“Tsk.”
As Lennox’s face twisted, Juliet parted her lips.
“…What are you doing?”
Lennox frowned as if this was absurd.
Juliet stopped kissing and bit down hard on his lower lip.
However, Juliet smiled mischievously and snapped.
“If you’re going to do it, you should do it right so people won’t be suspicious, right?”
There seemed to be a hidden meaning in her words.
Simultaneously with her words, Juliet reached out, loosened Lennox’s bow tie, unbuttoned a few buttons on his shirt. Then, she wildly messed up his neatly combed hair, and finally, gave a peck near his collarbone.
Smack.
Lennox flinched, but didn’t push Juliet away.
Thanks to that, there seemed to be traces of red lipstick left on his clothes.
To anyone looking, it appeared to be a wild scene.
Having scanned Lennox from top to bottom, Juliet seemed satisfied with her work and nodded contentedly.
“At this rate, everyone will say, ‘Ah, that foolish Duke really rolled around with the maid, huh.'”
With an oddly dissatisfied expression, Lennox raised his eyebrows.
“…That makes sense.”
But he was of a quick understanding disposition.
Lennox picked up his coat again and headed towards the banquet hall.
“Let’s go too.”
Juliet gave a slight nudge to Elliot, who had been standing turned away until then.
Frustrated, Elliot turned around, alternately looking at the Duke who was leaving first and the composed Juliet.
“…Miss Juliet.”
“What?”
“Can’t you give me a heads up if you’re going to do something like this next time?”
His face read that he had no idea what was going on.
Elliot pleaded, but Juliet just laughed.
“But to deceive the enemy, you have to deceive your allies first, right?”
* * *
As Duke Carlyle returned to the outdoor banquet hall, people with masks hurried towards him.
“Duke, are you feeling alright…?”
But the expressions of the people trying to check on the Duke changed.
“Oh my…”
As Juliet intended, people in the banquet hall were stirred by his disheveled appearance.
“No, Duke, what happened to you?”
Not only the Emperor but also others couldn’t take their eyes off his attire.
“By the way, where did Countess Monad go?”
“I haven’t seen her since she went into the maze garden earlier…”
“Did she get shocked and leave early?”
“Oh dear, poor thing.”
“I really wanted to see Countess Monad’s expression.”
Mocking and blatantly sarcastic remarks poured out.
‘Huh, really.’
In fact, Juliet, hiding amongst the crowd behind a plain mask, was holding back her laughter. However, thanks to Lennox drawing people’s attention with his flashy appearance, Juliet disguised as a maid was able to sneak quietly amongst the people.
“Ahem, anyway, good timing. I have someone to introduce to the Duke.”
Bringing Duke Carlyle closer, the Emperor pointed to a dazzling blond young man standing beside him.
“This is Count Jermang. The Empress said he is a very talented young man.”
“…”
The black-haired Duke and blonde Count Jermang appeared to be similarly aged young aristocratic men.
However, to the extent that the introducing Emperor seemed awkward, they just stared at each other, showing no intention of even making a handshake gesture, let alone acting friendly.
The silence was broken first by Lennox Carlyle.
“It’s good. I also have someone to introduce to Your Majesty.”
“Um? Who is it?”
The Emperor asked in confusion and felt a bit uneasy.
Something doesn’t feel right…
Shriek!
“Duke!”
“What, what are you doing!”
With a chilling sound, in a split second, Duke Carlyle drew his sword and the blade was at Count Jermang’s throat.
“Gasp!”
Frightened, the Emperor gasped for breath.
“What is this nonsense, Duke Carlyle!
Soon blood will spurt from Count Jermang’s neck like a fountain…!
“…Huh?”
However, the beheaded Count Jermang doesn’t spurt blood, but only wears a slightly annoyed expression, his neck was unscathed.
“What happened…”
“I mentioned that there’s someone I would like to introduce.”
Lennox nonchalantly points his sword without even blinking.
“He’s an old nemesis of my family. Ah, come to think of it, it’s not even a person.”
As soon as his words ended, Duke Carlyle’s sword aimed at Jermang’s neck once more.
“Tsk!”
But the snake pretending to be Count Jermang dodged the trajectory of the sword by leaping backwards.
Clack.
People in the banquet hall heard the sound of the blonde Count Jermang cheerfully snapping his fingers.
And the next moment, starved monsters were summoned to the outdoor banquet hall.
Krrrrr!
* * *
“Ugh, aghhh!”
People who were bewildered when Duke Carlyle suddenly swung his sword at Count Jermang, panicked as a starved monster appeared before them.
Chaos ensued.
“Get the Emperor inside!”
The imperial family, guards, and other guests screamed and ran out of the banquet hall.
Count Jermang summoned a total of four monsters.
They resembled saber-toothed tigers native to the cold north, having sharp and long fangs.
Of course, the biggest feature was that they were at least three times larger and more ferocious than typical tigers.
“Juliet!”
“-!”
…There’s no point in disguising yourself if you call my name!
Juliet was about to protest, but Lennox grabbed her lightly through the fleeing crowd. He didn’t even give her time to scream before leaping into the outdoor maze garden.
This caused Juliet’s words to be stuck in her throat.
“Ha! Is running away all you can do!”
The snake, still pretending to be Count Jermang, burst into a mad laughter.
But at the end of the laugh, his handsome face twisted with fierce anger.
Initially, things seemed to go according to their plan. Duke Carlyle vanished due to being drugged, Juliet Monad walked into the trap willingly, but when Lennox Carlyle appeared in a haggard state, the snake realized the plan went wrong.
Due to Juliet Monad’s clever trick, the scheme he devised fell apart.
The four rampaging beasts were, in fact, a mechanism prepared to kill Juliet in front of Duke Carlyle while she was alive.
But Juliet, who noticed the trap, disguised herself as a maid and escaped lightly, and the plan to drop her into the beast cage was completely thwarted.
Krrrrr!
“Block them!”
“They are heading that way!”
Amidst the rampaging starved beasts, the knights of the Duke’s household who were hiding here and there in the banquet hall were struggling.
It was literally a hellish scene, but that had nothing to do with the snake’s objective.
If Duke Carlyle took Juliet Monad and ran away far from here, he would have to wait for another opportunity.
“Tsk.”
The snake, venting his anger, kicked a stone on the banquet floor.
“It seems that Carlyle learned something from his past life.”
Although Lennox Carlyle lost all memories of his past life, perhaps he instinctively remembered that he should never let go of what’s precious.
It was then.
Bang!
“…?”
Suddenly a white smoke bomb exploded behind him.
He turned around.
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
Cutting through the smoke, a group of knights riding white horses revealed themselves.
‘Are they the Duke’s reinforcements?’
Not just the snake, but even the knights who were holding off the beasts momentarily paused.
Whooosh!
“The rampage ends here, you demon!”
However, what appeared waving a white flag were people holding staffs adorned with many jewels.
‘Holy relics?’
Thus, the snake realized that he was not only dealing with Lennox Carlyle.