Chapter 156

The sky was still dark in the early dawn.

At Amber Palace near the lake in the restricted imperial palace, a mock operation was taking place.

The attendees of the secretive meeting were none other than the Second Prince, Cloff, his aides, and the recently famous maidservant of the Empress.

The Second Prince Cloff was quite excited.

“Excellent. Everything is going just as you said!”

The smoke bomb that Elizabeth had provided had shown surprising results.

All Cloff had to do was to distribute the smoke bombs around the Empire.

Magical beasts ran wild everywhere, and the nobles were too busy defending their territories.

As the disturbance of the magical beasts spread across the continent, Cloff did as Elizabeth had said. He approached the Emperor, his father, and promised to resolve the issue himself.

Of course, since he was the mastermind behind the incident, his actions were nothing short of a complete crime.

“But what about the condition I mentioned?”

The Empress’s healer, Elizabeth, asked with a calm face.

She had set a condition for the Second Prince in exchange for overthrowing Duke Carlyle.

To set a trap and overthrow Juliet Monad, and then throw her in the midst of the rampaging magical beasts.

“Well, of course.”

Though it was a complicated and odd request, the Second Prince willingly joined the conspiracy.

“Preparations are going smoothly. That woman will be torn apart alive.”

For some reason, the Second Prince spoke to Elizabeth with flattery.

“Good. I’ll visit you again at this time tomorrow.”

With a light smile, Elizabeth Tillman donned her robe and left first.

The remaining Second Prince and his aide exchanged uneasy glances.

“I always find her unsettling.”

“But she’s competent, isn’t she?”

“Why does she despise Lady Monad so much?”

This was also something Cloff was curious about.

Elizabeth Tillman quickly gained popularity among the citizens.

While she appeared angelic in public, no one would’ve thought she’d personally push Countess Monad into such peril.

“Anyway, we just have to do our part.”

As the Second Prince was saying this, he was startled by a shadow at the door.

“Who is it!”

As the aide opened the door abruptly, a woman outside flinched.

“I, I’m sorry, Your Highness. It’s getting late and you hadn’t returned...”

She was the Second Prince’s wife, Princess Fatima.

“Ugh. Why wander around and bother me.”

Recognizing it was Fatima, the Second Prince passed by her without another word.

Fatima’s lips quivered, feeling the blatant disregard.

She had often wondered whom the Second Prince met in the early dawn but hadn’t expected such a scene.

Lately, rumors about the beautiful and healing skilled Elizabeth Tillman and the Second Prince had been circulating.

Fatima tried to ignore them, but she had seen and heard clearly.T/his chapter is updated by nov(ê(l)biin.co/m

Just moments ago, Elizabeth Tillman had come out...

‘It was about Countess Monad, wasn’t it?’

Her thoughts were tangled.

* * *

As Juliet passed through the main gate of the imperial palace, she could see a crowd gathered like clouds in front of the palace.

The knight accompanying Juliet, Sir Jude, whispered with a grave face.

“It’s astonishing, isn’t it? The citizens are calling her a saint.”

In the midst of the crowd, Elizabeth, dressed in white, stood out prominently.

“Yes, it’s remarkable.”

Juliet thought, even if Dahlia has healing powers, gaining such fame overnight seemed impossible.

‘Something’s staged.’

There’s no way rumors spread this fast.

Moreover, tents had suddenly been set up in the square to care for the injured, seemingly at the behest of this angelic ‘Elizabeth Tillman.’

It was clear someone was intentionally promoting her from behind.

‘Who could it be?’

Even the Empress couldn’t have expanded her influence to such an extent.

Excluding the Empress, who among Dahlia’s close associates could’ve joined hands with her?

‘Who did she recruit?’

Juliet pondered a few suspect names.

Like how she had used Marquis Guinness, anyone could have been exploited by Dahlia.

Upon descending from the carriage, Juliet greeted Fatima.

Certainly, when the snake lunged at Juliet, sparks had flown.

Though she didn’t know the principle behind it, wasn’t it a holy relic that might also affect that mysterious snake?

“I’m glad it was of help.”

Hildegard didn’t seem surprised seeing the blackened ring.

Juliet suspected she must have known something about this situation.

“Why did you send it to me?”

Juliet asked out of curiosity.

“There wasn’t a particular reason. I just thought that a holy relic could repel an evil spirit, and it would be a way to repay a favor.”

It was an ambiguous answer.

“An evil spirit, huh...”

In any case, it was true that the Pontiff had saved Juliet’s life once.

She had been able to escape from the snake during that momentary distraction.

‘So, should I prepare relics in case that snake comes after me again?’

While pondering quietly, Juliet asked.

“Your Holiness, there must be a lot of records about evil spirits in the temple, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“Do you have any records of an evil spirit in the form of a yellow snake?”

“A yellow snake?”

Hildegard looked at Juliet with tiny eyes, her gaze curious and playful.

“Why are you suddenly interested in snakes?”

Juliet hesitated, then replied ambiguously,

“I think the snake might have been the cause of the change in the fisherman’s ring.”

“Is that so?”

Pope Hildegard chuckled.

“Listening to you, Miss...”

“Countess Monad.”

Juliet corrected her bluntly, and Hildegard grinned.

The paladins escorting the Pope, the Holy Knights, looked at Juliet as if she was peculiar. They seemed to think that Juliet, treating Hildegard, the respected Pope and leader of the temple, as if she was just the old lady next door, was impudent.

“Yes, I heard that Countess Monad generously donated a large sum.”

Juliet responded with a vague smile. She still didn’t know who had donated such a sum in her name.

Lennox had told her not to worry about it, but from what she could tell, it didn’t seem like his doing.

“So, would you like to receive that as a reward?”

“A reward?”

She had momentarily forgotten that the initial purpose of being invited by the Pope was for that reward.

“Originally, I thought of not returning the Soulstone of Genovia as a reward.”

“That’s a separate matter. I owe you my life.”

As Juliet cheekily responded, Pope Hildegard burst into laughter.

“Very well. I will grant what the Countess desires.”

But as Hildegard tried to get up, she suddenly grabbed Juliet’s wrist.

“Miss, no, Countess Monad.”

Juliet turned in surprise. The grip was surprisingly strong for such a frail-looking old woman.

“Sebastian asked about the Countess’s well-being.”

Sebastian?

“That fraud?”

Juliet frowned.

She heard he had gone mad and was imprisoned in Lucerne’s underground dungeon.

“He’s also a pitiful child.”

“Pitiful? What do you mean?”

Sebastian was completely mad. Didn’t he kidnap Juliet just because she resembled his deceased sister, Genovia?

Having had a terrible experience, Juliet had no sympathy left for him. She couldn’t understand why Hildegard would say such a thing.

“But a few days ago, Sebastian said something strange.”

“What did he say?”

“He said to prepare for a funeral before autumn and to arrange for the flowers Genovia liked.”

For a moment, Juliet was at a loss for words.

Sebastian always called Juliet his Genovia because she looked so much like his deceased sister. But preparing for a funeral?

‘It sounds like he’s saying I’m going to die soon.’

She tried to laugh it off, but she felt a chill.

“...Was that all?”

“Yes. Please take care of yourself.”

Juliet forced a thin smile.