Hugrey wanted to watch Chloe’s delicate face until she fell asleep. But as he looked down at her face, he could tell she was holding her breath and very aware of him. And it didn’t feel comfortable at all. She was uncomfortable with him.

Why was she uncomfortable? Why did she cry?

While she said she liked him, her eyes were wavering endlessly.

What exactly was she anxious about? Why did she ask if he liked her? Was she doubting his feelings? How could she doubt his feelings when his entire soul was directed towards her?

After learning that Chloe was his imprinted mate and companion, he never once resented the fact that she was human. His absolute affection for his imprinted mate was already too strong to harbor such feelings. Rather, he was grateful that it was Chloe, whom he had already come to love, who was his mate, not some unknown person.

Yet at this moment, for the first time, he resented the fact that she was human, not a wolf shapeshifter. If she were a wolf shapeshifter, she would never have doubted his feelings. A wolf shapeshifter would know deep in their bones that these feelings would never change in intensity or direction until the moment of death. That’s what a mate meant to a wolf shapeshifter.

But she was human.

He knew there were many human mates who had collapsed from exhaustion due to the intense affection of wolf shapeshifters. But a human doubting a wolf shapeshifter’s affection? And that human being his own mate, Chloe? It was the most baffling and frustrating misunderstanding in the world.

Moreover, the affection he felt for her was something that couldn’t be explained by imprinting alone.

He had felt comfortable with her even when he thought she was Clyne, because she didn’t have a scent. He had allowed her to be his personal servant because she had no scent. But in reality, it wasn’t that she had no scent, but that he felt particularly comfortable with her scent. He had never grown accustomed to any human’s scent except his mother’s.

The general public seems to think that when wolf shapeshifters go into heat, they imprint on anyone like beasts, but in fact, they can never imprint on someone whose scent they find repulsive. So it meant he wasn’t forcibly imprinted on her. In fact, just before the imprinting that night, she had smelled of sweet fruit and warm sunlight from his faint childhood memories. A scent that ignited a desire to imprint on this woman.

More than imprinting, this is my serious state towards you… so why are you so anxious?

He needed to make her believe in him. He couldn’t stand to see her eyes glistening with such ridiculous insecurity again.

Chloe opened her eyes with a start. She must have fallen into a deep sleep in the duke’s bed, not knowing when she had dozed off, she must have been really tired. When she turned her gaze towards the window, sunlight was streaming in.

Goodness. She had lain down on this bed late yesterday afternoon, and it was already dawn. How many hours had she slept? Where did the duke sleep?

She lifted the blanket, feeling pathetic for occupying the duke’s bed again.

“Oh my!”

She quickly pulled the blanket back up, startled by the presence beside her.

It wasn’t the duke, nor a man, but an unfamiliar ‘woman’.

“Who are you?”

A woman in the duke’s mansion. Along with the feeling of encountering a rare creature, her heart pounded at the fact that this woman had seen her waking up in the duke’s bed.

Who could this woman be? What would she think of her?

Moreover, she realized she wasn’t wearing her wig or glasses.

“I… I mean…”

Flustered and embarrassed, Chloe stammered as she looked at the woman. Not only was the woman’s identity an issue, but she also had to explain to the woman who she was.

“Lady Chloe, have you awakened?”

But surprisingly, the woman already knew who she was.

“Who are you?”

Chloe asked, finally letting go of the blanket she had been clutching tightly.

“I am Meiny. I started working as the young lady’s personal maid from yesterday evening.”

“Young lady, who?”

There was no young lady in this house.

“I am Meiny, who has come to serve young lady Chloe.”

Finally, she remembered the duke’s instructions to the butler yesterday morning.

So the duke really intended to make her his wife and had hired female servants for her? And this quickly?

“Actually, I’m not formally employed. The butler is my great uncle, and I was temporarily hired when he urgently needed someone to work yesterday evening. But I will do my best to serve the young lady. I will absolutely not bring shame to the name of the Ulpaz ducal family.”

So the butler, who received the duke’s instructions yesterday morning, had temporarily hired his niece as her personal maid.

It wouldn’t have been the butler’s sole decision, so the duke must have instructed him to find a female servant immediately, even if it meant this. Still, needing someone whose background and character were certain, he had brought his niece.

Come to think of it, last evening, she had cried in front of the duke. She had questioned the duke’s feelings, asking if he liked her. At this point, she could guess what the duke’s intentions were. He was trying to show that he really intended to make her his wife.

Taking off her wig, having her quit as a personal servant, giving her that ring Reina Tilbeth had mentioned, and proposing to her.

Her heart pumped vigorously. Whether this was joy, fear, overwhelming emotion, or despair, she couldn’t tell.

A man who didn’t love her was trying to make her his wife.

“Young lady, I’ll prepare water for you to wash up.”

“Meiny, where is the duke?”

“The duke is…”

At that moment, the duke entered through the passage to the study. Meiny quickly bowed her head in greeting and left the room. She disappeared so quickly that it felt a bit strange. As if she imagined that the duke and Chloe were about to do something she shouldn’t see.

“Chloe, you’ve finally woken up.”

“Yes, I’m so sorry for falling asleep here like this. But did you hire a maid for me? This seems too much and too sudden. What will the butler and other servants think?”

“No one will say anything to you. You are my…”

“…?”

“I didn’t intend to speak so urgently to you who just woke up, but it seems impossible to have a conversation without saying it.”

The duke, who had approached her before she knew it, sat on the bed and took Chloe’s hand. Somehow feeling like she knew what the duke was about to say, Chloe swallowed hard.

“Be my mate, my wife, Chloe.”

“Ah…!”

It was words she had already anticipated. Nevertheless, hearing it in reality, she couldn’t help but let out a gasp between her teeth.

“Give me… an answer.”

“But we’ve only just learned about each other’s feelings. It hasn’t been long since you found out I’m Chloe, not Clyne.”

“That’s not very important to me.”

Of course. Because you’ve imprinted on me.

“Do you know me well enough, Your Grace?”

“Do I need to know everything? I don’t care what kind of person you are. We can get to know these things from now on.”

You want to marry me without even knowing me?

It was strange. Clearly, when the duke mentioned marriage yesterday, she had been afraid it might not be her. When Reina Tilbeth said the duke was going to propose to her, she had felt joy rising almost reflexively.

But why did she want to resist so much now that she was actually hearing his proposal?

She should have been happy. But instead, she felt anxious. It hadn’t been long since Chloe revealed the truth. Of course, the duke couldn’t know her well. He didn’t know how she had lived in the Buergen Forest for twenty years, what she liked and disliked, what was precious to her, and how much of a coward she was.

Yet there was not a hint of hesitation in the duke’s attitude. There was only blind feeling for his imprinted mate.

Nevertheless, she wanted to accept the duke’s proposal, pretending not to know about the imprinting.

What did it matter? The duke said he would only have her anyway. It wouldn’t be bad for the duke, and it wouldn’t be bad for her either.

The words ‘I want to marry you, Your Grace’ rose to her throat. She just had to bury her fears and be done with it.

Yes, no matter how it started, that man is mine now. Take him.

It was at the very moment when Chloe, having gathered her courage, was about to open her mouth.

“For a woman who boldly took the Ulpaz duke’s virginity, why have you become so timid? I remember clearly how aggressively you threw yourself at me that night. You took my body so easily, yet you’re driving me crazy by saying you won’t take my heart. Why don’t you just say you’ll take responsibility for me?”

At the duke’s words, spoken with a faint smile, something sour seemed to rise in Chloe’s throat.

After he said that, she simply couldn’t say she would take him. Because, as the duke said, she had pounced on him. If she had known that the duke would imprint on the person he slept with, she would never have done it. And the duke would have married Reina Tilbeth, who had prepared for a long time to be his wife, a perfect match for him. He wouldn’t have given a second glance to a mere personal servant.

“Shouldn’t we be more cautious about marriage?”

In the end, words completely opposite to her own desires came out of her mouth.