Previously
Kang Lee-jae reflects on her past life as a shaman's apprentice and how her spiritual eye led to her eventual death and reincarnation. In Hailey's body, she performs a cleansing ritual to ward off spirits and discovers a small, non-malicious spirit attached to a cracked antique jewelry box.
Fate Is a Meeting of Souls (Part 2)
After driving out all the evil spirits and applying talismans to the barrier, Lee-jae spent an entire week bedridden with illness.
Pour too much liquor into a waterskin beyond what it can hold, and it will eventually burst.
Lee-jae was merely an ordinary mortal who had barely set foot in the realm of the extraordinary.
So whenever she channeled power beyond the natural order, it invariably took a painful toll.
Even so, the King was not an entirely terrible person; upon learning that his lawful consort was unwell, he sent medicine and visited her once.
Lee-jae counted that as fair payment for the ritual she had performed.
When the King entered the room, Lee-jae watched several malicious spirits clinging to his shoulders get driven away.
At that moment, Roderick frowned slightly.
Yet she also saw that a few of the more vicious spirits managed to force their way into the room, making her realize the barrier was not strong enough.
She wanted to create a safer sanctuary.
She had begun carving a small wooden statuette to place in the room, but the head maid abruptly confiscated the knife, citing the danger.
The half-finished carving looked rather bizarre, with an elongated body and a rounded tip.
For some reason, anyone who saw it turned flustered and red in the face.
In the end, all Lee-jae managed to finish was a simple bracelet of prayer beads.
Lying in bed, Lee-jae idly rotated her ankle.
She was reading through Hailey’s diary, which she had brought from the ducal manor.
Charlatans existed everywhere. This world was no exception.
Lee-jae said dryly,
Lee-jae paused and looked at the guardian spirit.
Taking a closer look, she realized it truly had nothing except eyes and a mouth.
With no one around to hold a proper conversation, she talked to herself a lot.
In truth, Lee-jae had always been one to talk to herself.
Up in the mountain villages or out in the countryside, there were few people to converse with, while spirits chattered at her without end.
Shaking her head, Lee-jae returned to Hailey’s diary.
‘October 16, Year 497
Tomorrow is my birthday. Who baked my birthday cake?
Mother is bringing a strawberry cake, but that doesn’t matter.
All that matters is that it tastes good.’
Lee-jae had been reading Hailey Duncan’s diary to piece together her incomplete memories, but she stopped and closed the journal.
She was certain of one thing.
Hailey had never possessed any resonance with paper or wood.
As Lee-jae lay in bed staring at the ceiling, someone knocked on the door.
It was Deborah, the head maid.
Lee-jae took the letter and shook her head.
Lee-jae nodded and waited for Deborah to leave before opening the letter.
It was from Duke Duncan. For whatever reason—perhaps out of respect for protocol or awareness of palace prying eyes—his tone had completely changed.
‘Your Majesty the Queen.
I heard you were indisposed. How fares your health now?
I am sending some medicine I personally had gathered, hoping it proves beneficial.
There is a matter I wish to consult you on. Though there are many servants tending to you in the palace, what would you think if we sent a few people from our household to provide greater comfort?
Wishing you health and well-being in body and spirit.’
Lee-jae folded the letter with a troubled expression.
Hardly any of Hailey’s feelings remained in this body now.
Her soul had departed long ago, and emotions naturally faded with the passage of time.
Only those bearing deep hatred could not move on and turned into ghosts; only those with great purposes broke the rules to become guardian spirits.
‘Hailey, if you were in my place, what would you have done?’
Lee-jae looked down at Hailey’s diary with a worried frown, then called Deborah back.
The head maid looked slightly surprised by the unusual inquiry, but bowed respectfully.
The meeting in the royal audience chamber was in utter disarray.
Roderick’s blue eyes burned with fury after receiving a report regarding the corruption of a lower-ranking official.
His anger was justified.
Yet after sitting for a moment pressing his forehead, the King violently swept his arm across the tabletop, sending things crashing with an enormous clatter that made Jade furrow his brow.
It was an omen that something terrible was coming. Jade knew it all too well from his experiences over the past few years.
Roderick had not been such a temperamental man in his youth, but ever since taking the throne three years ago, his cruelty had grown worse with each passing day.
Jade understood this was the nature of the throne, but drawing a sword over the slightest provocation and resorting to brute force was entirely alien to the man he once knew.
Even for his closest companions, dealing with him had become difficult at times.
At that very moment, Lee-jae stood outside the audience chamber, clutching the letter to her chest and watching everything unfold.
And naturally, she could see what was invisible to everyone else.
‘How does their number grow every single time I see him?’
Seeing Roderick grab the water goblet on the table, Lee-jae squeezed her eyes shut and turned around.
She was so stunned that she had spoken aloud in honorifics without meaning to, but no one paid any mind. Even the guards were looking at the King with weary faces before turning their heads away.
The official sprawled flat on the floor, clutching his head, was the only one unable to flee, trembling endlessly where he lay.
Deborah gently took Lee-jae’s arm, trying to draw her away.
In truth, this could easily have happened on Lee-jae’s very first night of marriage.
Hesitating for a moment, she nodded.
‘Let’s just pretend we saw nothing. I swore I wouldn’t get involved. What could I even do against such a massive swarm anyway?’
Just then, Lee-jae heard the goblet shatter against the floor and turned toward Roderick in fright.
When he drew his sword from its scabbard, pure panic seized her; pulling her arm from Deborah's grasp, she bolted into the audience chamber without thinking.
The instant she rushed in, regret washed over her.
She felt cursed with the most wretched luck, and these eyes that could see what should never be seen were the root of all her trouble.
She silently blamed Deborah for not holding onto her tighter, but it was already too late.
‘Hailey, I’m truly sorry.’
‘The head on this body you protected is coming off today.’
‘This second life we shared was doomed to end like this.’
There was no turning back now.
Quietly, Lee-jae reached out and caught Roderick’s arm.
An eerie silence suddenly descended over the audience chamber.
Yet Lee-jae saw something strange.
The evil spirits circling the King like a pack of dogs began to draw back slowly.
By nature, Lee-jae was someone who cared deeply about her own survival.
Her life had been miserable enough, and yet—
Only then did she remember that she was wearing the prayer bead bracelet carved with symbols and warding talismans.
In her former world, such talismans were considered terribly weak.
Grandmother Yunsan had even dismissed them as nothing more than a scam.
Even so, the evil spirits were inching away bit by bit, just as they had the other night.
"…"
"…"
As the silence dragged on, people began to fear for the young Queen.
Even Jade felt it was time to step in.
Yet Roderick, who had been scowling for what felt like an eternity, looked around the room.
He stared at the scene with an unfathomable gaze, then let out a deep sigh.
And sheathed his sword.
Looking down at Lee-jae, he mouthed wordlessly, as if asking: why?
Even to Lee-jae, who was deeply relieved, that silent question was bewildering.
How could you act so calm after witnessing all this?
Yet the King was waiting for an answer, so Lee-jae had to come up with a clever response before he asked again.
Bringing up Duke Duncan right now was clearly a terrible idea.
Dwelling on negative or unpleasant thoughts only fueled the power of evil spirits.
"…"
"…"
As she spoke, Lee-jae subtly brushed away an evil spirit clinging to the King’s shoulder with her beaded wrist. Gently, so gently.
‘I know. You were born with immense fortune, something I never had. That’s why I can do this.’
Lee-jae then looked toward Deborah with pleading eyes.
She thought the head maid ought to be sharp enough to read the room. If she couldn’t, Lee-jae would have no choice but to summon servants from her family as the Duke had suggested.
Lee-jae’s expression grew solemn, surprised by how remarkably well their wits aligned in this moment.
Now only the King remained.
After a brief silence, Roderick lifted his hand and gave a dismissive wave.
He was ordering the official sprawled on the floor to leave the room.
The official looked as though he had just escaped death itself, relief washing visibly over his face.
Roderick roughly ran a hand through his hair, looked at the head maid, and gave a curt nod.
At that moment, everyone in the audience chamber looked as if they too had been spared from death.
And from somewhere in the room, an audible breath slipped out, an inadvertent sigh of relief.