Forgotten Juliet

The sky was still dark in the early dawn.

At Amber Palace near the lake in the restricted imperial palace, a mock operation was taking place.

The attendees of the secretive meeting were none other than the Second Prince, Cloff, his aides, and the recently famous maidservant of the Empress.

The Second Prince Cloff was quite excited.

“Excellent. Everything is going just as you said!”

The smoke bomb that Elizabeth had provided had shown surprising results.

All Cloff had to do was to distribute the smoke bombs around the Empire.

Magical beasts ran wild everywhere, and the nobles were too busy defending their territories.

As the disturbance of the magical beasts spread across the continent, Cloff did as Elizabeth had said. He approached the Emperor, his father, and promised to resolve the issue himself.

Of course, since he was the mastermind behind the incident, his actions were nothing short of a complete crime.

“But what about the condition I mentioned?”

The Empress’s healer, Elizabeth, asked with a calm face.

She had set a condition for the Second Prince in exchange for overthrowing Duke Carlyle.

To set a trap and overthrow Juliet Monad, and then throw her in the midst of the rampaging magical beasts.

“Well, of course.”

Though it was a complicated and odd request, the Second Prince willingly joined the conspiracy.

“Preparations are going smoothly. That woman will be torn apart alive.”

For some reason, the Second Prince spoke to Elizabeth with flattery.

“Good. I’ll visit you again at this time tomorrow.”

With a light smile, Elizabeth Tillman donned her robe and left first.

The remaining Second Prince and his aide exchanged uneasy glances.

“I always find her unsettling.”

“But she’s competent, isn’t she?”

“Why does she despise Lady Monad so much?”

This was also something Cloff was curious about.

Elizabeth Tillman quickly gained popularity among the citizens.

While she appeared angelic in public, no one would’ve thought she’d personally push Countess Monad into such peril.

“Anyway, we just have to do our part.”

As the Second Prince was saying this, he was startled by a shadow at the door.

“Who is it!”

As the aide opened the door abruptly, a woman outside flinched.

“I, I’m sorry, Your Highness. It’s getting late and you hadn’t returned…”

She was the Second Prince’s wife, Princess Fatima.

“Ugh. Why wander around and bother me.”

Recognizing it was Fatima, the Second Prince passed by her without another word.

Fatima’s lips quivered, feeling the blatant disregard.

She had often wondered whom the Second Prince met in the early dawn but hadn’t expected such a scene.

Lately, rumors about the beautiful and healing skilled Elizabeth Tillman and the Second Prince had been circulating.

Fatima tried to ignore them, but she had seen and heard clearly.

Just moments ago, Elizabeth Tillman had come out…

‘It was about Countess Monad, wasn’t it?’

Her thoughts were tangled.

* * *

As Juliet passed through the main gate of the imperial palace, she could see a crowd gathered like clouds in front of the palace.

The knight accompanying Juliet, Sir Jude, whispered with a grave face.

“It’s astonishing, isn’t it? The citizens are calling her a saint.”

In the midst of the crowd, Elizabeth, dressed in white, stood out prominently.

“Yes, it’s remarkable.”

Juliet thought, even if Dahlia has healing powers, gaining such fame overnight seemed impossible.

‘Something’s staged.’

There’s no way rumors spread this fast.

Moreover, tents had suddenly been set up in the square to care for the injured, seemingly at the behest of this angelic ‘Elizabeth Tillman.’

It was clear someone was intentionally promoting her from behind.

‘Who could it be?’

Even the Empress couldn’t have expanded her influence to such an extent.

Excluding the Empress, who among Dahlia’s close associates could’ve joined hands with her?

‘Who did she recruit?’

Juliet pondered a few suspect names.

Like how she had used Marquis Guinness, anyone could have been exploited by Dahlia.

Upon descending from the carriage, Juliet greeted Fatima.

“Hello.”

“Welcome, Countess Monad.”

The one greeting Juliet was the Second Prince’s wife, Fatima.

Juliet was visiting on Fatima’s invitation today.

Normally, Fatima would have shown overt distaste towards Juliet, but today she seemed particularly drained.

‘What happened?’

As Juliet tilted her head, some palace maids she was friendly with quickly hinted at the situation.

“Be careful. Lady Fatima isn’t in the best of moods.”

“Why?”

“Well…”

The palace maids hesitated and then spilled.

“There are rumors about an unusual relationship between the Empress’s healer and the Second Prince.”

“Several have seen the Second Prince and the healer leaving the same building.”

‘…Dahlia and the Second Prince?’

Juliet furrowed her brows.

It was an unexpected pairing, yet it made sense.

The Second Prince Cloff was overly ambitious compared to his abilities. And as a result, he was deeply engrossed in power struggles within the imperial palace.

The Dahlia that Juliet knew had a knack for discerning the desires of others, as if she could see right through their thoughts.

If the Empress and the Crown Prince had collaborated, Dahlia could have easily increased her influence.

Having understood the situation, Juliet sneakily looked at the back of the 2nd prince’s wife, Fatima, who was walking ahead.

How long has it been since their wedding?

Well, it was well-known that the relationship between the 2nd prince couple was cold.

From the beginning, the 2nd prince, Cloff, only looked at wealth when he decided to marry Fatima, a family of nouveau riche. However, recently, the business of Fatima’s family, Glenfield, suddenly declined.

Childhood fairy tales end with the kind-hearted lady marrying the prince, but reality is not a fairy tale.

Even though they had been close friends in childhood, Juliet didn’t feel good seeing the downcast Fatima.

“The guest is waiting.”

With a gloomy face, Fatima led Juliet to the lakeside.

Inside the palace, there was a small lake that turned red and warned of disaster every time there was a major event in the Empire.

It wasn’t red now, but it had a peculiar violet hue.

‘Is it because many people were injured due to the beasts running amok?’

Warning of a disaster.

Staring in wonder at the lake, Juliet got on a small rowboat.

In no time, the boat arrived at a man-made structure in the middle of the lake.

It was a gazebo with a beautiful dome roof.

Under the dome roof, a round table was placed. Around the table, there were priests in religious attire and what seemed to be paladins standing guard.

Juliet’s eyes narrowed.

Despite Juliet’s arrival, no one introduced her to the Pope.

Even Fatima, who had led Juliet, remained tight-lipped as if she had received some kind of order.

However, Juliet could easily identify the Pope among the priests dressed alike.

Without paying any attention to the other priests, Juliet directly approached an old woman sitting in the farthest corner.

Without any hesitation, she bowed.

“Your Holiness the Pope.”

When she stopped in front of the plainly dressed old woman, those watching murmured with apparent surprise.

Perhaps their silence was an attempt to test her, but it seemed a pointless test from the start.

“Miss Juliet.”

The elderly woman with almost white, grey hair smiled softly at Juliet.

“It’s been a while.”

The old woman’s name was Hildegard, and she had known Juliet from Lucerne.

After the imposter Pope, Sebastian, was expelled, the former Pope Hildegard had ascended to the throne again.

“Are you well?”

Hildegard gestured dismissively at the other priests as if to tell them to back off.

As everyone else left their positions, only Juliet, the Pope, and the Pope’s guard remained under the small gazebo.

When Juliet sat next to the Pope, she clicked her tongue in disapproval.

“So, there was a big commotion, wasn’t there?”

As she said that, the Pope whispered in secrecy.

“Was the ring I sent helpful?”

“Yes, very much so.”

Juliet revealed a ring that she had hidden in her clothes.

It was the fisherman’s ring given to her by Archbishop Gilliam. It had turned black after she had used up its power when she encountered the snake in the square.

Juliet believed she overcame the crisis thanks to this fisherman’s ring.

Certainly, when the snake lunged at Juliet, sparks had flown.

Though she didn’t know the principle behind it, wasn’t it a holy relic that might also affect that mysterious snake?

“I’m glad it was of help.”

Hildegard didn’t seem surprised seeing the blackened ring.

Juliet suspected she must have known something about this situation.

“Why did you send it to me?”

Juliet asked out of curiosity.

“There wasn’t a particular reason. I just thought that a holy relic could repel an evil spirit, and it would be a way to repay a favor.”

It was an ambiguous answer.

“An evil spirit, huh…”

In any case, it was true that the Pontiff had saved Juliet’s life once.

She had been able to escape from the snake during that momentary distraction.

‘So, should I prepare relics in case that snake comes after me again?’

While pondering quietly, Juliet asked.

“Your Holiness, there must be a lot of records about evil spirits in the temple, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“Do you have any records of an evil spirit in the form of a yellow snake?”

“A yellow snake?”

Hildegard looked at Juliet with tiny eyes, her gaze curious and playful.

“Why are you suddenly interested in snakes?”

Juliet hesitated, then replied ambiguously,

“I think the snake might have been the cause of the change in the fisherman’s ring.”

“Is that so?”

Pope Hildegard chuckled.

“Listening to you, Miss…”

“Countess Monad.”

Juliet corrected her bluntly, and Hildegard grinned.

The paladins escorting the Pope, the Holy Knights, looked at Juliet as if she was peculiar. They seemed to think that Juliet, treating Hildegard, the respected Pope and leader of the temple, as if she was just the old lady next door, was impudent.

“Yes, I heard that Countess Monad generously donated a large sum.”

Juliet responded with a vague smile. She still didn’t know who had donated such a sum in her name.

Lennox had told her not to worry about it, but from what she could tell, it didn’t seem like his doing.

“So, would you like to receive that as a reward?”

“A reward?”

She had momentarily forgotten that the initial purpose of being invited by the Pope was for that reward.

“Originally, I thought of not returning the Soulstone of Genovia as a reward.”

“That’s a separate matter. I owe you my life.”

As Juliet cheekily responded, Pope Hildegard burst into laughter.

“Very well. I will grant what the Countess desires.”

But as Hildegard tried to get up, she suddenly grabbed Juliet’s wrist.

“Miss, no, Countess Monad.”

Juliet turned in surprise. The grip was surprisingly strong for such a frail-looking old woman.

“Sebastian asked about the Countess’s well-being.”

Sebastian?

“That fraud?”

Juliet frowned.

She heard he had gone mad and was imprisoned in Lucerne’s underground dungeon.

“He’s also a pitiful child.”

“Pitiful? What do you mean?”

Sebastian was completely mad. Didn’t he kidnap Juliet just because she resembled his deceased sister, Genovia?

Having had a terrible experience, Juliet had no sympathy left for him. She couldn’t understand why Hildegard would say such a thing.

“But a few days ago, Sebastian said something strange.”

“What did he say?”

“He said to prepare for a funeral before autumn and to arrange for the flowers Genovia liked.”

For a moment, Juliet was at a loss for words.

Sebastian always called Juliet his Genovia because she looked so much like his deceased sister. But preparing for a funeral?

‘It sounds like he’s saying I’m going to die soon.’

She tried to laugh it off, but she felt a chill.

“…Was that all?”

“Yes. Please take care of yourself.”

Juliet forced a thin smile.