“Yes, I understand.”

“Ah, but are you sure the other commoner women aren’t thin?”

It was strange that the woman that night had been a noble.

The material, type, and number of clothes he had removed from her that night didn’t seem to be what a noble woman would wear.

No matter how much his senses were dulled by his heat, he couldn’t have forgotten the feeling and memory of what he touched with his own hands.

No, that’s not right.

I can’t say I know much about women’s clothing. Even if my senses were accurate, my knowledge could be lacking.

But still…

It was strange indeed.

It was an extremely shabby inn that he had to urgently enter when his heat started a few days earlier than expected while moving to the villa for the spring mating season.

A place he would never have stayed at normally.

But a noble woman was staying there alone?

“Yes, except for Chloe Liden, the other two are quite plump. Not thin at all.”

“Hmm… Is that so? But that woman in Kinden… No, never mind. You may go.”

Hugrey was about to say something but changed his mind. If the woman he had imprinted on was really that woman, he didn’t want to discuss a woman’s body with another man anymore. Even if it was Joyce, who was like his own limbs.

From the start, he hadn’t liked Joyce talking about the woman’s physical characteristics.

He had to talk about it since they needed to find the woman. In fact, he needed more explanation about those aspects than about her clothing or the state of the inn.

“Yes, then I’ll take my leave.”

Watching Joyce’s retreating back, Hugrey recalled that night.

More precisely, the image of the woman that was far from what could be described as ‘voluptuous’.

Of course, Joyce’s standards could be different from his own.

But by his standards, he wouldn’t describe her that way. To him, she was just perfect in form. As everything else about her was.

So it would be right to go see the woman in Kinden.

The Duke and Lord Joyce left for Kinden at dawn.

They would return late tonight at the earliest. They might return tomorrow.

But if the Duke’s eyes function normally, wouldn’t he end up not returning tonight?

He should be able to tell that the noble woman in Kinden isn’t the woman from that night.

Either way, it had nothing to do with Chloe.

Anyway, the Duke had left, and Chloe gained freedom for today.

It was like a dream rest when she recalled how incessantly the Duke had called for her until receiving the last message saying Lord Joyce would return.

Of course, after learning that the Duke had saved her mother, she felt it would be okay even if he worked her harder than before.

She couldn’t help but reflect on herself, thinking if her personality had changed, if her character had become different.

She was just one of many servants, yet he spent money equivalent to her annual salary, or perhaps even more, to help a servant’s family.

With her current feelings, if only the Duke would stop looking for the woman he spent the night with, she felt she could serve as the Duke’s personal attendant for 10 more years, if not for life.

Knock knock knock.

While ruminating on her infinite gratitude towards the Duke, there was a knock. Chloe quickly opened the locked door.

Since returning to being the Duke’s self again, she always locked the door when in the room. Thinking about how the Duke had searched for blonde hair, she couldn’t let her guard down.

The butler appeared beyond the opened door.

“Clyne, someone from the Information Guild is here. Come out and meet them for a moment.”

“Me?”

“They said they want to report directly to the person who made the request.”

“But the Duke made the request. I only ran the errand.”

“For now, you should at least tell them that the Duke isn’t here. They said they want to confirm with you that the Duke isn’t here. That’s how these Information Guild folks usually operate.”

“Ah, I see. Yes, understood.”

Chloe roughly understood what the butler meant.

It probably meant they wouldn’t even speak to anyone who wasn’t the actual person who requested the job. It seemed that the Information Guild people, to whom information was as good as money, absolutely wouldn’t trust anyone’s words unless it was someone they had seen with their own eyes.

Not even the word that the Duke, who made the request and paid, was absent.

The guild member who had taken on the request last time was waiting for Chloe in the garden.

“You’re here. I came to give an interim report, but I heard the Duke isn’t here.”

“Yes, that’s correct. The Duke is absent, so you’ll need to come back tomorrow or the day after.”

“Looks like I’ll have to make two trips. Well, I’ve confirmed it, so that’s fine. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

The guild member grumbled as if talking to himself.

“Or would you like to tell me, and I can relay it instead?”

Chloe asked with self-interest. There was no harm in her hearing first what the guild member had found out.

“We don’t mind. After all, it was you who brought the request to us. Of course, after receiving the information, you’ll be responsible.”

Oh! It worked.

The Information Guild undoubtedly trusted the person who had directly visited the guild the most.

They clearly put the highest faith in what they had met, seen, and heard themselves.

The Duke having Chloe run the errand for the request, and him coincidentally leaving for Kinden today was fortunate for Chloe.

“Of course. Please tell me.”

As soon as Chloe finished speaking, the guild member delivered the investigated content as if he had been waiting.

It was surprising, or perhaps disappointing, that it was the same content as what Lord Joyce had investigated.

There were 5 people matching the conditions, and one of them was a noble from Kinden.

By the way, this person also found out about Chloe Liden. How on earth did they learn about her?

“Shall I ask this guild member something I couldn’t ask Lord Joyce due to caution in front of the Duke?”

“How did you find all 5 of those people? It must not have been easy.”

“There are ways. The noble lady was famous, but information on commoners was difficult to find. Well, that’s why we get paid for our work, isn’t it?”

“Ah, yes. So did you see all five of them in person?”

“Not all. I only heard rumors about Chloe living in Voergen. They say she’s the younger of blonde, blue-eyed twins. Several conditions match, but I didn’t see her. Recently, even the villagers haven’t seen that family.”

“The villagers?”

Could they mean the people from the village at the foot of the mountain?

Those people knew about her family.

“Well, though they lived in the mountains with little interaction, they came down to the market occasionally. The twins’ appearance was so striking that all villagers who saw them once remembered.”

“…!”

Goodness.

She thought they were living inconspicuously, but it was surprising and chilling to learn her family had left such an impression on people’s minds.

“Actually, that’s why I think that Chloe twin is exactly the woman the Duke is looking for.”

Chloe barely suppressed a shudder. The guild member continued listing his assumptions without being asked.

“Duke Ulpaz, you know. He’s no ordinary person, right? There were never rumors of him meeting women. If such a Duke slept with a woman, wouldn’t she be exceptionally beautiful? Like attracts like, something like that.”

“No! You said you didn’t even meet that woman. How do you know if she’s pretty or not? And what do you mean ‘like attracts like’! I told you they didn’t sleep together.”

Chloe couldn’t help but argue back.

Really, it was fortunate this person came when the Duke was away. He’s just saying whatever he wants.

“Is that so? I’m saying, isn’t it that Duke Ulpaz slept with that Chloe woman? Inn, man, woman. It all fits perfectly.”

“Huh! It’s not like that.”

“If not, then fine. Why are you getting so worked up?”

“I’m not worked up… Is there any other information besides that?”

Realizing she had gotten too excited, Chloe composed herself and changed the subject.

“Nothing in particular. Ah! Except for the absurd claims of the old folks.”

“Claims of the old folks?”

“You know, about the night owners of dogs and cats.”

“…?”

“Well, this isn’t really information.”

The guild member scratched his head.

“No, please tell me everything you found out.”

What on earth did the old people say?

Chloe tensed up, wondering if she had said something nonsensical to the old folks while drunk.

“Ah. Well, according to those old folks, the woman who stayed that night. Chloe. They said she was a beast-person?”

“What?”

What is this nonsense? She was the woman who stayed that night, but she’s a beast-person?

“See? I told you it doesn’t make sense. Beast-people? Where would beast-people exist in this day and age? Come on. There are rumors they’re hiding somewhere we don’t know, but it’s been over 200 years since beast-people disappeared.”

“Ha! That’s right. It’s nonsense. Why on earth did those old people say such things?”

She was really curious. What were those old people thinking to say such things?

“I don’t know either. They said someone else came looking for that woman, and asked why they were looking for her. The person who came before didn’t tell them the reason for searching.”

It must have been Lord Joyce he was referring to.

“And then?”

“What do you mean ‘and then’? I told them a high-ranking gentleman was looking for the woman he slept with.”

“What?”

Chloe raised her voice.