“Huh.”
A hollow laugh involuntarily escaped, as if from a madman. Only after a while could he close his mouth.
“…I had an unbelievable dream. It seemed like I was entranced by something.”
He didn’t care where he was or who was around him.
“So, the woman who appeared in my dreams every day was you.”
Even though he spoke disjointedly, Lennox didn’t let go of the tightly held wrist. Throughout his ramblings, Juliet simply observed him with her small, pale face.
“Juliet, you tried to run away with our child.”
But fleeing from him, she fell from the horse and lost the child.
“You took the glass I handed you and drank…”
After drinking from the silver cup, the woman coughed up blood and collapsed.
‘It’s strange.’
He could clearly feel the touch and steady pulse from the wrist he held, but he grew anxious.
The vivid bloodstains on her white dress resembled blooming red flowers.
Unlike the woman from his chaotic dream, the Juliet in front of him was impeccably dressed. She just stared at him, silent as a doll.
He had never suspected that the ominous and unsettling woman in his dreams was Juliet.
“Juliet.”
The woman in his dreams cried sorrowfully, as if someone had died. She screamed like a madwoman and her entire body was scarred, as if whipped.
“Say something.”
“…”
“Juliet, please.”
He repeatedly murmured, trying to suppress his anxiety.
The Juliet in front of him was alive. She hadn’t drunk from the poisoned cup. She wasn’t like the Juliet from his nightmares. Instead of cooling down, she was warm with flowing blood, a heartbeat.
She was alive.
More than ever, Lennox Carlyle desperately wished for her to smile.
He hoped that she would burst into laughter, telling him that he had had a foolish dream.
But Juliet did not laugh.
Under the moonlight, she looked even paler. Her lips, red as if stained with flower nectar, parted. The first words she spoke were nothing like he had expected.
“That’s strange.”
With genuine curiosity, Juliet tilted her head slightly.
“Your Highness, how do you remember that?”
Her calm blue eyes were unmistakably those of the woman who was slowly dying in his arms. Lennox felt his head go blank and clung desperately to the calm-faced woman in front of him.
“…That can’t be.”
Juliet couldn’t be that woman. It couldn’t be her memory.
“It can’t be.”
Even as he vehemently denied it, he instinctively realized that his nightmares were Juliet’s past.
Juliet Monad, his lover, was a woman who rarely expressed emotions for her age. She rarely laughed out loud and even more rarely cried.
He had often found it curious. However, it wasn’t merely convenient or curious.
She hadn’t lost the depth of her emotions. They had been worn away long ago. Juliet, with her calm eyes, looked down at him.
It was a rare sight to see those proud red eyes fill with despair. The man who never bowed his head now knelt before her, pleading.
“Juliet, please.”
In front of emotions he hadn’t even recognized himself, the man broke down completely. Yet the woman who had humbled a man with a single word in the face of his despair was unmoved. Looking at the man pleading with her, Juliet felt nothing.
Not pity for him, nor resentment. No emotions at all.
‘How strange.’
It was her only thought.
Only she had travelled back in time. Why then did Lennox have memories of the past?
She was merely puzzled.
She was no longer thinking about him. She was thinking about herself, about Juliet Monad. She pondered slowly.
‘Why did I return to your side?‘
At first, she thought travelling back in time was a second chance. Whether it was a gift from God or a wicked scheme, she wasn’t sure. But during her two lifetimes, Juliet often wondered. She had tricked him with death once and lies another, and had barely managed to escape.
Why did she have to return, as if someone had led her back?
Juliet felt she knew the answer. Perhaps it was for this very moment, she thought.
She didn’t know whose will had sent her back in time, but there was no doubt that the entity that had given her a second chance had been waiting for this moment. For her to face this man, right here, right now.
“What do you want to hear?”
“…”
“Tell me what you want, and I’ll say it.”
“…Say it’s not true.”
Juliet gave a quiet laugh and then gave him the answer he desired.
“It’s not. None of that happened.”
Her soft fingers touched his cheek.
“My baby didn’t die. No, I never had a child.”
In a gentle voice, she picked the words he most wanted to hear.
“And Your Highness didn’t kill me.”
‘In this life,’ she swallowed the last words.
But even though she told him exactly what he wanted to hear, he didn’t seem satisfied.
Do you want me to cry with you?
Juliet thought deeply.
But there were no tears.
Juliet stopped crying in front of this man a long ago.
* * *
Juliet clearly remembered the day when she died.
It was a clear and sunny late summer day. All summer she was half-sane.
Whenever she was awake, she cried until her voice was gone.
And that was all, except for occasionally she would throw a vase at the man she was so afraid and throw a curse at him.
The man returned the items he had forcefully taken from the woman, as if he was mocking her for losing her child.
He would occasionally turn the small room upside down in rage, and sometimes he would throw her expensive jewelry as if compensating.
Whenever this happened, Juliet would fiddle with the colorful gemstones and say out of habit,
[I’d rather you kill me.]
[Shut your mouth.]
Whenever their eyes met, they only exchanged fierce arguments. Yet the man never tired of tormenting Juliet, sometimes seeming like he was watching her lest she take her own life.
[You won’t be able to have children anymore.]
A few months later, when her primary doctor told her this, Juliet was neither sad nor angry anymore.
Whether she had originally been weak, or if something had gone wrong due to a fall from a horse, she wasn’t sure. She simply thought, ‘So be it.’
Surprisingly, the one who reacted was him.
He stopped visiting her. Where once he would force her to take medicine or act in ways to torment her, from that day on he left her alone.
One day, while killing time in silence, Juliet approached a window overlooking the garden and asked:
[Where are the cornflowers?]
The deep-blue cornflowers were her deceased mother’s favorite flowers and were the most visible flowers from her room.
A maid, who happened to be carrying a tray, replied.
[The cornflowers are gone, Miss.]
[When did the cornflowers finish blooming?]
[It’s almost autumn.]
The maid replied in a tone that suggested Juliet should have known this.
Juliet stared at the maid who brought her meal.
She was a stranger.
A long time ago, not long after Juliet arrived at the mansion, the maids who attentively looked after her said that among all the servants who were frequently replaced by the Duke, only Juliet had stayed through several seasons.
She naively felt excited and fluttered by such remarks.
But those maids from before were no longer by her side.
Even among the serving staff, there were ranks. Who would be pleased to serve her, who unknowingly harbored the Duke’s disdain, remained confined to the mansion, and was out of touch with the changing seasons?
Naturally, the task fell upon the younger and inexperienced maids.
Suddenly, Juliet felt like she had become an inconvenient burden.
Even the reclusive Juliet could guess the news from inside the castle.
Probably, the servants who used to buzz around her had all flocked to a woman rumored to have a collection of treasures, residing in the eastern tower.
Suddenly, Juliet looked outside the window. There was a commotion, and unusually, a line of carriages was visiting the castle.
She noticed lights lit up in the annex, which was used as a ballroom.
After contemplating for a while, Juliet ordered:
[Bring me a mirror.]
Reluctantly, the maid brought a mirror. Reflecting back was a woman, who looked pitiful rather than frail.
She looked in the mirror and said,
[I need to go to the ball. Can you call people to help me?]
[But…]
The surprised maids hesitated, not wanting to be part of the eccentric act of the woman who had fallen out of favor.
[It’s okay. I’ll make sure you aren’t harmed.]
Juliet reached out to the maids.
[Help me up.]
Her physical condition was so poor that even taking a bath on her own was difficult.
They took out the dresses she had hidden deep in her closet and had to trim the damaged ends of her hair.
But the most time-consuming task was to cover her deathly pale complexion. Her lifeless lips required several coats of bright lipstick to appear natural.
The maids, who had reluctantly helped with her makeup, eventually seemed to enjoy the process.
[How about this?]
[Perfect.]
To Juliet, her face still looked awkward as if she had hastily applied makeup, but the maids, who had devotedly done her makeup for a long time, couldn’t help but admire.
They managed to make her look as if she wasn’t the woman who had lain down like a corpse for months.
She was satisfied with that.
[Bring out the jewelry box.]
The maids were amazed by the dazzling jewels.
[This will suit you better.]
Before long, they were enthusiastically recommending different pieces.
The box was full of jewelry she had collected over time, but there wasn’t a single piece she felt attached to.
Before leaving her room, Juliet told the maids cleaning up,
[Take whatever you want.]
[What? But…]
[I don’t need them anymore.]
Juliet smiled weakly once and then headed to the ballroom.