Chapter 8
**
The ball had begun, and the dance music had changed for the fourth time.
Several times, people who recognized Juliet Monad approached her and offered her champagne, but Juliet shook her head and refused.
"I'm not feeling well."
Lennox Carlisle watched the scene unfold from a nearby balcony.
Perhaps because of what happened at the temple during the day, Juliet was constantly surrounded by curious advances.
But it seemed that her claim of not feeling well was not just a polite excuse, as the men who went to ask her to dance kept returning empty-handed.
Juliet, indifferent to the gazes around her, showed interest in people only once.
A group of young ladies of Juliet's age were gathered on one side of the ballroom, bursting into laughter.
"Congratulations on your wedding!"
"You'll be a beautiful bride."
Judging by their reactions, they seemed to be brides-to-be.
Juliet stared silently at the blushing bride-to-be with an unreadable gaze.
Lennox Carlisle wondered what Juliet was thinking.
'Come to think of it.'
Lennox mused anew.
While he watched, almost no one spoke to Juliet casually.
If they did, it was either an advance or a sneer.
'Is that why she's standing there alone?'
Lennox somehow didn't like the way she stood there alone like a lost child.
He recalled how the Duke's secretary, Ellie Ott, and Kane, who was in charge of Juliet's protection, had desperately tried to defend Juliet Monad before the ball.
Jude even made a ridiculous excuse, openly asking if he could be lenient with Juliet, even though he didn't know what she had done wrong.
"The young lady's close maid got married and left recently. Maybe she made a mistake because she was feeling sentimental?"
Lennox thought it was quite amusing that his ill-tempered subordinates, who resembled their employer, were horrified and tried to protect her.
So Lennox let them be mistaken.
In fact, he didn't seriously consider the possibility that Juliet had been playing around with another man.
This was not because he trusted Juliet or because of his own pride, but because it was not something Juliet Monad would do.
So Lennox thought about other possibilities.
The possibility that it was not Juliet Monad who had become strange, but Lennox Carlisle.
If it were him in the past, he would not have bothered to investigate his lover's whereabouts.
He should have ended this relationship at this point to prevent more troublesome things from happening.
Yet, he hesitated.
'Have I grown attached to her?'
Attachment.
In fact, their relationship should have ended a long time ago.
He was easily bored and preferred light, short relationships.
It was his habit to cut things off coldly before emotions became sticky.
When he got tired of it, the relationship was over.
But at some point, Lennox noticed a faint sense of incongruity.
In the Duke's castle in the North, someone's presence in his bedroom had become natural.
In the dim light of dawn.
When he became accustomed to leaving a woman who had been exhausted all night and was fast asleep in bed, he instinctively felt that it was no longer safe.
He became more clearly aware of this about three years ago, around the time of the summer festival in the North.
As was the tradition of the festival, the woman presented Lennox with a neat handkerchief embroidered with his initials and the family crest.
At that moment, he frowned and made an impromptu decision.
'This is the end.'
At the same time, a part of him seemed a little relieved.
'I knew it.'
It had taken a little longer, but Juliet Monad was no different from the women of his past.
If she offered such a heartfelt gift and was rejected, she would be hurt and eventually cling to him, hoping for more than that.
He had dragged it on for too long, so it was time to end it.
But before he could utter the words of farewell, the woman, who was usually quiet, spoke first.
"You don't like things like this, do you?"
It was as if she knew everything about him.
While he couldn't think of anything to say, she smiled brightly like the summer flowers she was holding in her arms.
"You can throw it away. You can give it to someone else."
She said that the noble ladies she met at the festival had been urging her to make one, so she had no choice but to bring it.
It wasn't an excuse to add because she was embarrassed that she might be rejected.
She simply left those words calmly and turned away without waiting for an answer.
The woman really seemed to think that the gift she had brought would naturally be thrown away.
Her nonchalant attitude was so strange that he couldn't bring himself to throw away the handkerchief.
Every time he saw it, he was reminded of her bright smile, so he put it deep in a drawer and locked it away, but it was unthinkable to give such a thing to someone else.
Strangely, she sometimes acted as if she knew him better than he knew himself.
Although she was only in her early twenties, Juliet's words and actions had a detached quality, as if she had lived a long life.
She didn't seem to realize it, but sometimes she acted as if she had known him for a very long time.
What was even more incomprehensible was that it didn't feel so unpleasant.
Lennox Carlisle could not understand the nature of that ambiguous feeling.
It was too good to cut off, but too ambiguous to acknowledge.
So he couldn't easily let her go.
He would end it today. Tomorrow, next season, he had been determined to do so for years.
Still, he did not know the name of that feeling.
"I'm not feeling well, so dancing is out of the question. I'm sorry."
It was only so many times that she could politely refuse.
Fortunately, however, the problem was solved before Juliet could take another step into crime.
"Y-Your Highness, the Duke!"
The man, who had been casting unpleasant glances at her while pretending to be drunk, looked as if he had seen a ghost.
Needless to say, he turned tail and ran with military precision.
Juliet, seeing the man chase away the fools just by appearing, realized.
It was quite unfair, but what wasn't unfair here?
He was the Duke of the North, a war hero, and at the same time a young, wealthy, and unmarried man.
'And I'm Juliet Monad.'
Juliet quickly smiled brightly at the dark-haired man, as if she had never worn a sad expression.
"Ah, Your Highness. You're here."
But the man did not smile back at her.
She didn't expect it, but still.
The man's gaze was cold, despite Juliet's smile.
It was a complex gaze, mixed with various emotions.
With a face as cold as a marble sculpture, the man said.
"Let's talk."
Forgotten Juliet
