“Greetings, Duke Ulpaz. I am Reina Tilbeth.”

As he entered the reception room, a woman with silver hair reaching her waist stood up and politely greeted him.

Seeing the woman’s curly silver hair, Hugrey recalled Chloe’s luscious golden hair that had just left his room.

Compared to the woman’s silver hair, suddenly Chloe’s golden hair seemed unusually warm.

A sense of regret also washed over him for not having stroked that warm and soft-looking hair even once.

“Hello, Miss Tilbeth.”

Putting aside all those emotions, Hugrey approached her and extended his hand.

The wolf blood of the Tilbeth family in this generation was inherited only by this woman. Since her older brothers were all said to be non-shapeshifters, she was essentially the heir to the Tilbeth family. As the Tilbeth family had particularly struggled to continue the shapeshifter bloodline, he had heard rumors that this woman wanted to imprint with the strongest wolf shapeshifter, an alpha.

But to come rushing here like this to personally confirm the mate of an alpha who had already imprinted, should it be called great determination or foolish attachment?

“I apologize for the sudden visit.”

“You can visit anytime, but the problem is that I’m going through a very important period right now.”

It’s very inappropriate to visit a newly imprinted wolf shapeshifter.

“Yes, I heard you’ve done something important. That’s why I came to see that important person.”

How impertinent and presumptuous.

“I don’t understand why Miss Tilbeth wants to see my mate. I have no desire to show my mate to anyone.”

“Isn’t it natural to be curious about an alpha’s mate? I’m not here representing my family. I’m here representing the entire wolf shapeshifter clan of the Tigrium Kingdom. Isn’t the alpha’s mate, as well as the alpha, a representative of our wolf shapeshifter clan? It’s only natural to want to greet them.”

“Greet…”

That’s not it. You want to verify the sudden human mate, don’t you?

Hugrey had only written minimal information in the letter, not mentioning that he had lost his imprint target and needed to find them. There was no need to include such details.

So this woman had no way of knowing that he had only found his imprint’s owner a few days ago and had just sought understanding about the imprint from his imprint target moments ago. In other words, this woman’s lack of information and impertinence had created this irritating situation.

But in truth, Hugrey hadn’t entirely failed to anticipate this situation.

Wolf shapeshifters only obeyed an alpha if they continuously proved their abilities and properly fulfilled their role. Of course, once they received stable recognition as an alpha after demonstrating sufficient qualifications, absolute obedience and loyalty were given, but in any case, these weren’t simply obtained.

They required constant effort and ongoing management.

Even Hugrey, despite easily establishing himself as an alpha thanks to his lineage and abilities, couldn’t say he had sufficient absolute support since he had only been an alpha for a few years.

The attitude towards an alpha’s mate was the same. Even if they couldn’t deny the mate once the alpha had imprinted, there was a difference between receiving support or not.

In that situation, the easiest way to meet the high expectations of the clan was the union of Ulpaz and Tilbeth, who were established as leaders in their respective countries. That’s why Hugrey had designated this woman as his intended mate.

He knew better than anyone what hardships would come if he took a human as his mate. Seeing none other than his closest blood relatives, his father and mother.

Although his parents had fallen in love and married, his mother hadn’t fully understood the meaning of imprinting. How blindly and unconditionally binding imprinting was, how severe a wolf’s heat for their mate was, and how high the wolf shapeshifters’ expectations were for the alpha and his mate.

Wolf shapeshifters often came to the duke’s residence like Reina Tilbeth, requesting an audience with his mother, and while they didn’t dare to be disrespectful to the alpha’s mate, even such meetings alone put pressure on his mother.

If Hugrey, the only child born between his parents, hadn’t been a wolf shapeshifter, the wolf shapeshifters’ disregard and persecution towards his mother might have become more blatant.

In a reality where it’s not easy for even shapeshifter couples to produce shapeshifter children, the fact that the only son possessed the most excellent abilities to continue the alpha lineage as a wolf shapeshifter was at least a powerful support for his mother’s position.

If he hadn’t been a wolf shapeshifter, his human mother, who would have had to endure all kinds of pressure while also constantly dealing with the wolf’s severe heat, might have died earlier. As often happened with human women imprinted by wolf shapeshifters.

If that had happened, the wolf shapeshifters would have demanded a new imprinting with a wolf shapeshifter from his alpha father, as if they had been waiting for it. Since the only way to break an imprint is the death of the mate.

Wolf shapeshifters could never kill another wolf shapeshifter’s mate, but even without that, human mates often died earlier than their average life expectancy due to mental and physical decline.

Moreover, unlike his imprinted father, his mother’s love, naturally human, had cooled off just a few years after marriage. This too was because it was too overwhelming to bear the pressure from the wolf shapeshifters and his father’s affection alone.

His father loved his mother deeply, but the intensity of the heat was beyond even his control, so after each heat period, his mother was left half-dead. Eventually, to the point of running away from his father.

His father would find his runaway mother, and she would run away again. It was an endless, terrible tragedy. A tragedy that continued until the weakened mother and the father suffering from the pain of imprinting without properly resolving his heat both died.

As a result, since Hugrey himself had imprinted on a human, he might repeat the tragedy of his father that he so desperately wanted to avoid. Just looking at how the Tilbeth woman had come right away showed that the pressure from the wolf shapeshifters would not be insignificant.

However, he was determined not to let that happen. He would absolutely not allow anything to harm his Chloe. Even if that existence was himself.

“I’m sorry to the one who has come a long way, but no matter how much I reconsider, I still have no intention of showing my mate to others. It’s someone I want to see and know only by myself for a long time.”

He recalled Chloe’s absurd words about staying as a servant. He thought it might be better that way for a while. At least he could keep Chloe’s identity as his imprint secret from Tilbeth for some time.

Until he could get stable affection from Chloe to the extent that she wouldn’t leave him, and until she gained confidence in him.

“Alpha. Your mate is not just your mate, but the future mother of the alpha who will lead the wolf shapeshifter clan, isn’t she? So she can’t be yours alone. She could be said to be all of ours. Therefore, to be loyal to her and protect her, any one of us should be able to meet her.”

Reina Tilbeth, befitting the heir to a family that had secured a position for wolf shapeshifters in the Tigrium Kingdom, a country of tiger shapeshifters who were bitter enemies with the wolf shapeshifters, was not to be underestimated.

If he had taken her as his mate, quite… no. I really dislike it.

If he had imprinted on that woman, even such aspects of her would have seemed lovely and perfect in his eyes. By the command of instinct. But now… he didn’t even want to imagine it. He just wanted to see Chloe right away.

“Miss Tilbeth. It’s not bad to demand rights as a member of the wolf shapeshifter clan, but remember that disobeying the alpha’s words is overstepping and subject to punishment. It’s not the alpha’s duty to show my mate anytime, you know. It could be a favor, but I have no intention of granting such a favor right now.”

“I don’t understand why you’re trying to hide her so much. Is it because she’s human after all?”

“Haha! Miss Tilbeth, that’s really funny. Whether human or shapeshifter, it’s our species’ instinct to be protective of our imprint target. It’s also instinct to want to monopolize our mate and not share with anyone. I find it too absurd to be having this conversation with none other than the lady of the Tilbeth family, and I feel like my time is being wasted.”

“I am a woman. I’m not asking you to share.”

“My mate is someone so lovable that even a woman might have their heart stolen, so whether woman or man, I have no intention of showing my mate to anyone yet.”

“Haa… Imprinting is scary indeed. To think you’d say such nonsense.”

Reina Tilbeth retorted sharply. Suffering from the irritating voice made him want to hear Chloe’s voice.

“Originally, imprinting is terrifyingly nonsensical. Young lady, you don’t know because you haven’t imprinted yet. I only realized the possessiveness and exclusivity of wolves towards their mates after I imprinted myself.”

“Duke! The alpha’s mate is not someone who can stay hidden like that anyway. How long do you intend to keep her hidden…”

“How long… I don’t know. If I had my way, I’d like to keep her to myself forever.”

Reina Tilbeth’s face, which had closed its mouth, completely distorted. It was a truly unpleasant face. Enough to make him shudder several times at the thought that he could have imprinted on this woman.

“Well, I came here after doing important business, so I think I should be going now. Since you’ve come a long way, why don’t you do some sightseeing and rest for a few days before leaving?”

Reina Tilbeth, who had been quiet for a very brief moment, was about to say something again, but Hugrey had already turned around and started walking towards the fourth floor where Chloe was. He had given enough time by now.

He calmly climbed the stairs, but after passing the second floor, he was already taking two steps at a time. He wanted to smell Chloe Liden’s scent, hear her voice, see her face, and stroke her hair right away. These were things he hadn’t even dared to think about while she was unconscious like in sleep. How long had he been separated from her that his throat was already parched again?