JULIETTE was swiftly deported when the reparations and official written apology were delivered from Gwyllt. The real Count Peck went to the port to see her off, remaining in Emeroade to dispose of some miscellaneous duties.
It was perfect weather for ocean travel. The sky was clear, and there was a gentle breeze, just as it had been when Juliette had been arrested. Sailors were everywhere busy at work, and besides the Emeroadian soldiers who were there to escort the princess, nobody was there to pay her any mind.
“Good work, Viscount Garlan,” Juliette said, her words dripping with sarcasm.
The real Count Peck—the man whom Juliette had called Viscount Garlan—put a finger to his lips and smiled. “Your Royal Highness, you’ll be paying quite a high price for what you’ve done this time.”
“You must’ve moved up in the world to be able to take such a tone with me,” Juliette said, twisting her mouth into an irritated frown. She wasn’t bound, but as a criminal being extradited to Gwyllt, she wore a plain dress, and the ship she was to board was hardly fit for a princess.
The man who had called himself Count Peck was determined to have been just a criminal who had impersonated a diplomat, so rather than being returned to Gwyllt, he had been sent to Emeroade’s dungeon. He would stay there, at least until they could get the necessary information out of him and sentence him, but the Emeroadian justice system wasn’t so easygoing as to let someone who had kidnapped two princes live a long life.
When the real Count Peck silently smiled at Juliette’s biting remarks, she furrowed her eyebrows, somewhat embarrassed. Then, she sniffed. “But you’re right. First, I’ll have to report to His Majesty the problems I faced, and I’ll have to devise some plans to improve.”
“If only Your Royal Highness did have a chance to explain everything,” Count Peck finally said.
“Why, you!” Juliette lost her cool and sharply scolded him. “You’ll wish you had time to regret speaking like that to me, you lowly viscount!”
Count Peck was completely unbothered. On the contrary, he smirked and leered at her. “I believe Your Royal Highness is the one who should watch her tone. After all, I’ve formally received the genuine title of Count Peck and been appointed as a diplomat from Gwyllt by His Majesty.”
Juliette was shocked. “Then, in the dungeon, what about—”
“He’s a mere criminal who assumed the count’s name.”
Understanding the implication of his words, Juliette went pale. She had brought this criminal with her, which meant she, too, was a criminal. And the fact that this man had received the title of Count Peck before he had left Gwyllt meant that the king had abandoned the former Count Peck. Juliette was the king’s daughter, but she had done great harm to Gwyllt, and it didn’t seem like the cruel king would forgive her.
“Ee—”
Realizing all of this, Juliette tried to shout to the soldiers who had escorted her, but before she could, Gwylltian soldiers politely yet forcefully put her on the ship. Her composure had shattered, and she was shaking from fear.
If she had been her normal self, she would have noticed that the ship had an unusually small crew and that her jewelry and other valuable luggage weren’t on the ship with her. She was a criminal, but even so, the ship itself was quite plain.
“Goodbye, Your Royal Highness. Have a nice trip,” Count Peck said, smiling. He watched the ship as it left port.
✦ ✦ ✦
DAYS later, news reached Emeroade that, sometime after the ship had entered Gwyllt’s territorial waters, a storm had hit it, and Juliette, with several of her attendants, had disappeared. Despite the fact that she had departed on a clear, calm day.