Chapter 7 [Part 2]
“Juliet?”
However, the inside of the room was completely empty.
Lennox Karlyle looked around in the unoccupied room, his gaze halting on the brilliantly shining sunset-colored necklace laying there neatly on the dressing table.
And, shining even brighter than the necklace was a single blue butterfly fluttering around the empty room.
The moment he saw Juliet’s butterfly, Lennox understood at once what had just happened in here.
And at the same time, his blood froze.
“Your Highness!”
The people who had been following him had just arrived in front of the wide-opened door.
Without saying anything, Lennox picked up the paper-knife on the table.
The knife flew out of his hand and went straight through the butterfly’s wings, which had been fluttering near the mirror of the dressing table.
The blue butterfly moved around as though it was a living creature, then disappeared without a trace, scattering into particles of light.
“What happened…….”
The servants who arrived a moment ago looked around the empty room once again, still confused.
“But Master, we clearly saw the young lady returning to the estate and getting off the carriage.”
“Yes, and we’ve even seen her go up to this room on the second floor……”
However, as the butterfly disappeared, the servants were released from the hallucination spell and had become ghastly pale, only belatedly realizing the situation.
They had certainly seen Juliet return to the estate, or so they thought, for they had been under a dark magic spell.
The servants hurriedly shut their mouths, in the fear of upsetting the Duke.
Juliet Monad was an Elementalist of very high rank, a fact that was often forgotten as she rarely used her powers.
Lennox, however, wasn’t bothered with whatever was happening around him, his mind was filled with other thoughts.
‘Since when?’
He knew about Juliet’s ability more than anybody else.
She could summon evil spirits to this world and can cast a visual hallucination spell on a target she chooses.
It was such a rare ability, but according to his knowledge, Juliet’s skills were still limited. So, she couldn’t handle many spirits and could only cast a spell on one or two people only.
Her ability was powerful enough to captivate people, however, it consumed a lot of mana and was constrained if used in public places.
Therefore, it would not have been difficult to deceive the horseman. But, putting the whole estate of the Duke that was buzzing with servants under hallucination was something she shouldn’t have been able to do.
But she was able to succeed and run away from him with ease.
It was evident that Juliet hid her growing ability from him.
She deceived him and smiled falsely at him. Since when had she been planning to run away?
“She hasn’t gone back to the Monad household.”
The butler reported quietly to him.
Lennox started down at the necklace that was neatly placed on the dressing table with expressionless eyes.
It was the very necklace he had sent to Juliet this morning.
The necklace left there had a significantly deep meaning.
All the jewelry, coats, and clothes that he gave her as gifts remained there untouched in the neat room.
The owner of the room had just gone away for a little while and will be back shortly. To an unsuspecting person, that is what the room looked like since everything was intact and nothing was missing.
Lennox suddenly came up with a question.
She might have been able to put all the servants in the estate under a spell, but how was she able to trick her main escort, Cain, who was a swordmaster?
“Cain.”
“……Yes.”
“Did you eat something?”
“Pardon?”
Cain who was flustered for a moment replied to the Duke’s question.
“In the afternoon, the lady offered a drink…..”
“You were drugged.”
At this point, he was so proud of her for being this smart and cute that Lennox almost laughed.
Cain was the only swordmaster among all the knights that were escorting Juliet.
And Juliet knew that her ability would not work on high priests or swordmasters, so she had prepared a drug that would work on him.
In the first place, Lennox had placed Cain as an escort for Juliet for her safety, not to keep her from running away.
“Forgive me, this kind of mistake…….”
Cain who had finally grasped the situation, apologized while bowing his head forward.
However, Lennox Karlyle’s anger was aimed at one person only.
“She’s very determined to get away.”
He no longer cared for the reason why Juliet was behaving like this.He couldn’t even begin to fathom when and how long she had been planning for this.
From buying Silpium without informing him, to advancing her skills without him knowing, it all contributed to fueling his anger.
Not one person present there could raise their head in front of the cold fury of the Duke of Karlyle.
Elliot, who had been fidgeting while looking at his master’s complexion, carefully opened his mouth.
“Should we contact the Capital Guards?”
“No.”
That would be a fruitless attempt.
Just as Juliet knew him well, Lennox too, knew her well enough.
TL/N – Idk seems like you don’t know her at all buuut whatever floats your boat buddy
Once she sets her mind to it, she could hide as much as she wanted, and nobody will be able to find her.
Especially since today is the day the year changes. The search will not be easy due to the large crowds outside who have gathered to watch the fireworks display. And, with the addition of the New Year’s banquet, the border patrol was relatively loose.
It seems that she had gone through such pain for a very long time to plan such an escape scene.
However, Lennox was sure that she was still in the capital.
Since in these chaotic times, there are also limited means of sneaking outside.
But it is only a matter of time before Juliet manages to sneak out of the capital.
There’s a way of sending troops to block all the roads leading to and from the capital, but taking such a hasty step might provoke Juliet to hide even deeper.
And if Juliet decides to hide, then he may never be able to find her since she has the ability to cover up her tracks well.
“What should we do now, Your Highness?”
Elliot carefully asked.
Lennox Karlyle raised his head to look at him.
“She still hasn’t left the capital yet.”
Lennox grabbed the necklace that she had left behind, the diamond made a sound as it collided with his hand.
His mouth stretched into a thin smile, but his eyes were emitting anger.
“I’ll deal with the other things later. Find her first.”
Lennox was just as persistent as Juliet was.
“Use all means necessary to find her, bring her back to me without a single scratch.”
He wasn’t going to let her run away carrying something of his.
E/N – Wait…so is it true? Who knows?
Bang
In the middle of the night, the advent intruders who dared break into the sacred temple were making a raucous. They were dressed in black armor, however, it seemed like they weren’t worried about trying to hide their identity.
Upon hearing the raucous, the head priest rushed towards the place where all the noise was coming from.
“What on earth are you doing here, Duke!”
The head priest shouted furiously. He had been running to get here to the point that his hat had become crooked.
“How dare you come to this sacred place holding your weapons……”
“Your introduction is too long.”
The chief of the ruffians was sitting crookedly on top of the altar.
The man needed no introduction, he was the Duke of Karlyle.
Even in this urgent situation, the Duke of Karlyle, seated on top of the marble altar, had the ability to make the plain altar that was without any ornaments, look like a throne of a King.
“I-I shall contact His Majesty the King directly……..”
“You know that it’ll be useless.”
The head priest quickly shut his mouth.
He too knew that even the royal family was very weary and anxious around the Duke of Karlyle.
Even if the Temple would request for help, the King will likely act as though he’d never received such a request.
Moreover, unlike the other aristocrats, the relationship between the Duke of Karlyle and the temple was bad.
The truth of the matter was that the temple had a great interest in one of the wider territories that belonged to the Northern Duke.
It was a vast tract of land and a great deal of gold could have been collected.
However, the Karlyle household, in addition to all the other people residing in the north, were all not religious nor interested in religion. They didn’t understand the reason as to why the priests wanted to build luxurious temples or collect huge sums of money.
When Lennox Karlyle became the Duke, the relationship between the temple and the Karlyle household was shattered completely.
Lennox, who rose to become the master of the Karlyle household after slaughtering his uncles at a young age, shut down all the temples that were put up in the north.
Naturally, the temple strongly protested and excommunicated the Duke.
Being excommunicated from the temple meant that if one were to get married, one would not be able to marry under the blessing of a priest.
In addition to that, they threatened that the temple would not give their blessing when a successor is born for the Karlyle household someday.
Of course, their threats fell on deaf ears as Lennox was fully content living an indulgent life, and marriage was out of the question for him.
The priests and temples couldn’t do anything about it as he is, after all, the Duke of Karlyle whom even the Emperor, the owner of the Empire, fears.
The head priest who was facing the Duke gave up on his protest and decided to carefully inquire about the reason for him being here.
“Alright, Duke. What is it that you want?”
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