Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: The New Contract
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Lennox left the hall, led by the hand of a woman much smaller than him.
Throughout their walk down the corridor, Juliet didn't meet his eyes even once.
But he couldn't tear his gaze away from the hand gripping his wrist or the woman's back walking ahead of him.
The place Juliet took him was a quiet terrace a short distance away.
Click.
The moment Juliet released his hand to close the terrace door and turn around, Lennox felt a pang of regret.
His wrist, still warm from her touch, tingled strangely.
Even in the south, the evening air was quite chilly. Lennox wanted to offer her his outer coat at least, but he doubted she would accept it.
Only after confirming that no one was around did Juliet finally turn to face the man.
“I didn’t need your help.”
“......Is that something you say to the person who helped you?”
A sarcastic retort slipped out first.
But Lennox Carlyle knew it better than anyone.
Juliet didn’t need his help at all. He had simply jumped in because he couldn’t suppress his momentary anger.
Thinking back, it had always been like that. Her words of “Don’t bother me” meant “Don’t interfere in my affairs.”
“I can handle my own problems.”
“So don’t get involved......”
That was exactly what bothered him.
Lennox couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.
Right now, he was the one clinging.
Juliet stared at him for a moment before asking point-blank. She never beat around the bush.
“So, did you buy up the villa too?”
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“Because I figured it was you.”
Everything—from the curtain colors and furniture to the fruits served on silver platters—was perfectly tailored to Juliet’s tastes. And it closely resembled the summer villa where they used to spend time together every year.
“You must have thought I wouldn’t notice.”
Lennox didn’t respond.
No wonder Juliet hadn’t shown even a hint of agitation when she spotted him in the hall.
Juliet asked, genuinely curious.
“What do you want from me?”
She wondered why he had decorated the villa, asked Lady Ilena to invite her south, and gone through all this trouble. But instead of answering, Lennox held something out to her.
“What’s this?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Lennox replied curtly instead of explaining.
These weren’t words he wanted to say in a situation like this. But he had a gut feeling that if not now, the chance would never come again.
He wasn’t sure if she would ever agree to see him again.
Juliet took what he offered with a puzzled expression, which soon turned to bewilderment.
“Why this......”
Juliet recognized it.
It was the contract she had asked him to sign seven years ago.
“You ended it on your own, so you should give me a chance to fix it. That’s only fair, right?”
Juliet looked up at him with a confused face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That contract you liked so much—let’s do it again. From the very beginning.”
Juliet blinked, then suddenly recalled what Lennox had said when he asked her to dance not long ago.
Contract extension.
“Your Highness, are you feeling all right?”
Her face full of shock, Juliet threw his sanity into question.
“Our contract is over. We agreed on that.”
“‘An amicable agreement,’ you said. I don’t remember agreeing to anything.”
He wasn’t a child.
Juliet furrowed her brow at his stubbornness.
“That’s......”
Even to his own ears, it sounded like whining, but he couldn’t help it.
Just look at what happened in the hall earlier. Who knew what those vermin would do to her out of his sight.
For now, keeping Juliet by his side was the priority.
It was the best he could do at the moment.
“So, don’t do it again.”
That realization had come after the incident at the banquet hall.
No matter what words of atonement he offered for the past, Juliet would never forgive him.
Juliet didn’t even understand that he wanted to make things right from the start.
In that case, a familiar method was better. Forgiveness and atonement—such soft, gentle approaches had never suited them.
‘Threats and contracts are much faster.’
Lennox Carlyle racked his brain for any means, no matter how ruthless, to keep her by his side again.
So he tried his best to understand Juliet’s way of thinking.
The Juliet he knew was surprisingly rigid. She would casually do astonishing things that left him baffled about her thoughts, yet she placed great importance on contracts and promises.
The complete opposite of him.
And his prediction was correct. Juliet looked reluctant, but she didn’t outright ignore his crazy proposal.
“I don’t want to waste another few years, Your Highness.”
“It won’t take that long.”
Lennox said calmly, as if it were no big deal.
He didn’t think he could keep Juliet forever.
But he calculated that for about six months, she wouldn’t be able to push him away.
After all, he couldn’t even be sure he’d be alive and well a few months from now.
Lennox remembered the warning from his personal physician. Even if he seemed fine now, they couldn’t predict side effects, and they needed to monitor him for at least six months.
“Six months.”
“After six months, I’ll disappear cleanly from your sight.”
Six months.
At that word, Juliet’s face paled slightly. But Lennox, on edge, didn’t notice.
“It won’t be a loss for you either.”
Lennox coaxed her like one would a child.
“Just like before. Just endure me for six months.”
He pleaded, promising to give her the villa, his fortune, anything if she could just put up with him.
In truth, the southern villa was a separate matter.
He had planned to force it on her through Lady Ilena if needed. But now that she knew it was his doing, she wouldn’t accept without some condition attached.
“......What if I refuse?”
“You won’t.”
Lennox said in a low voice.
“Because you won’t want to lose the things precious to you.”
Lennox quietly watched her eyes fill with shock and contempt before gripping her slender wrist.
“Six months. After that, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
“......What do you think I want to know?”
“Snowdrop.”
Juliet flinched at the word.
“How do you know that name?”
“You’ve always wanted to know about your butterflies.”
Suspicion flickered across Juliet’s face.
But Lennox didn’t press her. He waited silently, trying to hide his anxiety.
If Juliet was weak to contracts, then threats and persuasion were what he did best.
A woman who hated marriage, hated the ducal estate.
For a woman who rejected everything he could offer and only ran away, the pitiful method he had come up with to keep her by his side was this and nothing more.
“But why?”
Juliet asked, truly curious.
“Do I still have value to Your Highness?”
Lennox couldn’t answer that either.
“I have nothing to give. I don’t know what you want from me, but......”
“Well.”
It might sound insincere, but Lennox truly had nothing else to say.
It was the question he had been endlessly asking himself these past few months.
“Maybe you’ve fallen for me.”
All he wanted was to keep Juliet by his side.
He didn’t know anything beyond that, or the reason why.
“Your Highness.”
Juliet, who had been watching him with a strange expression for a long while, took a step closer.
“There’s one thing I want to confirm.”
“Say it.”
But instead of speaking, Juliet reached out toward him.
Reflexively lowering his posture to match her height, Lennox couldn’t even ask what she was doing. Before he could, Juliet clumsily pressed her lips to his.
It was hardly worthy of being called a kiss.
She had merely brought her lips to his, glancing around nervously. But it was enough to shatter his reason.
“......Damn it.”
If Juliet hadn’t pushed him away a moment later, gasping for breath, he clearly wouldn’t have kept his wits about him.
Regaining his senses with effort, Lennox glared at her with heated eyes.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Juliet, catching her breath, tilted her head.
“I thought this was what you wanted. Isn’t it?”
“......As if.”
Even to him, it lacked conviction.
Pushing her shoulders away with a fierce expression, Lennox wanted to kill his earlier self.
“I won’t do anything you don’t want.”
As if she’d believe that.
“Got it? It’s not because of something like this...!”
The more he spoke, the worse it got.
This wasn’t how he meant to yell. He was the one who needed to cling right now. But Juliet’s expression was unreadable, and his anxiety grew.
“So what I mean is......”
“Understood.”
“What?”
With a light sigh, Juliet made him lower the hand gripping her shoulder.
“I don’t know what you want, but in any case, it’s not a losing deal for me.”
Lennox couldn’t believe his ears.
Was that acceptance just now?
“But promise me one thing.”
“What.”
Juliet spoke quite firmly.
“After six months, that contract won’t be leverage for threats anymore.”
“......Fine. I promise.”
Lennox nodded reluctantly. But Juliet’s conditions didn’t end there.
“And don’t threaten to tear limbs or cut throats in front of other people.”
Lennox felt a bit dissatisfied.
She was referring to what happened in the hall, but that hadn’t been a threat.
“Why?”
“Murder is wrong.”
Juliet said sternly, without smiling.
But Lennox wanted to protest. Those vermin from earlier weren’t human by his standards.
“Then non-humans are fine?”
“Your Highness.”
“......Fine. I get it.”
Answering reluctantly, Lennox pulled her by the wrist.
The chilly weather still bothered him. He thought she might shake off his hand, but he held on anyway. Surprisingly, Juliet followed him back inside.
The familiar warmth in his hand felt satisfying. Lennox smiled a little where she couldn’t see.
Juliet had definitely said “in front of other people.”