Chapter 11
It was last summer. Around the time they were spending their summer vacation at the summer palace in the northern territory.
A strange woman came to see him. Bringing with her a boy who she claimed was his son.
"My son?"
The strange woman insisted.
"Yes!"
Normally, she would have been stopped by the guards before even reaching him.
However, since it was a temporary palace they were visiting for their summer vacation, security was somewhat lax.
When he asked Juliet what she wanted to do during the vacation, she said she wanted to take a boat on the lake.
Since they had been spending all their time in the bedroom for the past three days, he agreed without much thought.
Juliet, who rarely smiled so brightly, was excited and left to prepare to go out.
Unfortunately, a clueless rookie guard mistakenly identified the strange woman as Juliet and let her in.
He greeted the uninvited guest, lounging on the bed like a languid black panther.
"He is the Duke's son. Look at him."
The woman, whose name and face he didn't remember, a maid of some actress, said so.
The woman proudly presented the boy, dressed up like a doll, as if he were a decoration.
The boy, wearing a blouse, shorts, and a hat with a flashy brooch, looked about ten years old.
For some reason, the boy was trembling and couldn't meet his eyes.
Lennox commented indifferently.
"He's a bit big for seven."
"W-Well... it's because he's the Duke's son! Eric will become a great knight like the Duke!"
The woman, momentarily flustered, regained her composure and pushed the boy forward.
Then, as if to show off, she took off the boy's hat.
"You can tell by his hair and red eyes, right? Eric is the Duke's son."
Lennox stared at the terrified boy.
It was a fact known to everyone in the empire.
The children of the Carlisle family were all born with black hair and red eyes.
A chilling ruby red, like a drop of blood on a white dove.
That was why, despite the bloody battle for succession that had been waged for so long, the legitimacy of their bloodline had never been compromised.
And the boy brought by the woman, whose face was even vague, did indeed have red eyes and black hair.
"My son."
"Yes?"
Lennox placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, smiled, and said to Elliot,
"More importantly, Elliot, why don't you come and take a look too? This child is said to be my son."
"Your Highness."
"What do you think? Does he look like me to you?"
Lennox Carlisle bent down to meet the eyes of the frozen boy.
"Your name is Eric?"
His voice was much kinder and gentler than expected.
His handsome appearance was also effective on young children. And the moment the child, relieved of his tension, nodded and smiled at him.
Lennox's hand snatched the large brooch on the boy's blouse in one swift motion.
"Th-!"
Before the woman could scream in surprise.
Crack.
The brooch shattered in his grasp.
At the same time, the boy's original eye and hair color were revealed.
"You've put some thought into it."
Lennox muttered, looking down at the shattered brooch.
It was a cheap magical tool that changed eye and hair color.
But he didn't care.
However, before he could take a few steps, Lennox Carlisle found a woman standing blankly at the entrance of the hall.
She was standing with one hand on the marble pillar at the entrance.
As if she would collapse if she didn't.
'...Juliet?'
He hesitated, about to ask her how long she had been there.
Juliet was not looking at him.
Her gaze was fixed on the woman being dragged away and the crying child.
"Y-You're making a mistake, Duke!
This child is the Duke's son!"
The woman shouted until the end as she was dragged away.
Lennox realized that he was clenching his fist without realizing it.
He was only looking at Juliet, but Juliet was not looking at him.
Juliet couldn't take her eyes off the mother and son being dragged away, as if she were possessed.
After they were all dragged away by the guards and even the screams echoing in the hall subsided.
Only Juliet and he remained in the large hall.
Only then did Juliet raise her head.
Their eyes met for a moment, but he said nothing.
Juliet, too, simply looked at him with an unreadable, pale face.
There was no sign of accusation or surprise on Juliet's pale face.
She simply stared at him with her calm and serene blue eyes.
As always.
To Lennox Carlisle, it was just a trivial incident not even worth laughing at.
In the first place, children were not easily conceived in the Carlisle family. As tradition had it, perhaps it was because the blood of something other than human was mixed in among their distant ancestors.
That was also why, compared to their bloodline, which was obsessed with all sorts of desires, there were not many collateral branches extending in all directions.
Thanks to this, the concept of illegitimate children was unfamiliar to the ducal family.
Moreover, he had never maintained a long-term relationship with any woman. The only exception was Juliet Monad.
But the swindlers had no way of knowing that. There were countless swindlers who came to extort money, believing only the story that a child with red eyes was born into the Carlisle ducal family.
But had he explained the whole story to her at that time, or had Juliet, who remained in that place, come after him and demanded an explanation?
'Even though she was childishly excited about something as simple as boating.'
The woman did not ask why and quietly got into the carriage when he told her he was going back.
Even with the woman beside him, silently looking out the window all the way back, he didn't say a word.
Damn it.
Their relationship had been like that from the beginning.
He explained nothing, and Juliet asked him no questions. And for too long, he had taken that relationship for granted.
A relationship that would end anyway.
A woman he could send away at any time with a perfunctory farewell.
He thought that short, light kisses were enough to exchange, rather than troublesome words.
But should it not have been that way?
Even if she hadn't asked, should he have grabbed her and demanded to know what she was thinking?
Lennox realized a possibility too late.
Perhaps Juliet had not seen the moment when the woman's lies were exposed.
Perhaps all Juliet saw was the scene of him ordering the crying child and woman to be dragged out.
Perhaps she only saw the back of the man who said it wasn't his child and turned away coldly.
After the man passed her by and left without any explanation, Juliet remained there alone for a long time.
What was that taciturn woman thinking, left alone?
He gritted his teeth on the horse, which was racing madly down the road.
"Just because."
"Please let me leave."
"Haven't I done quite well so far, me?"
A faint smile and a demeanor that seemed impatient, like someone hiding something, he didn't even have any idea what to do, but that much was clear.
He had to meet Juliet.
He had to meet her and ask.
He had to ask what she was so afraid of that she ran away.
He had to explain that whatever the worst thing she imagined, it wasn't the truth.
The black horse of good blood covered the long distance to the Duke's residence in one go with amazing speed.
As soon as he arrived at the mansion, Lennox dropped the reins of the panting horse and jumped off.
As he had instructed, the front yard of the mansion was in a chaotic atmosphere with carriages and servants carrying luggage, preparing to leave for the north.
"L-Lord?"
The mansion's butler recognized him and ran up in surprise.
"Where's Juliet?"
"Yes?"
"I asked where Juliet is."
"Ah... If you're talking about the young lady, she was in the detached building a little while ago..."
Lennox didn't wait and headed straight for the detached building.
"Lord!"
The knights who were chasing after him, a step late, had just arrived in the courtyard of the mansion when he had already opened the door of the annex and was running up the stairs to the second floor.
Bang.
"Juliet?"
But when he opened the lit door on the second floor, her room was empty.
An empty room.
Only a butterfly scattering bluish light fluttered around.
Forgotten Juliet
