“Yes, Lady Reina.”

The maid quickly entered the room at the bell pull Reina had pulled.

“I need to prepare for going out. Prepare the deep purple dress I bought last time.”

The deep purple dress was a dress with a dizzyingly deep neckline at the chest.

Although it was disgustingly creepy, since the old lecher was considering her as his sixth remarriage partner, it would be good to go along with his tune for now.

There was no room to be choosy about means and methods in order to achieve her goal. It was advantageous to make the Tuscan King think that she was willing to become his beast queen and bear him a beast heir.

Of course, since her goal was to kill the Alpha’s mate and become his new imprinted partner, such plans the Tuscan had for her were an impossible delusion.

As soon as the Tuscan killed Chloe, she would make sure the Duke of Ulpaz imprinted on her right away without giving him a chance to weaken from the death of his mate. Then she could just inform the Tuscan that she was canceling the marriage promise under the pretext of the imprinting.

It was a very simple and clear conclusion. She had pretended to agonize over it for more than an hour, so there was nothing more to trouble her conscience.

The Emperor of the Elion Empire had changed.

It was someone no one had predicted would become the Emperor until now. It was because, in the fight for the imperial throne that broke out just before the death of the previous Emperor, the unbelievable and unprecedented accident occurred where the Crown Prince and the Second Prince died at the same time.

There were rumors that the Third Prince had been eliminated by the Crown Prince a few years ago, and the Fourth Prince, whom the Emperor had barely managed to have in his later years after having only daughters one after another, was too young.

On his deathbed, the Emperor summoned the First Prince, who had disappeared but was still by his side at the tearful request of the First Empress, back to the palace, and died shortly after his young and beautiful twenty-three-year-old son, the First Prince, arrived at the palace.

The First Prince, who had been in hiding in Börgen, immediately ascended to the throne. Since such turmoil always occurred whenever the Emperor of the Elion Empire changed, the imperial people were not greatly affected by their fight.

However, everyone expressed concern about whether a prince who had disappeared from the palace early on and lived in seclusion could properly grasp the imperial power and lead the empire well.

And among such imperial people was Chloe. It was because the region where the First Prince was said to have been living in seclusion happened to be Börgen.

Since he was from Börgen, which was like her hometown, she wondered if he might be someone she had met in passing.

It was said that the Emperor had bright golden hair that reflected the sunlight and golden eyes. It was also said that he had a beautiful appearance that surpassed most women.

Börgen, golden eyes, golden hair, beautiful appearance. The more she heard, the more familiar these modifiers sounded.

It couldn’t be, but why did she keep thinking of Calcus?

“What are you thinking about?”

Chloe, who had been lost in thought while reading a book in the library, was startled by the Duke’s voice and closed the book she was reading. The book she had been reading was about the history of lion beasts. Since she heard that the Emperor had changed, she thought she would learn a bit about lion beasts as well.

“What brings you to the library at this hour? You’ve been busy going around inspecting the territory.”

Although there was no particular change in the Ulpaz Duchy even with the change of Emperor, the Duke had become a little busier lately. He was going around inspecting the areas bordering the Ulpaz Duchy one by one in preparation for any eventuality. She thought he would go out for inspection again today and return in the evening as usual, so she wondered what brought him to the library in broad daylight.

“I don’t think I need to go anymore. The new Emperor seems to be the docile type, and there are no signs of unrest. It looks like the power will be peacefully transferred at this rate.”

“Ah…”

The Duke readily informed Chloe of various situations in detail if she just asked, even if he didn’t tell her first. So Chloe also learned about the way the Emperor and the beast noble families coexisted.

They lived independently to the point where it could be said that they had a non-aggression pact with each other. Even the Emperor existed only as the emperor of humans and did not rule over the beasts. However, since the lion beasts possessed power that no one could ignore, other beast tribes also thoroughly respected the prerogatives held by the imperial family.

“What book were you reading? Was it so interesting that you couldn’t even hear me coming in?”

The Duke’s face stiffened slightly when he saw the book she was reading.

“Oh! The history of lion beasts. Since I heard the Emperor had changed, I was curious. I still don’t know much about beasts.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Pardon?”

Chloe was puzzled by his suddenly cold tone. The Duke had always told her more details than her mother whenever she asked about beasts, so why was he suddenly acting so coldly?

“Do you need to know about lion beasts? You’re a tiger beast, and I’m a wolf beast. There’s no need to…”

“But since I live in the Elion Empire, I can be curious.”

“Yes, I suppose you could. Well…”

It was strange. For the Duke to trail off and make such an uncomfortable face. She had definitely seen this attitude before, but when was it?

“Have you also heard about the new Emperor?”

The Duke suddenly asked, looking straight into her eyes.

“The new Emperor? I’ve also heard rumors that he has golden hair, golden eyes, and is handsome. Have you seen the Emperor in person?”

“…”

Seeing the Duke shut his mouth, Chloe realized she had made some mistake. She also remembered when she had seen the Duke’s strange attitude earlier.

It was exactly that expression when she talked about Nathan. An expression of being uncomfortable, awkward, and irritated but trying hard to hold it in.

This time it wasn’t even about Nathan, so why was he in such a bad mood? Ah! Was it because she said the Emperor was ‘handsome’? Seriously, what kind of man has this jealousy as a habit? She only said it because there were rumors that the Emperor was handsome.

“It’s just rumors, rumors. How would I know if he’s handsome or not when I haven’t even met the Emperor?”

Chloe confronted the Duke firmly. It was obvious he was sulking because of that.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Even though it was clear he was sulking because she mentioned the Emperor’s appearance, the Duke played dumb.

“Your Grace, are you really going to be this childish? Even though you’re an alpha among wolf beasts, do other wolf beasts know their alpha is this jealous?”

Whenever he got jealous like this, the upright and mature Duke seemed like a child.

“When are you going to stop calling me ‘Your Grace’? Calling your mate ‘Your Grace’ at the end of every sentence.”

Now he was suddenly taking issue with how she addressed him.

“If I don’t call you ‘Your Grace’, then what should I call you?”

“Hugrey.”

“Ah…”

Chloe shut her mouth. Of course, there were times when she wanted to call him Hugrey. But she was still more used to ‘Your Grace’.

“You only call me by my name when we’re in bed. Don’t you think that’s a bit strange?”

“…”

Her face must have turned red. In fact, the Duke was right. When she was in bed with him, the name ‘Hugrey’ would slip out without her realizing it. But then as soon as she left the bedroom, ‘Hugrey’ would somehow turn back into ‘Your Grace’.

“Are you going to call me ‘Your Grace’ even after we get married?”

“Married?”

Chloe’s eyes widened. The Duke had mentioned marriage before, asking her to become his wife, but this was the first time he had directly mentioned marriage like this since then.

In fact, she was curious about when he would propose to her again. But at the same time, she was worried that he might ask her to marry him again because she hadn’t been able to get her mother’s permission. Of course she wanted to marry him, but she couldn’t have a marriage her mother opposed.

“What’s with that expression? Were you not thinking of marrying me?”

The Duke asked, furrowing his brow.

“No! No, that’s not it. I want to get married.”

The answer tumbled out before she knew it, and the Duke’s brow smoothed out.

“Then?”

“My mother hasn’t given her permission yet…”

“I thought it might be something like that…”

His tone sounded like he had already guessed that her mother was against him.

The fact that she was the hidden princess of the tiger beast tribe could not be changed, and the fact that the Duke was the alpha of the wolf beast tribe and the head of the Ulpaz Duchy was even more unchangeable. So she had never mentioned the reason her mother opposed it, as it would only make the Duke uncomfortable to hear it. How had he guessed?

Now that the topic had come up, it seemed better not to hide it any longer. She didn’t want him to think her mother disliked him for no reason.

“My mother is worried that the fact that I am the princess of the tiger beast tribe will become known to the world. She thinks that if I become the wife of the Duke of Ulpaz, everything will inevitably be revealed.”

Had he anticipated the reason for her mother’s opposition to some degree?

The Duke merely nodded once, not looking surprised at all.

“Your Grace, my mother doesn’t dislike you, she’s just wary of the Tigrium King.”

“Hugrey, call me Hugrey.”

Suddenly interrupting the talk about her mother’s opposition to harp on how she addressed him.

“Yes.”

Chloe answered with her head bowed, feeling like her face would flush again for some reason. She didn’t know why she kept getting excited whenever he told her to call him by name. Although she always felt excited for no reason when she was with the Duke.

“Chloe.”

The Duke called her in a slightly heavy voice.

“Yes?”

“I think I need to reveal you as my mate to the wolf beast tribe. Since we’ve imprinted, I can’t keep it hidden forever. But I’m going to announce you as a human, not a beast, so that’s okay, right?”

“Because of the Tigrium King?”

“Mm…”

An answer that could be either affirmative or negative.

“I don’t mind. I haven’t lived as a tiger beast until now anyway.”

“The Emperor’s coronation ceremony will be held soon. I’m planning to introduce you to the Emperor as my mate there, is that alright too?”

“…?”

Was there any need to specially introduce her to the Emperor?