"What do you mean you're not here with our permission? Do you think this is a suitable place for such games?"
"No."
Juliet smiled serenely and replied:
"It's quite simple. If you don't lend me this object, I'll expose what truly happened in the Temple of Lucerne."
"What does she mean, Holy Father?" The high priest, not particularly quick-witted, asked in bewilderment.
The moment Gilliam heard Juliet's words, his expression immediately hardened—because he understood *exactly* what she meant.
And then he realized something else: Juliet had deliberately lowered her veil and revealed her face.
Her intentions were unmistakably clear.
"…Are you *threatening* the temple?"
"Yes. You understood perfectly."
Gilliam doubted his own ears for a heartbeat after receiving Juliet's unflinchingly direct answer.
*Should I admire this woman's audacity, or be stunned by her recklessness?*
He didn't know Juliet well enough to determine which assessment was more appropriate.
She was certainly correct in her reasoning.
What had transpired in Lucerne had been carefully suppressed—hardly publicized at all.
Under these circumstances, the temple would be utterly powerless if the injured party—the one whom Sebastian had harmed most grievously—suddenly came forward to speak.
During that incident, the existence of Xenovia's soul stone, an item of incalculable value, had also been revealed. Since information about it had been meticulously concealed, the temple had become the sole claimant to its possession.
Father Gilliam, regarding Juliet with a fierce expression, pointed out her miscalculation.
"You're overconfident if you believe this will be so easy. Your threat can only succeed if you leave here safe and sound."
"Holy Father, you sound exactly like a villain now."
Juliet smirked, appearing entirely unbothered—as though she hadn't a care in the world.
Gilliam grew wary, sensing something inconsistent in her strangely relaxed demeanor.
"As soon as we scream, guards will flood this chamber."
He decided to alter his strategy.
Even though Juliet had threatened to reveal the truth, he couldn't permit her to leave with the stone. And he especially didn't want the story of how she had nearly *died* in their temple—because of a fraudulent bishop—to become public knowledge.
"Well, I don't think so."
Then she uttered a series of incomprehensible sounds and glanced casually toward the window.
Father Gilliam and the high priest both followed her gaze.
But only a large clock was visible through the glass.
*What is she looking at?*
"Ah, now everything is ready," Juliet announced with a bright smile. "So let's go outside and stage a grand public unmasking, shall we?"
Clutching the box firmly in her hands, Juliet spun on her heel and darted into the shadowy depths of the alcove.
"Miss…!"
"Help! Everyone, quickly! The stone has been stolen!"
With a strangled cry, the stunned high priest threw open the door beside him—which had been shut until that very moment.
However, instead of guards, he was met by thick clouds of smoke that billowed violently into the chamber.
"Guards…?"
*Thud.*
When Gilliam saw the high priest collapse to the floor like a felled tree, he finally understood what was happening.
*It wasn't incense at all—it was…*
Juliet hadn't tried to persuade them in the slightest. She had simply been stalling for time until the smoke laced with soporific herbs spread sufficiently throughout the room.
---
Juliet, carefully exiting the smoke-filled building, felt not a shred of guilt.
If Xenovia's soul gem was an inheritance she'd left to her brother, then there was no reason Juliet couldn't borrow it temporarily as reparations.
She had suffered kidnapping at the hands of a fraudulent, deranged bishop—which had resulted in her losing the ability to summon butterflies. The butterfly demon might even have died because of it.
*I nearly died because of that lunatic. So this will serve as my compensation,* Juliet thought as she fled down the temple's winding corridors.
Her parents had been devout and had made donations to the temple—though admittedly not overly generous ones.
Thanks to this, she had visited the temple several times as a child and therefore knew its layout reasonably well.
Aside from the main gate, there were almost no guard posts—which meant escaping wouldn't be terribly difficult.
Moreover, it would take considerable time before the two priests were discovered in the annex, where they had been secretly hiding the soul stone.
"Phew. It would be so much easier if the butterflies were still with me…"
Juliet had decided to use the medicinal herb with powerful soporific properties that Roy had brought her from the forest. Her plan had been to discreetly replace the incense in the censers near the outbuilding before the evening service commenced.
A small concentration of the smoke merely induced mild drowsiness. But as it accumulated and grew denser, a single inhalation would be enough to render someone unconscious instantly.
*Who would have imagined the Silver Forest was filled with such extraordinary and mysterious herbs?* Juliet marveled as she slipped through the temple grounds. But then unease prickled at the back of her mind. *Hmm. That's strange. I expected to encounter guards at least once while leaving.*
The thought was only partially correct.
In truth, she hadn't encountered anyone thanks to Roy, who had been anxiously waiting outside. Worried that guards might spot her and raise an alarm, he had quietly knocked them unconscious.
One way or another, Juliet only discovered this after she'd successfully escaped and reunited with him.
There were almost no people outside the temple—it being the hour of evening service—so Juliet chose a longer route to avoid arousing suspicion should she encounter anyone.
She reasoned that walking calmly through the open door in the outer wall would appear far less suspicious than being caught scrambling over it in panicked haste.
All she had to do now was reach that small doorway, and then she could meet Roy.
They had agreed he would wait for her beneath the high outer wall.
Soon, Juliet reached the small door without incident. Clutching the box tightly, she stepped through the opening.
However, only at the last moment did she notice that the threshold was slightly higher than usual. Before she could lift her foot adequately, she stumbled.
"Oh!"
"Ah—be careful."
Fortunately, a passing priestess caught Juliet's arm, preventing her from falling.
Having regained her balance, Juliet hastily adjusted her veil, which had slipped askew, and thanked the girl who had steadied her.
"Thank you. If it weren't for you, this could have turned into quite an embarrassment."
At that moment, Juliet's gaze swept across the priestess's face.
"You're welcome."
"……!"
Juliet went pale and involuntarily took a step backward.
Bright, vivid blue eyes sparkled in the darkness—eyes that could only belong to…
"Oh, Lord! High Priest! Everyone, quickly! *Help!*"
At that precise moment, a loud cry erupted from the heart of the temple, indicating that the two unconscious priests in the annex had been discovered.
Both women turned sharply toward the source of the scream.
"The high priest has been murdered!"
Immediately, genuine pandemonium erupted throughout the temple.
"What about Father Gilliam? Is he alive?!"
"Oh God—Father Gilliam! Don't die!"
Forgetting the evening mass entirely, people began streaming out of the building in droves.
*Oh. Oh no. Time to run.*
Juliet snapped back to awareness, jolted by the screams echoing from the temple.
"Ah… w-wait a moment!"
But the priestess who had helped her vanished, swallowed by the crowd surging toward the temple—before Juliet could catch her.
Juliet bit her lip in frustration, but she couldn't follow.
Regardless, she was certain of one thing: that girl was, without question, Dahlia.
---
Thanks to the chaos erupting across the temple grounds, Juliet managed to escape safely without falling into the guards' hands.
"Juliet!"
Roy, as agreed, was waiting beneath the high outer wall. He called to her the moment she emerged.
"I was starting to worry. What took you so long?" Roy asked reproachfully, exhaling with mild exasperation.
Since she hadn't appeared for quite some time, he'd begun to fear she'd been caught. Juliet, still somewhat shaken from her encounter with Dahlia, collected herself and replied:
"Sorry. I ran into someone right at the end."
"What about the soul stone? Did you get it?"
Juliet smiled triumphantly and gently shook the small box she held. The Soul Stone rattled softly inside.
"Yes. It's here."
"Do you think it will help lift the curse?"
"…I honestly don't know."
She carefully withdrew the shimmering sphere from the box and turned it over in her palm.
"I hope it works."
Juliet knew precious little about divine power, so she couldn't be entirely certain it alone would solve the problem.
But she still remembered Hildegard's words—that Xenovia's divine power had been extraordinarily great.
Even though they didn't know the exact nature of Lennox's curse, the stone would surely prove useful. The doctor had said that if they possessed something with overwhelming power, the curse could potentially be destroyed.
So she was confident it would serve *some* purpose.
Juliet glanced back at the temple she had just fled.
*As far as I recall, in my past life, Dahlia could wield both magic and divine power.*
No one had ever accomplished such a thing before—it was tantamount to defying the fundamental laws of the world.
Juliet had also been born with magic. But no matter how diligently she trained, she could never compare to the girl blessed by God.
"Juliet?"
"Oh—I'm sorry," Juliet apologized with a sweet smile, momentarily lost in memories of bygone days. "Now we need to take this to the Duke."
Roy grinned mischievously and extended his hand toward her.
"Then let's go."
---