FJ 25

Chapter: 25

It was a small silver ornament shaped like a dove, made so it could be worn as a brooch on one’s collar.

The wings, crafted from pure silver and half-spread, were exquisitely detailed.

“……”

Juliet suddenly recalled something that had happened the previous spring.

Among the territories of the Northern Ducal House lay a small archipelago riddled with rocky reefs. The islands were difficult to reach even by ship, and fishing there was poor at best.

That archipelago bore the nickname “Carlyle’s Silver Cup.” Despite its unassuming appearance, the silver deposits in its mines were substantial.

That said, throughout the vast northern lands, rare and valuable minerals—mana stones included—were extracted in abundance. Compared to the other mines owned by the ducal family, the silver mine of the Carlyle Archipelago was modest.

Perhaps that was why it had been given such a cute name.

Everyone knew the archipelago held a considerable amount of silver, yet for more than a hundred years, the ducal house had never once issued an order to mine it.

Traditionally, ownership of the archipelago belonged to the duchess of the house.

In other words, it was effectively the duchess’s private property—her personal reserve or emergency fund. But for the past several decades, the Carlyle ducal family had lacked a proper lady of the house.

Juliet herself had lived in the North for seven years, yet she had only learned of the mine’s existence the previous spring.

* * *

“Greetings to the lady of the house!”

An elderly man, dressed in clothes that looked at least a century out of fashion, arrived at the ducal castle.

The moment he saw Juliet, he dropped into a deep, formal court bow.

Juliet, who had been sitting in the rear garden writing letters and had suddenly become the “lady of the house,” froze in confusion.

Seeing her bewilderment, Elliott—the duke’s secretary—hurried over and explained the situation in a low voice.

The old man was the headman of the archipelago. Every ten years, he came to the castle to present the financial accounts, and each time he stubbornly insisted that he could not leave without first greeting the duchess, the rightful owner of the islands.

“Just humor him,” Elliott whispered urgently. “His Grace won’t even ask about it.”

“Last time, Lady Merrill, the head housekeeper, received him in your place. Please—hurry! If you don’t, that old man won’t leave. You wouldn’t really want to let a man on his last legs die of exhaustion here, would you?”

That was the first—and last—time Juliet let Elliott talk her into something.

When she nodded and accepted the greeting, the old man beamed and suddenly clasped her hands.

“This is our humble offering to the duchess.”

At that signal, carts loaded with silver ornaments began filing in behind him.

Startled, Juliet desperately persuaded him to compromise. In the end, she agreed to accept only the smallest item placed atop the first cart—a pair of dove-shaped silver brooches.

“I like this one,” she said hastily. “So… really, this is more than enough.”

The old man looked disappointed for a moment, but upon seeing the dove Juliet had chosen, he nodded in satisfaction.

“As expected of Her Grace—your eye is exceptional! Doves symbolize marital harmony and fertility. When the ducal household is at peace, the North itself prospers, does it not? Now that I, Genopy, have seen such a splendid lady of the house, I can depart this world without regret…”

Sniffling as he wiped away tears, the old man finally withdrew. Once he was gone, Elliott muttered spitefully,

“That old man will still be alive for his next visit—and the one after that, too.”

After the commotion ended and Juliet was left alone again in the garden, she absentmindedly turned the dove ornament over in her hands.

The silver doves, wings spread in harmony, were slightly different in shape.

They had been crafted separately, yet designed to overlap and form a pair.

Studying them closely, Juliet found the groove and carefully fit the two together.

With a soft click, they locked perfectly into place. The two sets of wings overlapped at an angle, looking endearing and affectionate, and Juliet found herself smiling faintly.

Then, suddenly aware of a presence, she looked up—and startled violently, instinctively hiding what she held behind her back.

“This—it’s just—”

“I know.”

A tall man stood at the entrance to the garden. She hadn’t even noticed when he returned.

Though she had done nothing wrong, Juliet felt her face flush.

How much had he seen? As she lowered her gaze in panic, he strode toward her and held out his hand.

Biting her lip, Juliet reluctantly handed over the dove ornament she had hidden.

…Why had she hidden it in the first place?

The realization made her feel foolish—like a child caught stealing.

Too afraid to see his expression, she kept her head bowed while he examined the object in his hand.

“……”

After silently turning the dove’s wings over, the man finally spoke, his voice light with amusement.

“You like cheap trinkets like this?”

At the mockery in his tone, Juliet felt her blood run cold.

The voice was gentle, but the sneer beneath it was unmistakable.

“Answer me, Juliet Monad.”

She didn’t want to look up, but his fingers lifted her chin.

Forced to meet his gaze, she saw him smiling—yet his eyes held no warmth at all.

It was his habit when he was displeased.

At that moment, her strength drained away as countless thoughts flashed through her mind.

What had irritated him this time?

No matter how hard she tried not to offend him, he was a man impossible to please.

The first possibility came to mind immediately.

Was it because she had dared—dared, as nothing more than a mistress—to accept greetings in place of a true duchess?

Or because she seemed greedy, as though coveting the ducal family’s wealth?

Should she explain that she hadn’t meant to steal anything?

“…It’s not cheap.”

Of course, compared to the vast fortune of the ducal house, it was worth less than a feather—but still.

“Give it back. It’s mine.”

Something stubborn rose in her, and Juliet met his eyes squarely as she spoke.

For a brief moment, she wondered if he might throw it away and order her out of the castle.

“……”

Instead, to her surprise, he said nothing and calmly returned the dove brooch to her hand.

Though that afternoon, the man left the ducal castle without a word, using a territory inspection as an excuse—and Juliet wouldn’t see him again for a full week.

And then, a month later, one of the pair of doves she had carefully stored in her jewelry box vanished without a trace.

Still, Juliet never regretted what she had said to him that day.

* * *

In the end, I never found the missing one.

Juliet placed the silver dove—its wings half-spread—beside her empty teacup.

It wasn’t a pleasant memory to revisit, especially right after fleeing.

She remembered how upset she had been after stubbornly insisting it was hers in front of Lennox Carlyle, only to lose one half.

She had torn her room apart searching, but the missing piece never turned up.

Determined not to lose the remaining one, she must have tucked it away in a rarely used handbag—and forgotten about it.

…He won’t be angry that I took it, will he?

A man as wealthy as him would surely have forgotten such a trivial incident.

Juliet came back to herself and lifted her head. The once-empty dining car tables were gradually filling with other passengers.

The cross-continental train, powered by mana stones, was expensive, so there were never many passengers to begin with.

Nobles usually traveled via gates, leaving most passengers to be wealthy commoners.

Should she have another cup of tea?

She wasn’t quite ready to return to her cabin. The panoramic windows here were much larger, and the scenery far more impressive.

After asking a passing attendant for her favorite tea, Juliet hesitated briefly before carefully putting the dove away again.

It’s not like I have any way to return it now anyway.

And since it was pure silver, she could easily sell it if she ever needed money. Calling it a keepsake or a memory was indulgent.

More than anything, Juliet didn’t want to keep a single memento of a former lover.

Her gaze settled calmly on the passing scenery outside the window.

Lennox, who had chased after her the night before, had looked desperate—but only for a moment.

Juliet knew that man wasn’t accustomed to being rejected.

That’s why he was flustered.

He was someone who had rarely lost anything.

The previous night, Lennox Carlyle had changed his schedule and ordered that she be taken straight back to the North.

There had been a minor incident in which Juliet fled and he briefly pursued her—but nothing more.

So perhaps by now, he had already left the capital’s ducal residence in anger, leading his retainers back north.

If so, it would be even easier for him to forget her.

“…You’ll meet her soon.”

Dahlia.

If he had returned north, he would soon—at last—meet the person he had searched for so desperately in his previous life.

* * *

Contrary to Juliet’s expectations, the capital’s ducal residence was not empty at that hour.

Despite the dark pre-dawn sky, lights blazed everywhere, the main gates thrown wide open as bright as midday.

“Sir Hardin! What happened?”

Elliott, who had been waiting all night for his master and the knights to return, rushed forward when he spotted them.

“Where is Miss Juliet—no, His Grace?”

The duke was nowhere to be seen, and the dismounting knights exchanged glances before looking toward the dark forest beyond the estate.

Understanding immediately, Elliott turned pale.

Into the monster-infested forest—at this hour?

Again?

Hardin shook his head heavily.

“You know his habit.”

“……”

Contrary to the rumors, Lennox Carlyle was a model ruler.

Though the temple slandered him as a demon’s child or a debauched tyrant, the duke who governed the North was surprisingly frugal and ascetic.

Outside of work, his leisure generally fell into two categories.

Either he would abruptly go hunting, or he would shut himself away in his private chambers with a lover for days on end.

Other than that, he neither drank excessively nor indulged in drugs or gambling.

Even hunting was considered a healthy expression of his authority.

The North was plagued by monsters, and the people loved a lord who actively hunted them down.

There was just one peculiar habit.

Whenever his temper grew sharp, the duke would walk alone for hours through the most dangerous monster-infested forests.

But Elliott, who knew none of the full story, felt as though lightning had struck him.

Miss Monad disappeared so suddenly…

Without a single word of explanation, the duke had led the knights after her with a murderous expression, leaving Elliott in a state of panic.

And now, instead of bringing Juliet back, the duke had dismissed even the knights and gone into the forest alone.

Walking for hours in such a perilous forest was an old habit of the Duke of Carlyle.

“Kyahaha—!”

“Hii—!”

A faint monster’s scream echoed from the distant woods, making Elliott flinch.

In the end, neither the woman who fled nor the man left behind truly realized it—but over the past seven years, Juliet Monad had slowly come to occupy a significant portion of the Duke of Carlyle’s life.

As proof, the moment she vanished, he had locked himself away in the forest.

“…I wish he would at least drink instead.”

“Or just go inside and sleep.”

Elliott stared anxiously toward the dark forest.

What was happening inside could only be known by one man alone.