Forgotten Juliet

* * *

When Roy arrived at Monad County, Juliet wasn’t at home.

According to the maid who was at the mansion, she had gone to the imperial palace early in the morning.

“Is that so?”

The servants of the Count’s manor were quite friendly towards Roy.

“Miss will be back soon. Would you like to wait inside?”

Despite the invitation to come in and sit, Roy declined and walked slowly along the secluded entrance of the mansion.

The Count’s manor, located on the outskirts of the capital, was surrounded by trees lining the path, making the scenery quite beautiful.

‘The imperial palace, huh.’

Upon hearing this, Roy felt relieved and somewhat amused.

He pulled out a small glass bottle from his pocket.

Juliet had been curious and asked various questions about the forest of Katia.

Roy was secretly pleased that she was curious about the forest, and every time he came, he brought her interesting things from the forest.

Among them were rare herbs that were hard to obtain no matter how much money was offered, and unique flowers that were hard to find anywhere on the continent.

Roy looked inside the small glass bottle. This gift was something Juliet had shown particular interest in; a herb with powerful sedative properties.

A moment later, with the sound of wheels in the distance, a familiar carriage appeared. Roy waited with a faint smile for the carriage to stop.

“Juliet.”

However, as soon as he saw the face of the woman alighting from the carriage at the entrance, his face instantly hardened.

“…Have you been crying?”

“I haven’t cried.”

Despite her reddened eyes, Juliet stubbornly denied it.

A lie.

Roy frowned, choosing not to verbally point out her dishonesty.

‘Did that Duke… die?’

Even though he knew it couldn’t be true, Roy momentarily thought so.

Ordinary humans might have, being fragile. But not Lennox.

Since he was young, Roy had known about the existence of the Carlyle Duke’s family.

Thanks to living in the North, he didn’t encounter forest dwellers, but he was different from ordinary humans.

‘Wasn’t it a family that has existed for a thousand years?’

And that man seemed to have a complicated relationship with Juliet.

‘Annoyingly.’

Recently, Roy’s brothers mocked him for falling for a human.

But Roy didn’t care. They were weak-minded anyway. A single scolding would set them straight.

The problem was that man.

Roy remembered him dueling with a sword at the ball.

‘Really, so annoying.’

Suddenly, he felt thirsty.

“Juliet, where have you been?”

When asked casually, Juliet remained silent for a moment before answering.

“My house cat…”

“Yes?”

“The cat I used to keep isn’t doing well, so I went to see it.”

Remembering Elliot’s request to keep the Duke’s condition confidential, Juliet used the excuse of the cat.

It wasn’t necessary to hide it from Roy, but mentioning Lennox might not be wise, since Roy didn’t like him.

Yet, with just that, Roy’s expression turned cold as if he understood.

“Oh, you returned quite quickly for that.”

“Yes, well…”

Juliet just realized they haven’t caught up.

She had intended to talk about the disappearance of the butterflies, but she had been so distracted that she forgot.

But even if she stayed there, there wasn’t much Juliet could do.

She wasn’t good at nursing, and the Duke’s family had a skilled doctor.

Instead, she decided to do what she could.

‘Other than just sitting and crying.’

The Duke’s doctor guessed that even if he didn’t know the type of curse, with overwhelming divine power, it might be possible to break the curse like the divine barrier was broken.

Juliet had been thinking all the way back to the Count of Monad’s mansion.

Genovia’s Soulstone.

‘If I get my hands on it, there might be a way.’

The only solution Juliet, who knew nothing about divine power, could think of was that.

‘Genovia’s divine power was unparalleled, perhaps it can break the divine curse on Lennox.’

Of course, it wasn’t that simple.

‘It’s my fault.’

Juliet felt responsible for Lennox’s condition. She thought she must do something.

“Roy, do you know where the Soulstone is?”

Roy looked at Juliet intently. It seemed he understood her intentions from the question alone.

“…Yes, I do.”

Roy had shown considerable interest in that item that had put Juliet in a predicament.

“According to some priest, it is to be moved to the local temple here.”

“The capital? Why not Lucerne?”

“To conceal the matter, they probably thought it safest to keep it farther away.”

The temple, huh.

As Juliet lost herself in thought, Roy suddenly asked something unexpected.

“Do you love that man?”

“…What?”

Like a sulking child, Roy asked insistently. It was very unlike his usual calm tone.

“You said it yourself, that you’re not in the mood to love anyone right now. Then why…”

“No.”

Juliet’s response was firm. It was enough to slightly fluster Roy, who had been on edge.

“It’s not about liking or disliking.”

Juliet let out a deep sigh.

The nature of their relationship was likely difficult to explain in a way others could understand.

In her mind, she knew that what had happened in the past hadn’t yet occurred in this lifetime.

‘But they are also the same person.’

Juliet couldn’t treat Lennox as if nothing had happened, but she also couldn’t completely hate him.

Even while thinking that she would never love again for 7 years, she had held him in her heart. Just as in her first life, she was afraid of being hurt, so she ran away before the situation even arose.

Even Lennox might not fully understand the reason she had to flee like that.

Now that the future has changed, their past might forever remain a memory only to Juliet.

“Right now, I owe my life, so I’m trying to repay it.”

Juliet said calmly.

She no longer wanted to see the once proud man hiding his injuries and confined in a dark room.

“A debt of life…”

Roy chuckled lightly at her words and gently held Juliet’s hand.

“If you put it that way, I can’t refuse. Let’s go.”

Juliet was taken aback.

“But this is my problem. Roy doesn’t necessarily need to help…”

“No.”

Roy, seemingly feeling a bit awkward, slightly squinted his eyes and gave a slight smile.

“I also have a debt of life.”

* * *

Late evening.

The worship was in full swing.

Young priests swung censers that emitted a faint smoke throughout the temple grounds.

The solemn smoke slowly spread throughout the entire temple.

The high priest couldn’t hide his delight.

A month ago, the Duke of Carlyle, who had almost snatched the Hundred Eyes of Argos from the temple, surprisingly sent it back to Lucerne.

The high priest wondered if the return address had been mistakenly identified.

Well, if they were to argue that it’s originally a relic of the Papal court, no matter where it’s returned, there wouldn’t be much to say.

Instead of confronting Duke Carlyle directly, the high priest had sent several letters nagging Lucerne to return the relic. But no response came from Lucerne.

However, the Eyes of Argos was no longer of interest to the high priest.

“So this is the rumored Soulstone!”

With greedy eyes, the high priest eagerly glanced at what was contained in the small box.

He had seen the Soulstone a few times. But he had never seen one with such a luminous color and perfect shape.

“Shh. Lower your voice, high priest. Only you and I should know that the Soulstone is stored here.”

“Ah, yes! Of course.”

Bowing obsequiously, the high priest appeased the other party.

The person who brought the Soulstone to the temple was none other than Archbishop Gilliam.

He decided it would be best to hide this item until the last incident at the Papal court was completely resolved.

‘It was all due to this Soulstone that Sebastian had those powers.’

From Lucerne’s point of view, it was quite an awkward item.

The power of the fake Pope that the Papal court was fooled by for years turned out to be from this stone. It wouldn’t be good news if this got out.

“Please take care of it for a while.”

“Don’t worry!”

Archbishop Giliam and the high priest carefully hid the box containing the Soulstone in a storage room for ceremonial tools and were about to leave.

Just then.

There was a clattering sound.

The high priest was startled.

“Who’s there!”

Both the chief monk and Archbishop Gilliam turned around in surprise.

Someone with their face meticulously covered by a black veil was looking inside the small box they had just placed down.

“…?”

“Who, who are you…”

The overly calm demeanor gave the two priests an eerie feeling.

Appearing out of nowhere in a place where no one was just moments ago? A ghost?

However, the mysterious figure in a white priest’s robe calmly greeted them.

“Hello, high priest.”

She let out a sigh and lowered the veil that covered down to her eyes, revealing her face.

“No, miss, you are…?”

Archbishop Gilliam seemed to recognize her first.

“Lady Monad!”

The high priest also recognized Juliet and exclaimed in shock. He had been the high priest of the temple for a long time and was familiar with the people of the Monad Count’s family.

“What are you doing!”

Yet, instead of being flustered, Juliet covered her face again and calmly said:

“I came to get the Soulstone. Will you lend it to me, Archbishop Gilliam?”

“…I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

Archbishop Gilliam was slightly surprised that Juliet knew his exact name.

“The Soulstone belongs to the Papal court.”

Juliet shrugged and pointed out:

“More precisely, it belonged to the deceased Genovia.”

“…She died in a Lucerne orphanage.”

“Ah, I thought you’d say that.”

Juliet nodded calmly.

“But you seem to be misunderstanding something. I didn’t come here to ask for permission.”

Somehow… it felt like he had experienced this situation before…?

Feeling a familiar unease, the high priest became anxious. It felt as though he had been in a similar situation not too long ago.