Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: The Full Moon Spell
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Marquis Guinness wore a distinctly displeased expression.
“Hair? What kind of child's play is this?”
But Cardinal Solon confidently opened the black book.
“Child's play? This is a grimoire designated as forbidden over a hundred years ago.”
He had been able to obtain such a dangerously forbidden tome because the false Pope had once been an inquisitor of heretics.
Even among the noble clergy, there had always been those who fell deep into dark sorcery and strayed to the wrong path.
Rustle.
The pages turned, and Solon pointed to one spot with his finger.
It was a page illustrated with an eerily chilling image. Beneath a drawing of a full moon were sketches of a hanged man and a skeleton wielding a scythe.
The so-called Full Moon Spell.
“This is nothing like that doll of Sebastian's. This is a spell that can thoroughly and completely dominate a human being.”
As a cardinal, Solon possessed considerable divine power.
Marquis Guinness promised to procure any rare materials needed for the ritual.
Of course, the spell described in this black book was extremely perilous.
All sorcery fundamentally required an equivalent price. If the spell failed, that price would rebound entirely onto the caster.
But for Solon, who had nothing left to lose, this was his only option.
Whether to earn points with the marquis or to exact revenge on Juliet Monad.
Moreover, Solon had chosen the Full Moon Spell for a specific reason.
“If it succeeds, that woman will become a puppet dancing to our whims.”
Marquis Guinness looked at the page Solon indicated, but all he could make out was the eerie drawing.
He could not read ancient script.
“But if it fails?”
“There’s no chance of failure. This is an ancient spell that no divine power or magic can block.”
The marquis’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“I know a little about sorcery myself, and I’ve heard there’s no such thing as a perfect spell without a way to undo it.”
At the marquis’s point, Cardinal Solon grinned wickedly. That was precisely why he had chosen this spell.
“You’re right. But what if the method to break the curse no longer exists in this world?”
Marquis Guinness felt a spark of interest.
“What do you mean?”
“Every spell has a way to counter it, but this one is the exception.”
Cardinal Solon let out a meaningful chuckle.
“The only being capable of blocking this spell went extinct hundreds of years ago.”
In other words, with no counter possible, failure was impossible.
“And so, Juliet Monad is as good as in our hands.”
**
“A cardinal from the Papal Court?”
“Yes, and he’s a wanted man, to boot.”
“What’s a bastard like that doing glued to Marquis Guinness’s side?”
Lennox, furrowing his brow, draped a robe over his shoulders and gave the order.
“Get rid of him immediately.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The first thing Lennox had checked upon returning to the capital was the identity of the priest attached to the marquis.
He had seemed familiar, and his memory had been correct.
It was suspicious enough that Marquis Guinness was showing interest in Juliet, but having a cardinal who had committed crimes in Lucerne and fled now stuck to his side was even more unsettling. And his bad instincts had a frightening habit of being spot on.
He had to eliminate any potential future trouble before Juliet found out.
Once the knight receiving the duke’s command withdrew, the dutiful physician quickly asked,
“Your Highness, are you truly experiencing no discomfort beyond the insomnia?”
“Yes.”
Lennox answered reluctantly.
Duke Carlisle only permitted examinations when Juliet Monad was away.
Having noticed this, the physician never missed a chance when she was out, persistently checking on the duke’s condition.
No matter how much the duke insisted he was perfectly fine, the family physician hounded him, insisting side effects could appear at any moment.
“Then allow me to prescribe a sleeping draught.”
“...”
Lennox did not respond.
In truth, he knew full well the cause of his insomnia.
It was due to eerie dreams featuring a woman whose face and name he did not know.
They had started as brief fragments, but lately, they tormented him at every turn.
‘Am I possessed by some evil spirit?’
The thought made Lennox chuckle in absurdity.
“Evil spirit, indeed.”
The woman in his dreams did not directly harm him.
The problem was that the dreams featuring her had grown more varied than before.
She used to simply sit in a bedroom and weep, but now the repertoire included her frantic figure dashing down stairs or pacing restlessly.
In the most recent one, the image of a woman in a pristine white dress had flashed by. Her slender arms, ill-suited to the gown, were covered in wounds.
The scenes were so fragmentary he could not even grasp the context, let alone her identity.
Yet afterward, for no discernible reason, his chest would tighten uncomfortably from time to time.
Lost in thought, Lennox finally asked after a long pause,
“Where is Juliet?”
*
The day after returning to the capital, Juliet headed straight to the count’s residence to retrieve the baby dragon.
“Peep!”
Onyx, whom she hadn’t seen in weeks, peeped mournfully and clung to the hem of her dress for a good while, refusing to let go.
But the baby dragon wasn’t the only one waiting for her.
“Eselrid?”
“It’s been a while, Miss Juliet.”
Eselrid, the wizard from the Marigold Merchant Company, waited for her dressed in splendid robes.
Juliet blinked in slight confusion.
“What are you doing here?”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t cross the continent just to see you.”
Eselrid explained that she had come to the capital on company business and had stopped by the count’s residence to visit Juliet.
“How are Grandpa and Aunt doing? And Theo?”
As Juliet asked after their well-being, Eselrid handed over a thick bundle of letters.
“These are from the elder.”
“Oh.”
While Juliet read the letters, Onyx kept slipping off her lap.
“Pebble?”
Though they had only been apart a few weeks, Onyx had grown noticeably.
Still, it was only about the size of a large cat. He used to be able to roll around comfortably on her lap, but now even a slight shift sent him tumbling down.
“Pip!”
The baby dragon clearly didn’t understand this at all. Unable to stay still, he eventually compromised by curling into a ball and purred contentedly.
Once Juliet finished reading and folded the letters away, Eselrid said,
“I’ll be staying in the capital for a few weeks, so if you write a reply, I can deliver it.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Ahem. That said, Miss Juliet.”
Eselrid hesitated even after finishing her business before asking,
“Have any strange people come looking for you, by any chance?”
“Strange people?”
“Well... don’t be too startled, but listen.”
Eselrid’s explanation went like this.
A few wizards from the company had come with her to the capital. They were recent hires from the Magic Tower, introduced by her.
“But these crazy wizards are insisting they have to see the baby dragon no matter what!”
Eselrid vented, saying that must have been their purpose in joining the company from the start.
No wonder she looked a bit worn out.
It seemed she had been pestered the entire journey to the capital by her fellow wizards begging to see the baby dragon.
Come to think of it, Eselrid had mentioned something like this right after returning from Lucerne.
Rumors about Juliet and the baby dragon had begun circulating among a tiny faction of Magic Tower wizards.
She had warned her to be careful.
But who would have thought Eselrid herself would bring such wizards along.
“Would it be all right to show Nix to those wizards?”
When Juliet asked, Eselrid quickly dissuaded her.
“You can refuse. In fact, I recommend you do.”
“Why?”
Watching the baby dragon wriggle to catch his own tail, Eselrid muttered meaningfully.
“Sometimes, it’s more useful to leave a fantasy as just that—a fantasy.”
She seemed to mutter something about how, cute as he was, what was the point of such a beast otherwise.
Juliet didn’t quite follow, but she nodded.
“More importantly, Eselrid, did you get my letter?”
“Ah, you mean the one about ‘Snowdrop’?”
“Yes.”
Right before departing for the south, Juliet had also sent a letter to Eselrid.
She had asked if she could look into the name ‘Snowdrop.’
Not the flower, of course.
Though Eselrid had been excommunicated from the Magic Tower, she still had connections there.
Juliet thought she might uncover information even the intelligence guild couldn’t.
Yawning, Eselrid replied,
“I’ve asked my master who’s still at the Tower. I’ll pass on the answer as soon as it comes.”
“Thank you.”
Juliet smiled brightly.
“In any case, Nix will be staying with me for the time being, so I won’t run into your wizard colleagues.”
Juliet placed the wriggling Onyx into a lidded basket.
“And tomorrow, I’m going to the palace.”
“The palace... tomorrow?”
“Yes. Why?”
At that, Eselrid’s expression turned profoundly strange.
Tomorrow was the pre-wedding gathering for Second Prince and Fatima Glenfield.
She wasn’t keen on it, but she couldn’t skip attending.
Forgotten Juliet