Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: I Won't Live Like That Anymore
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*
Lennox bit his lip.
The reunion he had prepared was not meant to turn into such a disaster.
He had repeated to himself countless times that if he caught her, if he found her again, he wouldn't let her get away with it.
How was the baby in her belly? Was there anywhere she hurt? What kind of bastard was this husband of hers?
There were endless questions he needed answers to.
Yet he stayed silent for a long time, hands clasped tightly together.
He couldn't tell her about repeating mismatched vows hundreds of times or pondering dozens of ways each day to kill a man whose face he didn't even know, in all their colorful variety.
Not to Juliet. Not to the woman who had deceived him and run away.
Nor could he admit that even in his imagination, he had never once laid a finger on her.
“.....… What the hell is that?”
“Ah.”
Her skirt hem was soaked as if she'd been doused with water, and her shoes were nowhere in sight.
“A bit…… messy, right.”
Juliet awkwardly brushed the stray hairs clinging to her cheek behind her ear, looking embarrassed.
“Pip!”
He looked down at the sound and saw a black beast—some kind of ferret or oddly shaped cat—wrapped around her ankle with its long tail, glaring at him warily.
It was so ridiculous that his tension melted away.
He was furious because she looked unharmed, relieved because she wasn't injured.
He wasn't even sure if he had the right to ask whether the child in her womb was safe.
Even if he adopted from a collateral branch, he had no intention of passing the family line to his own child.
Let alone having Juliet bear his child.
That had been his stance just a month ago.
If she was going to slip away from him so neatly, she should at least live prosperously to rub it in his face.
What the hell was this mess?
His mind brimmed with thoughts, but they were all words he couldn't bring himself to say aloud.
He had no idea how to voice his feelings.
All he had left was childish bravado.
That he'd bowed his head to the emperor just to catch one woman? That he'd prepared the most lavish, extravagant wedding?
How could he possibly say any of that?
“I heard you're getting married.”
"......"
“Congratulations. I won't be able to attend in person, but…….”
“What?”
“That person wouldn't like it if I showed up.”
“…… Do you really think so?”
“Yes.”
He was going insane.
“Juliet Monad.”
“Yes.”
“Should I beg?”
“.....… Your Highness?”
“Without you.”
Lennox gritted his teeth.
“What kind of wedding is it without a bride?”
"....… Pardon?"
Juliet's eyes widened as if she couldn't comprehend his words.
She looked utterly shocked, as though the idea that she was the star of that wedding had never crossed her mind.
Juliet stared at him blankly for a moment before blurting out.
“By whose say-so?”
“What?”
“I'm not doing that sort of thing anymore, Your Highness.”
'That sort of thing.'
But Juliet's words didn't stop there.
“You always did it like that. Like tossing alms to a beggar.”
Her voice was steady as she spoke.
Lennox might have thought she was oblivious, but Juliet knew. Those occasional favors, doled out like acts of charity.
But he had no idea how wretched she felt in those moments, parched for even a shred of affection amid the condescension.
“You don't need to apologize to me. Or take responsibility for me.”
She carefully chose her words.
He was innately indifferent to other people. That was just who he was.
There wasn't any malice in it. That was precisely why she'd hated him all the more once.
“As Your Highness knows, we never had a future together.”
Juliet still remembered it vividly.
“You said that even if I got pregnant, you wouldn't let me keep it.”
“You told me you didn't want a child from me.”
“Damn it, that's why I'm offering to marry you!”
He regretted the outburst the instant it left his mouth. This wasn't how he wanted to press her—by shouting.
“Your Highness.”
But Juliet responded calmly.
“If I have a child, I won't make them live like I did.”
There was always something Juliet had envied when she saw Dahlia, Lady Priscilla, or the other young ladies.
A child who is loved doesn't have to watch others' expressions. No need to live in constant fear of being discarded.
“That won't change even if I go back with you now.”
It would just be the same vicious cycle all over again.
“I don't want to live like that anymore. I just want to live my own way.”
She had endured far too much.
It's what you wanted, wasn't it? Fine, whatever—she was too exhausted to keep brushing it off. Juliet no longer believed in love.
“So there's no need for you to come looking for me anymore. And I'm sorry.”
“Because there's nothing more I can offer you.”
Lennox gritted his teeth at her final words.
“Um…… and.”
Juliet spoke with utter composure, as if she harbored no regrets whatsoever.
“Sorry, but could you drop me off at the coast?”
“My shoes…… got ruined.”
The man, who had seemed ready to drag her off by force, gazed down at Juliet in silence for a long while.
Then, just as she had asked, he set her down at the coast and drove away.
**
The next dawn, Juliet took the baby dragon to the forest behind the beach.
'This forest has rabbits and deer, and since it's a legendary magic beast, it should be able to hunt on its own and live just fine.'
Juliet kept agonizing over where to leave the baby dragon.
The baby dragon scurried about curiously, sniffing here and there in the forest it was seeing for the first time.
But when Juliet tested it by turning and walking a short distance away,
“Pip!”
The baby dragon came dashing after her in a panic.
It didn't know how to use its wings yet—it tripped in its haste but scrambled right back up and toddled after her.
“……What am I supposed to do if you keep following me?”
Juliet watched the baby dragon for a moment before collapsing onto the sand.
“I can't take care of you……”
Whether it understood her or not, the baby dragon clung to her and nuzzled affectionately. It clearly had no clue.
'Of course. What would a three-day-old hatchling know?'
Tears suddenly surged forth.
“Pip.”
“……”
The baby dragon floundered in confusion and let out a pitiful wail beside her.
“I can barely take care of myself, you get it?”
“……Pip?”
The baby dragon cocked its head solemnly.
“…Just until your wings grow out fully.”
Juliet scooped up the baby dragon.
Did this little dragon grasp the enormity of the decision she had just made?
“Pip!”
Hoisted suddenly into the air, the baby dragon wagged its tail excitedly.
* * *
Thud!
Fresh from Alje Beach, Lennox strode straight into the enormous bathtub without undressing.
Thick steam swiftly filled the vast bathroom. He sank into the scalding water—hot enough to induce vertigo—and closed his eyes.
Like drowning slowly……
He was sinking.
'If only I can see her.'
He had repeated to himself dozens of times a day that he wouldn't let her off easy.
'How exactly won't I let her off?'
He had thought that if even a single strand of her hair was out of place, there would be hell to pay.
So, once he saw her.
Saw her? And then what? What had he thought would change?
It wasn't as if he believed he could talk her into it.
No, he had been arrogant.
Because he was still convinced she harbored feelings for him.
Juliet Monad's pure affection had always been transparent. Even when she declared her disappointment and intent to leave, she had been utterly honest about her emotions.
"I've been good all this time, haven't I?"
It was pure Juliet to lay it all out so plainly: that she'd gone out of her way not to be a burden, solely to avoid being cast aside by him.
"So just let me go, okay?"
Leave? Him?
Ridiculous.
He let out a cold scoff.
As if he could ever let Juliet Monad go.
Juliet Monad had been the perfect lover. Bound by their past connection, she had always come meekly whenever he reached out.
Unlike other women, she never pestered him for affection or attention, never got under his skin.
But.
When had it begun?
When had this convenient woman—one he could dismiss at any moment—become the one vulnerability he could never afford to lose.
"Let me go."
"Wasn't I pretty good all this time?"
From the moment the woman, who had only ever known to cast her eyes downward submissively, first uttered the word "parting" herself.
That was when the winds reversed.