Forgotten Juliet

Juliet hugged Onyx and was calming him down when a disturbance arose outside, and the carriage door opened.

“Lord Carlyle!”

“Wait, just a moment…!”

Several nobles hurriedly ran out from the hall, chasing someone. Ignoring them, a man appeared before her, the man Juliet had been waiting for.

“This is ridiculous.”

Lennox, with a slight frown, repeated what he had said in the hall just a moment ago. In fact, those words had been meant for Juliet, not Cloff.

“I surrender.”

Lennox said, letting out a deep sigh.

Juliet asked calmly:

“What about the Second Prince?”

“He will probably be imprisoned by the Emperor.”

Juliet thought for a moment and then asked:

“Will they interrogate the prince about who he conspired with?”

At this, Lennox’s eyes narrowed.

He realized what Juliet was hinting at. Not long ago, when Marquis Guiness was captured, he had conveniently lost all his memories about Dahlia. There was no guarantee that the prince wouldn’t be the same.

“Perhaps Second Prince Cloff has already lost his memory of Dahlia.”

“We don’t need the prince’s testimony to handle that issue.”

However, Lennox chuckled lightly.

“That’s not something you need to worry about.”

Juliet looked puzzled, but without further explanation, Lennox directed the carriage back to the mansion.

When Lennox returned to the hall, Cloff was being dragged off to a prison cell by the palace servants.

“Father, Your Majesty! This is a conspiracy. I…”

“Silence! Lock him up at once!”

Cloff denied his wrongdoing to the end, but the evidence was clear.

Holding his throbbing head, the Emperor apologized.

“I’m sorry, Duke Carlyle.”

His embarrassment was evident, but now wasn’t the time for saving face.

“The fallout from this will be substantial.”

“Indeed.”

“So…”

The Emperor, unable to express his discomfort, looked at Lennox for cues.

Despite his youth, Lennox’s well-practiced composure allowed him to take his time. Thanks to Juliet, the situation was resolved more easily than expected, but Lennox had never really cared about Second Prince Cloff. His goal was solely to end ‘that’ thing.

“Your Majesty.”

“Why, what is it?”

“There are a few conditions you must agree to.”

“Conditions?”

The Emperor inquired with a puzzled look.

* * *

By the time the carriage arrived at the mansion, Onyx yawned widely and curled up to sleep on Juliet’s lap.

As Juliet petted the young dragon, she suddenly thought of her butterflies.

Ever since the butterflies disappeared, Juliet hadn’t recalled past memories or had nightmares. It was clear that her repeated visions of her past life were influenced by the butterflies.

(We have been waiting for this moment. For a very long time.)

But showing her past memories and causing her nightmares, the butterflies seemed to want to tell her something but couldn’t due to some constraints.

Maybe they showed her to indicate that her memories were distorted.

(Look at this.)

The butterflies were desperate to remind Juliet of her past memories.

‘But why?’

Another thing puzzled Juliet.

(What are you thinking?)

Suddenly, a voice echoed in the empty space.

Juliet shifted her gaze, and there sat a black panther.

“Dahlia, right?”

(Ah.)

Juliet conversed familiarly with the black panther.

In fact, this wasn’t the first time the black panther had shown itself before Juliet. This panther was a spirit attached to Lennox’s sword, and whenever it got a chance, it sneaked away from his gaze to converse with Juliet, disappearing quickly whenever Lennox appeared.

“Why bother using Marquis Guinness or Second Prince Cloff?”

Juliet’s brows furrowed.

“Wouldn’t it be simpler just to mess with my memories?”

After all, Dahlia had done that in Juliet’s previous life, distorting her memories to fuel misunderstandings and aiding her escape.

But the black panther simply shook its head.

(We cannot speak about ‘that’. It’s a promise.)

“I think the butterflies said something similar.”

(Oops.)

But before Juliet could delve further, the black panther disappeared with a startled expression.

And just as she stepped out of the carriage, Juliet was confronted by an unexpected visitor.

“Hello, Juliet.”

“Roy?”

Juliet’s eyes widened at the unexpected visitor. The first thought that came to her mind was a feeling of relief that Lennox hadn’t returned yet.

“What brings you here?”

Roy nonchalantly shrugged.

“I just came to run an errand from the temple.”

Errand?

“Ah.”

Juliet realized immediately upon seeing the small beige wrapped package in Roy’s hand.

It was an errand from the Pope. Juliet had recently asked the Pope to review the temple archives regarding the yellow snake spirit.

She didn’t know why Roy was running the Pope’s errand, but Juliet guided him to the greenhouse at the back of the mansion.

However, the only item in the package was a small hand mirror. Upon closer inspection of the circular mirror, she noticed some words engraved on its rim.

After reading it carefully, Juliet asked Roy.

“Is this everything?”

“Yes.”

The words on the mirror turned out to be a proverb.

[Those with desires are easily seduced, be cautious.]

That was all that was written. There was no other explanation for the mirror.

Juliet was somewhat disappointed.

Second Prince Cloff, who had been used by Dahlia, coveted power, and Marquis Guinness was also a greedy man.

Of course, it wasn’t wrong, but Juliet had hoped for something more helpful.

“Is this all the Pope wanted to convey?”

“Yes.”

For example, the identity or weakness of the yellow snake, or a way to survive its bite.

Juliet, setting the mirror aside, noticed a black tablet in Roy’s other hand.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a prophecy.”

A prophecy?

Juliet’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“Did the Pope call Roy to verify its authenticity?”

Seeing Juliet’s interest, Roy smiled.

“Yes. But it’s probably not important. It’s fake.”

Juliet was taken aback by that.

“Pardon?”

“It’s a fake prophecy.”

Roy looked at Juliet’s surprised face and smiled, seemingly amused.

It seemed he enjoyed seeing Juliet’s genuine reaction after a long time.

“Someone made it intricately, even infusing it with divine power.”

Despite being a fake, Juliet was intrigued by the artifact that had caused such a stir in the temple and the imperial palace.

“What did it say?”

“‘A king comes with disaster under the shadow of black wings.”

“Wow.”

Juliet exclaimed, with an ambivalent expression.

Roy coughed awkwardly.

“If translated into imperial language, that’s the meaning. It’s grammatically incorrect.”

“Even if it’s fake, it’s quite a… dramatic statement.”

“Yes, it’s rather crude.”

After a moment of thought, Juliet asked:

“Roy, who else knows this is fake?”

“I haven’t told anyone yet.”

“Can you wait to reveal it’s fake for a while?”

“It’s not that difficult, but why?”

Roy tilted his head.

“Once the priests from the temple investigate, they’ll soon realize that the prophecy is fake.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’ll take just a few days.”

Juliet thought it might be useful in some way.

“Then let’s do that.”

Just as Roy was nodding with a smile, Juliet noticed a familiar shadow at the greenhouse door.

“Your Highness?”

Without realizing, Juliet stood up.

Duke Carlyle, who seemed to have just returned from the palace, loosening his bowtie and wearing a shirt, stood at the doorway.

“When did you arrive…”

Grumble.

The sound of the chair scraping the floor was loud. Though she hadn’t done anything wrong, Juliet’s heart raced.

Considering Lennox’s recent reactions to even hearing Roy’s name, she couldn’t help but feel tense.

‘Of all times.’

Roy also slowly stood up.

“There’s no need to be on guard. I was just about to leave.”

Roy smiled leisurely.

Lennox, however, simply gazed at them with a neutral expression.

As the silence grew longer, Juliet started to feel uncomfortable.

“Aren’t you going to escort your guest?”

“Pardon?”

Juliet doubted her ears for a moment.

“Escort your guest and come back.”

For some reason, Juliet caught a fleeting stiffened expression on Roy’s face.

“…Alright.”

Though he quickly replaced it with a calm smile.

Watching the departing backs of the two, Lennox finally spoke.

“Elliot.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Do you remember the marriage proposal kept in the southern library of the Duke’s mansion?”

“Yes, I do remember.”

The chief secretary of the Duke, Elliot, meticulously checked where in the Duke’s castle certain documents were stored.

Come to think of it, it had already been about three months since he hadn’t returned to the North.

Elliot thought of his delayed return schedule to the North and his eyes grew dim.

He barely remembered what the Northern castle looked like.

“Burn it,” he was instructed.

“…Pardon?”

Lost in thought, Elliot responded a beat too late.

“Get rid of everything by burning it.”

The gaze of Duke Carlyle, who gave such an order, was fixed on Juliet, visible far outside the glass greenhouse.

“I, I will do so.”

“Leave no trace. Understand?”

Yet, despite his relaxed demeanor, his repeatedly instructing voice was chillingly cold, like a northern wind.

* * *

Meanwhile, the news that the Second Prince was imprisoned quickly reached the Empress.

“Cloff is His Majesty’s son! How could this…!”

However, the infuriated Emperor didn’t heed the desperate pleas of the Empress.

In the end, the Empress had to step back.

“Even if Cloff made a mistake, he should be given a chance to prove his innocence…”

As the Empress staggered, her healer, Elizabeth, quickly approached to support her.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll check on His Highness the Second Prince.”

Elizabeth reassured the Empress with a seemingly affectionate expression.

“Yes, you can surely get access to the prison.”

But a moment later, upon arriving at the prison, Elizabeth emotionlessly turned the key and opened the door.

Click.

“W-Who is it!”

Cloff, trembling with fear inside, was taken aback, but recognized Elizabeth and his color returned.

Before becoming the Empress’s healer, Elizabeth had been involved with the prince. Wasn’t the smoke bomb that sent the beasts into a frenzy something she had orchestrated?

“Hello, Your Highness. I came on the Empress’s orders.”

“Is that so? You arrived just in time. Isn’t all of this your doing? I’ll speak well of you to His Majesty the Emperor, just admit it and release me…!”

However, Elizabeth stood still and looked down at the Second Prince.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and release me!”

“All of you are such fools. None of you do anything right.”

“What?”

This was the first time Cloff had received such a verbal lashing.

Before Cloff could retort, he almost fainted, disturbed by the way Elizabeth was glaring at him.

Elizabeth’s appearance gradually changed. The whites of her eyes turned black, and her voice sounded like scraping metal.

“Surely the deal was to lure Juliet Monad, wasn’t it, Prince?”

“I did prepare everything properly…”

Cloff, responding hastily, widened his eyes. The once-visible blonde woman and the ordinary prison backdrop had vanished, replaced by a hellish scene.

“How on earth did that human woman manage to escape death and again? I can’t rely on these creatures’ power anymore.”

The murmuring entity was no longer the beautiful blonde maiden.

Cloff noticed the silhouette of a person with a snakehead behind her.

“M-Monster…!”

Cloff couldn’t close his eyes, letting out a choked gasp. It was an unbelievable sight.

But there was another entity emitting a faint moan, barely audible.

(Contractor. Now. Danger…)

Butterflies of an unidentifiable nature wriggled on the floor beneath Elizabeth, emitting a faint light as if their wings were injured.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

The entity, having reverted to a human female form, smirked.

“There’s an abundance of weak ones, after all.”

Now its voice sounded like the threatening hiss of a snake.

“And there’s nothing easier to manipulate than those blinded by desire.”