Chapter 115
Chapter 115
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Staged Rescue
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jude stopped abruptly and keenly pinpointed the direction from which the scream had come.
“…What should we do, Lady Juliet?”
Jude’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as he asked. Juliet nodded reluctantly.
“Let’s go.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than Jude led her rushing toward the imperial palace’s rear garden where the scream had originated.
Of course, since it was still within the palace grounds, neither of them expected a dire situation.
“Help!”
Half-dragged by her escort knight, Juliet tumbled onto the garden grass and stared dumbfounded at the scene before her.
It was a clichéd sight.
A lovely young lady was surrounded by nobles who looked shady at first glance, her wrist gripped tightly.
‘But this is the palace?’
It was blatantly suspicious.
“Are you all right, Lady!”
Before Juliet could stop him, however, the polite escort knight reflexively charged forward.
Jude swiftly knocked flat the ruffians who had been surrounding and toying with the fragile lady.
“Ugh!”
“You’ll regret this!”
With the frightened lady rescued, the men who had been harassing her spat out hackneyed lines and slunk away with their tails between their legs. Juliet felt as if she’d just watched a play and considered applauding.
“W-Well, thank you… How can I ever repay this kindness…”
“Are you okay?”
The teary-eyed lady, however, was a face Juliet recognized.
‘Dolores?’
She was the new wife of Marquis Guinness, whom she had seen in the south just a few days prior.
“Huh?”
Dolores appeared to recognize Juliet as well.
“Ah, hello, Madam.”
“Yes.”
Juliet observed the other woman closely. Viewed from the outside, Dolores seemed fragile and innocent.
“Is she a friend of yours, Lady?”
“Someone I met once in the south.”
“Yes, that’s right! I didn’t think you’d remember me, Dolores.”
Dolores spoke shyly.
“What are you doing here?”
“Um… I came to give a wedding gift to Her Highness the Princess Consort.”
Dolores held out the small box she was carrying.
Only then did Juliet understand why Marquis Guinness, whom she’d encountered in the south a few days ago, had said, “See you in the capital.”
Of course, a man of Marquis Guinness’s stature wouldn’t miss the prince’s wedding.
“But they said non-nobles can’t enter Her Highness’s salon.”
The intimidated Dolores glanced around nervously.
“So then you ran into those louts and they picked a fight?”
“Yes, because I’m not a noble, they tried to drag me off…”
“Wow… I see.”
Juliet’s escort knight drew out his words with a grinning face, shooting her a meaningful glance.
Juliet pretended not to notice.
“Could you perhaps deliver this to Her Highness the Princess Consort on my behalf, Lady Juliet?”
With that, Dolores offered the box to Juliet.
Juliet stared at it for a moment, then smiled brightly and refused.
“No.”
“Ah… Pardon? Why?”
“Because a gift only has meaning when delivered in person. Instead, I’ll have a maid let you into the salon.”
Juliet made her an offer too kind to refuse, leaving Dolores no choice but to nod.
Right after Dolores departed, her escort knight Jude unleashed a barrage of questions as if he’d been holding them in.
“Didn’t you notice that awful acting earlier?”
Juliet smiled.
“Yes, they were retainers of the House of Marquis Guinness.”
The men who had pretended to harass Dolores moments ago were low-ranking nobles in Marquis Guinness’s service.
“But why pretend not to notice?”
“They say to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Juliet recalled just how vicious Marquis Guinness was.
“There must be a reason for employing actors with such dismal skills.”
In truth, Juliet wasn’t particularly curious why Marquis Guinness had sent the hopelessly inept Dolores to cozy up to her.
Asking her to deliver a gift to the Princess Consort. If she’d passed it along unquestioningly and it caused trouble, they could shift the blame onto Juliet for acting as the middleman.
But Juliet had no intention of falling for such a shallow ploy. Nor did she care about the marquis’s ulterior motives.
“Actually, I have a few things to pry out of Marquis Guinness myself.”
Juliet smiled.
Marquis Guinness would learn the hard way that sending someone to peek at your opponent’s hand risked exposing your own cards as well.
**
A few days later, late at night.
In the deathly silent ducal bedroom, something bizarre occurred.
A wriggling form popped out from a crevice in the shadows.
It was a translucent black shadow, like a shrunken version of a human silhouette.
Crafted by black magic, it even had limbs and could manage basic situational awareness.
It was a thoughtform sent by Cardinal Solon. The small black thoughtform glanced around and quickly located its target.
The thoughtform lunged toward its prey. But before it could even approach the bed…
…?
The wriggling thoughtform was halted by something descending from above.
A pair of pumpkin-yellow eyes gazed down at it.
This was actually impossible.
The thoughtform had been forged from malevolent power. No ordinary beast could even touch it.
The mysterious creature approached without a sound, like a nimble cat, then plopped a front paw atop it. Even in the darkness, its eyes gleamed like jewels.
A cat?
No, a ferret?
It didn’t matter. Made with forbidden divine power, the thoughtform could defend itself, however feebly.
Zzzap!
Crackle!
Sparks flew.
“Peep?”
But the pitch-black creature wasn’t startled in the least. Instead, it hopped about familiarly before striking a full hunting pose.
Moments later.
Onyx trotted out excitedly, something suspicious dangling from its mouth.
“?”
But the baby dragon, dashing gleefully down the corridor, locked eyes with the human man sitting calmly in the parlor chair at the far end.
It was the exact same spot where, over the past few days, it had devoured Onyx’s catches.
“…Guk.”
Startled, the baby dragon nearly swallowed what was in its mouth whole.
Onyx racked its tiny brain desperately. It rolled its eyes, gauging the man’s mood.
With the instincts befitting a king of magical beasts, the baby dragon knew the man before it didn’t particularly like it.
The man, holding a crystal glass filled with amber liquid, stared at Onyx impassively.
Yet, unexpectedly, the man who had been gazing silently at the baby dragon called to it in a gentle voice.
“Come here.”
“Pii…”
The conflicted baby dragon crept forward hesitantly.
And it realized the man wasn’t holding just the wine glass.
The human man extended a plump, ripe apple leisurely.
The dilemma was short-lived.
Onyx hopped onto the table, dropped what was in its mouth, and snatched the red apple.
Thud.
The instant the baby dragon set its prize on the table, the man’s hand flipped the glass over, trapping the small black shadow beneath it.
After staring at the object under the glass for a long moment, the man tossed over a second apple.
“You’re capable of some impressive feats.”
“Nom!”
The next day, Juliet witnessed a truly suspicious sight on her way downstairs.
In the annex parlor, the black baby dragon was purring contentedly at Lennox’s feet.
‘That’s strange. There’s no way those two get along that well.’
Juliet, standing there puzzled, met Lennox’s eyes.
“Your Highness.”
“You summoned the jeweler.”
“Yes. I had an item commissioned from the artisan.”
Lennox didn’t press her on what the item was.
He simply watched her retreating figure as she descended the stairs.
More precisely, it was Juliet’s exposed white nape that drew his gaze.
Last night as well, he had inevitably suffered a dream featuring some unidentified woman.
The woman in the nightmare had a small, emaciated back that naturally evoked pity in any viewer. It was covered in wounds, as if from a severe beating.
Recalling the woman’s back, Lennox threw open the window and drew in the cool night air.
Thanks to his insomnia, he had coincidentally witnessed an amusing scene: the baby dragon rolling topsy-turvy across the plush carpet.