Chapter 11
It was around the summer of last year when they went to the Summer Palace in the Northern territory to spend their summer vacation there.
A strange woman came looking for him with a boy she claimed to be his child.
“My child?”
That’s what the strange woman claimed.
“Yes, that’s right!”
Normally, she would have been blocked by the guards before she could even reach him. However, since they were staying in a temporary place to spend their summer vacation, the security discipline was not as strict compared to the Karlyle mansion.
During the vacation, when he asked Juliet what she wanted to do, she said that she wanted to try riding a boat on the lake nearby.
After spending three whole days in the bedroom, he agreed to her request without much thought.
Upon hearing his approval, a rare bright smile graced Juliet’s face as she excitedly went in to prepare herself to go out.
It was then that an absent-minded new recruit mistook the strange woman for Juliet and let her in.
TL/N: Wut he mistook her for Juliet? Did this guard have his eyes installed on his feet or something? -.-
Lennox had been laying on the bed like a laid-back black leopard when he received the uninvited guest.
“This is your son. Look at him.”
He neither remembered the face nor the name of the woman. Was she some actress’s maid or something?
The woman confidently presented the boy dressed like a doll in front of him. The boy who looked to be about 10 years old was dressed in a blouse with a flashy brooch attached to it, shorts, and a hat.
The boy, who was shivering for some reason, could not even make eye contact with him.
Lennox spoke after looking at the boy for a few seconds.
“He’s a little big for being seven years old.”
“T-T-That’s…..because he’s your child, Duke! Eric will be a great knight just like you!”
The woman, who had been flustered for a moment, proudly pushed the boy in front of Lennox again, taking off the boy’s hat to show off his hair.
“You can tell just by looking at his hair and his red eyes. Eric is your son, Duke.”
Lennox gazed again at the frightened boy.
Everyone in the Empire knew that the children of the Karlyle household were all born with black hair and red eyes.
Ruby red that frighteningly resembled the blood drop of a white dove.
The red eyes were the only reason that the household of Karlyle was able to stand for so long without any internal battle of the legitimacy of the heirs happening.
And this woman, whose face he doesn’t remember, brought to him a child who had black hair and red eyes.
“My son you say.”
Lennox muttered in a low voice as he got up from his seat.
At that moment, the secretary Elliot who had been away resolving other matters, heard what happened and had rushed over to the Duke’s bedroom.
“Your Highness!”
Seeing the sight of the woman and the boy, Elliot turned pale.
“I apologize, due to my absence from my position for a while……”
“Never mind. Let it be.”
“Pardon?”
Lennox placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders and smiled as he spoke to Elliot.
“Before that, Elliot, come have a look, she’s saying that this is my son.”
“Y-Your Highness…”
“What do you think, does he resemble me?”
Lennox bent down and made eye contact with the frozen boy.
“You said your name was Eric?”
He spoke in such a soft and friendly voice.
It seemed that Lennox’s handsome features had an effect on the boy because at once, the once frozen child had relaxed, smiling at him while nodding.
And at that moment, Lennox’s hand reached for the large brooch and snatched it off the boy’s blouse.
“Th…!”
Before the surprised woman could say anything,
Crunch!
He had crushed the brooch.
With the brooch, broken, the boy’s original hair and eye colors were revealed.
“You’ve used that brain of yours fairly well.”
Lennox murmured while looking down at the crushed brooch that was a cheap magic item that changed one’s hair and eye color.
The woman, who had just snapped out of her shock, tried to rush towards him but was stopped by the knights who had already been summoned.
“T-T-There must be some kind of mis….!”
“Elliot.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Drag them out of here.”
After giving a quick order, Lennox tried to turn back, not bothering with the screaming of the woman and the crying of the child.
However, before even taking a few steps towards the door, he found a woman standing absentmindedly at the entrance of the hall.
She stood with one hand placed on the marble pillar, as though she would have fallen down if she wasn’t supporting herself like that.
‘Juliet……?’
Lennox wanted to ask how long had she been standing there but hesitated.
Juliet wasn’t looking at him.
Her gaze was fixed on the woman that was being dragged away and the child beside her that was crying.
“Y-You’re making a mistake, Duke! This child is your child!”
TL/N: Suuure he is Karen -.-
The woman kept shouting as she was being dragged out.
Lennox realized that he was clenching his fist unconsciously.
He was looking at her, but Juliet wasn’t looking at him.
She couldn’t take her eyes of the mother and child that were being dragged as if something had possessed her.
After they were dragged away by the guards, the screaming and crying in the hall had died down, leaving only Juliet and him in the large hall.
Only then did Juliet turn her gaze towards his direction.
Their eyes finally met, but he couldn’t say anything.
Juliet, too, only looked at him in silence with a pale face and eyes holding unknown thoughts.
The pale-faced Juliet didn’t look at him with reproach or surprise. She just started at him with her calm, still blue eyes.
Just as she had always done.
***
For Lennox Karlyle, this was a happening that wasn’t even funny.
In the first place, it wasn’t an easy thing for the men of the Karyle household to have children. According to the passed down legend, the reason may have been that a distant ancestor that wasn’t human had their blood infused into the family.
Thanks to that, the concept of illegitimate children was an unfamiliar thing in the Dukal household.
In addition to that, Lennox had never had a long enough relationship with a woman for such a thing to even be considered. The one and only exception of course was Juliet Monad.
However, the swindlers didn’t know of the legend. There were countless swindlers who tried to approach the Duke wanting to extort money, believing only in the story of the children of the Karlye household to have red eyed children.
But did he explain the legend to Juliet, or did he not?
After that incident, he became very agitated. All he could remember was that he had cancelled boat riding and the rest of the vacation schedule. And, he had immediately retired to the Dukal mansion.
He hasn’t explained anything to her.
Juliet didn’t ask since he hated wasting time.
Instead of holding on to her and explaining everything, Lennox had just walked past her, leaving her alone.
And as expected, Juliet, who had remained there, did not follow him out or ask for any sort of explanation.
‘She had been excited just like a child about the boat ride.’
After saying that they were heading back to the mansion, the woman quietly climbed into the carriage without asking why.
Throughout the way back, Juliet kept staring out the window without saying anything, and he also didn’t utter a single word to the woman who was sitting silently beside him.
Damn it.
Their relationship has been like this from the very beginning.
He didn’t explain anything and Juliet never asked anything. For too long that’s how he thought a relationship should be.
Since it’s a relationship that’s going to end anyway.
A woman that would part ways with him at any time.
Rather than needless words going back and forth, he thought a short light kiss would be more than enough.
But maybe he shouldn’t have done that.
If she hadn’t asked, should he have held her and asked her what she was thinking?
Though too late, Lennox thought of some possibilities that could have happened on that day.
Maybe, Juliet, who had come to find him, didn’t see the moment when the woman’s lies were revealed.
She might have just seen the scene when Lennox ordered the woman and her crying child to be dragged out.
Or maybe she might have only seen the back of a man who turned his back coldly after claiming that the child wasn’t his own.
After the man had walked away without a single word, Juliet remained in that hall for a long time.
What thoughts crossed her mind when she was alone?
On the horse that was galloping madly towards the estate, Lennox clenched his jaw.
“No reason.”
“Just please let me leave.”
“Wasn’t I good throughout all this time?”
A faint smile and an impatient attitude, it was as though she was hiding something.
Lennox didn’t think of what he had to do, but one thought was clear to him.
He had to meet Juliet.
He had to meet her and ask her.
He needed to ask what is scaring her like this that’s making her want to run away.
He had to explain that the worst things that she has imagined, none of it is true.
The black horse, which was of a good breed, reached the Estate at a remarkable speed.
As soon as Lennox arrived at the Estate, he jumped off the horse which was breathing heavily.
The Estate’s front yard was cluttered with carriages and servants carrying luggages in preparation to leave for the North, just as he had ordered.
“M-Master?”
The butler of the Estate saw Lennox and went towards him in a hurry.
“Juliet?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked you where Juliet is?”
“Oh…the Miss just headed to the detached building a moment ago…..”
Lennox did not wait for the butler to finish speaking and headed straight for the detached building.
“Lord!”
The knights, who had followed him, had just arrived at the front yard. Meanwhile, Lennox had already pushed open the door to the building and was climbing up the stairs to the second floor.
“……..Juliet?”
But when he had opened the door to her lit room on the second floor, it was empty.
A room with no owner.
All that was left was a butterfly surrounder with a bluish light flying around the room.