Forgotten Juliet

The Duke, accompanied by his elite knights, arrived at a secure residence located quite far from the imperial palace.

Most of the aristocrats and ordinary residents were enjoying the New Year festivities in the city center with might and main, so dead silence reigned around this place.

Sigh.

It was an empty house that looked like the other houses on the same street, but inside it was still clean and tidy, as if it was constantly monitored.

In addition, even if they now began to torture one or two people in it, no one would have heard their heart-rending cries, since there wasn’t a single living soul nearby.

And so, in the middle of the living room of this secure house, a man sat on the floor, gagged and tightly bound, with no chance of escape.

“Mmf! Mmm!”

The completely bound young man tried to scream something, either from surprise or from fright, when strangers suddenly entered the room.

However, due to the gag, he couldn’t make out what he was trying to tell them.

“This young man’s name is Donovan. I’m sure it was he who came to see the young lady.”

Lennox Carlyle looked down at the man kneeling on the floor and felt somewhat disappointed.

He was an ordinary-looking young man that one could commonly find anywhere.

Feeling a bit flustered, Lennox ordered.

“Release him.”

As soon as his shackles were removed, the man named Donovin panicked and shouted.

“Great lord! Please spare me! I’ll pay you soon, just don’t kill me!

Lennox frowned.

What was he talking about?

Hadin replied with an undefined expression on his face.

“One of our sources reported that he recently opened his clinic by taking out a debt. Maybe he thought we were here to pick him up.”

Donovan, whose face reflected the full depth of his despair, sat quietly and listened to the conversation of two people, but after a while he intervened cautiously.

“Wait… You didn’t bring me here because of my debt, did you?”

“…”

In an instant, both men turned and looked at him coldly.

Lennox kneeled down, bringing himself to eye level with Donovan, and immediately got to the point.

“Do you know Juliet Monad?”

“M-Monad? Are you referring to the Countess?”

“What is your relationship with Juliet?”

“Th-That… Wait a minute. R-Relationship? I haven’t even met her!”

Donovan vehemently denied it.

He seemed to realize the predicament he was in.

“Then why did you go to see Juliet?”

“W-Well… That’s… Patient information is a sensitive matter…”

Donovan looked at Lennox with a perplexed expression.

But as soon as the knight behind him placed a hand on his sword hilt, Donovan immediately shouted.

“It’s because of my mother!”

* * *

Donovan, frightened, quickly spilled all the information he knew.

Although Donovan rambled, Lennox and the Duke’s knights were able to roughly understand his words.

“So, my mother is a pharmacist. No, I meant to say that she was a pharmacist.”

Donovan’s mother was a pharmacist who worked for a long time in the 8th district and during this time she managed to acquire a large number of regular customers due to her hard work and talent.

“Noble aristocrats very often sent her orders for the manufacture of some kind of medicine!”

Donovan spoke of her with great pride.

Any noble family usually has a family doctor, but there are times when some of the aristocrats need to secretly order certain types of medicines, so they order it from a pharmacist, not a doctor.

“But not so long ago, my mother stopped working due to illness.”

So Donovan, then a medical trainee, had to return home.

Upon his return, he placed his mother in a nursing home because she needed specialized care and set about her pharmacy.

But then Donovan suddenly realized that, since his mother was sick with dementia, she could make a mistake in compiling prescriptions.

This conjecture haunted him, so he decided to check all her papers.

And that’s when he discovered something unusual when he studied his mother’s prescriptions in case she made a mistake in prescribing drugs to her clients.

“I accidentally found something strange in the recipes for Miss Monad and asked my mother about it, but she couldn’t tell me anything due to progressive dementia.”

“Juliet ordered medicine from her?”

“Yes, the late Countess Monad was a long time client of my mother… and took some of the medicines she prescribed for her.”

Donovan said carefully and looked at Lennox, hearing his tense voice.

“What kind of medicine did Juliet order from her?”

“It’s called Silphium.”

“Silphium?”

“I-It’s not a harmful medicine! As you know, many noble ladies also take Silphium.”

Lennox furrowed his brow.

He was familiar with it as well.

Silphium was a precious herb that grew in the southern regions of the Empire. When the root part of Silphium was steeped lightly in tea and consumed, it had contraceptive effects.

Apart from being expensive, it had no side effects and was widely used as a contraceptive due to its pleasant aroma.

The only drawback of this medicine was only the price, due to the rarity of the herb from which it was made, it was very expensive.

Finally, Lennox understood why this man had been loitering in front of the Count’s residence.

Even as a fallen noble, the Monad Count family had a long-standing noble lineage. Moreover, Juliet Monad was an unmarried young lady in her marriageable age.

If something happened to her after taking the wrong prescription, Donovan wouldn’t have been able to avoid responsibility for this incident, so he most likely got scared and sought out a meeting with her.

No. There must be something else.

He could just ask the maid to tell Juliet about it, and she would pass on a message from him, then everything would be all right.

So the question still remained.

How urgent and serious was all this, if he so insistently wanted to meet Juliet?

“I suppose that’s not all?”

“A few months ago, Miss Monad ordered a delivery of mistletoe and silphium flowers. My mother sent her medicinal herbs as requested, and that was the last time she wrote prescriptions for her.”

However, Donovan still hesitated and watched Lennox’s reaction.

If Juliet had only ordered that, there would be no need for him to be so cautious.

With a sense of foreboding, Lennox immediately asked.

“What is mistletoe used for?”

“There is no problem with mistletoe. . It actually prevents miscarriage and protects the health of the fetus. The problem is that the young lady ordered it along with Silphium flowers.”

…Fetus?

“The effects of Silphium flowers are completely different from the root. Silphium typically used as a contraceptive is the root, but Silphium flowers are much more toxic and used for inducing abortion.”

The air in the room suddenly became chilling.

But Donovan’s faithful explanation didn’t end there.

“If she took them separately, there wouldn’t be a problem. However, if she took Silphium and the medicine for miscarriage together, there is a risk of miscarriage. So, if she indeed is pregnant, it would be best for her not to take the medicine and instead undergo a separate examination…”

Donovan’s words couldn’t continue any further.

Thud!

Before his words even finished, Lennox Carlyle slammed the door and rushed out.

“My lord!”

The Duke’s knights hurriedly chased after him.

However, Lennox didn’t wait for them and immediately mounted the black horse that was tied in the courtyard.

The city was empty due to the fireworks display scheduled at midnight.

Thanks to that, as Lennox Carlyle rode frantically towards the Duke’s residence, he could only think of one thing.

‘Juliet.’

She could explain.

She had to.

“There is no problem with mistletoe. It actually prevents miscarriage and protects the health of the fetus.”

“Silphium flowers are much more toxic than the root and used for inducing abortion.”

Contraception.

Silphium.

And Juliet.

When those ominous and confusing words combined, there was a memory that immediately brushed his mind.