Special Story 8

Lee-Jae picked up her carving tool for the first time in a while and sat at a table. Her eyes, fixed on the block of wood, were serious, and her hands moved as naturally as flowing water. However, Roderick, who was watching her, asked in a somewhat glum voice.

“Lee-Jae. Are you planning to make our son cry on his birthday?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“That thing looks too scary.”

Lee-Jae put down her carving tool for a moment and looked at the Yama statue, which was nearly complete. It certainly looked scary.

But a Yama statue was supposed to look this way. The King of Hell wouldn’t welcome the spirits of the dead with a gentle face.

“Did I make it too menacing? But Leo was the one who said he wanted this first, wasn’t he?”

Lee-Jae countered and looked towards the bedroom window. There, the first Yama statue she had carved for Roderick a few years ago was placed. And recently, while exploring his father’s room, Leo had brought the statue and asked with curious eyes.

Did Mama really make this?

Yes, she did. But who told you that?

The attendants told me.

Lee-Jae had no trouble realizing that the child wanted that Yama statue. She could have just given it to him to play with, but she was worried about the statue’s condition.

Despite its brave past of confronting evil spirits, the Yama statue was now worn out. It wasn’t just old; it looked like it was in pain, moaning, ‘Please let me go…’

Lee-Jae ultimately decided to carve a new Yama statue for her son. It was also Leo’s birthday in a week, so the timing was perfect.

Thinking it was too late to consider another gift, Lee-Jae picked up her carving tool again. And just as she was about to infuse her energy into her fingertips.

“Hah.”

“…”

Stumbling at the sound of a deep sigh, Lee-Jae stared at Roderick. He didn’t seem to realize that he had just sighed. Not wanting to scold him for an unintentional act, she silently tried to regain her focus. But then Roderick sighed again.

“Hah…”

Lee-Jae eventually frowned and chided him.

“Roderick. If you sigh like that, it’ll bring bad luck. This is a very important moment, you know.”

“…Oh, sorry. I’ll be quiet. Go back to what you were doing.”

Roderick nodded placidly as if not to disturb her and closed his mouth. But Lee-Jae, who was looking back and forth between the block of wood and her husband, put down her carving tool and got up. It was partly because it was difficult to regain her flow, but also because her husband seemed somehow different than usual. His frequent, unconscious sighs made him look like a man with worries.

“Roderick, is something wrong?”

“Me? No? Why?”

“You seem a bit down…”

As Lee-Jae trailed off in a worried tone, Roderick let out a snort.

“My little bean, you’ve improved a lot. You even notice when your husband is feeling gloomy.”

“…”

“But you’re wrong.”

“…”

“Nothing’s wrong, so go back to what you were doing.”

But Lee-Jae couldn’t shake the feeling that her husband seemed strangely troubled today, so she lay down right next to him. When she gently scratched his arm with her finger, he winced as if he was ticklish, but the corners of his lips curled up. He didn’t seem to mind her coming close and snuggling up to him.

Lee-Jae, pondering how to make him feel better, asked playfully.

“Roderick. Should I get you a gift too?”

“A gift? What kind?”

“While I’m making Leo’s, I’ll carve a new one for you too. I can do it quickly.”

Roderick chuckled as Lee-Jae pointed to the first Yama statue. But he soon shook his head and said firmly.

“Thank you for the thought, but I’ll politely decline.”

“Why? It’s time for a new one. That one is so old now it can’t even ward off ghosts.”

“Lee-Jae. I’m much more afraid of that than ghosts.”

“…”

“I mean it.”

“Okay, you don’t have to emphasize it so much…”

As Lee-Jae mumbled in embarrassment, Roderick burst into laughter. It was a loud laugh, so loud that he didn’t seem like a man with any worries at all.

However, Lee-Jae continued to tilt her head and glance at him several times afterward. She couldn’t shake her gut feeling that something was wrong with her husband. It was a sort of intuition.

***

The King’s study was unusually quiet today. Breaking the silent air was a heavy sigh.

“Hah…”

This was already the nineteenth sigh today. As the King sighed repeatedly, the attendants looked at each other. Roderick looked at them with sorrowful eyes and said in a low voice.

“Chamberlain.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Life is truly unpredictable.”

“…”

“I never thought I’d live to be such a pathetic husband, one who can’t even properly celebrate his wife’s birthday.”

At the King’s lament, the chamberlain and other close aides all let out wry smiles.

The King had also worn that same face of worldly sorrow around his own birthday a few months ago. And at the prince’s birthday party the other day, he had smiled the entire time, but he had been secretly troubled behind the scenes. The reason was that he felt sorry for his wife.

The Queen would refuse all congratulations on her official birthday and go outside the castle. While it was widely known that she traveled here and there, her destination was always the same: the river where Hailey had thrown herself. There, she would float a bowl of water and light candles to hold a memorial service.

As this ritual was repeated every year, Roderick’s sorrow deepened. ‘It’s the Queen’s official birthday. My wife should also be celebrated by everyone for at least one day a year. In my heart, I want to set off celebratory fireworks to show how happy I am that she was born.’

But the beginning of his misfortune was that he wasn’t so tactless as to do such a thing next to his wife while she was diligently mourning. So he had once subtly asked her about her real birthday… but she said she had always considered the day she was abandoned by her parents as her birthday. It made the person who asked feel ashamed.

However, while Lee-Jae spent her own birthday in such a somber, funeral-like manner, she would get more excited than anyone else when it was her husband’s or son’s birthday, preparing parties and gifts. That made Roderick’s heart ache even more. One was a funeral, the other a party. The atmosphere and scale were so contrasting that it felt like he was sitting on a bed of nails every birthday.

Roderick finally spoke to the chamberlain, who knew everything, with a sense of determination.

“Chamberlain.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I’ll have to arbitrarily choose a day for the Queen’s birthday. There’s no precedent, but I’ll change the date.”

The chamberlain looked troubled and asked back.

“My apologies, Your Majesty. Has Her Majesty the Queen not already refused that plan on several occasions?”

‘Why hadn’t he tried this before?’ Roderick wasn’t doing this to interrupt Lee-Jae’s personal ritual for Hailey. He had already proposed on multiple occasions to proceed with the ritual as usual and hold the celebration on a different day.

But each time, Lee-Jae’s reaction was cold. She would frown and ask what the point of celebrating on a day that wasn’t her real birthday was. Roderick had put up with it so far, respecting her wishes, but lately, he had been thinking.

‘What have I done to deserve this?’

‘I get upset and feel unnecessarily guilty every birthday, and now it’s making me sick. I want to do more for her, but she’s stopping me, so all this resentment is building up.’

“I know the Queen won’t be happy about it.”

“…”

“But I think I’ve been patient enough.”

“…Yes, then we’ll do as Your Majesty wishes.”

The chamberlain, confirming the King’s firm resolve, agreed after a long silence. Perhaps, contrary to their concerns, the Queen’s reaction wouldn’t be so bad. While she had always waved her hands in refusal, she would surely be grateful once she felt the sincerity of the King. She was, after all, a person who valued the small kindnesses of others.

The chamberlain confirmed the details to align with the King’s plan.

“Then, when do you plan to set the Queen’s new birthday? We will come up with a good reason for the public.”

“Hmm. As soon as we’re ready, we’ll proceed as quickly as possible. There’s no point in delaying.”

Roderick intended to act first without asking for Lee-Jae’s permission. And he planned to hold a grand event that she could never cancel. He would hold a prelude, an opening ceremony, and even a closing ceremony.

That would require thorough preparation. And a fantastic gift was a must.

“What would be a good gift this time?”

Roderick recalled the list of items he had gifted his wife over the years. Clothes and jewelry that would suit her, a villa, an herb garden, a decocting pot, and even embroidery tools and carving knives. He had tried his best to cater to his wife’s tastes, but only a few of the gifts satisfied Roderick.

‘Ah. There was also the fountain.’

But he considered the fountain a failure as well. Leo, who had first learned to swim there, now found the fountain boring and didn’t even go near it. Instead, he was steadily conquering the shallow parts of the lake under the supervision of the knights.

Thanks to that, Lee-Jae also recently stopped going to the fountain and spent her time by the lake. Perhaps because she was inspired by her son to work harder, she even went into the water with him from time to time.

‘But isn’t there more than one way to enjoy the water other than just swimming?’

“Hmm…”

Just as Roderick was deep in thought, a plausible idea came to his mind. The guard on duty outside announced the arrival of a cute visitor.

“Your Majesty, His Highness the Prince is here.”

“Is that so? Tell him to come in.”

As soon as the door opened, Leo came running, shouting energetically.

“Papa!”

Roderick smiled gently at his son. Then, upon noticing something on the child, he covered his face with his hands and his shoulders shook. Leo was holding the menacing Yama statue close to him as if it were a teddy bear.