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Chapter: 03
The Beast on the Bed
Ugh, seriously! Chloe Ridden, are you a beast or what?!
A wave of intense regret washed over her.
If she had known he would take finding her so seriously, she would never have caused such a disaster.
But even that she couldn’t be sure of.
No matter how much she thought about it, her state last night was far from normal.
She hadn’t taken any mind-altering drugs, yet she couldn’t understand, nor interpret, how she had caused such a monumental accident in her life.
Ah, wait!
She had drunk yesterday, hadn’t she?
The inn she stayed at yesterday was in Arne, a small town roughly halfway between her home in Borgen and the Duke’s mansion in Roizen. To be precise, it was situated at a ridiculously awkward location, far from the town’s entrance, standing alone.
Since it took a full day to travel from her hometown to the Duke’s mansion, she had always stopped there for one night on the way. Yesterday marked her third stay.
Perhaps because of its location, there were few guests, and with a back door available, it was the perfect place to pay in advance, disguise herself as a man, and sneak out at dawn without drawing attention.
That was why she had chosen this inn.
As always, when she went down to the inn’s first-floor restaurant for dinner, she was the only guest.
Unlike previous visits, yesterday the elderly innkeepers personally offered her homemade liquor.
They pressed too enthusiastically, and since she was their only guest, it was difficult to refuse.
In truth, she hadn’t been entirely opposed to getting drunk. It was the last day of her vacation before returning to the Duke’s mansion.
There was the guilt of having to entrust her mother to Kalkus, and the burden of having to live another month disguised as a man until her next vacation. Drinking could at least help her forget for a while.
Even though she hardly drank and didn’t know her tolerance.
Could it be that something had been added to the liquor?
She had heard rumors of such crimes. At banquets where drinks were served, people would secretly add drugs to the drinks for a night of pleasure.
But she quickly shook her head.
Her own behavior was so incomprehensible that she began suspecting every possible scenario.
When she actually drank the liquor, the elderly innkeepers even offered her chocolate, claiming it contained substances to detoxify alcohol.
If the liquor had indeed been drugged, it could only have been by those kind old people.
Yet, why would such innocent-looking, frail elders commit a crime in a secluded place with almost no guests—and on that specific day, targeting her, someone with no connection to them?
No, it made no sense.
It was illogical to think that the good old innkeepers, who even gave her chocolate to prevent drunkenness, had somehow anticipated she would appear there yesterday and secretly drugged her drink.
So it wasn’t drug poisoning.
Ah! Now that she thought about it, she had forgotten about her medicine.
Thinking of the medicine, she suddenly remembered the pills she hadn’t taken.
For years, her mother had made sure she took her medicine whenever the seasons changed.
<What kind of medicine is this? Do I have some incurable disease?>
She had asked multiple times since her mother never gave it to her brother Klein, only to her, but her mother always replied that it was just a supplement.
Since there were no noticeable effects, she had never given it much thought—but she hadn’t taken it this time.
A few months ago, right after taking the medicine, an accident occurred. Her mother had been on the brink of death and now remained bedridden, unable to take her own medicine, let alone give it to Chloe.
So, she hadn’t taken any significant medicine yesterday. There were pills she hadn’t taken, but no active ones.
If anything, if someone had taken medicine, it would have been the Duke, not her.
Judging by how he had changed.
Hugray Ulphaz, the Duke, was someone no one could have imagined turning into a beast on a bed.
The young head of the Ulphaz dukedom, which had produced sword masters for generations, was recognized as the greatest sword master in the history of the Elrion Empire. Yet, his fame was often overshadowed by his stunning appearance, which could steal the breath of anyone who saw him.
A sword master might get away with being a bit ugly—but he had unrivaled beauty. So much so that even in the long-extinct era when beastmen ruled humans, he would have been considered the most exceptional sword master.
And if such a sword master were also beautiful, at least his personality should be flawed to make the world fair, right?
But the world was not fair. The Duke wasn’t particularly friendly or gentle, but he had a balanced character that didn’t lose dignity or manners.
He was, in fact, almost the perfect human in the Elrion Empire.
Yet, perhaps envied even by the gods, there was one fatal rumor that counterbalanced all his fame.
“Hugray Ulphaz is impotent.”
This was the rumor, his proper noun nickname: “The Impotent Duke.”
Of course, the rumor hadn’t been so severe at first.
Initially, his peculiar avoidance of women—even the suggestion that all the animals in his home might be male—was taken merely as “He avoids, dislikes, or despises women.”
Like a fruit dangling on a tree too high to reach, no one could pluck it, but they also couldn’t bear to see it fall.
To prevent causing despair among the kingdom’s women, the rumor remained tame at first.
However, after years of extreme avoidance of all women, the rumor evolved to claim “He prefers men.”
Even then, it seemed designed to limit disappointment only to women.
Yet, he showed no signs of preference for men either. He would even feel uncomfortable if men approached too closely.
This was why Chloe always stayed a few steps back while receiving orders from him.
Eventually, after another year, the rumor evolved further: “His crucial part is broken.”
Broken… meaning impotent.
Ha!
Ridiculous!
It wasn’t a malfunction that prevented life—it seemed more like a malfunction that never died all night.
No, no!
Don’t think about it.
She forcibly suppressed the wild memories trying to surface in her mind.
The massive disaster of last night had to be forgotten as soon as possible so she could focus on the present.
Only then could she safely repay her debts and escape the disguise she wore.
The Ulphaz dukedom, thanks to unusually high salaries, was called a “dream workplace,” but Chloe had no intention of working there long-term.
The decisive condition for employment simply didn’t match.
The Ulphaz dukedom had strange employment regulations unseen elsewhere, which meant that the term “dream workplace” only applied to men.
[Employment Rules for Ulphaz Household Staff
Article 1
① Must be male.
② Must not bring women into the Duke’s mansion under any circumstances or create reasons for women to enter.
③ Violation of 1 or 2 results in repayment of all salaries received and penalties equal to the total paid salary.]
Indeed, these strange rules explained why the salary was so high.
Because no female staff were employed, all work considered the domain of female staff elsewhere had to be done by male staff here.
Moreover, the penalty clause in addition to monthly salary intimidated even those with no contractual violation.
Thus, naturally, Chloe, being female, could not work there.
At first, she hadn’t planned to.
Yet, she ended up working there because her twin brother Klein, who had been hired as a staff member, died before his first day.
Initially, she intended to inform the Duke of her brother’s death and refuse to start work.
But she soon had to change her mind.
On the day her brother died, her mother also became critically ill.
To save her mother, a rare and expensive medicine containing a monster’s marrow was required.
The medicine cost exactly the same as her brother’s one-year salary at the Ulphaz household, which he was supposed to receive.
Chloe had no choice but to disguise herself as Klein to be employed.
With no time to look for other jobs, and only the Ulphaz household offering a full year’s salary upfront, it was the only option.
Yet, the choice of disguise was unavoidable—not that she wanted to avoid it.
How uncomfortable and nerve-wracking it was to deceive by gender.
Naturally, she planned to quit as soon as she repaid the money.
She had to endure at least a year safely to achieve that.
And now…
A one-night mistake with the Duke.
The entire year’s salary she had received upfront had long disappeared buying the medicine.
She couldn’t even leave funds for her mother’s ongoing treatment, who hadn’t yet fully recovered.
Kalkus was covering the daily treatment costs…
What if she now had to pay back the entire year’s salary plus the penalty as well?
No!
Even imagining it made her chest tighten.
Her identity as a woman could never be discovered!
Moreover, the problem might not be just about money.
