#28. Wolf Cub

In her heart, she wanted to tell him not to jump to hasty wrong conclusions, but naturally, she didn’t say anything out loud.

“Of course. How could anyone not know Your Grace?”

“You speak as if you know me well.”

Hah. Of course everyone would know you.

Not just people from the Elion Empire, but even those from the Tigrium Kingdom would know who the Duke was.

A wealthy and skilled Swordmaster, and the young head of the Wulfaz Duchy, a prestigious family that had been influential since the early days of the Elion Empire’s establishment.

And beyond his background, everyone knew him as one of the most beautiful men on the continent.

Who wouldn’t know him?

For the first time, Chloe thought that her usually logical and rational master had become somewhat stupid.

The current Duke seemed bewitched by something. Perhaps he was enchanted by the illusion of meeting the woman he spent his first night with. Or perhaps he was enchanted by a beautiful woman who made him think she was the one he spent his first night with.

If not that, then perhaps…

Was the Duke just another man weak to a woman’s beauty after all?

After all, that flower shop Chloe was one of the most beautiful women Chloe had ever seen.

All those rumors about him being interested in men or being impotent were false, and he was just a normal man after all.

Yes, that’s right. He was a man. And quite an extraordinary one at that.

Chloe’s heart kept growing oddly sharp as she stared at the Duke’s broad back. Not realizing why she was angry at the Duke. No, not even realizing that she was angry at the Duke in the first place.

“Your Grace certainly knows, but what brought this up?”

“Have you ever stayed at an inn called The Night of the Dog and Cat? I want to know if… anything happened there. If you met anyone there?”

The Duke’s words were coming faster than usual.

“I don’t know such a place. I’ve never stayed there, nor met anyone there. Is there really such an inn?”

Chloe felt oddly relieved at the flower shop Chloe’s perfectly reasonable answer.

Right, as if a servant like Chloe would stay at such a remote inn!

While it wasn’t good that the Duke was chasing after an illusion, for some reason, the distortion of the truth made her even more uncomfortable.

Now that that woman had said that, surely the Duke would no longer misunderstand. Thankfully.

‘……!’

No, what’s thankful about it.

Chloe finally became aware of her strange psychology and was startled.

Why should she care if the truth gets distorted or not? It would be better if the Duke met such a pretty woman and forgot all about the Chloe he spent one night with!

“May I… come a bit closer?”

But then the Duke said something strange to flower shop Chloe.

Had he really fallen for flower shop Chloe?

Flower shop Chloe looked up at the Duke with widened eyes again and took a step back.

“Why are you…”

She seemed to be both enchanted by the Duke’s beauty and simultaneously afraid of the entity known as Duke Wulfaz.

“Just a moment, just a very brief moment. I’ll come a little closer. There’s something I need to confirm.”

Saying that, the Duke had already approached flower shop Chloe.

Confirm?! Surely not… Chloe recalled how after sleeping with her, the Duke had kept talking about body scent.

“……”

Flower shop Chloe froze, and the Duke immediately withdrew from her with a frown.

“I apologize for my rudeness, Miss Chloe.”

The Duke said that and immediately turned around to head for the carriage. Seeing his darkened face, Chloe could finally tell that the Duke had definitely realized.

That this woman was not the Chloe he had slept with.

His face now was exactly like the one he had shown after returning from Kinden yesterday.

A face as dark as if a solar eclipse had occurred, showing no hope or future.

No, actually it was even darker.

Yesterday he just seemed psychologically distressed, but strangely, today, both his mind and body seemed to be in pain. It was exactly the kind of face she imagined she must have had when she was at the peak of motion sickness just a few hours ago.

It seemed he hadn’t fallen for flower shop Chloe after all.

Sigh…

A deep sigh emerged from the depths of her heart. Whether from guilt, exhaustion from this whole situation, or relief that the Duke wasn’t looking for the wrong woman, she couldn’t tell.

* * *

“Shall we return to the Duke’s mansion?”

Sir Joyce asked from inside the carriage.

Probably because they had returned directly to the mansion from Kinden yesterday.

“No, I’ll stay here.”

But his condition was completely opposite from yesterday. Yesterday he had to return because Clyne was there, but now Clyne was here with him.

And now his heat had come.

He had been fine until noon, but as the afternoon approached, his body started feeling strange. So much that he had desperately hoped the commoner flower shop Chloe would be his soulmate.

Even though he had instinctively known from the moment he saw her that she wasn’t the one he had imprinted on, he wanted to hold onto even false hope.

While there wasn’t the aversion he had felt with the Chloe from Kinden in terms of scent, she was just a woman who evoked no particular feeling, neither good nor bad.

But his condition was so urgent that he had to hope she was his imprinted one even if there was just a lack of aversion.

So although it was foolish, even knowing it was already hopeless, he approached her closely to check her scent until the end.

No, to be more honest, because the sweet scent that made his brain feel like it was melting wasn’t coming from the woman named Chloe who was standing before him, but from Clyne standing behind him, he couldn’t properly smell the Chloe woman’s scent at all.

He thought he should at least verify Chloe’s scent by putting some distance between himself and Clyne who was clouding his judgment.

In the end, he only realized that it wasn’t that there was no aversion to Chloe’s scent, but unlike in Kinden, Clyne’s presence had offset even the unpleasant scent.

Hughgray’s eyes unconsciously turned to Clyne sitting beside him, whom he had been trying not to look at until now, as he swallowed his bitterness.

“Nngh…”

The moment he saw him, something clenched in his lower abdomen and he quickly turned his head away, but an uncontrollable moan had already escaped.

Damn it. He clenched his fist with all his might.

“Your Grace, are you alright?”

Clyne, sitting beside him, asked while staring up at his face.

Ah…! This wicked one, this thoughtless one, this cruel one.

Don’t stare at me like that! I’m at the point where I want to pounce on you and devour you right now, yet you look at me with such an innocent expression. Are you trying to drive me to death?

I’m using all my strength trying not to look at your face.

“I’m fine. I’d appreciate it if you’d move over there. You’re too close.”

“……”

What’s with that expression? Those protruding lips as if he had some complaint.

When told to move away from him, Clyne’s lips jutted out as he moved away, almost pressing himself against the window opposite to where Hughgray sat.

Clyne was already defying his master’s orders with his expression. While his body was being too obedient. If only he would obey with his expression and defy with his body instead.

Won’t you stay close even when I tell you to move away, and smile at me?

Even those sulky protruding lips of yours look tempting. So much that I want to devour them right now.

“……!”

Ah, you crazy wolf cub. You’ve really gone mad with heat. Now Clyne’s face was starting to look like Chloe from the night of imprinting.

What would your face look like if I removed those frustrating bangs that fall below your glasses and those thick glasses that hide your eye color properly?

If I could just remove those frustrating glasses…

“Your Grace?”

“Your Grace!”

“Ah!”

Hughgray finally came to his senses at the simultaneous calls from both Clyne and Sir Joyce. With the added realization that he had unconsciously reached out his hand right in front of Clyne’s face, towards his glasses.

Looking at Clyne’s flushed face that seemed to have shrunk back, and Sir Joyce’s frozen expression, Hughgray swallowed a groan internally.

His condition was getting worse and worse. To the point where he couldn’t even recognize what he was doing. To the point where he almost touched a man’s face and tried to remove his glasses.

“Joyce, I’m not feeling well. Quickly, find us a lodging. Right now!”

It was no longer a situation where he could hide his condition. Joyce knew everything anyway.

As for Clyne…

Yes, it would be better if this guy didn’t know.

So for now, he needed to hide somewhere quickly, if only to keep this guy from finding out. In this state, it would soon become obvious to Clyne that something was wrong with his body.

* * *

It was truly strange.

The Duke, who had seemed unwell even before meeting flower shop Chloe, started acting somewhat like a person who had lost his mind after returning to the carriage after parting with that woman.

While it was unpleasant when he made a fuss telling Chloe to move far away from him for no reason, thinking about it now, it seemed fortunate.

Because the Duke’s condition was so strange, if she had stayed close, he might have grabbed her by the hair.

Making strange moaning sounds, trembling, then suddenly glaring at Chloe with blazing eyes. It was especially frightening when he suddenly reached out his hand right in front of her face with eyes filled with strange heat.

Thankfully, Sir Joyce rushed the Duke into a nearby inn at lightning speed. If they had stayed together in that carriage any longer, something would surely have happened.

Come to think of it, Sir Joyce was acting a bit strange too.