Chapter 21

* * *

Several hours later, Juliet woke up on a soft bed.

Her fever had subsided completely. As her body felt better than expected, she hoped that maybe all of it had just been a dream.

(You’re awake. Look here.)

(Contractor.)

Of course, it was just her imagination.

(Human. Man. Not here.)

(I don’t like it.)

(Leave. Quickly.)

But the butterflies approaching Juliet were much quieter and more muffled than yesterday.

And it was as if they were simply listing words, like a creature that had just learned to speak.

‘That’s strange. They were talking so fluently, almost to the point of confusion.’

When Juliet tried to stand up, her body was pierced by such intense pain that for a second she even closed her eyes.

‘It hurts…’

Nevertheless, she was in a better condition than she thought.

Apart from her lips that she had bitten and torn in pain, swollen eyes, and injured hands, she was surprisingly fine.

Considering how her body was aching, it meant that she was doing relatively well. Her ankle was sore from the injury yesterday, but she could still walk, albeit with a slight limp.

Ignoring the pain, Juliet made her way out of the bedroom.

“Oh!”

Creak.

Startled by the sudden opening of the bedroom door, the young man who had been sitting leaning against a chair in front of the door hurriedly stood up.

“You’re awake?”

He was a handsome young man with curly red hair.

Jude Hayon.

Juliet knew this person’s name.

Jude, who was the youngest son of the Hayon family and loyal to the northern duchy despite being a member of the royal family, was quite well-known in the capital.

It seemed that Jude also knew Juliet.

“Well, Miss Monad. I was going to offer you food first, or perhaps a doctor…”

“No.”

“Oh, you can speak?”

Jude chuckled. But Juliet didn’t smile and asked directly.

“Where?”

“Oh, the Duke is currently away.”

“Not him.”

Not him?

Jude stopped laughing for a moment, trying to figure out what she was asking him.

And in the next moment, he regretted a hundred times that he laughed.

“My parents.”

The smile disappeared from Jude’s face.

“Show me.”

“Miss, it’s better if you don’t see.”

“Please. I want to see with my own eyes.”

No one could break Juliet’s persistence as she repeated the same words with a pale face like a doll.

People with various titles, from the Duke’s personal physician to the head of the knights, came forward to resist, but it was in vain.

In the end, vice-captain Milan sighed deeply and gave instructions.

“Open it.”

The door to the chilly underground chamber opened.

Inside, there were the bodies that the Duke’s people had temporarily laid out the previous night.

Juliet slowly approached the side of the coffin.

The calm expressions on the faces of the Count and Countess Monad, lying side by side in the coffin as if they were peacefully asleep, provided some solace.

Milan, who had worried that Juliet might faint after seeing the bodies, was somewhat relieved when he saw her composed demeanor.

Juliet asked.

“Can I have a moment alone?”

“Oh, yes. If you need anything, just call.”

Milan left the room to give her a chance to mourn. As soon as he closed the door and stepped outside, a desperate cry echoed from within.

* * *

It was in the middle of the night, a full day after Lennox Carlyle had once again crossed her mind.

‘Oh, come to think of it, that happened.’

It was just that.

“So, where is he?”

“What?”

Lennox had decided not to pay much attention to her if the Duke’s people had sent her home.

“If you’re referring to the young lady we brought here yesterday, well…”

But the answer that came back was unexpected.

“…Where is she?”

“Huh?”

Lennox was taken aback by the response.

The Duke’s residence in the capital wasn’t particularly extravagant. Since he mostly stayed at the northern duchy, there wasn’t much need for furniture. Therefore, there were many unused spaces in the residence.

For example, there was a dim annex with no lights.

As Lennox entered the dark annex living room, he felt slightly annoyed.

It was because he found a woman sitting on her knees right in front of the door, where the coffin with two bodies temporarily lay.

“What are you doing here?”

His expression hardened.

“…”

Only then did Juliet finally raise her head. But even looking at him, it seemed that she didn’t recognize him, as if her thoughts hovered somewhere else.

However, she certainly must have recognized him, as the butterflies flying around them provided enough light to make out faces in the darkness.

Lennox went inside and casually sat down on a couch covered with a white cloth. He looked blankly at the butterfly demons when he saw that they were still flying around her, although there were significantly fewer of them now than yesterday.

“Aren’t you able to speak yet?”

“No… no, I’m fine now.”

Strangely, her voice returned.

As if he could read Juliet’s thoughts, Lennox said:

“You should be careful. If the owner of the body doesn’t fulfill their role, they might devour you.”

“The owner of the body?”

“Well, who do you think those voices borrowed?”

Juliet suddenly felt a chill.

Come to think of it, the whispering voices in her ears seemed somewhat similar to her own voice.

“I heard you wanted to see me.”

“Oh, yes. I have something to tell you.”

Juliet slowly stood up from her seat. However, instead of immediately bringing up the matter at hand, she quietly gazed at Lennox.

It felt strange to see the man she had once loved in her past life. Especially when he couldn’t even remember her.

‘I hate you.’

As their faces met, emotions resurfaced as if in a lie. A complex mixture of resentment and affection.

Although Juliet knew in her head that the Lennox Carlyle from back then and the man before her were completely different, she spent the whole day sitting in front of her parents’ coffin, pondering what she should do next.

‘I don’t want to experience something like that again.’

If things continued like this, the same cycle would repeat again and again.

If Dahlia appeared, she would be discarded, just like in her first life.

Juliet had done whatever it took for him, but she was merely a tool to Lennox.

‘In the end, I’ll end up in the same situation.’

But Juliet needed Lennox at the moment.

“You said you had something to say, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

Juliet recalled what Lennox had said last night, ‘Closing off the magic’, and its meaning.

The same thing had happened when Dahlia first encountered him in her previous life. It was during the time when Dahlia was still a guest at the Duke’s residence. Juliet had overheard a conversation among the maidservants about Dahlia’s arrival.

“Silly girl. Don’t you know what it means to control magic? It means they’ve shared a bed!”

When a person awakened their magic for the first time, the flow of magic within their body became unstable.

To the mages, magic was something they could handle naturally, as easily as breathing.

But for novices who didn’t even know what magic was or fully sense its existence, it was quite dangerous.

In some cases, it took five or six years to learn how to control magic.

If one panicked, they might not be able to close off their magic, leading to their death. That’s why it was crucial to have someone who could skillfully handle magic and engage in continuous physical contact.

By touching her skin, he would absorb an excessive amount of mana, allowing her to remain in a stable state. Because the closer the partners are and the more trust between them, the more effective the result was.

That was the reason Lennox had kissed her last night in the woods.

However, the fastest and most effective way to achieve this result is if you become lovers.

“Your Highness, I know what you have been looking for for so long.”

Even in the darkness, she could see the sharp glint of his red eyes.

In her past life, there were some powerful people, including Duke Carlyle, who sought out certain types of relics.

Although at first glance these items appeared to be common, they were actually very rare items, and could give the people who possessed them incredible strength even if they couldn’t use mana or divine power.

And what Lennox had been looking for for a long time was a long-lost heirloom of his family.

The artifact with an unimaginable power would be necessary for future adversity, but what was even more important was the person who disappeared with that object.

‘Dahlia Fran’, from her lovely name to her presence as beautiful as a flower, she was Lennox’s childhood friend and felt like a sister.

However, when Lennox’s father died and a dispute arose over the inheritance, Dahlia’s parents, who were servants of the Duke, ran away with their daughter.

‘Taking the treasure with them.’

After working hard on the battlefield, Lennox returned and immediately began searching for the whereabouts of the treasure after reclaiming his position as the duke.

He might still be searching for Dahlia. However, Juliet knew.

The moment Lennox regained possession of the treasure would be when he reunited with Dahlia, whom he thought was dead, seven years later.

‘But I can’t talk about Dahlia here.’

There was no way for her to explain how she knew about the story, even to the closest associates of the Duke.

“So?”

“Yes?”

“What do you want to say?”

Lennox Carlyle’s eyes glimmered calmly.

“Are you planning to use that as leverage to threaten me?”

Threaten him, huh.

“I… I…”

Juliet carefully chose her words.

“I want to make a deal with Your Highness.”