#19. Found the Woman

Clyne was focused on his translation.

All while mercilessly emanating that fragrant body scent.

He seemed so focused that he didn’t even notice Hughgray had been watching him for an hour.

By now, Hughgray had grown accustomed to this state of struggling with the side effects of imprinting that made him lose his mind over Clyne.

Since he thought this dizzying obsession with that scent was just temporary confusion until Joyce found the woman, unlike before, he could now enjoy that scent comfortably.

The feeling of his whole body being pickled in sweetness was so pleasant it was addictive, even though it made him feel languid to the point of lethargy.

Of course, at times, his whole body would feel like it was awakening. Then the languor would fly away and every cell would seem to pulse.

But even then, he didn’t feel much crisis. When his body heated up, he could just ventilate.

Since this guy didn’t show his face much, he’d wanted to see it over tea, but he’d refused to drink any.

Insolent guy. His face was already hard to see because of his bangs.

And with those glasses, it’s doubtful he could see anything at all.

Does he have to cover his face so completely? I’m curious about your bare face with everything removed.

I want to see it. Your face.

Thinking about wanting to see it made him want to see it more. That’s why he’d only asked him to take them off.

“Your Grace!”

The guy jumped up with a pale face.

“Hmm?”

“Your Grace, why are you acting like this?”

“What?”

“Please don’t say strange things.”

“What did I do?”

“I… I clearly told you that I like you, so saying things like ‘take them off’ and such, wouldn’t that make me feel strange?”

Is asking to take off glasses really that strange?

“Hmm… Why is it strange? Shouldn’t you feel good if someone you like is curious about your face? I’m just curious about your face with all those cumbersome things removed.”

“……”

Clyne’s face turned red. Why did it turn red?

“You said you fell for me at first sight, right?”

“When did I…! Yes, I did.”

Lies.

What falling for me.

“What did you fall for?”

Still, I was curious.

“Well, obviously Your Grace’s face and…”

“Face and what else?”

“…body?”

Nonsense. But why do I want to believe it?

It’s probably my wish that makes it not sound like a lie. Still, if you say you like my body…

“I can show you everything.”

“Hic! Hic!”

Clyne started hiccupping.

Cute. So cute. Even his hiccups are cute.

“So why don’t you show me at least your forehead and eyes? You say you like me. Can’t you do even that much when the man you like asks to see?”

“Your Grace! Why are you really doing this? While looking for a woman. You shouldn’t act like this with me.”

Right, I shouldn’t. But anyway, I don’t like men.

So this is just temporary insanity, so anything I do now is fine.

“Take off your glasses.”

“Your Grace, I suddenly feel like having tea. I’ll go prepare it.”

Clyne left the room, completely ignoring his order in a way utterly unbefitting a personal attendant.

And even that was likeable. His mental illness was getting worse by the day.

But since this was just a temporary symptom, everything would be fine.

* * *

Chloe returned to her room and patted her face. Her face must have been red, and the Duke must have gone mad.

Actually, she had pretended not to notice while knowing the Duke had been watching her for an hour.

He’d been like this every day lately.

The Duke would call her for translation work and blatantly stare at her the whole time. His gaze was so obvious it was impossible not to notice.

She had to concentrate all her attention on the book to ignore that gaze and do the translation. While the Duke might be the master who could idle away time just looking at her face, she was a servant who had to do the assigned work.

Why was he acting like this?

It started that day.

The day he held her hand while dining in the garden.

Since that day, Hughgray Wulfaz, that seemingly perfect person, had changed into someone who seemed completely unhinged.

And she seemed to be the target of that unhinged behavior.

A man who intensely stares at his male personal attendant while desperately searching for the woman he slept with.

Is he a pervert? Or was he bisexual? Did that night make him realize his orientation?

“Aaaaagh!”

She ended up letting out a small scream.

Sir Joyce, please come quickly! Information guild, please work faster! The Duke has gone strange.

On the day they arrive, she was determined to escape from this house.

* * *

Chloe was sitting across from the Duke, drinking tea.

She had tried refusing the first few times, but the Duke made her sit and drink tea with him each time, half through threats and half through persuasion. Now she had given up refusing and drank tea as if it were natural.

“Twins?”

By now, she had told him everything about her personal life except for the fact that Clyne and Chloe had switched places. He asked every day, so there was no helping it.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And you’re the older brother?”

“Yes, I was born just a little earlier.”

I was born a little later, so I had to call Clyne ‘big brother’.

For those few minutes’ difference, Clyne would throw a fit if she didn’t call him brother. Despite being smaller than her all along until finally growing slightly taller after they were fully grown.

He was even physically weaker than her.

Yet he always wanted to be treated as the big brother, which annoyed her so much that they fought a lot when she called him “Hey, you, Clyne.” When he was so insistent about being called big brother, she should have called him that more.

<Chloe, you’re ugly and only good at being strong.>

The scene was vivid in her memory — him glaring at her with a bloody nose, breathing heavily. He could rarely beat Chloe.

After growing up, did he become stronger than her? She didn’t know since they didn’t fight physically after growing up.

To think that such a weak brother had to die by being horribly butchered. Just why…!

“Clyne?”

The Duke’s voice called her back from the past to the present.

“Ah, yes!”

Chloe tensed her eyes.

“Did you and your sister look very alike?”

Fortunately, the Duke hadn’t noticed she had almost cried.

“Ah! Since we were fraternal twins, we didn’t look that alike. I, no, I mean… my sister took after Mom, and I took after Dad.”

“Dad?”

Ah! Saying Mom and Dad, isn’t that too childish?

Adult men probably don’t use those words. She suddenly became conscious of her speech habits.

“Mother and Father.”

“Hmph. Keep speaking as you were. You look just like a child anyway, like a tall girl.”

“……”

“Ah! No, I mean like a tall boy.”

Chloe, who hadn’t been thinking about anything, snapped to attention at the Duke’s correction.

He had said I looked like a girl.

I didn’t notice because it felt natural when I heard it. The tension I had forgotten suddenly awakened my mind.

Why did he make such a slip? Did something about me look feminine to the Duke’s eyes?

“Your father… The records only show your mother’s information.”

Fortunately, it seemed to have been a simple slip of the tongue without any deeper meaning, as the Duke casually continued his questions.

“I was told our father passed away when we were very young. So I have no memory of him.”

Ah. The Duke only let out a small sigh and didn’t add anything else as he picked up his teacup. I was glad he didn’t apologize for bringing up the topic of my father.

Though silence did envelop the table for a moment.

Flutter flutter.

Until the sound of bird wings from the open window broke the silence.

Why is that bird acting like that?

The bird was strangely circling outside the window.

“It’s here.”

Making an incomprehensible sound, the Duke walked to the window and raised one arm high, and the bird landed on his forearm.

Ah, a messenger pigeon!

The Duke skillfully removed the paper tied to the bird’s leg.

The paper seemed to have something brief written on it, but of course Chloe couldn’t see it.

But soon she would know the contents. Because the Duke told her.

“Found a woman named Chloe!”

“……!”

It seemed Sir Joyce had finally found another Chloe who met the conditions. When the real Chloe was right here.

“You found her?”

Chloe’s mouth twitched; the muscle moving on its own.

“There are five women who match the information.”

The Duke answered while rolling up the paper.

“Five women?”

That many?

“Joyce should return tomorrow.”

Whether that was all that was written in the message, or because he had no intention of saying more, the Duke didn’t speak further about the woman named ‘Chloe’ and went to his desk.

His face was tense and rigid, and he stared at his desk without saying anything, lost in thought. His face showed he had forgotten about the tea he had been drinking.

Of course, he had forgotten about the presence of his personal attendant drinking tea with him. Chloe carefully lowered her gaze and began clearing the teacups.

When the master’s teatime was over, the attendant’s teatime was over too. Soon her role as personal attendant would be completely over too.

Because when Sir Joyce returns, she would leave this house.

Chloe slowly left the Duke’s room. Even as she left, the Duke’s gaze remained fixed on his desk, seeming not to notice that Chloe was leaving the room.

Now, what Chloe had to do was clear.

Pack her bags.

Whatever investigation results Sir Joyce brings tomorrow, she would leave this house immediately.