“You’re hurt?”

“Oh! Yes. It’s embarrassing.”

Nathan covered his wound with his hand, his face turning red. Why would getting hurt be embarrassing?

I didn’t know how to respond, since I was unaware of the circumstances around how he got injured. Come to think of it, I had also noticed a recent wound on the duke’s arm. When I asked what kind of injury it was since it wasn’t there before, he brushed it off, saying it was nothing.

Could this knight’s injury have occurred at the same time?

The duke’s wound had already faded significantly. Perhaps because he was a beast-person, his wound recovery was astonishingly fast. Suddenly, I felt relieved that the duke was a beast-person.

Nathan isn’t a beast-person, so he must be different from the duke, right? An injury of that degree must have been very painful. If Clyne had been a beast-person too, perhaps he wouldn’t have died so easily?

Now that I think about it, the wound on her shoulder had also healed quickly. It seemed she was a beast-person herself.

If only I had been the one attacked at that time, maybe Clyne wouldn’t have died and I could have survived too?

The supposition I had tried so hard to suppress surged up again.

“Lady Clyne, did you have something else to say?”

Nathan pulled her back to reality just as she was about to be lost in thought.

“Oh! No, Sir Nathan.”

“Please, lower your speech. I’m your lord’s… well then, I will take my leave now.”

Nathan started to speak but trailed off, blushing.

“It’s fine. You look to be around my age too.”

“No! How could I dare… to milady who is my lord’s wife…”

Wife? Chloe was suddenly bewildered.

Wife, he said. She was just Chloe. Of course, she was in that kind of relationship with the duke, but they weren’t married yet. Being called that, she suddenly felt an immense distance form between her and the knight who seemed to be her age. Yet it would be strange to tell him to call her “lady” since she wasn’t exactly a “wife” either. And he definitely wouldn’t call her just “Chloe”.

“Yes, well then, I’ll be on my way.”

Feeling as if she had matured several decades in an instant, Chloe turned to leave.

“Go on in, milady!”

Nathan’s respectful greeting flew to the back of her head. First he called her lady, then wife – he’ll just call her whatever he wants anyway.

Chloe smiled wryly as she turned the corner, then flinched and stopped in her tracks. An unfamiliar man was staring straight at her. A man she had never seen in the ducal residence before.

“Excuse me.”

The man stepped aside as if to give way to her.

A Tigrian person? There was a distinct Tigrian accent. Chloe was about to pass by the man but turned her head to look at him again.

“…”

The man was also looking back at her, so Chloe faltered for a moment. Unlike before, his gaze was slightly hostile.

Chloe quickly turned her head and headed towards the mansion. It seemed this man was the guest who had come to see the duke.

[This is the timeline separator]

The duke was not in the reception room, and only a strange box was placed on the table. Something was written on the box in Tigrian.

[Benefits of Letunia Tea: Relieves mental and physical fatigue, improves memory and concentration, beautifies skin, promotes cardiovascular health, alleviates depression, aids digestion, accelerates wound healing]

“Letunia tea?”

It was a tea she had never heard of before. Chloe stopped reading the endlessly listed benefits and opened the box. There were indeed tea leaves inside. Judging by the written effects, it seemed to have all the good properties in the world.

Was this a gift brought by that person earlier?

Just then, the butler entered the reception room.

“Ah, Lady Chloe, you were here?”

“Yes. There was this tea brought by a guest…”

“Ah, I will tell the head maid to clean it up.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll take this. I’ve been really bored lately with nothing to do. I should at least brew tea for the duke like I used to.”

The effect of accelerating wound healing caught her attention. The duke’s arm wound was healing, but she wanted to do something for him. Even if it was just brewing tea.

“No, that is not something you should be doing, Lady Chloe.”

“Mr. Butler, I want to do it myself.”

“Ah, yes. Then please go ahead. But before that, may I check what kind of tea it is?”

The butler immediately yielded. He was like the epitome of obedience. Just as he obeyed the duke, he obeyed her as the duke’s woman. At first it was too burdensome, but as time passed, she got used to it to some extent and could brush it off comfortably.

“It’s called Letunia tea.”

“Ah! One moment, please.”

The butler came closer and put the tea leaves to the tip of his nose, and even put some in his mouth to chew. What, does he think there’s poison or something? He chewed the leaves thoroughly before finally nodding.

“Nothing strange. It should be fine for you to take.”

“Thank you.”

Chloe took the box and immediately returned to her room. She had been so bored with nothing to do that she was happy to have something to work on.

[This is the timeline separator]

When Chloe tried to prepare the tea, Mainy, who had formally become Chloe’s handmaid, strongly dissuaded her, saying it couldn’t be done. She barely managed to keep the tea leaves by insisting she wanted to do it herself for the duke. In fact, Mainy prepared everything from the water to the tea set, so in the end, Chloe had nothing to do but brew the tea.

“Why are you doing this? You’re not my servant, Chloe.”

After overcoming numerous obstacles, this time it was the duke who intervened.

“Oh my, there seem to be even more restrictions than when I was a servant. They say I can’t even prepare tea. The butler dissuades me, Mainy dissuades me, and you dissuade me too, Your Grace. I’m doing it because I want to.”

“…Then do as you please.”

The duke chuckled and came to sit beside Chloe, who was preparing the tea.

Chloe stopped brewing the tea, put down the teacup, and wiped the light sweat that had formed on her forehead.

“Your Grace, I get a bit nervous when you stare at me like that.”

“Blonde hair definitely suits you better.”

“Out of the blue…”

This was why her palms kept sweating too. When they were alone like this, the duke would often blurt out embarrassing things, saying she was pretty, adorable, and that he couldn’t stand it.

“Your blue eyes are pretty too. Seeing you like this reminds me of the old days. That thick, stuffy wig and the nearly opaque glasses. How did you even live with your pretty face all covered up?”

“Who was it that said they liked me that way…”

“I always wanted to rip it all off.”

She gulped.

“Your Grace, please don’t say weird things. From before, you keep…”

“I was talking about the wig and glasses, what were you thinking about? Well, were you thinking of something else? Here in the office…”

“No, I mean, in the office! Don’t omit the object of your sentence. When you talk without an object like that, it makes the listener feel really strange.”

“It’s true there’s only you and me in the office.”

Somehow the duke’s hand was already caressing her cheek.

“Can’t you see I’m brewing hot tea right now?”

“Let’s each do our own thing. You keep brewing the tea, and I’ll do what I want to do.”

“…”

Chloe clenched her molars tightly. I can’t focus, focus!

“By the way, Chloe, what’s the name of this tea?”

The duke’s hand, whose voice had become languid, was now touching her earlobe.

Ah, really! At this rate, my ears will melt too.

Chloe finally put down the teacup with a thud.

“This won’t do! Don’t drink tea and go train in the training grounds, Your Grace. The knights are all training hard, but you’re here in the office alone having lewd thoughts!”

Strangely, at that moment, the duke’s hand left her ear and stopped midair.

“What?”

Moreover, the duke’s voice had oddly hardened. She remembered this voice usually came out when he was in a bad mood. Chloe’s shoulders slumped at the stiff face she hadn’t seen in a while. It was because she still had lingering feelings of seeing the duke as her master.

“Who?”

The duke asked softly, relaxing his expression as he looked at Chloe, who was checking his complexion.

“Pardon? Who what?”

“I mean, who did you see training hard? I should specially commend them. Did you go to the training grounds?”

“It’s not that I went to see if you were there… I just saw in passing. I only caught a brief glimpse but they all seemed to be working hard.”

It really wasn’t that she went to see if the duke was there. Her feet just happened to take her to a place the duke was likely to be.

“Hmm. I see.”

Just as the duke was reaching out to touch her cheek again with a smile…

“Ah! Right! How old is the knight named Nathan? I didn’t get to ask his age earlier. He looked to be around my age…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say, “He called me your wife.”

“…Nathan?”

“The young knight with a wound on his face. It looked like it must have hurt a lot. Did he get injured at the same time you hurt your arm, Your Grace? Your arm is almost fully healed now, but Nathan still has a big wound.”

I wanted to add, “I was so relieved that you healed quickly because you’re a beast-person, Your Grace.” But I didn’t. I felt a little sorry towards Nathan for only thinking of the duke when they were both hurt.

“Hmm…”

For some reason, the duke’s hand once again didn’t touch her face. She wanted to lean her cheek into the duke’s hand that had stopped short of her face, but refrained, thinking it might be too forward, and just smiled cautiously.

“You didn’t smile like that at the training grounds too, did you?”

“Pardon?”

“If you didn’t get to ask Nathan’s age, I guess you asked other things. Hmm… I wonder what you talked about?”