Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 64

As the Heart Leads – Episode 64

#64.

The King and the knights descended into the underground prison.

It wasn’t a place to hold prisoners.

It was a place to avoid prying eyes when the royal family had to do something a bit extreme.

The King, with his arms crossed, stared at the Duke’s head physician, who was trembling.

“Knight Commander.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I told you to bribe him, but I don’t recall telling you to drag him here in such a rough manner.”

Jade scratched his cheek.

“Well, it’s hard to avoid prying eyes in a study, isn’t it?”

Since he wasn’t wrong, the King nodded.

“And it’s not like I dragged him here without explanation; I explained the situation well and brought him here quietly.”

“Then why is he trembling so much?”

Jade looked at Roderick as if asking if he really didn’t know.

There was a hint of resentment in his eyes. *Didn’t Your Majesty say it yourself? That no matter how kindly we smile, we look scary to people.*

Roderick sighed and took a step closer to the Duncan family’s physician.

“Don’t tremble. I just called you here to ask a few questions.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

“But depending on how you use that mouth of yours after you leave this place, you might have a reason to tremble.”

Roderick chuckled, and the physician began to tremble even more violently.

Jade looked at the King with a dubious expression before lowering his gaze.

The King didn’t seem to know who looked the scariest to people right now.

“What I’m curious about is very trivial.”

“…Yes, Your, Your Majesty.”

“You know very well that the Duke isn’t a man of enough loyalty to protect you. I hope you won’t throw away your life over this trivial matter.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Roderick nodded and said,

“Tell me everything you know about the Queen’s health.”

The physician looked at the King with a bewildered expression.

He had expected to receive a dangerous solicitation when he came here.

Like poisoning members of the Duncan family.

But the King’s question was, in a way, trivial, and in another way, very sensitive.

The physician began to answer as best he could to survive, even as he rambled.

“Th, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy… Unlike what one might expect, she has good stamina and is very healthy. In f, fact, the people of the Duke’s family are generally like that.”

“Is that so?”

Roderick stroked his chin for a moment and asked again.

“You mean she has no other underlying diseases? You better answer carefully. If you lie to the King, you won’t have a chance to tremble at all.”

It meant he would die before he could even tremble. The physician bowed his head incessantly.

“T, there are no such serious conditions as far as I know.”

“Has she ever complained of sudden dizziness or nosebleeds?”

“…No. At least not while I was examining her as her physician.”

“Has she ever complained of insomnia? Waking up frequently in the middle of the night?”

“She may have had such days, but she never mentioned it to me separately.”

“Has her body temperature ever dropped severely?”

“She has never had that either.”

The knights exchanged bewildered glances. Hearing it all listed like that made it sound like the Queen was a patient with a terrible combination of illnesses.

They were amazed that the King was memorizing all of that.

But Roderick didn’t seem to be finished yet and pondered further.

Stroking his chin, he asked,

“Has she ever suddenly gagged or anything like that?”

The physician, who had been bowing his head, paused and began to roll his eyes.

As the physician continued to look around cautiously, Roderick nodded briefly.

“It’s okay, tell me.”

“Your Majesty. Th, that is a typical symptom of a pregnant woman…”

Then Roderick, who had been maintaining a cold expression, frowned momentarily. His face suddenly showed a great deal of irritation. He gestured to Jade.

“Send him away.”

“…Yes?”

“I said send him away. I don’t want to hear any more.”

Roderick spat out the words as if he couldn’t be bothered to explain.

Then, he walked past the trembling physician and began to move.

Roderick had never really trusted physicians and priests. None of them had ever cured or even understood his condition.

It was only the Queen who had made him feel better.

He climbed the bleak-looking stairs and said to Jade, who was following behind him,

“Ever since I ascended the throne, I’ve always thought that physicians are untrustworthy.”

“…”

“But I’ve never trusted them less than I do these days.”

Roderick was still frowning.

But his mind was racing.

“Jade.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Didn’t you say that the second daughter of the Hoffman family was friendly with the Queen?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You said her manner of speaking seemed a bit different?”

“…Yes. She definitely said something like that.”

“Tell her I want to see her soon.”

After leaving the underground prison, Roderick unconsciously brushed his shoulders off a few times.

He had a subtle, unpleasant feeling.

“Don’t drag the second daughter of the Count’s family here in that way.”

“…Yes.”

“Do it in a way that I accept their request for an audience.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“It would be troublesome if I were to be called a tyrant again.”

“You don’t really care about that, do you?”

Roderick chuckled.

“I don’t, but our Queen is secretly heartbroken.”

Jade didn’t know what to do with this feeling and turned around with a somewhat dubious expression.

The knights also had a ‘good grief’ look on their faces.

Late at night, Lee Jae was looking at her diary in her room.

Meditation and sculpting were unnecessary. This diary alone was enough for self-cultivation.

「March 16, 499

Should I tell Father everything?

But the choice Father makes cannot change the fate of me and Laurence.」

“So, it’s a love that can never be fulfilled?”

Lee Jae had changed her mind a while ago.

Haley might have been a very good writer.

This was the first time in Lee Jae’s life that she had encountered writing that was so unkind but impossible to give up on.

And Lee Jae was experiencing another tragedy.

She was now even relating to Haley’s diary.

“The choice cannot change fate.”

That was a familiar saying to Lee Jae, and in fact, it was a pain.

The frustration that she could avoid minor misfortunes in life, but could not change the major threads that ran through her life. She rested her chin on her hand with a serious face and pondered.

At that moment, the head maid cautiously called out to Lee Jae.

“Your Majesty the Queen.”

“Yes.”

“His Majesty has finished his work and is coming this way.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, and this…”

“What is this?”

Lee Jae accepted the paper that the head maid handed her with a puzzled expression.

She couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh as she checked the contents. It was a letter from the nobles.

「To Her Majesty the Queen.

We heard that you have not been feeling well lately; how are you?

We hesitate to say this to Your Majesty the Queen, who must be weary, but we miss the conversations we had with Your Majesty very much.

How warm you were, like the spring breeze, at that time.

If someone like Your Majesty has been upset, it is definitely the Duke’s fault.

At least, that is the conclusion we have come to, so please do not be sad.

I have been lengthy in my introduction.

In fact, I have had many troubles in my family lately…」

Lee Jae unfolded the next letter.

「It is too embarrassing, but my second son is past the age of marriage, and I think I must send him off this year…」

This was a letter of comfort and a Cayenne version of a phone fortune-telling [offering advice and matchmaking].

She continued to let out hollow laughs, and the King’s words came to mind.

‘If you postpone it for a few days, will someone die in the meantime? If it’s that urgent, tell them to write it in a letter and send it.’

“A prophecy.”

It seemed that words had power.

As she was holding the letters and feeling perplexed, the King came in.

Lee Jae looked at him with a face that was half resentment and half joy.

Sensing a different air than usual, Roderick asked,

“Why are you looking at me like that? Come to think of it, am I really handsome again?”

Lee Jae glared at him, blushing.

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Then what is it?”

“What should I do with this? People have really started sending me letters.”

As soon as he heard Lee Jae’s words, he snatched the paper away.

He also began to let out hollow laughs as he read the contents. Then, he became serious.

“Ha, these idle bastards, really…”

“Your Majesty, sometimes words spoken carelessly come true like this, you know? That’s why you shouldn’t say things like ‘I’m going to die’ carelessly either.”

Roderick nodded.

His wife’s words, which had sometimes felt like jokes, had not been so from some point on.

He roughly folded the letters and tossed them onto the side table.

“Anyway, ignore this.”

“Is it okay to do that?”

“Yes, if it’s urgent, they… no, I’ll watch my words. I have to listen to my wife.”

Lee Jae burst into a bright laugh.

In fact, she had to ignore them appropriately, as the King had said.

No one was a god. Not even those with spiritual powers.

The people around Lee Jae had always warned her. Don’t delude yourself into thinking you’re a god.

If you start relying on the simple words of a shaman for your life, your own life will disappear.

But she soon tilted her head.

Because she sensed something strange about the King.

His energy was slightly different from usual.

“Your Majesty, where have you been? Have you been to Your Majesty’s room?”

“No. Why?”

“Is that so? What is it?”

“Why is it damp…”

Lee Jae blurted out the words unconsciously.

And Roderick suddenly stared at her intently.

Her words sounded strangely meaningful. *Had he been to his room? Where…?*

“Haley. What does that mean?”

“It’s nothing.”

Lee Jae answered casually, looking around the door and windows.

The King hadn’t brought any more vengeful spirits than usual.

But the underground prison was a place where yin energy [dark, negative energy] and resentment were bound to linger due to the nature of the location.

She had sensitively felt that heterogeneous energy, which was different from what she had felt until now.

Lee Jae, who had not found any serious problems, looked at Roderick again.

“But Your Majesty, can’t I have audiences again now?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“A sick bean needs to rest more.”

“Why do you keep telling me to rest when I’m not sick? Are you going to spread rumors that I’m a patient?”

However, even Roderick, who always listened to her, was firm this time.

“Don’t be cheeky and just rest.”

“Then can’t I sleep in Your Majesty’s room today? I’m getting a little tired of this room.”

Roderick laughed in disbelief. He knew very well that what she had just said was a lie.

It wasn’t just because she looked comfortable when she was in this room.

The Queen was not at all the type to move her sleeping place just because she was tired of one room or liked another.

Why hadn’t he thought that was strange until now?

And Lee Jae was getting more and more anxious.

Since returning from the river, she had been waging a speed war, exorcising a large number of vengeful spirits.

She had to finish quickly and put up a barrier before more vengeful spirits came in.

But what was going on? The King didn’t seem to have any intention of going to that room to sleep these days.

Lee Jae waited for Roderick’s answer with an earnest face.

But he pressed his forehead with his index finger and laid Lee Jae down.

And he looked closely at her face with his blue eyes.

“Your complexion has gotten much better.”

“See? I’m not a sick bean, but a very healthy bean.”

Roderick had kept Lee Jae in this room for a few days, as if cornering a fox.

Then her complexion had definitely returned.

The Duke’s physician had also said that there was nothing wrong with her body.

She was always pale in the King’s room.

Even though she had shed so much blood.

Roderick had never been sick like her.

But he knew quite well about some of the unpleasantness of that room.

Lee Jae looked around cautiously and then got up again.

It was an expression of her will to ask if she really couldn’t sleep there.

Roderick stared at her intently.

His wife, who was always gentle, sometimes showed an incomprehensible stubbornness.

He said as if throwing it away,

“Haley, actually, I’m sick.”

Then Lee Jae flinched and was surprised.

Roderick continued to watch her closely.

“Oh, are you sick? Where?”

She laid him down, fidgeting.

She tilted her head, looking at Roderick suspiciously.

But soon, she began to press here and there on his body with a worried face.

His body seemed fine, but she was concerned about the subtle energy she had felt earlier. She had long since given up her stubbornness to go to the King’s room.

And as her head and body became more comfortable, Roderick sighed.

No physician or priest had been able to cure his illness.

But when only the Queen was by his side, the air was clear as if by a lie.

He had already experienced this strange sensation dozens of times.

Then it could no longer be a delusion.

Roderick’s conviction hardened.

There was something in his room that he didn’t know about.

And the Queen… definitely had some kind of ability. What exactly was it?

But at the same time, he was caught up in one complicated possibility.

*Could it be that the reason you’re being so stubbornly persistent…*

*The reason you’re sick so often.*

*The reason you keep saying you want to go there… is it because of me?*

The possibility alone made him feel a little dizzy, so he rubbed his face a few times.

Roderick grabbed Lee Jae’s hand, telling her to stop because it was okay.

“It’s okay, go to sleep quickly.”

“Are you okay? You said you were sick.”

“My heart hurts. I didn’t say my body hurts.”

“Are you going to play such a joke…? You surprised me. Are you really okay?”

“Yes.”

*I’m okay.*

*So, you stay here with me tonight.*

He laid the bewildered Lee Jae down and hugged her tightly from behind.

And he kissed her apricot-colored hair and ears incessantly.