Previously
Roderick wakes up after a rare night of sleep, finding the talisman Lee-jae gave him amusing despite the spirits still haunting him. Lee-jae reads Hailey's diary and feels the lingering pain of Hailey's love for Lawrence before being alerted to the King's recurring madness in his office.
The Sleeping Pillow (Part 3)
Soon enough, lulled by Lee-jae’s gentle touch, the King slipped back into sleep.
Jade’s mouth fell slightly agape at the unbelievable sight.
The attendants whispered amongst themselves, “She is like a sleeping draught in human form.”
Yet from Lee-jae’s perspective, it was only natural.
His body was exhausted because she had driven out the vengeful spirit and reopened the clogged flow of his energy.
On top of that, he had already been suffering from chronic insomnia.
She had also settled Roderick comfortably in her lap, allowing him to rest in peace.
Even so, the look on her face as she felt over the King’s body was exceedingly grave.
A deep furrow sat between her delicate brows.
The expressions of the onlookers grew steadily stranger.
The two were married, and if one had to point fingers it would usually be at the King, yet oddly enough, it looked as though the Queen were the one assailing him.
After a short while, though, the onlookers looked away in greater embarrassment. For just like before, the King had wrapped his arms around the Queen’s waist, letting out a sleepy groan.
It looked as though a black wolf were leaning all its weight onto a small fox, oblivious to the difference in their weight class. Now, it was the small fox who looked thoroughly pitiful.
The King’s attendants had lost all remaining confidence in the Queen’s maids.
They glanced at the Queen’s oblivious attendants.
Even if nothing had actually happened between the two, how could they always be carrying on like this?!
Did they truly intend to conduct themselves this way even in the Queen’s palace?!
Meanwhile, Lee-jae, with Roderick resting on her lap and an expression as though she were suffocating, decided to ask something far more fundamental.
She mouthed toward Jade.
As he drew near on muffled footsteps, Lee-jae asked in a hushed whisper, “Since when has His Majesty been like this?”
Seeing that Jade had misunderstood her question, Lee-jae searched for the right words and clarified, “No, I mean, since when has his temper been so dreadful?”
Unable to find a gentler way to describe Roderick, Lee-jae let out an awkward chuckle.
Jade, understanding the predicament she was in, cleared his throat.
The knight commander tapped the corner of his mouth, pondering deeply before answering.
The twenty-seventh King.
Roderick Firth Blairk had ascended the throne in the year 497.
Lee-jae recalled the royal lineage.
Then he had been suffering for three whole years.
Lee-jae looked down at the King’s peaceful face as he breathed lightly. When she brushed away a stray lock of black hair tickling his eyes, he let out a faint click of his tongue in his sleep.
Realizing it was due to the prayer bracelet and the talisman hidden inside her sleeve, she did not pull her hand away, resting it gently upon his forehead instead.
‘Think only peaceful thoughts, Your Majesty.’
Stroking his forehead, Lee-jae called out to the knight commander once more. There was something she wished to request.
Jade’s eyes widened at the completely unexpected request, but then a tense look crossed his features. “However, whenever he takes up a weapon, he often turns far more violent…”
Yet it was not an easy thing to tell them not to fight or to lay down their weapons.
For Roderick was a man born with long life and the destiny of a conqueror.
Lee-jae spoke to Jade as though the King were an ailing patient in need of treatment. Though her intentions were gentle, the knight commander wore a bewildered expression once more.
Startled by the reminder, she stroked the sleeping King’s hair several times. It was like a hand petting the dark fur of an animal to soothe it.
Yet unlike her tender touch, the Queen’s eyes held a lingering pensiveness, prompting Jade to stare at her.
While Lee-jae was rummaging through Hailey’s diaries, an attendant of the King arrived with a message, and Deborah informed Lee-jae,
Lee-jae immediately tucked the diary beneath her pillow and rose from the bed.
A short while later, a party swept into Lee-jae’s chamber, with Roderick at its center.
Lee-jae saw the lingering spirits trailing behind Roderick scatter away, confirming that her ward remained intact.
Even so, observing Roderick’s faint scowl, Lee-jae asked,
Roderick stopped in his tracks, and his attendants flinched.
The King’s attendants glared at the Queen’s maids as if ready to murder them.
How could Her Majesty speak to the King in such an insulting tone?
However, the Queen’s maids were generally far more formidable than the King’s attendants, anchored by Deborah, the undefeated head maid.
Besides, Her Majesty the Queen was not quite as meek or fond of pleasantries as they seemed to think.
Having been assigned to the Queen’s palace, they were bound to serve the Queen above all else anyway.
He appeared to be in good health and seemed to have slept well.
Lee-jae regarded him with a curious gaze.
While their respective attendants waged their petty, silent battle, Roderick realized he had no real business here at all.
In truth, his actions were merely the natural habit of a patient paying a regular visit to the physician, yet it was difficult for Roderick to comprehend such a fact clearly.
Frowning, he asked her in return,
She felt a pang of pity at having caught him off guard without warning once again.
Gritting his teeth, the King cursed her family.
Yet Lee-jae merely smiled without taking offense in the least, and Roderick let out a dry laugh at the sight.
Brushing past Lee-jae, Roderick took a seat first and said,
The words were addressed to Lee-jae, but at the same time, they were an order to the Queen’s maids.
Watching Deborah whisper a brief instruction before a maid stepped out of the room, Lee-jae quietly sat down across from Roderick.
While waiting for the tea, Roderick stared at Lee-jae with clear eyes, a sudden thought striking him.
Roderick frowned again. “That thing you were doing to my hand in the office. Like a cat kneading its paws.”
What on earth? Lee-jae pondered for a moment, feeling a prick of annoyance.
Was he truly comparing a shaman’s sacred healing art to a cat’s kneading?
She had exerted herself to the utmost with her modest skills, so how could this be the feedback she received?
"…"
Lee-jae eyed Roderick suspiciously, wondering if the King, having arrived without reason, had plotted this all along.
Scratching her forehead in thought, Lee-jae felt somewhat nonplussed.
She was not sure whether it was his stubborn refusal to lose or an innate sixth sense. But she had a feeling he was noticing something unusual about her.
That was precisely why she wished to avoid doing anything that stood out.
Seeing Lee-jae grow wary of him, Roderick let out a shallow sigh.
"…"
In the end, letting out a faint sigh as she humored the King, Lee-jae moved to sit beside him.
Unlike last time, however, she merely gave his hands a simple massage. She did not want to arouse suspicion, and besides, medicine was meant only for the sick.
Roderick seemed in fine condition today, and she could see no reason for him to suffer a relapse.
"…"
Yet Roderick was grappling with doubts far more practical than Lee-jae’s concerns.
Knights were naturally well-versed in tending to their own bodies.
They could splint a broken leg and reset a dislocated shoulder themselves; such folk were capable of rudimentary self-treatment.
Yet for someone who claimed to exercise casually, the Queen’s fingertips were far too soft… too delicate…
Eventually, he caught Lee-jae’s hand and looked at it closely.
These were unmistakably the hands of a noblewoman who had never engaged in rough labor in her life, let alone carving.
They were so tender that the knuckles that had gripped the carving knife were still bright red and swollen.
He even began to feel a twinge of pity for the small hands on the verge of blistering.
And yet what? Woodcarving was truly her hobby?
Roderick frowned, lowering her hand and running a palm over his face.
He looked toward Lee-jae, about to ask something—only to freeze in place.
Roderick’s eyes drifted slightly askew as he said, “Are you trying to seduce me?”
Hailey did not seem to understand his words at all.
Roderick spoke quietly, keeping his gaze firmly averted.
Lee-jae looked down at her clothes and gasped in horror.
The laces across the bodice of her gown had loosened as she shifted around, carelessly pressing against Roderick’s hands from this angle and that.
Her fingers fumbled about in shock, straying aimlessly over the fabric.
Covering her chest, Lee-jae glanced back, only to find the King’s attendants all ducking their heads, even though all they could see was the Queen’s back.
Mortified even further by this, Lee-jae cast a desperate, pleading look toward Deborah.
‘Deborah! Hurry over and do something about this damned complicated dress!’
‘Haven’t we gotten along so well until now?!’
Yet the head maid had the sharp wits of a ghost who had lived at least half a century, if not hundreds of years.
Deborah assessed the situation in a flash and deliberately looked the other way.
Observing the utterly flustered Queen and the King who pointedly ignored her, the maids were now utterly convinced.
The King and Queen had never spent the night together! That was why the air between them was so painfully awkward!
Burning with an urge for vengeance, the Queen’s maids glared at the King’s attendants as if ready to strike them down.
Roderick chuckled under his breath as he watched the maid trying her hardest to ignore the Queen’s solemn face.
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Roderick had no choice but to reach out. He brushed aside Lee-jae’s hands, which were only making the ties messier.
With deft fingers, he laced the cords of her dress and pulled them taut.
His fingertips lightly grazed the edge of her garment, but with a swift, practiced motion, he tied the knot and promptly let go.
Lee-jae, who had remained frozen in silence for a time, flushed faintly.
It had only been slightly undone, but having her dishevelment seen so openly was intensely humiliating. Usually so compliant, she spoke in an unusually sharp tone.
Having been scolded despite being the one to fix her clothes, Roderick muttered, “Then what was I supposed to do?”
He spoke bluntly, but his eyes were once again staring off into the distance.
She had protested, but in truth, she was glaring at him as if he were a bug.
He could have simply told the maids to step in and fix it.
The Queen’s scowl did not soften in the least.
In fact, he seemed at a loss for what to do.
Knowing that offering further excuses before such a Queen would only make him feel pathetic, he simply conceded.
"…"
"…"
Lee-jae frowned deeply before speaking.
At that, Lee-jae shut her mouth for a moment.
It was because she felt that, quite unintentionally, he had spoken the absolute truth.
Striving to regain the composure that had already deserted her, she replied,
“…Right. You truly have a stingy heart.”
Looking down at Lee-jae, who was still fretting over the edge of her bodice, Roderick broke into a soft laugh.