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The Monad County estate, as is common with old mansions, was located on the outskirts of the quiet old city of the capital.
Nestled amidst lush greenery, the Monad County manor looked more like a secluded suburban residence.
The exterior of the mansion, with its pristine white roof gleaming under the sunlight, was, to put it kindly, antique, and to be frank, dilapidated.
Visitors to the old, run-down mansion were extremely rare.
Seven years ago, after a tragic accident claimed the lives of the family, the already infrequent visits to the quiet household ceased altogether.
It wasn't that people were particularly heartless; it was simply that after the sole surviving young lady left for the north, there was truly no one left.
So, the servants of the estate were horrified to receive such a high-ranking guest after so many years.
"...Who did you say you were?"
The man uttered the name of a great noble family that no citizen of the empire could fail to recognize.
For some reason, he was dressed not in splendid attire but in disheveled, soaked clothing, but the red-eyed man didn't need to prove his identity.
The stunned servants finally realized that he was the young lady's lover they had only heard rumors about and hastily opened the gate.
"T-This way, please."
The servants of the estate, where the family had been absent for seven years, could hardly remember the proper etiquette for serving such a distinguished guest.
The servant who took the reins of the black steed the man had ridden was flustered and didn't know what to do.
Duke Carlisle, having handed over the reins, paused to look at the overgrown garden before entering the mansion.
The garden, where the family's only daughter had once played hide-and-seek, was now in a state of ruin.
The maze garden was skeletal, and the fountain was dried up.
"Is there no gardener?"
"W-Well, we're quite short-handed…"
The old butler offered the excuse reflexively, then realized his mistake.
Answering a guest of such high status in this manner was a grave breach of etiquette.
Especially since the other party was the infamous ruler of the north. It was a capital offense.
As the butler wondered whether he should prostrate himself, the young Duke passed him and walked towards the main building alone.
The aged butler hurried after him.
Strictly speaking, Duke Carlisle was a guest, so entering the mansion without permission was a breach of etiquette.
Even if he was a great noble and the young lady's lover, it was still wrong.
But right now, there was no family member at the Monad County estate to act as the host…
'…Even if there isn't, isn't it still against etiquette?'
The butler agonized, but it was a pointless worry from the start.
There was no one in the empire who could dare to lecture Lennox Carlisle on etiquette.
"Which way is Juliet's room?"
"Yes? Ah, it's on the west side of the third floor…"
Duke Carlisle headed to the third floor as if he were the owner of the house.
The butler, who had been trotting after him, suddenly came to his senses. It was a question he should have asked from the beginning.
"Um, Your Highness. May I say something?"
"Speak."
The Duke said without stopping.
"Thank you. Did Your Highness perhaps come to see Juliet?"
Halt.
At that question, Duke Carlisle suddenly stopped and turned to face him.
The butler felt goosebumps rise on his skin the moment he saw the famous red eyes of the Carlisle family, but it was already too late.
The old butler mustered his courage and opened his mouth.
"I am sorry to inform you, but Juliet is currently away."
He thought he might be scolded for not saying so sooner, but the Duke surprisingly showed no reaction.
As he held his breath and waited for the Duke's response, the butler realized that Duke Carlisle, contrary to his fearsome reputation, was a handsome man.
The Duke's womanizing was well-known.
Indeed, he had the looks to make young ladies swoon.
He wondered why the rumors about his appearance weren't as widespread as his infamy.
Only then did the butler realize that the Duke might not have come to see the young lady after all.
"Juliet…"
"Yes?"
"Has she always used this room?"
"Ah… Yes!"
They were already standing in front of the bedroom.
"She's used this room since she first started crawling."
The butler smiled contentedly, forgetting that he was in front of Duke Carlisle.
Most of the staff remaining at the Monad County estate had worked for the family for a long time.
Many of them had watched the young Juliet being born and taking her first steps.
“…I see.”
Lennox Carlisle's hand rested on the pillar by the door.
It was hard to notice at first glance, but there were marks on that pillar where Juliet's height had been measured every year on her birthday as she grew up.
From the moment she took her first steps, to when she cried over her lost baby teeth at the age of five, to when she attended her first debutante ball at sixteen, and to her eighteenth birthday in the winter when she became an adult.
Large, well-shaped hands slowly caressed the grooves in the pillar.
The butler, who had been blankly watching the scene, felt like he was witnessing something he shouldn't be seeing.
"Ahem, then please call me if you need anything."
Feeling somewhat awkward, the butler left those words and slipped away.
Left alone, Lennox Carlisle turned around the bedroom.
The adjoining room, connected by a small door, was a small drawing room and a dressing room.
Delicate mirrors and neatly arranged combs, clothes neatly stacked in order, and well-worn books.
And a four-poster bed with a canopy that seemed to have been used since her girlhood.
Juliet must have been the kind of child who couldn't easily part with her cherished childhood toys.
In a large box placed in one corner of the small drawing room were toys that she would have played with in her childhood.
Returning to the cozy bedroom filled with sunlight, Lennox picked up a large rag doll placed on the bedside table.
The rabbit doll, which once seemed to have been a soft pink, was now faded and worn in places, with obvious signs of repair. The ears drooped, and the deflated cotton looked pathetic.
Lennox could easily picture the child who would have hugged the doll, which was almost as big as herself, and fallen asleep.
It was a strange feeling. The mansion seemed like time had stopped.
Juliet's time, which he didn't know, remained intact in this space.
Quietly closing the door and coming out, Lennox Carlisle walked through the corridors of the mansion.
Of course, the person he was looking for was not in this old, antique mansion.
From the start, the people at the Monad County estate didn't seem to know that Juliet had left the capital.
They just seemed curious as to why Duke Carlisle, the lover of their young lady, had suddenly come to the estate.
A delicate dressing table, a bedroom filled with girlish tastes.
He vaguely remembered what the eighteen-year-old Juliet Monad was like. But the Juliet Monad he knew was a lover who never expressed her preferences.
Or was it he himself who hadn't asked?
A subtle scent similar to Juliet's body odor lingered throughout the mansion, but that was all.
His lover was not here.
Then what had he come here to find?
To find the reason why Juliet had abandoned him? Or evidence of infidelity?
Lennox Carlisle coldly mocked himself. He was about to turn away.
That's when it happened.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Grace."
A kind-looking old woman with snow-white hair appeared at the end of the hallway, supported by a young maid.
"My name is Yvette. I am Juliet's nanny."
The woman who introduced herself as the nanny politely bowed in the direction where Duke Carlisle was likely standing.
The old woman's silver-gray eyes had no focus.
Lennox briefly met her strangely misaligned gaze before asking bluntly.
"Are you blind?"
"Yes, I am."
Juliet's nanny replied with a gentle smile.
"I had poor eyesight due to an illness, and I've been almost completely blind for the past five years. Juliet was kind enough to allow me to stay at the estate."
Lennox raised an eyebrow slightly.
He could guess the situation without being told.
An old, blind nanny and an aged butler. Servants who were either too old or too young. A ruined garden and a dilapidated mansion that had been neglected for a long time.
The staff were all people that other noble families would not accept.
Less than twenty people living together harmoniously.
He knew they were a declining noble family, but he didn't know it was to this extent.
Of course. He hadn't been interested, and Juliet had never said anything.
Lennox nonchalantly put his hands in his pockets.
They were probably barely maintaining the estate with the income from the remaining lands of the Monad County.
It was merely maintenance.
The older the mansion, the more astronomical the amount of money required to maintain its size. The current Monad County estate was merely adding wooden planks to keep out the wind and rain.
Compared to Carlisle Castle in the north, the estate was more like a shack than a mansion.
"It seems like you're having quite a hard time."
"Thanks to Your Grace's generous care, we are living without any shortages."
Lennox, who had asked casually, couldn't believe his ears.
'...Me?'
Forgotten Juliet
