Forgotten Juliet

“Yes. So I was curious about what the smell of wild strawberries is like.”

At this, Roy offered the fruit in his hand with a broad smile.

“You’ll know once you try it.”

She didn’t know about the smell, but the taste was sweet and sour, which was quite delicious.

‘So it wasn’t an insult.’

Subtly paying attention to Elsa’s remark, Juliet decided to give Elsa a higher evaluation after tasting the wild strawberries.

Feeling good after eating something sweet, Juliet, who was walking side by side with the carriage, started to ask Roy various things.

‘What does the forest look like?’

‘Is there a castle?’

‘What do you call those clothes?’

Eshel, who suddenly appeared from somewhere, joined in and helped to inundate Roy with questions.

Flustered by the barrage of questions, Roy asked:

“What about Juliet?”

“There’s not much to talk about me…”

She couldn’t talk about the North either.

Juliet chose a fairly safe topic after contemplating for a while.

“In the capital, we hold a ball called Adorable Bluebell during the summer social season.”

Adorable Bluebell. The Bluebell Ball.

This grandly named ball, held only for seven nights in late summer, was the event the Empress was most proud of.

Adorable Bluebell was also a long-standing hobby of the Empress, who had a girlish side.

Although any adult men and women over the age of eighteen can participate, the actual age group that attends is mainly young, unmarried nobles, both male and female.

“It’s a bit childish, but fun.”

They wear masks or costumes, and dress more flamboyantly than usual.

They place bell-shaped sculptures all over the venue and turn on a lot of blue lights.

So it was more like a large-scale themed salon aimed at a younger age group, rather than the usual serious or formal balls.

“The person who receives the most flowers becomes the Bluebell of the day. Then, anyone who attends the party has to listen to what the Bluebell of the day wants.”

It was quite a deliberate rule.

A costume ball targeting young, unmarried men and women in the middle of summer.

It seemed to have been set up to encourage a match.

“So if you receive a confession, you can’t refuse it?”

Gray, who had somehow approached and been listening, asked rather seriously.

“That’s right. There’s a saying that a pair made at the Bluebell ball will be happy for a long time.”

It’s probably a superstition.

More accurately, it meant that the Empress was pleased to see couples forming like that.

But then Roy, who had been quietly listening, tilted his head and asked an unexpected question.

“Has Juliet ever been the Bluebell?”

“Ah…”

Juliet paused for a moment.

She remembered the first and last time she had attended the Bluebell Ball, seven years ago. At that year’s ball, she…

‘Received the Bluebell crown.’

“Is this not how it’s done?”

He was probably the most rude partner in history. That man.

“You are today’s Bluebell,” he had determined so recklessly.

Juliet found herself faintly smiling without realizing it. But then, the tradition that a pair made at the Bluebell Ball would be forever happy…

‘It’s a superstition.’

Juliet blinked slowly.

* * *

Upon arrival in Carcassonne, Juliet was instructed to stay indoors until she was completely healed.

The residence of the Red King, Lionel Lebatan, was an elegant mansion with a red gabled roof, but the atmosphere was always grim due to its occupants.

Unable to go outside and with nothing to do, Juliet stumbled upon something strange while tidying up.

Thump!

Roll.

It was a black, round object found amongst her clothes.

‘…What is this?’

“Ah.”

Then Juliet remembered.

“Canabel Village!”

She had completely forgotten due to her lack of clues.

She had abandoned all the mana stones scattered in the ravine at that time and only brought this one back. However…

“It seemed smaller then, didn’t it?”

It was definitely small enough to fit in her pocket at the time, but now it had grown to a slightly uncomfortable size to hold with one hand.

Juliet looked at the shiny sphere with suspicion. She couldn’t feel any special power like magic or divinity.

In other words, it was neither a magical tool nor a sacred relic.

‘So what is this?’

“Miss Juliet, where did this come from?”

As Juliet examined the round object, Eshel, who was passing by in the hallway, interjected as if interested.

“If you wish, I can sell it for a good price.”

At Eshel’s subtly persuasive tone, Juliet’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“Do you know what this is?”

“It’s the monster’s egg.”

Juliet was momentarily perplexed at his excessively clear answer.

‘This is a monster egg? So I threw away the mana stones and picked up a monster egg?’

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“The more dangerous it is, the higher the price.”

Eshel spoke ominously.

“We need to get it appraised to see exactly what’s inside… But I think it would be more beneficial for you to just sell it.”

“Why?”

“Miss, do you not remember what was in that dungeon?”

It was a snake. A very large snake monster.

Recalling the memory briefly, Juliet shivered. Even if she kept it, it didn’t seem meaningful considering such a snake monster would come out.

‘But…’

But she had heard that monster eggs look the same regardless of the species when they are in the egg state.

In other words, you can’t tell what kind of beast is inside just by looking at the outside. Although it was taken from a snake den, what was in the egg could have been a different monster.

Juliet was curious about what would come out of the egg.

“Will you not sell it?”

“No.”

“It would still be good to get it appraised. Would you like to go to the auction house?”

“Is there a monster auction house here?”

Juliet showed curiosity.

“It’s not a monster auction house, but a black market. Sacred relics and magical tools are traded there, and monster eggs often appear.”

Then Eshel lowered his voice.

“The elder is having a lot of trouble because of the black market these days.”

By elder, he meant Juliet’s grandfather, Lionel Lebatan.

It was surprising that even someone with such influence had a difficult problem to solve.

“Why?”

“Recently, small fries have been infiltrating the black market, muddying the waters.”

“Small fries?”

“Scammers.”

“Ah.”

According to Eshelrid, they would come into the auction house, disguise low-quality items as high-quality ones, or sell fake sacred relics and magical tools as real ones.

Because of this, complaints from people who were deceived and bought goods were coming in, affecting the whole of Carcassonne negatively.

“We are trying to crack down… but it’s hard to tell at a glance whether something is a sacred relic or a magic artifact.”

Even a big shot in the underworld would have various worries. Until then, Juliet had only thought so.