Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: The Silver Pigeons
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The silver pigeon, with its wings half-spread, was crafted with exquisite detail.
Among the Northern Duke's territories was an archipelago riddled with reefs—tiny islands that were hard to reach even by boat and offered little in the way of fishing.
The archipelago's nickname was "Carlyle's Silver Basin."
Despite its unassuming appearance, the silver deposits in its mines were substantial.
Even so, the rugged Northern territories yielded all sorts of minerals, and the silver mines of the Carlyle Archipelago were modest compared to the other mines owned by the ducal house.
That's probably why they gave it such a cute name as "Silver Basin."
Everyone knew the archipelago had considerable silver reserves, but in the past twenty years or so, the ducal house had never ordered any full-scale mining.
To be frank, it was because tradition dictated that ownership of the archipelago belonged to the duke's wife.
In other words, it was the duchess's private stash, her emergency fund.
And for the past twenty years or so, the Carlyle Ducal House had no lady of the house.
Juliet learned of the silver mine's existence around three years after she had come to stay at the Northern ducal castle.
**
"Greetings to the lady of the house!"
An old man dressed in clothes that seemed about a hundred years out of fashion came to the ducal castle.
The moment he saw Juliet, he bowed deeply in courtly fashion.
Elliot came rushing over in a fluster and explained the situation to the startled Juliet.
The old man was the village chief of the archipelago, and he insisted that he could not leave without paying his respects to the archipelago's owner, the duchess, every time he visited the castle once every ten years to report on the accounts.
"Just accept it graciously. His Highness won't ask any questions anyway."
Elliot whispered encouragingly.
"Last time, Madam Merrill, the head maid, stood in for her.
Come on! Otherwise, this old fellow won't leave. You don't want him dropping dead on us, do you?"
That was the first and last time Juliet gave in to Elliot's coaxing.
She nodded hesitantly, and the old man beamed, grabbing her hand.
"This is a token of our esteem for madam."
Suddenly, carts laden with silver crafts began filing in from behind the old man.
Juliet, horrified, barely managed to persuade him and settled the matter by accepting the smallest pair of pigeon ornaments perched atop the first cart.
"I like this one! So... this is enough."
The old man looked a bit regretful, but he nodded in satisfaction at the pigeons Juliet had chosen.
"Truly, madam's eye is impeccable! Pigeons are symbols of fertility, after all.
A household must be at peace... Seeing such a fine lady of the house, this Xenophy can now leave the world without regrets...."
After the tearful old Xenophy finally departed, Elliot grumbled peevishly.
"That old codger will outlive us all to his next visit."
Once the boisterous welcoming fuss was over and Juliet was left alone in the rear garden, she fiddled with the pigeon ornament in her hand for a good while.
The silver pigeons, wings amicably spread, were slightly different in form from each other.
Though made separately, they were designed to fit together as a pair.
Juliet examined it closely, found the groove, and fitted the two together.
With a soft click, they matched perfectly. The overlapping wings looked so affectionate that Juliet smiled to herself.
Then, sensing a gaze, she looked up and startled, hastily hiding what she held.
"This is, well...."
"I know."
A man leaning casually against the entrance to the rear garden cut her off. She had no idea how long he had been standing there.
How much had he seen?
As Juliet dropped her gaze in embarrassment, the man strode forward and extended his hand.
Biting her lip, she offered the pigeon ornament she had hidden behind her back.
Why on earth had she hidden it?
She felt ashamed of her own reaction, like a child caught stealing.
Too afraid to check his expression, Juliet kept her head bowed as he examined the item in his hand.
The man scrutinized the pigeon's wings and asked,
"You like this cheap trinket?"
His sharp question made Juliet's blood run cold.
"Answer me, Juliet Monad."
She didn't want to look up, but his hand tilted her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.
Lennox's face was smiling. But his eyes weren't smiling at all.
It was his habit when he was in a foul mood.
In that instant, a whirlwind of thoughts raced through Juliet's mind.
What had offended him this time?
The first possibility that came to mind was that one.
How dare a mere concubine play the duchess, receiving greetings in her stead?
Did he think she was overstepping?
Or did it look like she was coveting the ducal house's wealth?
Should she make excuses that she wasn't trying to steal it?
"...It's not cheap."
Of course, compared to the ducal house's vast fortune, it was worth less than a feather....
"Give it back. It's mine."
Juliet looked him straight in the eye and said.
For a brief moment, she thought he might toss it away and tell her to get out of his castle.
"....Fine."
But Lennox obediently returned the pigeon ornament to her hand.
That afternoon, he left the castle on some pretext of inspecting the territory without another word, so she didn't see him again for a month.
And a few months later, one of the pigeon pair she had carefully stored in her jewelry box vanished without a trace.
But Juliet never regretted what she had said that day.
**
Juliet stared blankly at the ornament dangling precariously from the handle of her luggage bag, then detached the pigeon and tucked it into an inner pocket.
It was the silver ornament she had stubbornly claimed. She hadn't particularly craved the silver.
But she remembered how heartbroken she had been to lose half of the item she had childishly fought to keep.
She must have attached the remaining one to her luggage so it would be in plain sight.
She didn't want to lose the last pigeon too.
Juliet gazed vacantly out the window.
Lennox Carlyle, who had chased after her the night before, had seemed angry, but it would only be temporary.
Lennox Carlyle wasn't used to rejection, so he was just momentarily flustered. He was a man who had rarely lost anything.
The night before, Lennox Carlyle had changed his schedule and ordered her to return north with him immediately.
But she had escaped him, even resorting to vicious lies.
So perhaps by now, furious at Juliet's actions, he had already led the ducal retainers back north.
But if he was still lingering in the capital....
"....They've probably met by now."
They surely had.
Dahlia Fran.
His real lover.
*
Contrary to his notorious image, Lennox Carlyle was actually a rather model nobleman.
The temple painted him as a debauched devil's spawn, a licentious tyrant, but the daily life of Lennox Carlyle, ruler of the North, was surprisingly mundane and simple.
Aside from work hours, his leisure activities while awake boiled down to two things.
Hunting in monster-infested forests, or holing up in the bedroom with his lover for days on end.
He could be a bit finicky to serve, but he was a decent boss otherwise.
He never drank to the point of losing reason, touched drugs, or gambled.
Even his occasional hunts could be seen as healthy exercises of authority.
The North was monster-ridden land, after all. The Northern subjects loved their lord for his efforts in subjugating the beasts.
And as for the latter, well.
It was fine, so long as no talk of marriage or engagement came up.
But Elliot thought his lord would be better off as a drug addict or an alcoholic.
At least then he wouldn't torment everyone like this in the dead of night.
"Kirrr~!"
"Ugh!"
Another monster's screech echoed from the black forest.
Elliot yelped reflexively. Only one person knew what was happening inside.
"...At this rate, the monsters around the capital will go extinct."
Jude muttered with a straight face.
"Shouldn't we get paid a subsidy from the imperial family?"
Elliot clicked his tongue in exasperation.
Jude, the youngest knight, was usually cheerful and cute, but he occasionally dropped bewildering lines that were hard to tell if they were jokes.
Elliot felt a pang of bitterness.
"I had a bad feeling about this."
The night before, Lennox had gone alone to the train station to fetch Juliet and returned by himself. And from then on, he had been in that state.
He had barricaded himself in the monster-haunted forests near the capital, slaughtering everything in sight.
"Tch. They never see the obvious, do they."
Juliet might not even realize it herself, but Carlyle had gradually become addicted to her in his daily routine.
And when she left, Duke Carlyle was lost, holing up in the forest.
"....I wish he'd just drink."
"Or go inside and sleep it off."
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