Forgotten Juliet

“Countess Monad or rather, Miss Juliet is truly lovely.”

It was a night when the moon was nearly full.

“It’s sad that the lovely Countess Monad has no eyes for men.”

The suspicious blonde woman shook her head as if she truly regretted it.

Roy wondered why he didn’t just snap this human woman’s neck instead of listening to her nonsense.

“Though the Forest King may not know, everyone knows that Countess Monad has been pining for Duke Carlyle for a long time.”

Yet, like the tongue of a snake, the woman’s voice had a strange power.

“However, Duke Carlyle is different.”

“…”

“A Duke who changes his lovers daily, do you really think he’d seriously consider Miss Juliet?”

“You…”

“Poor Juliet. To the Duke, she is just a toy to be discarded when he’s bored…”

“…Shut your mouth.”

Roy warned in a low voice, like the growl of a threatening beast.

However, Elizabeth just closed her mouth, and sneakily glanced towards the mansion.

Roy unknowingly followed her gaze and looked up as if he was entranced. On the second floor of the annex, a warm yellow light was on. Knowing that this was the floor where Juliet’s room was, warmth filled Roy’s eyes.

But that was short-lived.

Roy’s face hardened when he saw two shadows flickering by the window.

Thanks to his excellent vision, Roy could clearly distinguish the silhouettes of the two.

“Miss Juliet will be hurt again at this rate. It’s a predictable ending.”

Suddenly, Elizabeth whispered in his ear.

“Don’t you think Miss Juliet deserves better than that cold-hearted Duke?”

Roy swallowed.

The woman was speaking the words he hadn’t yet voiced. As if she saw into his desires.

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Wouldn’t the great Forest King cherish a companion? Am I wrong?”

As Elizabeth stepped closer, Roy frowned.

For some reason, his vision seemed blurry.

For a moment, he saw Juliet with a crown made of white flowers, turning around and smiling at him.

Roy flinched.

His instincts warned him that this was an illusion.

“What are you…!”

“Just a few drops will do.”

But before he could react, Elizabeth quickly grabbed his hand.

“With one drop, Miss Juliet will open her eyes.”

In his hand was a small bottle.

“…What is this?”

“It’s a magical potion. I serve the Empress. It’s a humble skill, but I know a bit about medicines.”

The bottle contained a mysterious dark red liquid.

Roy knew of the woman praised for distributing medicine and healing.

“One drop, and Miss Juliet will awaken from her delusions of unrequited love. With two, she’ll realize who truly cares for her.”

Roy stared at Elizabeth, entranced.

“And with three drops, just as the Forest King wishes, Juliet Monad will swear eternal love.”

She whispered as if she had seen inside his head.

“You understand, right? Just three drops are enough. Give it to her, and you can have her forever.”

Elizabeth’s whispered words felt like a spell.

She smiled confidently, seeing Roy couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“It’s not hard, right? It’s all for Miss Juliet.”

“…”

“To have Juliet Monad forever…”

Crash.

The glass bottle shattered.

“That’s not funny.”

Elizabeth froze with a smile on her face. Blood dripped from Roy’s hand due to the broken glass.

“How little do you think of me?”

In the darkness, Roy’s eyes glared at Elizabeth like a beast.

She was suspicious and unsettling. Knowing she was an enemy of Juliet, now she was pushing this strange potion on her.

“Just go away.”

Roy coldly uttered.

“I won’t force you. I just wanted to help.”

Elizabeth shrugged and put her robe back on.

“But I guarantee, in the end, you will seek my help.”

She disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

“Wretched thing.”

Young Lennox Carlyle knew from a very young age that his father despised him.

Before his father, drowned in alcohol and drugs, passed away, they weren’t particularly wealthy. Lennox never really felt bitter about it, but he was curious about the reason.

“It’s because you killed your mother in the womb.”

His relatives who drove him away revealed the truth.

“Your pitiful mother secretly gave birth to you, hoping to become the lady of the Carlyle house.”

It was a secret known to only a few in the family.

The founder of the family, the first Duke of Carlyle, had the ability to control a powerful and evil spirit.

He controlled a malevolent snake with amazing powers.

The greedy yellow snake brought infinite wealth and glory to the family.

However, when a promise was broken, the snake killed the first child of the first Duke, and placed a perpetual curse on the family.

“While we can’t break the curse, there’s a way to avoid it.”

A family elder said so.

Only the snake that lived hidden in that vault could do something about it.

Actually, not all of the few Duchesses who came to the North from outside families died while giving birth. Therefore, it seemed true that there was some special condition to avoid the curse.

However, the problem was that when the mature Lennox returned and reclaimed his family, no one who knew the method remained.

Lennox had never been told of that method which was said to be passed down only to the family heads.

But he never particularly regretted it. Because he never thought of having a child and continuing the family line in the first place.

“…Until you brought up the child.”

Lennox thought that he would have never cared for his entire life if it weren’t for Juliet.

Late at night.

They were sitting in the bedroom on the second floor of the annex where Juliet stayed.

The bedroom, filled with elegant yet antique furniture according to the owner’s taste, was brightly lit as if it were daylight.

Sitting across from him, Juliet, who had been quietly listening, fiddled with a large tapestry on the table.

“So, this is the family tree of the Duke’s house.”

Juliet had also seen it before when she had asked the Duke’s physician.

It seemed to be the original family tree brought directly from the North.

Listening to the unbelievable story, Juliet blinked in a daze. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her.

On one side of Juliet’s bedroom table was an open storybook. It was a fairy tale that Lennox had recently taken a keen interest in.

A story of how a demon, when his contract was broken, took the first child as a price.

“So… all of this started from the curse of the snake demon?”

In summary, hundreds of years ago, a vengeful snake demon cursed the family, and only the snake could lift that curse.

Juliet asked incredulously, but Lennox was surprisingly calm.

“The demon’s target is my family. Not you.”

In other words, as long as Juliet wasn’t involved with him, she was safe.

The Carlyle family was all arrogant and knew no fear.

The beautiful, demon-infested tiara was the only being the family heads genuinely feared.

Warnings about the treasure passed only to family heads. Lennox knew he wasn’t eloquent.

In the distant past, his past life would have been the same.

[I did everything wrong. Okay? I’ll live as if I’m dead. So…]

Moreover, Juliet had begged him to let her go.

[…Please save our baby.]

Juliet, trying to persuade him, wouldn’t have given up on the baby, and he would have had to find a way.

In such a situation, he knew exactly what his past self would have done.

He probably tried to find the missing demon from over a decade ago to learn how to lift the curse. He would have judged it better than convincing Juliet to give up the baby. And he failed.

“This is the story you were curious about.”

Lennox quietly looked at Juliet, like a sinner awaiting punishment.

“So, you brought that Dahlia… the snake to find out the method?”

“Yes.”

“To try to lift the curse…?”

Juliet wore a confused expression.

In fact, even that was something Lennox wasn’t sure how to explain to Juliet.

The snake’s goal was to torment his family and him. So, if Juliet wasn’t involved with him, she wouldn’t be in danger. Even if Juliet, now knowing the full story, left him, he had no right to stop her.

“Juliet.”

The only thing he could do now was to cling to her.

“I can promise you this. I won’t put you in danger again.”

Yet, Juliet didn’t show any significant reaction.

She looked like someone contemplating how to respond. Whether to get angry or to burst into tears…

For all he knew, Juliet might scorn him and leave without a second glance.

‘Or she might ask me to let her go because she’s fed up.’

Lennox thought that would be the most realistic response.

In typical Juliet fashion, always graceful and never losing composure, she would probably show some appropriate sympathy and then say goodbye.

Lennox gritted his teeth.

However, he couldn’t allow that.

He remembered clearly how irrationally he had behaved in less than a month when Juliet disappeared from his life. Even if it meant imprisoning her forever, he had no intention of letting Juliet go.

But while Lennox contemplated the worst possibilities, Juliet just sat there quietly.

She didn’t burst into tears. She didn’t get angry.

However, after a prolonged silence, Juliet suddenly hung her head.

Then she buried her face in her hands and started to mumble something.

“So I…”

As her meaningful mumble continued, Lennox felt his heart sink.

‘Damn it.’

Lennox gritted his teeth. Without a doubt, Juliet had started crying.

After all, he shouldn’t have laid it all out like that.

“Juliet.”

Lennox, not knowing what to do, suddenly found himself kneeling at Juliet’s feet.

Just as he tried to carefully touch her delicate wrist, Juliet suddenly raised her head.

“What an idiot.”

“…What?”

Lennox doubted his ears.

However, Juliet’s round blue eyes looked at him and firmly said:

“I said you’re an idiot!”