Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 56

As Roderick visited Lee Jae’s room late at night, he found her engrossed in Hailey’s diary again.

She had thrown it away several times before, but lately, she had become serious about it.

It was thanks to the diary that she began to suspect the Duke of killing the King’s betrothed. Hailey’s diary might hold even more clues.

Roderick, who had been watching Lee Jae intently, asked,

“Can I look at it with you?”

“No.”

At her firm refusal, Roderick looked a bit sulky.

“How stingy. We’re married.”

“Even married couples need privacy, don’t you think? I heard that Western cultures value that even more.”

“Ah, so our Queen Consort holds such values. My views on marriage are a bit different from yours.”

“………….”

“I just thought your childhood diary would be cute.”

“……With all due respect, I don’t think it’s cute at all.”

But the King still seemed eager to see it.

In fact, if the King wanted to see it, there were plenty of ways he could. He simply wanted to see it in a legitimate way, with the owner’s permission.

“Don’t you think sharing our private lives could bring us closer together?”

“I don’t know. I think it might only create more distance.”

*I feel a great distance from Hailey every time I read it.*

“Then you mustn’t laugh.”

Lee Jae sighed softly. She couldn’t show the King entries like, ‘I don’t want to be hit,’ or ‘I don’t want to die.’

In the end, she showed him a diary entry from about three years ago.

「November 5, 497

Mother went to the dessert shop again.

I like strawberry cake, but

Mother will probably buy chocolate cake this time.」

The King, after flipping through a few pages, burst out laughing. It really was cute. It seemed like it was written when she was nine, not nineteen.

In fact, unlike her natural appearance, the Queen Consort had never acted cute anywhere. Rather, there were times when she acted like an enlightened old woman.

And there’s a saying in the world: if you’ve never tried to be cute, but you look cute, it’s because you’re genuinely cute.

The King was prepared to find her cute even if the apricot-colored fox had written a lot of insults about him.

“Why did you write like this?”

“Does it seem that way to Your Majesty too?”

“Is it because you were young? Your way of speaking and writing are completely different.”

The King was definitely someone who could see the problem accurately.

“Were you worried someone might steal it? Our fox is so cautious.”

At those words, Lee Jae pondered.

“……Maybe?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He stroked her hair.

“You definitely liked sweets when you were young, right?”

“I guess so.”

“But my fox, how did you end up like this?”

Having heard a very strange word just now, Lee Jae looked at him questioningly.

“Like what?”

“How did you become such an old woman with your tastes?”

At those words, Lee Jae pouted slightly.

“What’s wrong with my taste? Why do you judge even that by Your Majesty’s standards? Just respect it.”

“Alright, alright. I’m just teasing.”

Roderick tossed the diary on the bedside table and lay down, pulling Lee Jae into his arms.

It was bedtime, and it was time for their nightly kiss. Of course, Lee Jae still hadn’t answered that question, but she certainly didn’t seem to dislike it. Rather, she seemed to be enjoying it lately.

But today, he took it a little further.

Roderick’s hand traced the hollow of her spine, gradually moving lower.

And as his large hand gently caressed her round curves and valleys, Lee Jae moved away slightly and looked at him.

The King’s blue eyes were also staring at her.

“Can I keep touching you?”

There was a subtle tension and a feeling of stiffness, but Lee Jae nodded. They were in the same bed, kissing every night, so it would be strange to say no to that now.

But Roderick, who kept looking at Lee Jae, asked,

“The breasts…… I guess not?”

Lee Jae had to suppress a sudden urge to laugh.

Roderick, carefully observing her expression, nodded.

“I retract that statement. Very gentlemanly, politely.”

“………….”

“But was I too much of a beast?”

Unable to hold back her laughter any longer, Lee Jae pushed him away and buried her face in the pillow. Roderick then gently shook her shoulder.

“What is it, Hailey? Are you laughing? Or are you crying?”

Then Lee Jae’s small laughter leaked out.

“Ah, what is it. Why are you laughing? You have to tell me yes or no so I can adjust my pace.”

“………….”

“Aren’t you going to talk?”

“………….”

“If you keep doing this, I’m going to cry?”

Lee Jae burst into even louder laughter than before.

“Your Majesty, you’re such a funny person.”

But when she didn’t raise her head, Roderick stuck to her round back. And he buried his lips in her neck.

At the stinging sensation, she struggled wildly.

“Ugh, what are you doing there? Why are you biting my neck!”

Roderick, unperturbed, restrained her from above, leaving marks. The beast was marking its territory.

“You keep treating me like a beast, so I have to bite you.”

“……Be gentle. It feels weird.”

“Then it might feel even weirder.”

Roderick left excessive marks and then licked and licked.

And when the fox seemed to have been bitten in a vital spot and died, he fell away.

He gently turned her body.

Lee Jae was folding her eyes and laughing silently.

Roderick felt his heart drop at the sight. It was as if the fox was wagging its abundant tail.

He was about to rush at her again with a fearsome momentum, but Lee Jae reached out and stopped him.

“Go to sleep quickly.”

Lee Jae hid her laughter and pushed his chest, then gently stroked his face.

And she took the blanket and covered herself.

The apricot-colored fox, who had been fast asleep, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

She stared out the window with sharp eyes. Her movements were so clean and precise, as if she were truly a fox spirit.

Lee Jae was becoming quite accustomed to this situation.

She still felt burdened, but her heart was also more at ease than before.

That was probably because the King was also giving her pleasure and comfort.

People save people. And people also give the strength to do so……

Lee Jae strode to the window and stared at the drunken ghost.

The drunken ghost couldn’t knock on the window and was calling Roderick from a distance. This was because Lee Jae was repairing and reinforcing the barrier whenever she had the chance.

“Honestly, these days, I’m more tired of you than scared of you.”

Lee Jae shook her head. But she sighed and turned around.

She was going to resolve their grudges and send them away peacefully.

Lee Jae quietly opened the door and peeked her head out.

“Your Majesty the Queen Consort?”

When the leader of the pro-Prince faction appeared in the middle of the night, everyone looked puzzled.

The knight commander approached her, bent down, and met her eye level.

“Is there something you’re looking for?”

Lee Jae looked around the hallway. The face she was looking for wasn’t there.

“Where’s Deborah?”

“She just finished her shift. Shall I call her?”

After hesitating for a moment, Lee Jae shook her head.

“Jade.”

“Yes, Your Majesty the Queen Consort.”

“Could you bring me a drink?”

The knight commander sensed it at that one word.

He should have just called the head maid from the start.

“……Is His Majesty awake?”

The King used to look for strong liquor every night. That was the only way he could get some sleep. It was a vicious cycle, but strangely, that hasn’t happened at all lately. Lee Jae shook her head.

“No, he’s asleep.”

“………….”

“I don’t need any other food, just bring me the liquor. Only one glass is needed.”

People were silent for a long time.

No snacks, and she’s going to drink strong liquor?

For a newlywed to be looking for liquor in the early morning, especially strong liquor, was a serious matter.

Among them, the knight commander looked at the gap in the door with a very pitiful expression.

The King was being very good to the Queen Consort.

Not only was his usual attitude like that, but Jade knew that the King had temporarily covered up the matter with the Duncan family to protect the Queen Consort.

But is he mistreating her at night?

The Queen Consort, who came out in the early morning to find liquor without her husband knowing, looked pitiful.

And as the knight commander kept glancing at the gap in the door, Lee Jae turned around as if to ask why.

At that moment, everyone saw it.

*Oh my god. What is that?*

There were countless embarrassing marks left on the Queen Consort’s neck.

No one could even guess how it could have happened.

*In the end, he ate everything, even the flesh.*

‘Why is everyone like that?’

“………….”

“……I’m just going to have a drink and go to sleep. I can’t sleep. Is that not allowed?”

As people kept looking at her with pitiful eyes, Lee Jae asked cautiously.

Jade, who had been hesitating, spoke as if she had made up her mind.

“Your Majesty the Queen Consort.”

“Yes.”

“You know that I’m close to His Majesty, right?”

“Yes, I know. I’m very grateful.”

Jade felt even more sorry at her kind and gentle words.

“Then please don’t take my words too harshly. I’m sorry for being rude. But we are here to assist both of you, and we are all adults, including Your Majesty the Queen Consort.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Are you having a hard time at night?”

“……Huh? I do have a hard time especially at night.”

“………….”

“But how does Jade know that?”

The knight commander had an expression that said he knew this would happen.

*His Majesty’s stamina is originally almost beastly, no, extraordinary. Ordinary people wouldn’t even think about going hunting if they hadn’t slept for days.*

Jade nodded.

“If that’s the case, I’ll try to speak carefully again.”

“……What on earth?”

Lee Jae looked around at the people around her.

The maids were blushing with very embarrassed expressions.

At the same time, they nodded slightly towards Lee Jae as if to say it was okay and that they were not ashamed at all.

Soon finding the answer, she jumped in surprise.

“No! It’s not like that!”

“You don’t have to think too hard about it. Couples originally adjust to each other during their honeymoon……”

“It’s not like that!”

‘Eek,’ Lee Jae shouted, startled by her own voice, and glanced into the room. Lowering her voice again, she said,

“His Majesty is not that kind of person.”

“………….”

“Not at all. He really considers everything for me.”

“………….”

“He’s a really kind and good person. You know that.”

*Then why did you have a nosebleed? I can feel a very strong desire and even an unfulfilled thirst on that neck right now. What on earth do you have to do to make that happen?*

Lee Jae repeatedly denied and defended her husband, but people’s suspicions were not completely quelled.