“Yes! I understand.”

Joyce walked towards the door with a stern face. Hugrey’s eyes, which had narrowed sharply, reflexively followed Joyce’s movements.

Then for a moment his gaze fixed on Joyce’s dark brown hair. Brown hair. Joyce’s hair color was the same as Clyne’s current hair color.

But that color wasn’t his real hair color… Not brown, but blonde. An appearance so handsome it drew people’s attention. Why did he change his hair color to brown? Why deliberately cover handsomeness with plainness? Why…

I want to take off his glasses. I want to see the face hidden under those glasses. Unlike before when I was just curious about his face. It was a question about the human being named Clyne Liden himself.

Who are you?

“Ah…!”

Suddenly Hugrey felt like he’d been hit on the head again.

Could it be that the hair he found in Clyne’s room then was Clyne’s hair! If so… If so! It might not be dyed. If not dyed, then… was he wearing a wig?

If it was dyed, blonde would grow from the roots so he would have had to dye it periodically. Would that guy have had the leisure to do that?

Moreover, the hair found on his bed that day was longer than Clyne’s current hair length. But if he wore a wig to not stand out, why didn’t he honestly confess that his hair was blonde then? Why, what on earth was he trying to hide?

Blonde Clyne Liden. Clyne Liden’s dead younger sister, Chloe…

The blonde of the woman imprinted in his mind.

Several pieces were swirling fiercely and wildly in his head.

Wo…man…?

Hugrey’s eyes began to shine sharply. He finally felt like he had a clue in his hands. Something that, though not yet certain, was now difficult to simply deny.

Mother did not return even on the last day of vacation.

Where on earth did she go? Had her body really fully recovered?

My heart felt heavy not being able to check on mother’s condition. Moreover, Calcus had not returned either. The duke who went out with Calcus must have said something to him. Otherwise, there’s no way he wouldn’t have come back after threatening to “talk again”.

Did Duke Ulpaz pressure Calcus with power and authority? Did the duke like me that much?

Knock knock knock.

Though my mind was not sorted out at all, the duke was already knocking on the front door. As if he had been waiting in front of the door and knocked as soon as day broke, even though the sun had just risen.

“Yes, I’m coming out!”

Just in case, I had been ready to leave since dawn and waiting.

“Looks like you were waiting for me.”

As soon as the door opened, the duke said, looking me up and down, seeing I was ready to depart.

“Yes.”

The duke smiled softly. He seemed to have attributed his own meaning to my waiting. That’s not it though.

“Let’s go.”

Chloe left the house following the duke.

“Let’s ride down together.”

The duke said as he walked towards the horse.

“No! I can run down!”

“It’s hard to match your pace. I saw directly that you’re not very good at running either.”

Chloe glared slightly at the duke.

Pretending not to see that look, the duke laughed out loud and reached out his hand. Towards her head.

This person again!

Chloe instinctively closed her eyes and shrank her body.

“…?”

Feeling nothing on her head, she opened her frowning eyes slightly and looked up at the duke. The duke was looking down at her with his hand stretched out above her head, precisely in the air.

Did I avoid his touch too obviously?

But touching her head again or such was troublesome. Not only was the duke confessing affection to a male servant problematic, but she herself was also problematic for not being able to sleep properly while mulling over that confession. Any more physical contact was forbidden. So riding the horse together was also out of the question.

“It’s downhill so I can run better. If you feel stuffy, you can go down first.”

“…”

The duke withdrew his hand without a word.

“Then I’ll depart first-aah!”

Chloe, who was about to bow, let out a strange cry in surprise. It was because the duke grabbed her wrist and pulled.

“No, get on the horse. What kind of crazy man would let the person he likes run down a mountain path while riding a horse alone?”

“Your Grace! Please stop saying such things.”

Chloe shouted as if barking back, thinking she wanted to hide her reddened face.

“Isn’t it my freedom to say whatever I want? If you don’t want to hear it, cover your ears.”

“How can you say that?”

“Just get on.”

The duke didn’t even pretend to listen to her words.

“I don’t want to. Why should I ride a horse with Your Grace!”

“Then, there’s no choice. I’ll have to leave the horse here. I have no intention of riding down alone.”

“What?”

The duke began to untie the rope tying the horse.

“Wait a moment! Why are you untying that?”

“If I leave it tied here, won’t this fellow starve to death? I have to let it loose so it can at least graze on its own to survive.”

Is this person serious?

“No! How can you abandon the horse?”

Abandoning a horse. How much does a horse cost? Moreover, that horse was newly bought just a few days ago! There should be a limit to wasting money.

“Why? Feeling like riding now?”

“No!”

But she couldn’t ride together either.

“Then don’t make me waste time.”

The duke really untied the rope tying the horse. Chloe, feeling urgent, quickly grabbed that rope lest the horse go somewhere.

“Going to ride?”

The duke grinned. This persistent person!

“Haa! Yes! Will you be satisfied if I ride?”

In the end, Chloe surrendered helplessly despite feeling played by the duke’s scheme. It was too wasteful to abandon the horse.

Neigh!

However, an unexpected obstacle arose. The moment she tried to mount the horse, it began to rear. Again? Why did horses go crazy like they couldn’t wait to eat her when they saw her?

“Look at this. This horse dislikes me too, doesn’t it!”

Apart from feeling hurt by the horse, she thought it was rather fortunate.

“Hmm… Wait.”

The duke stroked the horse’s mane while making eye contact with it. Strangely, it felt as if the duke was conversing with the horse through their eyes. Can he communicate with animals? Did they become close in those few days?

But it was truly amazing. The horse that was making eye contact with the duke suddenly lowered its head. As if, obeying the duke’s words.

“Now ride. This fellow won’t cause you trouble anymore.”

“…”

Chloe looked back and forth between the duke and the horse. The duke had clearly had a silent conversation with the horse.

“Yes. If you ride first, I’ll ride behind you.”

As if infected by the horse’s attitude, she also answered the duke docilely. There was no more reason to refuse either.

“You should ride in front.”

But her body stiffened at the duke’s next words.

“Me in front?”

“If you ride behind, I won’t be able to protect you if you fall off backwards and roll down in the middle, right? So you should ride in front.”

Thump thump. Why was her heart beating faster? It’s not like she was a child who would fall off a horse. What was there to protect?

“…”

But in the end, Chloe mounted the horse first without saying anything. It was because she felt the duke was sincerely considering her, even if he said it jokingly.

In fact, imagining hugging the duke’s waist to avoid falling off while riding behind made her think riding in front was better.

“Heuk…!”

Once actually on the horse, she let out a strange sound without realizing it, surprised by the horse’s height which was higher than expected.

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t know the horse was this hi-eek!”

Chloe, who was answering the duke, suddenly inhaled and froze. It was because the duke, who had mounted behind her, embraced her as if caging her in his arms.

Thump thump thump thump thump.

Her heart pounded as if getting motion sickness on horseback. It was a tumultuous heartbeat that made her rapid heartbeat at the duke’s words about protecting her and her tension at the horse’s height seem trivial.

Chloe unconsciously shrank her body forward. However, the duke’s breath was felt on her ear as he pressed his body tightly against her back as if protecting her shrinking body. The goosebumps that started behind her ear instantly traveled down to her elbow, making her upper body shiver.

Your Grace, why, why… are you doing this?

Unable to ask out loud, frozen, right next to her ear,

“Clyne.”

The duke’s voice calling her name vibrated mixed with his breath.

“Heuup!”

Chloe swallowed her breath. The duke’s lips were almost touching her ear.

“You’re mine.”

He whispered.

For a very brief moment, it felt like his lips touched her earlobe and then pulled away. They say the earlobe is the coldest part of the human body. Why was that coldest part now burning as if scalded?

“Clyne, I said you’re mine.”

“Yes? Hiccup! Wha-what… hiccup, are you saying?”

It was a mess with hiccups and stuttering words mixed together. What do you mean I’m yours? What on earth are you saying?

“I said you’re mine.”

At the same time the duke’s low voice wrapped around her ear again, her hand was also wrapped in the duke’s hand.

“…!”

She was so surprised, even her hiccups seemed to stop.

“Breathe.”

Now the goosebumps seemed to have spread to the tips of her little toes.

“Breathe, Clyne.”

Breathe? Ah…!

“Whoo…”

Only then did she exhale. Her eyes went down to where the duke was holding her hand.