Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Summer Seven Years Ago
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Juliet's world turned upside down. And she would never forget that summer.
* * *
"Juliet! Are you listening?"
At the sharp voice, Juliet stopped what she was scribbling so intently and looked up.
A girl dressed in an unfinished gown stood glaring at her, hands on her hips, bristling with basting pins.
"Ah, sorry. What did you say, Patty?"
Fatima's brow furrowed.
"I asked which one is the prettiest!"
"Ah."
While hastily gathering her letter papers with one hand, Juliet glanced past Fatima's shoulder.
"Hmm, I think..."
The weary-looking seamstresses behind Fatima quickly shook one dress and sent a silent signal.
Flutter, flutter.
"...the pink one?"
"Right?"
It seemed she had guessed correctly.
Fatima, looking triumphant, instructed the outcall seamstresses.
"I'll take the pink one. Can you have it ready by tomorrow morning?"
"Of course, Lady Glanfield."
"The ball starts at seven, so you need to arrive by noon!"
The seamstresses, finally escaping the Glanfield parlor after a mere three hours, looked utterly relieved.
They were staff from Camille's, the famous dress shop in the capital, who had come to the Glanfield residence at Fatima's request today. Fatima Glanfield, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Count Glanfield, was Juliet's friend and same-age peer.
Now in a good mood after finally settling on a dress, Fatima called for a maid to bring tea.
By the time the maid arrived with the tray, Juliet had finished tidying her work and was sitting demurely in the parlor.
"What about you? Not picking a dress?"
Fatima asked casually, picking up a cookie.
"No, I'm good."
"So what are you wearing tomorrow?"
"I'm going to alter one of Mother's dresses."
"Alter... and wear it?"
Fatima echoed dubiously.
To her, the idea of wearing an altered dress had never even crossed her mind.
"Yeah. That's the plan."
Juliet replied as if it were no big deal.
It was the height of the late summer social season.
Any young lady who had just turned eighteen and received her first summer ball invitation wanted to look her most beautiful at her debut Bluebell.
Fatima said magnanimously,
"If you want, you can pick one with me. I'll ask my dad—he'll buy one for you too."
The seamstresses, who had been hurriedly packing, froze.
But Juliet just smiled brightly, unfazed.
"Nah. Mother's dresses are pretty too. I'll show you tomorrow."
The head seamstress, packing nearby, ventured carefully,
"Um, if it's Countess Monad's dress, is it perhaps the pale cornflower blue one?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"The countess has impeccable taste. It will surely suit you perfectly, my lady."
Fatima, who had been quietly eavesdropping, pouted.
*Boring.*
At some point, Juliet had become a terribly dull friend.
*She wasn't like this before.*
Juliet had been the first friend Fatima made after moving to the capital.
Fatima's father wanted to build ties with old noble families, and House Monad, the count's family, were founding heroes of the empire. Conveniently, they had an only daughter Juliet's age.
As her father urged, Fatima often invited Juliet over to play.
She hated how her annoying older brother, who never showed his face otherwise, would poke around on days Juliet visited—but it was worth enduring.
Specifically, it was fun watching Juliet sneak envious peeks and fiddle with the dress trims while Fatima picked new gowns.
But...
*When did it start?*
Juliet had changed around three years ago.
At fifteen, she had nearly died in a serious accident.
After that, Juliet was different.
At first, Fatima thought it was just weakness from lying in bed so long—but no. Sometimes, she seemed like a completely different person.
She no longer envied Fatima at all.
Even when Fatima invited her under the pretense of helping pick dresses, Juliet was always buried in books or writing something.
*Whatever, it's just a poor count's family anyway.*
Fatima pouted.
House Glanfield was a nouveau riche count's family that had bought its title with money.
Fatima loved to boast, but as she grew, she noticed high society subtly looked down on the Glanfields as parvenus. Meanwhile, invitations poured steadily into the impoverished but historic House Monad without effort.
Fatima secretly resented that.
"Princess Priscilla's special guest is coming to tomorrow's ball."
"Oh? Princess Priscilla?"
Juliet replied offhandedly while packing her things.
Princess Priscilla, the emperor's niece, was treated like royalty in society.
Fatima pouted at Juliet's apparent disinterest.
"Well, you wouldn't care who's coming anyway."
"Huh?"
"You already have a handsome fiancé."
Juliet paused, then turned to Fatima with a look of utter dismay.
"You think so?"
"What?"
"That my fiancé is handsome?"
Juliet's fiancé, Vicente, was the second son of a marquess family and drew much attention for his striking looks among his peers.
"...You're so annoying lately, you know that?"
Fatima snapped, scowling at her.
*So ungrateful.*
Juliet gazed at Fatima steadily, then soothed her firmly, word by word.
"Patty, in the future, you'll marry someone far greater than Vicente."
"How would you know?"
"I just do."
"Hmph."
Juliet said it without smiling, but it was enough to lift Fatima's mood instantly.
"Want to borrow our carriage?"
* * *
Riding home in the Glanfield carriage, Juliet quietly gazed at her reflection in the window.
Her still baby-fat cheeks gave her an overall youthful look.
In truth, Juliet knew much more about the future than what she'd told Fatima—far more.
Fatima would become a crown princess, but Juliet would die at twenty-five, by the hand of the man she desperately loved.
*No, dying would be the lucky part.*
This wasn't her first life.
Juliet had returned to her childhood, carrying memories of dying miserably long ago.
Juliet Monad's first life had been horrific.
After her parents died, her life plummeted—specifically, when her uncle, Baron Gaspal, became her guardian.
"This is all for your own good, Juliet."
In her first life, Juliet married five times.
Baron Gaspal, who had become her guardian "for the sake of his orphaned young niece," wasted no time marrying off his underage niece to a powerful lord.
The naive Juliet donned the bridal veil as her uncle instructed.
Her first husband was an octogenarian who could drop dead any moment.
Fortunately, her first husband died soon after.
Though Juliet became a wealthy widow, Baron Gaspal didn't leave her alone.
Confirming that her beauty and lineage could make money, he launched full-scale marriage dealings.
Juliet married four more times after that.
Those who bought young brides from prestigious families with money and power were hardly decent men.
While Gaspal flattered the powerful by selling his niece, Juliet withered under repeated abuse.
Her innate beauty was poison; her body and mind broke until normal thought was impossible.
Finally, unable to endure, as she tried to end her life, an arrogant noble appeared before her.
He likely had no intent to save her.
Yet both Gaspal and her fifth husband died for provoking the Ghost Duke of the North.
*Falling for the man who pulled me from that hell... maybe it was inevitable.*
But the current Juliet wasn't living in hell. She hadn't even met him. Unlike her past memories.
"We've arrived, my lady."
"Thank you."
Juliet opened the carriage door herself and hopped out lightly.
She lived in a cozy, old-fashioned mansion on the capital's outskirts.
In her first life, Juliet Monad lost both parents before turning fifteen. That was the start of her misery.
"I'm home."
She greeted as she entered the foyer.
"Welcome back, Juliet. Did you have fun?"
A lady with elegantly pinned red hair, sitting in the parlor, beamed at Juliet.
It was Juliet's mother, Countess Lilliand Monad.
"Yes, it was fun."
Juliet smiled back.
Last winter, Juliet had turned eighteen and come of age.
Everyone was alive and well.
She had succeeded in changing her fated future.