Chapter 16
Summer, seven years ago.
"It's Duke Carlisle."
Juliet's world turned upside down. And she never forgot that summer.
* * *
"Juliet! Are you listening?"
At the sharp voice, Juliet stopped writing something diligently and looked up.
A girl in an unfinished dress stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at her. With a lot of basting pins stuck in it.
"Ah, sorry. What did you say, Fatima?"
Fatima's brow furrowed.
"I asked you which one is the prettiest!"
"Ah-ha."
Juliet hastily organized the stationery with her hands while looking over Fatima's shoulder.
"Um, I think..."
The Camille Atelier employees, who were standing behind Fatima with tired expressions, quickly shook a dress and sent a silent signal.
Flap, flap.
"...Pink?"
"Right?"
It seemed to be the correct answer.
Fatima instructed the atelier employee who had come on a business trip with a triumphant expression.
"I'll go with pink. Will it be ready by tomorrow morning?"
"Of course, Miss Glenfield."
"The ball starts at seven, so it has to arrive by noon!"
The atelier people, who were able to leave the Glenfield family's living room in three hours, looked genuinely happy.
They were employees of Camille Atelier, which was famous in the capital these days, and they had visited the Glenfield family at Fatima's request today. The eighteen-year-old Countess Fatima Glenfield was Juliet's same-age friend.
Fatima, finally happy after deciding on a dress, had a maid bring tea.
By the time the maid brought the tray, Juliet had finished all the work she had brought and was sitting quietly in the living room.
"What about you? Aren't you choosing a dress?"
Fatima asked, picking up a cookie as if testing her.
"Yeah. I'm okay."
"Then what are you going to wear tomorrow?"
"I decided to fix my mom's dress and wear it."
"Fix it... and wear it?"
Fatima asked back with a sullen look.
For her, fixing a dress to wear was an option she had never considered.
"Yeah. That's what I'm going to do."
Juliet answered nonchalantly.
It was the social season of late summer.
Any young lady who had just turned eighteen and received an invitation to the summer ball for the first time wanted to look the most beautiful at the first Bluebell.
Fatima said generously.
"You can choose a dress with me if you want. If I tell my dad, he'll buy one for you too."
Then the atelier employees, who were hurrying to prepare to leave, flinched.
Juliet smiled nonchalantly.
"No. My mom's dress is pretty too. I'll show it to you tomorrow."
But the owner of the atelier, who was packing her things next to her, asked carefully.
"Um, if it's Countess Lillian Monad's dress, is it light cornflower blue?"
"That's right. How did you know?"
"The Countess has excellent taste. It will definitely suit you well, Miss."
Fatima, who was sitting quietly and eavesdropping on the conversation between the two, pouted.
'Boring.'
From some day, Juliet had become a very boring friend.
'She wasn't like this before.'
Juliet was the first friend Fatima made after moving to the capital.
Fatima's father wanted to build friendships with prestigious families, and the Monad County was a family of meritorious subjects of the empire. At that time, the Mona de County had an only daughter of the same age as Fatima, and that was Juliet.
As her father instructed, Fatima often invited Juliet to her house to play.
She hated seeing her annoying older brother, who usually didn't even show his face, hanging around whenever Juliet came, but Juliet's visit was worth it.
To be exact, it was fun to watch Juliet secretly touch the dress decorations with envious eyes while Fatima was choosing a new dress.
But...
'When did it start?'
Juliet changed about three years ago.
Around the age of fifteen, Juliet was seriously injured. Juliet almost died in that accident.
After that, Juliet became strange.
At first, she thought it was because she had been lying in bed for a long time and had lost her energy, but that wasn't it. Sometimes she seemed like a completely different person.
She no longer envied Fatima.
When she was invited under the pretext of helping her choose a dress, Juliet was busy looking at books or writing something.
'After all, she's just from a poor County.'
Fatima pouted.
The Glenfield County was a newly emerging noble family that had made money and bought a County title.
Fatima liked to brag, but as she grew up, she realized that people in society subtly looked down on the Glenfield family as nouveau riche. On the other hand, the poor but prestigious Monad County received invitations to parties steadily without having to try.
Fatima was secretly displeased with that.
"Princess Priscilla's precious guest is coming to the ball tomorrow."
"Really? Princess Priscilla?"
Juliet replied insincerely while packing her things.
Princess Priscilla was the Emperor's niece and was treated like a princess in society.
Fatima pouted at Juliet, who didn't seem interested in her.
"Well, you don't care who comes, do you?"
"Huh?"
"You already have a handsome fiancé."
At that moment, Juliet paused and turned to Fatima with a very surprised expression.
"Do you think so?"
"What?"
"Is my fiancé handsome?"
Juliet's fiancé, Vincente, was the second son of a Marquess family and received a lot of attention for his tall and handsome appearance at that age.
"...You're annoying these days. You know that?"
Fatima frowned and snapped at Juliet.
Anyway, she doesn't know how to be grateful.
Juliet looked at Fatima quietly and said soothingly. Clearly and firmly.
"Fatima, you will marry someone much higher than Vincente later."
"How do you know that?"
"I just know."
"Hmph."
Juliet said that without smiling, but Fatima quickly felt better with just that.
"Shall I lend you our carriage?"
* * *
While returning home in the Glenfield family's carriage, Juliet stared at her face reflected in the window.
Perhaps because of the baby fat on her white cheeks, her overall impression was youthful.
In fact, Juliet knew a lot about the future that would happen. Much more than she had told Fatima.
Fatima would become an imperial princess in the future, but Juliet would die at the young age of twenty-five. At the hands of the man she desperately loved.
'No, it would be fortunate if I just died.'
This was not the first life for her.
Juliet had returned to her childhood with the memory of dying miserably a long time ago.
Juliet Monad's first life was terrible.
Juliet's life fell into despair when her parents passed away. To be exact, it was from the time her uncle, Baron Gaspal, became her guardian.
"This is all a decision for you, Juliet."
In her first life, Juliet married five times.
The first thing Baron Gaspal, who became a guardian for his orphaned niece at a young age, did was to marry his underage niece to a powerful family.
Juliet, who didn't know anything, wore a veil as her uncle told her to.
Her first husband was an old man in his eighties who could die at any moment.
Fortunately, Juliet's first husband died quickly.
Juliet became a wealthy widow, but Baron Gaspal did not leave her alone.
After confirming that Juliet's beauty and background were worth money, he began to trade in marriage in earnest.
After that, Juliet married four more times.
Those who lent money and power and bought young brides from prestigious families could not have been decent people.
While Baron Gaspal flattered the powerful by selling his niece, Juliet became exhausted from repeated abuse.
Her natural beauty was poison, and her body and mind were ruined, making normal thinking impossible.
Eventually, just as she was about to end her life because she couldn't bear it, an arrogant nobleman appeared in front of her.
He probably didn't have any intention of saving Juliet.
But Baron Gaspal and her fifth husband were all killed for touching the Duke of Artificial Engineering of the North.
'Falling in love with the man who took me out of that hell might have been natural.' But the current Juliet was not living in hell. She had never met him. Unlike her past memories.
"We have arrived, Miss."
"Thank you."
Juliet opened the carriage door herself and jumped out.
She lived in a cozy and antique mansion on the outskirts of the capital.
In her first life, Juliet Monad lost both parents before she turned fifteen. That was the beginning of her misfortune.
"I'm home."
Juliet greeted as she entered the front door.
"Welcome, Juliet. Did you have fun?"
A woman with her red hair elegantly tied up was sitting in the living room and smiled brightly when she saw Juliet.
It was Juliet's mother, Countess Lillian Monad.
"Yes, I had fun."
Juliet also answered with a smile.
Last winter, Juliet celebrated her eighteenth birthday and became an adult.
Everyone was alive and well.
But her parents, both of them, she succeeded in changing the predetermined future.
Forgotten Juliet
