Follow Your Heart [EN]: Chapter 93

Mind’s Guidance – Episode 93

#93.

The King’s study felt different than usual.

It was because the King had acted on a sudden impulse.

The King, who had intended to conduct the interrogation in the underground prison, suddenly ordered the prisoners to be brought to the study.

Roderick didn’t want to take his wife to a place like the underground prison.

Of course, it was an instruction that inconvenienced some people, but it turned out to be a good choice.

His wife possessed an intuition sensitive to such gloomy energy.

When Lee Jae arrived at the King’s study, the King was already waiting in the hallway.

“Your Majesty.”

Roderick, who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, straightened up.

“You’ve arrived?”

“Yes, why were you out here?”

“…Do you really not know why?”

Lee Jae looked puzzled, but the head maid chuckled inwardly.

Deborah, practically a mind-reader, seemed to know the reason.

Inside the study were heinous criminals, bound and awaiting interrogation.

The King didn’t want the Queen to enter such a dangerous place alone.

So, he deliberately waited in the hallway to escort her from the entrance.

However, even Deborah, with her keen senses, couldn’t understand one thing.

In fact, everyone in the castle felt the same way.

They couldn’t understand why the Queen needed to see the criminals’ faces.

“I was just asking. Why are you being so touchy?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Anyway, let’s go in.”

The King took Lee Jae’s arm and gestured for the door to be opened.

As the door opened, the maids tried to follow discreetly, but the royal guards immediately stopped them.

Only the 1st Knight Order was allowed to enter, besides the King and Queen.

Deborah stood there, looking at the Queen with a worried expression.

Lee Jae gave a faint smile, as if to say she was okay, and nodded.

The atmosphere inside the study was grim.

The crime committed by the Western Army soldiers was akin to treason.

Desertion is usually punished with imprisonment or fines unless it’s wartime. However, arson within the military camp was an exception, punishable by beheading without exception.

The criminals were kneeling with their limbs bound, and ten knights pointed sharp swords at them.

The King glanced at them and strode forward with Lee Jae.

Lee Jae kept craning her neck to get a good look at the room, but it wasn’t easy.

She frowned.

*Your Majesty, the crime was committed by those people, not me. Why are you restraining me?*

Feeling frustrated, she gently tapped the King’s chest.

“Your Majesty, please put me down.”

“No. Wait.”

The King pressed the back of her head.

“No, why are you doing this? Let me go.”

“Wait. Your husband isn’t finished preparing yet. Stop sticking your head out like that.”

Lee Jae was taken aback, but the knights understood the King’s intention.

The King was walking with the criminals partially obscured from Lee Jae’s view.

He was shielding the Queen from heinous criminals.

*But if that’s the case, why did he bring the Queen here in the first place?* The knights wondered. *Such a tiny person.*

The King eventually set Lee Jae down.

However, his strange behavior continued.

He placed the Queen at the far end of the room, farthest from the criminals, even if it meant facing them.

Moreover, the King stood, partially blocking her.

“What were you doing just now?”

“Securing a safe distance for our little bean.”

At this point, even the knights thought the King was being excessive.

Their presence, pointing swords at the criminals, felt pathetic.

It felt like the King didn’t trust their skills at all.

Lee Jae, barely on the floor, glared at the King resentfully.

However, the King was already paying no attention, staring ahead.

He was feeling a different energy than usual.

He had come to check it before Lee Jae arrived.

The King asked.

“So, what do you think?”

Lee Jae narrowed her eyes.

She carefully examined the shoulders and backs of the criminals before trying to step forward, wanting to get closer and look around the study.

But Roderick grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

“Don’t go like that. I asked what you think.”

“…What do *you* think, Your Majesty?”

Roderick answered immediately.

“I think it’s strange.”

“…That’s right. There’s something wrong.”

Then Roderick moved Lee Jae completely behind him, shielding her.

He instructed the knights.

“Take them away. Lock them up in the underground prison.”

“No!”

Lee Jae grabbed the end of the King’s sleeve and shook her head.

Roderick tried to ignore her.

But when she persisted, pulling on his clothes, he reluctantly tilted his head.

Lee Jae lowered her voice and whispered.

“We have to destroy it. Are you going to leave it like that?”

Roderick frowned.

“Why do you have to do things like that? You’ve confirmed it, that’s enough. Stop here.”

“…”

“Lee Jae. As you said, you’re not a saint. Are you planning to save everyone in the world?”

Lee Jae paused. It wasn’t because the King’s words sounded cold, but because they echoed advice from others who had walked a similar path.

But Lee Jae shook her head.

“That’s not why. Your Majesty, what if those evil things attach themselves to someone else again? If we’re really unlucky, they might stay here.”

*I’ve been hesitant to say this, worried you’d be upset, but Your Majesty’s study isn’t a great place either. Actually, location-wise, it’s worse than Your Majesty’s room.*

*I know the boy king [referring to a previous monarch] was extraordinary. But if he had been born in Korea, he would have definitely been scammed in real estate.* [This is a cultural reference to the prevalence of real estate scams.]

“So why did you bring those people all the way to Your Majesty’s study? Dangerously?”

When Lee Jae asked, the King stared at her silently. Then his blue eyes turned to the ceiling, and he sighed.

*It wasn’t like I wanted you to understand, but you’re making it sound like I did something unnecessary, so I feel a little wronged.*

*I just didn’t want to take you to such a gloomy place, that’s all.*

“Please send the people out. I can finish this quickly. Okay?”

Lee Jae looked up at the King, and when he didn’t answer, she diligently signaled the knights to leave.

However, the knights hesitated, sensing the tension.

The words the two were whispering didn’t reach their ears. Nevertheless, it seemed the King and Queen were experiencing a disagreement.

In principle, they had to follow the King’s orders, but the King remained silent.

After a long pause, the King sighed and nodded. The embarrassed knights left the study as if they had been waiting for the signal.

He was worried about leaving just the two of them in a room with heinous criminals, but the King was someone who didn’t need to be worried about as long as he maintained his sanity.

In fact, even when he wasn’t sane, the people next to him were the ones who needed to be worried, not the King.

The King opened the study door about an hour later.

As they stepped out, the smell of burning paper wafted out.

Deborah approached with a surprised face.

The Queen was in the King’s arms as she had been when she entered.

However, her body was limp, and her complexion was pale.

“Your Majesty, are you unwell?”

Then the others approached.

The head attendant, examining Lee Jae’s face, said.

“Shall I call a doctor?”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m okay.”

When the King and Queen answered simultaneously, the people fell silent.

Roderick moved towards the Queen’s residence.

The Knight Commander, the King’s right-hand man and friend, followed.

“Your Majesty, what should we do with the criminals?”

“Move them to the underground prison first.”

“Shall I order their summary execution according to military law?”

This time, the answers came almost simultaneously.

“Uh, does it have to be that extreme…”

“…”

“There’s no need for that, just give them a prison sentence and then discharge them all.”

The people’s expressions were strange.

*Did they coordinate their words inside?*

But the King and Queen didn’t seem aware of their odd behavior, seemingly unconcerned with the reactions.

Despite their unified opinion, they displayed different moods.

The Queen looked tired but had a smiling face, and the King looked fine but had a low expression.

*Did they fight inside?*

Jade, suspicious, asked carefully, turning the question around.

“Did anything ominous happen inside?”

The answers came again simultaneously.

“No? Nothing happened? Why?”

“…”

“Haa… Let’s just say nothing happened.”

The people of the castle were certain.

*They fought. This is a fight. And the Queen won again.*

But suspicions grew.

Considering they fought, the King’s attitude towards the Queen was full of pity and affection.

“Shall we go to the room?”

“Yes. But I can walk.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“What do you mean it’s not? You’re really going to see in the room. This negotiation is off.”

Then Lee Jae, who had been smiling, said “uh?” and looked confused. She looked around and lowered her voice.

“Why? I didn’t have a nosebleed.”

“There was no mention of you feeling nauseous so many times…! Haa. Let’s stop.”

“That’s actually a very natural phenomenon… I’ll stop too.”

Jade, who overheard the conversation, thought:

*Why do they say everything they want and then say ‘let’s stop’?*

*Does that last word erase everything?*

However, the King, after bickering, kissed her forehead with pity.

“Can you eat?”

“Of course.”

Roderick nodded and turned around.

He looked at the head maid and said.

“I will have the meal in the Queen’s bedroom.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“The Queen seems tired, so prepare something easy to eat.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The King turned and headed to the Queen’s palace.

The people who followed tilted their heads and exchanged glances.

They were curious about what had happened inside the study, but there was no way to know.