Chapter 17
Jude, who had dismounted and was about to rush through the bushes, stopped short.
The stone floor of the ruins was covered in something black and sticky. It was as if someone had deliberately splattered a lot of oil paint all over the place.
Of course, it wasn't paint.
It was dried blood.
"A mess."
That was quite an understatement.
There were four bodies in that corner, but the blood soaking the floor wasn't theirs.
The bodies of a well-dressed middle-aged noble couple who appeared to be husband and wife, and the bodies of what looked like their servants and coachman.
Four people in all.
'So, is this woman the daughter of that couple?'
Lennox Carlisle looked down at the woman lying on the floor with a nonchalant expression.
She looked strangely familiar.
The hem of her once beautiful light blue dress was stained with blood and in a mess. But it wasn't her blood.
In the first place, she wouldn't be alive if she had lost that much blood, and there were no obvious major injuries on her body.
"Lord, shall we collect the bodies?"
A knight asked Lennox for his opinion.
Just as he was about to answer, a desperate groan escaped the woman's lips.
"Hnnng."
'Don't touch me!' Juliet tried to shout.
In fact, she had been trying to shout since earlier, from the moment this man appeared, but no sound came out.
Eventually, at his command, the knights retreated a good distance.
Once they were far enough away that their voices couldn't be heard, the man's gaze turned to Juliet.
"You."
Kneeling on one knee and placing his hand on the floor, he lowered himself as if to meet Juliet's eye level.
"Do you know what you've done?"
The man said, sounding somewhat amused.
But contrary to his tone, the sound coming from her mouth was just a gasp, as if she was about to die.
Juliet glared at him with bloodshot eyes. The man, who had been staring down at her, seemed to smile slightly.
"Don't touch the bodies, ha."
"Pardon?"
"Don't touch anything, and everyone stay ten steps away."
Juliet glared at him instead of answering. But even if she had been able to speak, Juliet wouldn't have been able to answer his question.
Because she didn't know exactly what had happened.
When she came to her senses, Juliet was left alone here.
Or maybe not alone. Small clusters of light, the size of a fingertip, or rather, very small butterfly-shaped lights, fluttered around her, sparkling. Just like living creatures.
(Contractor.)
(Can you hear me?)
These thumbnail-sized clusters of light fluttering around her seemed to be the source of the voice.
The chattering voices were more numerous than before she lost consciousness.
It was no use repeating that they were noisy.
Her whole body was burning with fever, and it was difficult to even twitch her hands and feet as if her limbs were broken. Something was wrong, and not even a voice came out.
So she waited for someone to help her... and then this man suddenly appeared.
Lennox Carlisle. The man she had been so desperately trying to avoid.
In her previous life, the man had saved Juliet, and Juliet had loved him passionately. And Juliet's life had ended at the man's hands.
"Tsk."
The man clicked his tongue lightly, as if something displeased him, and touched Juliet's forehead.
When his large, cool hand touched her, Juliet almost rubbed her cheek against it.
'Ah.'
It was a strange thing.
Just the touch of his hand made the voices in her head disappear completely.
The surroundings became quiet in an instant.
That alone eased her headache considerably. Instead, she could feel the heat in her body even more clearly. Her hazy consciousness seemed to be due to the fever.
"Huh."
'Look at this.' Lennox's eyes flashed as he examined her.
"You've summoned something quite absurd."
Summoned what?
"But for someone who."
The man's gaze still reached the small clusters of light fluttering around her.
"Doesn't know how to close her Magical Power, and doesn't know how to control them."
Was it her imagination? The thumbnail-sized butterfly-shaped clusters of light seemed to flinch for a moment.
"And is leaking Magical Power like this."
As he said that, he smiled.
"You'll be dead soon."
...What?
'You bad man!'
Tears welled up in her eyes for a moment.
'I thought you might help me a little.'
"Don't you understand?"
As if it was something to see, Lennox Carlisle sat down next to Juliet and whispered kindly.
"If you don't close your Magical Power, you'll die, you."
Judging by the way he spoke, he clearly knew how to close her Magical Power but wasn't helping her.
No, maybe he seemed to be waiting for her to do something.
But Juliet was in so much pain that she just wanted to cry.
"Hng."
Was something wrong with her throat?
Even her sobs didn't come out properly.
Then, the man sitting next to her rested his chin on one hand and gently stroked her cheek with the other.
As if teasing her.
Ironically, the cool touch felt good.
Juliet sensed it.
'This man is going to let me die.'
Because Lennox Carlisle, as she knew him, was not a person who showed kindness without a reason.
His indifferent eyes alone were enough. His red eyes, filled with a hint of curiosity, were excessively pretty, but his expression was utterly languid. All he gave her was a gaze as if he was looking at a slightly strange animal.
'…He was originally this kind of guy.'
She knew it.
In her previous life, he had been ruthlessly cruel, like a cold-blooded man with no blood or tears, except for one person in the world.
Still, she couldn't bear it because she felt so wronged.
'If this is how it was going to end, why did I try so desperately to avoid him?'
Her breathing became rapid and her consciousness faded. Juliet closed her eyes and soon lost consciousness completely.
Soon, she felt someone's hand caressing her cheek. It felt like his lips had touched hers and then moved away.
"I'll only help you once."
Juliet thought she had heard a laughter-filled whisper.
Forgotten Juliet
