#25. Journey to Solline

“Today, I will go meet Chloe in Solline.”

After a brief pause, the duke met her eyes again as he spoke.

Well, of course. Why would His Grace avoid even the gaze of a mere personal attendant?

“You’re leaving right away today? I thought you might still be tired from yesterday’s journey.”

If they were going to go immediately, it would have been better to stay overnight in Kinden and head straight to Solline from there. Why return all the way to the ducal estate yesterday just to push themselves like that?

Solline was only about two hours from Kinden. If they had stayed there and left for Solline today, it would have saved unnecessary time and reduced fatigue from the long trip.

Otherwise, after such an exhausting forced march yesterday, they could have simply rested a day and gone tomorrow. Why the rush?

Of course, these were just her thoughts—she had no way of knowing the duke’s true intentions.

“Fatigue?”

At that, the duke repeated the unfamiliar term, as if hearing it for the first time. As though he were asking whether she even experienced such a thing.

Yes, yes. Someone as tireless as Your Grace should just keep chasing “Chloe” to your heart’s content—on your wonderfully inefficient schedule.

“Ah!”

Chloe suddenly remembered something she had almost forgotten while thinking about “the Chloe the duke was searching for.”

“My lord, the information guild came yesterday to report their investigation results!”

“Oh? What did they say? Did they find anything new?”

“Well… their findings weren’t much different from what Sir Joyce discovered.”

“I see. Well, I expected as much. It’s not easy to be more capable than Joyce.”

The duke nodded and muttered to himself.

Words like beastfolk, dogs, cats, and other such nonsense from the guild member briefly flashed through Chloe’s mind. But she swallowed them back down—saying something like that would probably earn her another insult like yesterday. She already knew the idea that she was a beastfolk was nonsense.

The duke was already exhausted from chasing illusions. There was no need to burden him with even more absurd information.

“We’ll depart right after breakfast, so get ready. And you… go wash yourself.”

He looked away again as he spoke.

So it wasn’t just avoidance—it was because she was dirty? Maybe he couldn’t even bear to look at her face. Ah… was that it?

“Yes, I’ll go right awa—yes?”

Chloe’s eyes widened.

“‘You too’? Me as well?”

“Are you not my personal attendant? If I’m going, you come too. You rested yesterday, so you should work today.”

What… why do I have to go too? All the way to Solline?

It was an unexpected order.

Chloe almost protested but held her tongue at the last moment. A personal attendant couldn’t question their master’s command. A servant simply followed wherever their master went.

But Solline was a seven-hour ride from Roizen. He had almost never taken her along on trips like this before—why suddenly now, and to such a distant place?

She felt a bit grateful toward the duke, but his temperament was… somewhat unpredictable.

“Yes, understood. I will prepare.”

Swallowing her bitterness, Chloe bowed and left the duke’s room.

Already, she felt motion sickness creeping in.

About an hour later.

Chloe stood in front of the ducal estate’s main gate, blinking repeatedly.

“…!”

Three horses were standing in the courtyard.

Horses.

Three of them.

So… the transportation to Solline was by horse?

Oh no! She couldn’t ride a horse!

But her worries were completely ignored as the duke and Sir Joyce mounted their horses.

“What are you doing? Hurry and get on.”

Sir Joyce spoke curtly.

“Um… I can’t ride a horse. I haven’t learned horseback riding yet.”

“….”

Sir Joyce and the duke both looked at her at the same time, as if asking what nonsense she was saying.

In truth, among commoners, only a few wealthy ones could ride horses. Owning a horse was expensive enough—maintaining one was even more costly.

However, there were some commoners for whom riding was essential: postal couriers, messengers, horse trainers, and similar professions.

There were also less obvious roles tied to horses.

For example, personal attendants—sometimes called pages.

Servants who accompanied their masters on outings were often expected to ride, especially if their master frequently traveled on horseback.

However, most attendants were not hired with riding skills. They usually learned later using their master’s horses whenever they had time.

So the duke and Sir Joyce’s surprise wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

Moreover, Duke Wolfaz had never before taken a personal attendant along on horseback journeys. He rarely even assigned heavy tasks to attendants at home.

Perhaps only once or twice had she accompanied him, and even then it had been within Roizen by carriage. So Chloe had never felt the need to learn horseback riding.

And the butler had never instructed her to learn it either.

“I didn’t consider that.”

The duke frowned slightly.

“Yes. I’m sorry. I should have learned in advance…”

Even though she had never been told she would be coming on such trips, it was still true that she had not prepared properly as an attendant. She couldn’t blame her master for not giving instructions.

“There’s no need to apologize. I never told you to learn it. However… hmm…”

The rational duke did not scold her. But he seemed to be thinking over the situation.

Why is there even something to think about? Just don’t take me.

It was a 14-hour round trip to Solline. She would only become a burden.

She wasn’t even necessary for this journey. The duke didn’t usually travel with attendants, and Sir Joyce could handle everything.

They had already completed a return trip to Kinden in seven hours at full speed—she would only slow them down.

And personally, there was another issue.

Tomorrow was her first day off in a month.

Her mother had recovered…

From the moment she heard the news, her heart had already been racing toward home.

The timing of the leave was the only blessing.

But if she went to Solline today, she would likely return only tomorrow. By then, it would be too late to leave for Böergen.

And asking for an extra day off would be difficult.

So the best situation was to avoid this trip entirely.

Chloe silently prayed that the duke would come to a reasonable conclusion.

“Your Grace, is it really necessary to take Chloe? I will accompany you, so there should be no inconvenience. Isn’t it more important to reach Solline as quickly as possible?”

Sir Joyce spoke up, sounding almost helpful.

Though it didn’t seem like he was doing it for Chloe’s sake. Rather, it was obvious he thought a servant who couldn’t ride would be nothing but dead weight.

A burden, nothing more.

Honestly, Chloe had assumed they would travel by carriage.

But these men had already ridden from Kinden at full speed in seven hours. They weren’t exactly the type to slow down for a mere servant.

“….”

The duke said nothing to Joyce. Instead, he kept staring at Chloe.

Then he sighed deeply.

It was as if he were thinking, What am I going to do with you?

What do you mean what—you should just leave me behind!

Everyone except the duke seemed to understand the obvious answer.

Even the horse being prepared for Chloe seemed to sense it, suddenly kicking and neighing loudly.

What’s wrong with that horse? Is it angry at the idea of me riding it?

“Sir Joyce, I will be riding behind you.”

The duke’s voice cut through her thoughts.

Chloe’s face went pale at the command.

A 14-hour ride… sitting behind Sir Joyce?

“Your Grace!”

“….”

She instinctively called out, but fell silent under the duke’s steady gaze.

“Then I will be in your care, Sir Joyce.”

She bowed slightly toward Joyce instead.

Joyce’s expression had already stiffened.

Of course it had. Even he probably didn’t want to carry extra weight on a long journey.

But he had no choice but to obey. He simply nodded.

A quick-witted groom rushed off to bring a two-person saddle.

Chloe reluctantly walked toward Joyce’s horse.

“Woah—”

The horse turned away from her, forcing Joyce to pull the reins to steady it.

Even the horse hates me? Well, it probably knows better than anyone how exhausting it is to carry extra weight for a long trip.

Joyce calmed the horse and extended his hand toward her.

Chloe took it with a heavy heart.

And at that moment—

“Wait!”

The duke suddenly shouted.

Both Chloe and Joyce flinched.