“Since Chloe became like that, I’ve been using it as my room, so now it’s filled with my belongings and in a messy state. To the point where I’m embarrassed to show you.”

Fortunately, Calcus, who noticed the situation, chimed in with appropriate words from the side.

Right, I should insist as Calcus said.

If I said her brother’s belongings were Calcus’s, there wouldn’t be any problem.

But her room was still an issue.

I absolutely must not show it. They can’t just look around someone else’s house as they please. They’re not that inconsiderate.

“Hmm… Did you change the bed too? Threw out the bed Clyne’s sister used?”

Why is he asking about the bed? Having almost gotten into trouble earlier by answering the duke’s question hastily and nearly exposing her male disguise, Chloe tensed up.

“Why do you ask that?”

The quick-witted Calcus also didn’t answer immediately and carefully asked back.

“If you can use Clyne’s sister’s bed, since I’m not that much bigger than you, I thought I might be able to sleep in Clyne’s mother’s bed without issue. I just wanted to see the bed.”

Chloe finally realized the duke’s intention.

If Calcus could use a woman’s bed, she would have to admit that the duke could use her mother’s bed too. Also, if Calcus said he had removed Chloe’s bed and replaced it with a man’s bed, it would be difficult for her to not offer that bed to the duke who was a guest.

Since she had made the excuse that the bed was uncomfortable and told him to go back.

Of course, the duke, being a sensible and considerate person, didn’t blatantly demand to be given the bed. He only asked about the bed size.

But from her position, it was difficult to pretend not to know and insist when there was clearly a bed that Calcus, who was almost the same size as the duke, could use.

Not just anyone, but her master whom she served, and moreover, the benefactor who had saved her mother’s life. Even the reason this benefactor came to her house was solely to see how much her mother had recovered.

If she didn’t show the room, it would look like she was refusing to give up a large bed, and if she said Calcus had been fine in a small bed, the duke would say he could sleep in her mother’s bed too.

One way or another, she couldn’t send the duke out onto the dark mountain road.

Ugh, why is he so insistent on not leaving!

While internally fuming and at the same time slumping her shoulders, Chloe finally decided to give the duke her mother’s bed.

“Just my mother’s,”

Whether it was Chloe’s room or her brother’s room that Calcus was using, it would be best to put him in her mother’s room which had no secrets and was neat, rather than have the duke poking around here and there.

“Let’s go downstairs. I’ll escort you.”

However, no sooner had she opened her mouth than Calcus cut in. Chloe looked at Calcus with surprised eyes.

‘Calcus, now’s not the time for that. We’ve already failed at sending him away.’

But Calcus, even after meeting her eyes, turned his head towards the duke as if he hadn’t noticed the meaning in her gaze at all. She couldn’t understand why he was playing dumb like this.

“Calcus Tacan, you should know. If I had made up my mind to go down the mountain road, I wouldn’t need help from you or anyone else.”

“?”

Chloe tilted her head.

What does Calcus know? No help needed? Does he mean even the night road isn’t a problem?

Well, the other party was Duke Ulpaz. The most excellent swordmaster known in the empire. So he’d probably cut down any beast or whatever with one stroke.

But Duke, you don’t have a sword right now! Can you just beat down beasts with your bare hands? That’s not possible, right! Wait, are you saying you’re going to leave now?

“Your Grace, are you leaving?”

Well, if a swordmaster says he’s going down the mountain road alone, there’s no need to try to stop him…

“Clyne, at times like this, you really are heartless.”

“Pardon?”

“You clearly remember how I was last night, right? Even to the point of what I did when I was in so much pain I lost consciousness.”

“…!”

Suddenly Chloe’s face felt like it was burning up.

What is the duke saying now! He’s not talking about that ‘kiss’ incident from last night, is he? He doesn’t actually remember, does he?

It was difficult to even swallow.

“Knowing that I was so sick I couldn’t even remember what happened last night and couldn’t sleep properly, you’re still trying to send me back at this hour?”

Phew… He doesn’t remember.

Yes, please stay and sleep! If you just don’t remember what happened last night, you can sleep here for two nights and three days!

“Of course I remember! That’s right, Your Grace! You were so sick, you should rest at our house today!”

Chloe quickly spat out words, lest the duke recall his memories from last night.

“Your Grace, since the topic of rest came up, I have something to say. Even if one is a personal attendant, doesn’t one need rest? If Your Grace needs rest to such an extent, the same would apply to the attendant. To have the master stay at the home of an attendant who came on leave, and with the master he serves, no less. Is Duke Ulpaz that kind of employer?”

“…!”

Chloe glared at Calcus with her lower lip dropped to her chin.

‘Calcus, is that supposed to be helping me?’

Even just seeing her fierce gaze, it was obvious what she wanted to say, but Calcus kept avoiding her eyes.

‘Is Duke Ulpaz that kind of employer?’ Really Calcus, you’ve completely crossed the line! That’s Duke Ulpaz over there! Besides, if anyone should say such things, it should be me, why do you keep talking to my duke like that?

The Calcus I knew was never someone who would make others uncomfortable or attack first without reason. Chloe couldn’t understand why such a Calcus would say such reckless and aggressive words to the Duke, who was none other than her employer.

Of course, if one were to examine Calcus’s words carefully, they weren’t entirely wrong. They were all correct statements. But saying such things so openly to someone’s face was neither polite nor proper.

And she couldn’t understand why Calcus was acting this way when she had said she was fine. She hadn’t been discovered as a woman in disguise yet, and there was still a lot of money to repay. So the Duke was still her employer. Calcus shouldn’t be speaking so rashly to someone like that!

Moreover, putting aside the employer-employee relationship, hearing the Duke’s words reminded her of how unwell he had been until just this morning, which made her feel uneasy.

She had slept a little in the carriage, but the Duke, who had been sick all night, hadn’t even had that chance. It wasn’t right to send someone who hadn’t slept properly and had been ill out into the dark night. As she thought about it, she even felt remorseful, as the Duke had pointed out, that she had been too cold-hearted.

“Hmm… I didn’t know I was such an inconvenient employer. Was I, Clyne? Was I such a fussy master that you couldn’t even tolerate me staying one night at your house?”

“…!”

Oh my. You see. Calcus, that really wasn’t right earlier!

Fussy? That was an adjective far from describing the Duke. Although he had been a bit strange lately at times, the Duke was never a master who troubled his servants without reason.

“Answer me, Clyne.”

The Duke looked at her with eyes that somehow seemed sad.

“No, that’s not it! How could that be, when there’s no better employer than Your Grace?”

“Did you hear that, Calcus Tacan? Clyne says so?”

The Duke, who had looked sad, suddenly turned to Calcus with a smug expression.

“…?”

Why is the Duke looking at Calcus with such an expression?

The Duke’s gaze was as if he had just knocked Calcus down.

No, this isn’t right either. This isn’t it.

Now Chloe was observing Calcus’s expression. She couldn’t understand why she was alternately reading the moods of these two people, but the atmosphere felt strangely uneasy.

“No matter how good, no outsider is as good as family.”

See, I knew this would happen.

The uneasiness she had felt was indeed not wrong.

Calcus ignored her desperate gaze and once again retorted curtly to the Duke, as if challenging him. Even using the unexpected word ‘family’. Family? What on earth did that mean?

“Calcus, stop it!”

Finally, Chloe spoke firmly to Calcus. Not only was the tension between Calcus and the Duke uncomfortable, but Calcus speaking as if he were her family also bothered her. Calcus was a precious friend like no other, but that didn’t make him ‘family’.

“So you’re saying I should stay here?”

What does the Duke mean by this now!

“Pardon?”

Chloe looked at the Duke with a dumbfounded voice at his response that lacked context and logic. However, the Duke’s gaze was directed at Calcus.

“Right now, Clyne’s only family member, his mother, is not in this house. And you are staying here. You, who are not family but an outsider. If I were to leave and allow my attendant to sleep in the same house as a strange man, wouldn’t I be neglecting my duty as a master?”

Strange what? Duty as what?

Chloe’s head was not just spinning, but throbbing. Both the Duke and Calcus were acting too strangely.

“Your Grace, I think you’re gravely misunderstanding something. Clyne is a man, and I am a man, so what’s the big deal about male friends sleeping in the same house that you’re saying such strange things?”

Now Calcus’s tone was so impolite that it could be said he was arguing with the Duke.

And one more thing. The fact that there was something about the Duke and her that Calcus didn’t know also bothered her.