Previously
Kang Lee-jae notices King Roderick's extreme exhaustion and the malevolent spirits surrounding him. She uses her knowledge of energy flow to massage his pressure points, successfully clearing his blocked energy and driving the spirits away.
Fate Is a Meeting of Souls (Part 4)
Roderick was the first to wake.
At first, a faint frown touched his face, because his body felt unmistakably different.
Naturally, the change was for the better.
When he saw the familiar face sleeping peacefully, her lips parted slightly as she breathed, he realized he had fallen asleep with his head on Hailey’s lap.
Moreover, he had been holding her tightly against him.
"…"
Those present watched in silence as the King knitted his brows, then raised them.
He did not ask because he truly did not know; it was merely an expression of sheer astonishment.
After being unable to sleep for days on end, here he was, sound asleep before the palace servants.
Yet Jade answered him truthfully.
Roderick had never told anyone, but Jade vaguely knew that the King sometimes forgot things.
"…"
Of course, there had been some subtle gestures between them, touching each other several times… but how could he possibly bring himself to say that aloud?
Roderick let out an incredulous laugh, finding an odd familiarity in the explanation.
He pushed himself up, roughly raked a hand through his hair, and looked down at the Queen, who remained sound asleep.
After a long moment of quiet consideration, Roderick spoke.
The servants hesitated briefly, but hastened to carry out the order.
Attendants stepped forward ahead of the knights, yet in the end, it was Jade, Commander of the First Legion, who carried the Queen. As the King’s wife, her person could not simply be entrusted to any man’s touch.
Before Jade could step away, everyone froze as Roderick added,
"…"
The King’s bedchamber was, after all, far closer.
To those familiar with his usual conduct, the command hardly seemed as simple as it sounded, yet they were husband and wife.
Even if his motive was somewhat obscure, it could hardly be called improper.
Thus, the King’s servants cast suspicious glances toward the Queen’s maids.
Did nothing really happen between them?
Could their relationship actually be… good?
Knowing none of the private particulars, the servants could only exchange questioning looks.
Still, most of them eventually concluded otherwise.
One had tried to refuse the marriage so desperately that she threw herself into a river, while the other mistrusted everything related to the Duncan family. A good relationship between them seemed impossible.
Lee-jae woke in an unfamiliar room, looking thoroughly bewildered.
Opening her eyes, she found herself in completely unknown surroundings.
She briefly wondered whether she had died without realizing it.
She rose to check the mirror first.
Peach-colored hair, pale skin, and a slightly sharp chin.
It was indeed Hailey Duncan.
She let out a sigh of relief.
Roderick, even in his right mind, was not the kind of tyrant who would behead his wife merely for touching him.
Well, he was not entirely terrible as a husband.
Besides, I hardly went too far myself.
Yet a look of unease soon returned to Lee-jae’s face.
There was something unsettling about the room.
Lee-jae realized this was the King’s bedchamber from the way the spirits kept their distance from her, crowding into the far corners in her presence.
Overwhelmed by the chilling, sinister air and a sudden wave of nausea, Lee-jae immediately pulled open the door to leave.
Upon stepping outside, she found Deborah and the maids waiting for her.
Assuming the Queen was unsettled by the strange surroundings given her pale complexion, the head maid offered an explanation.
Why bring me to this cursed place, of all places?
I am someone who stumbles into terrifying situations by accident as it is.
Lee-jae looked as though she had heard the strangest nonsense, then smiled wryly.
The King, though unsure whether she had truly helped him, seemed to be offering some intermittent form of reward.
Yet Lee-jae, sensitive as she was to such dark energies, found little comfort in it.
She patted the talisman tucked in her pocket several times, wishing she had brought more with her.
The servants watched her with puzzled expressions.
In the end, Lee-jae bit her lip and walked out.
A few days later, Roderick proposed having a meal with Lee-jae.
It was their first shared meal since their marriage two weeks prior.
Beforehand, Jade had arrived to report on a secret letter he had inspected in the Queen’s library.
The King and his retinue chuckled at the report, as it was plain that Duke Duncan was attempting to plant his own people inside the royal palace.
And the Duke surely knew the King would never permit it.
It was simply one of the usual maneuvers that recurred endlessly between the throne and the nobility.
Even so, Hailey was a Duncan, and such demands on her would only multiply.
Who could say for certain that she would not become her father’s puppet or a rallying point for the nobles?
For that very reason, Roderick had continued to extend marriage proposals to lower-ranking families while blaming the Duncan family for past incidents.
Thus, this luncheon was simply an occasion to observe Hailey’s reaction.
Arriving early at the dining hall, Roderick sat in deep contemplation for a long time.
He considered how best to open the conversation, though there was only one inevitable conclusion to the matter.
All the while, his mood occasionally tipped into irritation.
He caught himself instinctively rubbing his forehead and furrowing his brow.
The moment the Queen appeared in a delicate dress, his brow knitted even further.
A peculiar sensation washed over him.
He could not shake the feeling that the air had turned remarkably clean.
With each step she took closer, that crisp purity grew thicker and spread through the room.
Though the sensation felt impossible, it seemed oddly natural at the same time.
Yet he summed up the surreal impression in a single word.
Lee-jae paused at his remark. “Pardon?”
"…"
Shaking his head, he gestured toward the opposite chair.
Lee-jae quietly took the seat he indicated.
Roderick tapped his fingers against the table, gazing at her intently.
Lee-jae was likewise deep in thought.
Before the courses could be served, however, she took the initiative.
Roderick fell silent for a moment at her words.
While everyone else held their breath in the tense quiet, Roderick felt quite differently.
He had been pondering how to raise the subject, only to realize he had completely overlooked how straightforward she could be.
A faint smile crossed his lips as he yielded the lead to her.
Lee-jae glanced at him briefly. “Would you care to see the letter? There is nothing of consequence in it, but I brought it along.”
Roderick shook his head, having already read the copied text.
Instead, he asked with genuine curiosity, “And what do you wish to do?”
His blue eyes crinkled with amusement; he understood immediately what she was alluding to.
The day he had threatened her with marriage or death.
He considered it for a moment, then nodded.
Jade was slightly taken aback by what he heard; the conversation was unfolding in an unexpected direction.
They were supposed to be cornering her, yet she was handling it with remarkable composure.
Having obtained his consent, Lee-jae offered a playful remark in an entirely candid tone.
This time, Roderick burst into audible laughter.
Dabbing at the corner of his eye, he said with a smile, “Whenever you start speaking what is truly in your heart, it becomes quite amusing.”
He nodded, encouraging her to go on.
Yet Lee-jae seemed lost in thought once more.
In truth, she had been wondering about the real Hailey Duncan.
Hailey Duncan, would you have sided with your father?
Was having a father, any father, better than having none at all?
Yet with only faint traces of memory, she could not know what kind of person Hailey Duncan truly was.
In the end, Lee-jae arrived at her conclusion and said, “I shall write back to refuse. I have only recently joined the royal family, and it would not look good to others.”
It was a resolution that satisfied everyone.
Yet Roderick, who caught the finer nuance, narrowed his eyes.
Even had she asked for his help, he would have refused.
She had not shifted the burden of refusal onto him.
It amounted to doing him a favor.
While her answer was not an outright refusal, framing it as ‘not now’ left room for future negotiation.
It was an answer clever enough to avert a confrontation between the crown and the nobility for the time being.
Though her stance went against her father’s intentions, she had handled it like a true Duncan.
Roderick wondered whether that came down to blood.
He cast a glance toward Jade, who stood by the entrance.
Jade paused slightly; the King’s look seemed to ask, ‘Do you truly think that came from mere innocence?’
While staring at Jade, Roderick suddenly realized that Lee-jae was watching him with a faint smile, her gaze fixed on the food laid out before her.
Realizing what she meant, he took up his fork in mild irritation and jabbed it haphazardly into his food.
When he spoke with that slight scowl, Lee-jae chuckled.
Watching her laugh, Roderick felt a strange sensation stirring inside him.
It was as though something that had drifted far away was slowly making its way back to him.
In that fleeting moment, something small took root within his chest.
A curious blend of suspicion and pull, edged with a faint trace of fascination.
It was the very first time Roderick had ever experienced doubt and attraction intertwined as one.