Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Cruel to the End
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“Breaking up out of the blue.
Is this the only reason?”
Before Juliet could even respond, the man’s lips twisted cruelly as he gripped her shoulders.
“But if you were going to run away with my child, you should’ve made sure I never found out.”
“......So you chased me all the way here?”
Juliet’s face paled at his cruel words.
Of course. That made sense.
For a fleeting moment, Juliet felt like a fool for harboring even the slightest hope.
What had she been expecting, anyway?
She mocked herself.
“You thought I stole the Duke’s bloodline and ran off?”
She knew full well what the Duke’s lineage meant to a man named Lennox Carlyle.
It was his greedy relatives who had thrown the nine-year-old boy into the battlefield as family head.
Even his own mother had deceived the previous Duke, his father, to bear him.
Juliet suddenly grew curious.
If she nodded here and admitted she was carrying his child, how would he react?
Would he drag her off somewhere to be “dealt with,” like that woman who once showed up claiming to carry his child?
In the first place, Lennox Carlyle had no interest in the Duke’s successor or anything like that.
And that was precisely why he preferred light, short-lived relationships over marriage.
Yet it was common knowledge that plenty of people came to the Duke’s house claiming to bear his child.
There was a famous tale that a child born of the Duke’s line would have red eyes and black hair.
But no one knew what happened to those children and women who came forward.
Some gossiped that the fox-like Juliet Monad must have dealt with his children herself.
But Juliet was one of the people most curious about their fate.
“No, I didn’t steal anything.”
Juliet dropped her head limply and answered calmly.
But his next words plunged her into even deeper despair.
Lennox Carlyle sneered with a sly smile.
“Then whose bastard is it?”
“Lennox!”
Humiliation burned across Juliet’s face.
She bit her lip to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.
But it wasn’t enough to suppress the surge of emotions.
“......Juliet?”
“Let go.”
Her lover might be angrier than she thought because she’d run off without a word. He was a man who had never lost anything he wanted, no matter how much he had.
‘But I have the sense not to mistake that for affection.’
Was it like a pet dog breaking its leash and running away?
That was closer to resentment or a desire for revenge than love.
But angering him didn’t justify treating her this way.
More than ever, Juliet fell into deep despair. She hadn’t stayed by his side for seven years just to be treated like this.
Lennox Carlyle would never know or understand...
“Fine. I believe you.”
But then the man, who had been staring down at her with a strange gaze as she barely held back her tears, spoke abruptly.
“Instead, let’s end this here and go back together.
Marriage or whatever, I’ll do as you wish.”
Juliet’s expression went blank for a moment.
“......What did you just say?”
“Damn it, marriage or playing house, whatever you want.”
His face was calm as he repeated himself matter-of-factly.
But inwardly, Lennox ground his teeth in anxiety.
“So come back.”
Please.
The man extended his hand. His demeanor was gentler than ever before.
Lennox was so on edge that he didn’t even realize this was the first time he’d ever begged a woman.
The temple had excommunicated him.
They’d cause another uproar if he tried to hold a wedding.
But so what?
If war was needed, then war it would be.
He was the Duke of the North. With his undefeated army and the land of black gold. Even the Emperor couldn’t conquer the North—what could the temple do?
He didn’t believe in God, let alone deranged old fools babbling about being His servants.
As long as Juliet didn’t run away again.
Anything was fine.
Once the words were out, everything became clear.
“Marriage......you say.”
“Yeah.”
But Juliet neither smiled in joy and surprise nor shed tears of emotion. Even though he was offering her the position of the North’s lady—something everyone coveted—she only gazed up at Lennox with hollow eyes.
“What about the child?”
“Do whatever you want.”
Lennox irritably raked a hand through his hair.
He wasn’t thrilled about passing that cursed family on to his own blood. And children were annoying and troublesome. But if it was a child that resembled her, maybe he could endure it.
Lennox looked down at Juliet, who still stood there dazed as if in shock.
If there was a child, she wouldn’t be able to run away as easily as this time. Juliet had always been weak to small, animal-like creatures.
It had been an impulsive remark, but thinking about it now improved his mood.
“Truly, to the very end......”
Juliet’s petal-like red lips parted.
“You’re so cruel.”
“......Who?”
“How far do you have to humiliate me before you’re satisfied?”
Cruel?
Lennox Carlyle doubted his ears.
Just a day ago, she had melted into his arms like a spring breeze, only to change in half a day, deceiving him and running away.
She was the one who had let go of his hand first. The one who had abandoned and left him—Juliet Monad.
Who was being cruel now?
Lennox nearly snapped back at her. But he couldn’t.
“Juliet?”
Without any warning, Juliet began shedding tears in torrents.
Like someone who had reached their breaking point. Like a single drop overflowing a glass.
Juliet wept without a sound.
Even he knew those weren’t the joyful tears of a woman receiving a proposal.
The startled man belatedly grabbed her wrist.
In a somehow hollow voice, Juliet murmured.
“What if I go back?”
“What?”
“If I follow Your Highness back now, what changes?”
‘What changes?’
Lennox’s eyes narrowed at the unexpected question.
Juliet had never asked anything like that before.
The future was uncertain and vague.
But nothing would change. Because she hadn’t wanted him to change.
Lennox knew the woman named Juliet Monad well. Her soft skin pulsing with hot blood, her sweet sighs, her trembling eyelashes, her dimples.
Lennox thought that was enough.
Juliet never begged for affection. She never restrained him or nagged.
“Nothing.”
Their relationship wouldn’t change.
And that was exactly what he wanted.
Juliet Monad would remain his lover, and they would return together to the Duke’s castle in the North.
Whether marriage or a child, he’d prepare a sturdier cage so she could never run like this again—but in any case, all problems would be solved.
Right now, if she just nodded—
“Lennox.”
But Juliet didn’t nod.
“I’m done now.”
“......Juliet?”
“I don’t love Your Highness anymore.”
No more fretting over when she’d be discarded.
“I’m sick of it.”
Preeeeew.
Right then, a loud noise accompanied the train pulling into the platform.
“Your Highness.”
Juliet shook her head and pushed away the man who held her like he was supporting her.
“I know. Somewhere in the world, there’s a woman who can make a man like you kneel and teach you humility.”
Flutter.
Before he could instinctively reach out for Juliet again, butterflies with wings that shone so brightly they hurt the eyes appeared.
The flapping of the blue butterfly swarm brushed her skirt hem, fluttering everything about.
As if refusing to let anything approach her, they filled Lennox’s vision.
In the meantime, the woman staggered backward, away from him, toward the halted train.
“But that woman isn’t me.”
Meeting the eyes of the man frozen in place, Juliet’s lips curved into a perfect smile.
“I told you earlier, I didn’t steal anything. That wasn’t a lie.”
Juliet instinctively realized it—she held the knife now.
This was the one chance to leave an indelible mark on a man untouched and unshaken by anything.
Casually, Juliet placed a hand on her flat belly.
“Because this isn’t yours.”
Juliet smiled radiantly and lied one last time.