Chapter 123

Jude abruptly halted and swiftly pinpointed the direction from which the noise emanated.

“…What should we do, Miss Juliet?”

Jude’s eyes twinkled with curiosity as he asked. Reluctantly, Juliet nodded.

“Let’s go.”

No sooner had she spoken than Jude pulled her along, rushing towards the rear palace where the scream was heard.

Of course, they were still within the imperial palace, so neither of them expected a severe situation.

“Help me!”

Juliet, dragged a bit by the escort knight, tripped onto the palace’s rear garden grass. The sight before her was somewhat absurd.

It was a cliched scene.

A graceful young lady was being surrounded and held by the wrists by a few gentlemen who clearly looked like trouble.

‘But this is the imperial palace?’

It was clearly suspicious.

“Are you alright, my lady?”

But before Juliet could intervene, the courteous escort knight had already darted forward.

Jude quickly took down the hooligans who were mocking the frail young lady.

“Ugh!”

“We’ll see about this!”

The frightened young lady was rescued, and the men who had been taunting her threw out some clichéd lines before scampering off. It all felt so theatrical that Juliet considered giving them applause.

“Thank you… How can I ever repay this kindness…”

“Are you alright?”

However, the tearful young lady was a face Juliet recognized.

‘Dolores?’

She was the new wife of Marquis Guinness, whom Juliet had seen in the south a few days ago.

“Huh?”

Dolores seemed to recognize Juliet as well.

“Ah, hello, my lady.”

“Yes.”

Juliet observed Dolores closely. Outside, Dolores appeared frail and naive.

“Is she your friend?”

“We’ve met in the south.”

“Yes, that’s right! I didn’t think you’d remember me.”

Dolores said shyly.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah… I wanted to give a wedding gift to Her Highness the Crown Princess.”

Dolores showed a small box she was holding.

Only then did Juliet realize why Marquis Guinness, whom she had met in the south a few days ago, had said, ‘I’ll see you in the capital.’

Of course, a figure like Marquis Guinness would attend the Crown Prince’s wedding.

“But they said non-nobles can’t enter the salon of the Crown Princess.”

Dolores said, looking a bit downcast.

“So you had a run-in with those guys?”

“Yes, when they learned that I’m not a noble, they tried to drag me away.”

“Oh… I see.”

Juliet’s escort knight looked at Juliet with a meaningful grin, to which she pretended not to notice.

“Perhaps, Miss Juliet, could you deliver this gift to the Crown Princess on my behalf?”

Dolores held out the box to Juliet.

Juliet, staring at the box, declined with a broad smile.

“No.”

“Ah… Why?”

“The gift should be given in person to have meaning. Instead, I’ll speak to the maid so you can enter the salon.”

Juliet made a kind offer that Dolores couldn’t refuse, and Dolores had no choice but to nod in agreement.

As soon as Dolores left, Jude eagerly asked:

“Didn’t you recognize those poor actors earlier?”

Juliet smirked.

“Yes, they were under Marquis Guinness.”

The men who were mocking Dolores earlier were lower-ranking nobles under Marquis Guinness.

“Why did you pretend not to know?”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

Juliet remembered just how malicious Marquis Guinness was.

“He must have a reason for using such terrible actors.”

In truth, Juliet wasn’t very curious as to why Marquis Guinness sent the very unconvincing Dolores to be close to her.

Asking her to deliver a gift to the Crown Princess? Juliet did just as she was told.

It must have been their intention to push the blame onto Juliet, who had passed on the item in the middle and caused the problem.

However, Juliet had no intention of falling for such a shallow trick. She was also not curious about Marquis Guiness’s secret dealings.

“To tell the truth, I have something to bring up with Marquis Guiness.”

Juliet grinned.

Marquis Guiness would soon learn the lesson that when you spy on someone, you risk exposing your own secrets.

* * *

A few days later, late at night.

A strange event took place in the silent bedroom of the Duke’s residence.

A shape that had been lurking in the shadow suddenly popped out.

It was a translucent dark shadow, as if a human’s shadow had been reduced in size.

This creature, created through black magic, had arms and legs, and could perceive basic situations.

It was a spiritual entity sent by Archbishop Solon. The small, dark entity looked around and easily found its target.

The entity dashed towards its prey. But even before it reached the bed…

…?

The flailing entity was obstructed by something that appeared above it.

A pair of pumpkin-yellow eyes looked down at it.

It was supposedly impossible.

The spiritual entity was made of malevolent power. For any ordinary creature, even touching the entity would be impossible.

A creature, silent as a stalking cat and suddenly pouncing on it, had gem-like shining eyes even in the darkness.

A cat?

No, a hedgehog?

Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. The spiritual entity, having been created with forbidden divine power, could protect itself to some extent.

Spark!

Spark!

A spark ignited.

“Peep?”

But the creature with a tiny body, rather than being startled, jumped as if familiar with the situation and soon took a hunting stance.

A moment later.

Onyx came out with something strange in its mouth, slithering out.

“?”

However, the young dragon, which excitedly darted out into the corridor, locked eyes with a human man who was calmly sitting on a chair at the end of the corridor.

It was the exact spot where he had been clearing away the hunted prey of Onyx over the past few days.

“…Hmm.”

Surprised, the young dragon almost swallowed what it had in its mouth.

Onyx thought desperately with its little head, glancing at the man, realizing that the man didn’ particularly like it.

The man, holding a crystal glass filled with orange liquid, gazed at Onyx expressionlessly.

Yet, unexpectedly, he called out to the dragon with a tender voice.

“Come here.”

“Peep…”

The conflicted young dragon slowly approached the man.

And realized that what the human man held out was not just a glass of alcohol, but a tempting ripe apple.

The decision was quick.

Onyx hastily climbed onto the table, set down what it had in its mouth, and bit into the red apple.

Clang.

At the same time the young dragon set its catch on the table, the man’s hand overturned a glass, trapping a small dark shadow inside.

After staring at the object in the glass for a while, the man tossed another apple.

“You do quite interesting things.”

“Peep!”

The next day, as Juliet was heading downstairs, she witnessed a peculiar sight.

In the annex’s reception room, a black young dragon was contentedly growling at Lennox’s feet.

‘It’s strange. Those two shouldn’t be on such good terms.’

With a puzzled expression, Juliet locked eyes with Lennox.

“Your Highness.”

“I heard you called for the jeweler.”

“Yes. I ordered something from the craftsman.”

Lennox didn’t ask further about what Juliet had ordered.

However, he gazed at the back of Juliet descending the stairs.

Specifically, her exposed pale nape caught his attention.

Last night, he had been tormented by a dream where an unidentified woman appeared.

In the nightmare, the woman had a pitiable, small, and slender back. Her back looked as if she had been severely whipped, covered in wounds.

As Lennox recalled the woman’s back, he opened the window and took in the cold breeze.

Thanks to that, though he couldn’t sleep, he happened to witness a fun scene where the young dragon rolled around on the soft carpet.