Forgotten Juliet

Chapter 135:

Juliet became nervous.

If the Marquis’s mansion falls into the hands of the imperial family, it will be difficult to reclaim the treasure.

“They said it was kept in the Marquis’s private room.”

Marquis Guinness’s private room, where he hides his treasure. The Dulton couple said the jewel box was in there.

– Only the Marquis himself knows how to enter that secret room…

However, there was one more person who knew how to enter that secret space besides Marquis Guinness.

Juliet knew exactly how to enter that secret space.

‘The leftmost bookshelf in the library, the third row’s green book.’

Moving that exact book reveals the entrance to the secret space. The Marquis had gathered various precious collections in it.

Juliet had been frequently confined in that room, almost as much as in the punishment room. Suspicious Marquis Guinness had hidden various secret objects there.

“Lennox… where is His Highness?”

Juliet became anxious. She needed to hurry before the imperial family took over the Marquis’s mansion.

“He left at midnight yesterday and hasn’t returned.”

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know.”

Juliet tried to find Lennox, but the people of the Duke’s house stopped her.

Soon, Juliet was led to the bathroom by the maids.

Submerged in the warm bathtub, Juliet came to a conclusion.

‘First, get yourself together and wait for Lennox to return, then discuss the secret room in the Marquis’s mansion.’

But Lennox didn’t return all day.

Eventually, Juliet dozed off, whether it was because she took a hot bath or got lost in various thoughts.

It was dark outside the window when she opened her eyes.

“Lennox?”

In the dark bedroom, a man was leaning against the window. Juliet asked quizzically.

“Your Highness, why are you there?”

Approaching him cautiously, Juliet noticed something odd.

Inappropriate for the chilly season, his hair was wet, as if he had hastily poured water on himself.

‘The smell of blood.’

Juliet unconsciously frowned. A faint smell of blood emanated from Lennox.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

After asking, Juliet bitterly smiled. It was more natural to ask whose blood it was.

Noticing that Lennox seemed off, Juliet asked.

“Your Highness.”

“What?”

“Did I say anything yesterday?”

Juliet had been worried all day that she might have spilled her guts to him while drunk.

Instead of answering, Lennox asked:

“…Can I hug you?”

“No.”

Juliet dodged, narrowing her eyebrows, then asked again.

“What did I say?”

“Juliet.”

Lennox might have glimpsed some of her past memories as he did before at the abandoned temple ruins.

Especially the part about Marquis Guinness. Juliet didn’t want that to hear that.

“That’s…”

Juliet neither wanted Lennox to pity her nor to show her faults to him.

“Nothing.”

“I said nothing?”

“Yes.”

Juliet’s eyes narrowed. She knew Lennox was lying.

“Lennox.”

She had a hunch where Lennox had been.

“…Could it be, you’ve already killed Marquis Guinness?”

“I haven’t killed him.”

Lennox replied softly, staring at her with red eyes.

“Not yet.”

Juliet sighed softly.

“That’s good.”

“Is there a reason why he shouldn’t be killed?”

Juliet hesitated before answering.

“The Marquis must not die yet.”

Whether he’s killed outright or not, at least until they reclaim the Duke family’s treasure, or until they question how the Marquis got it, he had value alive. Juliet glanced nervously at Lennox, worried about how he’d take her words. What if he misinterprets it as siding with the Marquis’s wrongdoings?

“So, what I’m saying is…”

Lennox, surprisingly, didn’t question and obediently replied.

“Yes.”

Juliet felt uneasy at Lennox’s unexpectedly compliant attitude.

“Your Highness, are you really okay?”

Juliet took a step closer to him, slightly worried.

Then she realized that he was completely drenched. She wondered where he had been and why he was still in his wet clothes. Was it raining outside?

“My goodness, aren’t you cold?”

“You hate blood.”

So he doused himself with water?

Such a leap in logic was absurd.

Juliet furrowed her brows.

“At least get a blanket…”

“Juliet.”

But before Juliet could wrap a blanket around his shoulders, Lennox reached out and gently held the tips of her fingers.

“Can I kiss you?”

“…”

It was really strange.

The Lennox Carlyle she knew wasn’t the kind of man to ask for such things. He treated her incredibly well, sometimes to the point of infatuation, but he seemed like someone who would carelessly toss her aside when bored. He never asked for her opinion or sought her permission before.

Juliet, feeling the intensity in the man’s eyes, nodded.

“Yes.”

But what was truly strange was Lennox’s next move.

“!”

Instead of a full-on kiss as she expected, Lennox gently pressed his lips to the tips of her fingers, as if handling delicate glasswork.

Then he leaned his forehead on Juliet’s shoulder while she was standing by the window frame.

For some reason, Juliet felt odd and patted his shoulder for a moment.

“Your Highness, what’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.”

With shaking hands, Lennox whispered as he placed his hand on her lower back.

“Nothing happened.”

He would never be able to tell Juliet what he had seen.

* * *

Inside the prison, the momentarily unconscious Marquis Guinness awoke suddenly from the cold stone floor.

‘Duke Carlyle, that brat…’

A choking sound came from his throat. He couldn’t remember how many times he had passed out and woken up.

In his life as an aristocrat, he had never been treated this way.

Furthermore, Marquis Guinness belonged to those who derived pleasure from torturing others. He enjoyed causing pain to fulfill his despicable desires but had no resistance when someone inflicted pain on him.

‘How dare someone wearing a human mask do this to me!’

The Marquis shuddered, failing to recall his past misdeeds.

– Just keep him alive.

Duke Carlyle had ordered so. That was the cruelest part.

It seemed Lennox Carlyle had no intention of killing him.

Those following the Duke’s orders whipped Guinness periodically. The astonishing thing was they’d set his broken bones and even treated him kindly.

Of course, the whipping resumed after. After experiencing this cycle several times, Marquis Guinness wished someone would just end his life.

Plus, the fear that spiritual entity might attack him at any moment.

Marquis Guinness, in his terrifying fear, couldn’t even sleep properly.

Marquis Guinness had heard about the state of Archbishop Solon. He heard Solon was alive, unable to die due to the side effects of a curse.

‘Because the curse failed…’

The Marquis knew nothing about the curse. He didn’t know what the spiritual entity could do. All he knew about the curse was that those consumed by the entity lost their sense of self.

‘Damn it! Look at the state I’m in!’

Marquis Guinness was furious.

Yet, he hadn’t given up hope. He was a major aristocrat and magnate from the south. He couldn’t be subdued like this.

Duke Carlyle kept him alive.

It seemed he planned to bring him to court.

‘That naive young man probably knows a little but not much.’

Marquis Guinness anticipated his release from prison.

There were few among the Empire’s elite to whom he hadn’t given bribes. He believed he could exact revenge once he overcame this situation.

“Just wait. Once I get out of here…”

The moment he opens his mouth, the Empire would be plunged into chaos.

Clank.

However, the sudden sound of footsteps startled Marquis Guinness.

Tap, tap, tap.josei

By now, just hearing footsteps terrified Marquis Guinness.

The Marquis pressed himself against the prison wall, trembling.

“W-Who are you?”