In the court, reports were in full swing.
The Commander of the knights and the military nobles looked absolutely ashen.
“Arson.”
Roderick tossed the letter from the western border onto his desk without even reading it.
The old noble in charge of the military felt like he was sitting on a bed of thorns.
Sure enough, the King was staring straight at him. The calm blue eyes were terrifying in their own way.
“You said nothing like this would happen again. Seems you were wrong.”
“……”
“But at least the gates weren’t breached.”
Roderick let out a small, amused snort.
“Truly, the range of messes you manage is impressive. This isn’t an army anymore—it’s practically a den of beasts.”
“…My deepest apologies, Your Majesty.”
The military nobles and the Commander looked at a complete loss.
But what they didn’t know was that the King wasn’t actually angry. He was just…dumbfounded.
Because deep inside, Roderick was increasingly convinced that this was beyond human doing.
“What happened to the knights responsible?”
“They’re being transported to the capital as we speak.”
Roderick nodded.
“Sit them down right in front of me. No, put them in the dungeons. I’ll interrogate them myself.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“If that’s all, then leave. Except for the commander of the 1st Division.”
The rest of the sweating military officials quickly exited the library.
Left alone with the king, the knight commander looked clearly troubled.
And for good reason. Jade felt deeply ashamed. He had personally chosen and recommended the commander stationed in the west, yet that man had failed to deliver any meaningful achievements.
“Your Majesty, I apologize.”
“For what?”
“Never mind. I expected as much.”
Roderick dismissed it like it was nothing, and Jade found that oddly unsettling.
He wanted to ask—how exactly had the King expected this?
But lately, the King had started saying incomprehensible things, often whispering quietly with the Queen, like they shared secret knowledge only between the two of them.
“Jade.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I have a task for you.”
Jade nodded solemnly, expecting something heavy.
But once again, the King’s words were unexpected.
“Track the Prince’s whereabouts.”
“…What?”
“No one must know. You understand that much, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. But… is something wrong with the Prince?”
“Who knows.”
Roderick stroked his chin, looking like he wasn’t quite sure himself.
Lately, he felt like he was staring down another puzzle. He had just about pieced together the one concerning his wife—now the western border was the new mystery.
How was he supposed to solve this one? And where could he find the missing pieces?
His mind swirled with tangled thoughts.
At that same moment, Lee-Jae stood waiting outside the King’s chambers.
There was still plenty of time before their scheduled meeting. But she’d hurried over early, hoping the royal guards might let her in anyway.
She wanted to check whether the magical barrier was still holding while the King wasn’t there.
These days, Roderick would check her breathing, heartbeat, and even temperature if her face looked even slightly pale.
The patient was clearly him, and yet somehow, he had ended up playing the physician.
“Would it be alright if I went in ahead and waited?”
She asked cautiously. The guards looked uneasy.
They didn’t want to leave the Queen—who was also the de facto head of the pro-king faction—standing around in the hallway.
But even so, they couldn’t just go against the King’s direct orders.
In the end, the royal guards bowed their heads and spoke in an extremely troubled tone.
“We’re truly sorry, Your Majesty the Queen. We can bring you a chair instead. Or perhaps, you’d prefer to wait in the guest room…”
Lee-Jae waved her hands in protest.
“No, no! It’s fine. I can wait. Honestly, I came early on purpose.”
She quickly smiled and began chatting casually with the guards.
The guards, who had looked mortified just moments before, relaxed thanks to the Queen’s warm demeanor.
It was a scene the maids were very familiar with.
Things like this often happened in the audience chamber.
Nobles would, unprompted, end up sharing their personal stories in casual conversation with the Queen.
The issue today was that the King, too, had arrived quite early.
He’d come in advance, just in case his wife ended up waiting.
From the end of the hallway, Roderick raised one eyebrow.
He had caught sight of Lee-Jae chatting amiably with the guards.
He was fairly certain this had happened once before, too.
“What are you doing?”
“Your Majesty.”
Catching sight of him, Lee-Jae approached with a delighted expression.
But Roderick, without a word, wrapped one arm behind her thighs and hoisted her up in a swift motion.
“Eep!” she yelped, grabbing his shoulder with both hands.
Clearly irritated by something, Roderick didn’t care in the slightest about her surprised cry.
He strode toward the guard who had been talking with her.
“And what exactly did Her Majesty say?”
“She didn’t say anything unusual…”
But everyone could tell the King wasn’t really asking out of curiosity.
He was warning them. When in the Queen’s presence—watch your eyes.
With a cold glare, Roderick swept his gaze over the guards and jerked his chin toward the door, signaling them to open it.
Still slung over the King’s broad shoulder, Lee-Jae whispered in his ear.
“Your Majesty, please put me down. We’re right in front of the door—why lift me out of nowhere like that?”
“Don’t breathe so suddenly into my ear like that.”
Roderick said it loud enough for everyone to hear, then strode straight through the doorway.
Once the door closed behind them, he gently set her down on the floor.
But his voice was laced with irritation.
“You.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t chat so freely with the knights.”
“…What do you mean?”
Roderick sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Saying things like, ‘Your nose bridge is well-shaped’—why do you even say things like that?”
“……”
“They’ll get the wrong idea, those thick-headed brutes.”
“And where did you hear that?”
Lee-Jae stared at him, wide-eyed. That was the last thing she expected to hear.
Did my words really sound like that? I definitely added that it was a nose that attracts fortune…
Still flustered, she asked cautiously:
“…That wasn’t my intention. Are you saying I’ve been… seducing them?”
At that, Roderick’s face twisted into a full grimace—he looked genuinely irritated this time.
“Where do you even pick up these gutter-like expressions? Can you talk to your husband a little more sweetly?”
“Me, seduce? Please. I’d pick up even things that fell on the ground. Did you forget you once said my heart’s too frugal?”
“……”
“The problem isn’t you. It’s them—they’re too stupid to read signals properly.”
Lee-Jae stared at him with a bewildered expression.
Then what exactly was she supposed to do? Who’s the one at fault here?
“Then if I didn’t do anything wrong, why are you telling me all this?”
“Beats me. Let’s just say it’s all your fault.”
Of course, Roderick still had some lingering annoyance.
But what bothered him more was the way his wife described herself—so he quickly changed the subject.
Roderick picked her up again.
He gently placed her on the bed, then climbed up after her.
Sitting stiffly on the bed, Lee-Jae couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
The King had seated her between his legs and opened a book.
It looked like he was about to read her a fairytale.
Your Majesty, is this one of your hidden romantic fantasies?
Lee-Jae glanced back at him, and Roderick, as if waiting for just that moment, pressed a kiss to her lips.
“Lean back.”
Lee-Jae relaxed her body and rested her back against his chest. He pulled her closer by the waist. She glanced back at him again over her shoulder.
“Your Majesty.”
“Hm, what?”
“I like this sofa.”
Roderick let out a quiet chuckle.
“That’s good. I’m glad there’s at least one thing you like.”
“I like the pillows too.”
“How wonderful.”
They both stifled laughter at the same time.
From then on, the King turned the pages one by one, reading aloud in a calm, pleasant voice.
It was incredibly comfortable—but truthfully, Lee-Jae felt a bit guilty. This was something a leisure-loving spirit who didn’t eat or sleep should be doing, not her busy husband.
“In the year 497 of the Daemon calendar, the tyranny of the Daemon Empire worsened. Neighboring nations began preparations for war, and uprisings great and small erupted within the empire. This marked the beginning of the Three-Year War…”
Lee-Jae continued to listen to the King’s voice.
“Once rulers of the continent alongside the Daemon imperial family, five noble houses—of which Ilias and Schmidt disappeared without a trace, Melon and Russell were eradicated, and only Duncan remains…”
“…Ilias?”
She murmured suddenly to herself, and Roderick stopped reading to glance at her.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. It just sounds… so familiar.”
“That house appears in almost every history book about the kingdom.”
Lee-Jae still looked puzzled, but she nodded anyway.
Yet her expression grew increasingly serious.
“The fourth king, Ryan Blake, promoted a strong policy of ethnic unification. But in truth, it wasn’t for unity—it was a precaution against the powers possessed by others. Take note.”
“The fifth king, Noel Provicio Blake, left a will before his death: that all mysterious powers would vanish from the continent. That it was the will of the heavens and the secret of the heavens. …But when an era of chaos arrives, those lost powers shall return once more.”
“…An era of chaos?”
When Lee-Jae interrupted again, Roderick let out a chuckle.
“Do you want me to keep reading or not?”
But she grabbed his hand.
It was her silent way of saying, Don’t speak. Let me think.
Something about all this felt strangely familiar.
After searching her memory for a while, she finally remembered when she’d heard this before—something the Boy King had once said to her.
— You already know, don’t you? That this is the moment when the great current begins to shift. Chaos always comes with confusion.
— Then maybe you should try being the hero of that chaos. Wouldn’t that be something?
“An era of chaos. That’s it.”
This was the era of chaos that the fifth king had predicted. The moment when long-lost powers would reawaken.
What else could you call this moment—when the fate of the King and the kingdom was simultaneously changing?
“Your Majesty.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“What’s the power of the five families?”
“My Queen really is the kind of student who asks a lot of questions, huh.”
Roderick let out another small laugh, but Lee-Jae wasn’t smiling.
“Please, Your Majesty. I’m serious. Don’t joke with me.”
Seeing the intensity in her gaze, Roderick stared at her for a moment, then nodded and turned another page.
The passage he began reading contained things rarely written in ordinary history books.
To most citizens of the kingdom, they were nothing more than founding myths—but in reality, four centuries ago, these powers truly existed on the continent.
“The power of House Blake: Fulgor, the holy sword.”
“The power of House Ilias: Evocatio, summoning.”
“House Schmidt: Defensio, barrier.”
“House Melon: Exorcismus, spirit demise.”
“House Russell: Rumpo, counteraction.”
“And House Duncan: Provicio… foresight.”
Lee-Jae stared at the King, overwhelmed, eyes wide with shock.
Her gaze trembled with unease.
Suddenly, the countless pages she had read in Hailey Duncan’s diaries over the past few months began flashing through her mind.
— I keep having strange dreams. They scare me. But I won’t tell anyone.
— Mother will probably bring home a strawberry cake…
— But I know it can never be like his heart.
— Father is about to do something terrible. But no one will listen…
— The choice Father makes won’t be enough to change my or Lawrence’s fate.
Lee-Jae’s face turned pale.
In that moment, she finally realized who the girl once mocked as a “pretty fool” truly was.
Hailey.
You were… a seer. That was the real you.
