Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Retrieving Zenobia's Soulstone
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When Roy arrived at Count Monad's estate, Juliet was not home.
According to the maid at the mansion, she had gone to the imperial palace early that morning.
"Is that so."
The servants at the count's estate were generally quite friendly toward Roy.
"The lady will be back soon.
Would you like to wait inside?"
Even when invited to come in and sit, Roy declined and slowly walked along the secluded entrance path of the mansion.
The count's estate on the outskirts of the capital offered a fine view, with dense trees lining the road right up to the entrance.
'Imperial palace.'
Roy found his own sense of relief at those words a bit ridiculous.
He pulled a small glass vial from his bosom.
Juliet had asked all sorts of questions about Katia's forest, full of curiosity.
Roy was secretly pleased by her interest in the forest and made a habit of bringing her something intriguing from it each time he visited.
Among those gifts were rare herbs impossible to buy no matter the price and exotic flowers unseen anywhere else on the continent.
Roy peered into the small glass vial. This time's gift was something she had shown particular interest in—a potent sleep-inducing herb.
Moments later, accompanied by the clatter of wheels, a familiar carriage appeared in the distance. Roy smiled and waited for it to pull up.
"Juliet."
But the instant he saw the face of the woman stepping down from the carriage halted at the entrance, his expression hardened reflexively.
"......Did you cry?"
"I didn't cry."
Even with her eyes reddened, Juliet stubbornly insisted.
Lie.
Rather than call her out on it, Roy furrowed his brow.
'No way.... Did that duke die?'
He knew it was impossible, yet the thought crossed his mind anyway.
It might have happened to an ordinary human. They were weak, after all. But not Lennox.
Roy had known of House Carlisle's existence since childhood.
They made their home in the north, so encounters with the forest folk were rare, but somehow...... he was different from other humans.
'A lineage that has existed for a thousand years, or so they say.'
And the man seemed hopelessly tangled up with Juliet.
'Annoyingly so.'
Lately, his dim-witted brothers had howled with laughter upon learning that the woman Roy had fallen for was human.
Roy paid them no mind. Weaklings, the lot of them. A quick reminder to bow their heads would suffice.
The problem was that man.
Roy recalled crossing blades with him at the banquet hall.
'Really, annoying.'
His throat felt parched for some reason.
"Juliet, where have you been?"
When he probed casually, Juliet fell silent for a moment before answering.
"Our house cat......"
"Pardon?"
"The cat I used to keep wasn't doing well, so I went to check on it."
Recalling Elliot's plea to keep the duke's condition strictly confidential, Juliet offered the cat as an excuse.
She didn't especially need to hide it from Roy, but dropping Lennox's name hardly seemed wise. Roy didn't care for him.
Yet even that was enough—Roy's face turned frosty in an instant, as if he understood perfectly.
"Ah, for something like that, you got back awfully quick."
"Yes, well......"
"You know, I never got around to telling you my news."
In truth, she had meant to mention the vanishing butterflies, but everything had been such a whirlwind that it slipped her mind.
Staying longer wouldn't have helped anyway—there was little she could do.
Nursing wasn't her forte, and House Carlisle had an excellent personal physician.
Instead, she resolved to do what she could.
'Not just sit around crying.'
The duke's physician had speculated that even without knowing the curse's nature, overwhelming divine power—like what had shattered the divine barrier—might break the curse as well.
Juliet had mulled it over the entire way back to Count Monad's estate.
Zenobia's Soulstone.
'If I can get my hands on that, maybe there's a way.'
Truth be told, it was the only solution that occurred to Juliet, who knew next to nothing about divine power.
'Zenobia's divine power was that of a once-in-a-millennium genius. Perhaps it could lift the divine curse on Lennox.'
Of course, it wouldn't be that straightforward.
'It's my fault.'
Juliet felt responsible for Lennox's state. She had to do something.
"Roy, do you know where the Soulstone is?"
Roy gazed at Juliet steadily, grasping her intent from the question alone.
"......Yes, I do."
Roy had shown considerable fascination with that very item, which had once landed Juliet in dire straits.
"Some cardinal mentioned it would be transferred to the capital's grand temple."
"The capital? Why not Lucerne?"
"They must figure keeping it far away is safer for covering up the incident."
The grand temple.
As Juliet lapsed into thought, Roy abruptly asked something off-topic.
"Juliet, do you like that man?"
"......Pardon?"
Like a petulant child, Roy pressed the point relentlessly—a stark contrast to his soft voice.
"You said you had no room to like anyone right now.
So why......"
"No."
Juliet's reply was unequivocal, catching even Roy—tense as he was—off guard.
"It's not about liking or disliking him."
Juliet gave a quiet sigh.
Their bond defied easy explanation, let alone understanding.
Intellectually, she knew it: events from her past life hadn't occurred in this one.
'Yet they are the same person.'
Juliet couldn't pretend nothing had happened with Lennox. Nor could she bring herself to hate him outright.
For seven years, swearing never to love again, she had still harbored him in her heart. Terrified of the wounds from her first life, she fled before history could repeat.
Even Lennox could never fully grasp why she had run like that.
With the future altered, their shared past was hers alone now—an eternal solitary memory.
"Right now, I owe him my life. That's all—I'm just repaying the debt."
Juliet spoke plainly.
She could no longer bear watching the world's most arrogant man hide his wounds and shut himself in a dark room.
"A life debt......"
Roy gave a light chuckle, then laced his fingers through hers.
"If you put it that way, no helping it. Let's go."
Juliet panicked.
"But this is my problem. You don't need to—"
"No."
Roy grimaced slightly, as if troubled, then flashed a grin.
"If it's a life debt, I've got one too."
* * *
Late evening.
Worship was in full swing.
Young priests roamed the nave, swinging censers emitting faint smoke like pendulums.
The solemn incense drifted languidly throughout the grand temple.
The capital's grand priest could scarcely conceal his delight.
A month prior, Duke Carlisle had all but stolen Argos's Eye from the grand temple—only to send it, bizarrely, to Lucerne.
The grand priest had itched to protest the absurd return destination.
True, they might counter that as the Holy See's holy relic, it scarcely mattered where it went—but still.
Rather than confront the duke directly, he had sent Lucerne several plaintive letters begging to return the relic. Lukewarm replies had ceased entirely.
Argos's Eye was no longer his concern, though.
"So this is the Soulstone I've only heard tales of!"
Eyes gleaming with greed, the grand priest avidly examined the contents of the small box.
He had glimpsed Soulstones before. None, however, boasted such lustrous hues and flawless form.
"Hush. Keep your voice down, Grand Priest. Only you and I know the Soulstone is stored here."
"Ah, yes! Of course."
The grand priest groveled to appease him.
The man who had brought the Soulstone to the capital was none other than Cardinal Gilliam.
He had deemed it prudent to conceal the item until the Holy See's recent fiasco was fully contained.
'To think all of Sebastian's power stemmed from this Soulstone.'
Even Lucerne viewed it askance.
The fake pope's source of divine power? If word spread that the Holy See had been duped for years by a powerless impostor, the fallout would be disastrous.
"We'll trouble you only briefly."
"Worry not!"
Cardinal Gilliam and the grand priest stowed the Soulstone's box safely in the sacristy among the liturgical vessels, then turned to leave.
Then.
A clatter echoed.
The grand priest jolted.
"Who's there!"
Whirling in unison, the grand priest and Cardinal Gilliam both recoiled.
Someone cloaked head to toe in a black veil was calmly opening the small box they had just set down.
"......?"
"Wh-who......"
Their excessive composure sent chills racing through the clerics.
Emerging from thin air where no one had stood moments before? A ghost?
Yet the figure in pristine white priestly robes greeted them nonchalantly.
"Hello, Grand Priest."
With a heavy sigh, she tugged down the veil covering up to just below her eyes, revealing her face.
"No—Lady......?"
Cardinal Gilliam recognized her first.
"Miss Monad!"
The grand priest spotted Juliet too and cried out in alarm. Long the capital's grand priest, he knew the Monads by sight.
"What is the meaning of this!"
But Juliet betrayed no fluster. She veiled her face once more and spoke evenly.
"I've come for the Soulstone. Will you lend it to me, Cardinal Gilliam?"
"......Afraid not."
Cardinal Gilliam blinked, startled that she knew his name precisely.
"The Soulstone belongs to the Holy See."
Juliet shrugged.
"More precisely, it was Zenobia's."
"......She died in Lucerne's orphanage."
"Hm. Figured you'd say that."
Juliet nodded calmly.
"But you're missing the point. I'm not here asking permission."
Somehow...... this felt familiar, like it had happened before......?
The déjà vu unnerved the grand priest. It mirrored a recent incident all too closely.