* * *
Lennox Carlyle opened his eyes in an empty bedroom.
For a moment, due to the remnants of a long dream, he was confused about where he was.
The last thing he remembered was a massive door, a dark beast, and a blinding light.
Flatter.
A cool dawn breeze blew through the open window, flipping a page of the book someone had left open.
His mind became clear.
Before he could figure out what day it was or how much time had passed, he immediately got up.
The fever that had been tormenting him for the last few days was completely gone.
“Juliet?”
He could instinctively tell. She had been here just a moment ago.
Like a man possessed, he hurried out of the bedroom.
The obvious thought of calling someone to ask about Juliet’s whereabouts didn’t even cross his mind. All he could think was the need to check on Juliet’s well-being with his own eyes.
Roaming impatiently through the quiet castle in the early morning, he stopped at the door leading to the terrace on the first floor.
A rainy morning. Beyond the fluttering translucent curtain.
The open terrace with birds chirping.
The silhouette of a woman sitting gracefully on an old-fashioned couch caught his eye.
She appeared to have come back from a walk, wearing an ivory indoor dress with a light robe over it.
But her slender silhouette and the long, faint-colored hair were unmistakably recognizable.
Thump.
The woman he had longed for over a prolonged period was right there.
As relief flooded him, blood started flowing again in his cold fingertips.
“What is this, Nix?”
Juliet, who hadn’t noticed him yet, grumbled.
“Meow?”
“Running around with leaves attached.”
It seemed like he had enjoyed running around the forest in the rain; the baby dragon was scolded by Juliet, clutching onto her with his front paw.
“Now we have to take a bath again?”
The baby dragon, who was previously chirping joyfully, was startled at the word ‘bath’.
“Peep!”
“I can’t help it. If you run around with muddy feet, you’ll get scolded again, so you need to wash.”
The baby dragon, whimpering and shaking as if in protest, suddenly locked eyes with him over Juliet’s shoulder.
“Grruk?”
“Whining won’t help… Your Highness?”
When the baby dragon stretched his neck, Juliet also looked back.
Juliet, who discovered a man standing by the door with a pale face, stood up from her seat. The baby dragon took the chance and darted away quickly, but the two people didn’t care.
“Is it okay to get up?”
Surprise spread across her elegant face, and Juliet smiled at him.
Once, Juliet, whom he thought had lost her forever, was welcoming him.
“Did the fever go down? The medicine..”
The man who approached quickly embraced Juliet before she could finish speaking.
“Lennox…?”
“Just for a moment, stay like this for a moment.”
Although Juliet was surprised, she didn’t push him away.
There was a level difference, so Juliet was standing a few steps above him.
Suddenly embracing a much larger man, Juliet awkwardly comforted the man resting his head on her shoulder.
“Talk to me.”
“What… what should I talk about?”
“Anything. I just want to hear your voice…”
Juliet hesitated before speaking.
“Well… when I was young, I often caught colds, but I secretly liked being sick.”
Her soft voice had a comforting power.
“When I was sick, I’d go to my parents’ room, taking up their bed and acting childish. Dad would read books to me all night, and mom would hold me…”
Lennox could easily envision that scene. Juliet smiled broadly.
“I was immature. But seeing you asleep for three days, it reminded me of that time.”
Lennox looked up. Their eyes met, and Juliet smiled brightly at him.
“I missed you.”
Her smiling face was dazzling to the point it hurt.
Lennox wondered how she could have forgiven him.
Even after being so cruel to Juliet, he had completely forgotten that he had done such things in the past.
What was taken away from him as the price of traveling back in time was his past memories of Juliet.
(What was taken from you will be given to someone else somewhere in the world. To balance things out.)
And due to the incomprehensible workings of causality, it was Juliet who ended up having memories of the past instead.
From there, everything went wrong.
Along with the memories of the past, he had also forgotten his feelings for her, and the deeds he had committed.
“Lennox…?”
Juliet, seemingly confused, stroked his cheek.
“Are you crying now?”
It took years to correct that, and they had to take a long way.
Lennox knew what he had to say. There was only one thing he had always wanted to say.
“…I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“Sorry for making you wait so long.”
* * *
Unprecedented peace continued in the Northern Dukedom.
“…They say when a person changes suddenly, it’s when they are about to die.”
The vassals who believed that Duke Carlyle could kill with just a glare didn’t withdraw their suspicions.
But Duke Carlyle and Juliet enjoyed a peaceful late summer.
Even at the tea party this evening. Juliet was no longer surprised to see Lennox who drove a large ebony carriage to pick her up,but others were not.
‘The Duke who hasn’t shown his face in social circles for a year…’
‘What’s the grievance?’
‘Plus, the other person is ‘that’ Juliet Monad, right?’
“…Thank you for picking me up.”
Over the past few months, Lennox acted as if something terrible would happen the moment her feet touched the ground.
Suddenly, Juliet was also puzzled about what was going on, but what bothered Juliet the most was something else.
“You told me to be careful of northern nobles.”
“And?”
“And if Your Highness doesn’t pay attention to them, won’t there be false rumors spreading?”
Juliet spoke gently but there were already all kinds of rumors circulating.
Juliet was a bit anxious about Lennox’s carefree interactions with other nobles.
Lennox, who was sitting across from her in the carriage, narrowed his red eyes.
“Are you worried?”
“…A little?”
“If they talk about you, cutting off their tongues will settle it.”
“No, it’s not about me…”
Juliet hesitated a bit and then pointed out calmly.
“There are rumors that Your Highness, entangled with a woman, lost this castle, and that a woman blinded you, bringing shame to the men.”
However, Lennox still seemed uninterested.
“Let them talk. Just cut off the parts that aren’t that important and that’s it.”
Eventually, Juliet burst into laughter.
With one word, did this man know that he turned all the husbands of the northern nobility into enemies?
The carriage soon arrived at the entrance of the Duke’s residence. Seeing Juliet glancing at the garden from the window, Lennox suddenly stopped the carriage.
“Shall we walk to the castle?”
“Sure.”
As if reading her mind, Lennox turned the carriage towards the castle first.
“It’s nice weather for a walk.”
It seemed like it wasn’t just that.
Juliet grinned broadly. Anyway, she liked it.
The scent of late summer night was exhilarating. Walking through the garden full of her favorite blooming flowers felt good.
“But why lilies?”
Juliet tilted her head. About half of the garden was white flowers, and among all the flowers, the white lilies stood out.
Seeing the status of the bulbs and the neat soil, it looked like the garden was recently reworked and replanted.
Juliet asked without much thought, but Lennox gave an unexpected answer.
“You said so. If a child is born, you wanted to name her Lily.”
Juliet was baffled for a moment.
It was a thought she never shared with others.
“I said that? When?”
“You said that a long time ago.”
However, Lennox only gave a knowing yet unclear answer.
What? Juliet tilted her head but it became more of a mystery.
“This place…”
She suddenly discovered shimmering sculptures installed in the middle of the garden.
“I hope you like it.”
Lennox, who was half a step behind, said so leisurely, but Juliet was shocked for a moment.
The silver shimmering trees and animal-shaped sculptures in the middle of the night created a dreamy atmosphere.
…What is this?
Juliet paused. There was something clicking.
When she was very young, say about seven or six years old, Juliet loved drawing.
The twinkling landscape looked like it had directly transferred a childish drawing Juliet had casually shown to her friend Charlotte once.
It was a drawing of princesses in fancy princess dresses living in a magical forest.
“…Did you see it?”
“Huh.”
Juliet’s cheeks burned, it was unbearable.
At the same time, she seemed to realize what Lennox had been secretly busy with over the past few days.
It seemed that he had sent someone to the Count Monad’s residence to retrieve her childhood drawing.
“You drew well.”
He smiled and handed over the drawing preserved with a preservation spell.
Juliet groaned and took the drawing.