Chapter 32

The personal audience of the Duke Carlisle with the emperor took less than half an hour.

Elliot all this time, waiting at the emperor's audience hall, politely bowed to the Duke when he came out.

He wondered what the hell his master and emperor had been talking about for such a short period of time.

But before Elliot asked the Duke about this conversation, he suddenly noticed that he was holding a small figure in his hands.

It was a silver pigeon-shaped figure with half-swiled wings.

She looked quite charming, and fully fit in the Duke's large, beautiful palm, however, at the same time it did not correspond to his cold image at all and seemed inappropriate.

"Hmm, did His Serene Highness have anything like that before?"

Elliot looked thoughtfully at the figure, tilting his head.

"Maybe it's a gift from the emperor? But she seems quite familiar, as if I had seen her before."

However, before Elliot could ask, Duke Carlisle spoke to him first.

- Elliot.

- Yes, Your Serene Highness?

- Go to the North with my knights. And as soon as you get back, prepare for the ceremony.

- Huh?

Elliot belatedly caught the meaning of what he said. The phrase "go North with my knights" meant that Duke Carlisle would not go with them.

..... And what kind of ceremony is this? What is the reason for this ceremony?

First of all, Elliot decided to ask him about what he was most interested in.

- Um, your Serene Highness, and where will you go...?

- Hmm.

Lennox Carlisle, who left the palace, easily climbed his black horse, grabbed the reins, and only after that, calmly said:

- I'm going to bring a priest.

*****

"Oh..."

When she woke up, Juliet realized that she was lying on a soft bed.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she was a little surprised, feeling muscle pain. Her whole body was terribly broken.

"I wonder why I feel sick..."

But then she remembered what happened yesterday.

- That's right, it's because of yesterday's incident...

She saw a huge wolf and saved him, then met some strange passengers and saw them get a fight on the train.....

And now, when she was thinking about it, it seemed to her that it was more like some crazy dream than reality. Probably, such poor health was the result of overwork.

Juliet carefully got out of bed.

As always, the first to greet Juliet after waking up were quite capricious voices.

"Mostress! Greetings. You. Good. Morning! >

A small number of butterflies floated freely on the compartment, shimmering with a blue glow. When they spoke to her and even said a "morning greeting", as only people usually did, they looked quite excited.

Perhaps it just seemed to her, but Juliet instinctively felt that the demon butterfly was becoming increasingly skillful in imitating human behavior.

- .... Yes, Hello.

Juliet did not answer him too kindly, because if she were much more polite, he would have bothered her even more.

"Hello, Good. Morning. >

Then, when Juliet was drinking water, he became even more excited because he had just learned a new word and began to repeat it, trying to learn it.

Honestly, he looked more like a capricious five-year-old child who immediately began to pout if you didn't pay attention to him.

"I remember saying that his true form is a powerful demon living in another dimension."

Juliet snorted remembering his words.

If he was a powerful demon, what do other demons look like?

Okay, anyway, this morning the butterflies who tried to chat with Juliet using their clumsy conversation skills seemed to be in high spirits.

Under the bright rays of the morning sun, the blue wings shimmered in a brighter color than usual.

"Well, it can only be explained by one thing."

Cleaning the bed, Juliet was watching violent butterflies.

"Yesterday you had a real feast."

Their color was richer and brighter than before, probably because he was able to satisfy his hunger.

"And, of course, today you were able to get out of my control."

Juliet sighed quietly.

It seems that it was not just an accident, and over time more and more butterflies will fly out without her permission.

While Juliet was changing clothes, the butterflies were grinding near an open window and disturbing her mentally.

Naturally, she easily guessed why the demon was in high spirits.

One of the reasons was that yesterday he was able to satisfy his hunger, and the second, and most important, was that Juliet left the duke.

She still didn't know why the demon hated Lennox Carlisle.

No, in terms of purity, he was terribly afraid of the Duke.

No matter how much she asked him why he hated the Duke, he either avoided a direct answer to this question or just kept his mouth shut...

Nevertheless, she was very interested in this question.

Therefore, at one time, she was determined to find out the cause of his fear, which is why she continued to persistently ask him.

"Is this man scaring you with something?"

And one day, when Juliet asked him about it again, butterflies, who usually answered her only in silence, this time reluctantly gave her a strange answer, excitedly fluttering in the air next to her.

"Mostress. It's all right. Don't worry. >

...However, it was an uncertain answer that was beyond all understanding. There were even a few words that could not be understood.

This was the only time a demon tried to explain at least a little why he hated Duke Carlisle.

After that, the butterflies began to respond as usual.

"Man. I hate it. But not you. Just you. >

"My mistress. Good. Yes? >

Thus, the conversation ended with flattering words addressed to her.

In any case, after the day Lennox allowed his mana to pass through Juliet's body, the butterflies never got out of her control again and chatted whenever they wanted.

That's why their relationship was so convenient for her...

"Mostress. Are you tired? >

"Why are you silent? Tired? >

Juliet sighed and opened the door of her coupe, thinking about how she can cope with this talkative demon now.

But as soon as she looked out into the corridor, she stared in amazement at a man with silver hair who slept leaning against the door of her compartment.

- .... Roy?

- Oh!

A silver-haired man who almost collapsed into her room after she opened the door jumped up and hung over her in a fit of surprise.

It was a really frighteningly agile movement.

Roy, who looked as if he had been sleeping here all night, but trying to pretend to face Juliet by pure chance, stared at her face.

His smooth movements, similar to the flow of water, were as natural as the movements during the dance, so Juliet thought, shouldn't she applaud his skill?

- Juliet...

His warm golden eyes opened wide, as if he had been surprised.

Juliet laughed a little to hide her embarrassment. Hearing her name flying off his lips, she felt unspeakably embarrassed.

She was glad that he asked her to call herself Roy, because if she had to call him Romeo, she would have burned with shame.

- What are you doing here?

..... You didn't spend the whole night here, did you?

But as soon as she asked him a question, she immediately had suspicions.

- Well, I...

Before answering, Roy ran his hand over his hair, putting it in order. Meanwhile, Juliet relaxed a little and looked at him from top to bottom.

Fortunately, today he was fully dressed. Raising her eyes to his face, Juliet felt a pain in her neck. Since he was tall, she had to almost lift her head to do it. That's why Juliet tried to retreat half a step away from him.

- .....!

- Here.

But just before she retreated, Roy hurriedly grabbed Juliet's hand and didn't let her move away.

Juliet was taken aback for a moment and blinked in surprise, but then saw Roy putting something in her hand.

It was one of Juliet's hairpins that slipped when she fell yesterday. She found other studs yesterday, but she never managed to find the last one.

- Where did you find her? Have you been waiting here all this time to give it to me?

He nodded his head.

His face brightened like a puppy waiting for praise from his master.

"Something... he reminds me of my Roro."

She remembered the puppy she had when she was five years old.

It was a gray puppy who wagged his tail furiously when he saw Juliet.

And now looking at Roy's brilliant eyes, which did not correspond to his huge height, Juliet unconsciously compared him to her puppy, a joyfully wagging tail. She could barely restrain herself so as not to jump with laughter, thinking so.

<...>

Hmm...

A moment later, Juliet looked around, realizing something.

Well, of course! Looking in the compartment, she saw butterflies sitting near the window without moving.

"As expected."

Butterflies have always behaved quietly and quietly, next to the master of the sword or the high priest, so when Roy appeared, they also humbled.

Juliet thought for a moment, and then pointed to Roy's hand.

- Does it hurt you?

Roy lowered his eyes.

He had a torn wound on the back of his palm.

But the next moment Juliet was so surprised by his movement that she unconsciously grabbed his hand.

- ....?

- Don't do that!

This happened because he was again going to make some excessively natural movement with his wounded hand.

- You can get sick!

- Get sick?

- Don't you know about bacterial infection...

Seeing his innocent look, it seemed pointless to her to explain anything to him.

"Oh, what should I do with you?"

- .... Okay, come in.

- Yes.

Roy was puzzled by the invitation, but carefully followed Juliet in her compartment, as she ordered him.

- Sit there.

- Yes.

- Give me your hand.

- Okay.

Roy behaved quite like an obedient puppy, never objecting to her.

Juliet glanced at his face. He didn't even frown when she began to treat his wound with a disinfectant.

- It must be in pain.

When Juliet finished disinfecting the wound, she applied a bandage.

- Well, that's all.

Despite a rather careless first aid, Roy kept watching Juliet with a curious look while she was engaged in his wound, instead of protesting.

- Don't touch her.

Juliet said so because she was worried that Roy could loosen the bandage, which she did not tie too tightly. And as soon as she made a remark to him, Roy immediately switched his attention to her, and no longer touched the knot on the bandage.

- Yes.

Looking at his beautiful smiling face, Juliet felt a little embarrassed.