Forgotten Juliet

* * *

Upon leaving the auction house, the group noticed a crowd of people all dressed in white beyond the tent.

Having arrived at the auction house later to help clean up, Eshelrid too noticed them and stopped in his tracks.

“They are priests.”

The prominent long white robes were a symbol of the priests.

However, among them, one priest who had deeply hooded his robe bowed slightly in their direction. By the small stature and physique, the priest appeared to be a woman.

Teo, who had been watching, also nodded towards that priest.

“That’s the priest from earlier.”

Teo explained as if telling the shocked Eshel.

It turned out that the priest Teo had brought at Juliet’s request a while ago was one of those people.

“…?”

For a moment, Juliet hesitated.

“Teo.”

“Yes?”

“Did you see that priest’s face earlier?”

“No, why?”

Juliet, driven by an inexplicable intuition, looked back to where the priests had disappeared. But they had already left their spots.

“But why are the priests here?”

Juliet glanced at the tent they had emerged from and commented.

“They buy possessed items.”

“Wait, why would they want such items?”

“They exorcise them and then resell them.”

Even though they were temple priests, they weren’t so virtuous as to never set foot in a black market. Instead, they had a keen sense for making money.

Exorcising and selling was one of their means of making money.

Eshel’s eyes lit up with interest.

“How do you know that?”

Teo, who had been quietly listening, asked with suspicion. However, Juliet didn’t provide any explanation.

Exorcism was once one of Dahlia’s specialties in her past life.

She remembered seeing Dahlia buy possessed items at auctions after she revealed her ability to exorcise these items with her divine powers.

“Let’s go.”

Juliet climbed onto the carriage first.

But throughout the return journey, Juliet was deeply lost in thought, not uttering a single word.

Priests appearing in the black market?

‘Is this related to Dahlia?’

Considering her memories from her first life, the timing seemed to match.

‘But then, there should be a lot of noise about prophecies and divine manifestations.’

It was unusually quiet compared to her past memories.

Apart from the news that DUke Carlyle was preparing for his wedding, there seemed to be no news indicating Dahlia’s reappearance. What could have happened?

“By the way, we didn’t get the egg appraised, what shall we do?”

“It’s fine.”

She had hesitated because she found the unknown egg fascinating and intriguing. But Juliet decided to think rationally.

“Just find a buyer for it.”

She couldn’t predict her own fate, so she couldn’t be responsible for something else.

“Oh, if that’s the case, it would be better to get it appraised first. It would fetch a higher price.”

“I don’t care.”

Crack.

Suddenly, a cracking sound was heard.

“?”

“Did you hear that?”

“Lady?”

Eshelrid and Teo inquired from the front seat.

But Juliet couldn’t answer, she was frozen, holding the egg wrapped in a towel.

Crack, thud. Thump.

The egg’s shell began to break from the inside, and in no time, something black from within began to emerge.

Then:

“Peep!”

Juliet found herself locking eyes with a large pair of yellow eyes.

* * *

“So…”

Lionel Lebatan looked at the creature on the table.

A sleek and sharp body, a well-balanced long tail, and a pair of bright yellow eyes.

“So you’re saying this is a dragon?”

“Yes, sir.”

As if understanding the conversation, the ancient creature threateningly opened its mouth, revealing its sharp teeth and flapping its wings.

“Peep!”

Yet, all it could muster was a ‘peep’.

Juliet somehow felt embarrassed.

The baby dragon, like a little chick, was utterly adorable.

She had thought dragons would resemble reptiles, but this newborn acted like a chick and behaved like a kitten.

“Here.”

When Lionel presented a grape, the little dragon hesitated.

“Ryek…”

While being cautious, the dragon eventually took the grape, chewed it slowly, and then moved closer to Juliet to eat with little chomping noises.

“This little one is quite wary.”

Lionel clicked his tongue.

“The last time a dragon was spotted was about 300 years ago, right?”

“That’s right.”

Lionel Lebatan seemed to be deep in thought.

After some time he left, saying that he needed to check on how things were going at the Marigold Guild headquarters.

When Lionel left, Juliet, who had been looking suspiciously at the little dragon sitting next to her all this time, got up from the sofa, about to go to her room.

However, whenever Juliet moved slightly from her spot, the baby dragon, startled, quickly put down the food it was gobbling and followed her.

“I’ve been feeding and taking care of you since you were born, you know.”

Eshel seemed rather disheartened by this.

True to Eshel’s words, he was the one who cared for the baby dragon the most.

Yet, whenever it saw Juliet, it silently followed her, often getting its tail stepped on.

“Pyuu!”

“You silly.”

If you’re going to follow, at least make some noise.

With a sigh, Juliet picked up the baby dragon again.

Juliet hesitated, but soon sat down again on the sofa.

“I didn’t think it could get so attached to someone…”

In fact, it was Eshel who took care of the baby most of all, but whenever the dragon saw Juliet, he followed her.

The newborn baby dragon was even smaller than a cat. Its long and slender appearance sometimes looked like an otter or a ferret.

“…It has wings.”

While the baby dragon was eating from the plate, Juliet sat down in front of it, observing the creature.

Wondering what dragons eat, she asked Eshel and was simply told that since it’s a magical creature, it would eat anything.

Indeed, it ate anything given to it with great enthusiasm.

Thanks to that, it had grown noticeably in just three days.

If it continued to grow at this rate, wouldn’t it become as big as a calf in three months? That couldn’t happen.

Juliet was worried.

While engrossed in its meal, its tiny wings, embarrassingly small to be called wings, flapped continuously.

“It doesn’t seem like a water dragon.”

“By the way, have you named it?”

“Is that important?”

“The name of a dragon is special. The names of kings might fade, but the names of all the dragons ever existed remain in history.”

Speaking of which, she remembered that wizards of the Mage Tower are obsessed with dragons.

They’d record anything about dragons, and they’d risk their lives to study them.

‘Will this one’s name also remain in the historical records forever?’

Watching the baby dragon play on the floor, Juliet said,

“Chirpy.”

“…Are you serious?”

“It chirps, doesn’t it?”

“Chirps?”

While playing with a soft cloth, the baby dragon looked up, seemingly recognizing the conversation was about it.

“How about Blackie?”

It’s black, slimy, and round.

Juliet knew from the beginning that she wasn’t good at naming. But watching Eshel’s reaction darken with each suggestion was somewhat amusing.

Is it that weird?

Seemingly feeling desperate, Eshel flipped through a book.

“How about Balak? In ancient language, it means ‘great dragon’…”

“I don’t like it.”

More than disliking the meaning, she simply didn’t want to name the baby dragon.

‘For some reason, naming it feels like I really have to raise it.’

“Who would want to buy it?”

“You seem naive.”

Eshel adjusted his glasses as if he was surprised.

“The last record of a dragon was from 300 years ago.”

The dragon was known as the extinct king of magical creatures.

“It’d fetch a good price?”

Eshelrid explained:

“Dragon skin doesn’t burn in any fire, and a single drop of dragon’s blood is said to be a potent antidote.”

Really?

Juliet looked at her lap with suspicion.

“Peep?”

The dragon tilted its head, seemingly understanding the topic.

This huge pigeon-like creature?

“If you wish, I can connect you to a good buyer.”

“A good buyer?”

“Magicians of the Mage Tower would be particularly ecstatic. They’re obsessed with even a single dragon scale or a drop of blood. That’s why it’s worth so much.”

An image automatically formed in Juliet’s mind.

A naive baby dragon lying sprawled on something like an operating table.

Disturbed by the mere thought, Juliet quickly placed the dragon in a basket and covered it with a cloth.

The baby dragon, unaware of the situation, chirped happily inside the basket, but Juliet firmly said:

“I’m not selling him.”

“You’ll regret it.”

Surprisingly for someone who just spat out a line fitting a cheap villain, Eshel backed down.

“If you say so.”

“Chirp?”

Inside the basket, the baby dragon peeked out, his head covered with a handkerchief.

His vision was blocked, and he kept looking around. Juliet unfolded the handkerchief for him.

“Chirp!”

Their eyes met, and the baby dragon flapped his wings in delight.

…He might be worth a lot, but he didn’t seem particularly clever.