You Are Gentle, But You Don’t Love Me - Chapter 4

“Hello, Juliet.”

It was the same greeting as a few days ago.

However, their positions were reversed. Juliet, sitting under the gazebo and reading a book, lowered her gaze toward the direction of the greeting.

“……”

Standing in the middle of the garden, Cassio looked up at her, bathed in sunlight. As Juliet’s gaze reached him, he squinted slightly as if dazzled and smiled.

Even with his brows furrowed, his deep red eyebrows gently drooped, softening his expression.
“Your Grace.”

As Juliet attempted to rise from her chair, he waved her off with a hand.
“Oh, no need. Please, don’t get up.”

The book resting on her lap fluttered its pages in the breeze.
As she quietly watched her pale fingertips slice through the sunlight, she closed the book she had been reading.

In the meantime, Cassio leapt up to the gazebo with a swift motion. His movements remained as effortless as ever.
“You can keep reading if you’d like.”

“No, it’s fine.”

When he stepped into the shade of the gazebo, the creases on his forehead smoothed out, revealing a completely smiling face.
Juliet placed her hand over the book, covering it as though to shield it.
“It’s really fine.”

Cassio approached Juliet with an elegant and fluid motion, like a mermaid gliding through water.

“Hmm… I just picked something random from the library, but it’s not really to my taste.”

“Ah, so I gave you an excuse to put down a boring book?”
“You could say that.”

Cassio was suddenly standing right next to her. Juliet let out a small sigh.

A faint, slightly bitter scent of herbs wafted through the air. It was unfamiliar to Juliet, but it was a scent she occasionally caught from her family’s physician.

“A medicinal scent.”

Feigning ignorance, she lifted her gaze toward him with a faint smile on her lips.

“Juliet.”

“Your Grace.”

The two spoke simultaneously before falling silent again. Cassio’s brows drooped slightly, as if in slight discomfort.
He was someone who knew how to use his expressions freely, whether consciously or unconsciously.

Even when his brows drooped in the same way, sometimes it conveyed a gentle ease, while at other times it suggested discomfort.

“Shall I let you go first?”

Whichever it was, his face always exuded a sense of kindness.
“…Alright.”

“Good, Juliet.”

He was unreasonably kind to Juliet.

Was he like this three years ago? She couldn’t quite remember. Then or now, Juliet’s expressions were always a little awkward and stiff, as if she didn’t know what to do.

“Would you like to have tea together?”

At his words, Juliet’s face truly betrayed a look of not knowing what to do.

“…You’ll find it boring.”

After a brief hesitation, Juliet gave a polite refusal.

It wasn’t that she disliked him. It was simply because she knew herself to be dull company. Juliet was never much of a conversationalist, nor did she have any particularly amusing stories to share.

Since their marriage, and especially after he had left, Juliet hadn’t met anyone.

She didn’t want to meet anyone.

“No way.”

But Cassio didn’t give up. Instead, he made full use of his handsome face.

“How could I ever find time with you boring?”

His eyelids lowered gently, his pale green eyes mostly hidden. Though his cheeks were drawn up in a smile, his lips curved downward ever so slightly.

It wasn’t easy to smile so brightly while also looking a little forlorn. Yet he managed it effortlessly.

“It will be a happy, delightful, and beautiful afternoon. As long as you’re with me.”

“……”

“Won’t you join me?”

Juliet had no idea how to deal with someone who made such an expression. Let alone someone who asked so kindly with such a face.

“Juliet, won’t you have tea with me?”

In the end, Juliet nodded. Seeing her agreement, Cassio arched his brows in a playful motion.

Juliet looked at him curiously, almost absentmindedly, before rising from her seat.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, my summer already feels full of blessings.”

Even as he whispered sweetly to her, Juliet tilted her head slightly in secret, puzzled by his words.
‘Was he always like this? He’s always been rather kind, but….’
A man who uttered such embarrassingly sweet words as easily as breathing? That didn’t seem like him.

Perhaps it was simply that Juliet hadn’t known. After all, the time they spent together was far too short.

Five days and five nights. And even during those brief days, they had hardly faced each other.

They were both busy hosting guests. Wedding receptions were, as always, busiest for the main participants.

‘Well, in any case… it’s fine.’

Looking at Cassio standing in the sunlight below the gazebo, Juliet thought briefly. About how he kept pestering her to have tea with him.

‘This will be the last time.’

As she had admitted herself, Juliet was a dull person. Cassio would surely regret it soon.

‘He’ll think, “I shouldn’t have invited such a boring woman to tea.”’

Cassio, who had been standing at the bottom of the stairs, only resumed walking once Juliet stood beside him.

The rustling of the silver poplar leaves behind them sounded almost like waves crashing in the distance. Even long after they had left the gazebo, the sound lingered in her ears.

Yet, the moment they stepped inside the castle, the sound vanished entirely.

“Your Grace.”

“Duchess.”

As if instructed in advance, the maids waiting in a neat line lowered their heads.

“Let’s head to the drawing room.”

Cassio took the lead, and Juliet quickly followed by his side. The maids trailed behind them. Their small procession moved silently, not a single footstep breaking the quiet.
Feeling the weight of the maids’ gazes behind her, Juliet instinctively straightened her posture. She still held the book in her hand, clasped behind her back as though hiding it.
“Oh, hold on. Let me.”

Before long, they arrived at the drawing room. Cassio briskly waved away the maids who moved to open the door and pushed it open himself.

“Tada!”

With a wide grin, he ushered Juliet inside.

“I prepared everything.”

“……”
Beyond his outstretched arms, a table covered with a white lace cloth came into view.

The tableware, neatly arranged, and the plates piled with golden-brown pastries and neatly cut sandwiches were all a pristine white.

The sunlight streaming through the windows glinted off the gold-trimmed vine patterns that adorned the edges of the teacups.
“How is it? Do you like it?”

“…Yes.”

Juliet found herself nodding without realizing it. Everywhere her eyes landed was filled with things perfectly suited to her tastes.

‘How…?’

“Don’t just stand there staring. Come over here.”

Cassio strode toward the table and quickly pulled out a chair, gesturing toward Juliet with a tilt of his head.

“Have a seat.”

Juliet stared at him blankly for a moment before handing the book she was holding to the maid standing behind her and following him.

“…Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it.”

After helping her settle comfortably in her seat, Cassio sat down across from her.

While the maids brewed tea and warmed the cups, the two sat in silence, facing each other.

The soft sound of water pouring and the light, refreshing aroma that filled the air soon enveloped the table.

“So, was it really boring?”

When Cassio finally spoke, Juliet struggled to hide her dismay.
“‘A War Diary.’”

A War Diary.

A book that seemed to deliberately compile only the most brutal aspects of war, filling every page with grim and harrowing tales.

It was the book Juliet had been carrying, the title of which she had tried to hide from him.

‘When did he see it?’

She had been so careful to ensure the title wasn’t visible.
“Isn’t that the title? …Yes.”

The warm tea released wisps of steam. Though the weather was as mild as could be, the heat wasn’t enough to be bothersome. Not that it mattered—Juliet drank hot tea even in the height of summer.

She lifted the teacup to her lips, partially shielding her face.
It was a wise move.

“Are you curious about war?”

Had she not, she might have revealed the stiffness in her expression.

His voice, still gentle and kind, now carried a faint but unmistakable sharpness.

‘Is he angry?’
Cassio had lived through a war and was injured because of it. It was only natural for him to be upset if someone next to him, out of mere curiosity, sought to know more about war.
‘But still….’

Juliet lowered her gaze to the tea in her cup, her reflection faintly rippling in the red liquid.
Aside from her mouth, hidden by the cup, her face was as calm and expressionless as ever. Dry and detached, like a doll’s.
“Or, are you curious about me?”

But his next question shook her composure. It hit her straight to the core.

“……”

Of all the books in the library, why had she picked A War Diary?
The answer was obvious: Cassio Bellanea.

Of course, the events described in the book and what he had experienced were different. But she still wanted to know. To understand, even just a little, the days he had lived.
But after just a few pages, she found she couldn’t turn the next.

‘During the last three years, did you spend peaceful, blessed summers here?’

Had Cassio endured such horrors? The man who always seemed bathed in golden sunlight, radiating beauty.

The terrifying things done by those clinging to survival, unable to guarantee even the next few hours. The collapse of morals and humanity at the thin boundary between life and death….
‘I wish you had.’

Perhaps that was why she hoped, even if just for him, that the days had been serene.

The thought kept circling in her mind.

‘I didn’t even get through a few pages.’
Juliet stole a glance at Cassio, seated across from her. It was such a fleeting look that their eyes met instantly.

He was still smiling.