Forgotten Juliet

Having been requested by the temple, Roy came to appraise the tablet and discreetly revealed the truth only to Juliet.

Roy said it was a clumsily crafted forgery intended for the later generations.

It was a counterfeit skillfully made to be sold at a high price to collectors.

‘!’

‘Enough now!’

On one hand, the Emperor barely managed to refrain from shouting out his desires, biting his tongue.

“What is it this time?”

By now, the Emperor was getting annoyed every time Juliet revealed something on the table.

From Lionel Lebatan, whom he thought was dead, to Marquis Guinness.

It felt like receiving several decades’ worth of shocks all at once.

‘It’s all planned out.’

Juliet wasn’t at all worried about what would happen if this prophecy was discovered to be manipulated.

The current Emperor was in a tight mental state.

Even if this prophecy was revealed to be completely fake later on, it didn’t matter.

‘Everything would be over by then.’

From the moment she heard about this tablet from Roy, Juliet had been waiting for the right timing to use it.

“If the prophecy is translated to the Imperial language, it says ‘A king comes with disaster under black wings.'”

Just as Juliet finished speaking,

Peep.

Something black quickly flew towards the ship from afar, making a sharp noise in response.

A bird? But what bird is that large?

But the people on deck soon realized that what was flying towards them at arrow’s speed looked entirely different from a bird and were startled.

“…A dragon?”

“It’s a dragon!”

Just as the sun rose above the horizon, a small but perfectly silhouetted black dragon appeared, as if a mysterious harbinger of disaster.

“Oh, my goodness…!”

The Emperor’s soldiers were in shock, scurrying around.

“Beep!”

Onyx elegantly folded his wings and landed on the mast, fulfilling his task.

“Your Majesty, the Emperor who is wise and gracious. I, as a subject, am genuinely worried about the royal authority of this country.”

Juliet expressed with the most harmless expression in the world.

“If the content of this prophecy and the appearance of this young dragon are exposed to the public simultaneously, I wonder what the countless imperial citizens would think of the royal authority…”

The Emperor’s face turned red and pale.

But the ending had been determined the moment he boarded Lionel Lebatan’s ship.

* * *

“I don’t know what to say.”

After a storm had passed, the only two left on Lionel Lebatan’s ship were those two.

Lionel Lebatan heaved a deep sigh.

Both of them sat side by side on the quiet deck, looking at the horizon.

“Are you angry because I took matters into my own hands?”

“Not at all.”

Juliet finally smiled a little.

The Emperor reluctantly accepted all three conditions presented by Juliet.

Nothing would change immediately.

Juliet didn’t expect the Emperor to really assist the Duke’s house.

It was closer to a means of pressure to prevent him from making trouble, and uncovering the truth behind the death of the Count and Countess Monad would take time.

Moreover, Lionel Lebatan had really lived like a king ruling in the east, and there were still procedures left before his amnesty was announced.

But at least he now had the freedom to stroll the streets of the capital without anyone’s interference, a freedom he hadn’t had for decades.

“When did you start planning this?”

“It’s not been long.”

Juliet shrugged nonchalantly.

“I started thinking about a safety measure while grandfather was in the capital, as Eshelrid was worried.”

“Heh.”

Lionel Lebatan awkwardly cleared his throat.

“…Anyway, thank you. Because of you…”

“Let’s save that gratitude for when I return from the North.”

Juliet cut him off with a lively smile.

And above all, his granddaughter was in the midst of preparing to return to the North.

“Take care until we meet again.”

“Juliet.”

“Yes?”

“Is this your choice?”

Juliet blinked for a moment, then grinned.

“I’m just going back to the North for a while. It’s not really a choice.”

Lionel Lebatan could guess even the words Juliet deliberately omitted.

So all he could say was to take care and come back well.

“Yes, take care.”

“Yes, I will.”

Juliet smiled brightly and hugged lightly.

“Oh, and.”

Lionel Lebatan added in a light tone as he passed by.

“Pass it on to him.”

“Huh? What?”

“Earlier, the Emperor said that if there is anyone siding with that traitor, they should step forward, didn’t he?”

“That’s right?”

The Emperor had indeed said that.

-If there’s anyone here siding with this traitor, step forward now! I’ll personally see you to the execution grounds!

Like this.

Answering, Juliet became a little uneasy. Because her grandfather’s eyes were twinkling mischievously.

“When the Emperor shouted like that, I observed very well that the Carlyle guy just crossed his arms and didn’t move an inch.”

* * *

The North

“We are nearing the Duke’s territory.”

Several carriages were racing across the snow plains in a line.

They were the members of the Duke Carlyle’s household, returning to the northern Duke’s territory.

There were about twenty carriages, and half of the knights were mobilized; it was a large number of people.

Even using the gates, they couldn’t move fast, but the most fundamental reason holding them back was the weather.

The North is the last region on the continent to welcome spring. The snow doesn’t melt until summer arrives.

“And yet snow in this season?”

The knights who were walking beside Juliet’s carriage clicked their tongues.

Though it was technically late spring, they had to move through the snow-covered plains towards the north.

Furthermore, it was still lightly snowing.

“I’m worried about this year’s harvest.”

It all started when that damned snake broke the barrier and escaped.

Somehow, since the massive snake flew across the sky dragging its tail, the temperature dropped slightly, and in a moment, the season changed to winter.

Through the window, Juliet could see half-bloomed cherry trees frozen to death.

‘Is this also the snake’s power?’

Has it brought back winter to this land?

“I had just packed away the winter clothes.”

Despite grumbling, people of the Duke’s household quickly searched for and put on their winter coats.

The people from the north, accustomed to the cold, were swift despite their complaints.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“It’s bearable.”

“Still, try to get some sleep. We still have a long way to go to the Duke’s castle.”

“Yes.”

Juliet responded politely but wasn’t in the mood to sleep.

Across Juliet in the carriage, a young maid and a baby dragon were sleeping soundly, snoring softly.

Juliet smiled gently and covered them with a blanket.

Eventually, the Emperor surrendered, accepting all three conditions proposed by Juliet.

But only under the condition of handing over the tablet.

‘It’s a low price anyway…’

But even after achieving her objective, Juliet didn’t feel great.

“…I had caught it all.”

How could she let the snake slip away in front of her, and now winter has come again.

‘What if we can’t catch the snake, and winter never ends?’

She was scared.

Moreover, the culprit who released the snake was Roy, and thanks to it, Juliet lost a good friend.

To shake off the negative thoughts, Juliet pulled out an old book.

Just before leaving the capital, Eshelrid, who ran hurriedly, had handed her this book.

-I couldn’t find records about the snake, but this will be quite interesting.

According to the magician, it was a rare old book even in the library of the Mage Tower.

-If I had to title it, it’d be ‘The Butterfly Fooled by Cunning’. You might find it interesting.

Eshel assured so, but Juliet flipped through the old pages with a gloomy expression.

[Once upon a time, there were butterflies with beautiful wings.]

The fable began like this.

[The butterflies, who had magical wings that could go anywhere, were not only beautiful but very arrogant and naughty.]

Juliet could understand why the magician assured it’d be interesting.

‘It’s a story I’ve heard many times, isn’t it?’

[The powerful butterflies played havoc. Using their ability to open doors anywhere, they created doors that led everywhere haphazardly, and the world fell into great chaos.]

Even just reading this far, Juliet felt like she knew.

She had an idea of how this story would end.