I Accidentally Imprinted On The Wolf Duke - Chapter 32

“Are you alright…?”

It was Lord Joyce’s voice.

“… Seems so.”

“Your body…”

“… Seems to have… passed.”

“… Was there no incident?”

“That… There wasn’t.”

No, what are they saying?

It seemed like both of them were lowering their voices, as I should have been able to hear at this distance, but I couldn’t.

What should I do?

It was time to knock as I needed to attend to the morning duties. But I was afraid to knock, not knowing the Duke’s exact condition. I was conflicted whether to go back to Lord Joyce’s room or to knock.

Suddenly.

“Oh my!”

As the door swung open from the inside, Chloe, who had her ear pressed against the door, almost fell and stumbled into the room.

“What! What are you doing, Clyne.”

It was Lord Joyce who had opened the door.

“Ah! I, I was about to knock but it seemed you were talking, so I was wondering if I should enter or not.”

Chloe barely managed to make up a plausible excuse. Lord Joyce’s gaze turned to the Duke.

As if asking, what should we do with this one? With a look that suggested he might wring her neck if she had overheard their conversation.

Lord Joyce can be so terrifying at times.

Although she was curious about what they were discussing, seeing Lord Joyce’s attitude, she felt it was fortunate that she hadn’t heard anything.

She didn’t want to look at the Duke’s face, but before she knew it, Chloe’s gaze followed Lord Joyce’s movement towards the Duke.

Ah, I shouldn’t have looked.

To her surprise, the Duke’s eyes were fixed directly on her. Traces of last night’s fever still remained on his face. Fortunately, he didn’t look as serious as last night.

“……”

The Duke continued to stare at her without saying a word.

“……”

Chloe also couldn’t speak or take her eyes off the Duke.

“We’ll be staying at this inn a bit longer. His Excellency is not feeling well, so we’ll depart once he recovers. Tell the innkeeper to bring the meals to the room.”

Lord Joyce’s instructions, which suddenly intervened between the two, sounded like salvation to Chloe.

A savior who rescued her from the suffocating situation of making eye contact with the Duke.

“Yes!”

Chloe quickly responded to Lord Joyce and fled from the Duke’s room as if escaping.

What could that look in the Duke’s eyes mean?

She couldn’t possibly understand the meaning of the Duke’s distant gaze as he silently stared at her.

Would she not be able to return to the Duke’s mansion if she took a vacation today? Would she be fired just like this?

If the Duke intended to fire her anyway, he would do so regardless of whether she took a vacation or not.

Besides, she couldn’t not use her vacation just because she was worried about such things.

The most important thing to her wasn’t money, but her mother, the only family she had left.

In the end, Chloe decided to tell the Duke that she would leave directly from here when he recovered and returned to his mansion.

Hugrey took three more suppressants that Joyce had brought from the Roizen duchy by riding all night.

Fortunately, as the biggest attack had passed during the night, he felt his body calming down immediately after taking three more pills. This time, he had to take a total of six suppressants, when he usually only took one. If this continued, his body would be ruined.

However, the fear that occupied his mind right now was not about his body being ruined.

It was Clyne Liden, who left the room with a terrified expression.

The moment their eyes met, Clyne’s blue pupils shook violently, and it seemed that image would not be forgotten for a while.

In the end, last night he had shown again the shameful behavior he didn’t want to remember, that he had feared so much. A male master pouncing on a male attendant who said he liked men.

Does he despise me? Is it disgusting just to make eye contact? No, that guy said he liked men, that he liked me.

Then shouldn’t he not hate me even if I did such a thing yesterday? Could he be more intimate with that Calcus Tacan fellow than I thought? No, if not that, could it be that he was actually meeting a blonde woman and lying to me?

Could all those words about being into men and liking me have been lies? If so, would that guy say he’s leaving me? Would he quit his job as an attendant?

Before he knew it, heat spread throughout his body again. This time, it was heat caused by anger and fear, not by being in heat.

Just imagining Clyne leaving him was as painful as swallowing thorny bushes and having those thorns stab his heart.

In fact, the reason he had pounced on that guy’s lips last night was because he wasn’t in his right mind.

Of all times, that guy had barged into his room when his heat was at its peak, and in his hazy consciousness, he had explored the guy with uncontrollable desire and instinct. Until the guy bit his tongue and he barely regained consciousness.

However, Hugrey clearly felt it.

At the moment he was kissing Clyne Liden, his body was gradually calming down.

Of course, the desire for more was raging at the same time.

If Clyne hadn’t clearly shown his intention to reject him, he would have probably ended up tearing off that guy’s clothes and exploring whatever of that guy’s.

But the moment he realized that the guy was rejecting him, strangely, the will to submit became as strong as the size of his desire. As if he had realized the absolute proposition that he could never go against the guy’s will.

What could that be? That’s… a feeling that’s only supposed to be felt towards an imprint partner. What on earth is this chaos!

The identity of this chaos was still not clearly known, but one thing was certain.

That he could never let that guy go. Maybe even after finding his imprint partner. No, not ‘maybe’, but ‘definitely’.

It doesn’t make sense, but that’s what his instincts were telling him now.

Unfortunately, a wolf’s instincts had never been wrong.

“I absolutely cannot let you go. No matter what happens.”

Hugrey clearly realized his desire and goal.

Though he had not yet recognized that something else was also awakening within him. The persistent nature of a wolf, filled with tenacious determination to pursue and satisfy its greed until it obtains its goal. That nature too was already spreading throughout his body from his subconscious.

It was already past three in the afternoon. However, even at this hour, the Duke had not mentioned returning to Roizen.

I really need to depart for my hometown now.

In fact, while it takes 8 hours from Roizen, where the Duke’s mansion is, to my hometown Boergen, it only takes 2 hours from here in Solaine to Boergen.

But even though I’m currently disguised as a man, I’m not a real man, so traveling alone when it’s dark is dangerous. So considering the time needed to find a carriage, I really need to leave now.

Finally, Clyne knocked on the Duke’s door, carrying the anxiety of not knowing how he would react.

“Come in.”

Joyce was not in the room.

Where did he go again? It’s uncomfortable to be alone with the Duke.

“Your Grace, how are you feeling?”

Clyne barely managed to open his mouth, hiding his awkwardness.

“I’m fine now. You…?”

Clyne swallowed hard.

You, he says. What does that mean? What about me? You were the one who was sick, Your Grace. Surely he’s not talking about the state of my lips. He’s not asking because he knows I couldn’t sleep from the shock, right? Come to think of it, is the Duke’s tongue okay? I bit it hard yesterday.

“I slept well and had a good breakfast.”

Please, let’s just pretend nothing happened last night.

“Ah…! Is that so…?”

Yes. Nothing happened between us. Right?

“Your Grace, I actually have something to tell you.”

“What! If it’s bad news… Tell me later.”

Just as I mustered up the courage to speak, the Duke cut me off. The courage I had barely summoned faded away.

No, but I still need to go see my mother.

“I’m really sorry to say this when you’re not feeling well, but today is my day off, so…”

I barely managed to gather my thoughts and speak, but I ended up trailing off and looking at the Duke’s expression.

“…”

However, the Duke said nothing and just stared intently at Clyne.

Gulp.

Clyne swallowed dryly and continued speaking.

“So, could I take my vacation directly from here? It’s much closer distance-wise than returning to Roizen first and then going. If you’ll allow it, Your Grace…”

“You’ll come back…”

The Duke muttered, interrupting her words. It sounded like a mutter questioning if she dared to think of returning.

Is he displeased after all?

The prepaid salary flashed through my mind. At least I worked for another month after Arne’s accident, so now I only need to repay 8 more months’ worth.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t possibly say to the Duke, ‘You kissed me, so I’m leaving, but I won’t spit out the salary I received in advance.’

The moment such words left my mouth, I was certain that my head would fly off from the sword of Joyce, who worships the Duke like a god, even before the Duke himself could react.

“Um… I! I really slept so soundly last night that I wouldn’t have noticed if someone carried me away! What I mean is, I’m truly sorry for going on vacation without being able to take care of you, Your Grace.”

“…”

The Duke still said nothing, looking at Clyne with an unreadable expression. The only thing certain was that he was displeased.

In truth, it was unfair. Last night, she was the one who was unilaterally imposed upon.

Of course, as time went on, it wasn’t just scary, but in the end, she found herself unknowingly drawn into the kiss with him.

“My mother in my hometown has woken up, so I absolutely cannot miss this vacation. Instead, I will return to the Duke’s mansion as soon as possible.”

Clyne bowed her head and spoke quickly. If she didn’t finish saying this quickly, she felt she would be overwhelmed by his atmosphere and unable to say anything.

“Return, you say?”

Finally, the Duke showed a proper reaction. Not only did he ask back, but his eyes seemed to widen as well.