Forgotten Juliet

“The Hundred Eyes of Argos. Hand it over.”

Though somewhat prepared, the High Priest was taken aback.

The Hundred Eyes of Argos.

It was the most precious relic owned by the High Temple of the capital.

As the name suggested, this powerful artifact had the ability to locate anything within a radius of thousands of kilometers, rivaling the sacred power of the High Priest.

“I-I can never give it to you, even if my neck fell! No matter how noble the Duke of the North, but stealing the relic…!”

“I said I wanted to borrow it for a moment, not steal it.”

Was that so?

The High Priest belatedly recalled and realized that he had given up too quickly, even mentioned his neck, feeling embarrassed.

However, the casual remark from Duke Carlyle continued, and the High Priest’s face returned to contemplation.

“But killing and taking it wouldn’t be bad either. I don’t have much patience.”

Heheek.

A young priest standing next to the High Priest, holding a lantern, gasped silently.

“What should we do?”

“Well, even so, lending out the temple’s treasure so easily…?”

“If you hand it over, I will return the Northern Temple in exchange.”

…Return the Northern Temple in exchange for borrowing the Hundred Eyes of Argos?

It was truly a striking condition.

The High Priest quickly spun the wheels of his mind.

Perhaps this was an opportunity.

If Duke Carlyle desired the Hundred Eyes of Argos, it meant that he was searching for something. Whether it was a person or an object, the High Priest didn’t know.

He became curious about who or what Duke Carlyle urgently needed to find, to the point of returning the temple.

In any case, Duke Carlyle was the one in a hurry, so the High Priest thought it was worth raising the stakes.

There was a chance he could squeeze money from the Duke. Perhaps he could even be promoted to a higher position in the hierarchy.

With these calculations in mind, the High Priest put on a solemn expression.

“But, Duke, you can’t simply use a sacred artifact at will…”

“You’re having a remarkable misconception, High Priest.”

However, Duke Carlyle shattered the ambitious plan of the High Priest with just a few words.

The man who had been tilting his head slightly swept his hair back in a slow, nonchalant motion.

“When did I say we would negotiate?”

In the darkness, arrogant red eyes gleamed disdainfully.

* * *

The outskirts of the capital’s train station were desolate, devoid of people.

It was to be expected. It was well past midnight. The festive atmosphere had kept people eating, drinking, and celebrating the New Year all night, leaving them exhausted.

Juliet had seen fireworks rising into the sky from the direction of the palace a little while ago.

The dark sky from them became so bright that they were even clearly visible outside the capital.

Watching the fiery flowers of fireworks bloom in the air, Juliet raised her collar higher.

It was so cold today that even the air she exhaled came out in small clouds of steam from her mouth.

Flutter.

Suddenly, several butterflies with bluish wings appeared from somewhere and swirled around her.

Juliet furrowed her brows slightly.

Butterflies with luminous wings were too visible in the dark.

Her control seemed to have been greatly weakened, given that she hadn’t even summoned them.

Well, that was to be expected since Juliet used too much mana today.

The butterflies seemed to be protesting against the part of themselves that had recently died at the hands of the Duke.

Although at first glance, these butterflies seem to be separate individuals, in fact they were part of one consciousness, divided at the moment into a group.

One of them sat on the back of Juliet’s hand and now told her about what happened after her successful escape.

This allowed Juliet to hear and see everything as if she herself had seen what happened in the mansion after her escape.

It looks like he was able to dispel her illusion.

“Oh, I see.”

The demon in the form of a butterfly buzzed in wavelengths only she could hear, sounding extremely excited, as if he was a spoiled child.

Juliet had expected them to be angry for giving them an unreasonable task, but the butterflies’ grievances were not about that.

They recounted how merciless the man who had destroyed part of their existence, their contractor, had been.

The moment their wings were pierced by a dagger (him, the man, the human, I hate him).

“Did it hurt a lot?”

Of course, his complaints were a bluff.

This demon’s body was a gigantic and powerful deity that existed beyond this dimension. He couldn’t feel the pain.

However, knowing all of their theatrics, Juliet still listened without a care.

The wicked and childish demons seemed satisfied with that and left after fooling around with clumsy human language for a while.

Juliet was alone again.

She wasn’t overly concerned about the man they had warned her about chasing her.

After all, she would be far away from the capital shortly. Even if his subordinates were competent, it would be impossible for them to find her in such a short time.

Juliet sat alone on the quiet platform, contemplating when the train would arrive.

There were seats inside the station, but intentionally, Juliet came out to the open platform to wait for the train.

Juliet tapped her foot.

She was dressed so inconspicuously that no one would think she had attended the New Year’s reception at the palace just a few hours ago.

A dark-colored blazer, a white blouse, and a long skirt that reached her ankles. She neatly tied her hair up and made sure to cover her face with a black veil.

Juliet estimated how much time was left until the train’s departure as she looked down at her feet.

Instead of the high-heeled, beautiful shoes she had worn while wandering around the ballroom, she had on plain leather boots.

Ankle-length boots were in many ways the best for traveling.

It seemed to her that the time when she walked proudly through the banquet hall of the Imperial Palace in elegant silver high-heeled shoes with a proudly raised head and light gait was just a beautiful dream.

Even though it’s only been a few hours since then.

Suddenly Juliet remembered the old story. It was about a beautiful girl who hurried out of the ball at midnight when the magic was over.

“Probably it would not be very comfortable to run in glass shoes.”

However, she was never the main character in this story.

Everything that Juliet had in the Duke’s house looked more like those glass slippers that the girl from the fairy tale had.

Therefore, instead of beautiful silver high-heeled shoes, she chose sturdy leather boots.

But suddenly Juliet realized that involuntarily she continued to think about silver shoes.

The thought seemed so amusing to her that she laughed a little to herself.

She would never have thought that at a moment like this she would be thinking about the beautiful pair of shoes she left at the mansion, and not about her heartless, indifferent lover.

These shoes were not a memory or a memento from a heartless lover. She had left them at the mansion.

Lennox Carlyle was an exceedingly generous lover. Even without her asking, he showered her with luxurious gifts. Beautiful dresses and jewelry that resembled crowns. Anything she mentioned became hers.

‘But in reality, I have no interest in even a single fingernail of his.’

Anyone who becomes accustomed to such a lifestyle would naturally come to believe that they have won his heart.

But Juliet never had that misconception from the beginning. It was because she knew that she would eventually be discarded.

The extravagant gifts were completely unrelated to his affection.

Affection, huh?

Lennox Carlyle was far from such soft emotions.

“I won’t bother Your Highness.”

In fact, these words were not meant for him, she said them to herself.

It was an oath never to make a mistake and not to wish for anything.

One day, Juliet ran into a mysterious woman at one of the banquets. Juliet didn’t know her and had never met her before, but as soon as she saw her, she spoke to Juliet as if she had been waiting it for a long time.

“You better enjoy it while you can.”

The advice with substance,

“The Duke easily gets bored.”

If her tone had been hostile, she could have dismissed it as jealousy, but Juliet didn’t feel it.

But before Juliet could say anything, the woman hurried out of the banquet.

She wanted to tell her that it was useless advice, since she knew better than anyone what kind of person Lennox Carlyle was.

However, Juliet somehow continued to ponder the woman’s advice even after the banquet was over and she was driving back to the Duke’s mansion.

“Oh, that’s so shameless!”

“I don’t think she knows the word shame.”

“Countess Monad, you’re wasting his name.”

People despised her and taunted her saying, ‘Even lower-status women are more deserving than this aristocrat who tarnished her honor with such a dirty bond. Thus, she will never be able to rise above us.’

They were people without a face, but ever since she became his lover, baseless animosity had become familiar.

Juliet smiled mischievously.

They might have expected her to ignore or stammer through what she didn’t hear.

“Eek!”

But Juliet wasn’t that innocent. Instead of sitting and dabbing her tears with a handkerchief, Juliet always chose to knock over their teacups.

Thanks to that, the notoriety of Duke Carlyle only grew, but well, so what?

Contrary to people’s grumbling, enduring by his side was no big deal for Juliet. She hadn’t expected anything from the start.

Becoming the lover of Lennox Carlyle was such an easy task.

But it seemed that guarding her heart was not as simple.

It didn’t have to be her for Duke Carlyle. It could have been anyone; it didn’t matter. As long as they were a suitable partner in bed.

Tak.

Juliet deliberately ignored a tear that fell on the back of her hand.