Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 63

#63.

The King escorted Lee Jae to the Queen’s Palace and gently sat her on the bed.

For a long moment, Roderick stood with his arms crossed, looking as if he wanted to murder everyone in the room.

Lee Jae, feeling thoroughly intimidated, stole a glance at him.

When Roderick finally met her gaze, his eyes were filled with dissatisfaction and reproach.

“You promised you wouldn’t. We agreed to sort things out. That means you were going to try, too.”

“You said you liked me. Do you still like that bastard more than me?”

Roderick took a deep breath, visibly struggling to control his anger.

“Judging by your expression, you know you did something wrong.”

“I told you to rest in your room, not to go meet your ex-lover.”

“A married woman letting another man hold her wrist—that’s quite a spectacle.”

Hearing him phrase it that way, Lee Jae felt the need to defend herself.

“I didn’t grab him, did I? I just wanted to talk.”

“Then you should have slapped him! You should have shouted at him not to touch you!”

“Ah, no, why would I go that far…”

Roderick was genuinely furious, his jaw clenched tight.

“Are you taking his side right now, in front of me?”

“…”

“What were the knights I assigned to you even doing?”

Roderick sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

“So, what did you want to talk about so badly?”

“About what?”

“What did you talk about with that bastard?”

Lee Jae hesitated, knowing she couldn’t fabricate a story here.

She looked at Roderick with a somewhat resigned expression.

“I just wanted to ask…”

“…”

“…What kind of person I was.”

At the overly sentimental expression, one that even a poet might find excessive, Roderick was momentarily taken aback.

The sentiment was so thick it felt suffocating.

“You must have shared a love of the century. Ah, I feel it rising up again…”

But Roderick paused mid-sentence.

A thought flashed through his mind. Could it be that the Queen acts strangely sometimes because she doesn’t remember things clearly?

In fact, it was no longer a fleeting intuition but the culmination of repeated observations.

The Queen seemed to have become a completely different person since their marriage.

Whatever the reason, that much was certain—so certain that further confirmation seemed unnecessary.

Could it be the shock from falling into the river?

But even if she lost some memories, could such fundamental habits change so completely?

Roderick wore a serious expression, and Lee Jae also lowered her eyes, lost in her own thoughts. They remained silent for a while, occasionally observing each other’s reactions.

Because what she had said was so close to the truth.

Lee Jae continued.

“And I wanted to tell him to stop and live his own life. I don’t know if it was properly conveyed since Your Majesty came in the middle.”

Roderick raised an eyebrow at her words.

“…So it’s my fault?”

“…”

“You have a talent for making a person feel unfairly accused in the strangest ways.”

Lee Jae was a little embarrassed because that wasn’t her intention at all.

She scratched her cheek and said, “That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry. I just meant I was trying to talk to him nicely, too. I was trying to tell him not to dwell on the past.”

“Don’t you know anything about men’s hearts? Don’t you know that saying that only deepens their lingering feelings?”

Roderick fully understood his wife’s intention.

However, he thought there was a problem with the way she habitually expressed herself, making her intentions less persuasive.

With that sad and indifferent smile, if she said, ‘Live your own life,’ he felt like he, as a man listening, would be driven crazy.

Then this time, Lee Jae also sighed deeply.

*What should I do then? If I say that the Hailey you knew is dead, would you believe it?*

*Most people would feel sorry for her, thinking that the Queen has gone crazy because royal life is too hard.*

*No, should I try to act like a crazy person in that way to make him lose interest? Huh? That’s not bad, is it?*

As Lee Jae sighed and turned her head away, Roderick grabbed her hand.

Because he suddenly saw a look of exhaustion on her profile as she turned away from him.

She clearly looked burdened by something.

Seeing that made Roderick feel complicated and anxious, so he gently squeezed her hand.

“Hailey, I told you I would treat you better than anyone else. Don’t upset me with things like this.”

“Yes. I understand what you mean. And you might not believe it, but I’ve actually already forgotten. Really.”

Frankly, Roderick couldn’t completely believe it.

He didn’t want to admit it, but people’s feelings don’t simply vanish in a few months, especially not for his wife, who wasn’t someone who easily forgot and erased people from her heart.

But hearing such a definite answer made him feel somewhat relieved.

“Do you think I’m doing this because I can’t do anything about that bastard? I’m holding back because I’m afraid you’ll cry.”

“…”

“But if you keep acting like this… you’ll see a bloodbath in the castle. And of course, Lawrence will be dismissed. A so-called purge.”

“Your Majesty, if you do that, you’ll be a tyrant.”

Then Roderick chuckled. In fact, he wasn’t afraid of such an evaluation at all.

“How many times do you think I’ve heard that? I’ve heard it so much that I’m tired of it. What’s the big deal about hearing it once or twice more?”

But Lee Jae shook her head several times.

“Your Majesty. It doesn’t matter what people whisper or how many times you’ve heard those words.”

“…”

“What really matters is that you’re not a tyrant, and I know that. So you shouldn’t do such things either. I will always believe in you, Your Majesty.”

“…Easy for you to say.”

Muttering discontentedly, Roderick ended up losing his resolve.

In the end, he couldn’t properly vent his anger on the Queen today either.

The problem was that he became more and more relaxed when he talked to his wife.

Another problem was that he found himself agreeing with her when he listened.

Above all, the biggest problem was that he didn’t want to win against his wife at all.

So, even when a marital fight seemed about to break out, it would fizzle out.

His wife had a knack for weakening the opponent’s fighting spirit while speaking gently.

Roderick sighed as he looked at Lee Jae’s delicate shoulders and calm eyes.

*Right, what’s the point of fighting with such a kind and small wife? Even if I try my best to win, I’ll just end up being the one in the wrong.*

“Hailey.”

“Yes.”

“Were you very surprised earlier?”

“About what?”

“I didn’t intend to draw my sword in front of you. I just lost my mind for a moment.”

Lee Jae shook her head, saying, “Ah.”

She seemed a little concerned about him seeing blood in front of her.

“Wipe your tears on my clothes.”

“I’m not crying.”

“You were crying earlier.”

“Not really.”

“Anyway.”

Then Lee Jae rubbed her face against his chest without any particular meaning.

If it would make the King feel better, she was willing to do it as much as possible.

Lee Jae was unintentionally sorry, and she felt that he had conceded something.

Roderick stroked the back of Lee Jae’s round head.

“Did you wipe it all off?”

“Yes.”

“Blow your nose too. Hmph, do it.”

“I really didn’t have any snot. Why do you always tell me to blow my nose?”

Roderick simply grabbed the back of Lee Jae’s head and pressed it against his chest.

When she roughly rubbed her face and pushed him away, Roderick lay down on the bed.

Then he said to Lee Jae, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

“Now you do it too.”

“Do what?”

“You have to make up for me being sulky, too. I comforted you, too.”

“Was that… comforting me?”

*When did you comfort me? I feel like I’ve been scolded from the beginning until now.*

“I wiped away your tears and made you wipe your nose—that’s comforting. If I offered my embrace, I gave all my manly devotion.”

“I don’t think so. That just felt like being scolded.”

But even after saying that, Lee Jae pondered very seriously for a while.

*How should she make it up to him?* She asked.

“Then, would you like me to touch your chest?”

*I think I’m okay with touching your chest now.*

Feeling like she was about to burst out laughing, Roderick bit the inside of his cheek slightly.

Lee Jae observed Roderick’s reaction.

Thinking that it wasn’t the right time for that, she muttered.

“That’s strange. I heard this is universally effective.”

“Where do you hear all these strange things?”

Roderick ended up covering his eyes and laughing.

*Damn it. I’m annoyed at myself for being such a pervert who’s laughing in this situation.*

Convinced that he had already cheered up, Lee Jae smiled brightly.

Then she crawled onto his body.

Roderick pretended to resist even though he liked it.

“How can you sit on a man’s body so fearlessly? Don’t you know that a very dangerous and difficult situation will unfold for us if you do this?”

But Roderick did like having Lee Jae sit on his body.

Because he didn’t want her to be afraid of him.

These days, Lee Jae seemed to enjoy placing her hands on his chest and looking down at him from above.

“What’s dangerous? You won’t do anything if I say I don’t want you to.”

Then Roderick made a slightly subtle expression.

He was grateful that she acknowledged the sincerity of what he had said, but he wasn’t exactly happy about it.

Lee Jae easily pinned his hands and feet like that.

She kissed him all over his face, giggling.

A rain of kisses was falling from the sky.

Roderick, who was being showered with ticklish and cute rain, grabbed Lee Jae’s hand.

“Honey.”

“Yes?”

“I like this a lot, but if possible, give me a more couple-like kiss.”

“…Couple-like?”

“You know, something a little deeper and sexier.”

Lee Jae made a prim face.

“You have so many demands. And as you may have already noticed, I don’t seem to have much talent in this area.”

“No. Our Queen is a developing bean [a term of endearment, implying potential for growth], so she can do kisses and even more perfectly. Let’s have confidence.”

Lee Jae, who was laughing out loud, ended up intertwining her tongue more thickly.

She was about to pull away after kissing for a long time, but Roderick grabbed her small shoulders.

“Where are you going? Keep going.”

“Are you still not over your anger?”

“No. Not enough.”

“I think you are? Your eyes have been smiling for a while now.”

Roderick muttered. *That fox has a good sense.*

“Still not enough. Keep going until I tell you to stop.”

Roderick kept repeating the words, ‘Do more, keep going.’

He would caress her body, and if she stopped, he would ask, ‘What are you doing? Why aren’t you kissing?’ and smile mischievously.

Lee Jae felt like her lips would disappear.

*If you mess with your mouth, you’ll end up losing it.* She vowed to never talk to Lawrence again.