Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 67

#67.

“Hailey.”

“Yes.”

As Lee Jae smiled, her eyes crinkling, Roderick immediately pressed his lips to hers.

The tension that had been present throughout the meeting melted away as soon as he saw the Queen.

It felt like he could finally breathe.

Lee Jae, expecting a light kiss, responded accordingly, but the kiss deepened, and she ended up collapsing onto the grass.

The fox struggled under the heavy predator. But the wriggling fox soon seemed to lose her breath. Her arms went limp.

Everyone was momentarily stunned. *Is Her Majesty alright?*

And after a while, when she finally sat up, her face was flushed.

Those around her couldn’t find a place to rest their eyes, unsure where to look.

The boy king, who always seemed to disappear when Roderick appeared, was mischievously watching the scene. And he was whistling again. The white horse also neighed.

He said, “He’s got it good,” uttering words that didn’t suit his youthful appearance, sounding like an old man, and then disappeared.

Lee Jae winced and wiped her face with her sleeve.

“What is this?”

Roderick gently brushed her wrist with his finger.

Then he wiped her face with his own sleeve.

“Sorry. Your face is so small, it’s barely a mouthful.”

“………”

“Are you sulking?”

“No. It was such a perverted thing to say that I couldn’t think of a response for a moment.”

“That’s a bit disappointing. Try harder.”

As Lee Jae let out a laugh, Roderick hugged her tightly from behind.

And he rocked her from side to side like a baby in a cradle.

“Were you looking at the water again today?”

“Yes.”

“Did it feel good to feel yourself getting smaller?”

Although the way he treated her like a child was a little embarrassing, Lee Jae smiled and nodded.

Then Roderick said mischievously.

“But you’re already so short and tiny. If you get any smaller, I think you’ll disappear.”

“………”

“What if I can’t find our little bean? Then our little bean will cry her eyes out, won’t she? She’s already so far down that I can’t see her sometimes.”

Lee Jae turned around with an exaggerated glare.

Then Roderick, as if he had been waiting, kissed her and laughed happily.

Lee Jae quickly turned her gaze back to the lake, but Roderick continued to bother her.

He caressed her tiny hands. He pushed back her abundant apricot-colored hair with anticipation, revealing her white neck.

He buried his nose there and inhaled. He smelled a scent that he could only feel when entering a deep forest: fresh and refreshing air.

The King knew the truth.

*I don’t need medicine. I can cure both my physical and mental illnesses with you.*

As Roderick continued to inhale, her white skin eventually broke out in goosebumps. Roderick found it cute that she was pretending not to be aware and lowering her eyes indifferently.

He nibbled and gently sucked on her neck.

Hugging her slender waist tightly and scattering kisses on her shoulders, jawline, and the most delicate part of her neck, they could feel each other heating up.

But Lee Jae only looked at the ground and whispered quietly.

“Your Majesty.”

Roderick this time gently caressed her ear and whispered.

“Yes. Why?”

When Roderick glanced at her, she was crinkling her eyes and raising the corners of her lips.

Seeing that, his heart was pounding so hard.

But Lee Jae whispered once more.

“Please stop now.”

“Why? Did you not like it?”

“That’s not it. People are watching.”

He pretended not to hear and grabbed her chin, bringing her towards him.

After biting her small lower lip a few times, Lee Jae was still for a moment.

But she soon gently pushed his chest away.

“Your Majesty.”

“What is it now?”

“Have you eaten?”

“…………”

“I’m hungry.”

Roderick chuckled, shaking his body.

“Our fox is using advanced techniques now.”

He finally got up first and held out his hand to Lee Jae.

“Let’s go. I can’t be a bad husband who starves his wife.”

Lee Jae lightly grabbed his fingertips, but Roderick corrected her grip again.

Roderick meticulously took care of Lee Jae’s meal today as well.

In fact, Lee Jae had a habit of eating very little, so she couldn’t eat much.

The King must have noticed that clearly, but these days he was trying to feed her this and that. Then he would think about something for a long time.

Lee Jae, embarrassed by the food piled high on her plate, said.

“Your Majesty, I can’t eat this much.”

“I know.”

“I know, but why do you keep doing this to me?”

“I’m going to fatten up my fox and eat her soon.”

People were a little embarrassed by the beastly joke, but Roderick nonchalantly urged her to eat more.

“Eat some more.”

“How can I eat with you saying that?”

“It’s a joke, so just eat.”

“It wasn’t a joke, was it?”

“You caught me.”

Lee Jae eventually let out a laugh.

She was putting a little bit of everything in her mouth out of consideration.

Roderick watched her intently.

Roderick stared at Lee Jae’s drink and took a sip himself.

He handed Lee Jae’s cup to a servant and said.

“Bring something else. Our Queen doesn’t like sweet things.”

Roderick chuckled when he saw Lee Jae glancing at him.

And he said with his lips, not audibly.

*Is this okay?*

*What’s okay?*

Lee Jae definitely thought the King was strange these days.

He had a tendency to be like that originally, but his interest was excessive, and he was being too attentive.

And he would sometimes stare at her intently and be lost in thought.

It was when Lee Jae was drinking the new drink that the servant had brought.

Roderick said, as if throwing it out there.

“I heard you sent flowers to the Belfasten Cemetery.”

She almost spat out the drink she was drinking, but barely managed to swallow it.

Lee Jae looked at him resentfully.

It was because he always brought up difficult stories when she was drinking something.

*If so, this was definitely spiteful.*

In fact, Roderick had every intention of teasing Lee Jae.

Lee Jae stared intently at the head maid. Deborah shook her head, saying she really didn’t know anything.

However, the King was originally in a position where it was difficult not to know what was happening inside the castle if he set his mind to it.

“I’m confused as to whether you’re monitoring me these days, or raising me.”

“That’s a serious accusation. It’s neither, I just like you.”

*No. I think all three are correct.*

Lee Jae asked a little sullenly.

“Do I not have a private life?”

“Ah, private life. That’s a good word.”

“………”

“Our Queen is a very secretive person.”

Then Lee Jae paused and looked at Roderick, and he was looking back at Lee Jae.

His clear, blue eyes were smiling. It was a smile with many meanings.

Lee Jae quickly avoided his gaze, but Roderick carefully examined even that and thought.

*You say you like me, so why do you have so many secrets?*

*Am I still not earning your trust?*

Roderick changed the subject, pretending not to notice her discomfort.

“Is that perhaps another man from the past that I don’t know about?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m asking who is the lucky protagonist who received flowers from the Queen that I couldn’t receive.”

Lee Jae scratched her cheek, a little embarrassed.

And as she took her time answering, Roderick raised one eyebrow.

“What, is that true? Why are you thinking about it?”

“Your Majesty. If my old lover has passed away, why are you digging up my wounds like this?”

“…Is it true?”

“You know it’s not true, so why are you asking?”

“That’s right. Just the possibility makes my head spin.”

Lee Jae let out a laugh.

She, who had been embarrassed, answered with an appropriate mix of truth, as she always did.

“He’s just someone I owed a debt to in the past.”

But that didn’t seem to be a good answer.

Roderick let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded.

“You?”

“Yes.”

“Hailey. The Duncan family is the most powerful family in Cayenne. But was there a time when you had to owe a debt to someone in the slums?”

Roderick’s question was sharp.

He originally overlooked it, saying, ‘Well, the Queen is showing a different side from the report,’ because she seemed to be in trouble.

But now he had no choice but to become persistent.

The King was working hard to set a trap to catch the tight-lipped apricot-colored fox alive these days.

And Lee Jae realized why the name Belfasten was not in Hailey’s memory. Hailey is from a wealthy family, and those people are generally not interested in the slums.

She hesitated for a moment, but nodded without making any major excuses.

“Then wouldn’t that mean I received even more valuable help?”

“So what kind of help did you receive? Tell me about my wife’s private life.”

As the King kept pressing, Lee Jae was lost in thought again.

She frowned slightly and answered.

“Um, you know. I wanted to give that person a small amount of help first.”

“…………”

“But Your Majesty. I’m actually not sure sometimes. There are times when I feel like it’s a useless thing to do.”

“…………”

“But that person made me realize that it wasn’t a worthless thing to do. Then I was the one who received the help.”

“…………”

“It’s nothing, so don’t worry too much about it.”

Roderick had nothing to say, so he closed his mouth for a moment.

And soon he sighed and swept his hair back.

It was because the fox in front of him was giving a Zen riddle [a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment] at this important moment and bewitching people again.

Roderick, whose will to pursue had been greatly diminished, changed the subject.

“Hailey. I’m suddenly curious, but how many men have you had before me?”

“Actually, I don’t have anything to say. Does Your Majesty originally think the past is important?”

Then Roderick laughed, dumbfounded by what his young wife was saying.

“No. But an unresolved past is not the past. It’s the present.”

Lee Jae nodded because it was the right thing to say.

The past could only be resolved with the cooperation of both the person involved and time.

No matter how much time passed, if the person involved couldn’t let go, it wasn’t the past.

“I heard you ran to Lawrence again the day before yesterday.”

Roderick, who had been staring at Lee Jae, this time looked at the knight commander, who was not at fault.

“Jade.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“If the Queen falls while running on those short legs, tell that bastard that I will definitely break one of his legs.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

Jade wondered if he really had to answer even this, but he quietly lowered his head.

Lee Jae was also dumbfounded. But she didn’t have anything to say in her defense, so she just resumed her meal. She had an expression that said, ‘I don’t know either, let it be.’

So Roderick played another trick.

“The Prince will be returning soon.”

“Already?”

“For a brief report.”

Lee Jae nodded.

“Your reaction is dry.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You like the Prince, don’t you?”

“…Me?”

“Yes. You like handsome men, don’t you?”

“Me?”

There was no such thing as this kind of provocation. Lee Jae was so dumbfounded that she put down her fork and laughed.

Roderick stared at that eye smile as if he was bewitched again.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this since earlier, but I think I’m going to get indigestion.”

Then Roderick quickly handed her the fork back.

“Oh, sorry. I’ll stop.”

Lee Jae resumed her meal with a smile on her face.

People like her sometimes see other people’s fortunes, but they don’t accurately see their own future.

Nevertheless, Lee Jae thought.

*There will be no one like the King in my life in the future.*

*The person who gave words to my lonely life.*

*I will leave it to the heavens when this end will come.*

But Lee Jae, who was born with the energy of a shaman [a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits], strongly sensed.

*There will be no one after this person for her.*