Juliet couldn’t understand.
It seemed like the butterflies wanted to tell her something, they struggled to approach Juliet without the snake noticing.
(Objective. No. Means.)
(Arrogant, human. Man. Carlyle.)
(Contractor only, power. Borrow.)
(So. Snake. Forcibly…)
‘Not the objective, but the means?’
Clearly, the butterflies were trying to convey a message to her while avoiding the snake’s surveillance.
The problem was, Juliet couldn’t understand the urgent words at all. Although she was earnest, the stuttering voices of the butterflies seemed to be increasingly weakening, almost about to fade.
Their already faint blue glow was gradually fading.
It was like when the black panther tried to directly inform her but was restrained by the golden chains.
The butterflies fluttered frustratingly, coming a little closer each time.
(Contractor. Carlyle. Sword. Master.)
(Black, beast.)
With the last of their strength, one of the butterflies fluttered and flew a little.
Avoiding the snake’s gaze, Juliet enveloped the butterfly that flew gently into her hand and was startled by the images flowing into her mind.
The butterfly that desperately flew in seemed to forcibly induce a vision in her.
-I can do anything.
‘Uh?’
Juliet hesitated.
Considering the energy it took to convey this, it was a rather unexpected memory.
-You can do extraordinary things, beyond even the imagination of a human like you.
It was the image of the black panther spirit, full of defiance.
But why…?
‘Ah.’
Juliet, who had been puzzled, suddenly realized something.
The message that her shimmering butterflies were so desperate to convey as they were dying.
The black panther had bragged to her several times.
But it never revealed what ability it possessed. No, Juliet had never been curious about what this talkative and ambiguous spirit could do.
But…
The black panther is also a spirit dependent on the artifact. It’s hiding some ability, and that can only be manifested at the request of the contractor, Lennox…
‘Not the objective, but the means..’
The pieces of words and circumstances floating in her mind fit together like threading scattered beads together.
Juliet understood why the snake had kept her alive for a long time even after encountering her several times.
She was just a pawn on the chessboard.
For the objective, she was nothing but bait to move Lennox Carlyle according to its will.
And that objective would surely be something only Lennox could do. So, to demand some ability from the contracted spirit…
“Ah, I see.”
“…?”
The hesitating snake turned its head towards her.
“What do you understand?”
Juliet calmly met the snake’s fierce violet gaze.
“It was your doing.”
“What?”
“The poison in my cup, it was your doing, wasn’t it?”
Instead of answering, the snake slowly twisted its mouth into a distorted smile.
Since spirits cannot lie. Neither denial nor affirmation, its silence was enough answer for Juliet.
In her previous life, Juliet accepted and drank from the poisoned cup and died. She thought it was Lennox Carlyle’s cruel farewell.
But even the act of poisoning the wine was the snake’s doing.
The edge of her heart felt cold.
“…I see. That was your doing too.”
Even in the last moments of her life, Juliet, knowing the wine was poisoned, chose death. If that was the cruel greeting from her lover, there was nothing more to expect from him.
But in the end, even the death she believed she accepted willingly was played by that snake. From beginning to end.
“Sigh.”
Contrary to the surge of emotions within, Juliet’s mind became cold.
Juliet smiled coldly.
“Are you that scared of me?”
“…What?”
For a moment the snake looked startled, then burst into laughter.
“Me? Scared of a human woman like you? Haha!”
“If not, there’s no reason for you to chase me around and monitor me for so long, right?”
“Talking nonsense now. A pathetic human like…”
The snake’s nervous laughter stopped abruptly. Its eyes sparkled as if it would devour her any moment.
Juliet’s eyes seemed to fold gently, as if filled with sorrow.
“But what can I do if I am sorry? I am not thinking of dying obediently this time.”
At the apparent taunt, the snake seethed with anger.
“Ha, what can you do? There is no fancy relic or a pathetic crossbow here.”
The snake, taunting her, maliciously grabbed her hair as he approached. It said:
“Just to let you know, this time that fancy guy Carlyle won’t come to save you. You are alone here.”
Even though the snake gloated, Juliet smiled faintly.
In fact, Juliet had been harboring a question for the past ten years.
Why did I come back to the past?
The answer had been right beside her all along.
“You, you need me.”
Juliet didn’t miss the flicker in the snake’s purple eyes, and whispered tenderly yet firmly.
“Because that’s how you can turn back time.”
“…”
“So, is that why you’ve been trying so hard to kill me?”
Of course, it was only a guess so far.
But seeing the snake’s face harden quickly, Juliet was convinced she was close to the right answer.
The snake didn’t merely hate her, it had to kill her.
“So, if I die, Lennox will turn back time according to your plan, right?”
Juliet grinned broadly on purpose.
* * *
The rescue operation was proceeding slowly.
The snow had stopped, but moving the massive boulders seemed impossible.
So, the engineers decided to follow the Duke’s advice.
They calculated the weak points of the rocks, then applied a strong force momentarily to shatter them and bring them down.
Bang!
“Damn!”
“Be careful!”
The problem was that the ground was hard in Elpasa, and the fallen rocks were not small.
Despite skilled stonemasons and engineers being on it, the pace of work was slow compared to the exhaustion of the workers and the tools getting damaged.
“Let’s try again.”
“This won’t work. It’s better to use the tools we had before-“
Amid the fretting engineers, a man strode through them.
Bang.
Thud.
With just a swing of a sword, a massive rock that the engineers had failed to break several times shattered into pieces.
Speechless, they just stared, while Duke Carlyle who held the sword spoke tersely,
“Next.”
“Huh?”
“Next.”
“Oh… Yes! Right here!”
The dazed engineers hurriedly cleared the debris and pointed to the next target spot. In this manner, they were gradually bringing down the mountain.
Despite shattering the huge rocks, the pitch-black sword remained unscratched.
“Is that the rumored magic sword?”
“I’ve heard he was the Sword Master, but…”
“To think something like this was possible with aura. I had no idea.”
The engineers and workers brought from outside admired the scene.
However, the faces of the knights close to Duke Carlyle darkened noticeably.
There were a few more Sword Masters among the distinguished Duke’s knights. But even they couldn’t mimic what the Duke was doing.
“…We should stop him.”
The knights of the Duke’s house exchanged quiet opinions.
“If he continues like this, his body won’t hold up.”
“Do you think he will listen if we try to stop him?”
It’s already been four days.
Without eating or resting, Lennox had been pushing his body to the limit.
The knights of the Duke’s house watched with worry as Lennox flexed his bandaged hand.
The artifact, the pitch-black sword, might withstand the shock, but a human body couldn’t handle the accumulated fatigue and impact.
But Lennox didn’t care about his condition at all.
If he didn’t push himself even for a moment, horrible nightmares hovered before his eyes.
Juliet, lying coldly in his arms as a corpse in the nightmare.
Before being suffocated by the nightmare, it was better to destroy himself.
He gritted his teeth.
‘Stay alive.’
He had to believe she was alive.