“Hugrey? What’s wrong?”

“It seems that woman informed on you to the King of Stoxten. That my mate is a tiger beastkin princess.”

Chloe felt her head spinning.

How could that woman have informed on her to the Tigrium king? Even if the wolf beastkin had declared they wouldn’t follow Hugrey now, it wasn’t like that back then. Yet she informed on the Alpha wolf’s mate.

Hugrey’s face had also turned cold. He must have been thinking the same as her. Reina Tilbet had already betrayed his race from back then.

His fists trembled.

“Joyce!”

“Yes!”

Joyce immediately responded from outside the door to his voice filled with anger.

“Come in!”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

Joyce rushed in as soon as the Duke finished speaking, not even glancing at Chloe right in front of him. She understood he had no leisure with the Duke’s unusual mood, but it felt strange to be treated as if she didn’t exist.

“Reina Tilbet, where is that woman now?”

“Ah, she should be in the outer palace. Why do you ask?”

“I’m going to her.”

Joyce’s eyes seemed to waver for a moment.

Well, seeing Hugrey’s current demeanor, he couldn’t help it. But why was Hugrey suddenly saying he’d go to that woman?

Chloe anxiously looked at Hugrey’s mouth.

“I’m going to execute that woman right now.”

“What?”

“What?”

Both Joyce and Chloe asked back simultaneously.

“It was that woman who informed on Chloe to the King of Stoxten and instigated her murder. I cannot let someone who tried to harm my mate live. It’s the same as cutting my neck and stabbing my back.”

“Hugrey!”

“Your Grace!”

This time too, Joyce and Chloe called out to him as if of one mind.

Even so, this was the imperial palace. To kill a foreign Tigrium noble here. Wasn’t that too reckless?

“I’m still the Alpha. If they betray me and my mate, causing my death, they’ll naturally seek a new Alpha. But I’m still alive, so I’m just using my given authority to punish the woman who betrayed the race. Other beastkin races cannot interfere in my race’s internal affairs.”

Chloe could feel with her whole body the murderous intent overflowing like a waterfall in Hugrey’s voice as he spoke of killing Reina Tilbet. Invoking the Alpha’s authority, he was truly the leader incarnate. A leader demanding absolute obedience.

“Joyce, you go back to Roizen like this and announce that I executed Reina Tilbet. Tell them she was executed for breaking the wolf beastkin’s rules.”

“…But Your Grace.”

Joyce called Hugrey hesitantly, unclear if it was obedience or disobedience.

“What is it?”

“I believe Your Grace’s cycle has returned. If Reina Tilbet resists…”

Ah! Joyce knew about Hugrey’s heat cycle too. Well, of course he would.

It was a cycle that no one in the duke’s residence could be unaware of. And according to his words now, it meant Hugrey’s condition wouldn’t be good.

Is the weakness during heat so severe that he couldn’t defeat a female beastkin?

Well, recalling Hugrey’s conditions during heat that she’d seen so far, it could be.

Then could Hugrey be in danger? No, more than that, he’s saying he’ll kill Reina Tilbet now.

Her head was in such a muddle from too many events that it was hard to get her bearings. Killing that woman seemed too extreme, but the possibility of Hugrey being in danger seemed an even more serious problem.

“Hugrey, do you really have to kill her? I didn’t die, you know.”

No matter if that woman tried to kill her, was there a need to kill her right now? Moreover, since Hugrey could be in danger, she didn’t even want to send Hugrey to such a woman.

“Chloe, this isn’t about whether you died or not. Wolf beastkin must never harm the mate of the race. But that woman broke that absolute rule. Even in such a cunning and dirty way as passing your information to Stoxten who was desperate to kill you. So that woman deserves to die.”

“My lord. But now is not a good time. It could provoke a backlash from the elders. Isn’t that woman the biggest force within the Tigrium kingdom? Even now, Your Grace…”

“No, now is the most appropriate time. A time when no risk factors should be left behind. As things stand, that woman is someone who will break rules and act on her own whim anytime. As long as I’m the Alpha, it’s a crime I absolutely cannot overlook.”

Chloe was distressed. Even from Joyce’s words alone, killing that woman wouldn’t be good for Hugrey either. No matter if the wolf beastkin had betrayed the duke, Hugrey was still a wolf beastkin.

With wolf beastkin blood flowing in his veins, wouldn’t it be no good for Hugrey to provoke the entire race first?

She had to stop him somehow. Not just to save that woman’s life, but to protect Hugrey too. He hasn’t even gone into heat yet, has he?

“No! I won’t let you go anywhere tonight. You have to stay by my side all night…”

Chloe stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Lord Joyce’s face. She couldn’t talk about Hugrey’s heat in front of Lord Joyce. But Lord Joyce seemed to understand what she was about to say and quickly turned away the eyes that met hers.

“You have to stay by my side. I absolutely won’t let you go to that woman. You can’t kill anyone today. Because I won’t let you go!”

Actually, she didn’t care whether Reina Tilbet lived or died. But if Hugrey had to kill someone because of her, she hoped the number of those someones would be minimal. If he had to be in danger because of her, she wanted that to be minimal too. So that woman now wasn’t worth him killing or risking danger for.

“Chloe!”

Hugrey called her as if admonishing.

“Hugrey Ulpaz, you will be in my room with me tonight. Forget about Reina Tilbet. You chose me over the wolf beastkin anyway, right? So don’t even spend time to kill that woman.”

Hugrey just stared at Chloe silently at her insistence.

How much time passed like that?

“Then, can I kill her when the opportunity arises later, without setting aside separate time?”

Hugrey finally opened his mouth again. Still insisting he’d kill that woman someday.

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

Chloe decided to be satisfied with this. Hugrey must have his own principles too. She can’t and doesn’t need to change everything about him. She loves him as he is, no matter what actions he takes.

“Thank you, Hugrey.”

She hugged the duke, not caring whether Lord Joyce saw or not.

“Hmm, ahem.”

Lord Joyce cleared his throat unnecessarily, breaking the mood right away.

“Your Grace.”

“You go out.”

“No, Hugrey. Lord Joyce has been waiting since earlier.”

Chloe pushed Hugrey away, releasing her arms that had been hugging him. She could hug Hugrey as much as she wanted tonight anyway.

“What is it, Joyce? Say it quickly.”

Hugrey asked, frowning overtly.

“Emperor Calcus Traskan says he has something to discuss with Your Grace. He wants to meet at that place from last time, the garden where Lady Chloe was attacked. It seems he found something there and wants to show Your Grace, probably a clue to find the woman who distracted Your Grace and ran away then.”

“Now? At the Moon Garden?”

The duke asked, casting his gaze towards the window where the Moon Garden was.

The sun was just beginning to set. When the sun sets, the Moon Garden quickly darkens. What could he want to show at this hour? He’s not planning to fight in the dark, is he?

Such a thought suddenly occurred to Chloe, but she kept her mouth shut.

Fighting? They’re not kids. There was that commotion last time too, so openly calling someone out to fight seemed like an impossible imagination. Of course, in a few days, Hugrey and Calcus might really end up fighting if she and Hugrey try to escape this palace.

“Should I… go… instead?”

Lord Joyce asked, strangely drawing out his words. As if going instead was a very difficult decision.

She wanted to say ‘Please do.’ She didn’t want to send Hugrey out now that it was getting dark. Unlike usual heat cycles, today she had to send Hugrey to the outer palace before midnight too.

“That woman still hasn’t been caught…”

Hugrey muttered as if talking to himself.

“You don’t know what kind of clue was found in the Moon Garden?”

“I’m not sure. If it’s difficult, I can go instead, Your Grace.”

This time Lord Joyce spoke firmly without hesitation.

“No, it’s fine. Chloe, I’ll be back soon.”

But Hugrey refused.

I really want to be together tonight…

“Okay. Come back quickly.”

Chloe swallowed the words ‘Don’t go and stay with me’ with effort.

The Tigrium woman Reina Tilbet, the escaped assassin was also a Tigrium woman. Despite it being her country, Chloe didn’t like the name Tigrium at all. The name Tigrium was already just ominous to her.

“…Why are you like that?”

Strangely, Lord Joyce stood there looking at Chloe, when she thought he would follow Hugrey out.