#26. A High Maintenance One

Both of them remained frozen with their hands clasped, looking at the Duke.

“Let go of that hand.”

At the Duke’s words, not only Chloe but also Sir Joyce could only blink.

“……”

“……”

Both remained silent, unable to comprehend the situation.

“Ah!”

Only belatedly understanding the Duke’s order, Sir Joyce abruptly released Chloe’s hand, causing her to stumble and let out a short cry.

“Clyne will ride with me.”

The two froze again at the Duke’s unexpected command.

“……”

“……”

Ignoring the speechless reactions of Sir Joyce and Chloe, the Duke had already smoothly dismounted.

“Change the saddle.”

When he calmly ordered the stable boy,

“Your Grace!”

Sir Joyce, finally coming to his senses, called out, trying to stop the Duke.

“Come here, Clyne.”

However, without responding to Sir Joyce, the Duke mounted his horse as soon as the stable boy changed the saddle and extended his hand to Clyne.

“Hic!”

A hiccup suddenly escaped Chloe’s lips. Her neck and arms were covered in goosebumps.

She even shuddered momentarily.

Though she couldn’t exactly define it, there was definitely something about the Duke’s actions that made her tremble.

‘Come here, Clyne.’

Was it because of these words? Telling her to come here. And what’s with that gentle tone? It’s like he’s calling a cute and lovable pet!

Her heart was beating too fast.

It wasn’t fear. She didn’t particularly dislike it either… So it couldn’t be because of the Duke.

Why was her heart fluttering like this?

“……!”

Fluttering? What am I saying! That can’t be.

Right, it must be nervousness about having to ride a horse? Or perhaps the pressure of daring to ride the Duke’s horse. Or both.

“Hurry.”

The Duke urged Chloe.

“Yes.”

Having finished her thoughts, Chloe took a deep breath and approached the Duke’s horse.

Though she felt like her heart would race even more once she got up there and started being jostled around, she couldn’t keep making troublesome excuses about not being able to ride or not wanting to.

Prrrrrr.

But it wasn’t just Chloe’s heart that was acting up.

As she took a few steps toward the Duke’s horse, it started rearing up on its front legs. Unlike Chloe, who couldn’t go against the Duke’s orders, the horse was clearly expressing its opinion with its whole body.

‘I don’t want to carry an attending servant on my back.’

Like Sir Joyce’s horse earlier, did this horse also dislike carrying two people on its back?

Come to think of it, even the horse that was supposed to carry Chloe alone had acted up as if it didn’t want to carry her.

Are they collectively rejecting me? Hey horses, it’s not like I particularly want to ride on your backs either!

Though she truly didn’t want to ride, it still hurt her feelings a bit that the horses were rejecting her as a group. It was also confusing since she couldn’t understand why.

“Whoa, whoa! James, whoa.”

As the Duke pulled the reins to calm the horse, it gradually stopped acting up.

While watching the Duke calm the horse, Chloe’s heart became more unsettled at the thought that the horse didn’t welcome her.

Yet she still had to ride it.

“Clyne?”

Once the horse calmed down, the Duke extended his hand again, which he had withdrawn to hold the reins.

“Ah, yes!”

Chloe reluctantly took another step toward the Duke’s horse, apparently named James.

Neeeeeigh! However, as James started acting up again, she had to take several steps back.

“James! What’s wrong?”

The Duke pulled the reins, speaking with a puzzled tone.

“Your Grace, it seems James doesn’t want to carry anyone other than Your Grace.”

Sir Joyce spoke from the side.

Chloe found herself nodding vigorously. It’s not just Sir Joyce’s opinion, but it was clear to anyone that the horse called James didn’t want to carry two people on its back.

Or maybe it just specifically didn’t want to carry her.

But that couldn’t be, right? How could that horse dislike me when it’s never seen me before? That herbivore.

Huh? What did I just think? Herbivore?

Chloe was bewildered by her own strange train of thought.

“Haah…”

The Duke’s irritated sigh brought Chloe’s consciousness back to him.

“Your Grace, I think it would actually help you more if I didn’t come along…”

“We’ll go by carriage. Prepare one.”

The Duke cut off Chloe’s words with his command.

“……!”

Chloe swallowed hard.

Does he really need to be this serious about using an attending servant? Is he that determined to receive attendance even if it means accepting slower travel speed?

Moreover, Sir Joyce was now openly looking at her with an irritated expression.

Now she felt not just bewildered but wronged.

The Duke and Sir Joyce sat in the forward-facing seats of the carriage while Chloe sat facing backward opposite the Duke.

Though it was the natural seating arrangement, the problem was…

She gets motion sickness sitting backward like this.

Even when using public carriages, if only backward-facing seats were available, Chloe would wait for the next carriage. However, as an attending servant, she couldn’t dare ask her master and his noble subordinate to give up their forward-facing seats.

I’m fine. This will pass.

Though she tried to convince herself, after nearly three hours of being jostled while sitting backward in the carriage, Chloe’s face had turned pale.

Gulp, gulp. She had to keep swallowing as something kept trying to come up her throat. Though that didn’t help much.

When will we stop for lunch? Though she had no appetite due to her upset stomach, she was just waiting for lunchtime since they would have to stop the carriage to eat.

However, the Duke, with his eyes tightly closed and arms crossed, barely moved.

Is he sleeping?

Thump! Suddenly the carriage shook violently up and down.

When the Duke’s eyes flew open from the impact, Chloe, who had been anxiously watching to see when he would mention lunch, ended up making eye contact with him.

Thud.

Her already queasy stomach churned even more when their eyes met.

Why are his eyes like that? Open them wider. Don’t look at me with those sensual eyes that seem half-asleep.

“Clyne, what’s wrong with your face? Are you unwell?”

Her complexion must have been quite bad for even the Duke to notice.

“Um, when will we be having lunch? It’s getting close to noon.”

Chloe finally asked carefully, accepting that she might appear shameless. Sir Joyce frowned. Just hearing this would make her seem like a gluttonous attending servant.

“Well. We’ll eat when we find a suitable restaurant along the way.”

Unfortunately, the Duke didn’t seem very enthusiastic about eating.

“Um…, could we take a short break?”

Finally, Chloe gathered her courage to ask again, putting aside her sense of shame. It’s better to be brazen than to throw up inside the carriage, especially in front of the Duke.

“……?”

The Duke just looked at Chloe’s face without answering.

“Actually, I get severe motion sickness, so I think it would be good if we could take even just a 5-minute break.”

“Ah! So that’s why your face looked like that? How foolish! You should have said so earlier!”

Ah, the life of an attending servant. This is my fault too? The inexplicably displeased-looking Duke rang the bell inside the carriage, and soon the carriage began to slow down.

“Then, just for a moment…”

As soon as the carriage stopped, Chloe jumped right out. She had no energy left to mind the Duke or Sir Joyce. Though she had planned to empty her stomach as soon as she jumped out, surprisingly, breathing the cold outside air helped settle her stomach.

“Haah…”

Now I feel like I might live.

Chloe took deep breaths while crouching by the roadside.

“I didn’t know your motion sickness was so severe.”

Chloe quickly stood up at the voice suddenly coming from behind her.

“Your Grace!”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes. I’m sorry for causing trouble.”

I would have been so much better if they hadn’t brought me along. Though she still felt wronged about the situation inside, outwardly she habitually apologized.

“You seem to be quite high maintenance.”

“……”

This was criticism. Being called a high maintenance attending servant… There couldn’t be harsher criticism than this.

“Your Grace, I know I’m being very shameless, but we still have about four more hours to go. Couldn’t I just return to Roizen now? I feel uncomfortable about causing such delays to your schedule.”

“……”

“I can’t ride horses and I get motion sickness. If I return to the mansion, I promise to work even harder for Your Grace from now on. But for long journeys, especially by carriage, I…”

“You travel well enough to your hometown every month.”

“Well, I usually don’t sit facing backward.”

Finally, Chloe confessed about her motion sickness with her head bowed low.

“……”

The Duke said nothing, but Chloe felt so shameless she couldn’t even lift her head.

“Haha.”

Until the Duke suddenly laughed out loud.

At the Duke’s unexpected laughter, Chloe raised her head to look at him.

“Ah…”

Chloe unconsciously made a strange sound. Standing with sunlight shining on his head, the Duke’s smiling face was sparkling.

That smile holding the sunlight was so beautiful, so dazzling…