“Imprinting.”

“Imprinting? What do you mean by imprinting?”

I thought I had misheard, but really, imprinting?

“Yes.”

“You mean, like how ducklings think the first person they see is their mother and follow them? That kind of imprinting?”

“Hmm… I’m not a duckling.”

“If not that kind of imprinting…”

She knew about other types of imprinting. Or rather, she had read about them.

Long ago, when shapeshifters had not yet gone extinct, it was written in books that wolf shapeshifters did something like this. She didn’t know exactly what form it took or who it was done to. She had only read in history books that ‘wolf shapeshifters used to imprint’.

She had asked her mother more about it out of curiosity, but her mother said there was no need to know such things. So she couldn’t ask further details. But what was clear was that imprinting was something wolf shapeshifters did.

Is this what the duke is talking about now? That imprinting done by wolf shapeshifters? But the duke isn’t a wolf shapeshifter.

“I am a wolf shapeshifter.”

“Eh?”

“You sometimes make such strange noises.”

Excuse me, Your Grace, is that something you should say to a woman you claim to like? Isn’t talking about strange things like imprinting even stranger?

“But you still look perfectly beautiful to me. I want to give you anything you desire, and I have no choice but to do so. I can’t embrace anyone but you. In other words, you’re the one I’ll dedicate my everything to. That’s what imprinting is.”

“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”

“Shapeshifters didn’t disappear. We’ve been carrying on our bloodlines openly, like me. Of course, most humans don’t know. I’m a wolf shapeshifter, and the biggest characteristic of wolf shapeshifters is imprinting. You’ve become my imprinting partner and the owner of my soul. So unless I’m your servant, you can’t be mine.”

“A wolf shapeshifter? You, Your Grace?”

“It’s not much of a secret that the ancestors of the Ulpaz ducal family were wolf shapeshifters. It’s known that we’re not anymore, but we still are shapeshifters even now.”

“…Wolf shapeshifter.”

She muttered it over and over, knowing she must look foolish.

It was surprising enough that shapeshifters still existed, but for the duke to be a shapeshifter? It seemed impossible, but the duke was too serious. At this point, she couldn’t help but believe it.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you’re the object of my imprinting. Imprinting is a stronger bond than you think, and since I can’t live without you, you need to know my condition too.”

She didn’t know why Calcus’s words suddenly came to mind. There’s no way Calcus could know about this.

“Are you… really… a wolf shapeshifter?”

“Yes.”

That simple ‘yes’ sounded far more real than all the explanations so far.

“And I’m your imprinting partner?”

“Yes, and an imprinting partner is…”

Just as the duke was about to say more.

Knock knock knock.

A somewhat urgent-sounding knock interrupted the duke.

“What is it?”

The duke openly showed an annoyed expression.

“Your Grace! The young lady of the Tilbeth family has arrived at the ducal residence.”

“…What? Who?”

The duke’s brow furrowed violently. Chloe was flustered.

If Joyce were to come in now, he would see her state. Her undeniably female appearance,

“Your Grace, may I go to my room? I think Joyce might catch me like this.”

“Did you even listen to what I said? I told you several times that you’re my imprinting partner…!”

“Your Grace, may I come in?”

Joyce asked loudly from outside the door again.

“Your Grace, please. I’m not ready for this talk about imprinting or being a woman.”

It was crystal clear how Joyce would react if he saw her. Right now, avoiding being discovered as a ‘woman’ was far more urgent and important than unbelievable talk about wolf shapeshifters and imprinting.

“To think the first request of my imprinting partner is to continue playing the role of a servant.”

“Please, Your Grace.”

Chloe was already shifting in her seat. She had somehow grabbed her wig and glasses from the table.

“Go.”

At the duke’s curt permission, Chloe darted towards the passage leading to the duke’s office. As soon as she entered the office, she heard the duke’s voice.

“Joyce, come in.”

Chloe sighed in relief as she moved towards the corridor door of the duke’s office.

“Reina Tilbeth?”

Hugrey was both dumbfounded and irritated by this unexpected name. He had been in the middle of explaining imprinting to Chloe when this absurd visitor barged in. There hadn’t even been any prior notice of the visit.

“She said she came to confirm that Your Grace had imprinted. Didn’t you write in your letter that you had imprinted on a human?”

“No, I didn’t write that. Everything was uncertain at the time, including whether my imprinting partner was human or not.”

Although he had been certain she was human, nothing was definite until he found Chloe, so he had only informed Reina Tilbeth of the fact that he had ‘imprinted’. And that he would therefore cancel the marriage.

Imprinting was an absolute instinct for wolf shapeshifters, so they were bound to recognize each other’s imprinting unconditionally.

It was a principle to protect even another wolf shapeshifter’s mate, and even if relations weren’t good, attacking another’s mate was not allowed. Especially the mate of an alpha like himself was under the protection of the entire wolf shapeshifter race. Being the alpha’s mate meant being like the mother of the next generation’s alpha.

Of course, an alpha might not give birth to a wolf shapeshifter. But it was the hope of the entire wolf shapeshifter race that their leader would come from the alpha, the strongest and most excellent wolf shapeshifter. So Reina Tilbeth must have come to see the alpha’s mate.

But to come without even expressing her intention to visit beforehand was beyond the pale.

“That seems to have been the problem. Lady Reina Tilbeth says she hasn’t heard any news of anyone in the wolf shapeshifter clan becoming Your Grace’s mate, so she came to confirm if you really imprinted, or if you might have imprinted on a human. She says it’s an important matter not only for their family but for the entire race, since it concerns the alpha’s mate.”

“Why is she doing this? What business is it of hers! Does she dare to try and verify the alpha’s mate!”

It meant that Reina Tilbeth, guessing that he had taken a human mate, had come with objections. It was an absurd and petty insubordination.

“Tell her to go back.”

Right now, he couldn’t care less about Reina Tilbeth, whom he had once thought to make his mate. His priority was to talk again with Chloe, who had left scratching at his insides, insisting on continuing to play the role of a servant.

“Your Grace. However, Lady Tilbeth has come from quite a distance. And it’s the Tilbeth family. Even though Your Grace is the alpha, or rather, because you are the alpha, you must attend to this. The Tilbeth family is the head of the Tigrium Kingdom, are they not?”

“Haa! How annoying.”

What did he care about the highest family of wolf shapeshifters in the Tigrium Kingdom? Right now, his mate was holed up in that corner room, her body covered in wounds.

But Joyce’s words about fulfilling his responsibilities as alpha were right. The alpha held the power to summon and command the wolf shapeshifter race, but had no voting rights. This was because wolf shapeshifters were not a race that gave absolute power to the alpha. The alpha held power granted by the entire wolf shapeshifter race, but couldn’t wield it arbitrarily.

The wolf shapeshifter race had maintained their strength through collective agreement, and that’s why they were strong. Even if a wolf shapeshifter came so rudely and suddenly, if they claimed to represent their family, it was the alpha’s duty to receive them.

“Where is she?”

“In the first-floor reception room.”

“How long does she plan to stay?”

Having come all the way from Tigrium, she wouldn’t leave in just a day or two.

“We haven’t discussed that yet. I came to report as soon as I learned of her arrival. Ah, and Lady Tilbeth speaks the Elaion Empire’s language. An interpreter won’t be necessary.”

“…I see. Let’s go.”

Hugrey, who had momentarily wanted to throw away all responsibilities as alpha because of Chloe, barely regained his composure and reason as he descended to the first floor.

The young lady of the Tilbeth family.

When he had looked into her for imprinting, he heard she was quite formidable and strong. A woman worthy of being the alpha’s mate.

Not all leaders among shapeshifters were men, but in the case of wolf shapeshifters, the alpha position had always been passed down to men.

So it was easy to guess that an ambitious woman would desire to become the alpha’s mate and give birth to the next alpha.

Even though she surely knew that imprinting was an absolute law of nature and an irreversible order. The fact that she came without notice despite the letter about breaking off the engagement proved it.

And she even learned the Elaion Empire’s language. It meant she had been preparing to be the mistress of the Ulpaz family for a long time.

Most inconveniently.

In fact, if he hadn’t imprinted on Chloe, this would have been the natural course of events, so her preparation couldn’t be called excessive. She might have even been praised for thoroughly preparing to become the alpha’s mate. Just as Hugrey had hired a servant who could speak Tigrium to welcome the Tilbeth woman as his mate.

But now all those efforts were just useless things of the past.