Calcus led her quite far from the bakery, perhaps a bit excessively. To be precise, it was to the opposite side of the square, with the fountain in the center, completely across from the bakery. The Duke would still be able to see Calcus and her. Though they would appear very small.

“Chloe.”

“Yes. Why didn’t you come home yesterday? I waited, and the night before too.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“No, I’m not asking you to apologize, I just had something to tell you…”

“What is it?”

She had wanted to clear up the misunderstandings caused by her lies to the Duke and Calcus’s misconceptions. That the things she said about liking the Duke were just to avoid being discovered as a woman in disguise. But now that Calcus asked, it was difficult to say. To explain, she’d have to start with the incident of that night with the Duke.

Moreover, could she confidently say that her words about liking the Duke were lies?

Somehow, she no longer felt confident to say that now.

“Just, the Duke and I are merely…”

“That the Duke likes you?”

“…”

“The Duke openly said so in front of me. Why are you surprised?”

“Ah! He did. He did, but…”

“I like you too.”

“…Calcus!”

“Didn’t you know? That I like you?”

In the end, Calcus confessed to her. He had never so openly said he liked her before.

Her insistence on disguising herself as Clyne and working at the Duke’s mansion instead, was because she didn’t want to owe a large debt to Calcus, who had offered to find money for her. Even if her feelings for Calcus changed in the future, even if she came to like him, she didn’t want to owe a debt that would be difficult to repay. She didn’t want to create the possibility of deceiving her own heart with such things.

But in the end, despite all her struggles, she had essentially entrusted her mother to him, so she had ended up owing an unpayable debt anyway.

That’s why now, at this moment, Calcus’s confession felt like a rope tightly binding her heart.

“Chloe, it’s okay if you didn’t know I liked you. Just know it from now on. I like you. It’s a stronger feeling than just liking.”

The tightly wound rope constricted her heart more and more.

“Eighteen. Since I was eighteen, my eyes have only been on you. Because you’re the only one who loved my hair color and eye color without prejudice.”

“…Calcus.”

Old memories came flooding back.

It was an insult she had overheard about 6 years ago, the first day her eyes met Calcus’s. Looking at his curly golden hair and eyes that seemed to shine gold, she had thought he looked like a pretty puppy and was about to smile at him. But at that moment, the boys between Calcus and her spewed such words at him. At the very moment their eyes met.

Chloe felt her face flush red with bewilderment and anger. But surprisingly, there was no change in Calcus’s face. As if he was hearing words he always heard.

The boys snickered and pushed his arms, and despite being bigger than them, Calcus gave way without saying anything. Whether it was because he didn’t want to deal with them, or because he had become used to the insults and given up, she didn’t know.

Why should such a pretty boy have to hear such insults, by what right were those boys spewing such nasty words?

Blonde hair, golden eyes, how beautiful they were. No! Even if they weren’t beautiful, to insult and ostracize someone just because they’re different.

Anger rose to the top of her head. Enough to want to rush at those boys right away. Even though she was younger and smaller than not only Calcus but those boys too.

In the end, she couldn’t hold back and shouted. The boys changed their target and walked towards her. It looked like they might hit her at any moment.

Clyne, who was next to her, stepped in front of her and apologized, but she pushed Clyne aside and shouted again. Telling them to apologize for their rude and bad words to that boy right now.

While she was fighting with those boys, Calcus just stood still watching. As if her fight with those boys had nothing to do with him. Like someone watching a fight between strangers.

But when one of those boys really pushed Clyne aside and was about to hit her, Calcus’s arm, which had approached without notice, grabbed that boy’s arm. Until the boy cried and begged to be let go, saying it hurt.

The fierce aura Calcus emitted at that moment was still vivid. The boys retreated hastily at his presence. It was incomprehensible why, with such strength, he had endured such insults from those boys until now.

Anyway, from that day on, the Chloe siblings became friends with Calcus and grew close enough to invite him to their home, where they had never brought anyone before. Even their mother, who at first was more accurate to say she disliked Calcus, eventually accepted him as their only friend.

“So don’t fall for that Duke. I like you. So stop working as a personal servant now and come out. I can arrange the money.”

Calcus’s somewhat desperate voice brought her back from the past to the present.

“That Duke thinks you’re a man. Besides, he’s the Ulpaz Duke. He doesn’t suit us. Your mother probably won’t like that Duke either. When she wakes up… she’ll surely hate it.”

Having this conversation felt too strange.

How did she and Calcus end up having such a conversation?

“Chloe, why aren’t you answering? Send the Duke away alone. I can pay back the money you owe right now. Your mother is awake now too.”

How could she do that?

That would mean accepting Calcus’s feelings. But she couldn’t do that. Somehow, it seemed she couldn’t do that.

She liked Calcus, but it wasn’t ‘love’. Regardless of whether the Duke liked her or her feelings for the Duke, she couldn’t say she would accept Calcus’s feelings.

“Calcus, that’s not possible. I can’t just quit right now. I…”

“You don’t have to tell me your feelings yet. Hearts are always moving, and you can’t be sure where your heart will end up yet.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Then just promise me this. Whether your heart comes to me or not, the Ulpaz Duke is a more difficult person to handle than you think. Even if you can’t quit your job, don’t reveal that you’re a woman. Not unless you’re going to give your heart to the Duke.”

Unless you’re going to give your heart…? Then, if she does give her heart?

“You’ll do that, right?”

“…Yes.”

Right, giving her heart. That’s nonsense.

Even without Calcus’s words, the idea of a personal servant, a cross-dressing servant who had only told lies, giving her heart to the Ulpaz Duke was absurd. The Duke’s words about liking her were the same. Calcus’s words telling her not to like the Duke were strange from the start. So she could promise not to give her heart.

In fact, as she answered Calcus, she was also locking her own heart. Because if she didn’t make this promise, she felt she might really give her heart to the Duke.

“Chloe, come back whenever you want to. I’ll be waiting for you here, and when I make up my mind to solve various complicated problems, there’s nothing that can’t be done. Understand?”

“Of course I’ll come back. This is my home, and my mother is here. But it’s not because you’re waiting that I’m coming back. So don’t wait. It might turn out the way you hope, but I can’t promise that.”

She didn’t want Calcus to have hope for her heart. She might really come to ‘love’ Calcus as he said, but for now, it was clear that wasn’t the case.

She didn’t want to torment him with vague hope and ambiguous answers. Even if she ends up regretting it, that would be her responsibility and her burden to bear.

“My waiting is also my own heart. Don’t ask me not to wait, Chloe.”

“…Alright.”

Calcus’s heart was his own business too.

She couldn’t help feeling sorry, but she had nothing more to say to him. It wasn’t right to give hope with promises she couldn’t keep or feelings she couldn’t give. No matter how sorry she felt.

“I think I should go back to the Duke now.”

“…Alright, see you on your next day off.”

Calcus smiled. Chloe returned his smile and then crossed the square back to the Duke, who was still watching her from the opposite side.

“It seems you’ve sorted things out well.”

The Duke said.

Chloe furrowed her brow as she looked at the Duke. Sorted things out? She hadn’t sorted out anything. She had merely confirmed her own heart that couldn’t go to either side.

“Let’s go back now.”

But the Duke seemed to have already drawn his own conclusion. That her heart had come to him.

“Yes, we should go back. I am Your Grace’s ‘personal servant’ after all.”

“Yes, you are my person.”

She couldn’t refute the Duke’s added words. A personal servant was indeed his person.

Chloe felt like she had been drawn into the Duke’s wordplay, but in the end, she kept her mouth shut. No other conclusion would come from saying more.