Juliet raised her head calmly, pretending to wipe her hands with a napkin.
Thanks to her familiarity with hiding her expression, Juliet’s disturbance didn’t reveal itself at all.
Mrs. Riley, who was inside the store, peeked at her through the glass window, and when she caught Juliet’s eye, she waved her hand brightly with a smile.
Juliet also waved back with a broad smile, then swallowed a groan inwardly.
‘Why didn’t I notice sooner?’
Everything had been going too smoothly, and she had forgotten. Her life had never been smooth.
A thriller scenario unfolded in Juliet’s head.
Even this quiet, pastoral town could be the setting for a crime scenario.
In such small towns, people tend to band together. In Lobell, where tourists weren’t common, gossip spread quickly enough that the whole town would know if you visited alone within an hour.
‘They catch a foolish traveler and sell them as a slave without anyone knowing’
Juliet imagined the worst-case scenario. However, there was one point she didn’t understand.
She was, after all, an opponent that could be subdued from the outside.
To kidnap her unknowingly instead of taking such a complicated approach, there must have been a reason for it.
‘What could it be?’
She didn’t know what their goal was, but the people of this town wanted to keep her in the village.
What did they want? Human trafficking? Human sacrifice? Or perhaps…
‘Could it be the Duke’s doing?’
Juliet fiddled with the round edge of the teacup with her fingertips.
But why would they do such a thing? She hadn’t done anything to warrant resentment, had she?
Oh my God.
Recalling her actions over the past few days, Juliet bit her tongue. Surprisingly, the points of contention…
Were quite many.
She thought she hadn’t done anything noticeable, but it seems she had built quite a complicated relationship in just a week since she left the capital.
The group trying to sell that wolf on the train?
Or maybe, the werewolves who mistakenly thought she was an ally of the guild behind this, and not the one who saved Roy.
But it was too meticulous.
If it was a deed by the guild who kidnapped Roy, it would have made more sense to kidnap her in Roadel, right when she got off the train in a fluster.
Juliet thought coolly.
No matter how she thought about it, it seemed the most plausible.
Those who would place the highest value on her.
‘The enemies of the Duke.’
Lennox Carlyle had many enemies, and very little was known about Duke Carlyle himself compared to his fame.
Not only because of the Carlyle family’s characteristic of not enjoying socializing with other families, but focusing solely on the Northern Territory.
For the enemies advancing to the North, it wasn’t a good thing. After all, you have to know your opponent well to find their weaknesses.
Juliet could name more than ten families that would pay a fortune to get information about the Duke.
Having reached a tentative, semi-conclusion, Juliet was listing the names of the nobles who could afford to buy an entire village and do this kind of thing.
If they had this level of action, they must be a big shot.
She wished she could tell them that even if they kidnapped her, Lennox wouldn’t bat an eye. But no one would believe that.
In fact, she had been almost kidnapped several times. All turned out to be failures though.
But for such a woman to have left the Duke’s side, how easy of a prey would she be?
Yet, she didn’t expect they would come this far.
By now, Juliet guessed that rumors of Juliet Monad being abandoned must have started to spread in the capital.
She didn’t know who was behind it, but they must be powerful and fast with information. Juliet made that judgement.
As Juliet slowly savored her salad, she contemplated how to get out of here.
The fresh salad was crispy.
She didn’t have an appetite, but strength was most important if she wanted to escape.
‘Hmm?’
Crunch.
While chomping on her salad in a battle-like manner, Juliet noticed one more suspicious scene.
The scenery behind her was reflected perfectly in the dishes polished like a mirror.
And Juliet clearly saw some men who were trying to hide their bodies in the alley as soon as she turned around.
Believing that it would be dangerous to delay any longer, Juliet quietly tidied up her spot and stood up.
* * *
Ding.
About an hour later.
“Oh, Mrs. Seneca!”
After stopping by her accommodation and packing all her minimal luggage into her travel bag, Juliet went to Zachary’s office.
“Hello, Mr. Zachary.”
“Good afternoon. The weather is lovely, isn’t it?”
Zachary looked slightly puzzled when Juliet entered leaving the door open, but politely refrained from pointing it out.
Even if he had pointed it out, Juliet wouldn’t have closed the door. It’s important to secure a retreat route.
Zachary cheerfully greeted and sat at the visitor’s table.
“What brings you here today?”
Instead of exchanging courteous conversation about the weather, Juliet, sitting opposite him, placed the house key she had brought on the table.
“I’ve come to return the key.”
At the same time, Zachary’s face turned pale as a sheet.
“Why… why are you doing this? Was there something uncomfortable about your stay…?”
“No, the house is great.”
“But, then why?”
Before answering, Juliet stared at Zachary, who had turned pale.
“You can refund half of the deposit. But I would like to get it in cash immediately.”
“What!”
Zachary, who had raised his voice without realizing it, cleared his throat and spoke politely again.
“If you could tell me what was uncomfortable, I can solve it…”
“Solve it for me? Do you know what my problem is?”
“Ah, no, I mean, that is… I meant to say that I’ll do my best to help resolve it…”
Juliet’s eyes narrowed.
Before coming here, she was half sure and half doubtful.
But now she knew.
Zachary was also a part of this suspicious town. And the goal of the townspeople was clearly to keep her from leaving.
She didn’t know why they wanted to keep her, but he was certainly in league with the others in town.
“I’m broke.”
“Excuse me?”
Juliet deliberately spoke roughly.
“If money is your goal, then you’re wasting your time.”
It was true.
Juliet didn’t have much money on hand.
She had her mother’s heirlooms and the keys to the Monad county, but they weren’t particularly valuable items.
They were old-fashioned valuables that might be interesting to manic collectors, but not so expensive that the whole town would move in unison.
Juliet judged it that way.
If these people were prepared to stage a play of this scale, they must be expecting something enormous.
Whether it was money, or something else.
However, Juliet wanted to tell them they were mistaken.
Even if they knew about Duke Carlyle and were thinking of using her to threaten him and take a cut, that was even more of a mistake.
Lenox Carlyle wasn’t a generous person who would pay for a woman who deceived him and ran away.
But Zachary’s expression, which had certainly been flustered, became awkward. After a long silence, Zachary cautiously asked.
“Um… Miss Seneca, do you perhaps want to work? Are you in such a desperate need of a job? If that’s the case…”
“…”
“Right, right! How about being a private tutor? We’ve been looking for a good one because of our Lisbell…”
‘Look at this?’
Juliet hadn’t said a word about a job, but Zachary seemed to already know she was going to refuse.
“My daughter’s name is Lisbell. She’s a good kid, so it won’t be too hard to teach her. It’s much safer than working in the library or the upper area…”
Juliet, who had been silently watching Zachary flustered and babbling, interrupted him with a calm voice.
“Mr. Zachary.”
“Yes?”
“Stop it and tell them to come out.”
“…Who are you talking about?”
Juliet smiled and nodded her head.
“The people inside.”
“What, what are you talking about…”
Juliet had been carefully observing the wall of the shop from earlier.
Specifically, a camouflage bookshelf packed with books that were clearly hollow inside.
Squeak.
Sure enough, shortly afterwards, the thick door disguised as a bookshelf opened with a creaking sound.
As she had anticipated, Juliet wasn’t surprised by the development.
Thump.
But seeing the face of the person who came out of there, Juliet couldn’t help but be a little taken aback.
“…?”
“Oh, Sir…”
It was the kind old man who had passed by briefly on the day she arrived in Lobell.