#15. The Personal Attendant

“Yes, I’ll leave now.”

Only then did Clyne stagger to his feet and slightly turned his head to look at Hughgray.

“Ha, seriously. What’s with your appearance? Can you even see like that? Why don’t you take off your glasses?”

Now he understood why he had been fidgeting with his head earlier.

Clyne was wearing his usual thick glasses that covered half his face, looking as suffocating as ever. But now the lenses were fogged up with steam, making one wonder if he could see anything through them at all.

“Ah, no. I can see fine.”

Even as he said this, Clyne raised his arm to wipe his glasses.

“How foolish.”

As he wiped the lenses with his damp forearm, the glasses became a mess, slick with moisture.

Realizing his glasses were now streaked with water, Clyne lifted his upper arm to his glasses and wiped away the moisture.

He looked absolutely stupid. Who else but this Clyne Liden would wipe their glasses by bringing their upper arm to them instead of taking them off?

With his messy glasses, Clyne stumbled out of the bathroom.

Everything looked strange. All of it.

His hurried footsteps.

Those pathetic and awful movements while wiping his glasses…

His wet bottom from slipping on the damp bathroom floor…

His two calves that were too smooth, thin, and white as he ran away…

But the strangest thing of all was definitely the changed atmosphere.

Only after Clyne disappeared from the bathroom could Hughgray finally breathe properly.

While that guy was in the bathroom, his body scent had been so overwhelmingly strong that he had to hold his breath, only taking quick breaths when he reached his limit.

Could someone who was involved with a woman with the same body scent emit such a strong scent?

And it wasn’t even right after meeting the woman.

Ah… Was it really that?

The assumption he wanted to deny kept raising its head, insisting it was true.

Though it was strange that they had the same body scent, that scent seemed to be Clyne Liden’s own.

Not something picked up from somewhere else, but a scent he was emitting directly.

A scent so sweet it could drive one mad, so thirst-inducing one wanted to drink it in.

This is dangerous. This is truly dangerous.

He thought he should send word to Joyce to hurry the investigation.

They needed to find the woman quickly.

At this rate, he might end up imprinting on that personal attendant.

Of course, it’s nonsense. A wolf who has already imprinted, imprinting again. And on the same gender at that.

But his current physical state was equally nonsensical.

Not just his sense of smell, but his entire body was responding to that person, Clyne Liden.

He needed to find the owner of the imprint as quickly as possible.

* * *

Back in her room, Chloe was in a daze, as if her soul had left her body. Though she needed to change out of her wet clothes, she couldn’t even think straight enough to do that.

The image she had just seen kept floating before her eyes.

So that’s what it was.

That’s what it was.

Though she had suffered through that night in the dark room, this was the first time she had clearly seen it with her eyes, since she had fled before dawn while the room was still dim.

Duke Hughgray Wulfaz.

She knew he was perfect and magnificent, but did he really need to be so perfect and grand in every single detail?

The Duke’s naked body as he stood up without hesitation was harmonious and beautiful enough to make one’s jaw drop at just a glance.

But the moment her gaze fixed on the prominent part in the middle of his body, the overall image evaporated.

Only one thing remained in her mind.

So very…

No, no reminiscing, no recollecting!

Chloe shook her head violently, trying to self-edit and delete the image that had appeared in her mind.

But the memory that had already entered stubbornly persisted.

But you know… it seems impossible.

Even as she tried to shake off the image, it only led to a chain of questions.

Well… that is… and… but, how was it possible?

She couldn’t believe she had done that with the Duke.

But it had definitely happened. The pain that lasted for several days afterward was too severe to dismiss that night as a dream. That aftermath was like proof that it hadn’t been a dream.

So that’s why.

Now she understood why her body had felt beaten up for days after that night.

With this realization, what little guilt she had felt toward the Duke gradually dissipated like fog. Because it seemed no woman could handle such a Duke.

She even began to think that perhaps the reason he stayed away from women, to the point of being rumored to be impotent, was due to his own objective self-awareness and human conscience.

No, what does Sir Joyce know to be angry at women? Does he even know what state his lord is in?

Chloe, who had come to think that she had practically sacrificed herself for the Duke’s sake, even set a mental deadline.

The day either Sir Joyce or the Information Guild brought their investigation results, she would definitely leave the Duke’s mansion.

After all, the Duke had no right to forcefully keep her as a personal attendant without reason.

Until now, she had to stay at the Duke’s mansion due to a slight guilt about deceiving the Duke and fear of being discovered.

But now, regardless of what results they brought, even if it was revealed that she really was that woman, the thought of leaving this house became stronger than the fear of what would follow.

If her disguise as a man for employment was discovered, she should rightfully take responsibility for that. But even though she might have jumped the Duke that night, afterwards she alone couldn’t possibly… with such an… such an enormous man… It’s impossible. Yes, definitely impossible. So it couldn’t be solely her responsibility.

Chloe, still unable to recover from the shock of what she had seen while attending to his bath, finished her self-rationalization.

She shouldn’t have to take full responsibility alone for one night of mutual agreement between adults.

* * *

Waking up an hour earlier than before and barely managing to open her sleepy eyes, Chloe grumbled while preparing the washing water to take to the Duke’s bedroom.

Things had changed too much.

Since having her attend to his bath, the Duke, who had previously neglected his personal attendant, was now working her non-stop to the point where she wondered if he was the same master.

Starting from preparing the clothes he would wear that day in advance, she had to help him dress, and even attend to his meals which he had eaten perfectly fine by himself before.

Even during training at the practice grounds, he ordered her to stick close by his side. When he was thirsty, she had to promptly serve water, and when he sweated, she had to quickly hand him a towel.

But she couldn’t really object to the Duke suddenly acting like a master who had realized the purpose of having a personal attendant.

In fact, this was how normal personal attendants lived. She had just been living an unreasonably comfortable life until now.

Well, there were additional tasks that normal personal attendants didn’t do.

The Duke, as if he couldn’t bear to see her resting, even assigned her the task of translating books from Tigrium language to Elion Imperial language.

She had to do the translation work in between serving the Duke.

Since Clyne was employed as a personal attendant due to his Tigrium language ability, it was difficult to refuse.

Besides, since her salary had been set high because of that ability in the first place, and he said he would pay additional compensation for the translation work, she didn’t want to refuse anyway.

In any case, the Duke called for her constantly from the moment he opened his eyes, and Chloe had to change not only her wake-up time but also her meal times. Waking up an hour earlier and eating during the first serving instead of the second.

Just wait until Sir Joyce comes. I’ll leave right that day!

Grinding her teeth while preparing the washing water, she entered to find the Duke leisurely reading something in bed.

My, how comfortable he looks.

“Your Grace, I’ve prepared your washing water.”

The Duke only slightly nodded without taking his eyes off the paper he was reading, giving no verbal response.

Chloe could only wait.

Yesterday, when she had just prepared the water and gone to get clothes from the Duke’s wardrobe, she had been scolded for not waiting with a towel.

Actually, it was indeed a personal attendant’s role to hold the towel and hand it over when the master finished washing.

From what she heard from other servants, some personal attendants even wash their master’s face. Thinking about that, her situation still seemed relatively good.

The problem was that a master who had never asked for such trivial things or taken issue with such mistakes had suddenly changed.

He seemed determined to torment her like this until the woman he had slept with appeared. But that woman would never be found.

Regardless, anyway, she would just endure until Sir Joyce came.

“Go get my clothes.”

The Duke’s voice reached Chloe’s ears as she was thinking about leaving the mansion.

The Duke had already gotten out of bed and was approaching her vicinity.

“I need to hand you the towel…”

“I have hands too. I’ll do it myself, you just go prepare the clothes.”

Really now. Where did the prickly master who had been upset about her not waiting with the towel yesterday go?

Grumbling internally, Chloe headed to the Duke’s wardrobe.

What should she bring?

The Duke didn’t usually put much effort into his attire and preferred simple, clean styles over flashy clothes.

Perhaps it was because his appearance was already overwhelmingly gorgeous. That appearance would look good in anything worn carelessly.

She returned to the Duke carrying his favorite plain everyday clothes without any patterns.

By then, the Duke had already finished washing and had almost completely unbuttoned his nightwear.