Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Lionel Levatan
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Juliet opened her eyes wide.
"Eh, elder."
Zachary was flustered and didn't know what to do. Juliet was just as flustered.
'I helped him!'
Repaying kindness with enmity.
Juliet felt resentment toward the nameless old man.
"Here, return this."
".....Huh?"
The old man, who wore a complicated expression for some reason, handed something to Zachary with careful movements, as if surrendering a weapon in a demilitarized zone.
Zachary made a bewildered face but passed the item to Juliet as instructed.
Juliet opened her eyes wide and cried out without thinking.
"My gloves!"
The item in his hand was familiar.
'And that's my hairpin?'
They were definitely the items she had lost exactly two days ago.
She had turned the bed upside down twice searching for them!
Her joy at recovering the items she had thought lost forever was short-lived.
Juliet narrowed her eyes and glared at the old man.
"Ah, okay. Now it's starting to give me the creeps."
Juliet was angry.
Anyone else in her situation would have felt the same.
She had thought it was a kind rural village, but it turned out to be an utterly suspicious one.
The villagers had all conspired to keep her from going outside, refused to give her a job, and...
...She didn't know why they took them or what they planned to do with them, but they had even stolen her belongings to stage some kind of act.
Just as Juliet was about to ask, the red-haired old man who had been staring at her spoke first.
"My name is Lionel Levatan."
Even Juliet had no desire to respond with, "Ah, yes. I see. I'm Juliet Monad. Of the Monad count family."
But the man didn't seem to be joking.
If it was true, then she was in the presence of one of the most famous figures of the past half-century.
"...So?"
Juliet asked, trying her best not to show her agitation.
The old man who had introduced himself as Lionel Levatan gazed down at Juliet in silence for a long moment.
"'Levatan' means morning star."
I know.
Juliet crossed her arms with a somewhat defiant attitude.
The symbol flag of the Laurel Mercenary Corps, which Lionel had led in his youth, had a golden star embroidered on it.
Juliet had seen that flag before. A dark navy cloth bordering on black, embroidered with golden thread.
"And 'Seneca' means golden star in the ancient tongue."
Juliet opened her eyes wide.
'...No way.'
As Juliet continued to look skeptical, Lionel Levatan pulled out a thick dark blue cloth and showed it to her.
To Juliet, it looked just like a baby blanket.
Lilies and roses were embroidered on it, along with a golden star. And written below was...
Lilian Rose Seneca - Levatan.
When Juliet raised her head as if entranced, Lionel Levatan met her eyes and let out a quiet sigh.
"Yes. So, you're Lily's daughter."
* * *
Lionel Levatan, known by the grandiose title of Red King, had settled in the criminal city of Carcason about half a century ago.
People wondered why he had vanished overnight, leaving his fame behind.
Some said he had been murdered, while others claimed he had fled in fear after being sentenced to death in absentia.
Or perhaps he had grown weary of all the turmoil one day and renounced the secular world.
But they were all wrong.
The reason Lionel Levatan had chosen to live in seclusion in Carcason was due to the dying wish of his late wife.
At the grieving Lionel's side was a swaddled newborn who hadn't even completed its full term, along with his three sons.
And in the moment he held the tiny baby in his arms, Lionel resolved to give his late-life daughter every precious thing in the world.
Lilian Rose Seneca - Levatan.
Lionel agonized over giving his eye-of-the-heart youngest daughter the most fitting name.
After much deliberation, he bestowed upon her the blessed name of the ancient gods instead of the rough-sounding Levatan.
Lilian Rose Seneca Levatan.
Raised brightly and healthily within sturdy walls, Lilian was the spitting image of her mother.
Kind and cheerful.
He could not stop Lilian from falling in love with a young officer.
Moreover, he was no ordinary officer, but an imperial noble.
It was inevitable that Lilian would fall in love with a young captain from one of the empire's prestigious families.
Lionel agonized, but he had known this day would come someday.
Thus, his decision was swift.
Lionel chose to quietly withdraw from his only daughter's life.
Even after many years in hiding, he was little more than a condemned criminal who would be arrested and sent to the gallows the moment he set foot in imperial territory.
Therefore, Lionel urged his daughter to forever forget the name he had given her and live under a new one.
He believed that was the last thing he could do for her.
Hoping she would live an ordinary, happy life in a wider and safer world.
**
The fireplace crackled with burning logs.
When the short yet long tale came to an end, Juliet sat alone on the rug before the hearth, staring at the glowing embers.
"Sorry for surprising you."
Lionel sat quietly in the armchair right beside her.
Juliet blinked slowly. This was a realm entirely unknown to her.
There was no such memory in the past life she remembered. As things stood, Juliet Monad would live out her days without ever leaving the capital.
But for some reason, she wasn't shocked or startled. It was something she had somewhat steeled herself for ever since leaving home with her mother's pearl necklace clutched in her hand.
Still, she needed time to organize her thoughts, so Juliet fired off disjointed questions as they surfaced in her mind.
"What about the villagers? Did you order them, Grandpa?"
Grandpa. Lionel smiled faintly at the strange feeling and replied.
"No, when I said you might be my granddaughter, they all stepped up to help of their own accord."
So that was it.
Juliet finally understood the villagers' excessively kind attitude.
"Then the gloves and hairpin must have been for confirmation."
A troubled expression flitted across Lionel's face at Juliet's words.
"Yes."
He couldn't quite bring himself to tell her not to be too upset.
After all, it was he who had told Mrs. Ronda that he needed Juliet's possessions.
The east was full of magic tools, including ones that could confirm blood relations using personal items alone.
But unexpectedly, Juliet nodded calmly.
"As expected. I get it."
Lionel looked apologetic.
"I wanted to tell you at a better time."
"It's fine."
"But the moment they heard your story, those fools all came rushing to Robel."
Lionel walked over to the door, chuckling as he pushed it open.
Crash!
"Whoa!"
Startled by the loud noise, Juliet looked toward the door.
Three men lay tangled together on the floor.
No matter how she looked at it, they had been huddled against the door eavesdropping on the conversation inside. When the door suddenly flew open without warning, they had toppled over in surprise.
The mansion corridor was quite spacious, yet with three burly, sailor-like middle-aged men sprawled there, it looked positively cramped.
"Ah... hello. Juliet."
"Ahem."
"Nice to meet you. I'm your, ahem, great-uncle."
In the end, Juliet burst into laughter.
Forgotten Juliet