Chapter 244: Side Story 12

Juliet suddenly thought.

People can’t die from being too affectionate, right?

“Hold on, wait…”

“Hmm? Juliet.”

“Ah…”

This isn’t fair.

Juliet felt overwhelmed just trying to catch her breath.

The man who sweetly caressed her like melted chocolate, and persistently kissed her with an irresistible voice, was incredibly persistent.

Juliet learned that she shouldn’t rashly make promises.

She was tricked. The man’s seemingly tender and affectionate words were merely superficial, but his desperate actions were insatiably greedy.

Juliet felt wronged and nearly teared up.

‘It wasn’t innocence, it was cunning. How could I have thought this person was cute for even a moment…’

* * *

It was late afternoon when Juliet finally opened her eyes.

Coughing from a dry throat, he quickly brought her a glass of water.

“Drink.”

Perhaps out of guilt, he acted very submissively. And soon, Juliet found out why.

“I can’t live like this.”

Juliet pulled the white sheet up to her neck.

Juliet, with her delicate skin, bruised easily. Because of his passionate bites and nips, Juliet had bruises all over, from her neck down to her collarbone.

“…Does it hurt?”

He flinched upon seeing the red marks on her neck. He seemed to feel guilty.

“If Josephine or others see this, what will they think?”

Juliet disliked having visible marks when the maids helped her dress.

“They would think we’re newlyweds.”

As Juliet glared at him, he quickly shut his mouth.

“…Sorry.”

While he apologized genuinely, Lennox buried his head in Juliet’s shoulder.

“It’s my fault.”

Blaming the alcohol was an excuse. The root cause was letting go of his frail self-control.

Whether it was honest of him not to promise it won’t happen again, or it was just irritating, was debatable.

“I’ll help you dress, so don’t be mad.”

His apologetic gesture still hinted at lingering desire.

But just as Juliet was about to push him away, she noticed her own nail marks on his shoulder and hesitated.

“Don’t come near me until this goes away.”

“…Three days?”

“At least three days.”

“Then, can you at least escort me to the bathroom-“

“Get out!”

Juliet, with flushed cheeks, chased him out of the bedroom.

He left rather abruptly, but he seemed to be in a good mood. Touching his neck, he fumbled inside his pocket and pulled out a small, shining watch, grinning for a moment.

“Your Highness!”

“You’ve finally come out!”

The pale-faced secretaries who seemed to have been waiting rushed forward.

“…Explain one by one.”

It was time to rectify the mistakes made the previous night.

Returning to his study under Elliot’s urging, Lennox paused at the door.

“…”

His gaze settled near the table.

“Hmm? What’s the matter?”

On the study table lay his regular medication.

‘Could it be…’

His expression tightened, feeling like he had forgotten something.

* * *

Since that day, Lennox took care of Juliet’s every minor need.

“Do you have something to say?”

“…No.”

It wasn’t just taking care of her; he checked her temperature every morning, inquired about her preferences for tea, and more.

For a while, Juliet thought he was acting a bit odd, but she soon forgot given her busy life.

The couple returned north after a short visit to the capital. Even after their return, Lennox seemed persistent, but then he had to leave the castle for several days.

Taking advantage of the Duke’s absence, Juliet relaxed. She spent most of her time playing with the maids or Nix and taking naps.

On a sunny afternoon, as Juliet sat on a swing reading a fairy tale, she fell asleep.

“Nix, aren’t you bored?”

“Huh?”

Even though she had dozed off, Nix was still sitting beside her, reading a picture book.

The curious baby dragon usually chased after people, but this was a different side of him.

“You can go play if you want.”

“I want to read with Juliet.”

“Why? Are you too shy?”

“No…”

The cook’s twins were kind children. Even though they invited him to play, Nix steadfastly stayed with Juliet.

Nix whispered to Juliet after sneaking glances around.

“Actually… the Duke said.”

Lennox did?

“What did he say?”

“He said that when he’s not here, I have to protect Juliet.”

“Huh?”

“And if there’s a bad person, I can scold them when no one’s watching.”

…What on earth did he tell the child?

“Kids shouldn’t worry about such things. Don’t worry and go play.”

As Juliet smiled and patted his head, Nix hesitated for a moment.

“Then I want to give this to Juliet.”

Suddenly, Nix took out a shiny gold coin from his pocket.

Taking the coin without thinking, Juliet paused.

On one side was an engraved seashell. But this was a currency used hundreds of years ago.

“Nix, where did you… get this?”

“Over there, from there.”

Nix ran to the window and pointed outside.

Juliet was puzzled.

What Nix pointed to was the northern annex, a bit distant from the main building.

“There’s a lot over there!”

“There?”

“Yes!”

The northern annex was an old-fashioned but very old building, now used as a storage house due to its age.

With Nix’s cryptic explanation, Juliet, intrigued, followed him to the northern annex.

“Is there a room over there?”

“Yes!”

The place Nix pointed to was at the very end of the hallway. However, there was not even a door to enter, let alone a room.

“But there’s no door.”

“Nix, how did you get in there?”

“I did, through the window!”

Onyx pointed to a small round window at the end of the building. It was big enough for a baby dragon to enter.

“Strange. It’s not on the blueprints.”

But Nix was right.

Upon careful investigation, the number of windows counted from the outside of the 3rd floor was thirty, but from the inside, there were only twenty-nine.

This meant there was a hidden space.

A hidden room without a door. It seemed to have been designed to hide something from the start.

“Nix, what’s inside?”

“A big painting, a box… and a lot of stones.”

“Stones?”

“Yeah, flat stones with strange writings on them.”

It seemed like he was referring to stone tablets.

Thus, an unexpected treasure hunt began. Nix was thrilled about it.

“We might need to tear down this wall.”

Tapping the wooden wall at the end of the hallway, it sounded hollow.

When Sir Milan called the workers, the wall easily collapsed with a thud.

Knights with lamps led the way. The hidden space was a room big enough to tightly fit about five people lying down. The only thing on the walls was a small window.

“There it is!”

Just as Nix said, in the corner of the room, there was a chest filled with ancient gold coins, and stone tablets with writings stacked neatly on one side.

“What is this?”

Juliet discovered a large canvas covered with white cloth.

Carefully removing the cloth, an old portrait was revealed.

It was a portrait of a young couple who looked perfect together.

‘This is…’

Juliet recognized the girl sitting on the chair at a glance.

The beautiful woman with black hair and red eyes was a much younger Eleanor Carlyle than the portrait in the capital’s mansion. The jubilantly smiling young Eleanor wore a familiar purple gem crown. And the man next to Eleanor was-

‘Snake?’

“Who is this…?”

The knights who followed with lamps were also shocked.

They too remembered the face of the ‘Count Jermang’ who was going around with a fake identity – the face of a glamorous and handsome snake.

For a moment, Juliet was shocked, but then realized.

“No, it seems to be someone else.”

Although he looked strikingly similar to the ‘Count Jermang’ snake, the aura was different.

“Perhaps he was Eleanor Carlyle’s real lover.”

“That… I see.”

The knights looked puzzled.

Juliet looked at the man in the painting with a slightly bitter expression. The man with cold eyes and a gentle look was indeed a rare beauty.

He resembled the snake but the vibe was completely different. In other words…

-How much Eleanor loved this face!

Juliet remembered the time when she hurt the snake’s face, and it was furious.

Perhaps the snake killed this man, Eleanor Carlyle’s lover, and stole his appearance.

‘Do they look a bit similar?’

Juliet tilted her head.

The man with a gentle look had eyes similar to Lennox Carlyle. Considering he’s a distant descendant, it’s not strange if they resembled each other.

“It seems to be a record of the first Duke, Eleanor.”

The stone tablets left with the gold coins were records from hundreds of years ago.

“If decoded, we might understand its content.”

Perhaps they might understand exactly what happened between the snake and Eleanor.

When Lennox returns, I have to tell him, Juliet thought as she stepped outside, realizing something strange.

“…?”

Juliet looked around with newfound curiosity.

The room they were standing in was connected to the secret space at the end of the hallway. Only then did she notice the neglected state of the room.

The northern annex had been used as a storeroom for a long time, so its neglected state wasn’t strange.

‘I didn’t notice earlier because I was so busy.’

Although they had torn down one of the walls to find the hidden space, the room had furniture that looked used.

A small bed, a simple table, and a modest wardrobe looked as if someone had been using them until recently.

She thought the northern annex was mostly used as storage?

“Sir Milan?”

“Hmm? What?”

“What’s this room?”

“Oh, this is the room the prince used when he was a child.”

Juliet doubted her eyes.

“…Here?”

She had thought the furniture looked suitable for a child but…

Even though he was the heir to the family, they kept their son, around nine years old, in an annex that’s practically a storeroom?

“Didn’t you know?”

Juliet felt uneasy for some reason.