Previously
Kang Lee-jae exhausts her spiritual energy embroidering protective talismans onto handkerchiefs for Roderick, causing her to fall ill. Roderick visits her, expressing concern and frustration over her distance, even offering her the intimacy of using his first name.
I Miss You Terribly (Part 5)
Roderick kept talking to Lee-jae after that.
His words hovered somewhere between teasing and bickering.
To the onlookers, the King looked like a boy prodding a girl he liked just to watch how she would react.
Though he feigned a bit of annoyance, he looked genuinely happy.
Did he know how terrifying it was to stumble on a snake while digging for wild greens in the mountains? That had happened all the time back when she lived with Grandma Yunsan.
Yet Roderick did not seem to understand at all.
Roderick chuckled and tapped Lee-jae’s forehead with his index finger.
Lee-jae shrugged her shoulders and smiled.
Roderick studied her closely before asking in a gentler tone,
Naturally, Lee-jae hoped he would prevail in this lonely struggle against the spirits.
Yet his question carried an entirely different meaning than she had imagined.
There also seemed to be a subtle clash of dignity and influence at play between the participants.
A conflicted look settled over Lee-jae's face.
Normally, a king was not someone who accumulated karma through hunting.
He carried the lives of countless subjects in his hands, born with a grand tide of destiny that was vast enough on its own.
If the sovereign’s seat was an ocean, a mere hunt did not even amount to a drop in its trench.
Yet now, while he was being plagued by vengeful wraiths, this pointless slaughter would do him no favors.
How should she put this?
As Lee-jae bit her lower lip, Roderick's gaze sharpened as well.
"…"
Finishing her words, Lee-jae offered a faint smile, while Roderick gazed down at her with unreadable eyes.
And right then…
As the commotion grew among the men wrapping up their final preparations, Lee-jae glanced away reflexively.
Then she stared in one direction and froze.
The Queen's reaction was so strange that Roderick followed her line of sight, then clicked his tongue.
Hailey’s former lover was standing there, staring back at them.
‘Lawrence.’
Lee-jae felt her heart drop the moment she laid eyes on the handsome man.
This was undeniably Hailey's memory.
Yet even if Lawrence had not been in those fragmented memories, would she really have failed to recognize him?
Vengeful rancor so intense could birth a wraith, and lingering, deep affections still refused to leave Hailey's body.
Seeing the sudden tremor in the Queen’s eyes, Roderick instantly dismounted from his horse.
Before she even realized it, tears slipped from Lee-jae’s eyes.
Hearing the murmurs of the crowd, Lee-jae realized too late that she shouldn't be acting this way.
Yet the tears only poured down faster.
Hurriedly dabbing at her face with her sleeves, she bowed her head, and Roderick stepped right up before her.
"…"
Unable to stem the falling tears, Lee-jae could not bring herself to raise her head.
She murmured with a faint tremble,
"…"
Watching her crumble like this stirred something unfamiliar in Roderick.
It was disorienting—and it broke his heart to see her apologizing over and over.
Had she committed some grave crime that apologies were the first words out of her mouth even while crying?
Roderick gently wrapped his arm around Lee-jae’s shoulders.
He spoke in a light, teasing tone,
"…"
Still tense, Lee-jae let out a wet laugh at the King’s joke and bit her lip.
As Lee-jae buried her face in his chest, Roderick told her, “Wipe your tears on my clothes. And your runny nose—I saw that too. Go on, wipe your nose as well.”
He chuckled softly, and once Lee-jae stopped squirming against him, he spoke again.
Her flushed face cooling slightly, Lee-jae looked up.
Seeing her give an embarrassed smile, Roderick chuckled.
Roderick looked straight into her eyes and continued,
Lee-jae stared at him, flabbergasted.
‘…Good grief, Your Majesty really is a bizarre man.’
“I’m so very glad I married Your Majesty.”
This time, Roderick burst into genuine laughter.
Even so, Lee-jae apologized once more.
There had been countless scandals surrounding political marriages in the royal family, and a union between the royal house and the Duncan family was a matter of enormous gravity on its own.
Of course, an arranged marriage devoid of love along with this kind of unfaithfulness was deeply unsettling.
All the same, this was an official event, and she was the Queen.
Yet when the shadow of guilt refused to leave the Queen’s face, Roderick smiled and leaned closer.
Roderick cupped her cheeks in his hands.
As his face drew near, Lee-jae blinked and stiffened her neck, recognizing the unmistakable prelude to a kiss.
Having said that, the King thought to himself,
‘That does sound like a rather flimsy excuse.’
Yet when Lee-jae gave a slight nod, he pressed his lips gently against hers without hesitation.
This time, far more people than before—everyone gathered in the clearing—had their eyes pinned directly on the scene.
They were utterly stunned that the King and the young Duncan woman could show such deep affection after barely a month of marriage.
Roderick pecked her lips a few times, like a bird taking little nips, before attempting to pull away.
Yet the moment her warm breath brushed his skin, parting from her felt unbearable.
He tenderly kissed the side of her neck.
Though Roderick paused for a brief second, he was soon drawn right back to her lips.
He let out a low laugh at the gentle squeeze Lee-jae gave his back, a silent signal.
It wasn't an overwhelming kiss, but it brought a soothing comfort.
After patting Lee-jae’s cheek, he mounted his horse again and readily confessed,
"…"
"…"
Lee-jae watched him ride away.
The King’s retainers kept glancing back over their shoulders at her.
The same went for those who remained behind.
A few faces were flushed red.
Roderick had insisted it was fine, but Lee-jae knew better.
He hadn't asked a single question; he had stepped up to shield her without hesitation.
She felt an overwhelming rush of remorse and gratitude.
And this feeling was no lingering remnant left by Hailey; it belonged entirely to Lee-jae herself.
A person on foot could never match the pace of a horse.
When Roderick turned toward the shouting voice, the Queen was running toward him with all her might.
Roderick felt a strange sensation wash over him.
It was his first time seeing a woman who usually carried herself with the serenity of a priest or a scholar breaking into a frantic run.
He scratched the end of his eyebrow in bemusement and rode back closer.
At the King's question, she hesitated, then pulled something from her right sleeve. It was her plain wooden bracelet—the one she cherished far more than the gold one he had given her.
Lee-jae gently took Roderick’s hand resting on the reins and placed the wooden bracelet in his palm.
Roderick smiled and brushed a hand through her hair.
When the Queen woke in the early dawn, she would meditate for a while, and then spend her leisure hours crafting things.
Roderick had often found it hard to believe how she could sit so straight without ever slouching, focusing for hours on end with such keen, unwavering eyes.
Whenever he spoke to her during those moments, she would look up at him with a faintly guarded expression.
Yet oddly enough, after working so hard on these things, she always gave them away to him.
Truth be told, even if he had it, he wouldn't know how to use it.
At that moment, something appeared that only Lee-jae could normally see—yet even she missed it, as their eyes were locked onto each other.
A faint, spiritual light radiating from her heart coiled around the bracelet in the King's hand and vanished into it.
Roderick chuckled softly.
He had a rough idea of what she meant.
She wanted to give him something, but having nothing else, she was offering what she treasured most.
Her giving him all those handkerchiefs, and his taking them, meant she was deeply worried about him after all.
The King smiled brightly and gave Lee-jae’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.
He brushed his hand once more through her apricot hair.
Her lips caught his gaze again, but he forced himself to look away.
He spurred his horse once more, and this time, he vanished into the depths of the forest.