The two of them stood still with their hands clasped, looking at the duke.

“Let go of that hand.”

At the duke’s words that followed, not only Chloe but also Sir Joyce just blinked their eyes.

“……”

“……”

Both of them were silent in a daze, not understanding the situation.

“Ah!”

It wasn’t until Sir Joyce finally understood the duke’s order and quickly let go of Chloe’s hand, causing it to fall and making Chloe stagger, that a short cry burst from her mouth.

“Clyne will ride on my horse.”

At the duke’s unexpected order, the two froze again.

“……”

“……”

The duke, ignoring the reactions of Sir Joyce and Chloe who were at a loss for words, had already nimbly jumped off his horse.

“Change the saddle.”

He calmly ordered the groom,

“Your Grace!”

Sir Joyce, who had finally come to his senses, called out to the duke as if to dissuade him.

“Come here, Clyne.”

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

“Hiccup!”

A hiccup finally escaped from Chloe’s mouth. With goosebumps all over the back of her neck and arms.

She even shuddered momentarily.

Though it couldn’t be defined precisely, there was definitely something about the duke’s actions that made her tremble.

‘Come here, Clyne.’

Was it because of these words? Come here, he says. And what’s with that gentle tone? It’s as if he’s calling a cute and lovable pet!

Her heart was beating too fiercely.

It’s not that she was scared. It’s not that she particularly disliked it either… Well, it’s probably not because of the duke.

Why was her heart fluttering like this?

“…!”

Fluttering? What are you saying! That can’t be right.

Yes, it must be because she’s nervous about having to ride a horse. Or maybe it’s the pressure of daring to ride the duke’s horse. Or both.

“Hurry.”

The duke urged Chloe.

“Yes.”

After finishing her thoughts, Chloe took a deep breath and approached the horse the duke was riding.

Though she felt like her heart would race even more once she got up there and was shaken mercilessly, she couldn’t say troublesome things like she couldn’t ride or didn’t want to anymore.

Neigh…

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

As she took a few steps towards the duke’s horse, the horse the duke was riding started to rear up, raising its front legs. Unlike Chloe who couldn’t go against the duke’s orders, the horse was clearly expressing its intentions with its whole body.

As if to say, ‘I don’t want to carry a servant on my back.’

Like the horse that was carrying Sir Joyce earlier, does 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 reared up as if it didn’t want to carry her.

Are they collectively rejecting me? Horses, I don’t particularly want to ride on your backs either!

She genuinely didn’t want to ride, but it still hurt her feelings a bit that the horses were rejecting her en masse. It was also confusing because she couldn’t understand why.

“Whoa, whoa! James, whoa.”

As the duke pulled on the reins to calm the horse, it gradually stopped its agitation.

While watching the duke calm the horse, Chloe’s heart, on the contrary, became more agitated at the thought that the horse didn’t welcome her.

And yet, she still had to ride it.

“Clyne?”

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

“Ah, yes!”

Chloe reluctantly took another step closer to the duke’s horse, which seemed to be named James.

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

“James! What’s wrong?”

The duke said in a puzzled tone as he pulled on the horse’s reins.

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

Sir Joyce said from the side.

Chloe was already nodding her head vigorously. It was clear to anyone that the horse named James didn’t want to carry two people on its back, not just Sir Joyce’s opinion.

Perhaps it simply didn’t want to carry her specifically.

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

Huh? What am I thinking? Herbivore?

Chloe was dumbfounded by her own sudden train of thought.

“Haa……”

Chloe’s consciousness returned to the duke at his irritated sigh.

“Your Grace, it seems it would be better if I don’t follow…”

“We’ll go by carriage. Prepare a carriage.”

The duke ordered, cutting off Chloe’s words.

“…!”

Chloe swallowed hard.

Do you have to be this serious about using a servant? Is he so desperate to be served that he’s willing to accept a slower travel speed?

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

Now, beyond being dumbfounded, she felt wronged.

The duke and Sir Joyce were sitting in the forward-facing seats of the carriage, while Chloe sat opposite the duke, facing backward.

It was the natural seating arrangement, but the problem was…

She gets motion sickness when sitting backwards like this.

Even when using public carriages, if there were only backward-facing seats available, Chloe would wait for the next carriage. However, a servant could hardly ask their master and his noble subordinate to give up the forward-facing seats.

I’m fine. This will all pass.

She tried to reassure herself, but after nearly three hours of sitting backwards and being shaken 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. Not that it helped much.

When will we have lunch? Though she had no appetite due to her nausea, she was only waiting for lunchtime because they would stop the carriage to eat, and she could get out of this carriage.

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

Could he be sleeping?

Thud! At one moment, the carriage shook violently up and down.

When the Duke opened his eyes abruptly from the shock, Chloe, who had been watching anxiously wondering when he would say it was time for lunch, ended up making eye contact with him.

Thump.

As if her stomach wasn’t already churning enough, making eye contact with the Duke seemed to make it worse.

Why are his eyes like that? Open them wider. Don’t look at me with those half-sleepy, seductive eyes.

“Clyne, why does your face look like that? Are you feeling unwell?”

It seems her complexion was quite bad. Enough for even the Duke to notice.

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

Chloe finally asked carefully, risking appearing shameless. Joyce frowned. Just hearing this, she would seem like a gluttonous attendant.

“Well. We’ll eat when we come across a suitable restaurant on the way.”

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

“Um… then could we take a short break?”

In the end, Chloe mustered up the courage to ask again, disregarding shame. It’s better to be brazen than to vomit inside the carriage, especially in front of the Duke.

“…?”

The Duke looked at Chloe’s face without answering.

“Actually, I get severe motion sickness, so it would be good if we could rest for a moment. Even just 5 minutes.”

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

Sigh, the life of an attendant. Is this my fault too? The Duke, who incomprehensibly seemed displeased, rang the bell inside the carriage, and soon after, the carriage slowed down.

“Then, just for a moment…”

As soon as the carriage stopped, Chloe immediately jumped out. She had no energy left to be mindful of the Duke or Joyce. She had intended to empty her stomach as soon as she jumped out, but surprisingly, breathing in the cold outside air calmed her stomach.

“Haa…”

Now I feel like I can live.

Chloe took deep breaths while crouching by the roadside.

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

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

“Your Grace!”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes. I’m sorry for causing trouble.”

How nice would it have been if you hadn’t brought me along? While still feeling unjustly treated about this situation inwardly, she habitually apologized outwardly.

“You seem to be quite high-maintenance.”

“…”

This is a scolding. A high-maintenance attendant. It felt like the harshest scolding ever.

“Your Grace, I know I’m being very shameless, but we still have about four more hours to go. Wouldn’t it be better if I just returned to Royzen now? I feel uncomfortable because it seems the schedule is being delayed too much because of me.”

“…”

“I can’t even ride a horse and I get motion sickness. If I return to the Duke’s residence, I’ll work even harder for Your Grace from now on. But long-distance travel, especially by carriage, is…”

“You, don’t you travel well to your hometown every month?”

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

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

“…”

The Duke didn’t say anything, but Chloe couldn’t even raise her head, feeling so shameless.

“Haha.”

Until the Duke suddenly laughed out loud.

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

“Ah…”

Chloe unknowingly let out a strange sound. The Duke’s face, standing with sunlight above his head and smiling, was sparkling.

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