Chapter 35 - 3. Cradle

<b>3. Cradle</b>

Roadel was a beautiful city.

In the large circular fountain in the central square, water was gushing up, and around it stood red brick buildings.

Children and white doves mingled in the square, and there was a lively atmosphere among the people.

Juliet strolled along the fountain and the shopping street, admiring the shops, and casually stopped in front of a certain store.

“Welcome! What can I get you?”

The grumpy owner asked without even looking at Juliet, while arranging the merchandise.

Juliet didn’t answer and instead admired the various fruits displayed on the counter.

Thanks to the warm climate, the variety of fruits was abundant compared to her homeland. They weren’t cheap, but Juliet picked up two red apples. Then, as she was about to choose an orange, she paused.

‘They have it here too.’

She exclaimed when she spotted a much smaller fruit right next to the oranges.

It’s small, so why is it twice as expensive?

Juliet hesitated in front of the fruit counter.

A coin jingled in her pocket as she contemplated.

“I’ll take this too.”

Upon hearing that, the owner, who had a grumpy expression all along, suddenly brightened up.

The fruit she pointed out was a slow-selling item because it was expensive.

“Oh, well then! I’ll pack it for you!”

After a while, Juliet made a round in the village’s shopping street and settled at an outdoor table near her lodging. She opened the bag.

And first, she plucked out a fruit that looked like a small orange. To the people here, it was called ‘mandarin’.

‘Mandarin.’

Even the taste was exactly the same as the ones she had in the North.

Juliet hesitated for a moment and then bought a newspaper.

She thought she shouldn’t look at it, shouldn’t look, but in the end, she couldn’t resist and bought it again today.

Juliet took a deep breath and then unfolded the newspaper. She quickly skimmed through it.

“…Nothing.”

Nothing.

After a while, Juliet confirmed that there was no news of the kind she was looking for and unfolded the newspaper she was holding.

It was a little strange to expect and search for bad news. But she still wanted to check, even if it was like this.

‘It might not have appeared yet.’

It was pitiful to have such expectations.

Even if the newspaper didn’t include any news, she knew that Dahlia could have already appeared.

In her first life, Dahlia had appeared on the first day of this year. The place and timing of her appearance were so dramatic that it caused a commotion.

She remembered it clearly.

“Have you heard, Your Highness? She’s the ‘Maiden of Prophecy’.”

It was Juliet who conveyed that with a smile to Lennox, as if she found it intriguing.

She didn’t remember what Lennox replied at that time. It probably wasn’t that important.

Juliet just brought up any topic to have an excuse to see him a little more, as she always did.

That’s how it was back then. Just wanting to see his face one more time, no matter what.

“Where should I look?”

Juliet sat at a table by the street and unfolded a map.

Unlike other regions of the Empire, the Eastern region didn’t have a strong influence from the high nobles. In the center of the East, there was a forest inhabited by various tribes, and…

“There’s Lucerne.”

Lucerne.

Juliet found a dot on the map.

The Holy Kingdom of Lucerne.

Lucerne was a peculiar city-state where the Law Emperor ruled instead of kings or nobles.

It was a place where the Law Emperor, the head of the temples and the supreme ruler of all religions, along with the Law Emperor’s Council and priests, resided.

While Lucerne itself was a small city-state, its influence extended throughout the entire continent.

“Except for the North, maybe?”

Because of the infamous hostile relationship between the Carlyle House and the temples.

That’s partly why Juliet chose to flee to the East. Compared to other regions on the continent, the Eastern region had a particularly strong influence from the temples and the Law Emperor.

Most people believed in the goddess there, unlike in the North where Carlyle existed.

That’s why Juliet speculated that if she escaped to the East, Lennox, who had a strained relationship with the temples, wouldn’t bother to inquire about her whereabouts afterward.

‘But…’

Juliet’s lips tightened.

She didn’t expect that it would be none other than Lennox who would mobilize even the relics of the Great Temple. And he scratched her heart like that.

‘He must be furious.’

Juliet let out a light sigh.

She didn’t regret it, but she felt a little sad.

‘If we’re parting ways anyway, I wanted to leave with a smile.’

Usually, she would endure even more difficult situations without a problem, so why couldn’t things go her way when it came to him?

“Well, since I was caught anyway…”

Muttering to herself, Juliet looked at the map again.

If Lennox Carlyle had the relic in his hands, it would only be a matter of time before he found out that Juliet was here in Roadel.

Even if not, he had at least seen her boarding the train, so he would know that she had gone east.

The reason Juliet got off in Roadel instead of heading to her original destination was because of that.

Before heading to her original destination, she had to disable any tracking in this place and then leave. Otherwise, Lennox would know where she went and why.

She didn’t want that.

To evade tracking, she had to neutralize the Hundred Eyes of Argos.

If the ‘Eyes of Argos’ was a magical object, it would have been relatively simple, but it was powered by divine energy.

Magic and divine energy were opposing forces, and to neutralize a relic, a higher level of divine energy was required.

If it were somewhere else, one might ask, ‘What’s the plan?’ But Juliet wasn’t worried. She had already thought it through.

“I found it.”

Juliet looked at the map and smiled broadly.

* * *

From the Roadel Station where Juliet got off to her destination, the Lobell village, she had to take a carriage ride for about 10 minutes.

“Where are you headed, miss?”

In front of the station, there were many lively street performers trying to attract customers.

“Do you need a place to stay?”

“Come to our inn!”

Juliet hesitated for a moment, afraid that her bags would be snatched before she could even get on the carriage.

Just then, someone passed by Juliet’s side.

“Move aside.”

It was a young man’s voice, full of irritation. He casually pushed away the heads of the gathered street performers and walked briskly.

The pushed-away street performers protested angrily, mixed with curses, but the man continued walking without even pretending to hear.

Thanks to that, Juliet was able to smoothly make her way to the carriage platform along the path the man had cleared.

And she spotted that man from earlier.

Wow.

Juliet widened her eyes in fascination and looked at him.

‘Such striking red hair…’

The man drew a lot of attention from the people on the street. Passersby stopped in their tracks and glanced at him, impressed by his remarkable appearance.

Is he a traveler?

Out of curiosity, Juliet glanced at him.

“Where are you headed, miss?”

“Ah… I’m going to Lobell.”

The person who spoke to Juliet, lost in thought, was a carriage driver.

A while later, Juliet paid the fare and sat on the carriage bound for Lobell.

And she found herself in a somewhat perplexing situation.

The polite redhead man had taken a seat right across from where Juliet had boarded the carriage.

The creaking of the carriage was the only noisy thing. Amidst the awkward silence, Juliet regretted it a little.

‘I should have sat in the next seat…’

Until she had just boarded the carriage, she thought there would be other passengers, but there were only two on the carriage.

It was later that she learned it was a small village, and there would be only one passenger going to Lobell, if at all, on any given day.

The creaking carriage had a completely different structure from the ones Juliet was familiar with.

There were only two long, vertically arranged seats for multiple people. Naturally, there were no backrests.

The fortunate thing was that the man had been motionless with his arms crossed and eyes closed, seemingly sleeping, even before the carriage departed.

Thanks to that, Juliet could observe the man across from her without worry.

Even if it was considered red, it was only to the extent of a reddish hue when someone was caught. The man’s hair was close to a deep crimson.

‘Should I dye my hair too?’

In the eastern region, where magic items were common, perhaps he had used a magic item to change his hair color.

“Ahem, what brings you to Lobell?”

The carriage driver who had been driving the carriage from the front seat asked Juliet. It seemed the silence was uncomfortable not only for her.

“I’m here to meet someone.”

Juliet gave a vague response.

Perhaps out of boredom, the carriage driver, who introduced himself as a native of Lobell, began telling Juliet unsolicited stories about the village.

“To be honest, there’s no place as safe as Lobell. It’s probably because it’s the king’s hometown.”

“The king?”

Listening with little interest, Juliet found the baseless and exaggerated honorifics amusing, so she asked back.

“Don’t you know? Lionel Lebatan, the Red King.”