Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: A Deal with His Highness
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Several hours later, Juliet opened her eyes on the fluffy bed.
In the meantime, her fever had completely subsided. Her body felt much better than expected, so she dared to hope that perhaps everything had just been a dream.
(Woke up. Eyes.)
(Contractor.)
Of course, it was just wishful thinking.
(Human. Man. No.)
(Hate. Here.)
(Let's leave. Quickly.)
However, the butterflies speaking to her had voices that were much quieter and more halting than yesterday.
It was as if they were creatures who had just learned to speak, managing only to stammer out words one by one.
'That's strange. They were so fluent yesterday that it made my head spin.'
Juliet sat up, furrowing her brow at the pain.
'It hurts...'
Still, it was better than she thought.
Aside from her lips that she'd bitten while writhing in agony, her bloodshot eyes, and her injured hands, she was surprisingly fine.
It meant her whole body ached like after intense exercise, but nothing more. Her ankle throbbed—was it injured yesterday?—but she could walk around with just a limp.
Ignoring the pain as best she could, Juliet stepped out of the bedroom.
"Gasp."
Creak.
The bedroom door suddenly opened, startling the young man who had been sitting with a chair leaned slantwise against the door. He jumped to his feet in surprise.
"You're awake?"
He was a young man with curly orange hair that left a strong impression.
Jude Hayon.
Juliet knew his name.
He was the youngest son of the Hayon family, loyal to the imperial family, yet he had abruptly pledged his loyalty to the Northern Duke's house—Jude was fairly well-known even in the capital.
Jude seemed to know Juliet as well.
"Uh, so, Miss Monad. You must be hungry, so first some food—no, a doctor..."
"No."
"Oh, you can speak?"
Jude grinned. But Juliet didn't smile back and asked straight away.
"Where is he?"
"Ah, the Duke is out."
"Not that."
That?
For a moment, Jude held back a laugh.
And in the next moment, he thought a hundred times that he was glad he hadn't laughed.
"Our parents."
The smile vanished from Jude's face.
"Show me."
"M-Miss. It's better if you don't see."
"Please. I want to confirm with my own eyes."
No one could break the stubbornness of Juliet, who repeated the same words with a pale face like a doll.
The family physician, the head maid, the vice-knight commander—everyone with a title rushed over to dissuade her, but it was no use.
In the end, Vice Commander Milan sighed deeply and gave the order.
"Open it."
The door to the chilly underground secret room swung open.
There lay the corpses that the Duke's household had hastily prepared the night before.
Juliet slowly approached the coffins.
At least it was some comfort that the expressions of the Count and Countess Monad lying side by side in their coffins looked peaceful, as if merely asleep.
Milan, who had been glancing worriedly, fearing she might faint upon seeing the bodies, felt a little relieved to see Juliet surprisingly composed.
Juliet asked.
"Could I... be alone for a moment?"
"Ah, yes. Call if you need anything."
Milan left her to mourn and stepped out. The moment he closed the door and turned away, a heartrending wail leaked from inside.
*
It was exactly half a day later, in the dead of night, that Lennox Carlyle remembered her existence again.
'Come to think of it, there was that.'
Just that much.
"So, where is she?"
"Pardon?"
Lennox had intended not to care anymore if his retainers had sent her back home.
"If it's the lady you brought yesterday, then she..."
But the response was unexpected.
"...Where did you say?"
"?
Hearing the answer, Lennox was dumbfounded.
The Duke's residence in the capital wasn't particularly lavish. Since they spent most of their time at the ducal castle in the North anyway, they didn't need much furniture. Thus, there were many unused spaces in the Duke's residence.
For example, the dim annex with not a single light.
Stepping into the pitch-black living room of the annex, Lennox felt a slight chill.
Right in front of the door where the coffins had been temporarily placed, he found a woman huddled with her knees drawn up.
"What are you doing here?"
No expression.
"Still can't speak?"
"...No. I'm fine now."
Strangely, her voice had returned.
As he touched his throat, Lennox spoke as if reading Juliet's mind.
"You'd better be careful. If the body owner can't do her job, those things will devour you."
"Body owner?"
"Then whose voice did you think those things were borrowing to chatter?"
Juliet suddenly felt a chill.
Now that she thought about it, the voices chattering in her ear sounded similar to her own.
"They said they wanted to see you."
"Ah, yes. I have something to say."
Juliet slowly rose from her seat. But instead of getting straight to the point, she stared at Lennox.
Seeing the man she had loved in her past life again brought a strange feeling. Especially since he didn't even remember her.
'I hate you.'
The moment their eyes met, emotions revived as if by magic. A complex mix of resentment and love-hate.
She knew in her head that the Lennox Carlyle from back then and the man before her now were completely different people, but Juliet had spent the whole day sitting in front of her parents' coffins, pondering what to do next.
'I don't want to go through that again.'
If things continued like this, the same thing would repeat anyway.
The moment 'Dahlia' appeared, she would be discarded. Just like in her first life.
Juliet had done anything for him, but to him, she had been nothing more than a tool.
'In the end, I'd suffer the same fate again.'
But right now, Juliet needed Lennox.
"Didn't you say you had something to say?"
"Yes."
Juliet recalled what Lennox had said last night: "Close the mana."
She knew what that meant from her previous life, when Dahlia had first met him.
It was back when Dahlia was still a guest at the ducal castle. Juliet had once overheard the maids attending Dahlia talking.
"Fool. Don't you know what it means to control mana? It means the two of them slept together!"
The first to awaken mana often had unstable mana surging wildly through their body.
To mages, mana was as natural as breathing.
But for beginners who couldn't yet properly sense its existence, it was quite dangerous.
In really dull cases, it could take five or six years to learn to control it.
If they panicked, they might fail to seal the mana and die. That's why they needed ongoing skinship with someone skilled at handling mana.
The family relic with its mysterious power was essential for future trials, but even more important was the person who had taken it and vanished.
'Dahlia Fran'—her name as lovely as a flower—was Lennox's childhood friend and like a sibling.
But when Lennox's father died and strife broke out over the family headship, Dahlia's parents, who were servants of the ducal house, fled with their daughter.
'And the treasure with them.'
Lennox, who had rolled hard on the battlefield, reclaimed the dukedom upon his return and immediately began tracking the treasure.
He was probably still searching for Dahlia now. But Juliet knew.
Lennox would recover the treasure seven years later, upon reuniting with Dahlia, whom he thought dead.
'But I can't mention Dahlia here.'
She had no way to explain how she knew something not even the Duke's closest aides were aware of.
"So?"
"Yes?"
"What is it you want to say?"
Lennox Carlyle's eyes gleamed calmly.
"Are you planning to blackmail me with that?"
Blackmail?
"I..."
Juliet chose her words carefully.
"I want to make a deal with Your Highness."