Previously
Roderick wakes up feeling refreshed and orders that the sleeping Hailey be moved to his own bedroom to avoid waking her. Later, during their first shared meal, Kang Lee-jae proactively informs the King about a letter from Duke Duncan and rejects her father's attempt to plant spies in the palace.
Who Are You? (Part 1)
Roderick Firth Blairk.
Speaking the King’s middle name was forbidden.
Yet most of Cayenne’s subjects knew his name well enough.
‘The Dominant Beast.’ That was his moniker, and in truth, practically what he was called.
Yet the King bore another epithet: ‘The Mad Beast.’
It was a name the nobles traded in secret whispers, born of his violent fits of madness.
Early in the morning, Lee-jae stepped outside alongside the attendants.
The King and his knights were making preparations for a hunt that would last two days and two nights.
The royal family possessed private hunting grounds, and many past kings had indulged in the pastime.
Historically, however, no monarch had ever ridden out to hunt as relentlessly as Roderick.
Roderick was acutely aware of his own madness, occasionally turning to the hunt to blunt those savage, bloodthirsty impulses.
Standing some distance away, Lee-jae wore an anxious expression.
Conflicting emotions churned within her.
Perhaps it was for the best that he left the palace, given that his chambers resembled a derelict ruin or a mass grave.
Even so, she had something she wanted to say to him.
‘I really think you shouldn’t kill anything more.’
Yet how absurd would that sound to him and his knights?
Why did she feel so uneasy?
He was a man who unsettled her in far too many ways.
Meanwhile, as Lee-jae let out a faint sigh, Roderick—having finished his preparations—fixed his gaze upon her.
When Lee-jae responded with confusion, he said, “Don’t just stand there like that. Come over here.”
Yet despite his curt tone, he turned his mount himself and trotted over toward her.
Unaware that she had been brooding over the ten sins of Buddhism, he seemed to be in a remarkably good mood.
And why wouldn’t he be? The open air out here was far cleaner than the oppressive atmosphere inside the palace.
Even the few lingering traces of dark energy scattered the moment he drew near her.
She decided to push her worries and discomfort aside for now.
Loosening his grip on the reins, he leaned forward slightly.
Lee-jae let out a breathy laugh. She had been on the verge of telling him not to take another life, but hearing this left her utterly at a loss for words.
Grasping his meaning at last, Lee-jae nodded.
Even so, Roderick seemed in no hurry to depart.
Gazing off toward something in the distance, he remarked in a casual tone:
When Lee-jae traced his gaze, she spotted a maidservant fastening a handkerchief around a knight’s bow.
The knight leaned down from his saddle, cupped the girl’s cheek, and kissed her passionately without paying the slightest mind to the onlookers around them.
The overtly intimate scene was so nauseating that Lee-jae frowned faintly and looked back at the King.
Whatever he made of her expression, Roderick added:
"…"
What was he talking about?
Bafflement washed over Lee-jae’s face, and beside her, Jade looked even more bewildered than she was.
The King seemed to be picking a quarrel with the Queen out of nowhere.
With nothing left to say, Lee-jae replied offhandedly:
And do not succumb to madness.
Swallowing the words she truly wished to say, Lee-jae took a step back from him.
At the Queen cutting the conversation short, Roderick smiled. It was a grin born of sheer exasperation, yet it carried no real displeasure.
Lee-jae was beginning to see it now.
His true nature and disposition were entirely distinct from the frenzy stirred up by the evil spirit lurking within him.
That might have seemed self-evident, but in reality, it rarely was.
Spirits were naturally drawn to people whose thoughts turned dark and negative, or whose hearts harbored deep wounds.
Right then, Roderick, who had kept his eyes on her all along, spoke: “Do not go anywhere near the water.”
He sounded as though he were chiding a child, yet the reality was anything but.
As Lee-jae frowned and looked up, the languid gaze he had worn moments earlier hardened into a sharp, piercing focus upon her.
She realized this was what he had truly wanted to say.
The King was warning her not to die.
Lee-jae nodded in silence.
"…"
As the King snapped his reins, his knights spurred into motion directly behind him.
February 7, Year 499.
[Father told me to marry His Majesty.
Yet I love Lawrence.
Does this mean Father does not love me?
I do not want to die.]
Lee-jae was reading Hailey’s diary again today.
It was an excerpt written roughly three months prior.
By now, however, she had all but abandoned the attempt to read through Hailey’s entries in order.
Hailey’s journal was excessively sparse and unforthcoming, barely containing any words at all.
Perhaps, in some sense, she simply had not been someone who enjoyed writing.
Lee-jae grumbled as she closed Hailey’s diary and slipped it back into the desk drawer.
Rising from her seat, she walked over to gaze out the window.
Despite the pity she felt, Lee-jae was by nature someone who believed in finality.
No mortal could outrun their allotted fate or destiny.
Minor misfortunes might be avoided, but the overarching path that defined a human life could never be altered.
Hailey had written that she did not want to die, yet she was destined to meet her end.
Though it sounded heartless, that was simply how Lee-jae, with her fatalistic worldview, perceived it.
There was a notion in this world called amor fati—the love of fate—and people preached that one ought to embrace the trials and tribulations thrust upon them.
Yet they could only say such things because they had no way of knowing the precise nature of those hardships or how deep the agony ran.
How many souls could truly love their fate if they knew the exact depths of the suffering lying in wait for them?
Lee-jae had never once accepted her own fate, nor had she ever made peace with it.
She left the library with a faint gloom hanging over her face.
The attendants and knights immediately fell into step behind her.
Lee-jae turned to Deborah and asked,
Sensing that Deborah was playfully teasing her, Lee-jae chuckled and waved a hand dismissively.
The attendants following behind kept their attention trained on her.
Deborah, who had spoken in jest to test the Queen’s reaction, asked, “Why is that?”
Who on earth would want to stroll through a haunted house on a casual walk? It wasn’t as if she were some YouTuber!
To Lee-jae, it was merely an evasive excuse, but the others took it quite differently, nodding in quiet understanding.
Given everything they had witnessed, it was only natural to find the King terrifying.
Eventually, Lee-jae began to wander aimlessly across the palace grounds before pausing beside an immaculate, manicured garden.
In the center of the garden lay a massive lake, nearly the size of a grand manor.
Roderick’s words surfaced in her mind:
Do not go anywhere near the water.
Still looking out over the water, Lee-jae seated herself far back along the edge of a raised flower bed.
In a murmur meant for her ears alone, she muttered, “Even if you dragged me by force, I wouldn’t go near that water.”
Yet even as her eyes remained fixed on the lake, a sudden shiver ran straight down her spine.
It was not born of some ominous premonition, but rather an overwhelming, tremendously imposing aura.
Lee-jae cursed just how broad human peripheral vision could be.
Though she kept her gaze stubbornly locked forward, she could clearly see a colossal white horse standing just to her right.
Oh, wonderful.
The man dismounted and settled himself right beside her.
It was the massive Western specter she had spotted during the wedding.
The spirits trailing Roderick were numerous, but none possessed such staggering power.
Even the sovereign entities venerated by high-ranking shamans lacked this level of sheer majesty.
Feeling the immense weight of the phantom’s power, Lee-jae sat frozen stiff with dread.
Should I get up and leave? That would probably be the smartest choice.
Just as she was plotting how to retreat toward the servants, she heard him speak:
Don’t say it like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
I’m a living human, and you’re a ghost. Even guardian spirits are still dead things!
We belong to entirely different worlds, so stop crossing the line whenever you please!
Lee-jae squeezed her eyes shut.
Perhaps that was answer enough for him, for a low chuckle broke out beside her.
“In truth, you are not Hailey Duncan.”
"…"
Lee-jae feigned deaf.
Lee-jae sprang to her feet.
Hesitant and torn on what to do, she tried to hurry back toward Deborah.
Right then, a mocking voice called from behind her:
Lee-jae whipped around in fury.
An aura of spiritual power flared from within her.
The blue-eyed phantom gave an easy shrug, as if showing off the formidable aura radiating from his frame.
"…"
Lee-jae ducked her head in haste and hurried back to Deborah’s side.
As she ran, an otherworldly laughter followed in her wake, audible to no one else but her.