#10. You’re a Man Too

“Yes. Please speak.”

Chloe spoke, hoping for an easy question.

“Before that, we need some ventilation.”

Instead of asking his question, he casually ordered ventilation. Though slightly annoyed, Chloe quickly opened the window and returned.

“Are there any blondes among the servants working in this house? Blonde hair about this length.”

The Duke spread his hands about 60cm apart as he spoke.

Blonde?

Not only were there few blondes, but in this house with only male servants, there definitely wouldn’t be anyone with hair that long.

“As far as I know, there’s no one with hair that length… but since I don’t know all the servants, it might be better to ask the butler.”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Pardon?”

She couldn’t readily understand the Duke’s words.

Though she also thought there wouldn’t be any, if he already knew so well, why did he ask?

“There isn’t a single servant in the Wulfaz duchy with hair this length. Nor is there anyone with such bright and soft blonde hair.”

“……!”

Blonde hair about 60cm long, bright in color with soft texture.

A very familiar image came to mind. It was Chloe’s own hair.

But there was no way she could be the owner of the hair the Duke was talking about. Her blonde hair was perfectly concealed by a brown wig.

Still, she had to suppress the urge to touch her head to check if the wig hadn’t slipped or if she hadn’t forgotten to put it on.

“My house is not allowed to employ female servants.”

Chloe’s face darkened at the Duke’s somewhat contextless words. The shift in topic from hair to female servants somehow felt ominous.

“And women aren’t allowed in the house either. You know this well, don’t you?”

“Yes, I know.”

Chloe barely managed to answer while tensing her stomach to keep her voice from trembling.

“And that breaking this rule results in a penalty fee.”

What on earth was he trying to say?

“And yet you…”

“……?”

She felt like a small animal being driven towards a trap by hunters, knowing the trap was there but having no choice.

“Did you bring a blonde woman into my house?”

“What? What are you saying! How could I bring a woman into the house?”

So this is what he was getting at?

Bringing in a woman?

Ha!

It was so unexpected that she almost snorted out loud. What servant in their right mind would risk the penalty fee to bring a woman into the Duke’s mansion?

Besides, her room was right next to the Duke’s office. Unless she was crazy, there’s no way she would have done that.

She couldn’t understand how the conversation had jumped in this direction from talking about her sister.

“If not that, then how else can this be explained?”

“I don’t understand why you’re saying this, but no! Absolutely not. How could I dare bring a woman into the Duke’s mansion…!”

Chloe stopped mid-protest, at a loss for words.

While she hadn’t brought in a woman, she herself was one.

“I found several strands of long blonde hair in your room. I thought they might be your sister’s hair. Though come to think of it, it would be strange for your sister’s hair to be found in your room.”

“Hair…?”

“Whose hair is it? Explain.”

Ah…

This awful Duke. He should have mentioned the hair from the beginning!

Though even if he had, she wasn’t sure what explanation she could have given.

When sleeping, she would lock the door and remove her uncomfortable wig. Because of that, hair must have been left on the bedding.

This morning, when she hurried to leave while the Duke was away, she had checked for any remaining items, but hadn’t thought to check for hair.

Looking back now, it was a painful mistake.

But how did the Duke discover that hair? Did he enter her room?

Why?

Even though she had made a mistake, it was really strange that the Duke had entered her room and found hair on the bed.

What kind of master inspects their servant’s room?

“As I said, I hate lies.”

“… Yes.”

“Whose hair is it? Who did you bring into my house?”

“I don’t know.”

There was nothing else she could say.

“I don’t know…”

The Duke slowly repeated her words.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know.”

“Really don’t know, you say…”

The Duke’s eyes were growing increasingly cold.

“I’m sorry. Your Grace, I really…”

There was no way to explain the hair.

It’s not like hair has hooks, and she couldn’t say it must have gotten stuck and come in from outside.

“You’re a man too, so you could meet women. Whether you meet women outside or not, that’s not something I can control.”

“……”

Chloe could only swallow, at a loss for words.

Being treated as a man who meets women. Had her male disguise been too perfect?

Not only was she disguised as a man, but now she was being treated as a man who was dating women.

“But you smell of the woman I slept with. The hair found in your bed also has the scent of the woman I slept with.”

So the Duke was saying that the woman he slept with was dating his personal attendant?

This is crazy. How did his thoughts end up going in this direction?

“Your Grace, that’s…”

“Whatever relationship you had with that woman, I must find her.”

“That’s not it.”

If there was any silver lining in this situation, it was that the Duke wasn’t doubting that she was a man.

Other than that, everything was terrible.

The Duke’s character was terrible too.

He was saying that since he spent one night with a woman who was in a relationship with his personal attendant, he wanted that woman handed over.

Really. What kind of self-centered and one-sided declaration was this?

Regardless of the fact that the Duke’s claims were different from reality, Chloe was dumbfounded.

Had the Duke eaten something wrong that night? Like some personality-changing drug?

“I couldn’t have mistaken that scent. I thought it was strange. You clearly had her scent. If you’ve been meeting that woman, it all makes sense. So tell me. Where is she?”

The Duke’s eyes were blazing as strangely as his bizarre way of thinking.

Like the eyes of a beast meeting its natural enemy.

Or like the eyes of a male in heat fighting another male over a female.

The problem was that the female the male was after was Chloe herself, and the competing male the Duke was burning with hostility towards was also Chloe.

Wait, is it right to look for a woman you slept with to take responsibility for taking her virginity?

Looking at it now, she wondered if there might be a different reason for seeking the woman.

He seemed like a man claiming ownership of a woman.

Even though no one had given him any ownership rights.

“Your Grace!”

“Tell me. Just tell me where that woman is. I don’t care what relationship you’ve had with her until now. I just need to find her.”

While he wasn’t known for having a perfect personality, he hadn’t had any serious flaws and was known to be a sensible person. No, he was known to have a balanced personality.

This attitude was completely different from the character the Duke had shown before.

Saying he needed to find the woman regardless of whether she was seeing another man. What about the woman’s position? The woman’s thoughts? The other man’s position?

By now, the Duke’s obsessive attitude was becoming frightening.

At this point, she wanted to ask outright what he planned to do when he found the woman. She increasingly thought that his reason for searching might be different from what she had fearfully assumed.

Though even if the reason was different from what she thought, it still seemed like it wouldn’t be anything simple.

“What woman? How could I be meeting any woman! Where would I have time to meet women? I work 24 hours at the Duke’s mansion.”

Whether because the seemingly conscienceless Duke looked pathetic, or because she thought the Duke’s reason for looking for her might be different, Chloe was talking back to the Duke point by point.

“Why not? You leave the Duke’s mansion for 4 whole days each month. And you just took that vacation a few days ago. Since then, you’ve had that woman’s scent on you.”

The Duke seemed to have filled the void left by morality with delusions.

“No! That’s not it, Your Grace. You’re misunderstanding!”

“Misunderstanding… Then who does that hair belong to? Explain it so I can understand. As soon as you learned I was looking for that woman, you suddenly said you’d quit. Suddenly, without even paying back your advance salary. Why is that?”

“That’s…”

“It must be because you’re seeing that woman.”

“That’s an absurd claim.”

“If it’s absurd, why don’t you explain it in a way that makes sense?”

The Duke was thinking about everything according to his own logic that he had already constructed.

What should she do? How could she dispel this blind suspicion?

“You’re a man too! Yes, you’re a man. You could have a woman you’re seeing. Yes, that must be it.”

The Duke’s face was becoming increasingly distorted as he spoke. As if he wouldn’t believe anything she said, he was showing hostility bordering on killing intent toward Chloe.

She got goosebumps from the Duke’s fierce aura. The Duke was now openly glaring at Chloe.

This is dangerous.

The current Duke was definitely dangerous.

“……”

“……”

Only silence filled with killing intent and fear flowed between the two people. She couldn’t think of what to say at all.

It seemed like those blind eyes wouldn’t believe anything she said…

But she needed to say something.

Anything.

Any words to clear up this misunderstanding.

Ah…! Would this work? But this is too…

“You, you…!”

But there was no more time. She had to break his delusion before the Duke’s anger boiled over more.

“I like men!”

Finally, without enough time to calculate properly, the words that had been hovering at the tip of her lips burst out.

Words that made her own face burn hotter than anyone’s once she’d said them.