An attendant.

Reina was carefully observing the behavior of the person who claimed to be the duke’s attendant. He was glued to the window, looking outside as if trying to stick his face out. Unlike before, his face had turned pale and he didn’t look well at all.

Tsk tsk, at this rate, I wonder if a proper conversation is even possible.

“Attendant, what was your name again?”

“It’s Clyne Liden.”

“I’m Reina Tilbert. Remember that. By the way, are you sick?”

“No, I just get severe motion sickness.”

“Ah… is that so?”

The initial reason for bringing this attendant along was to cajole him into revealing information about the duke’s companion. After all, this attendant was reeking of the duke’s pheromones. None other than the mating pheromones emitted by a male.

She thought he must have entered the room where the duke spent the night with his companion. If not, he must have been in the same space as the two of them. Of course, both assumptions were a bit strange.

When she first encountered this attendant on the landing, she thought it might be because he had just left the duke’s room. But even after quite some time had passed, the duke’s pheromone scent still lingered strongly on this attendant’s body.

For such a strong pheromone to be detectable even now, it meant the amount of pheromones this attendant was initially exposed to must have been enormous. For instance, the duke might have unconsciously emitted an uncontrollable amount of pheromones when his sexual desire for his partner peaked, or he might have intentionally left his mark due to excessive possessiveness.

But neither made sense. How could one be covered in the duke’s pheromones from head to toe without direct contact with the duke’s body? What on earth happened in the room where the duke and his companion were together?

If one were to consider another possibility, it would be that this attendant was very close to both the duke and the duke’s companion. Being able to approach both of them, he might have been exposed to both the pheromones directly emitted by the duke and those the duke poured onto his companion.

Whatever the truth, this attendant must know well what kind of woman the alpha’s companion was.

In fact, if the duke had just shown his companion, she wouldn’t have needed to spend time like this with a mere attendant. It’s not like she didn’t know that once imprinted, it couldn’t be undone, and nothing would change even if she saw the duke’s companion.

But she had received the duke’s marriage proposal. She should have rightfully become the alpha’s companion, capable of producing the next alpha with the finest bloodline, but in the meantime, some woman had snatched that position away. Shouldn’t she at least be able to see the face of the woman who stole what was hers?

That woman who stole from others should also know how grand a position she had seized, what it means to be an alpha’s companion, and what sacrifices one must endure to become a companion!

Once imprinted, the duke wouldn’t tell his companion such things. He would only have eyes for that woman now.

Instead of the blindly devoted alpha, she, being rational, wanted to educate the companion about her role, but he insisted on hiding her away!

So she had no choice but to act on her own. Even if it meant pretending to converse with a lowly, vile commoner human while sitting face to face in a carriage, she had to uncover something.

“Is it because you’re sitting backwards? Then come sit next to me.”

“Ah, would that be alright?”

The attendant promptly moved to sit beside her. At that moment, the duke’s pheromone scent still lingering on the attendant rushed into her nose.

Ah, this is really annoying.

But something felt off. Sitting next to him, she realized it wasn’t just the duke’s pheromone scent coming from this attendant. There was another scent, but what was it? It was on the tip of her tongue. It definitely seemed like the scent of some annoying fellow, but she just couldn’t place it.

“What a strange one. Carrying all sorts of scents.”

Reina muttered in Tigrium. The attendant wouldn’t understand anyway, so it didn’t matter what she said.

“Me? Are you referring to me?”

But surprisingly, the attendant seemed to have understood her words.

“You understood me? Can you speak Tigrium? How?”

“I learned it from my mother since I was young.”

“Really? An attendant… can speak Tigrium?”

An attendant, not even an interpreter, knowing Tigrium. Reina looked the attendant over anew.

Shaggy hair, stupid-looking glasses, a face and body as small as a fist, and a frail physique that looked incapable of being a proper man. He was a guy without a trace of charm, even if you looked hard. No, forget manly charm, he didn’t give off any masculine feeling at all…

“Ah, I was hired as an attendant because I can speak Tigrium.”

“When were you hired?”

“It’s been a little over four months.”

Reina’s mood suddenly worsened. Being hired as an attendant because he could speak Tigrium, she could guess how the situation had unfolded. This attendant was hired right after she and Duke Ulpaz began exchanging letters about marriage. In other words, Duke Ulpaz had hired this attendant in preparation for taking her as his companion.

The duke must have thought he needed an attendant who could speak Tigrium for communication between the couple. Considering the duke’s meticulous nature, it would have been a natural part of the preparation process.

Of course, to become the ideal alpha’s companion, she had been learning Elaion, her future husband’s language, for the past few years. She hadn’t mentioned it in advance, intending to surprise the duke. They could have been the perfect alpha couple, diligently preparing for each other…

During the four months since then, some random human appeared, stole the position of a perfectly prepared woman like herself, and imprinted with the duke. Turning the efforts of the duke and herself, who had been working to become each other’s companions, into nothing!

“Despicable woman.”

Reina unconsciously cursed again in Tigrium.

“Pardon?”

The attendant once again reacted with a start. Right, you said you know Tigrium. But why do you look so surprised every time?

“Did you know that you became the duke’s attendant thanks to me?”

Reina asked, ignoring the attendant’s reaction.

“What do you mean by that?”

The original plan was to cajole this guy to find out about the duke’s companion. If he knew he was hired because of her, this fellow would be grateful to her. Of course, it wouldn’t have been necessary for her, who had mastered Elaion.

“Why do you think they needed an attendant who could speak Tigrium? I was originally from Tigrium, the one the duke was going to marry. The woman who became your new mistress snatched that position by taking the duke’s virginity. Rushing at a man in heat, what a cunning woman, right?”

Now Reina spoke openly in Tigrium. Being just an attendant, he wouldn’t dare relay such words insulting his mistress out of fear. Especially since there was nothing incorrect about it.

“Wh-what?”

The attendant’s eyes widened impossibly. His face had turned pale and seemed to be trembling slightly. The fact that the duke was going to marry her shouldn’t be such a shocking revelation… Isn’t a servant’s life about serving whoever their master is, regardless of who it is?

Come to think of it, why is that face so white? Looking closely, is it naturally white rather than having turned pale? The more she looked, the more unnatural this guy seemed. He had a strange scent, had learned a foreign language unusual for a commoner, and upon closer inspection, his features seemed too delicate for a man. Almost like a woman…

‘Hmm…’

“I heard Roizen is famous for gold and silver crafts. Let’s go there.”

Reina finally decided on a destination. She hadn’t planned to, but it seemed necessary to first identify the nature of the scent this attendant was giving off. If she observed a bit more, she’d probably figure it out. The true identity of this guy’s awkwardness.

The original purpose of finding out about the duke’s companion faded, and suddenly, resolving the mystery about the attendant sitting next to her, continuously emitting an unknown scent, became important. For some reason, Reina Tilbert’s instincts were telling her that investigating this attendant was worthwhile.

After selecting a few rings, Reina called the attendant named Clyne.

“You, try these on.”

“Me?”

“I’m going to give them as gifts to my brothers, so it would be better to see them on a man’s hand.”

“Ah! My hands are quite small for a man, so it might not be much help.”

“Wouldn’t your hand be better than mine, a woman’s?”

The attendant hesitantly extended his hand.

“…Indeed, they are small.”

As I thought, the men’s rings spun loosely on the attendant’s hand. How can a man’s hands be this small? Are you really a man?

The attendant quickly removed the ring and curled his hand, lowering it below the display case. He tried to act nonchalant, but Reina’s eyes didn’t miss the slight trembling of his hand. Reina soon moved on to examine the necklaces nearby and took out a necklace with a large green pendant at the front of the display case.

It was clearly the store’s signature piece. Probably, the price of this single necklace would exceed the combined value of all the other necklaces displayed here.

“How about this? Does it look good to you?”

“Ah! Yes, it looks nice.”

“Shall we try it on? Put it on my neck for me.”

“Ah… Yes! Then I’ll go behind you…”

“No, no! Why so troublesome? I’ll lower my head, and you can reach around my neck to put it on.”

“Ah, yes, yes, I’ll do that then.”

Reina naturally lowered her head and deeply inhaled his scent. It wasn’t particularly pleasant, but she thought she might be able to identify the inexplicable scent if she smelled it up close like this.

“Ugh…”

However, contrary to her intention, Reina couldn’t hide her disgust and let out an exclamation. What is this awful smell! It was a faint but incredibly repulsive odor.