Forgotten Juliet

-He’s a very fine gentleman.

Juliet remembered vividly what Eunice had said a while ago.

The charming blond man and the mysterious ‘Eleanor’. Placing them side by side in thought, Juliet felt like she knew who ‘Eleanor’ was.

Juliet urged the carriage to arrive at the mansion as quickly as possible.

“Oh, Miss. Have you arrived now? If…”

“Not now!”

“Yes?”

Ignoring the knight of the Duke’s family, Juliet hurriedly ran up the stairs.

‘I definitely saw it here.’

As is common in royal mansions, Duke Carlyle’s mansion in the capital had a gallery displaying artworks in it.

Of course, in the conservative culture not understanding the act of leaving oneself in a painting, the number of portraits was not many. However, a portrait of the family’s first head was usually hung in every mansion.

Having run breathlessly, Juliet stood quietly in front of a large portrait at the top of the central staircase, catching her breath.

‘Why didn’t I realize sooner?’

Juliet had passed by this portrait perhaps a hundred times before.

“…It was this person.”

Hair as black and long as ebony.

Shiny ruby eyes and a mole near the eye.

Even through the portrait, she was an astonishing beauty who could draw people in.

Juliet was able to read her name written below with her eyes.

‘Eleanor Carlyle.’

She was the first head of the Duke’s family.

* * *

The moment Juliet realized the identity of ‘Eleanor’.

“Well, aren’t you good?”

On the other side of the mansion, in the hallway in front of Duke Carlyle’s office, Elliot was desperately shaking a feather towards the ceiling.

“Peep?”

On the opposite side of the tearful plea was a baby dragon who had flown up to the high chandelier.

Perhaps thinking the shiny signet ring in the office was a toy, Onyx had flown up to the chandelier with the ring in his mouth and wasn’t coming down.

The baby dragon on the chandelier seemed to like it there, chirping and darting around between the chandelier arms. It was clear he found teasing humans amusing.

“Hey, come down for today, okay?”

The Duke’s secretary, Elliot, begged but he guessed that the baby dragon wouldn’t come down willingly.

The baby dragon wouldn’t listen to anyone except Juliet, and his mischief was growing day by day in proportion to his rapid growth.

Today, he seemed especially happy, chirping like a bird.

The baby dragon didn’t even consider coming down with the ring in his mouth; he just curled up in a narrow space between the ceiling.

“Ugh…”

It seemed he wouldn’t come down unless Juliet returned.

“Hmm?”

Wondering how to get him down, Elliot, grinding his teeth, looked up and spotted a familiar silhouette at the far end of the hallway.

In front of Duke Carlyle’s office, there was a woman loitering, and her back looked quite familiar.

The slender figure and the neatly coiled upstyle hair, the neat dove-colored skirt seemed familiar.

‘Miss Juliet!’

Thinking that the savior who could finally get the troublemaker down had appeared, Elliot rushed over to ask for her help.

“Juliet…”

Elliot almost called out ‘Miss Juliet?’ cheerfully.

But just as Elliot tapped the woman’s shoulder.

“Kyaaa!”

“Ugh!”

The young woman who turned to look at Elliot screamed in surprise, and Elliot screamed back in return.

“What, what, what… are you doing! Here!”

To cut to the chase, that woman wasn’t Juliet.

The woman Elliot mistook for Juliet was a maid who had recently joined the mansion.

Her name seemed to be Ronda.

“I, I’m sorry! I was just, delivering tea to the Duke…”

Ronda timidly held out the tea tray.

“The, the Duke is out and not here!”

Still not over his surprise, Elliot answered loudly.

“Then, when will he return?”

“I don’t know that!”

Ronda left with a disappointed expression, but Elliot somehow felt uneasy.

“Peep?”

The baby dragon on the chandelier, who had been pretending not to care, seemed curious about what happened and flew down with the ring in his mouth.

Thankfully, the problem was solved for now.

“…Ugh.”

Elliot quickly snatched the signet ring and pocketed it, glancing at the direction the maid had disappeared to.

“Did she resemble Miss Monad…?”

“?”

Of course, their appearances were completely different.

However, from hair color to hair shape, even trivially, the straight walk. It could have been a coincidence, but it felt like it was deliberately imitated.

* * *

“I’m sorry, Your Holiness. It seems there was a misunderstanding.”

Archbishop Gilliam returned to the Pope’s throne room with a hidden displeasure.

The Pope’s visit to the capital was a rare event, and many nobles were keen to greet the Pope, spending a hefty sum.

Among them was Baron Caruso who was scheduled to visit today.

Baron Caruso hastily made an appointment, paying a large tip for a one-hour private audience with the Pope. However, contrary to expectations, even after the promised time had long passed, Baron Caruso didn’t appear.

“It seems Baron Caruso won’t be coming…”

Yet, Archbishop Gilliam paused as he entered the audience room.

Inside the lavishly decorated room were two young men, besides Pope Hildegard.

A dark-skinned man standing quietly in the shadow by the door seemed to be a guard, and a black-haired man sitting deep in the chair across from the Pope exuded a maturity beyond his age.

“…Duke?”

Archbishop Gilliam doubted his eyes.

The eerie red eyes typical of a Duke’s family. Hair that seemed to have black liquid soaked in.

However, the long rivalry between the Duke of Carlyle and the temple was well known.

“Ahem, I’m sorry but you must leave, Duke. There is already a scheduled visitor at this time.”

“Baron Caruso will not be coming.”

Lennox Carlyle spoke monotonously. Archbishop Gilliam realized what had happened.

‘Baron Caruso’ was a fictional character.

“So, Duke. What brings you here?”

Pope Hildegard cautiously opened her mouth.

Instead of answering, Duke Carlyle took something out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

Clink.

It was a necklace adorned with a purple gem.

The Pope and the Archbishop’s eyes widened.

“Isn’t this Genovia’s Soulstone? Have you come to return it on behalf of Juliet Monad?”

But Duke Carlyle smiled cunningly.

“This is not just an ordinary Soulstone.”

“Huh. If it’s not an ordinary Soulstone, what is it?”

Pope Hildegard, who looked like a kind old woman, wasn’t to be trifled with.

Lennox’s eyes narrowed as he gazed at the Pope playing coy.

“‘Genovia’ was a genius who contracted with an evil spirit. Am I wrong?”

“W-what?”

Pope Hildegard shut her mouth and kept silent, but Archbishop Gilliam couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“Why do you make such an assumption, Duke? As you know, Genovia was an exceptionally talented child, capable of becoming a saint if she were alive!”

“Oh, sure. A special child indeed.”

Just like Juliet Monad.

Duke Carlyle sarcastically sneered.

Decades ago, a girl known as ‘the child of prophecy’ appeared in the papal court.

Stories about the miraculous healing ability of the young genius ‘Genovia’, spread secretly.

Prominent figures from across the continent rushed to the papal court to meet the young genius ‘Genovia’, and the temple amassed a fortune.

“Then at some point, the high-ranking people in the temple realized. Oh, the power that the genius Genovia uses was not divine power but the power of the evil spirits you all despise so much.”

“This is an absurd slander!”

Archbishop Gilliam could no longer contain his anger.

“Do you think so, Archbishop?”

However, under the cold gaze of Lennox Carlyle, Gilliam flinched involuntarily.

“Hah.”

Upon a gesture from Duke Carlyle, his subordinate who had been quietly standing by the door brought something.

Thud.

A fairly heavy ebony box was brought, and Archbishop Gilliam was startled.

“Isn’t this a coffin?”

Specifically, it was a small coffin used for burying young children.

“Yes. Precisely, it’s the coffin used for ‘Genovia’.”

As he answered, Duke Carlyle opened the lid of the coffin placed on the table.

“Wha, what are you doing…?”

Gilliam closed his eyes tightly.

He didn’t want to see the remains of the child inside the coffin. Especially since young Genovia was burned to death.

“…?”

However, with eyes wide open, Archbishop Gilliam was puzzled.

The small coffin was completely empty.

What was stranger was that the inside of the coffin was entirely coated with silver.

“Why, why was silver treatment done on Genovia’s coffin…?”

Confused, Gilliam suddenly realized something. Coffins lined with pure silver were typically used when burying corrupt priests.

“You, don’t tell me…”

“That’s right. Genovia Beringer, although the Soulstone might show her talent toward divine power, in fact, she was also using the ‘power of evil spirits’ that you all dread so much. Right?”

Furthermore, the explosive fortune and fame brought by Genovia’s healing power undoubtedly came from the artifact and the evil spirit within it.

“How did you know?”

The Pope Hildegard’s retort was tantamount to admitting.