When Chloe first started working at the Duke’s manor, her mother had collapsed when it was time to take her medicine, so the effect of the beast suppression drug was weakened. However, even before the imprinting, he could not smell her scent at all. Of course, after the imprinting, he was so intoxicated by her scent that he couldn’t come to his senses.

In any case, it was nearly impossible for a wolf beast to not smell a tiger beast’s scent and even become intoxicated by it.

In the past, as a result of the long war, the hierarchy was determined and the wolf tribe acknowledged the superiority of the tiger tribe. Since then, the hatred of the wolf tribe towards the tiger tribe has been passed down like a gene. The two tribes were particularly incompatible. The relationship between wolves and tigers was even worse than the relationship between wolves and lions. It could be said to be the oldest enemy relationship, and they felt such a strong aversion to each other that it was difficult to endure even if their scents just brushed past each other.

However, feeling comfort rather than aversion meant that due to her disguise as a man, he was unaware of his own feelings and was strongly attracted to her from the beginning.

However, he did not bother to correct her mistaken belief. The sweetness of her gaze and gestures showing possessiveness towards him was too strong to resist the temptation to leave her misunderstanding as it was.

Of course, apart from his satisfactory situation, the current situation where he, an alpha, had imprinted on a tiger beast princess was not entirely positive.

To him, Chloe was his one and only woman, but it would take time for other wolf beasts to accept a tiger beast as the alpha’s mate.

Since they had no choice but to accept it once he imprinted, they would all eventually accept it.

Of course, if the child Chloe gave birth to was a beast, and a wolf beast at that, not a tiger beast, it would be more advantageous in winning over the wolf beasts’ hearts, but that was not something that could be done as desired. He didn’t even want to think about such things now.

In fact, the most serious problem was not the negative emotions of the wolf beast tribe.

Chloe did not want to talk about herself in detail. She seemed uncomfortable with something. However, he pretended not to notice her discomfort and forcibly extracted the necessary information from her, including the events related to Clyne’s death.

The struggle for the throne of Tigrium was a frequent problem.

Unlike wolf beasts, the tiger beast royal family remarried until they had a tiger beast heir. In the process, various problems occurred, and what happened to Chloe’s mother was not uncommon.

In any case, if the King of Tigrium found out about Chloe’s existence, he would not let her live, so the fact that she was a tiger beast had to be kept strictly secret. He would mobilize all the wolf beasts to protect her, who had become the alpha’s mate, but it was best not to create a situation where she would be exposed to danger in the first place.

Contrary to the relief he felt that she had a body that did not break easily because she was a tiger beast, his heart felt chilled with anxiety that she could be bitten by a tiger cub at any time.

Why did you have to be a tiger beast princess? Wouldn’t it have been better if you were human, even if I had to suffer?

Hugrey’s eyes, which swept Chloe’s golden hair that had fallen over her forehead to the side, darkened with a deeper shade of green before he knew it.

Reina Tilbit, who had returned to the territory of the Tilbit County of Tigrium, pondered for several days.

Is it okay for the next alpha to be born from a human woman who approached the Duke of Ulpaz with impure intentions?

It was a more fundamental concern than simply her outrage at not being able to become the Duchess of Ulpaz herself. As a wolf beast with sky-high pride, it was difficult for her to accept the fact that the wife of the wolf beast leader and the mother of the next leader was such a scammer.

However, the imprinting of wolf beasts was irreversible. Even if one’s mate was a scammer or even a murderer, once imprinted, one could not escape the absolute subordination to one’s mate.

So even if the Duke found out about the true nature of Chloe Liden now, there was nothing he could do about it. The Duke’s only fault would be falling for the temptation of such a woman, but it would have been difficult to resist if the only woman around him during his mating season launched a full-scale physical assault.

Moreover, when she thought about how she looked without her glasses, there was something strangely appealing about her. A small face, sparkling blue eyes, and fair skin. Of course, compared to her own sensual body and gorgeous face, she was like an unripe young thing.

It was only a pity that the famous Hugrey Ulpaz had such taste in women. Maybe it was because he had never met a proper woman.

If he was going to fall for her so easily, it would have been better for him to be surrounded by properly mature women. Then he might not have fallen for such a worthless woman with an inferior status.

“You didn’t even hear the knock. What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“Oh, you’re here? How was your trip?”

Her elder brother had gotten married some time ago and returned from his honeymoon yesterday.

“Just, well. I bought a gift for you. Do you want to see it?”

Her brother gave her a necklace.

“Why did you buy this for me? You should have bought it for Jaina.”

“I don’t need to buy such things for Jaina.”

At her brother’s words, Reina Tilbit frowned without realizing it. Jaina, who had become her sister-in-law by marrying her brother, was two years younger than Reina and five years younger than her brother.

Apart from his good looks, her brother was neither capable nor had a good personality. On the other hand, Jaina was far superior in appearance, personality, and even lineage. Her brother was a mere human, while Jaina was a wolf beast.

Six months ago, Jaina, who had accompanied her father to a gathering of wolf beast families in the Kingdom of Tigrium, met her brother, and by some twist of fate, the pretty Jaina fell for her brother and imprinted on him, which was the problem.

A wolf beast woman imprinting on a mere human man. No matter how much he was her brother, he was just a lowly human.

Once imprinted, Jaina wanted to marry her brother, and her brother married Jaina as if he were doing her a favor by marrying a woman who was out of his league. Even though he was not a beast himself, as the eldest son of the Tilbit family, he knew better than anyone what imprinting meant to a wolf beast.

Thinking about how much he must have tried and seduced that innocent Jaina to have her for one night, knowing full well that she would be forever bound to him through imprinting, was disgusting, no matter how much he was her brother.

In a way, it was Jaina’s own fault for bringing this upon herself. Falling head over heels for a few sweet words of temptation, just for a handsome face.

Knowing that no matter how casually he treated her, honey dripped from Jaina’s eyes, her brother treated her coldly. Even before the marriage, he only sought to satisfy his own desires in bed, as if his imprinted wolf wife was no better than a feral wolf.

Yet he was so friendly to his sister, Reina, the only one in the family who inherited the bloodline of the wolf beasts. He was a creature who was observant enough to know that the power of the family came from her.

Reina Tilbit swallowed her contempt for her brother with difficulty and returned the necklace.

“Give it to Jaina. I really don’t need it.”

“Oh, why is my sister in such a bad mood?”

Whether he was good-natured or just dense, he didn’t even flinch when she spoke bluntly and coldly to him.

“Jaina! Don’t treat Jaina carelessly. I don’t know if I can give birth to a wolf beast or not, so even if you’re my brother, take good care of Jaina if you want her to give birth to a wolf beast. Anyway, you’ll have to have many children so that at least one of them will be a wolf beast, right?”

Now that marriage with the Duke of Ulpaz was out of the question, there were few suitable wolf beasts to marry. Although each family was anxiously trying their best for fear that the seed of the beasts would dry up, there was a limit to the number of children that could be born due to the nature of imprinting wolves.

It was only because wolf beasts did not compete for the throne or engage in slaughter like tiger or lion beasts that the lineage of wolf beasts had lasted this long. Fortunately, her brother had met a wolf beast woman, so just in case, even he had to give birth to a wolf beast to be safe.

“You worry too much. Jaina, a woman with the blood of a wolf flowing through her veins, who doesn’t get sick easily, could easily give birth to ten children. In bed, too, how much…”

“Stop it, you’re being vulgar.”

Reina openly frowned.

“Vulgar, what do you mean? You may not know how wolf beasts are in bed! Oh, right, you haven’t gotten married yet, so you might not know.”

“I told you to stop.”

Even if he was her brother, she really didn’t want to associate with him.

“Anyway, that woman is bound to me until I’m old and senile, smearing feces on the wall, so don’t worry.”

“Brother, how can you be so low-class and pathetic in your every thought? Even if you’re a lowly human, you should know how to show respect to others. Moreover, Jaina is a wolf beast.”

“A lowly human? Ha! If I’m so lowly, why did a woman with your noble blood imprint on me? She can’t escape from that state unless I die. Yet she’s anxiously worrying that I might die, so do you think I’ll die that easily?”

Whether he knew or not that Reina Tilbit was barely restraining herself from slapping his cheek, he snidely brought up the weakness of the wolf beasts.

“…!”

Reina, who was about to retort something more to her brother, suddenly thought of the Duke of Ulpaz and Chloe Liden.

His words, which had only been unpleasant, suddenly struck her differently.