I Accidentally Imprinted On The Wolf Duke - Chapter 56

Suddenly, her head seemed to hurt more. She couldn’t immediately judge how to interpret this situation.
No, she didn’t want to judge. No matter how positively she tried to think, her blonde hair must have already been discovered by the duke.

Only then did she look at her body again. Pajamas. It was a loose, dress-like pajama. Very loose, in fact.

This… is the duke’s pajamas.

She was wearing the duke’s pajamas. Nothing else but the duke’s pajamas…

“Uuuuuugh.”

She finally let out a suppressed groan. She wanted to scream while pulling her hair with all her might, but somehow managed to hold back.

Tap tap tap tap.

But the next moment, seeing the face of the person who rushed into the bedroom like the wind, Chloe was bewildered, wondering if she had actually screamed loudly.

The man who seemed to have an impossibly keen sense of smell, and now clearly had excellent hearing as well, who must have figured out her identity.

Duke Hugrey Ulpaz had rushed to right beside her bed with a pale face.

Just faint again. Now is the time to faint! You’re really good at fainting, aren’t you.

Chloe screamed silently at herself. But her mind only became clearer. She couldn’t escape this terrible reality.

Even without looking, she seemed to know what had happened to her. She had fainted like before in the chaos, her head was split open, and for treatment, the duke must have undressed her completely, seeing everything.

Not just her hair, but her body too.

Come to think of it, the glasses that always obstructed her vision were gone too. Well, they must have flown off in the carriage already.

Besides, are glasses the problem in this situation? When she’s been completely undressed.

“Clyne.”

But why does this person still call her Clyne? Out of habit? Or perhaps… is he still waiting for me to confess directly? But it’s all been exposed already.

“You’re awake.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

She herself wasn’t sure exactly what she was apologizing for. It just felt like she should apologize.

There are many lies to apologize for. Not sure where to start or how far to go, but at least to the point where I have to.

“I… I’m sorry for everything.”

“…You woke up, so it’s fine. Since you’re awake, I can forgive everything.”

“…!”

Chloe stared at the duke.

“Does it hurt? Are you dizzy? You lost a lot of blood, how do you feel? Ah! Sorry, you must be tired after just waking up. You should lie down. You shouldn’t be sitting up like this. Lie down. Clyne, lie down now.”

“…Duke.”

It was the face of the duke she knew, clearly Duke Ulpaz, but he looked like a different person.

“First, I should call a doctor…”

“Duke!”

The duke looked at her with wide eyes. It was a look that seemed to say, whatever you want, just ask.

“I’m fine. I think I’m okay. But… did you… did you see everything…”

“…Hmm. See what?”

The duke suddenly turned his eyes away from her and looked at some distant place.

“I did wrong. I’m sorry for deceiving you and getting employed from the start. It was an unavoidable choice, but I’m truly sorry.”

Seeing the duke who strangely seemed flustered, she rather became clear on what to apologize for first.

“I’m also sorry for not telling the truth about that night’s mistake and continuing to deceive you. As I tried to hide the first lie, I just couldn’t bring myself to say it.”

The duke’s eyes turned back to her. It was a strange thing. As the duke stared at her, now Chloe found it difficult to look back at him.

She lowered her head and just looked at the edge of the blanket covering her lower body.

“I’m sorry that because I insisted on not being able to stay in Arne to hide that night’s accident, we encountered the bandits. For fainting at such a moment and only causing trouble. It’s all my fault. What a state I’m in, in the duke’s bed…”

As she spoke, she realized that she was shamelessly occupying the duke’s bed while sitting, and the duke was standing beside her. Embarrassed, she hesitantly tried to remove the blanket.

I should get off the bed now. I should go to my room even now.

“Clyne.”

At that moment, her body stiffened as the duke pressed on her shoulder.

“Y-yes?”

“Stay as you are. If you get off this bed now, I won’t forgive any of the lies you’ve told.”

Gulp. Chloe swallowed. Her body trembled as if suddenly chilled.

Does it mean he’ll forgive all her lies if she doesn’t get off the bed? Why… does he still like her despite knowing all her lies?

“And… lie down on the bed.”

Goosebumps rose even to her chin.

“Lie down and don’t do anything, just think. Whether that night is still a mistake and an accident to you, I’d like you to… think about that again first.”

“Ah…”

“And… may I stay here?”

The duke’s eyes pointed to the stool placed right next to the bed.

While telling her absolutely not to get off this bed, he wants to stay right next to it? Is this a question she could dare to refuse?

It probably wasn’t. This was the duke’s room. It wasn’t a place where she could tell the duke to leave or stay from the start. She had no right to. So when she said she would leave the room, he said he wouldn’t forgive her lies.

In the end, she had no choice.

“If you really want to be here…?”

She tried to indirectly ask if he couldn’t leave, albeit weakly, but,

“Yes. I want to.”

A flat refusal came back.

“Yes, Duke, please be comfortable.”

“You, lie down comfortably.”

How could I be comfortable?

But there was no choice if she wanted to be forgiven. She had to lie down even if uncomfortable.

Could it be this uncomfortable even when uncomfortable?

It wasn’t forgiveness. The duke must have decided to punish her like this.

Had about an hour passed since she lay down on the bed? During that time, the duke didn’t move an inch and stared at her by her side. As if observing an animal named Chloe Liden.

Her face felt like it was burning. She tried closing her eyes and opening them, turning her face to the other side and back again, doing all sorts of things, but the duke kept looking at her without saying a word.

Isn’t this almost torture?

“Duke.”

Finally, unable to bear it anymore, she called out to the duke.

“Yes?”

“Um… how long do I have to lie in this room?”

“Until you’re fully healed?”

“Where… my head?”

“The head or anywhere else.”

If he means until the torn part is completely healed, isn’t he telling her to be confined in this room for months?

“Duke, I have committed an unforgivable sin. My deception of you wasn’t with any other bad intentions. It was just because my circumstances were so urgent that I had no choice. And that night, that…”

Suddenly, she remembered what the duke had said to her about an hour ago. To think again whether that night was an accident or a mistake.

She had completely forgotten about it, being too conscious of the duke watching her from the side.

“Have you thought about it?”

It seemed she was the only one who had forgotten, and the duke hadn’t forgotten.

What answer does the duke want? What words does he want to hear that made him ask her to think again? Does he want to hear that it wasn’t an accident or a mistake? Then what? What does that become?

The duke said he liked her, and also said he didn’t care whether she was a man or a woman. He also said he would wait for her to tell the truth.

Haa…

This was the problem. She’d rather not know, but no matter how much she tried to deny it, she knew what the duke wanted to hear.

So the duke wants that night to be not an accident, but ‘the beginning of the duke and her’ or something like that. But is that even possible? Even if the duke says he’ll easily forgive all her lies like this, reality doesn’t change.

She was just a commoner attendant. On the other side was a duke, needless to say about his status, the head of the Ulpaz family which had maintained strong power since the early days of this empire’s establishment, the most excellent swordmaster, and even rumored to be the most handsome man on the continent.

Being handsome wasn’t the problem, but the fact that he was someone she couldn’t dare to aspire to was the problem.

Calcus’s warning echoed in her ears.

The words of Joyce, who was indignant that the duke had been ensnared by a commoner woman, also.

“Duke.”

But if this man still likes me despite all that, I…