“So, what’s the situation now?”

At first, I thought he was asking me to talk to myself, but that wasn’t the case. Following the duke’s voice, I heard the voice of Chief Joyce.

“… It’s not looking good. It seems the Crown Prince tried to attack the Second Prince first, but the Second Prince launched a surprise attack instead. The Crown Prince was seriously injured, but in the process, the Crown Prince’s side captured the Second Prince. At this rate, it’s uncertain what will happen to the succession of the gravely ill Emperor.”

The Crown Prince and the Second Prince? Is there a fight for succession going on in the Elaion Imperial Palace?

Chloe now knew that the Elaion imperial family consisted of lion shapeshifters. She also knew that the throne had always been passed down to shapeshifters.

Because the Emperor of Elaion had many empresses, the competition for succession was always bloody. Even though the general human population didn’t know that the imperial family was made up of shapeshifters, they were well aware of the fierce power struggles for the Elaion throne.

Even without that, there were rumors that the Crown Prince and the Second Prince were engaged in a fierce competition for succession. With words like “seriously injured” and “captured,” the situation seemed grave.

“What is the Emperor’s stance on this?”

“Well… It seems he has ordered for the First Prince to be brought. In fact, there are also rampant rumors that the Crown Prince and the Second Prince have already died.”

“Ha! Those ignorant lion bastards.”

Chloe’s body stiffened slightly at the duke’s sneer. It was because she could feel the duke’s real contempt for the lion shapeshifters in his voice.

She already knew that the existence of many empresses, which was absolutely unheard of among wolf shapeshifters, and the fights for succession were the reasons why the duke despised the lion shapeshifters. But her heart felt chilled anew because she was a tiger shapeshifter.

After all, tiger shapeshifters were different from wolf shapeshifters. Wolves mated for life with a single partner and passed down the alpha position through agreement and consensus, characteristics that were far removed from tiger shapeshifters.

Although they didn’t take multiple mates at once like lion shapeshifters, tiger shapeshifters were notorious for constantly changing partners and engaging in bloody power struggles for the throne, just the same.

In fact, these were traits she’d rather not know about, but as she frequented the duke’s second library and studied shapeshifters, she couldn’t help but learn about them.

Once she found out she was a tiger shapeshifter, she had to learn about herself, and since she loved the duke, she also had to learn about wolf shapeshifters. There was no way she could continue living in ignorance just because she didn’t want to know.

But she was so shocked to learn just how often tiger shapeshifters changed spouses. That day, she shoved the book about tiger shapeshifters horizontally into the very back bookshelf of the library, on the very bottom shelf where no one would see it. So that no one would see it. Especially not the duke.

But the next time she went to the second library, she nearly had a heart attack. The book about tiger shapeshifters that she had hidden so carefully was neatly placed back in its original spot.

The only people who had access to the second library were the duke and her. In other words, it was the duke who had moved the book back to its original place.

When she carefully took out the book again, she was even more surprised.

A memo written in the duke’s elegant handwriting, which resembled his face, was inserted in the book.

Why did she have to be a tiger shapeshifter who constantly changed partners!

It really bothered her. There was no way she could be with any man other than the duke. It was a clear fallacy of hasty generalization. What man in the world could approach her when she already loved Hugrey Ulpaz?

“Chloe, I’m going out for a bit. Go to sleep first today.”

Suddenly, the duke used their mind-talking game to announce his outing from the other side of the wall, causing Chloe to come to her senses.

It seemed the duke knew she was listening from the next room even as he talked to Chief Joyce.

“Okay, have a safe trip.”

Chloe whispered softly, even nodding her head. With the tense atmosphere, it seemed it would be difficult to bring up visiting her mother for a while.

But what would happen to the imperial family?

It probably had nothing to do with her, but she was a little curious about who would take the throne. After all, she, the duke, and even her mother were currently living in the Elaion Empire.

Reina Tilbes had been lost in thought for an hour. When she added the information Hans had investigated, all the puzzling pieces fell into place.

Chloe and Clyne were twins.

Right after Tuscan killed Clyne, Chloe, the girl, disguised herself as a man under Clyne’s name and got a job at the Ulpaz Duchy. It wasn’t clear whether Clyne was a shapeshifter or not, but it was certain that Tuscan didn’t know his aunt had given birth to twins. Due to his lack of intelligence, he also didn’t know that one shapeshifter child had survived and become the partner of the Duke of Ulpaz.

Tap tap tap. Reina began tapping the desk anxiously.

The woman who was not only the highest in the line of succession to the Tigrium throne but also currently the only heir was the partner of the alpha of the wolf shapeshifter clan…

Did she intentionally enter the Ulpaz Duchy, or was it unintentional? Did she deliberately seduce the duke, or was it a coincidence?

Everything was clear until she found out that Chloe Liden was Chloe Lyonnelden, the daughter of the missing Princess Salette. She could have just thought that some commoner deliberately approached the duke knowing he was a wolf shapeshifter and seduced him with her body. But after learning that the woman was a tiger shapeshifter princess, everything became unclear.

“Ah, my head is going to explode!”

Reina Tilbes, who had been muttering in annoyance, suddenly jumped up from her chair.

Is there a need to fuss over whether it was intentional or coincidental? Shouldn’t I just look at the results?

As a result, the tiger shapeshifter princess had imprinted on the alpha and got him under her thumb. Because of that, Reina herself couldn’t become the alpha’s partner and lost the chance to give birth to an alpha.

And if Chloe Liden and Hugrey Ulpaz had a child together… There were three possibilities: a tiger shapeshifter, a wolf shapeshifter, or a human.

When a child was born from the union of different shapeshifter species, the shapeshifter gene was expressed in only one specific species, and no mixed-blood hybrid with the characteristics of both species was produced.

If a wolf shapeshifter was born, that child would be one hundred percent an alpha. In other words, the child of a tiger shapeshifter would become an alpha. It was the most undesirable conclusion. To think that a smelly tiger shapeshifter’s child would be an alpha.

What if Tuscan Staxton couldn’t produce a shapeshifter child? If Chloe Liden survived until then, she could inherit the throne. In that case, the alpha’s partner would become the ruler of Tigrium.

“Hmm…”

This was also a distasteful conclusion. It meant that the fate of the wolf shapeshifter clan could be swayed by the clutches of that disgusting, smelly tiger shapeshifter. If Chloe Liden greedily desired to have both Tigrium and Ulpaz territory like a typical tiger shapeshifter, Duke Ulpaz would be unable to resist.

If Chloe Liden had been a wolf shapeshifter, there would be no problem since they had imprinted on each other. Imprinting meant devotion to one’s partner and being faithful only to each other. But Chloe Liden was not even human, but a tiger shapeshifter notorious for their short-lived and frivolous love.

It was difficult to predict how long she would continue to like Duke Ulpaz, with her infinitely fickle body and mind. Moreover, according to Hans’ last report, the woman was already fooling around with knights.

Even in the short time Hans was staying in Roizen, he said she visited the training grounds twice to steal glances at some knight. She was clearly a woman with a worthless heart, as expected.

Of course, all these negative assumptions might not actually come to pass. But vaguely hoping for a positive outcome was a leisurely act only fools engaged in. And she was no such fool.

So the buds of negative possibilities had to be nipped from the start. Since the wolf had already become her partner, there was no way to kill her even if she wanted to. But now, an astonishingly clear and safe way to kill her had appeared before her eyes. There was no need to even ponder over it.

In fact, her conclusion had been set from the beginning. She had only pretended to deliberate.

King Tuscan Staxton. That greedy old tiger would find a way to kill Chloe Liden if he knew of her existence.

If he killed Chloe Liden for her, she wouldn’t be breaking the rule that one mustn’t kill the clan’s partner.

She wouldn’t even tell him to kill her, she would merely convey the fact that the “tiger shapeshifter cousin he missed so much” was alive and well.

Although the conclusion had already been set, Reina, who had finally made up her mind to act, pulled the bell rope. There was no need to delay any longer. She had to inform Tuscan Staxton of the information right now.

Fortunately, the last time they met, she had already let slip that she thought she saw a female tiger shapeshifter in Elaion. Of course, at that time, she didn’t think that information would be of much help. But thinking about it now, it would be easy to bring up the topic again thanks to those words.

Having to see that smelly old tiger bastard was annoying, but it was something she had to endure a bit for the sake of increasing her chances of having the handsome and good-smelling alpha, Duke Ulpaz, as her partner.