Chapter 24

- ...Lennox, please stop.

A woman with disheveled long hair crumbling on her back lay on the icy stone floor and cried.

The blue butterflies hovering around her slowly crumbled into small fragments, settling dust on the floor.

One of the butterflies that had not yet disappeared, flickered weakly in the semi-darkness, barely moving its wings, as if trying to resist.

A woman with light brown hair lay near the man's feet and begged him for mercy.

This picture was a pathetic sight, but the man's gaze remained cold when he looked at her from top to bottom, with an indifferent face.

No matter how much effort she made to be with him, she could not win the heart of her cold lover.

- .... I'm very sorry. I won't bother you anymore.

I wanted to stay with you, even if you didn't love me.

From the very beginning, he told me not to count on anything, but in the end I became obsessed with him.

I couldn't stop these thoughts.

Maybe deep down I was even flattered thinking that I had become special for him.

For this man who never allowed anyone to stay with him for a long time except her.

I assured myself that if I waited for him, one day he would give me a piece of his heart.

I believed and endured.

But all my vain hopes collapsed in an instant.

- ..... I'll never talk about her again. No, I won't even pronounce her name.

I was normal about the fact that he never told me affectionate words and never smiled.

Because this man did not pay attention to anyone equally.

But then a woman appeared and my life turned into unbearable flour. She was the only one for whom this ruthless man made an exception.

He smiled warmly and said gentle words only to her.

And, as it turned out, the place next to him always remained empty, as if he was just waiting for the day when it appeared.

Only then did I realize that everything was an illusion from the very beginning.

But it was too late.

- Lennox, please, our child...

- Juliet Montagu.

He cut her off as if he could no longer listen to what she was saying, then stretched out his hand and raised her chin.

With her eyes with tears, she looked at him in despair. But all she saw was just red eyes without any emotions.

- I warned you not to wait for anything.

In the end, I was even ready to give up my pride, as long as it allowed me to give birth to a child and live on. However, the only thing I received was an arrogant smile permeated with cold indifference.

- I don't think it was hard to misunderstand me. So since when did you decide that there are "we"?

****

Juliet suddenly woke up from her sleep and opened her eyes wide. Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes.

Tudukh, tudukh.

Continuous vibration, ceiling lines filled with daylight and the small single bed on which she was lying helped her realize that it was just a dream.

Juliet slowly began to return to reality.

Waking up from her sleep, she was still lying numb on the bed for a while, trying to shake off the remnants of a nightmare.

"I don't think it was hard to misunderstand me."

A cold voice was still echoing in her ears.

- No, it's not.

Juliet slowly spread her lips and said these words by ear, as if trying to convince herself.

- I was able to escape.

Yes. She wasn't next to him anymore. So it was just a nightmare that didn't happen in this reality.

- It's just a dream.

What happened then will never happen again in this life, because she, of course, was not going to return to him.

It's not the first time she've seen this nightmare, so she's even got used to it a little bit.

- I'll be fine.

Trying to calm down, she touched the pearl necklace she usually wore around her neck.

The cold and smooth surface of the pearls brought her some relief.

It was not so much a necklace as Rosario (Rosario, rosary used for prayer), which was made of small pearls.

The only difference from the usual Rosario was a tiny silver key on it instead of a cross.

It was not very expensive, as the pearls were small, but for Juliet it was the most expensive in the world. Since it was a gift to her late mother, Countess Montagu.

Juliet groped the necklace locks with her fingertips. She could read what was written there without even looking at the elegantly engraved letters from the inside.

Lillian Seneca.

Lillian - that was the name of her mother, Countess Montagu.

As far as Juliet was aware, her mother's name was Lillian Mayfair, not Lillian Seneca.

So where did Senek's name come from?

Juliet was very interested in this fact, but she knew little about her mother.

"I should have asked her more about it."

The only thing Juliet knew about her mother's family was that she came from the East, and that she had a low status, although she was a woman of extraordinary beauty.

Almost all members of her family were dead, so she was orphaned.

As far as Juliet remembered, her father told her that he fell in love with her mother at first sight and immediately began to passionately take care of her. Her mother eventually gave up and agreed to marry him when he proposed to her.

In fact, Juliet has never heard of her mother's family, except that she seems to have been the daughter of a knight.

And what was most surprising was that Juliet knew almost nothing about her mother.

For this reason, she decided to go to the East.

Despite the fact that her mother was buried in the imperial cemetery for aristocrats, she did not find a single mention of a family named Seneca in the register of nobles.

Therefore, Juliet thought that perhaps her mother never belonged to the aristocracy of the empire.

When two people from different social strata marry, it often happened that society was suspicious of the origin of a child born to them, which could cause problems with inheritance in the future.

For this reason, some commoners bought pedigree from ruined families of aristocrats, after which they could safely marry other aristocrats.

According to Juliet, this assumption could well have been true.

Since the capital of the empire was in the West, and members of the aristocracy of capital society are people who do not take seriously those who are outside it.

Therefore, if she were an aristocrat of no status from the East, she could do it.

Juliet also asked her mother's friends, but they couldn't tell her anything either, as they became close friends only after she became Countess of Montagu. So they didn't know for sure what kind of person Lillian was before marriage.

Even the servants who worked in the mansion for a long time claimed that they knew nothing about the family of the late countess.

As a result, all the search for any information about her mother ended in nothing, since no one in the capital knew the name Lillian Seneca.

After thinking about it a little more, Juliet got out of bed.

A kind of cozy single compartment immediately appeared before her eyes.

Then, looking at the big window, she saw a rapidly rushing landscape.

After watching him for a while, Juliet still looked away from the window, got out of bed and made the bed.

Tuk-tuk

- Are you up yet, miss? Good morning!

She opened the door in the compartment and saw a conductor with a towel in her hands.

- We have hot water if you want to drink tea. And if you're hungry, I can make you breakfast!

The girl who looked a little younger than Juliet was dressed in uniforms serving the train staff.

Juliet just nodded at her funny question.

Waiting for breakfast to be brought to her, Juliet took out her suitcase and began to change clothes.

At the same time, she deliberately tried to think about pleasant changes in her life. Because she needed it to get rid of her nightmares and the unpleasant feeling she had from the previous evening.

So, what should we think about? We need something bright and fun.

It was the first time she slept on the train. No, not even so. It was the first time she traveled like this.

Thinking about it, Juliet suddenly looked out the window instead of putting her clothes in order.

For an adult unmarried girl, being alone on a journey unaccompanied by at least a maid was very unusual.

Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary suspicion, Juliet rented a single compartment, saying that she was going to visit her husband.

On the list of passengers of the train, she was recorded as Lillian Seneca.

Juliet thought that her mother's unknown maiden name would help her hide her true identity.

On the one hand, it was a cover, but if she is lucky, she will be able to meet someone who knows the name "Lilian Seneca" in the East.

Having carefully combed her long hair, she looked thoughtfully at the fake name on her identity card.

According to Juliet's fictional story, Lillian Seneca's husband worked in the East.

Although it was the third year of their marriage, they spent a lot of time separately, so they had no children, but still they loved each other very much.

As a girl who grew up in a conservative family, Mrs. Seneca loved to wear dark closed dresses so as not to flaunt all the charms of her body.

Although, if you take a closer look, you could notice that her black dress was a rather luxurious outfit with beautiful lace and ruffles.

In this case, she also prepared a plausible story.

Mrs. Seneca's family owned a fabric store for many generations, so it didn't matter even if her clothes looked better than she could afford according to her status.

Juliet liked her fake personality.

To match her lower status, she carefully styled her hair and put on a black veil.

If anyone saw her now, it is very unlikely that they could recognize her.

But even if someone recognized her, Mrs. Seneca would naturally deny everything.

Juliet's gaze suddenly fell on a small suitcase when she was correcting a veil on her hair.

"Oh... and it seemed to me that I left everything behind."

Juliet's open lips slowly sighed when she noticed the suitcase.