Forgotten Juliet

Chapter 128:

* * *

“Yes, it seems she’s a spirit summoner.”

Eshelrid, the magician from the Marigold Guild, confirmed.

“She is?”

Juliet asked in a hushed voice.

The claims of the somewhat peculiar Dolores could only be confirmed by magicians.

Juliet had brought Dolores to the Count Monad’s estate.

The empty Count’s estate had been allowed for Eshel and his colleagues to stay. It had been a good move to gain the favor of the magicians.

“Yes, though it’s faint, I can feel the unique flow of magic.”

“I’m sure!”

“Wow, I’ve only read about this in books!”

The magicians, who were enthusiastically observing Dolores, seemed almost mad.

Eshel’s fellow magicians, who had only recently observed a young dragon and a manifestation of a spiritual entity, started to regard Juliet with increasingly serious expressions.

“Wouldn’t the Countess benefit from having magicians around?”

But Juliet, who knew how expensive magicians’ services were, just smiled.

“I can’t afford to hire magicians.”

“Oh, I see…”

“It’s a shame. I thought it would be fun to have some interesting incidents around the Countess.”

Rather than pondering whether it was a compliment or a subtle remark, Juliet glanced at Dolores and said:

“But she doesn’t know what kind of spirit she summoned.”

“Huh?”

“Is that even possible?”

“It does seem a bit suspicious.”

The magicians once again surrounded Dolores.

“What’s the issue? Can’t she see?”

“Oh, no.”

“Could it be that she summoned a transparent type of spirit?”

Eshel’s colleagues began to scrutinize Dolores with keen eyes.

Dolores, surrounded by curious magicians, looked a little frightened.

“D-Dolores couldn’t see the spirit directly.”

Stammering Dolores repeated the story she had told Juliet.

“Dolores can’t see because her eyes are covered.”

“Wait, can you summon a spirit while your eyes are covered?”

“Dolores doesn’t know much about difficult things. But Marquis Guinness’s other subordinate spirit summoners also said that Dolores summoned a spirit.”

It was the second time Juliet had heard this story, so she wasn’t particularly excited, but the magicians who were listening were becoming more serious.

“But you didn’t see what kind of spirit it was? Is that possible?”

“But can you control the spirit? Where is it now?”

“Did you fall asleep during the summoning? How can you control a spirit if you can’t even see it? You can’t handle something you haven’t seen.”

“So, is this just a case of a spirit summoner being used as a tool to summon a spirit?”

After muttering among themselves, the magicians reached their own conclusions.

“Well, the awakening of a spirit summoner’s talent is different for each person.”

“Strange as it may be, it’s not an impossible story. Spirits come in all shapes and sizes, after all. There might be spirits that can be summoned like that.”

“But this Marquis Guinness guy is suspicious.”

“But who is Guinness? I feel like I’ve heard that name before.”

The capital had been turned upside down, but the magicians seemed thoroughly disinterested in anything outside their field of interest.

Fortunately, Eshelrid seemed to know who Guinness was. He turned to Juliet with a serious expression.

“But can we trust that woman if she’s Marquis Guinness’s wife or daughter?”

“Dolores just did as the Marquis told her!”

Before Juliet could answer, Dolores shouted.

“She is Marquis Guinness’s adopted daughter, but that’s because he gave her money. And Marquis Guinness didn’t treat Dolores kindly either.”

Dolores poured out her words.

“While he had a lot of treasure, he wouldn’t let Dolores touch even a pretty hairpin. And he treated that woman much better than Dolores…”

“That woman?”

“Yes!”

“Who is that?”

“I don’t know much about her. She’s a young woman who wears all white. Marquis Guinness treated her very well. Gave her the best room, spoke politely to her…”

White clothes.

Juliet suddenly remembered. The priestess’s robes were also white.

“What’s her name?”

“Her name is… huh?”

Dolores looked embarrassed.josei

“Weird… I thought I knew it? I’ll remember that soon!”

Dolores groaned for a while but couldn’t remember the name. Juliet, who was looking at Dolores blankly, suddenly spoke.

“Dahlia.”

“Oh?”

“Wasn’t her name Dahlia?”

“I… I’m not sure. It seemed like it, and it seemed like it wasn’t… I’m sorry.”

As Dolores apologized and struggled to remember, the other magicians intervened.

“Wait, you heard the name, but you can’t remember if it’s correct or not?”

“What’s wrong with her memory? Could she have damaged her memory center while experimenting with summoning spirits?”

“Uh! Can someone be a spirit summoner if the memory center is damaged?”

Juliet, tapping the table lightly with her fingertips, called over Eshelrid.

“Eshel, give me a moment.”

“Yes.”

Eshel understood and discreetly left the room.

“What do you think?”

“In convenience, we group all beings under the term ‘spirits,’ but not all spirits that spirit summoners deal with are inherently good, you know?”

“Yes, I know. When people hear ‘spirits,’ they usually think of small, benevolent fairies, but not all of them are like that.”

The beings from another dimension crossing over didn’t often resemble fairies, and benevolent ones were even rarer. In simple terms, they were summoned creatures from another world.

“Perhaps it might be more accurate to call them just summoners. And the ones summoned…”

“Demons?”

Juliet grinned.

“That’s true too.”

“Yes, because you never know what kind of beings you might summon from beyond the dimensions.”

Eshel had warned Juliet several times before. Her butterflies possessed an incredibly powerful and irrational force, not on the level of spirits or creatures but closer to that of demons.

“These beings from another dimension come here to take physical form and exert their power, and for that, they need a contractor.”

Spirit summoners were unique individuals with rare magical frequencies. They didn’t need to have abundant magical power; it was enough to be able to summon beings from other realms.

“The ‘contractors’ called ‘spirit summoners’ are their channels and batteries.”

“I understand.”

Juliet nodded.

Her butterfly creatures were the same way.

They appeared cute here, but their true forms beyond the dimensions were dangerously powerful beings that could drive someone insane at first sight.

Juliet had an idea of what Eshel was trying to say.

“And their abilities vary greatly.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Natural spirits could summon rain, create fire, or even conjure hurricanes. Some possessed incredible healing abilities, while others were simply massive monsters.

“But the most dangerous ones are those that can interfere with the human mind.”

“And the more they can meddle with a person’s mind, the more dangerous they are, right?”

Eshel shrugged.

“Well, you know.”

“In simpler terms, they’re demons, aren’t they?”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that.”

But that’s what it means.

Eshel seemed to want to warn her again about how strange her butterfly creatures were, but Juliet had a different question in mind.

“Then, Eshel, suppose there’s a very powerful mental realm creature. Whether it’s a demon or a spirit.”

“Yes?”

“Could it manipulate human memories?”

“Yes?”

Eshel looked puzzled, but Juliet grinned.

She alone knew that Lennox had suddenly became aware of the memories before the regression that only she would remember.

But as she contemplated her memories, Juliet realized that some of them might have been tampered with or damaged by someone.

Piece by piece.

* * *

The next day, Juliet sat in the reception room, writing a letter to be sent to the East with graceful handwriting. After a while, she put down her pen and flicked her fingers slowly. At that moment, a couple of butterflies flew over and landed on her hand.

(Marquis. South, territory.)

(Punishment. Property. Confiscation.)

They hesitated before speaking the words.

These butterflies were the ones Juliet had secretly planted when she visited the imperial palace. Their purpose was to relay conversations that took place at the palace.

Of course, they could only pick up words and phrases, not hold a fluent conversation.

However, Juliet understood perfectly.

“They plan to confiscate Marquis’s property and possessions, right?”

Juliet furrowed her brow slightly.

What was the point of these arrogant nobles subtly coveting that territory now?

Juliet had no interest or need for southern territories like them.

But she couldn’t help but scoff at their arrogance.

It was the knights of the Carlyle Duchy that had resolved the situation when Marquis Guinness’s private soldiers confronted the imperial palace. It was rumored that some noble families had quietly led soldiers to the capital after the situation had been settled.

But when the real problem arose, they trembled behind Carlyle Duchy’s forces.

Juliet only had settled her grudge against Marquis Guinness, who had provoked her first.

‘As a bonus, I caught a lot of suspicious points.’

Dolores said that there was a ‘woman’ behind Marquis Guinness. And Juliet thought that the woman must be Dahlia.

Marquis’s territory would have been devastated by now by the knights of Duke Carlyle.

She didn’t expect Dahlia to still be there.

‘But what’s their goal?’

But it was clear that Dahlia had plotted something to put her in danger, just like Marquis Guinness.

Was their aim to brainwash her, as Marquis Guinness did?

“Now that I think about it, I always met with Dahlia right before every crisis…”