One Day My Sister Died - Chapter 11

“Ah, it’s warm.”

The fireplace blazed with logs heavily laden with henna.

Vile carefully reapplied medicine to a freshly wound bandage.

And a bowl filled with Ralph’s meticulously prepared soup.

“It’s so warm… my body feels like it’s melting.” 

The sensation of warm temperature seeping through my skin finally made me feel drowsy.

Louise’s voice swam between the fading memories of the man and the warm blanket.

“I’ll be able to sleep comfortably in a warm place next winter.”

Sister always kept her promises, no exceptions.

…But why does it make me so angry?

Below Yuan’s eyes, which are slowly starting to close again.

Her parched lips tightened, suppressing emotions, wrinkling in frustration.

***

The winter in Cielo was not particularly harsh.

Every well-maintained street was lined with bright colors instead of white snow, and squares and commercial districts were full of people clearing snow to accommodate people every day.

The Marquis of Compani, who crossed several squares to enter the palace, clicked his tongue when he saw the line forming at the entrance to the First Prince’s Palace.

It was rumored in Cielo that if you weren’t powerful enough to get into the Council of Ministers, you had to go through First Prince Bolonico to see the Emperor.

Part of it was true.

The First Prince’s palace was a collection of the most precious and bizarre things in the world, from jaw-dropping decorations and golden silks to rare pink peacocks and seemingly cut-off black ivory.

“Is this a palace or a circus, sheesh.”

The Marquis of Compani ignored the fierce gazes telling him not to cut in line and walked towards the entrance located at the end of the long line.

Foreign servants with eccentric faces recognized him and cleared the path.

Briefly enjoying the envious stares, he adjusted his attire and quickly made his way to the audience chamber.

Prince Bolonico, with his golden hair typical of the Yufrees family and Emperor-like azure eyes, seemed unusually aloof today.

Beneath his sword-cut bangs that hid his eyebrows, the bridge of his nose was sky high, and his smug face was filled with an unexpected pride.

His straight, bob-cut blond hair sparkled and fluttered impossibly every time he turned his head slightly.

“In the glory of the great Yufrees, may there be endless honor… Your Highness, Prince Bolonico. I am Harold Compani, reporting to fulfill Your Highness’s orders.”

“Ah, Moldy Marquis.”

Hee, hee.

At the sound of Prince Bolonico’s voice, who was sitting on the lap of a dancer and eating grapes, the servants, who were lined up like wings around him, covered their mouths and laughed.

To avoid offending Prince Bolonico’s mood, one had to smile and move on, but Marquis de Compani remained stiff.

Calling him so childish was evidence that Prince’s mood was twisted.

“Your Highness, that’s disappointing.”

The servants responded to the First Prince’s sentiment.

“Uh-.”

“Really. How dare you disturb His Highness’s mood.”

‘Foreign servants with no principles…’

Marquis Compani muttered under his breath, forcing a smile.

The most annoying was the loud parrot perched on Bolonico’s shoulder.

“Execution! Execution!”

It kept repeating the same words, scratching everyone’s nerves.

“We’ve confirmed Garrett Felice’s and have delivered the second daughter of the old Count Felice to the Black Mansion.””

“Who doesn’t know that?”

Prince Bolonico stood up from the dancer’s knees, pushing aside his shimmering blonde hair from his ear. Then, he looked down at Marquis Compani, who crossed his arms and frowned like an upset child.

“You know that’s not what Bolonico wants to know.”

The Marquis de Compani looked puzzled for a moment, then realized something. What Bolonico wanted to know was the Emperor’s reaction to his new bride, and how the manor was doing.

“It’s all the same. Nothing’s changed in that mansion, nothing’s been added or removed. 

Although Marquis Reve was in the bedroom, the Emperor did not see him. He looked as unmotivated as ever.”

“Ugh.”

Bolonico stretched out his white fingers as if to show off his manicured nails and tapped his mouth.

He skillfully concealed his wide-open mouth, blinked his long eyelashes slowly, clearly expressing his boredom. Marquis Compani’s already gaunt face looked even more deflated.

“Bolonico, is bored. The same report every time.”

“Moldy, boring!”

“Boring, boring!”

“What can we do? We can’t drag the monster who refuses to leave his room out for display, can we?”

“A monster doesn’t belong in a beautiful place!”

“Yes, yes!”

Foreign servants and the parrot Lorrencho echoed Bolonico’s sentiments loudly.

Marquis Compani, who had vowed not to stand idly by on the day any of these guests were driven away, glanced at Bolonico with his short hair swaying.

“Bolonico, I’ve heard some interesting news.”

“Oh?”

“While the Moldy Marquis was crawling along like a 150-year-old turtle, your ‘bird’ informed us first.”

Indeed.

Behind where Prince Bolonico was seated, a bird with yellow feathers as sparkling as his golden hair was eagerly eating grains in its cage.

“The monster moved on its own, and Marquis Moldy brought the ninth bride to the mansion.”

“Bolonico, surprised? That’s rare.”

“Surprised, really surprised.”

“Bolonico, be sure. There’s something in Felice.”

“There’s something in Felice.”

“Bolonico, I’m going to meet the Emperor.”

Marquis Compani, hearing that the Emperor Claude personally brought in the new bride, was surprised again. He was also surprised by the rare flicker of interest on Prince Bolonico’s face at this news.

‘There’s something in Felice.’

The reason the emperor had suddenly wanted to make a woman from Felice the Emperor’s bride.

The reason behind trying to deceive Garrett Felice twice and bring the woman to the Black Mansion.

This is also the reason why Bolonico, who was extremely sensitive because he was not crowned a crown prince until he was 23 years old, went to Emperor Burinake and informed him that the Emperor had accepted Felice’s bride.

Even pretending not to know anything becomes suspicious.

‘There’s really something in Felice.’

Something extraordinary enough to pique the interest of the nutcracker-like Bolonico!

***

Count Garrett Felice had been staying up all night in his laboratory for several days with bloodshot eyes.

Even though he couldn’t entertain any ‘special’ guests in his nearby rooms at the moment, there was still no shortage of ways to make money.

“Yuan Felice. Do you think I, Garrett Felice, would worry that he might fail without you?”

Thinking of Yuan, who hadn’t sent a single letter, Garrett gritted his teeth.

The laboratory he inherited from generations was as valuable as the Academy’s grand library, overflowing with treasures.

With just a reach, one could access research materials brimming with ancestral wisdom.

Unfortunately, Garrett lacked the expertise to understand such specialized data. Instead, he focused on the production and commercialization of medicines rather than prescriptions.

This led to criticisms from academia, suggesting he was veering away from the noble path of a medical scholar into that of a merchant. But to Garrett, it was all envy.

He expanded the Felice fortune through commercialized medicines and specialized treatments for exclusive clients.

He was a proud patriarch safeguarding this magnificent lineage.

Despite building unwavering confidence over a decade, he never thought Yuan’s abilities were dispensable, but neither did he think everything would crumble without him.

‘’I did what was written, why doesn’t it work?’’

Until he realized the medicines he needed to deliver were normal.

Staring intensely at the new products Yuan had been instructed to research, Garrett grew furious.

The colors and tastes differed between Yuan’s previously prepared items and the newly created ones.

It was a simple fever medicine, a recipe from his father’s generation, the Count of Felice, the first generation of the family.

It was sweet in flavor, powerful in effect, and had no side effects, so it sold like hotcakes…

“Yuck! Yuck!”

Not only was the color different, but the taste was horribly bitter and the strange granules chewed.

In Garrett’s mind, Yuan’s voice revisited like a lightning bolt, criticizing that something wasn’t right with the proportions in the prescriptions.

“Damn it! I can’t remember anything properly!”

No wonder.

He had become excessively reliant on Yuan.

“Priscilla! Priscilla!”

As the delivery date approached, he hurriedly sought his wife.

He had to check the books.

He debated sending the less important medicines scheduled for delivery to lesser families to retain his influence.

***

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Regina, you’re just in time. What should I do about this?”

Regina was surprised to see her normally slender mother looking noticeably disheveled and approached her in concern.

“Since you’re good with numbers, help me out a bit.”

“What?”

Priscilla nervously pulled out the ledger from her embrace and unfolded it.

The ledger, which had maintained neat handwriting until the middle, resembled a scribble pad with scattered empty spaces and scribbled notes as it flipped towards the end.

“What is this?”

“Led- ger-!”

Priscilla whispered very softly.

“Your father is looking for the ledger to check something, and since it’s not organized, he’s furious!”

“Why didn’t you do this beforehand, and why do you keep on delaying…?”

Regina alternated between looking at the documents and ledger that Priscilla handed her, her eyes widening.

It was because amid the illegible scribbles, she noticed a significant decrease in household profits over the past few days.

“Why is the profit like this?”