Special Story 6

Lee-Jae went to bed earlier than usual. It wasn’t so much because of the water play, where she’d only dipped her feet, but rather because she’d been out and about for the first time in a while.

She had used a lot of her power at the temple today, infusing her pure energy into every part of the building. Although Roderick had made his usual quips, saying things like, “My wife has such a kind heart,” Lee-Jae hadn’t held back in her wish for the people who came to this place to find happiness.

But just as she was about to fall into a deep sleep, Lee-Jae sensed a sudden presence and her eyes snapped open. The spirit of the chest had passed through the door and came rushing over, making a fuss.

– Lee-Jae! Wake up quickly!

It wasn’t Lee-Jae who answered, but Roderick, who was lying right next to her. He chuckled without a hint of tension, his voice drowsy.

“She’s already awake. What is it?”

But at the spirit’s next words, Roderick and Lee-Jae’s faces hardened simultaneously.

• Leo snuck out of his room!

“Oh, how…” Lee-Jae groaned in dismay. The spirit, however, insisted on reenacting the scene right in front of the parents. The spirit scurried to the window, hunched over and straightened up, pretending to look outside.

– He looked out the window like this, keeping watch…

“…”

– Then he went over the wall…

Roderick groaned, holding his forehead.

‘Oh dear. He’s only six, and he’s already climbing walls.’ He wasn’t sure if he should be happy about his fast development or sad that the scale of his mischief was growing.

He moaned in agony for a moment before speaking towards the door.

“Is anyone there? Come in for a moment.”

The attendants and knights rushed in in a perfectly coordinated manner and lined up before him. The chamberlain, representing the group, asked the King.

“Your Majesty, do you have a command for us?”

“The Prince is likely causing trouble again.”

“Pardon?”

“He’s not in his room, so go find him. He can’t have gone far, so focus on the surrounding area.”

The knights looked at each other with puzzled eyes. The King’s order seemed rather sudden and out of the blue. How did the King, who had been in the room the entire time, sense this? As an illogical situation unfolded, they habitually looked at the Queen.

Lee-Jae nodded her head repeatedly, urging them to find him quickly. The knights also nodded and immediately complied. If the Queen said so, it was so.

The people quickly left the room and began their search. But Lee-Jae was still restless. She gnawed at her lip, and when she got up as if she couldn’t take it anymore, Roderick held her back.

“Leave it to the knights. It’ll be faster.”

He was trying to soothe his anxious wife. Roderick’s eyes met the spirit of the chest, who was nervously rolling its eyes.

The spirit, who had recently moved to Leo’s room, was fainter than usual. It was because it had run so far from its treehouse to deliver the news.

Roderick advised the weak spirit to return home.

“You should go home now.”

– …

“Go on. Aren’t you supposed to not be here for long?”

But the spirit, as if wanting something more, twisted its body and dawdled.

– Hey, didn’t I do a good job?

Roderick, noticing the spirit was waiting for praise even in this situation, frowned but gave him what he wanted.

“You did well.”

– …Really?

“Yes, you were a great help.”

The spirit beamed and turned to leave. Its footsteps were as light as if it were flying on its way home. It was unbelievable; it was even whistling, as if it had learned it from somewhere.

Just then, the knights’ shouts were heard from a distance.

“Your Majesty! We found him!”

“He’s by the lake!”

Upon hearing his son’s location, Lee-Jae darted out of the room. Roderick, who followed right behind her, could easily tell that she was very worked up. It was the first time in all their years of marriage that he realized his wife could run this fast.

They ran down the long corridor in the blink of an eye, heading towards the lake with a pattering sound.

The outside world was dark. The moonlight was dim, as if the clouds were blocking it. Even the sound of the ever-crying grasshoppers sounded particularly eerie that night.

But in that moment, Roderick felt a strange sense of déjà vu. There was a time Lee-Jae had also snuck out of her room at night and been found by the lakeside. Coincidentally, the fact that she had gone out through the window instead of the door was exactly the same as now.

Later, Lee-Jae had explained that she had been under the spell of an evil spirit, but at the time, he was so scared and heartbroken, thinking she might be dying. Roderick, without thinking, looked at Lee-Jae as he ran.

Had she also recalled a similar memory? Lee-Jae’s face was turning as white as a sheet. Gnawing at her lip, Lee-Jae opened her eyes wide and recited an incantation.

‘True water has no fragrance, true light does not flicker.’

That light, which ordinary people would never be able to see, came to Roderick as an incredibly clear and brilliant shimmer. It was a firm aura that brightened the entire palace.

But his admiration for the firm aura was short-lived. Roderick stopped in his tracks, frowning at his wife’s back.

He was just as worried about his son, but he didn’t think this was a situation that called for spiritual powers.

The palace had long since been a clean zone where not even a single evil spirit would dare to approach. This was thanks to Lee-Jae, who would stick talismans everywhere and perform spiritual repairs whenever she had a chance. Roderick quickened his pace and caught up to his wife.

“Lee-Jae, I don’t think that’s it…”

Roderick couldn’t shake the feeling that Lee-Jae was wasting her energy in the wrong place, and he gently grabbed her arm. He was worried she might collapse, especially after pouring so much of her energy into the temple today.

But Lee-Jae, who was consumed by the ominous possibility that her son might be under the spell of an evil spirit, couldn’t hear him clearly. Her eyes, scanning the lakeside, were filled with anxiety. And the more anxious she became, the stronger the aura emanating from her grew. It seemed she was about to annihilate every evil spirit in the world.

Roderick was afraid that Lee-Jae might just jump into the water, so he hugged her and tried to calm her down.

“Lee-Jae, why are you like this all of a sudden?”

“…”

“Look again carefully. There’s nothing there. Huh?”

Lee-Jae looked at the water with wide eyes. Roderick was right. No matter how much she brightened her spirit eye, she couldn’t find a single strand of hair from a water ghost.

But she immediately crumpled her face and cried out.

“What good is that! Our Leo isn’t here either!”

At that moment, a rustling sound came from the bushes around the lake. The group of knights, who had been waiting nearby to avoid crossing paths with them, revealed themselves as the King and Queen arrived. They had the Prince, who had made them do calisthenics in the moonlight, in front of them.

Lee-Jae, losing all her strength, covered her face and groaned.

“Sigh…”

Leo, who seemed to know he had caused trouble, kept glancing at his mother. A voice like a crawling ant came from between his thick lips.

“I didn’t go in…”

“…”

“I was just watching… Because Mama said it was dangerous…”

“…”

“It’s true…”

Lee-Jae slowly lowered her hands from her face and looked at Leo. Leo, who never cried even when he fell hard while running, was still a child. As his mother and the adults all looked at him with hardened faces, he was visibly intimidated. It seemed like he was on the verge of bursting into tears if anyone so much as touched him.

The problem was that Lee-Jae’s eyes were also slowly turning red. She knew in her head that this was the moment to either gently reason with the child or scold him sternly. But when she tried to open her mouth, something suddenly welled up in her throat, and she couldn’t easily say a single word. It felt as if a lump of stone had lodged itself in her throat.

Roderick, noticing that Lee-Jae was not her usual self and couldn’t control her emotions, immediately stepped in front of his son.

“Leo. You and I need to have a talk alone.”

However, Leo, who seemed to be scared of a one-on-one with his father in this situation, kept glancing at his mother. His face was like a young animal desperately begging his mother to save him from a hunter.

Roderick clicked his tongue in disbelief and led Leo away, telling him to stop being a rascal and just follow him.

‘I’m saving you right now, you idiot. You don’t even know who the really scary one is…’

Leo kept looking back and dawdling, but it was a quick trip to the Prince’s Palace. Before closing the door to the child’s room, Roderick whispered to Lee-Jae, who had followed them.

“I’ll talk to him properly. You go somewhere and rest for a bit.”

He felt that those words weren’t enough, so he even mimicked rubbing the area around his heart a couple of times in front of her. It was his way of telling her to calm down.