I do know that she lives in Elaion. How could I not? There’s already a widespread rumor that Princess Charlotte went to properly protest about her only bearkin son being killed before she left. I guess her conscience is pricked?

I heard that Princess Charlotte warned that he should never appear before her again. She even cursed him as a brazen beast who killed her husband and now her son.

Tuscan already knew that there was nothing to gain from killing his aunt who had already lost the royal power struggle, so he accepted her anger, treated her courteously, and sent her back.

Anyway, judging from Tuscan’s current attitude, it seems he doesn’t know about any other tiger bearkin living in Elaion besides Princess Charlotte. I wonder if he knows but is pretending not to, or if he really doesn’t know.

“Actually, I recently visited Elaion. I met a woman there, and I strangely sensed the scent of a tiger bearkin from her. If she really is a tiger bearkin, there’s no way Your Majesty wouldn’t know, so that’s why I’m asking. I thought she might be a distant relative you know of.”

Reina threw out the main point without hesitation.

“Ha! The scent of a tiger bearkin. Where would there be a tiger bearkin living outside of Tigrium? Are you sure your sense of smell isn’t failing you, wolf bearkin?”

Tuscan scoffed.

Does he really not know? He seems to be sincerely scoffing.

“Yes, that can’t be. It must have been my mistake.”

“My aunt could be living somewhere in Elaion.”

As soon as Reina said it was her mistake, Tuscan’s expression loosened and he spoke leisurely.

“Poor Clyne. I heard he was killed by assailants. Dying at such a young age… If he had been under me, I would have taken good care of him.”

Tuscan babbled on as if he were a truly benevolent cousin. Hearing the very person who sent assailants to his younger cousin, even younger than his own firstborn son, say such things – it was enough to make even Reina, who doesn’t bat an eye at most things, disgusted. Not because she was afraid of Tuscan’s cruelty, but because his shamelessness was absurd.

“Ah!”

Reina, who had been clicking her tongue at Tuscan’s shamelessness, let out a gasp. A single word from Tuscan’s speech had struck her mind like lightning.

Clyne? Did he just say Clyne?

“What’s wrong, Reina Tilbut?”

The king asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Was the name of Princess Charlotte’s dead son Clyne?”

Reina’s voice trembled with excitement as she asked the question.

“That’s what I heard. He was only twenty-one, I think? Isn’t that too young? If he had lived well, he could have inherited the throne after me. What a shame. Anyway, now that he’s dead, I’ll have to hurry and birth an heir with bearkin blood. Don’t you think? Reina, you’ll need to find a mate to imprint on too. In that sense, we have something in common.”

Tuscan was already making blatant advances again. He must have gone senile. She thought he had called her to ask for cooperation in taking over the Santal mines, but to receive such a trashy proposal…

But now wasn’t the time to get angry at the king’s dirty proposal. She could just ignore that kind of proposal.

More importantly, the issue of Duke Ulpaz and that woman occupied all of Reina’s attention.

Princess Charlotte’s maiden name before marriage was Charlotte Stockton, taking the royal family name. Charlotte Stockton married the eldest son of the eagle bearkin family Lionelden and changed her name to Charlotte Lionelden when she got married. Of course, if she had become queen, her husband would have changed his name to Stockton to follow her.

But since she was pregnant when the throne was stolen from her and she ran away, her name would still be Charlotte Lionelden.

And the name of that attendant was Chloe Liden. The name when she was disguised as a man was Clyne Liden.

A tiger bearkin, age twenty-one, Elaion where Charlotte Lionelden resides, the same name ‘Clyne’.

The surname Lionelden doesn’t match, but if it were me, Charlotte, I wouldn’t use my real name while living in hiding. For example, I would abandon the surname ‘Lionelden’ and use a surname like ‘Liden’.

Everything fit together perfectly. The Clyne that Stockton said he killed was the same person as the Clyne who was working as a male disguised attendant.

No matter how you look at it, this Clyne was that Clyne. For some reason, King Tuscan thinks his cousin is dead when he’s clearly alive.

But Clyne was a woman. What the hell is going on?!

Reina’s mind was racing at an incredible speed.

It was clear that the woman the duke had imprinted on was Princess Charlotte’s daughter, but it didn’t add up why Tuscan thought the princess’s daughter was a son, and moreover, thought he had killed that son.

Moreover, that woman had been disguising herself as a man under the name ‘Clyne’.

Clyne, Chloe…

It seemed she would have to send Hans back to Elaion.

“King Tuscan, I will handle my own imprinting. Thank you for your concern, but I have somewhere I urgently need to go regarding my imprinting, so I will take my leave now.”

Reina, expressing in a roundabout way that a senile old tiger like him dares to look down on her, hurriedly said her goodbyes regardless of whether Tuscan’s face turned red or blue, and quickly left the palace.

What did it matter if he got angry?

Even if he was the tiger bearkin king, he couldn’t act recklessly against her, the leader of the wolf bearkin tribe of the Tigrium Kingdom. And right now, she had no time to spare appeasing Tuscan.

All of Reina’s attention was focused on Duke Ulpaz of Elaion and his mate. First, she needed to find out the exact truth.

After learning that the duke had misunderstood about Nathan due to his exceptional hearing when he appeared in the bedroom wearing a black robe, Chloe tried to avoid the training grounds as much as possible. She didn’t want to invite any other misunderstandings.

In fact, right after confirming the duke’s misunderstanding, she had explained that her earlier monologue was only because Nathan reminded her of her dead brother and she was worried. But a few days later, upon learning that Nathan had taken a long vacation to go back to his hometown, she realized her excuse had backfired.

It seemed the duke disliked even hearing another man’s name from her mouth. Enough to get rid of him from his sight.

However, Nathan left happily, oblivious as to why he had to take a vacation, having received a generous special bonus, so Chloe consoled herself that the duke’s jealousy wasn’t all bad.

Though she didn’t know that he had threatened to make Nathan return the entire bonus if he came back earlier than scheduled.

After Nathan left for vacation, Chloe was experiencing several changes.

Other bearkin could transform into their animal forms if they had the will, but Chloe showed no signs of it at all. It was said that the ability to transform may have disappeared altogether due to the long-term use of suppressants.

However, excluding the animal transformation, her senses such as sight, smell, and hearing were becoming more sensitive, so she began a very peculiar game with the duke.

When the duke was in his office, she would often go to his bedroom and talk to herself. Of course, it was a small voice that would sound like muttering to ordinary humans like Manny, but to the duke working in the adjacent office, it was as loud as shouting.

For example, she would mutter to herself, “I should go to the rose garden at three o’clock today.” Then, just before three o’clock, she would go to the rose garden alone, and the duke would come to the rose garden at exactly three o’clock, as punctual as a clock.

And gradually, the duke also began to use the monologue game that Chloe had started alone.

The very first thing the duke muttered was “I like nightgowns with white lace the best.” Chloe blushed even though she was alone in the room when she heard that. That nightgown had the shoulders completely exposed, and just pulling it down revealed the entire upper body, so she had only worn it once and never again.

‘After all, he’s a wolf, a wolf.’

Chloe broke the rules of the monologue game and chided the duke loudly enough for anyone, not just a bearkin, to hear.

‘Didn’t you know I’m a wolf? It’s not like you didn’t know, so why are you acting surprised again?’

The duke still whispered softly, feigning innocence.

Chloe glared fiercely at the office, thinking of the duke somewhere beyond the wall, but in the end, the duke who came to Chloe’s bedroom that night was able to see Chloe wearing a nightgown with white lace.

After that day, the duke often took the initiative in the monologue game, and most of his monologues were bedroom requests.

When she scolded him, asking why he only had lewd thoughts, the duke would rather react with a brazen response, “I didn’t say anything, did you hear something on your own? What did you hear?”

There were so many things she heard that she couldn’t even say out loud. That beast!

Chloe often lamented that she had created a game that shot herself in the foot, but each time, she willingly or unwillingly complied with his requests.

Chloe, slightly tense as she recalled the duke’s shrewdness, entered the duke’s bedroom for the monologue game as usual.

The reason she was unusually tense today was that, unlike usual, she planned to make a rather difficult request.

Despite her mother’s opposition, after running to the duke, she had been exchanging letters with her mother, but her mother still hadn’t budged from the opinion that she should return.

In that state, it had already been two months since she left home. It seemed she would have to go back to Bergenland to persuade her mother. To ask her to accept her and the duke because she absolutely couldn’t part with him.

The duke was her only person, but her mother was also her only person. She couldn’t choose one side, so one corner of her heart was always heavy.

She sat on the duke’s bed, slightly nervous about how the duke would react, and was about to start speaking. But before she could say a word, the duke’s voice was heard first.