Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: The Dollhouse Prison
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Anyone who had ever played with dolls as a child would know it right away.
The furniture with proportions subtly off from reality. The overly ornate clothes that were uncomfortable to wear or move in.
Juliet had played with toys like this when she was little.
From the tightly cinched corset to the stiff-textured chemise, none of it looked like something a person could actually wear.
And the fake teacups with no signs of use.
Juliet turned over the empty teapot and glanced at the food models on the table.
They looked real but were intricately crafted fakes.
She didn't know the principle, but it was clearly a space created by divine power.
The door leading outside was just a decorative painting on the wall, and the window she had found didn't open either.
It was absurd.
That such a space existed in the Papal Palace.
And not just that—the fact that the Pope himself had locked her in here.
Even the butterflies wouldn't summon.
Because there was no key?
Sebastian, that strange man, had taken not only her clothes and belongings but also the necklace with the key.
No.
The butterflies had always appeared whenever she called, key or no key.
'It's probably because of the divine power barrier.'
That was Juliet's guess.
She recalled the high priest boasting about the ninety-eight layers of divine power barriers.
"Then this must be Lucerne."
At least that was a relief. She hadn't been taken far away.
After searching the mansion top to bottom, Juliet collapsed in exhaustion into a corner of the first-floor hallway.
She didn't know how much time had passed since entering, but during the two times she had fainted and woken, the only food she'd eaten was that one apple from earlier.
It was a wonder she had any strength left.
"I'm wrong."
Leaning against the wall with her knees drawn up, Juliet organized her thoughts.
The fake doors and windows were just decorations.
There was no way out on her own.
Sebastian had suddenly descended from the ceiling of the bedroom on a spiral staircase-like thing. That was probably the only way in and out.
"So this is a space inside the Papal Palace, created by divine power..."
It was a kind of barrier.
When her companions realized she was gone, they would start looking for her.
"...Will they even look for me?"
She felt less certain than she'd expected. Whether from exhaustion or despair, she wasn't sure.
'Lennox...'
He must have been furious after yesterday's events; he might have just gone back north.
Roy... She couldn't read that clan at all. They appeared and vanished without warning.
That left Theo and Ethelrid.
She didn't trust them much.
What was Pope Sebastian—no, that madman—thinking? What was his goal in kidnapping her?
Creak. Creak. Creak.
There it was again.
Juliet froze.
That creepy rolling sound again—she had no idea what it was.
If she had to compare it, it was like an unoiled machine moving.
'When did I first hear that sound?'
Her instincts warned her not to encounter whatever it was.
Juliet quickly muffled her footsteps and grabbed the handle of a small door in the nearest wall corner.
Click.
Fortunately, it was unlocked.
Carefully opening the door, Juliet discovered stairs leading down.
'The basement?'
Unlike the upper floors, the pitch-black stairs stretched into unseen depths.
Where did they lead? Would the floor suddenly give way?
Juliet hesitated, gripping the door handle.
Creak. Creak. Creak.
The sound started up again without fail. And it seemed even closer than before.
She had no choice.
Juliet descended the basement stairs and quietly closed the door behind her.
**
Creak creak creak.
'Did it pass?'
Holding her breath and pressing her ear to the door, Juliet waited for the unidentified sound to fade. After a moment, instead of going back out, she decided to head downstairs.
For one thing, she was scared of running into that noise from upstairs. For another, this basement didn't seem to be there for nothing.
At first, she had to grope along the wall and descend carefully, but once her eyes adjusted to the dark, it wasn't so bad.
And it wasn't as dark as she'd thought from outside.
There must have been a light source somewhere below.
'Light leaking from downstairs?'
No way.
Half-doubting, Juliet reached the bottom of the stairs and found a large, old lamp at the entrance to the basement.
That was the source of the light.
Following the lamp's glow absentmindedly, Juliet turned her head—and frantically covered her mouth at the sight before her.
"......!"
She nearly screamed.
Flesh-colored objects resembling human limbs were scattered haphazardly everywhere.
'Mannequins?'
Mannequins, maybe.
Thankfully, the strewn-about things weren't actual human body parts.
Juliet suddenly remembered.
"You should be careful, milady. The rumors around him aren't good."
Ethelrid had said that.
The sinister rumors surrounding the new Pope. Rivals vanishing without a trace, and the recent string of mysterious disappearances in Lucerne.
Was this an underground prison, then?
Juliet wondered how far it extended.
If this was indeed Lucerne, and a real underground prison somewhere beneath the Terrarium...
With some luck, she might escape through it.
Clutching a sliver of hope, Juliet raised the lamp high and looked around.
It was so vast that even holding it up, she couldn't see the end.
"It's no use, Lady."
"......!"
Startled out of her wits, Juliet reflexively clamped her hand over her mouth. She hadn't imagined anyone would be there.
"Who are you...?"
In a dimly lit corner, a gaunt white-haired old woman sat leaning against iron bars.
"This is a special prison designed by the old inquisitors themselves.
It was made so no one could escape from the start."
Her strangely archaic speech and the ornate clothes that didn't fit the place.
"You..."
Juliet recognized the garments she wore.
Even rumpled and filthy, only one person per generation could wear a crimson sash over white robes.
"You're Hildegaard VIII."
Juliet murmured in an oddly calm tone.
The previous Pope, said to have died three years ago.
The white-haired elder smiled faintly in the lamplight.
"Indeed."
After confirming the creepy sound was gone, Juliet circled the dollhouse once more and found a water pitcher and cup.
There was still no edible food.
Hildegaard said water was enough.
"It's been ages since I drank clean water. Thank you."
The imprisoned Hildegaard expressed her gratitude politely.
"Did Sebastian lock you in here?"
Juliet asked right away as she handed over the cup.
"Indeed."
"For three years?"
"...Only three years have passed?"
Hildegaard asked back, sounding a bit surprised.
"Time loses meaning in a place like this. I thought at least ten years had gone by."
She was right. Juliet had thought it might have been a day or two since she was trapped in this dollhouse—but it could have been a month.
No clocks, no windows.
Juliet asked Hildegaard all sorts of questions.
Did she know where this was? Why did Sebastian have such a space? Was there any way out?
Hildegaard answered everything she knew as best she could.
They were mostly things Juliet had already guessed, so nothing particularly new.
But as the question-and-answer continued, Juliet felt a sense of unease.
Hildegaard asked her nothing in return. Not out of politeness, but as if she had no curiosity about Juliet at all.
As if implying she too would be trapped here forever.