Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: The Contract
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*
“Ah.”
“Ah, Your Highness.”
Only then did Juliet notice him, flashing a radiant smile as she welcomed him.
“You’re here.”
For someone who had stood him up all day, it was a remarkably innocent smile.
“...Let’s talk.”
Lennox dragged her out to the outdoor balcony. Juliet followed him obediently without any resistance.
Despite the chilly weather, Juliet was dressed in a deep blue gown that fully exposed her shoulders and back. The vivid blue, shimmering like starlight, accentuated her smooth skin.
Even that irritated him.
Lennox thought absently.
There had definitely been a white fur stole to match that dress, draped over the shoulders. Where had she left it, just coming out like this?
Unknowingly, his eyes traced the line of her collarbone.
A sparkling necklace adorning Juliet’s neck caught his gaze. It was quite luxurious, with two long strands of thin diamonds layered together.
It suited her dress, and he had seen it a few times before, but he frowned.
The one he had sent to Juliet that morning...
“I sent the necklace this morning. Didn’t you get it?”
“I did.”
“And?”
Instead of answering, Juliet tilted her head slightly, as if she had no idea why he was asking such a thing.
Lennox Carlyle was not the meticulous type to fuss over every gift for his lover, nor did he have the leisure for it.
“I’m asking why you didn’t wear it.”
Even as he said it, the words sounded ridiculous to him.
Lennox Carlyle had never asked anything like that before. He knew he was asking something strange.
Wasn’t he acting like a petulant child?
Lennox Carlyle felt strangely anxious.
In their relationship, he had always been the one in control. He had never been at a disadvantage in any human relationship.
But now, Lennox wondered suspiciously. Had there ever truly been such a thing as control in their relationship?
The woman who was making him act so strangely suddenly smiled brightly.
“The necklace... I was thrilled. Thank you for the gift.”
It was as if she were soothing a sulky child.
“But it was too expensive and precious, so I was scared I’d lose it and sent it back to the mansion. The outfit and accessories for tonight’s banquet were chosen weeks ago anyway.”
Juliet’s answer made perfect sense.
Lennox Carlyle could find no fault in her words. Yet despite that, her calm demeanor only grated on his nerves more.
For some reason, he recalled the handkerchief Juliet had given him a few years ago.
The one with his initials embroidered on it.
“Tell me.”
“Do you remember what you gave me for my birthday last year?”
Last winter?
Lennox couldn’t understand why Juliet was hesitating so much over such a simple question.
“Lapis lazuli from Algiers.”
To be precise, it was a lapis lazuli mine.
“...Yes, that’s right. You remember.”
Juliet smiled purely.
But for some reason, Lennox felt that wasn’t the answer she had wanted.
“I have something to give you too, Your Highness.”
On Juliet’s wrist hung a small silk pouch meant for holding a folding fan. But what was inside was not a fan.
“Here, I’ll return this.”
“What is it?”
What she held out was a single thinly rolled scroll.
Lennox unrolled it casually and was slightly surprised.
It was something he remembered.
Seven years ago, the contract they had drawn up.
It was common to write premarital agreements, but Juliet had demanded one as a condition for becoming his lover.
“It might mean nothing to you, Your Highness, but it means something to me.”
He had thought that if she wanted monetary compensation after they broke up, that would be fine too.
But what Juliet had demanded was not that.
It was a strange condition.
[If either Party A or Party B no longer wishes to continue the relationship, they shall part ways through amicable agreement.]
“If another partner appears or for any other reason you want to break up, then we end it. That’s my condition.”
“Amicable agreement.”
In other words, it was a bit cumbersome, but what she wanted was a clean break for both of them.
Somewhat absurdly, Lennox had signed it without much thought. It was a condition with no downside for him.
But he hadn’t considered the possibility that she might be the one to leave him first.
“Juliet Monad.”
“Are you angry?”
Juliet smiled brightly.
She was smiling, but she somehow looked exhausted.
“I thought you’d have forgotten, Your Highness.”
Lennox couldn’t understand.
He was the one clinging, and she was the one talking about breaking up.
Yet why did she, the one leaving him, look more resigned and hurt?
“What’s the reason.”
“Just... Let me go.”
“Juliet.”
“Haven’t I done pretty well all this time?”
“What?”
“I didn’t do anything Your Highness dislikes. Ah... Well, I did use the butterflies without permission sometimes.”
“.......”
“But I really tried hard. I didn’t cry or bother you. But in a week, I’ll be twenty-five.”
Juliet quietly smiled as she touched her nape. Lennox still couldn’t get that white, slender neckline out of his mind.
“So now, I just want to live quietly and ordinarily, like everyone else.”
“Ordinarily?”
“Yes.”
That word grated on his ears. Didn’t it sound like she was unhappy because life by his side wasn’t ordinary?
“Then isn’t now ordinary?”
Juliet looked up at him with a momentarily blank expression, then burst into laughter.
Laughing?
Seeing his icy expression, Juliet stopped laughing.
“If that offended you, I’m sorry. But Your Highness isn’t ordinary.”
She added, and her profile somehow looked a little forlorn.
“In fact, you never have been.”
The light spilling from the banquet hall cast false shadows on Juliet’s downcast lashes.
Lennox recalled how Juliet had watched the young ladies her age from afar in the banquet hall earlier.
“Yes?”
Marry ordinarily, like everyone else, have children and raise them?
Lennox sneered coldly.
Ridiculous.
He irritably loosened and removed his cravat.
“I can’t listen to this anymore.”
He immediately wrapped his arm around Juliet’s shoulders and left the banquet hall.
Juliet, who had been dragged out with a bewildered expression, finally stopped in surprise upon seeing the duke’s carriage waiting right in front of the hall.
“Your Highness!”
“The party’s over.”
“Lennox! Wait, I still have something to say...”
Of course, he didn’t listen.
He put Juliet in the carriage, closed the door, and said to the escort knight in the coachman’s seat.
“We’re returning north.”
“Lennox!”
The startled Juliet shouted from inside the carriage, but he cleanly ignored her and ordered the coachman.
“When we arrive at the mansion, tell them to prepare to leave immediately.”
“Pardon? Tonight?”
“Yes.”
Lennox glanced back.
The duke’s wolves in black armor stood silently waiting for him.