The unfortunate overlap of bad luck that resulted in Chloe drinking the aphrodisiac sent as a gift was partly due to his own carelessness. He should have been more vigilant.

“I will return to Tigrium and convey your message to His Excellency as soon as I retrieve Lady Reina’s necklace from the metalwork shop tomorrow.”

That bastard Hans didn’t even have the decency to say he would leave right away. If he weren’t a servant of the Tilbet family, the ruling clan of the wolf shapeshifters, Hugrey wouldn’t have let him go unscathed like this.

Of course, there were some ambiguous parts that made it difficult to clearly take issue with. First of all, Reina Tilbet didn’t know Chloe was a shapeshifter, and she neither tricked her into drinking that tea nor forced her to drink it. It was just a strange gift that went too far.

That detestable woman probably sent such tea based on this judgment.

“Whenever you return to Tigrium, get out of my house now!”

Hugrey barely contained his urge to tear the man to shreds as he drove him out.

Could it be that the bastard saw Chloe’s condition yesterday?

Seeing him calmly leave the guest room despite his order to leave, Hugrey suddenly recalled the look in the man’s eyes that he saw in the corridor yesterday.

There is an absolute unwritten rule among wolf shapeshifters. Regardless of who the other party is, a wolf shapeshifter does not harm the companion they have imprinted on. Given the nature of wolf shapeshifters who could face death if they lose their companion, it was a natural and firmly kept rule.

But why did he have such an ominous feeling?

Hugrey tried hard to believe that this ominous feeling was the protective instinct a wolf shapeshifter would naturally have for their companion, suppressing his unpleasantness and unease. If Reina Tilbet was in her right mind, she wouldn’t dare break the absolute rule of the wolf shapeshifter race and think of harming Chloe.

Hans’s eyes sparkled as he left the ducal residence.

He hadn’t deceived them about it being a different tea. He had simply left it up to chance whether the duke would know about the effects of Lethunia tea or not.

It seemed luck was not on Lady Reina’s side, as the duke knew about the efficacy of Lethunia tea. However, greater luck followed Lady Reina. The unexpected luck that it was the duke’s female companion who drank the tea, not the duke himself.

Although the duke swallowed his words halfway, Hans felt he knew what words the duke had swallowed. It must have been to not harm the woman.

Lady Reina’s plan was to make the duke drink the tea, go into heat, and pounce on the human woman. But if the duke hadn’t drunk the tea and still harmed the woman, it meant the tea’s effect had worked on the woman.

Until the duke came to find him, furious from head to toe, he couldn’t be certain. It was just one very big possibility. But for a possibility, all the pieces of the puzzle fit together perfectly.

The one who drank Lethunia was not the duke, but Chloe Liden. The woman showing withdrawal symptoms and the angry duke.

Moreover, after the woman showed withdrawal symptoms, the duke didn’t immediately come to his room. He must have spent the night and the next morning in the woman’s room, relieving her addiction. That would have been the most urgent matter.

“Hmm.”

Hans snorted.

During that long time, the woman properly dealt with the duke. For a much longer time than needed to remove the tea’s effect.

It would have been impossible if she were human. So the woman is a shapeshifter. He doesn’t know what kind of shapeshifter, but she must be one that reacts to Lethunia.

Chloe had to stay in bed for the second night in a row, possibly due to Lethunia or the duke. It was only the next day that she finally got out of bed, lifted her groggy body, and stepped out of the building for the first time in two days. Knowing the duke was always at the training grounds at this hour, her feet were already heading towards the training grounds.

In hindsight, when she worked as a servant, she sometimes entered the training grounds to see the duke, but it became more difficult to enter after revealing that she was a woman.

Beyond the wooden fence surrounding the training grounds, taller than her height, she could hear the clashing of spears and swords, and the sound of straw practice dummies being hit. Chloe gently put her ear against the wall to see if she could hear the duke’s voice.

“Nathan, your arm hasn’t fully healed yet? Your right arm seems to lack strength.”

It was Sir Joyce’s voice. It seemed Nathan’s injury wasn’t just on his face.

“No! It’s fully healed now, I’m just like this because I rested from training for a few days.”

If it’s not fully healed, it would be good to rest a bit. What’s so embarrassing about being injured that he keeps trying to hide it?

Remembering Nathan’s face, embarrassed by his injury, Chloe felt bad. She found it a bit pitiful and wanted to cheer on the knight, who seemed to be around her age and was so stupidly honest.

“Nathan, fighting!”

Chloe muttered softly.

“Who are you talking to right now?”

“Oh my god!”

Chloe was so startled by the sudden voice from behind that she almost fell down.

“Ah, I apologize. I startled you by speaking to you.”

The man said the obvious with shameless politeness. It was the Tigrian man she had seen a few days ago. How can one not be startled when suddenly spoken to from behind!

“Yes, I was a bit startled, but it’s okay. Then I’ll get going now.”

Chloe found the man’s sharp eyes and observant gaze uncomfortable and tried to hurry away.

“Young lady.”

But the man blocked her path, forcing her to stop.

“Why are you doing this?”

Without realizing it, Chloe asked in a wary tone.

“You seem to be close with the knight named Nathan.”

What is he saying!

Chloe almost frowned. It gave her goosebumps. Even if him hearing her muttering was a coincidence, she couldn’t understand why he would ask such a thing. What does it have to do with him?

“Well. I don’t feel the need to tell a guest from Tigrium about my personal relationships. Then I’ll be going now.”

Chloe responded to the man in a way that didn’t suit her usual self. She didn’t know why she disliked this man so much.

“How did you know I’m from Tigrium?”

Did he think he could pass as an Elaionite while using such a clumsy Elaion accent?

“You must think you speak Elaion very well. Your Tigrian accent is clearly noticeable.”

Chloe said, unable to hide her dislike.

“What are you doing!”

Suddenly, the duke’s sharp voice was heard from the training ground entrance, and he strode towards Chloe and the Tigrian man.

“Your Grace.”

As Chloe took a step towards the duke with a happy heart, the duke sent her behind him as if to hide her from the man and looked down at him.

“Who are you! Why did you show up here again? Who let you in again!”

The duke’s voice was dripping with coldness. The atmosphere around the duke was so murderous that it felt like the surrounding air was turning frigid.

“Lady Reina ordered a necklace from the metalwork shop and also ordered a gold crafted pen for Your Grace. I came to deliver the pen before leaving, and this young lady was standing by the fence, listening to something and talking, so I was just curious and asked what she was doing. That is all.”

“Curiosity sometimes kills people.”

“It kills, and sometimes it also saves. Then I will get going now.”

Despite the duke’s sharp threat, the man was not shaken at all and held out the box containing the pen to the duke, but the duke refused to even look at it, saying it was unnecessary. The man nodded as if he didn’t have to deliver it and left.

“Your Grace, you were at the training grounds. I thought you weren’t here because I couldn’t hear your voice.”

Watching the man disappear, Chloe spoke cheerfully to try to lift the duke’s mood, who still had a gloomy air about him.

“You said you were looking for me, but why not my name…”

The duke stopped mid-sentence, lowered his head, and rubbed his forehead. Strangely, the duke’s expression was still not good.

Was that man not the problem?

“Let’s go inside now. You shouldn’t be walking around dressed so thinly.”

Finally, the duke changed his expression and spoke.

“Your Grace, it’s not winter anymore. It’s spring, and it’s even slightly hot during the day sometimes.”

“You get cold easily, so you shouldn’t.”

“That’s because Your Grace…”

She was about to argue that it was because he ate outside and opened all the windows even in winter, but she shut her mouth.

She remembered the duke telling her that wolf shapeshifters have highly developed senses, and are extremely sensitive to the scent of the companion they have imprinted on, so he did that to resist being drawn to a male servant. Although it wasn’t intentional, she was the one who troubled the duke then, so she thought it would be better not to bring it up.

“I will go inside then, so Your Grace should also go back to the training grounds. There’s still about an hour of training time left.”

“Hmm, yes. But Chloe… why do you keep lingering in front of the training grounds?”

“Pardon?”

“You really came because you wanted to see me, right?”

“Well, of course…”

Chloe felt a bit embarrassed for showing her affection too much and quietly closed her mouth.

“I’ll go straight to your room when training is over.”

The duke smiled as if he knew what words Chloe had swallowed.

“Yes. Please go to the training grounds first.”

Chloe also said with a bright smile.

“No, you go in first.”

“No, Your Grace should go first.”

“Phew…”

The duke let out a big sigh as if he had no choice and started walking towards the training ground entrance. Chloe admiringly thought that even the duke’s back view was perfect and proudly watched him, then turned around. But after a few steps, she abruptly stopped.