Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Monad Estate
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**
The Count Monad estate was situated on the outskirts of the quiet old city center of the capital, just as old mansions often are.
Nestled amid lush greenery, the Count Monad mansion resembled a serene suburban villa more than anything.
Its pure white roof gleamed in the sunlight, an exterior that could generously be called antique but honestly was just worn down.
Visitors to this dilapidated old mansion were exceedingly rare.
That had been especially true since the tragic accident seven years ago that claimed the lives of the family heads—footsteps to the already quiet household had simply ceased.
It wasn't as if people were heartless; after the lone surviving young lady of the house departed for the North, truly no one remained.
So the servants of the count's family were utterly shocked to receive a highborn guest after several years.
".…Who might you be?"
The man named a great noble whose identity any imperial citizen would recognize.
For whatever reason, he wasn't dressed in finery but in thoroughly soaked, disheveled attire—yet the red-eyed man needed no proof of his station.
The stunned servants finally realized he was the lover of their young lady, known only through rumors, and hurriedly opened the gates.
"P-please, this way."
It had been seven years since the family heads were absent, so the servants had no recollection of proper protocol for entertaining esteemed guests.
The servant who took the reins of the black warhorse the man had ridden was at a complete loss, flustered.
Before entering the mansion, Duke Carlyle, who had handed over the reins, paused to glance at the overgrown garden.
The garden, once alive with the laughter of the family's only daughter playing hide-and-seek, was now a wasteland.
The maze garden lay barren, and the fountain had long dried up.
"No gardener?"
"W-we're terribly short-staffed."
The old steward reflexively offered the excuse, then caught himself.
It was gravely improper to respond so to a guest of such noble standing.
Especially since the man was none other than the infamous ruler of the North. He deserved the utmost deference.
As the steward agonized over whether to bow his head now, the young duke brushed past him and strode alone toward the main building.
The elderly steward hurriedly followed behind.
Strictly speaking, since Duke Carlyle was a guest, barging into the estate without permission violated etiquette.
Even if he was a great noble and the young lady's lover, a breach was a breach.
But there was currently no family member at the count's estate to play host...
'……Isn't it still improper?'
The steward fretted, but it was a pointless worry from the start.
No one in the empire dared lecture Lennox Carlyle on etiquette.
"Which way is Juliet's room?"
"Pardon? Oh, the west side on the third floor..."
Acting as if he owned the place, Duke Carlyle headed casually for the third floor.
The steward, trotting after him, suddenly snapped to attention. It was a question he should have asked from the beginning.
"Excuse me, Your Highness. Might I have a word?"
"Speak."
The duke replied without breaking stride.
"Thank you. Your Highness, have you come in search of Lady Juliet?"
He halted.
At the question, Duke Carlyle abruptly stopped and turned to face him.
The steward felt a chill run down his spine upon meeting those famous crimson eyes of the Carlyle dukedom in person, but the words were already out.
Gathering his courage, the old steward spoke.
"I beg your pardon, but Lady Juliet is currently away."
He braced for anger over why it hadn't been mentioned sooner, but the duke showed no particular reaction.
As the steward held his breath awaiting a response, he realized that the notoriously fearsome Duke Carlyle was, in fact, a strikingly handsome man.
The duke's reputation with women was infamous.
It was no wonder young ladies would swoon over such looks.
He wondered why rumors of his appearance weren't as widespread as those of his notoriety.
Only then did it occur to the steward that the duke might not have come for the young lady after all.
"Juliet..."
"Yes?"
"Has she always used this room?"
"Oh…… Yes!"
They had arrived at the bedroom door.
"She has used it since she first started toddling about."
Forgetting the duke stood before him, the steward smiled fondly.
The staff remaining at the Monad mansion were mostly long-time retainers of the count's family.
Many had witnessed little Juliet take her first steps after she was born.
"...I see."
Lennox Carlyle's hand rested on the doorframe pillar.
It wasn't obvious at a glance, but etched into the pillar were marks of Juliet's height, measured every birthday as she grew.
From the moment she took her first steps, to age five when she wailed after losing a baby tooth, to sixteen at her debutante ball, and up to her eighteenth birthday in the winter of her coming of age.
His large, well-shaped hand slowly traced the shallow grooves in the pillar.
Watching the scene in a daze, the steward felt as if he were intruding on something private.
"Ahem, if you need anything, please call for me."
Feeling awkwardly embarrassed, the steward left those words and departed.
Left alone, Lennox Carlyle circled the bedroom once.
The adjoining room through a small door was a modest parlor and dressing room.
An ornate mirror, neatly arranged combs, clothes folded meticulously in order, well-worn books.
And a four-poster bed draped with a canopy that seemed to date back to her girlhood.
Juliet had clearly been the sort of child who couldn't bear to part with her cherished childhood toys.
In a large box in one corner of the small parlor were toys she must have played with in her youth, stuffed to the brim.
Returning to the cozy bedroom bathed in sunlight, Lennox picked up a large cloth doll from the bedside table.
The rabbit doll, once likely soft pink, was now faded, with clear patches where it had been mended. Its ears drooped limply, and the stuffing sagged pitifully.
Lennox could easily picture a child clutching the doll—nearly as big as she was—and falling asleep.
It was a strangely eerie sensation. The mansion felt as if time had stopped.
Juliet's unknown past lingered wholly in this space.
Quietly closing the door, Lennox Carlyle walked the mansion's corridors.
Naturally, the being he sought was not in this dilapidated, antique estate.
From the start, the people of the Count Monad estate seemed unaware even that Juliet had left the capital.
They merely wondered why Duke Carlyle, the young lady's lover, had suddenly come to the estate.
The delicate vanity, the bedroom filled with girlish tastes.
He vaguely recalled what Juliet Monad had been like at eighteen. Yet the Juliet Monad he knew was a lover who never voiced her own preferences.
Or had he simply never asked?
A faint scent like Juliet's lingered throughout the mansion, but that was all.
His lover was not here.
So what had he come to this place to find?
The reason she had abandoned him and left? Or evidence of another man?
Lennox Carlyle sneered coldly at himself. He turned to leave.
It was then.
"Greetings, Your Grace. A pleasure to meet you."
A kindly old woman with snow-white hair appeared at the end of the corridor, supported by a young maid.
"I am Evette, Lady Juliet's nanny."
The woman who introduced herself as the nanny bowed courteously in the duke's general direction.
The old woman's silvery-gray eyes lacked focus.
Lennox met her oddly misaligned gaze for a moment before asking bluntly.
"You're blind?"
"Yes, that's right."
Juliet's nanny smiled gently in response.
"I've had poor eyesight due to a chronic condition, and for the past five years, I've seen almost nothing. Lady Juliet was kind enough to let me stay on with the family."
Lennox arched an eyebrow slightly.
He could guess the rest.
A blind old nanny, an elderly steward, very old or very young servants. An overgrown garden and a long-neglected, crumbling mansion.
The staff consisted entirely of people no other noble house would hire.
Fewer than twenty souls, all getting along cozily.
He knew they were a fallen noble house, but not to this extent.
Of course. He had never cared, and Juliet had never mentioned it.
Lennox shoved his hands indifferently into his pockets.
They were likely scraping by on income from the family's remaining lands just to keep the mansion afloat.
Barely afloat, that is.
Maintaining an old estate of this size required astronomical sums of money. The current Count Monad mansion was at the point where patching the walls against wind and rain was the best they could do.
Compared to the Carlyle ducal seat in the North, it was less a mansion and more a cottage.
"You seem to be struggling financially."
"Thanks to Your Grace's thoughtful care, we lack for nothing."
Lennox, who had asked casually, doubted his ears.
'.…Me?'
Forgotten Juliet