Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Die by My Hand
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*
Lennox returned to the mansion in a hurry, his usually smooth brow furrowing slightly.
“Juliet?”
He climbed the stairs two at a time.
Juliet had left the banquet hall and returned to the mansion without a word to him or the duke's knights.
There had been quite a commotion searching for her after she vanished.
“The lady has already returned.”
Even though the butler said that, his anger didn't subside.
Lennox found Juliet in the bedroom on the second floor of the mansion.
“What are you doing here?”
Not even a lamp was lit. She'd vanished without a word again, making everyone worry.
It wasn't even her own bedroom—she was in his.
He stood by the door for a moment, glaring at Juliet. Opening his mouth now would only lead to harsh words.
When he realized Juliet had disappeared from the banquet hall, he hadn't been in his right mind.
The door to the terrace was wide open. White curtains fluttered wildly.
“Your Grace.”
Juliet, who had been sitting on the terrace railing, turned to look at him.
“Come down.”
“Why?”
“Damn it. It's dangerous.”
The moment he saw her perched so precariously, Lennox rushed toward her, reaching out as if to yank her down.
But Juliet stared at his outstretched hand for a moment before turning her gaze back to the empty air.
“Your Highness.”
She wasn't cold enough to need a robe; she was barefoot in a short negligee that exposed her calves.
“The moon is beautiful.”
Her hem fluttered in the wind.
The moment Juliet, sitting on the railing, dangled her pale ankle, the words you're insane nearly rose to his throat.
The huge full moon shining brightly wasn't beautiful—it was grotesque.
“Fine, just come down.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Lennox forcibly pulled Juliet down.
At his firm grip, she obediently came down from the railing.
But when Juliet stumbled and pushed him away, they both tumbled to the ground.
“...Did you drink?”
Amid his incredulity, he thought he needed to get her into a hot bath quickly.
Her body was cold.
But as Lennox cradled the back of her head and tried to get up, he froze.
Juliet burrowed into his arms like a shivering animal in the cold.
“Lennox.”
“What.”
“Have I ever told you, even once, that I love you?”
His heart might as well have stopped—it wouldn't be an exaggeration.
That one phrase was taboo between them.
Juliet, who had calmly shattered years of taboo, asked with steady eyes.
“If I said I loved you, what would you do for me?”
“...What do you want?”
Lennox hoped his voice didn't sound too desperate as he asked. But even the way he held her was greedy.
“I loved you so much, a long time ago.”
Juliet smiled brightly.
“So, just this once, die by my hand.”
Flash.
Lennox realized that the thing in Juliet's raised right hand was a sharp dagger.
It was a pathetically clumsy and slow motion. Yet he didn't dodge.
**
The next morning.
Though the banquet had been going on for days, the imperial palace was bustling with guests from morning.
Wedding guests kept arriving one after another ahead of the ceremony.
“But the Duke of Carlyle is nowhere to be seen.”
The emperor glanced around the banquet hall.
“I thought he was attending today.”
“Who knows.”
Marquis Guinness was growing a bit anxious.
‘The hypnosis definitely worked.’
He had planted plenty of people around the Duke of Carlyle’s mansion, but strangely, even as morning came, the news he’d been desperately waiting for hadn’t arrived—the news that the duke had been killed by his lover.
‘Did it fail?’
Even so, there was no way the Duke of Carlyle would let live the woman who tried to stab him.
‘Then maybe Juliet Monad is the one who was killed? Hmm.’
Marquis Guinness mentally calculated for a moment.
Either way, it wasn’t bad for him. He had already taken the spirit from Juliet Monad, which had been his goal.
The marquis made eye contact with Dolores, who was standing in one corner of the banquet hall. Dolores smiled slyly and nodded.
Last night, just before leaving the banquet hall, Juliet had taught her how to handle the butterfly spirits.
Under hypnosis, Juliet had revealed all her secrets when asked.
Dolores, being a spirit user that the marquis had painstakingly found, quickly mastered controlling the butterflies.
The others hadn’t noticed yet, but to the marquis and Dolores, it was clear as day—the glowing butterfly spirits fluttering around Dolores’s hand.
“And if things go south, we can frame the Duke of Carlyle for murder.”
That’s what Marquis Guinness thought.
Killing someone outside of a duel or war was undoubtedly a grave crime.
If they pinned it on him as a lover’s quarrel killing his partner of seven years, even the Duke of Carlyle would take a serious hit.
Then, they could seize control of the mana stone market while he was weakened.
The marquis had prepared plans to buy up the northern mines the moment Carlyle faltered.
It was then, as Marquis Guinness basked in sweet dreams.
“Your Majesty!”
The imperial chamberlain came running from the far end of the hall, panting.
“Th-this is bad!”
“What’s all this commotion at a joyous banquet?”
The emperor frowned mildly.
“J-just now, news from the Duke of Carlyle’s mansion…! The capital guard…! No, the imperial guard…! They’re requesting…! B-blood…!”
“Calm down and speak clearly!”
“The Duke of Carlyle has been murdered!”
*
Juliet Monad was arrested covered in blood. The ones who reported her were none other than the duke’s retainers.
The duke’s secretary appeared with a rigidly hardened face and declared as much.
“We will exercise Silica’s Rights.”
Silica’s Rights allowed a great noble family to request intervention from another great noble family for a fair judgment and mediation in the event of a first-degree murder within their house.
Until the verdict, the entire process would be kept strictly confidential, not publicized to the public, and the murder charge applied only after the conclusion.
“I’ll take it.”
“Marquis Guinness, you?”
The emperor, well aware of how much Marquis Guinness had checked the northern duke’s family, asked incredulously.
“Yes. It’s only proper, even for the late Duke of Carlyle.”
“......”
The emperor hesitated for a moment but couldn’t find a reason to refuse.
Above all, Marquis Guinness was a renowned old noble. There weren’t many great nobles qualified to intervene in a duke’s family murder case.
“Besides, this is during a joyous wedding, isn’t it? Snooping around for a murder investigation would inconvenience the bride, groom, and guests.”
In the end, the emperor handed Juliet Monad over to Marquis Guinness.
“Very well. Marquis, you investigate this murder case.”
Marquis Guinness inwardly cheered.
In fact, if the duke’s family hadn’t brought up Silica mediation first, he would have stepped forward to demand it himself.
‘That way, I can spirit Juliet Monad away in the middle.’
Women with spirit user aptitude were exceedingly rare. Moreover, Juliet Monad was a woman who had the immense interest of ‘Lady Dahlia,’ whom he served.
“I heard, my lord marquis!”
Even with Silica law’s strict secrecy, rumors inevitably leaked bit by bit.
Before the marquis could even leave the palace, a few quick-footed great nobles approached him.
“Good heavens, how could such a thing happen!”
“Indeed. Who could have foreseen it?”
“The Duke of Carlyle, killed by a mere mistress!”
After muttering perfunctory condolences, they got to the point.
“But, my lord marquis.”
“I’m interested in the Guinness family’s mana stone mines as well.”
“If you need investment...”
They vied to offer investments to Marquis Guinness. Things were falling into place effortlessly.
The marquis replied with feigned propriety.
“We’ll talk after the Duke of Carlyle’s funeral. That would be etiquette.”
Juliet was immediately moved to a castle owned by the marquis family and placed under watch by imperial guards and the marquis’s men.
The marquis’s castle on the outskirts of the capital had an underground dungeon, as old castles do.
“You’ve done well. I’ll take her from here.”
Waiting for Juliet in the castle basement was none other than Cardinal Solon.
Unlike his usual self, Solon inwardly marveled at Juliet’s dazed expression.
‘My spell actually worked!’
He hadn’t expected things to go this smoothly.
Solon dragged Juliet into the underground dungeon with a pleased smile.
The marquis’s castle basement was perfect for shady dealings. No longer used for wartime prisoners as in centuries past, it was now a space for diluting the concentration of mana stones supplied to the capital.
Traces of ongoing work remained on the table in the dungeon even now.
“Tie her up tight.”
“But she’s a woman. Do we really need to bind her?”
“Bind her if I say so!”
Moreover, Juliet Monad was ostensibly the murderer of Duke Carlyle.
“By the way, what does the marquis plan to do with this woman?”
“Who knows. Maybe send her to the mana stone mines as ‘material.’”
“‘Material’?”
Oops.
Cardinal Solon realized his slip. It was then. A clear voice rang out from behind them.
“Ah, so that’s how you made it.”
“......?”
Cardinal Solon and the marquis’s men turned around, utterly bewildered.
The woman who had been kneeling on the floor with a dazed look just moments ago was now calmly picking up a fallen mana stone from the ground and examining it in the light.