The arrangements made with Driene were progressing smoothly.
Count Roet was scheduled to depart for an inspection of the territory in two days, and supplies for Agante were planned to be dispatched within at least a week.
Enoch received these updates from his aide, Enkal.
As she delivered the news, the woman observed his expression. Enoch could tell that his assistant was concerned about her superior, who had been cooped up in the mansion like a dead man, but he pretended not to notice and issued new instructions.
“Prepare the carriage for Agante once Count Roet leaves the mansion.”
“Do you plan to go yourself?”
“Yes.”
Upon hearing his answer, Enkal frowned slightly. This reaction reminded Enoch that since settling in Herventel, he hadn’t ventured that far.
However, the woman did not question him. Military law does not allow for questioning.
“Yes.”
It was a concise response. Enoch added while facing the assistant, who was sitting in the shadows.
“Make sure it’s discreet and prepare it simply.”
“Yes.”
“And Juliet’s—”
He felt a strange lump in his throat as he spoke. Enoch paused for a moment.
“…Prepare Juliet’s carriage.”
It was only natural since she would need to go to Rosenta while he was away in Agante.
Juliet’s maids must have already been packing her things. Enoch knew that Driene had given them specific instructions.
The only thing he needed to prepare was the carriage she would ride in, and that had already been arranged beforehand.
It wasn’t because he had anticipated things turning out this way.
It was embarrassing to say out loud, but in the past, Enoch had known that she would eventually demand such things.
Things like the sea she had never seen, villages, and festivals.
Juliet had always dreamed of such things. It wasn’t a realization he came to because of the dying words that slipped from her lips.
She had shared all her hopes with him before everything went wrong.
So, someday, she would surely ask him.
Enoch thought that when that time came, he wanted to fulfill her wishes without hesitation. He had the blue waves of the sea and the endless golden plains.
If she desired, he would gladly let her gaze upon them.
So he prepared the carriage and maintained the roads, making it easier for the frail woman to travel.
However, Juliet had never spoken to him about such things.
Her heart was always yearning for one place: Rosenta, Rosenta. A land with beautiful gardens, vibrant festivals, and a wealthy and beautiful southern kingdom where her beloved brother was.
A land he could never take her to.
Kinas did not allow Juliet to cross the border. From the moment she married him, her name was inscribed in the lineage of the Nasant royal family, which meant she had to abide by Nasant’s laws.
According to the law, those whose names were in the imperial lineage could not leave the borders without a permit stamped with the emperor’s seal.
And Kinas had firmly stated that he would not grant Juliet a permit.
“The princess can’t travel to Rosenta alone, so you’d have to go with her, but I’m not crazy enough to let that happen. If you set foot on that land, the prince will try to kill you somehow.”
Kinas said this with a furrowed brow, and Enoch could read the sincerity in the man’s narrowed eyes.
So she had tried to say she wouldn’t go with him, but Kinas mocked him before he could finish. Oh, then you will surely die. Your fever will relapse.
“What I want to say is that the crown prince of Rosenta will do anything to kill you. And you’ll happily die. You’ll do it even knowing your death will cause a war.”
Would things have been a little better if he had made up an answer then, saying he wouldn’t? But even if he had, Kinas wouldn’t have believed him. He was good at digging into the truth of what people said, and Enoch wasn’t good at lying.
So Enoch stood there in silence, and Kinas let out a hollow laugh at the sight of him. Huh.
“You really are consistent.”
Enoch didn’t respond to that either. He had nothing to say.
Kinas looked at him for a moment before shaking his head.
“I’ll give you the seal when I’m convinced you’ll return alive from Rosenta.”
Until then, don’t even bring it up.
With that, Kinas waved his hand, signaling that he wouldn’t engage in further argument.
After that, Enoch wrote letters requesting the permit each season, but he had never received a positive response.
In this situation, there was only one way for Juliet to return to Rosenta: his death.
Marriages among the great nobility of Nasant were complicated yet simple; if a couple had no consummation, the marriage could be annulled after widowhood, allowing Juliet to become a princess of Rosenta once more.
Of course, there were minor legal issues regarding crossing the border, but Driene had agreed to take responsibility for that.
So all he had to do was do his part well.
Enoch gave the remaining instructions to his assistant. Then he said,
“Find a skilled jeweler.”
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Why isn’t that man coming back?
Juliet sat on the bed, turning her back to her maid so she could easily brush her hair. With one hand, she was playing with the necklace Driene had given her, which she had grown accustomed to wearing.
The man had not shown up for almost a week.
Where could he have gone without a word?
Juliet brushed her fingers over the blunt edges of the gem. To be honest, she was getting quite anxious.
The man had never been away from the manor for so long before. He was always close to her, as if something might happen if he wasn’t.
This was the first time he had disappeared for such a long time.
Could something have happened in the territory?
How desperate must she have been to think that? If something were to happen in the territory, the master would surely become busy, so it was a natural line of thought.
However, her daily life remained peaceful. It was so tranquil that she couldn’t even imagine something serious occurring somewhere.
Juliet still woke up late in the morning and idled away the day as she pleased.
It was truly a life that fit the description of “idling.” She spent the whole day lying down, listening to trivial jokes and popular novels. When she showed interest in popular novels, the maids brought her a bunch of romantic stories that were said to be in vogue these days and read them to her.
Of course, since the books were written in the imperial language, they didn’t feel as delicate as her native tongue, but they had their own charm. Juliet recalled a story she had heard earlier that day.
It was about a prince who falls in love with a princess while hiding his identity.
The prince, traveling the world incognito, visits a kingdom one day and meets a princess with a beautiful smile there.
The prince approaches her pretending to be a bard, hiding his identity, and the naïve princess, who didn’t know much about the world, falls head over heels for the handsome bard.
It was understandable. Juliet thought as she listened to the description of the prince in the story. The prince had bright, beautiful blue eyes—she had always been generous toward the color blue—and a boyish smile. It wasn’t easy to not fall for such a handsome man who was being kind.
Hadn’t she almost fallen for someone with a similar appearance once?
Fortunately, she hadn’t loved him as deeply as the princess in the story did.
The princess was so taken with the bard that she even considered marrying him.
But he was just a wandering poet—at least that’s what the princess believed—and being born a princess, she couldn’t marry someone of that status, so she was tormented by her feelings every day.
Yet, despite that, she loved him so much that she even thought of running away together, but all her hopes ended when he disappeared.
One day, the prince vanished. The princess waited for him every day in the tower where they secretly met, but he never appeared.
The princess was constantly worried about her lover. The novel vividly depicted her time filled with anxiety. The description was so vivid that the maid reading it frowned in sympathy. Juliet felt the same way. While it wasn’t as desperate, she had experienced something similar.
What was the prince doing while the princess was suffering like that? Just thinking about it still made Juliet angry. How could a person be so thoughtless and irresponsible? Even knowing he was just a character in a novel, it boiled her blood.
During that time, the prince was planning to return to his own country and take the princess as his bride. He was planning to reveal his identity and propose to her in a convincing manner.
The prince arrived with a grand procession to the princess’s kingdom. The novel even described in detail the extravagant gifts he brought. Expensive perfumes, large jewels, beautiful silks, and gold ornaments—things that would indeed befit a royal marriage.
He must have thought the princess would love them, but when he saw her polished-faced lover, she was understandably furious.
Juliet completely understood her feelings. It was infuriating enough that he had approached her under false pretenses, causing her so much distress, and now he was proposing?
That was truly an act only someone rude and self-centered would commit. The moment she heard that part, Juliet felt all the affection she had built up for the prince vanish as she imagined his face.
During the time the prince was gone, the princess waited for him with a heart that felt like it was drying up. Those hours spent wondering if something had happened to her lover or if she had done something wrong were vividly etched in her memory.
The prince, however, hadn’t considered her feelings at all.
He simply acted as he pleased, thinking that the princess would naturally accept his gifts.
Naturally, she did not.
