Forgotten Juliet

“…Ah.”

At Juliet’s unexpected response, Gray wore a puzzled expression.

“Don’t you know? The Duke of Carlyle, Ruler of the North. Isn’t it famous even in the capital?”

Juliet smiled without a word.

Lionel had told her that all her cousins knew about Juliet was that she used to live in the capital.

“No. You’re right, he’s famous.”

“But why did you react that way?”

“Just, I was a bit… surprised.”

Juliet forced a smile.

“Right. We were a bit surprised too.”

Gray pondered for a moment, rubbing his chin.

“Since it’s the Duke’s family wedding, the other party must also be from a great family, but so far, there’s no word about which family the bride comes from.”

“…”

Of course.

The woman Lennox Carlyle would take as his wife would be a woman from an unknown family with no known status.

And Duke Carlyle would forbid even her name from passing through people’s lips.

Unlike someone who didn’t care and ignored it, even when they were picked on.

“Juliet?”

When Juliet, with her head down, didn’t speak for a while, Gray carefully called her.

“Juliet, did I make a mistake?”

Gray tilted his head, wearing a worried expression.

“…No, it’s me, just give me a moment. I need to get something I left behind.”

Juliet hastily made an excuse and quickly left.

After a bit of aimless walking, she ended up in front of the carriage where her luggage was.

Without thinking, Juliet swung open the carriage door and began to look for her luggage.

She reached for her belongings in an unconscious state, unaware of what she was doing.

The neatly arranged bag soon became a mess, but it wasn’t as messy as Juliet’s mind.

‘A wedding.’

In the Carlyle family, there was only one person of age to have a wedding.

How many days had passed since she left the capital? A week? Ten days?

With whom? With Dahlia?

Knock knock.

At that moment.

Someone knocked on the carriage door from outside.

“Juliet? Are you in there?”

“Yes!”

Juliet quickly wiped her cheeks and took a deep breath before opening the carriage door.

Helen, with a worried expression, was standing there.

Behind Helen, Gray was peeping in, wearing an anxious expression.

It seems that the worried Gray had rushed to tell Helen about it.

“Juliet, are you okay?”

“Yes. I just have a headache and was looking for some medicine.”

Juliet nonchalantly smiled and shook the small pillbox in her hand. The pills made a clattering noise as they hit each other.

“I see.”

Helen finally seemed relieved and hugged Juliet, laughing.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep the promise. But let’s come back and do lots of fun things together. Okay?”

Helen patted Juliet’s back.

“Yes, don’t worry and go on your way.”

* * *

Isaac, Helen, and even Gray left.

According to the plan, the party should have set off for Carcassonne. However, the heavy rain that had fallen earlier had tied up their movements.

“It’s passing rain, so we’ll depart as soon as it stops.”

The manager who was leading the group came to Juliet to explain.

Manager Walter was literally the person who oversaw almost all the practical work on behalf of the Guild’s owner, Helen.

Despite there being no need for it, it seemed that Helen had instructed him before leaving, so Walter dutifully informed Juliet of the reason for the delay in departure.

Although Juliet said that it was okay not to inform her as he might be busy, Walter was adamant.

While waiting for the rain to lighten, Juliet killed time under the tent.

In fact, after Helen and Isaac left, the atmosphere of the group had considerably quieted down.

It was a strange thing.

Only a few people had left, and the group heading towards Carcassonne was still a large convoy of carriages, but everyone seemed to talk less.

“…What are you doing?”

The one who reacted most sensitively to the changed atmosphere was, unexpectedly, Teo.

Juliet blinked before answering.

“Just sitting.”

Seemingly displeased with Juliet’s answer, Teo frowned.

“Do you want to compete? This time, we’ll put two wishes on it.”

In this rain?

Juliet didn’t say that.

“No.”

“…Are you refusing because you’re afraid you’ll lose?”

Juliet looked at Teo with a ‘what are you talking about’ expression before answering.

“I’ll consider it your win.”

“What? Where’s the fun in that?”

Despite her concession, Teo was unhappy and stood up abruptly.

“If you keep this up, I might sell Apple!”

“Go ahead. It’s not mine anyway.”

Teo was speechless again.

That was true. Apple was the property of the Marigold Guild.

“Hmph. You’re no fun.”

Teo, who was grumbling, seemed flustered when Juliet didn’t react.

Eventually, he lingered around Juliet for a while but, tired, grumbled and left for somewhere.

Juliet sat there, resting her chin on her knees, staring blankly.

She wasn’t particularly thinking about anything.

Teo probably guessed that her melancholy was due to the departure of Helen and Isaac.

But the reason for Juliet’s mood wasn’t because of her aunt and uncle leaving, or because of the weather.

Juliet slowly closed her eyes.

‘I want to go home.’

She ran to the opposite side of the continent because she didn’t want to hear about that man, but who would’ve thought she’d hear about him even here.

Juliet laughed sardonically.

At this point, she wondered if she couldn’t escape unless she went to a different continent.

She wanted to go home, but it didn’t necessarily have to be the Monad Mansion.

She wished she could leave forever to somewhere safe, somewhere no one could find her.

In fact, anywhere would have been fine if she couldn’t hear news about that man.

‘Wait, does this mean I can go home now?’

She was unsure when Duke Carlyle’s wedding was, but it was certain that it wouldn’t take place in the capital.

If that was the case, Juliet wanted to return to her county immediately.

After thinking up to this point, Juliet shook her head. The only certain thing was that he was marrying someone, everything else was unconfirmed.

Juliet, who had decided to think of something else, took a book from the carriage and returned to the tent.

* * *

“Oh.”

It’s cold.

Suddenly, Juliet was surprised by the droplet of water that fell on her neck.

When she lifted her head from the book, quite some time had already passed.

“Juliet… Miss?”

And then someone tentatively called her from the entrance of the tent.

It was the mage at the top, Eshelrid.

He was holding a cup in his hand with a rather awkward expression.

“?”

“May I come in?”

Juliet nodded her head.

The tent set up for the rest of the people to rest wasn’t her private space anyway.

Thud.

Suddenly, Eshel placed the cup he was holding on the table.

“Please have it. It’s in place of breakfast.”

“Thank you.”

It was a cold drink that looked like milk. Juliet, who was thirsty, picked up the cup without thinking and drank it.

The moment she took a sip, a sweet and fragrant aroma filled her mouth.

“It’s delicious. Where did you get it?”

Juliet, curious, looked up at Eshel. It must have been difficult to get such cold milk in the mountains.

“Oh, it’s not me, it’s over there-“

Eshel started to point towards the outside of the tent about twenty steps away, but then raised his eyebrows.

Huh? What is he doing?

Eshel stared at someone hiding behind the carriage with an expression of disdain.

And the person wasn’t even hiding properly. A shock of red hair was sticking out because they had leaned their head out curiously.

However, Eshel decided to let it go this once because of their seemingly earnest attempt to hide.

In the end, Eshel clicked his tongue once, then spoke to Juliet.

“…I made it. Does it suit your taste?”

“It was delicious. Thank you.”

Without lifting her head, Juliet nodded in thanks to Eshel.

Eshel placed the empty cup from Juliet’s hand onto the table, then subtly took a seat next to Juliet.

“In just one more day, we will arrive in Carcassonne.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Which means you can finally sleep on a bed without wheels. That’s good, isn’t it?”

Juliet chuckled.

It was quite amusing to see Eshel trying to continue the conversation in an uncharacteristically awkward way.

In fact, from her side, she had been wary of him from the start because he was a mage, but Eshelrid’s first impression wasn’t bad.

Fortunately, Juliet didn’t chase Eshel away. Juliet gave him a quick glance before turning her head back to her book.

Eshel knew that Juliet had not turned the page she had folded for quite some time now.

In fact, she had been at a standstill for several hours.

‘Do I really need to go this far?’

Eshel felt a slight sense of doubt.

Eshel was quite fond of the Lebatan family, but it was largely from the position of an employer and an employee.

And it was the same for Juliet, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Eshelrid’s attitude towards Juliet was close to politeness mixed with a moderate amount of social skills. There was no need to treat her warmly just because she was the niece of the employer’s family.

However, Eshelrid spread out a bunch of things he had brought onto the table.

“What’s this?”

He didn’t think it would work with something like this, but it really did. Juliet showed interest in what he had brought.

It was an ordinary leather bracelet.

Other than the seemingly cheap-looking green gemstone or something in the center, it was no different from any other bracelet.

“It’s a tracking spell.”

“Ah.”

While wondering where on this bracelet-looking object the tracking magic was, Juliet quickly realized what he meant.

“It’s a magic stone. I see.”

A magician casts a spell on the magic stone, allowing the bracelet to be tracked for a limited time.

“Because the forest is dangerous.”

“You’re capable.”

Juliet genuinely admired him.

With this, it seemed like it could be very useful in various ways in the North or on the island.

Of course, you would need the labor of a magician who could infuse magic into it every day, but it was definitely a new method.

Was it developed by the Mage Tower?

‘The Mage Tower..’

Juliet glanced up to catch Eshelrid’s reaction.

“I have something I want to ask.”

“Yes, go ahead and ask.”

“Were you in the Mage Tower too?”

“Of course.”

“Then why did you leave the Mage Tower?”

Eshel smiled slightly, picked up the tracking devices filled with magic, and stood up.

“I’ll take this to Teo and be back.”

All of a sudden?

“But you said I could ask?”

“I said you could ask, not that I would answer, didn’t I?”

What a word game.

Juliet gave him a look as if to tell him to stop talking, and Eshel grinned.

Just then.

“Help me!”

What?

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside.