Chapter 171

Prince Cloff, the Second Prince, was shivering in the prison.

He knew that his father, the Emperor, couldn’t expel him. Therefore, what Cloff feared most now was not being driven out of the prince’s position or imprisoned.

“As you commanded, I have prepared the horse.”

Cloff glanced fearfully at the blonde woman sitting comfortably in the middle of the room.

Elizabeth was no longer a mere maid of the Empress.

‘Snake.’

Although now she appeared as a blonde beauty, Cloff had glimpsed the monster’s true form for a moment.

The monster’s real body was a huge snake.

And the snake changed its appearance frequently.

Sometimes it became a blonde maid, a child, or took on the appearance of an old man. It was doubtful whether there was a true form at all.

Swish.

Even now, as they talked.

The previously seated maid disappeared, and a smooth young blonde man in a white suit appeared.

Only the purple eyes remained the same.

This snake not only made Prince Cloff its slave but had completely dominated his subordinates as well.

“All you have to do is lure Juliet Monad appropriately,” said the aide of the Second Prince boldly to the blonde man.

The subordinates who followed Cloff were now completely loyal to this snake.

“But what if that wolf doesn’t follow, Elizabeth?”

In their original plan, luring Juliet was supposed to be the role of the young Lycanthrope, Roy. But that wolf shattered the potion bottle, not reaching out to Elizabeth.

“Just in case, it’s good to prepare an alternative plan…”

“You’ll get caught. If he really intended to refuse, he would have tried to kill me right there.”

The snake, now having transformed into a perfect blonde young man, stated confidently.

“Tsk, beasts are always like that. They are not honest,” the snake grinned.

Perceptively realizing desires was the snake’s ability.

“So, prepare some more medicine.”

The snake, in the form of a blonde young man, handed over a bottle containing a potion.

Recently, the snake evil spirit, using Elizabeth’s reputation, had been distributing suspicious potions among the nobles. A potion that restores youth, a potion that guarantees falling in love, albeit mildly. All sorts of dubious potions were released into the market, earning a hefty amount of gold.

Evil spirits take negative emotions such as desire, fear, jealousy, and greed as energy.

But unlike other evil spirits that merely siphon off human emotions for sustenance, this yellow snake acted engulfed in blind hatred.

For hundreds of years, the snake had devoured the humans it so despised, stolen their bodies, and survived.

Learning how to mingle among them actively while posing as a human.

“With just a simple bait, that young wolf would do anything to get the girl.”

The snake saw through that the young and impulsive wolf would surely fall into the trap.

‘There’s no other way.’

No matter how wise and resilient one is, they can easily crumble when blinded by naive curiosity and jealousy.

“Even she wasn’t an exception.”

Recalling the human woman who used to look at him as if he was a ghost, the snake grinned.

Before the timeline twisted, in the distant past, swallowing the body of the ‘Child of Prophecy’, who almost became a saint, was quite a good choice.

Originally, before regression, it was just to complement the imperfect magical power by stealing the Soulstone, and incidentally consuming the remains of the saint…

“That human girl, it was quite fun to shake her up.”

The snake chuckled joyfully.

Even when it was caught by the young Carlyle and dragged to the north, the snake was furious, out of its mind.

Especially now, Duke Carlyle, that young human man was the one who had thwarted its operations hundreds of years ago.

‘Hateful lineage.’

Just because of that, that human man earned the wrath of the magnificent snake.

And not only that, after suppressing the magnificent evil spirit, he audaciously demanded a method to lift the ancient curse placed on his family.

Being locked up for a long time and not being fully powered, the snake regretted grinding its teeth.

Should have eaten healthier prey instead of the useless remains of the saint.

At least if it had devoured the flesh of a healthy human man…

But the moment the snake met a certain human woman in the castle of the north, it thought it did very well stealing the appearance of a young woman.

‘Innocent and foolish Juliet Monad.’

She was a prey with low self-esteem, suitable for exploitation.

Having a baby, and being mentally cornered at that time, Juliet was weak enough to easily fall into the snake’s brainwashing.

She was abandoned by her lover.

It wasn’t too much to misunderstand and get hurt.

It’s common to lose sanity to hatred when infinite affection is betrayed, even the magnificent being

-Look closely behind you, Eleanor. This is the price you have to pay.

-P-please… Don’t do this to me!

A long-forgotten memory resurfaced, and the great snake tightened its grip on the armrest.

-Since you didn’t keep your promise, your first child must be taken as payment. It’s only fair, Eleanor.

For a snake that had been consumed by hatred for centuries, to the point of forgetting who it was, it was a tremendous sacrifice, even for a great being.

‘…It doesn’t matter.’

The snake’s vibrant purple eyes glowed fiercely.

“But it’s wise to be cautious.”

At that moment, the prince’s advisor interrupted his contemplation.

The snake snapped out of its short reverie.

“Duke Carlyle is not to be underestimated. He has repeatedly escaped from danger.”

“Valid point.”

The handsome man with slick blond hair furrowed his brow.

However, the snake’s concern wasn’t about Duke Carlyle.

The snake was thinking of Juliet Monard, the fragile woman who had escaped its clutches multiple times in this long existence.

In the distant past, the snake had successfully manipulated and ruined her.

Back then, Juliet had possessed rare qualities of a spirit summoner, but that was all. She was just a frightened and feeble human.

However, in this lifetime, she not only avoided danger several times but also inflicted damage on Marquis Guinness and the foolish Second Prince.

It was too much to attribute to mere luck.

‘Did I miss something?’

Even now, with Juliet’s butterflies seemingly out of the snake’s grasp, it wondered how she managed to escape. Especially considering the powerful ancient curse used by Marquis Guinness, which nullified the detection method.

“Well, it won’t hurt to prepare for any contingency.”

Even if the snake planned to devour her, it needed to examine what kind of fate she was hiding.

* * *

“Peep!”

In the early morning, Lennox discovered the legendary magical beast that had made a mess of his room.

The young dragon ran happily towards Lennox as soon as he saw him. Looking down at the magical beast hanging on the perch, Lennox searched for Juliet.

“…Where is Juliet?”

“Miss Juliet is in the annex.”

The Duke’s secretary promptly answered.

“Why is this here?”

“Miss Emma, a friend of hers, is scheduled to visit.”

The story was that the dragon was temporarily left in the main building in case Emma got surprised by seeing such a being.

“You little guy! Behave.”

Secretary Elliot scolded the young dragon with a click of his tongue. The king of the great magical beasts was majestically tearing at the curtain.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lennox brushed his hair nervously.

For the past two days, Juliet had locked herself in the annex, not even showing her face to him.

Anyone could flutter in and out of the annex where she stayed, but only one person, Duke Carlyle, was prohibited from entering.

Should he be grateful that she didn’t abandon him and didn’t run away right away?

“Where are the flowers?”

“I sent them, but…”

Elliot trailed off, gauging his mood. It was clear even without hearing it.

Over the past two days, Lennox had panicked as Juliet locked the door and wouldn’t come out, blaming the innocent servants.

The best talents of the North had put their heads together and suggested various things, but no matter what was sent to the annex, Juliet showed no response.

She was obviously angry.

“…This is driving me crazy.”

Lennox groaned.

It didn’t seem like Juliet’s anger would ease easily.

Over time, the servants of the Duke’s house, who had been busy gauging their master’s mood, began to send sympathetic glances towards him.

“You should have behaved better ordinarily…”

“What?”

“Did I just say that out loud?”

* * *

At that time, Juliet was sitting in the living room, surrounded by bunches of flowers.

Duke Carlyle had sent all sorts of luxurious gifts to capture her attention over the past two days, and what arrived this morning was an enormous bunch of spring flowers.

“It feels like spring has already come, Miss.”

The maids in the annex were happy, hugging the flowers.

“But are you really sure you want to share these with us? If the Duke finds out…”

“It’s okay. Take as much as you want.”

Juliet made a faint smile.

That’s right.

Juliet was very angry, so she didn’t care whether Lennox bought a flower garden or the whole tulip field.

Although she was locked in the annex, Juliet boldly invited guests.

The guild’s magician Eshelrid was also one of the guests.

Juliet didn’t spill everything but since she needed Eshelrid’s help, she briefly told what she had found out.

“Huh, so according to you… that maid was a snake?”

Eshel asked, opening his mouth wide.

“She’s probably not female either.”

Spirits don’t have a gender, and that snake wasn’t human.

“That snake can devour humans and change its appearance.”

“So it can disguise itself as anyone. Creepy.”

Eshelrid crossed his arms with a serious expression and got lost in thought.

Juliet looked around at the bunches of flowers piled up in the living room.

(You’re not even my contractor in the first place!)

The black panther had disappeared into thin air in anger and hadn’t shown up since then.

‘You said you were bored to death and bothered me when you came to find me.’

But since she had gathered all the necessary information, Juliet didn’t feel too bad about it.

“Then we need to find out the real name of that snake?”

“Yes.”

The name of the artifact and the real name of the evil spirit. She had said that these two were needed.

“Hmm, I’ve heard a similar story. When the priests were fighting demons, the name was their weakness.”

Eshelrid tilted his head.

“I’ll investigate as you requested… But if there’s a clue, wouldn’t it be in the North?”

“In the North?”

It seemed like a plausible suggestion.

Juliet recalled that hundreds of years old stone tablet records were stacked in the Duke’s castle in the North.

But soon she shook her head.

“If that was the case, Lennox would have taken care of it a long time ago.”

Lennox had spared no effort to break the curse. If he knew a way to seal the snake, he wouldn’t have been idle until now.

“I see. I’ll look into it. Any other clues?”

Clues.

After thinking for a moment, Juliet recalled a name.

“Eleanor.”

“Eleanor?”

Juliet recalled the scene she saw in the square a few days ago. Even if it was for a moment, that snake definitely showed a big reaction to that name.

Eshel’s eyes sparkled.

“Could that possibly be the answer?”

“No.”

Juliet had also asked just in case, but the black panther confirmed that it wasn’t the name.

‘And you said evil spirits can’t lie.’

So that wouldn’t be the snake’s name. Besides, Eleanor was too common a name.

‘Where did I hear it?’

But why did the snake react to that name?