“Yes, Your Grace?”

At the same time as Chloe answered calmly, the Duke, who had been sitting until now, suddenly stood up.

Chloe suddenly had to look up at the Duke, and unconsciously took a step back.

“Was your younger sister, Chloe Liden, blonde with blue eyes?”

“Ah!”

Chloe couldn’t help but tremble.

The Duke had suspected that the woman he had slept with was Chloe Liden because of the name Chloe and the same body scent. And now Joyce’s investigation results were added to that.

Blonde, blue eyes, and even similar height according to the investigation results.

It wasn’t the time to be concerned about such things, but Chloe was suddenly curious how Lord Joyce had found out her physical information. Anyway, now that Lord Joyce had reported the investigation results, she couldn’t lie to the Duke.

“Yes. She did have blonde hair and blue eyes.”

“…”

The Duke stared at her as if glaring.

Chloe wanted to avoid his gaze, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Somehow, she felt that if she avoided his eyes, the Duke would become more suspicious.

“You have blue eyes too.”

“…”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your eyes properly because of those thick glasses. Take them off.”

“Why my eyes…”

“Just, suddenly I want to see them?”

“If I take off my glasses, I can’t see well.”

Chloe was gripped by the fear that everything would be exposed if she took off her glasses.

Even though nothing major would happen just by taking them off for a moment.

“It doesn’t matter, does it? I just want to see your eyes once.”

“Still, there’s no particular need for you to see my eyes…”

“Take them off.”

It was a clear order. One that would not allow any more refusal. Despite knowing rationally that her excessive resistance might look suspicious, she couldn’t remain calm. The fear was so strong that she felt like she might cry.

Lying about her gender, saying her sister was dead, claiming she was attracted to men and had feelings for the Duke. There were too many lies…

Tears at a time like this.

Ah! Tears…!

Suddenly, an idea struck her.

She strained her eyes hard. Not to hold back tears, but to force them out.

Soon, tears began to flow from her eyes.

“My eyes were particularly similar to my sister’s. My sister… sob! It should have been me who died instead of her. Until that weak child died so miserably, I didn’t do anything… hic… Every time I look in the mirror, every time I see my eyes…, I’m reminded of my sister… Ah… sob sob.”

It started as an act, but because it was also her true feelings, once the tears started, they wouldn’t stop flowing.

“Died? You’re saying Chloe Liden is deceased?”

Lord Joyce interjected with a bewildered tone.

“Ah! That’s right.”

The Duke answered as he sat back down.

“Oh, I apologize. I hadn’t heard the news of her death.”

Lord Joyce glanced at Chloe and bowed his head to the Duke.

“The death hasn’t been reported?”

The Duke asked a question that could have been directed at either Lord Joyce or Chloe.

“Yes. Hic! Sob. There wasn’t time for that. Hic.”

Chloe, who had been immersed in emotion, barely managed to control her crying as she answered.

In reality, she hadn’t reported her brother’s death either. She needed to use his identity to get a job, and at that time, there really wasn’t time for such things.

“I guess I was being a bit sensitive. I’m sorry, Clyne.”

“No, it’s alright, Your Grace.”

Phew.

At least she had avoided the crisis of having to take off her glasses. An awkward silence fell over the room, but it was better than before.

“Well, then I suppose Chloe from Kinden is the most likely candidate. I’ll go to Kinden.”

After a while, the Duke broke the silence. In any case, he would just go to confirm that it wasn’t the woman he had slept with.

Regardless, Chloe was now going to leave this mansion. To do that, she needed to tell him she was leaving before the Duke departed for Kinden.

“Your Grace, speaking of which, may I return to my hometown now? It seems you’ve found that woman, and as I mentioned, I left my mother in the care of a friend, so I think I should go back now.”

“…”

The Duke just stared at Chloe without saying anything.

“Was that woman’s caregiver your friend?”

Suddenly, Lord Joyce interjected.

“Pardon?”

Woman’s caregiver?

“Actually, I visited your house, but there was only a caregiver there. Your mother was out, so I couldn’t ask directly about your younger sister and had to return. Even after waiting for two days, she didn’t come back. The caregiver didn’t know anything about your younger sister. I thought your younger sister might be staying somewhere for work… I didn’t know she had passed away. My condolences.”

At the mention of her mother, she couldn’t properly hear anything else.

“You say my mother was out? My mother is bedridden?”

Chloe couldn’t understand what Lord Joyce was saying.

A female caregiver? What did he mean by her mother going outside? Her mother was clearly in a state where she could barely move. It was unimaginable that she could have gone out when she couldn’t even leave her bed.

“Well, this is strange. That you don’t know about your mother’s news. I heard from the caregiver that she took medicine containing the core of an extinct monster, famous for its healing effects. Thanks to that medicine, she recently got up from her sickbed. The caregiver said she would stay for a while since she had received her salary in advance.”

“Medicine?”

What medicine?

The treatment medicine containing the monster core was only enough to barely keep her mother alive.

It was a medicine known to be powerful enough to save anyone as long as they didn’t die, so if taken sufficiently, it could have allowed her mother to get up from her bed, but they couldn’t afford enough for that.

Not only was it expensive, but it was also difficult to obtain. How on earth did they get that medicine, and what’s this about a caregiver who received a salary?

“Clyne Liden. You have no sense of professional duty at all. You’re always talking about quitting and leaving. I’m starting to regret the money and effort I spent on the mother of someone with such low loyalty to his master.”

At the duke’s words, Chloe’s eyes widened.

“Surely not…”

“It’s the first time I’ve felt unrewarded after saving someone’s life.”

Tears were already flowing from Chloe’s eyes again. Different from earlier tears of fear or false acting.

Tears that burst forth as if welling up from deep within her heart.

That her mother had recovered. That the duke had sent that medicine to her mother. That he even sent a caregiver. It was truly unimaginable.

“Your Grace, thank you! Ugh, sob sob! Thank you. Thank you, Your Grace.”

Chloe bowed her head to the duke, tears streaming down her face.

The tears poured out uncontrollably.

She didn’t know how to express this gratitude.

“Your Grace, Your Grace… How can I ever… Ahh. Your Grace, sob sob.”

She wanted to say thank you, that she would definitely repay this kindness, but the tears wouldn’t stop.

“How unsightly. A grown man crying and snotting like this. Get out. You’re disturbing me.”

At the duke’s rebuke, Chloe wiped her tears from under her glasses, but the burst of tears showed no signs of stopping.

“Thank you. Thank you, Your Grace.”

“Go cry outside. Come running when I call you.”

For someone who had saved her mother, his tone and attitude were remarkably indifferent. But Chloe felt like kissing the duke’s feet.

“Yes! I’ll leave. Your Grace, thank you again.”

Regretting that she couldn’t express her gratitude more, she followed the duke’s order to leave.

He was her benefactor. To the point where she wanted to follow any order.

If told to leave the room, she’d leave the room. If called, she’d come running. If told not to leave the room, or the house, she wouldn’t leave.

Any order at all.

In the end, as she left the room, her original plan to leave the duke’s mansion had completely disappeared from her mind without a trace.

Exactly as the duke had intended.

“Why did you spend money on that fellow’s mother for no reason? Especially since Clyne’s sister Chloe is said to be dead.”

Joyce asked as soon as Clyne left.

“Well.”

Hugrey had no intention of telling Joyce the reason. He couldn’t say that he had to do it to keep Clyne in the mansion.

He couldn’t say it was because he disliked seeing Clyne feel indebted to someone like Calcus. Of course, he couldn’t say that his heart ached seeing Clyne in pain thinking of his mother…

And he absolutely could not say that he couldn’t let Clyne Liden leave the house until he found the woman he had imprinted on.

After all, it would mean admitting he was crazy.

How could he tell anyone about his condition – wanting to smell the scent of a male attendant, making him do unnecessary translations every day to keep him in the room, then driving him out of the room on days when the scent felt suffocating?

Moreover, just now, when he saw the tears shed in sorrow for his sister’s death, his heart literally, physically ached. To the point of regretting pushing him so hard.

All of this was a symptom of mental illness after imprinting, so it would return to normal once he found the woman. When he became normal, he could send Clyne Liden away then. Until then, there was no choice.

For now, he had to admit he was crazy, and hold on before going even crazier.

“Your Grace, when will you depart for Kinden?”

Joyce was quite perceptive. Enough to immediately realize that he didn’t want to be questioned further about Clyne Liden.

“Let’s leave early tomorrow morning.”

He needed to confirm the woman as soon as possible.

Before the next heat hit.