Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Romeo Romulus Baskal
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“What I did just now wasn’t on purpose. It’s just... seeing you again like this, I was so glad...”
Juliet, clutching her head and groaning, finally came back to her senses.
Glad?
This was the first time she’d ever laid eyes on him today.
She couldn’t understand what there was to be glad about.
Even looking at him again, it was still a face she didn’t recognize.
There was no way she’d forget a man this handsome.
He was the kind of gorgeous man who’d stick in your memory for at least ten years, even if you just brushed past him on the street.
Even by Juliet’s picky standards—refined from dating the likes of Lennox Carlyle, where ordinary handsome men didn’t even register—he was undeniably striking.
……But honestly, she wished he’d cut it out already.
Juliet glanced sideways at her surroundings.
The brawl inside the train car seemed to have settled down.
“Lord Roy!”
“You’re safe! Thank goodness!”
A burly middle-aged man and the others who’d apparently come to rescue him had all gathered around in a cluster.
And most of them were glaring at Juliet with clear displeasure.
It looked like this man was the “Lord Roy” they’d been searching for.
They clearly didn’t like seeing their rescue target drop to his knees and apologize to some strange woman right off the bat—and so, what was that wolf from earlier?
‘That wolf wasn’t Lord Roy?’
She’d been so sure.
Juliet scanned her surroundings roughly. But that house-sized wolf from before was nowhere to be seen or heard.
Strange. It was a ten-car train, sure, but a wolf that size, with that kind of presence—even if it had moved to another car, it shouldn’t be this quiet.
With a puzzled expression, Juliet looked up again.
“I’m sorry. Are you hurt anywhere...?”
The moment their eyes met, he reflexively apologized.
If she didn’t accept it properly, he looked ready to keep this up all night.
Plus, with that gentle, handsome face that didn’t match his build at all, he was oddly hard to get mad at.
Juliet had nowhere to look and quietly admonished him.
“......I get it, so please put some clothes on.”
“Yes?”
“Ahem.”
The middle-aged man standing behind them cleared his throat and draped a long overcoat over the man’s shoulders.
The middle-aged man was the hulking fellow Juliet had glimpsed and admired in passing in the dining car earlier.
The silver-haired young man tilted his head as if he had no idea what the problem was, but he took the overcoat as she’d pointed out and draped it over his shoulders.
Those mild golden eyes turned to Juliet once more.
Before that mouth could spill another apology, Juliet cut in quickly.
“Do you know me?”
“Yes?”
“You said it earlier. That you were glad to see me.”
“Ah, that...”
The man blinked, looking a bit flustered.
“But I don’t know anyone like you.”
“Ah.”
After blinking submissively a few times, the man suddenly flashed a grin. It was an astonishingly charming smile, as if he’d never been groveling before her.
“My introduction is overdue, Lady.”
Still on one knee, he naturally took Juliet’s fingertips and lightly kissed the back of her hand.
The fluid, natural motion startled Juliet a little.
But the next moment, upon hearing his name, she could only go blank.
“My name is Romeo Romulus Baskal. Just call me Roy.”
A moment later.
Juliet’s laughter echoed through the quiet train car.
She burst out laughing without realizing it.
Romeo and Juliet—what a cliché, straight out of the romance novels her nanny used to read her as a child.
“It’s an old-fashioned name that doesn’t suit me, I know.”
Roy tilted his head with a bemused expression, then grinned.
“But if you laugh so openly like that, it’s making me pretty embarrassed.”
“No, sorry. It’s not that...”
Juliet bit her lip hard to stifle her laughter.
The people standing behind him shot her fierce glares, but once the laughter started, it was hard to stop.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d laughed this heartily.
‘What should I even say to explain?’
But no explanation would make sense to them. So after a long while, once her laughter subsided, she simply beamed.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Juliet.”
**
In the early morning before dawn broke, a man hurried toward the imperial palace.
The blond young man was Second Prince Kloph.
The emperor had three sons, and Kloph was the second—the most capable of them all, by reputation.
Some even said he was the top candidate to be named crown prince.
Kloph’s steps were a bit excited.
For Second Prince Kloph to visit his father the emperor at such an early hour, there had to be good reason.
‘Finally...’
The Carlyle Duke was a thorn in their side, with zero respect for the imperial family, but planting spies in his household wasn’t easy.
The duke only kept people he could truly trust close, and his retainers were fiercely loyal—impossible to buy off with money.
Still, Kloph had done his utmost to dig up any weakness.
And last night.
He’d finally succeeded in catching wind of the duke’s suspicious movements.
The night before last, Lennox Carlyle had left the banquet hall before the real festivities even began, dragging his partner along.
It was downright insolent—no word of apology to the emperor. But the real kicker came after.
“The Duke of Carlyle infiltrated the grand temple and stole a holy relic.”
One of Kloph’s men had barely managed to track the duke’s movements.
For Kloph, who’d been itching for any pretext to nail him, this was the perfect opportunity.
The duke already had bad blood with the temple; play this right, and he could weaken House Carlyle’s power.
Kloph had rushed to report this good news to his father the moment dawn broke.
But he had to stop right in front of the audience chamber.
Kloph snapped irritably at the guard blocking his path.
“Out of my way. I need to see His Majesty at once.”
The guard didn’t budge.
“There’s a prior visitor, Your Highness.”
A prior visitor?
Kloph furrowed his brow. Who could possibly see the emperor before a prince like him, at this hour?
The answer to his question appeared behind him.
Hearing footsteps from behind, Kloph turned carelessly.
Then he froze solid at the sight of the man approaching so calmly.
“......Duke?”
Kloph felt a chill run down his spine.
It was the very man he’d come to report on.
Lennox Carlyle.
No insignia to prove his status—just plain, almost modest attire—but unmistakable.
Spotting Kloph in front of the audience chamber, the duke’s gaze held no greeting, no respect whatsoever.
The Carlyle dukedom—the one house with no blood ties to the imperial family.
Yet with a history longer than the imperial line itself, House Carlyle had secured autonomy over the North via an inviolable treaty with the empire’s founding emperor.
That was why even as dukes, they didn’t bow to the throne and were addressed as “Your Grace” like royalty.
The man, whose gait evoked a stalking predator, stopped before the audience chamber doors just as Kloph had.
“Open.”
Unlike moments ago, the doors slid smoothly open.
Thud.
Kloph ground his teeth as the doors shut, leaving him outside.
**
The afterglow of the New Year’s ball hadn’t even faded, yet a tense air hung over the imperial palace.
An uninvited guest had arrived at the palace with armed knights in tow. The man who dared request a private audience with the emperor was the Duke of the North.
“......Duke Carlyle, what did you just say?”
“I’m getting married.”
Emperor Maximilian II was a suspicious man who knew how to weigh his interests shrewdly.
House Carlyle was a double-edged sword to the empire and the throne.
The duke’s formidable army was unsettling at times, but as long as they didn’t threaten the throne or leave their northern lands, they made a sturdy weapon.
That was why he’d summoned Duke Carlyle first the moment the “omen” of the blood-red lake appeared.
If the coming calamity was something like a barbarian invasion, he’d need the dukedom’s military might.
But contrary to the emperor’s expectations, Lennox Carlyle hadn’t come to the palace at the emperor’s call.
The emperor stared steadily at Lennox Carlyle seated across from him.
This generation’s duke was a fresh-faced youth even younger than his own youngest son.
“Congratulations. Which house’s lady is she from?”
The emperor tensed.
The moment he heard the duke’s business, his worries about the omen were pushed far aside.
An uncertain future disaster was one thing; the duke right in front of him was far more terrifying.
The emperor quickly ran through the names of great noble houses that might suit as the duke’s marriage partner.
An alliance with a foreign royal or a powerhouse family would spell headaches.
Naturally, the list didn’t include the name of the count’s daughter currently known as his lover.
The duke’s beautiful paramours were infamous.
And it was even more widely known that he didn’t take them seriously.
The emperor was one of those who didn’t believe Juliet Monad would become the duchess.
The imperial family and their circles quietly approved of the duke’s casual, no-strings relationships.
And now marriage, out of the blue? Overnight?
Yet for some reason, Lennox Carlyle stared at the emperor with a cool, expressionless face.
Then he answered bluntly.
“Your Majesty’s adopted daughter.”
“......?”
The duke’s excessively nonchalant attitude almost made the emperor wonder if he really had an adopted daughter.
But the emperor had no adopted daughters—nor any daughters at all. He was famous for having three sons and nothing else.
“No, I don’t have any adopted dau—”
“From today, Juliet Rosemary Monad is Your Majesty’s adopted daughter.”
The emperor gaped in disbelief.
He saw through the impudent brat’s scheme.
Lennox Carlyle had been excommunicated by the temple for shuttering all the northern shrines.
He couldn’t hold a proper temple-blessed wedding.
Even if he married and had children, they wouldn’t be recognized as legitimate heirs.
But if his bride was from the imperial family—the guardians of the faith—the story changed.
The temple had an unspoken duty to grandly bless any imperial wedding.
So this green young duke meant to use the throne just to get a flawless, impeccable ceremony.
‘......Have I ever seen such an arrogant bastard?’
On top of that, giving his now-orphaned lover an ironclad status.
No matter how sky-high House Carlyle’s influence soared, to brazenly exploit the throne for one woman?
It was beyond bold—downright insolent.
The emperor thought this was the moment to unleash his fury.
It’d be weirder if he didn’t.
However....
“Please sign.”
Before the emperor could open his mouth, Lennox Carlyle calmly slid pre-prepared documents across the table.
The emperor missed his chance to vent.
Glancing at the papers in stunned surprise, he was appalled.
[The loyal late Count Monad and his sole heir, Juliet Rosemary Monad of House Monad, are hereby adopted into the imperial family out of regard for our friendship with the throne and his devotion.]
This mad document began with that insane clause and ended by ceding a sapphire mine owned by House Carlyle to the throne as a betrothal gift.
The emperor lost all will to fight.