Forgotten Juliet

Bang.

There might be a chance that he would never again see Juliet, blinking her eyes, slightly tilting her head, and smiling faintly when she spots him.

Every time such anxiety overcame him, he was breathless.

As the view before his eyes blurred and his breath quickened, guilt resurrected like a phantom each time he closed his eyes or took a breath.

Then suddenly, he paused as he realized he could no longer quickly recall how Juliet, alive, smiled.

Far from cheerfully smiling, Juliet rarely even cried out loud.

The only vivid memory was how cruel he had been to such a woman.

When Juliet lied to him and ran away, and when he stubbornly chased after her and finally reunited.

-If you wanted a child so badly, you should have said so.

Without even realizing what was the cause of the betrayal that cut through his heart, or his own feelings, he spat out harsh words.

‘I’m relieved that you’re safe,’ he had many things to say to the woman he had barely caught in a distant and dangerous land.

But instead of sincerity, what came out was a cruel mockery.

-If you begged, I might have given you one. Oh, but then again, you wanted it to be my child, didn’t you?

Why did he say that?

Even then, Juliet blankly asked back with dry eyes.

-Why do you always choose to say such cruel things…?

Juliet, too tired to even express resentment, listlessly lowered her head, and her expression imprinted on his retina.

He revisited that scene for a long time afterward. He occasionally wondered what that fleeting sense, which he had tried hard to ignore with petty pride, was. What had he lost forever?

It was he who slowly withered Juliet Monad to death over many years, making her unable to even cry out loud.

It wasn’t any different even after Juliet returned.

He was only anxious that Juliet, who had learned the terrible secret, might run away again.

Instead of begging for forgiveness or kneeling down in earnest for affection, he only schemed to keep her by his side as if there was nothing to regret.

It was fine even if it was out of sympathy or a contract.

Even after the snake showed its true colors, he occasionally struggled with the impulse to flee with Juliet.

Until the end, he was only eager to satisfy his own desires.

Clang!

As the sword clashed, sparks flew and stone fragments splashed around.

“Master!”

A sharp fragment grazed right below his eye, leaving a scratch.

Unable to watch any longer, Milan rushed in and blocked in front of the Duke.

“This is madness!”

“Move aside.”

Lennox tightened the loosened bandage again and gripped his sword.

Perhaps, he might never again have the chance to beg Juliet for forgiveness and beg for affection.

Impatience clouded the eyes of Lennox Callyle and consumed his reason.

“It can’t be.”

Milan resolutely blocked the Duke’s way.

But regardless of his determination, Duke Callyle coldly threatened in a steady voice.

“If you don’t move, I’ll cut you down.”

“Master…!”

Then-

Slap.

A person who just arrived from the carriage and approached with large strides suddenly slapped the Duke’s cheek.

“What a pathetic fool.”

No one had the nerve to slap the Duke of the north barehanded.

“Uh, sir!”

But the elderly man who appeared, leaning on his sword stick, was someone with the right to be angry in this situation.

Lionel Lebatan shouted.

“What a pathetic sight this is!”

“…”

“I can’t bear to see this. Get out!”

At the fierce scene, the knights of the Duke’s household were frozen.

But the Duke himself, who received the slap, quietly bowed his head and wiped his busted lip with the back of his hand.

“Tsk.”

Annoyed, Lionel Lebatan clicked his tongue and was about to turn around when a dry voice sounded from behind him.

“It’s my fault.”

“What do you mean, it’s your fault.”

Lennox Callyle calmly confessed in a subdued voice.

“I left Juliet alone.”

“Huh, so?”

“It’s all my fault that Juliet is in danger.”

“Have you seen such a fool! So, you mean my one and only granddaughter can’t do a single thing without you, she’s a moron, is that what you’re saying?”

Lionel Lebatan was quite angrily upset just a moment ago.

“So, are you telling me to watch you rant stupidly and take care of the funeral, is that what you mean?”

“No.”

“Then, you, stop being in the way and get out!”

“…”

“Your life or any apology has no value to me. Look for another place if you want to hold a funeral!”

Lionel Lebatan, who harshly snapped, turned around coldly without waiting for a reply.

“Hey, magician!”

“…Yes? Yes!”

Lionel Lebatan didn’t come alone.

Behind him, strangely shaped carriages and even more oddly dressed humans were standing, watching cautiously.

A group of people hurriedly descended from the carriage.

Dressed in white robes, they were magicians from the Eastern Mage Tower of Elaim.

“If you’ve been living off my money this whole time, it’s time to show some return on investment, right?”

“Ye, Yes, sir!”

As Lionel Lebatan’s words fell, led by Eshelrid, the magicians immediately pulled out strange tools from the carriage.

Watching this scene, Lionel Lebatan was still dissatisfied as he glanced at Duke Carlyle standing in the same place and clicked his tongue.

“What are you doing? Get rid of him!”

“Ah… Yes.”

As Lionel Lebatan’s harsh order was directed at them, the knights of the Duke’s house flinched.

“Let’s go, Your Highness.”

Contrary to the knights’ worries, Lennox graciously made way for the magicians who were cautiously watching.

Following Hadin handed a clean towel, Duke Carlyle silently accepted and moved towards the tent direction.

The anxious knights of the Duke’s house exhaled a sigh of relief, and it was just at that point they were inwardly thankful to Lionel Lebatan.

As Lennox Carlyle approached the tent, he seemed to stagger for a moment, and sat down leaning on his sword.

“Master!”

And there was a gaze quietly watching this scene from a distance.

‘Is this as far as I can go.’

It was a giant black panther.

‘It ends up like this.’

The black panther blinked impassively.

Humans have been breaking down the collapsed rocks and carving out the mountain little by little for days, but among the busily moving humans, none noticed the existence of the black panther.

No, in the first place, only two could perceive the evil spirit with the naked eye in this place-.

The black panther glanced at its contractor.

One was buried alive in the ground, and the other buried his lover alive and was out of his mind.

(Was I wrong this time too?)

The black panther sighed deeply.

Its name was Velokitana.

An observer looking down from a high place, a lazy king.

And the name of the gatekeeper of time.

Velokitana was a rare otherworldly god who didn’t forget its own name.

It had memories from when it was a god, but didn’t particularly yearn to return to the dimension where it acted as a king.

Whether due to the nature of time, it was very laid back and generous, unlike other evil spirits.

Velokitana was a rare rational evil spirit.

Thanks to this, unlike other violent and starving evil spirits, it was able to maintain its sanity and preserve strong power even as a long time passed.

Whether human or evil spirit, the snake that eats anything that comes its way and steals its power couldn’t look down on Velokitana.

Space-traversing, dimension-whipping gluttonous butterflies and lazy Velokitana were polar opposites in many ways.

But they say opposites attract.

Like the starving butterflies open the door of the field frequently to find prey, Velokitana also had a door that only it could open.

Velokitana glanced around.

There stood a gigantic door with ornate stone pillars.

But that door, like the black panther, didn’t catch the eyes of other humans.

Its door was very heavy and gigantic, and it hardly opened without a very, very heavy price.

(Well, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before it opens again.)

Velokitana wet its lips.

Well.

That was originally a door that should not be opened. Opening it once already severely twisted causality.

But a long time ago, its contractor had already opened that door once.

‘The real problem is that he doesn’t remember the past…’

Just as Juliet’s butterflies nibbled away at her memories and magic to open the ‘door’, Velokitana also needed the power of the contractor to open that door.

‘But that guy had no such intention. Until Juliet Monad died.’