Forgotten Juliet

Lennox Carlyle pondered for a moment about the family secret.

The heirloom passed down in the ducal family was a dangerous object that shouldn’t come out into the world. It messed with a person’s mind, distorted memories, and eventually drove them mad.

Lennox took Juliet’s hand and met her lips at the end.

“…But even if Dahlia has confused your memories, the things you’ve experienced won’t be as if they never happened.”

“It feels like I’ve come back from so far away.”

It was just as Juliet had said.

By the time they reflected on it, everything was already tangled in a mess.

Even if it turns out that due to Dahlia, the memories were distorted, and Lennox didn’t actually kill Juliet, what good would that do?

He couldn’t forgive his past self for making Juliet drink poison.

‘Messing with one’s mind.’

On the other hand, Juliet blinked with a puzzled expression.

She didn’t know what to say.

It would have been much better if that woman was the real destined partner of Duke Carlyle and held a grudge against Juliet for coveting her position.

Suddenly, Juliet remembered Elizabeth Tillman flaunting her family members to her.

It was a clear threat.

If it’s an entity that can confuse human memories, it’s even more dangerous.

‘But why?’

“If Dahlia is the name of this tiara, then who is that woman?”

And why are they tormenting her so persistently?

Juliet raised her head and asked her lover.

Lennox was faintly smiling.

As if he had been waiting for Juliet to ask that question.

“You’ll see for yourself.”

* * *

For several days after that, Juliet didn’t know what Lennox meant by ‘You’ll see for yourself’.

But she guessed he had some plan.

“The council has been convened.”

The council was an imperial meeting convened for noble families like the ducal, marquis, and count families, especially those with a long heritage.

After the rampaging magical beasts had wreaked havoc in the capital, emergency meetings continued at the palace.

“Countess Monad, please attend the council.”

The Emperor’s messenger came to see Juliet the next morning.

She was commanded to come to the imperial palace and report on the extent of the damage suffered by each family.

The Monad County had been weakened for a long time, and all they had was a small piece of land.

They had no damages to report.

But they still had to show their face.

It’s good not to have anything to lose in situations like this.

Juliet chose a calm blue formal dress, neatly tied her hair in a bun, and finished her preparations to go out with a hat with a veil.

Even as Juliet was leaving, Lennox just provided a knight from the Duchy as an escort and said nothing else.

As the carriage crossed the town, Juliet looked out the window.

The festive atmosphere from just the day before was nowhere to be seen. It looked like it would take a while to restore the damaged buildings.

The situation was said to be spreading, not settling. That is, magical beasts were rampaging all over the continent.

“How could that happen?”

“They found a suspicious smoke bomb.”

Sir Milan, the knight escorting Juliet, whispered to her.

“A smoke bomb?”

“Yes.”

Juliet recalled the scenes she saw in the square.

Certainly, after an unidentified gray smoke spread, the magical beasts started to rampage wildly.

‘What on earth is it?’

“Ah, Prince Cloff has set up an agency to come up with countermeasures and is investigating the situation.”

“Second Prince? That’s unexpected.”

“Yes, it’s quite suspicious.”

Milan chuckled when Juliet expressed her wariness.

“Shall we investigate?”

Juliet shook her head.

“No, let’s deal with the urgent matters first.”

Juliet instructed to restrict outsiders from entering and make sure no dangerous incidents occur within the Duke’s territory.

When she was in the North, where magical beasts often appeared, she had done the same thing, so Milan and Juliet coordinated well.

“I wonder if the North is okay?”

When she asked, worried about the northern ducal castle, Milan gave a meaningful smirk.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

After all, historically, the North was the area where the most magical beasts appeared. Nobody would be more prepared for battles against magical creatures than the northerners.

Juliet nodded her head.

“But Miss, don’t you remember?”

“What?”

“At the square the other day.”

Milan recalled the scene when he found Juliet.

‘The magical beasts were definitely…’

For a moment, the rampaging beasts suddenly became calm.

They even seemed to kneel towards the ruined building where Juliet was.

As soon as she left the place, they started rampaging again. It was strange.

“What?”

However, Juliet seemed to have no memory of the incident.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Milan picked up a piece of food and swallowed it.

“What’s this? It’s bland.”

Juliet smiled lightly and headed to the conference room.

Although it was called a grand meeting, it wasn’t as grand as its name suggested.

Apart from the central aristocrats, people from various families came briefly just to report the damages they had sustained.

Moreover, prominent noble families with vast territories, like the Duke’s house, sent representatives on their behalf.

It seemed everyone was busy checking if there was any disturbance in their own territories.

Hence, the atmosphere was business-like. Each noble family reported the damage in their territories, and they discussed how to immediately restore the damaged facilities.

The Emperor’s instructions were very reasonable. He advised against holding any ostentatious events and to focus on relief activities for the time being.

“So, who will help with the restoration?”

When the Emperor asked, the nobles present somewhat reluctantly promised their support.

“We will contribute to the relief fund.”

“Then we will provide the necessary fabrics.”

However, even the act of contributing to the relief fund forcibly fell upon the wealthy nobles.

Smaller families like the Count Monad’s house didn’t even have a direct conversation with the Emperor.

Especially after Juliet had declined a marriage proposal in the past, she hadn’t had a chance to speak directly with the Emperor.

Instead, palace administrators went around asking and documenting.

Without checking the extent of the damage herself, Juliet, while waiting for her turn, looked at the handwriting of the summoning officer who approached the Count Monad’s house.

[Dearest friend, Guardian Monad.]

The first Emperor of the Empire, Emperor Ernest, had given the Count Monad’s house that name.

‘Come to think of it…’

Juliet recalled being curious about it when she was younger.

While most of the founding families were knight families, the Count Monad’s house was a family with relatively unclear records of their achievements.

However, Juliet knew the secret of the silver key.

The butterflies confined by it.

What if the first Count of Monad also possessed the qualities of a spirit summoner and established the practice of confining butterflies?

It then made sense for the name Snowdrop to become known.

And the black panther had said that names are a significant weakness for spirits.

‘Is it such a big deal to have one’s name known?’

“Miss Juliet.”

“Who… Eshelrid?”

When someone suddenly called from behind, Juliet, lost in thought, turned around in surprise.

The magician from the guild, Eshelrid, was hiding behind a pillar. He was holding a noticeably large basket in his hand.

“What are you doing here?”

As she asked, Juliet realized that Eshel was wearing a knight’s uniform that didn’t suit him.

And what’s with the absurdly large basket? She was certain it contained something enormous.

“I had no choice. I wanted to meet you urgently.”

Eshel grumbled, but Juliet was flabbergasted.

Then why not come to the Duke’s house directly?

Why dress up in disguise if you’re going to bring such a conspicuous basket?

She wanted to point out a number of things, but in the end, she accepted the basket he handed over.

“!”

The weight, much heavier than she expected, made Juliet stagger.

And as she staggered, a familiar chirping sound came out.

“Peep!”

“…?”

And just as she thought something was moving suspiciously inside…

Without checking what was inside the big basket, Juliet already knew.

“Why did you bring Nix?”

Juliet murmured with reproach.

Eshel shrugged.

“I just did as I was told. They said you were in danger.”

Eshelid spoke as if the baby dragon was some sort of living amulet.

“Told? By whom?”

“Who else? Duke Carlyle.”

‘Lennox?’

Since when did they know each other?

Juliet became more puzzled, but Eshelrid let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad you’re safe anyway. You were at the square, right?”

Hearing that, Juliet remembered something she wanted to discuss with him.

“Eshel.”

“Yes?”

“I saw a snake.”

“…A snake?”

Juliet recounted her recent experience.

She met a strange being in the square wearing the mask of Dolores.

“I think it was a snake.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because I recently heard a similar story.”

Juliet, who had been troubled the night before, remembered where she had heard the snake story. It was a tale told by a knight she encountered during a brief trip to the South.

‘Was his name Jerome?’

According to the knight, his colleague was consumed by a yellow demon snake.

“But others said they saw a man named Julio in the desert.”

Eshel listened to her story seriously.

“So you’re saying this snake demon consumes people and then mimics their appearance? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes. And I think the snake I encountered in the square might be the same being.”

This time, it seemed to have consumed Dolores and wore her skin.