Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 79

#79.

It took Lee Jae quite a while to calm down from her sobs.

Once she stopped crying, she glanced around, seemingly embarrassed. Roderick, however, was smiling, finding her reaction adorable.

“Lee Jae.”

“It’s hard for you to pronounce, isn’t it? You can just call me Hayley. I’m comfortable with that name too.”

But Roderick called her again.

“Lee Jae.”

“………….”

“It’s a pretty name. Even if I make mistakes sometimes, I’ll try my best, so please understand.”

“……You can just call me Bean or something.”

“I call you that too. Bean and Fox are nicknames, aren’t they? You’re so cold, only ever calling your husband ‘Your Majesty.’”

“………”

“Is my wife really never going to call me by my name?”

She averted her gaze slightly, embarrassed by Roderick’s constant smiling.

But he still had many things he wanted to ask.

“By the way, how old are you?”

After asking the question, Roderick’s curiosity grew even more.

Considering how she trembled at physical contact, he wondered if she was very young.

But seeing her strangely detached attitude, he also wondered if she was much older than he thought.

Meanwhile, Lee Jae wanted to disappear into a mouse hole.

If he kept pressing her like this, there were quite a few things she had deceived him about.

She had even made fun of his age.

“Twenty-five.”

“Not that much different from me, huh?”

Roderick laughed in disbelief. Lee Jae, feeling cornered, decided to push back.

“You said you never treated me like a child, but you seem upset. Why are you reacting like that?”

“Still, I did feel a bit sorry for you since you got married at a young age. The royal family isn’t an easy place. At first, it seemed like you were very afraid of me.”

“………”

“But you’re the kind of person I feel sorry for in many ways besides that. Ah, do you feel bad when I say things like this?”

Lee Jae shook her head.

“No. I know I’m unlucky.”

“You said you shouldn’t speak carelessly, but you’re very good at saying such negative things.”

Roderick’s questions continued.

“So, you never tried to die either, right?”

“Yes. I’ve told you many times.”

“You’re not a Duke’s daughter either, right?”

“No.”

“Damn it. I was going to be nice since you were family, but I did something unnecessary.”

Roderick looked genuinely annoyed.

In fact, he had one question he wanted to bring up the most regarding family.

Whether someone had hit her a lot when she was young.

But even though they had decided to be open with each other, he couldn’t bring himself to ask, sensing she was too used to blocking.

In fact, that was the impression that all the knights present had agreed on.

Because it was almost a professional level of defense.

After pondering for a while, Roderick eventually changed the subject.

“You were sick sometimes… was that really because of me?”

He frowned when she, who had been answering diligently, suddenly closed her mouth.

He was beyond impressed with how tight-lipped she was; he was almost fed up.

“Hey, Bean. Let’s be honest now.”

“Yes. Well, rather than because of Your Majesty, it was because of the bad energy around Your Majesty…”

“How far are you going to make me out to be a terrible person? Don’t ever do that again. I don’t like you doing that even if it makes you sick. Do you understand?”

Lee Jae couldn’t answer easily, but because Roderick’s expression was becoming increasingly scary, she nodded for now.

She realized she had lied again, but it couldn’t be helped.

Lee Jae couldn’t stand to see the King come to harm.

Without even realizing it, she had bet too much on him.

“So, you didn’t like Lawrence either?”

“….Is that still important to Your Majesty?”

“Yeah. Isn’t that the most important thing? Why?”

Lee Jae laughed in disbelief, but Roderick was very serious right now.

“Do you know I almost lost my temper and went crazy? I actually hit him a few times without you knowing.”

Lee Jae was startled and grabbed his sleeve, shaking it.

“Your Majesty! Why did you go that far?”

“You’re still on that bastard’s side… well, yeah, I screwed up.”

“I told you not to do that.”

“I didn’t hit him many times.”

In fact, he had half-killed him, but Roderick put it bluntly.

It was true that he hadn’t hit him many times. It’s just that those few hits were too strong.

“That guy came to find me so presumptuously and kept provoking me.”

“………”

“Actually, the day I argued with you was also because I was jealous because of that and took it out on you.”

Roderick glanced at her.

“I admit I said stupid things, but I hope you don’t misunderstand anymore.”

“So that’s what happened.”

Lee Jae smiled faintly and nodded, finally understanding the situation.

She was even more ashamed of trembling when she realized it wasn’t really his intention.

“I only have you. Don’t talk about running away anymore. If you talk about it again, I’m really going to cry.”

Lee Jae chuckled and nodded, but Roderick, who had been suffering in silence, wanted to keep getting confirmation.

“You like me too, right?”

“Yes.”

“You like me the most, right?”

“Yesss.”

“You have no feelings for Lawrence at all, right?”

Then Lee Jae smiled silently.

Roderick sensitively noticed that she didn’t answer right away.

He frowned immediately.

‘What’s going on again? Why isn’t she answering right away? I’m the first man you met here.’

“………”

“Come to think of it, you cried every time you saw Lawrence? Could it be that you really liked that guy?”

Lee Jae stroked his arm soothingly because Roderick was so upset that he was about to burst into tears. Why she cried was a difficult topic to explain.

But she organized her thoughts for a moment. She didn’t want to build up any more misunderstandings, and in fact, it was something she really wanted to tell the King.

“Your Majesty. Can I be honest?”

“Yeah. I won’t get angry, so just tell me honestly.”

Lee Jae nodded.

“Actually, there are still some of Hayley’s feelings left inside me. That’s why I felt sad when I saw him. Sometimes I waver, and I also feel a sense of affection.”

She had told him to be honest, but Roderick frowned as the story began to flow in a direction he didn’t want to hear.

She wore a faint smile.

“I don’t know how it will sound, but I’m someone who can see the dead, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But the truth is, there aren’t many ways a living person can beat a spirit… so I often lost before I met Your Majesty. Very pathetically. Really miserably.”

Lee Jae unconsciously made a bitter face, and Roderick took her hand. Lee Jae nodded and held his hand back.

Lee Jae soon put strength into her voice, and he felt another strange resonance.

“Your Majesty, the only thing that makes us a little better than the dead is that we have tomorrow. Knowing that, I can resist that voice.”

That was a privilege only the living had.

The vengeful spirits’ time is frozen in the past.

The reason why Lee Jae often lost to the dead was because she was also buried in the past.

She was trapped in the resentment of the past and couldn’t move forward.

“I’m sorry to say this, but Hayley’s time has passed. She doesn’t have a tomorrow. I do.”

“……Yeah.”

“So it’s natural for those feelings to flow away with it. I think Your Majesty has helped me a lot with that.”

Because you opened up a new time for me.

Because you spoke to my life. Because you formed a new relationship with me.

“Hayley must have liked him a lot in the past. But I will like Your Majesty today and tomorrow too. Please don’t doubt that fact.”

Roderick looked a little embarrassed after hearing all the circumstances.

He didn’t expect to hear such a heartfelt confession in this way.

Lee Jae smiled at him, scratching the end of his eyebrow.

‘It wasn’t a very interesting story after all, was it?’ When she asked, Roderick hugged her tightly.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s a bit embarrassing, but… can I say one more thing?”

“I want you to say everything, but I’m in a really good mood right now, so if it’s going to ruin the atmosphere, do it a little later.”

Then Lee Jae hesitated for a moment.

But she finally opened her mouth, and the moment Roderick heard the following words, he paused.

“Actually, I want to do it now.”

“Huh?”

“I want to do it.”

After a moment of silence, he said,

“……Isn’t the object missing?”

“Can’t you just overlook that? I took courage in my own way. Ah, are you really asking because you don’t know?”

Roderick’s face flushed, and he rubbed it before bursting out laughing.

Because his wife was too cute.

“Hey, Bean.”

“Yes.”

“How old do you think I am? How could I not understand that? I’m just doing this because I want to hear it one more time.”

He kept rubbing his face and laughing before hugging her again.

“But are you sure it’s okay to do it now?”

“What do you mean?”

“You must not be feeling well. You even shed blood that day.”

Lee Jae quickly became worried, and Roderick made a dumbfounded face.

“Ah, I’m about to get my pride hurt again. I’ll show you soon that your husband is very healthy.”

But in fact, there was something Roderick was also thinking about a bit strangely.

Because neither the doctor nor the priest could answer, he had no choice but to ask his wife.

“But why am I really like this right now?”

“What do you mean?”

“My body is strangely too light. I feel much healthier than usual.”

“Really? ……Oh, it seems so? But Your Majesty was originally a noticeably healthy person. Ordinary people can’t last as long as Your Majesty has.”

But his energy was moving much more actively than usual.

The King’s aura was like an unstoppable ocean right now. Lee Jae also became serious.

‘Did I take down something too big that day after all?’

It seemed like the accumulated ominous energy in his body had become a fuse as it all drained out together.

Roderick kept asking, puzzled.

“So why is it like this?”

“I don’t know exactly either.”

“If you don’t know, who does?”

Then Lee Jae glared at him and smiled.

“Don’t think I know everything. I’m just a speck of dust-like human.”

“Ah, is that so. Our wise Queen also has things she doesn’t know. Anyway, this is a big problem.”

“What is?”

“I’m too healthy to be able to end it in just a couple of times.”

Lee Jae’s face belatedly flushed.

‘I think I was too brave. I should have come to my senses when the boy king told me to.’

And Roderick smiled, looking at that appearance because it was so pretty.

It wasn’t easy to suppress his excited feelings.

“I actually wanted to do it since a long time ago, but I waited until you didn’t push me away because it seemed like you were very reluctant.”

“Yes. I know that.”

“But I’m glad I listened to my wife after all.”

“Why?”

“I almost became the worst kind of bastard who calls out another woman’s name while doing it.”

Lee Jae was embarrassed and sorry, so she lowered her head deeply.