The duke clearly had incredibly sharp hearing. She had merely whispered to herself quietly.

Chloe, who was staring at the door with wide eyes in surprise, saw the food tray placed on the bed. It seemed the duke intended to leave only after hearing her eat.

“I should eat, yes, I should eat now.”

She sighed deeply and deliberately spoke aloud. Then she carefully got down from the bed.

She couldn’t possibly eat on the duke’s bed. She picked up the tray and walked to the sofa table in the bedroom.

As she was about to set the tray down on the table, she suddenly paused. Things that had been hidden from view by the sofa’s backrest when she was on the bed were neatly placed there. Her brown wig and her glasses with one broken leg glued back on.

She had only focused on the fact that the wig and glasses were gone, not even thinking about where they might have ended up. She thought they had simply disappeared in the chaos.

But here they were. The duke had brought them here. Even fixing the glasses leg. As if he was prepared to hand them back to her if she decided to disguise herself as a man and live as ‘Clyne’ again. Even though he desired her to the point of losing his appetite.

The duke’s feelings were clear. He was waiting for her.

Chloe set the food tray down next to the wig and glasses, and unconsciously approached the door.

“Your Grace, are you there?”

There was no answer.

“If you’re there, listen. Your Grace has sharp ears, so I’ll speak from here.”

Still, there was no reply.

Is he not there? Did he leave already? Did he not hear me?

If he didn’t hear, if he missed my confession, then perhaps we’re not meant to be.

“I… that is, Chloe Liden likes you.”

But if you hear my confession, I’ll give you my heart too.

One, two, three.

She counted in her mind. Still, there was no sound.

The duke had said that when telling Lord Joyce to find ‘Chloe’. That she was his destiny. It seemed those words were wrong after all. They weren’t even meant to be…

Thunk.

The door Chloe had been staring at opened. Along with the door sound, her heart dropped.

Beyond the open door stood the duke. Looking straight into her eyes.

“……”

“……”

Only silence filled the air between the two.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

As the silence lingered, only the sound of a loud heartbeat echoed. She couldn’t tell if it was the sound of her heart or the duke’s.

While my heart is beating this fast, is yours beating this fast too?

“Your Grace……”

She finally called out to him. Not knowing what to say or how to say it. Just to hide the sound of her heartbeat.

“……Chloe.”

The duke called her name.

Chloe. A name she must have heard thousands of times before. Yet it felt like hearing her own name for the first time.

“Not eating, just confessing that you like me.”

“……”

“So……”

Chloe waited for the duke’s next words.

“May I embrace you?”

“……!”

As her eyes widened, the duke instantly entered the room and pulled her into an embrace. Due to their size difference, Chloe, pressed against the duke’s chest, could hear his heartbeat.

Perhaps that fast and strong sound she had heard earlier was indeed the duke’s heartbeat. Judging by how relentlessly it was pounding now.

The duke’s face lowered towards the top of her head. Holding her tightly enough to take her breath away, he tilted his head to bring his face even closer.

“You’re mine now.”

At his whisper, Chloe, who had been in a dreamlike state in the duke’s arms, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

“What?”

“I told you. To give yourself to me.”

“Ah!”

“Telling me your name means giving yourself to me, doesn’t it?”

It wasn’t a question. He was reconfirming.

“Answer me, Chloe. Isn’t that right? You’re mine, and your heart, your body, everything is mine. Right?”

The words the duke had spoken today fell like meteors into her mind. His words flickered brightly, raining down into her pitch-black thoughts.

“Is… is that how it works?”

“Yes, that’s how it works. Chloe Liden.”

Chloe Liden.

Yes, this was the result of revealing her own name. That Chloe Liden had now become Hugrey Ulpaz’s possession.

Goodness. She had plenty of intention to give her heart. But while thinking of giving her heart, she hadn’t considered giving her body as well.

No, to be completely honest, it’s not that she hadn’t thought about it at all… She had thought about it a little. It’s not like nothing had happened between them. Come to think of it, this situation arose precisely because such things had already occurred.

But when the duke officially nailed it down like this, Chloe burrowed deeper into his embrace to hide her completely reddened face. She absolutely couldn’t bring herself to look at the duke’s face.

“Just because of that… Chloe Liden, it’s troublesome if you’re always this forward. I’m barely holding back……”

At the duke’s words mixed with labored breathing, Chloe looked up at him while pulling away from his embrace.

“Unlike Clyne Liden, Chloe Liden keeps throwing herself into my arms.”

At the duke’s embarrassing words, Chloe had no choice but to bury her face in his chest again.

“Chloe, I know you want to be in my arms, but before that, there’s something you need to know.”

The duke whispered as he gently pulled her away from his embrace. Chloe looked up at him, feeling slightly puzzled by his gesture.

“What is it? Ah! And I didn’t want to be in your arms. I just ended up there.”

“That seems to be the same thing. Anyway, I have something to say.”

The duke’s face was smiling, but his eyes were serious. Somehow, it was a gaze that made Chloe tense up as well. She took a step back from the duke.

“Before that, eat first. I’ll eat too.”

“Your appetite came back so quickly?”

Was my confession effective enough to do that?

“Well… I’ll say this in advance, but this is a physiological reaction unrelated to my will, Chloe Liden.”

It was utterly incomprehensible.

The duke’s eyes, seemingly unwilling to explain further, were looking past her shoulder at the table.

“Go on.”

Chloe obediently nodded and returned to the table. Now that she heard the duke’s words, she realized that she was indeed in a state of extreme hunger. She had been hungry for a while now, but perhaps due to using too much energy confessing to the duke, her legs were now trembling.

“Eat a lot. You’ll need to.”

Chloe, who had picked up her spoon, paused for a moment and looked at the duke.

Somehow, it was a meaningful statement.

After finishing her meal, Chloe looked in the mirror.

Blonde hair, blue eyes.

Despite wearing the duke’s oversized men’s pajamas, perhaps due to the soft material clinging to her body, the outline of her figure was clearly visible even though it wasn’t tied.

To think that she would see her true self in the duke’s mansion one day.

She couldn’t even imagine what chaos would ensue if others found out that she, a manservant, was actually a woman. Moreover, if it became known that she and the duke were in a relationship…

What should she do now? She only now realized that she hadn’t thought about what would happen in the duke’s mansion from now on.

All her attention had been focused on her relationship with the duke, so she hadn’t considered the other servants in the mansion.

Knock knock.

Following the knock, the door opened and the duke entered. Chloe, standing in front of the mirror, felt embarrassed.

Until now, she had been surprised at being discovered as a woman, and then preoccupied with whether to confess her feelings to the duke or not.

But now she realized she was dressed far too casually. There was nothing underneath the duke’s thin white pajamas.

However, whether the duke understood her feelings or not, he sat on the sofa with a neutral expression and patted the seat next to him. As if telling her to come and sit down.

He didn’t seem to be particularly concerned about her attire.

Feeling sheepish that she was the only one worrying about her clothes, Chloe sat across from him instead of next to him.

“Chloe Liden, I have something to tell you.”

“Um, Your Grace……”

The two spoke simultaneously and looked at each other.

“You go first.”

Chloe looked at the duke for a moment at his firm words. For lovers who had just confessed their feelings to each other, this conversation seemed very much like one between a master and a manservant.

If Your Grace says to go first, then I must, what choice do I have?

Whether they had confessed or not, in reality, she and he were in a master and manservant relationship. Their mutual affection didn’t change that fact. And coincidentally, what she was about to say was precisely about that relationship.

“Your Grace, I think it would be best if the people in the mansion don’t know that I’m Chloe Liden for the time being.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are no women in the duke’s mansion, right? If I, who was a man, suddenly claim to be a woman, how uncomfortable would people feel? Besides, I got employed by lying and breaking the employment conditions. So I’d like to complete my work as Clyne Liden for the duration of the contract I signed, and after that, start a new relationship with Your Grace as ‘Chloe’.”

She had lied, and the fact that she was the woman the duke had taken to heart didn’t change that fact.

If he made an exception for her, the duke would become an employer who had lost fairness and impartiality.

So she thought it was right to continue working as a manservant for the remaining eight months without being discovered in her male disguise.

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“You just haven’t considered it yet, but if you think about it, this is the right thing to do.”

“Hmm, is that so? Why should I keep my woman hidden as a manservant instead of revealing her as my woman?”

“Because I am a manservant.”

“You were until just now. When you were Clyne Liden. But now you’re Chloe Liden. The one I’ve imprinted on.”

“……Pardon? What did you… do?”