Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: The Past Fiancé
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"You'll understand once you bloom someday."
He recalled the fools who strutted around in front of him just because they were born earlier, despite being far weaker than him.
"It means you'll become a proper husband, qualified to inherit the throne."
So Roy had smashed those smug faces of theirs. His father had been furious.
Roy thought of his dim-witted brothers and their mates. They all seemed perfectly matched to their own levels.
But...
"Juliet. Juliet."
A dimple formed at the corner of his mouth as he softly murmured her name.
It suited her perfectly.
Blooming.
What a wonderful word.
There could be no better expression for a woman whose smile burst open like a flower bud.
Kitan, who had been watching Roy with some concern, spoke up.
"For now, it would be best to head to the southern forest. Hide there, and I'll..."
But Roy shook his head.
"No. I need to go back and see my father."
"Pardon? But..."
A flicker of hope crossed Kitan's face.
He was the younger brother of Roy's mother—in human terms, his uncle.
Kitan was a fine member of the forest folk, trusted by the elders and the Lord. He had always tried to defend Roy whenever he clashed with the clan or crushed his brothers.
But last time, nearly killing his immediate older brother had gone too far, and even Kitan couldn't protect him.
The forest folk's regenerative abilities were terrifying by nature. Limbs broken in battle healed completely within an hour. To reduce an adult of such monstrous healing power—direct blood of the Lord, no less—to a barely breathing corpse...
Kitan shuddered.
The sight of that brother, who was a full head taller than him, treated like a toy.
In the end, the Lord's rage peaked, and he issued an edict of exile for his youngest son. That had been a month ago.
Throughout the search for Roy, Kitan had worked to persuade the chieftain.
And now, he had found his nephew just as the Lord's anger had begun to subside.
"Then... shall we head back together right away?"
Kitan rarely showed emotion, but he couldn't hide his anticipation.
His nephew possessed talent beyond anyone else.
He was still too young and emotionally immature—unbloomed, even—but once he met his mate and matured, no one would be more suited to be king.
Kitan brimmed with hope that this could finally reconcile the estranged father and son.
"Yeah, that sounds good."
Roy nodded with a bright smile. Kitan's face lit up in response.
"Then I'll have them prepare."
"Sure."
Caught up in his excitement, Kitan failed to notice how unusually cheerful his nephew seemed.
Before leaving the corridor with Kitan in the lead, Roy glanced back one last time at the now-empty guest room.
"If there's something you want, you can just take it."
Roy smiled faintly.
A wolf never rushed when pursuing prey.
Instinctively, he knew that as long as Juliet was within his territory, they would meet again soon enough.
Just as dawn was breaking, pale morning light filtered through the bedroom window.
Lennox Carlyle paused while reviewing documents and checked the object on the table. It was a round ivory disc emitting a brilliant golden glow.
It resembled a compass, but unlike a normal one, it had no needle. Instead, a beam of light steadily pointed in one direction.
After a while, the beam grew faintly dimmer.
"My lord."
Before Hardin, who had been watching warily from the side, could speak, Duke Carlyle unhesitatingly picked up the dagger beside him. Without pause, he slashed across his left palm, still not fully healed.
Slice.
A chilling sound followed, and a stream of bright red blood dripped onto the white ivory disc.
But the object, which should have been stained red, absorbed the blood instantly and shot out a bright beam once more.
It looked as if it had greedily sucked it in.
Hardin, watching from right beside him, inwardly clicked his tongue. Even he, accustomed to all manner of grim tasks, couldn't help but grimace.
'This is disgusting.'
The ivory disc was a holy relic Lennox Carlyle had half-forcibly taken from the temple.
Argos's Eye, obtained that way, was as crude an item as they came.
A sacred holy relic, they said. What nonsense.
It suited a relic of some evil god far better.
It revealed the location of someone thousands of kilometers away—an impressive feat—but at the cost of feeding it blood every hour.
The method was barbaric. And inefficient, to boot.
What was truly tiresome was Duke Carlyle mechanically repeating the ritual every time the beam dimmed, sitting there impassively.
"So, that's all you've found?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Lennox turned back to his documents as if nothing had happened.
His subordinate was starting to worry.
It would have been better if his liege had holed up alone in the monster forest for hours, as he used to.
They were currently staying in an empty mansion a short distance from the capital.
Hardin didn't know much about how things were unfolding.
Though a trusted retainer of the duke, he was optimized for following orders without questioning.
The only thing he knew was that yesterday, after meeting the emperor, Lennox had divided the Carlyle's vassals into two groups.
Lennox showed no signs of anxiety or grief. He was simply calm, as if doing what naturally needed to be done.
It was a fact he'd long forgotten, but Duke Carlyle had a chilling side to him.
'And the only one who could soften that aura was Juliet Monad, somehow.'
Hardin already missed the quiet young lady.
It had been four days since Juliet Monad fled the ducal residence.
The duke's fury upon discovering her absence had been tremendous.
Everyone in the household feared disaster if she were caught.
They'd worried something terrible might happen, but Lennox Carlyle, who had even blockaded the city gates to pursue her, returned empty-handed.
Those who saw the duke return alone initially fretted for Juliet's safety.
But according to Argos's Eye, she had safely escaped the capital.
All that remained was curiosity about what words had passed between them.
Hardin glanced sideways at the table. The eerie relic steadily indicated Juliet Monad's position, growing ever more distant.
"Leave."
"Yes."
But even after responding, Hardin lingered for a moment.
Lennox raised one eyebrow at him, as if finding it ridiculous.
"What, do you have something to say about Juliet too?"
"...No, sir. I'll take my leave."
Clunk. After Hardin closed the door behind him, Lennox shot a bemused glance at it.
He had no idea when the ducal vassals had started taking her side like this.
Hardin had barely even met Juliet face-to-face a few times, hadn't he?
Their greetings could be counted on one hand.
And he hadn't even done anything to her yet. Still, they acted as if he might do something awful.
Contrary to Hardin's concerns, Lennox Carlyle's mind was perfectly clear.
He set down the document in his hand.
The days since Juliet vanished had been strangely peculiar.
Day by day, he realized just how low he could sink.
What Hardin had brought moments ago was the background on Juliet he had ordered.
When he'd first instructed them to investigate her past, even he had found it absurd. They'd shared skin and bed for seven years—what more was there to learn?
But now, he felt not the slightest unease or pang of conscience.
Rustle.
With a light flick of his fingers, the papers on the desk scattered into the air.
The temple relic only revealed her location—it didn't tell him what she was thinking.
He had wondered if the reason she left for the east without a word might lie in her past records.
Digging into someone's history felt oddly novel.
Only then did it hit him: Juliet Monad was an ordinary count's daughter.
Had she not lost both parents in that unfortunate accident, had her family not fallen, had she not unluckily caught his eye, her life would have been reasonably peaceful.
She would have married her fiancé ordinarily, raised children ordinarily, and lived out her days in that fairy-tale village with a puppy, as she once said.
"I just want to live quietly and ordinarily, like everyone else."
"......Ordinarily?"
And in that process, Lennox realized just how much further into the depths he could fall.
"Then you shouldn't have caught my eye."
His lips twisted cruelly.
There was one detail in Juliet's unremarkable past records that he had long overlooked.
Something so trivial it barely warranted notice.
Juliet had a fiancé. Her former fiancé, currently stationed in the east.