🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter: 10
. You’re Also a Man
“Yes. Please speak.”
Hoping it would be an easy question, Chloe spoke.
“First, we should ventilate the room a bit.”
Not asking the question he was supposed to, but leisurely suggesting ventilation—Chloe was a little annoyed. Still, she quickly opened the window and returned.
“Among the servants working in this house, is there anyone with blonde hair? Blonde hair of about this length.”
The Duke spread his hands about 60 cm apart.
Blonde?
Blonde hair was rare enough, and with only male servants in the house, hair of that length seemed even less likely.
“As far as I know… there isn’t anyone. But I don’t know every servant, so you might want to ask the butler.”
“No, there isn’t.”
“Yes?”
Chloe couldn’t immediately understand the Duke’s words.
Of course, she had thought it unlikely. But if he already knew so well, why ask?
“In the House of Ulpaz, not a single servant has hair of this length. Nor is there such bright, soft blonde hair.”
“…!”
Blonde hair about 60 cm long, bright and soft.
An all-too-familiar image came to mind—her own hair.
But there was no way she could be the owner of the hair the Duke was speaking of. Her blonde hair was perfectly hidden under her brown wig.
Still, she had to suppress the urge to reach up and touch her head, checking if the wig had slipped or if she had forgotten to wear it.
“In my house, female servants aren’t allowed.”
Chloe’s expression darkened at the Duke’s somewhat unrelated comment. The topic had shifted from hair to female servants, which felt ominous.
“You can’t bring a woman into the house. You know that well, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know.”
Chloe gritted her stomach to keep her voice from trembling as she barely answered.
“And that violating this rule would cost a penalty.”
What on earth was he trying to say?
“And yet… you…”
“…?”
It felt like a small animal, knowing there was a trap, being chased by a hunter and inevitably driven toward the spot where the trap was set.
“Did you bring a blonde-haired woman into my house?”
“What? What do you mean! Me bringing a woman into the house?”
So this was what he was going to say?
That she had brought a woman in?
Ha!
It was so absurd that she almost laughed out loud. Who in their right mind would risk a penalty to bring a woman into the Duke’s house?
And her room was right next to the Duke’s office. There was no way she would have done that without being crazy.
She couldn’t understand why the conversation had suddenly veered this way while talking about her sister.
“If not, there’s no explanation.”
“I don’t know why you would say that, but no! Absolutely not. There was no such thing! How could I dare bring a woman into the Duke’s house…!”
Chloe almost ranted, ready to refute the Duke’s sudden accusation—but then she froze.
She hadn’t brought a woman in, but… she was a woman herself.
“I found a few strands of long blonde hair in your room. I thought it was your sister’s hair. But come to think of it, it is strange for your sister’s hair to be in your room.”
“Hair…?”
“Whose hair is this? Explain.”
Ha…
This bad Duke should have mentioned that he found hair first!
Though even if he had said it first, she didn’t know how she could explain.
When sleeping, she locked the door and removed her uncomfortable wig. That probably left hair on the bedding.
This morning, when she hurried to leave while the Duke was absent, she had checked if any belongings were left, but hadn’t thought about the hair.
Now it was a painfully glaring mistake.
But how on earth had the Duke discovered that hair? Did he enter the room she had used?
Why?
Even though it was her mistake, it was strange for the Duke to have entered her room and found hair on her bed.
Who would inspect a servant’s room like that?
“As I said, I hate lies.”
“…Yes.”
“Whose hair is it? Who did you bring into my house?”
“I don’t know.”
She had nothing else to say.
“I don’t know…”
The Duke slowly repeated her words.
“I’m sorry, I really don’t know.”
“You really don’t know, huh…”
The Duke’s gaze was growing colder and colder.
“I’m sorry, Duke, I really…”
There was no way to explain the hair.
It wasn’t like it had a tag on it, and she couldn’t say it got stuck from outside.
“You’re a man, so you can meet women freely. Whether you meet them outside or not, that’s not something I can control.”
“…”
Chloe swallowed hard, losing her words.
A man meeting women… Her male disguise must have been too perfect.
Not only had she disguised herself as a man, but now she was being treated as if she were dating a woman.
“But from you, I can smell the scent of the woman I shared a bed with. The hair left in your bed carries the scent of the woman I slept with.”
So the Duke’s words implied she, his servant, was in a relationship with the woman he had spent a night with?
This was insane. How could someone’s thoughts take such a turn?
“Duke, that’s…”
“Regardless of your relationship with that woman, I will find her.”
“It’s not like that.”
At least one relief—he didn’t suspect she was a woman herself.
Other than that, it was a disaster.
The Duke’s personality was also terrible.
He had slept with the woman his own servant was involved with, and now he demanded she be handed over.
Really. What kind of selfish, one-sided decree is that?
Even though his claim was factually wrong, Chloe was utterly exasperated.
Had the Duke eaten something strange that night? Some personality-altering potion?
“I cannot mistake the scent. I already thought it strange. It came from you. If you were meeting that woman, everything makes sense. So tell me. Where is she?”
The Duke’s eyes were as strange and sharp as his reasoning.
Like a beast encountering its natural enemy.
Or a male fighting another male over a female in heat.
The problem was that the female in question was Chloe herself, and Chloe was now facing the Duke as the rival male.
Was he really searching for the woman to blame her for taking his virginity?
Now she began to suspect he was claiming ownership of the woman.
No one had given him ownership, yet he acted as if he had.
“Duke!”
“Tell me. Just tell me where she is. It doesn’t matter what your relationship with her has been. I only need to find that woman.”
He wasn’t known for being perfect, but he had been reasonably normal.
Now his attitude was completely different.
Whether she met other men or not, he insisted on finding the woman. What about the woman’s thoughts? Or the other man’s position?
His blind obsession was frightening.
What would he do if he found her? Chloe couldn’t help but wonder. Maybe it wasn’t even what she feared it would be, but something else entirely.
“Women? How could I meet women! I don’t have the time! I work 24 hours at the Duke’s house!”
Seeing the Duke as morally bankrupt yet perhaps searching for another reason, Chloe snapped back firmly.
“Why not? You leave the Duke’s house four days a month. And you just returned from leave a few days ago. Since then, I can smell that woman on you.”
The Duke seemed to fill his lack of morality with delusion.
“No! That’s not true, Duke! You’re mistaken!”
“Mistaken… Then whose hair is it? Explain in a way I can understand. You quit abruptly when you realized I was looking for her, without repaying the advance salary. Why?”
“That’s…”
“Because you were meeting that woman, of course.”
“That’s absurd.”
“If it’s absurd, then explain it in a way that makes sense.”
The Duke had already shaped all circumstances to fit his logic.
What should she do? How could she stop this blind suspicion?
“You’re a man! Yes, you’re a man. You could meet women. That’s right.”
The Duke’s face contorted further, showing life-threatening hostility.
Chills ran down Chloe’s spine. He was now openly glaring at her.
Dangerous.
This Duke was definitely dangerous.
“….”
“….”
A tense silence, full of life and fear, flowed between them. She couldn’t think of anything to say.
Whatever she said, he probably wouldn’t believe.
Still, she had to say something. Anything.
To clear this misunderstanding.
Ah… would this work? But it was too…
“You… you…”
But time ran out. Before his anger could boil over further, she had to break his delusion.
“I like men!”
Without thinking it through, the words that had hovered on her lips finally escaped.
And when she said them, her own face burned even more from embarrassment.
