he came closer, Lee Jae flinched.

“Don’t come near me. I’m very uncomfortable right now. Let’s keep our distance.”

Lee Jae desperately needed his help, but he was too great a spirit for her to approach. She slowly moved away, keeping her distance.

-Growing them is fine. But don’t damage anything.

-Kang Lee Jae. Remember this. You can’t handle that energy with your power.

“Yes. I understand. Thank you for the advice.”

The boy king smiled brightly and stroked her hair with his faint hand.

-You’re working hard. Keep it up.

He disappeared suddenly with the white horse.

The queen’s new hobby of carving spread far and wide among the people of the castle.

When Lee Jae asked if she could plant something in the empty space in the forest, Roderick chuckled and nodded.

‘Do as you please. Why are you even asking that?’

‘But isn’t it a royal treasure?’

‘Who else is going to see it besides you and me? Just don’t set it on fire.’

From an outsider’s perspective, the queen lived a very boring life. Her hobbies were only carving and meditation.

In fact, she restrained herself in many ways, unlike her age.

So, if she wanted to do something, Roderick was more than willing to support her.

It was just funny that the thing she wanted to do was something an old person would do.

But what made him laugh even more happened after that.

“Glory to Cayenne.”

Roderick looked at Jayd with a puzzled expression.

“Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen…”

“Oh, what about Hailey?”

“…She is currently in the backyard with the royal physician, brewing medicine.”

And she was doing it diligently. Very enthusiastically.

Roderick now had a painful look on his face from laughing too much.

The commander of the Knights, who had been involved in the report, was the same.

Your Majesty, where on earth did that hobby come from?

I’m going crazy too.

What annoyed the commander of the Knights was something else.

“But according to the royal physician, Your Majesty.”

“What is it?”

“Her Majesty the Queen definitely has knowledge in that field.”

“………….”

“She doesn’t know much about the types of medicinal herbs, but she can still exchange opinions…”

Roderick really had a headache and rubbed his forehead.

He looked around at the people.

Do you understand a little bit now how I’ve been feeling?

Everyone avoided the king’s gaze.

“That’s amazing.”

“Is the queen someone who just fell from the sky? Why doesn’t anyone know anything about the queen? These days, I feel like calling the Duke and asking how they raised her like that.”

But he couldn’t hide his concern at the same time.

“Queen, is she perhaps sick somewhere?”

“……Yes? It doesn’t seem like it.”

“Then why is she suddenly brewing medicine with the royal physician?”

Jayd was silent for a moment. He wondered if he was really asking because he didn’t know.

No matter how much he tried to see it with the preconceived notion of Duncan, it was obvious that the queen was worried about the king.

Besides, she had a habit of not taking medicine even when she was sick.

Ignoring the royal physician’s prescription and saying that she would get better if she rested was a very bad habit, just like the king.

If so, then that medicine must be for the king, not for herself.

Roderick, having found the answer in the commander of the Knights’ expression, clicked his tongue.

“What good is knowledge if she can’t even take care of her own body properly? It’s absurd.”

But he still had an amused look on his face.

In fact, he seemed secretly pleased.

“I’m going to see the queen.”

Roderick stood up from his seat with a cool smile.

Deborah was looking at Lee Jae with a somewhat stunned face.

The maids were the same. People began to whisper.

“She’s good at it?”

“She seems comfortable now?”

“Her sewing skills were also unusual.”

“What kind of life has she lived?”

Strangely, the queen seemed to flourish when she was doing menial tasks.

The queen’s maids were all from noble families. That meant they had never done any hard work either.

But just by looking at her, they could tell that the queen was definitely someone who had done a lot of hard work. She didn’t hesitate at all to reach out and touch dirty things.

The queen touched the firewood without a second thought, kept checking the fire, and even fanned it skillfully.

Meanwhile, Lee Jae was very serious right now.

Squatting down and resting her chin on her hand, she thought.

Local products are best. Our bodies need our things. The royal family’s body needs medicinal herbs from the royal forest.

She praised herself. This was a very clever idea.

Grandma. I’m sorry for getting annoyed in the past when the shaman made me do even these things when she was just supposed to perform a shamanic ritual. I didn’t mean it.

The maids, who didn’t know what silly thoughts the queen was lost in, approached hesitantly.

“Your Majesty, shall we wash this?”

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

Lee Jae nodded absentmindedly.

“Your Majesty, should we trim the peel of that?”

“Yes, oh, but you have to cut out the base too. It could be poisonous.”

The royal physician next to her looked at Lee Jae with a truly puzzled expression.

How does Her Majesty the Queen know such things?

One day, the queen suddenly visited the royal physician and asked about medicinal herbs that were good for restoring energy. Then, instead of ordering him to make the medicine, she was growing the herbs herself.

In the five hundred years of Cayenne’s history, there have been quite a few royals who were interested in landscaping, but this was the first time a queen had cultivated medicinal herbs.

It was also the first time a queen was fanning the fire, inhaling the spicy smoke in front of the fire.

They shouldn’t be doing this, but the royal physician and Deborah were just dumbfounded by the situation.

However, the young maids seemed strangely excited.

Lee Jae, who was hovering around the maids, asked.

“Shall I do it?”

“No, I’ll do it for you. I can do it well.”

Actually, she came because she didn’t quite trust them, but Lee Jae nodded at those words.

“Okay, I know, I know.”

Lee Jae, who was watching the knife work with anxious eyes, scratched her cheek and returned to the fire.

Then another maid brought a low chair suitable for sitting on the floor.

“Your Majesty, please sit here and do it. It seems like it will take a long time, and your legs will hurt.”

Having confirmed that the surroundings were strangely excited, Lee Jae eventually burst into laughter. It was always enjoyable and grateful when people joined in with good intentions.

The king appeared when this strange scene was in full swing in the garden.

“Hailey.”

Oh? He shouldn’t come yet? It’s not over yet?

As the queen looked back and forth between the king and the boiling medicine, looking embarrassed, the royal physician stepped forward this time.

“Your Majesty, please talk. This is my job. I will do it.”

“No, I’ll do it. You talk to His Majesty.”

Roderick was truly dumbfounded.

What kind of treatment is this, really?

He shooed the royal physician away and just squatted next to Lee Jae.

In fact, he found the queen, who was staring intently at the fire, adorable.

She’s so small and precious today too.

He knew that the queen was very focused, but he couldn’t help but talk to her.

“What are you doing? Acting like an old woman again.”

“Ugh, don’t talk to it [the boiling medicine].”

It’ll bring bad luck. Lee Jae glared at Roderick.

“……Okay, I understand.”

Lee Jae, who was looking at the boiling medicinal herbs, hesitated and pushed her chair over to him.

“It’s okay. You sit.”

“………”

“What are you doing?”

“I told you not to talk to me?”

“Aren’t you being too much with me?”

Lee Jae pretended not to hear and placed two fingers on her solar plexus.

And she recited a few wishes.

Having finished her wishes, Lee Jae glanced slightly at Roderick.

Lee Jae actually wanted to sprinkle red beans and coarse salt on the king, not feed him something good for his body. [Red beans and salt are used in Korean shamanic rituals to ward off bad luck.]

Her heart was set on it, but even if Roderick was a good husband, she thought she would be arrested for insulting the king if she did such a thing to him.

If so, then it was Lee Jae’s karma. [Karma refers to the principle of cause and effect.]

Because she hadn’t been honest from the beginning, only lies were increasing.

Lee Jae was lost in thought, calmly staring at the fire, and Roderick admired her.

And everyone watching could tell. That a warm smile was gradually spreading across the king’s face.

When the medicine was all brewed, Lee Jae scooped it up slightly and handed it to Roderick, who had been squatting for a long time.

The king, who had been watching, was about to drink it with a smile, but it was Jayd who stopped him.

“Your Majesty, I apologize.”

“……What is it?”

“Neither Your Majesty nor Her Majesty the Queen can drink something that someone hasn’t tasted [a precaution against poisoning].”

It was a very sensitive and, in some ways, distrustful statement.

The maids all glared at the servants, and Roderick also tried to dissuade Jayd, but Lee Jae had an enlightened expression.

“Ah, I see.”

“………”

“That’s so right. That’s right.”

Before anyone could stop her, Lee Jae took a sip of the pitch-black medicine.

Jayd was flustered and watched the scene with his mouth open.

That’s because he didn’t think that the queen herself would step up to taste it. Lee Jae smiled and handed the medicine back to the king.

Roderick drank it all and laughed as he looked at the queen’s playground, which seemed like a game of make-believe.

He stroked Lee Jae’s hair.

“Have fun playing. See you in the evening.”

Leaving the backyard, Roderick looked at his close friend.

And he opened his mouth with a smiling face.

“Jayd.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Try not to say such things to the queen.”

“……Yes?”

“Do you think I’m saying this because I want to take the queen’s side? No. I’m saying this for your sake.”

“………….”

“If you do it again, then you might be hated by the queen. The queen understood you and thanked you as soon as she heard it. Well, I guess the queen won’t hand it over directly from now on.”

Roderick chuckled and walked.

“You guys should have just half as much tact as the queen.”

People couldn’t understand why the king’s mood had become so good.