One Day My Sister Died - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: I’d Run Away Too, Even If I Were a Woman

Claude pressed the shadows deep under his eyes and pulled the blanket over his head.

It was because of the unwanted guest who had arrived in the morning.

A cheerful voice poured out towards his back.

“Your under-eye circles are pitch black. Did you have a nightmare or something?”

‘’Yeah. I did.’’

A damn nightmare.

Claude burrowed deeper, tousling his messy blonde hair and turning his back further.

“This won’t do. You knew I was coming over today.”

“Get lost.”

The blanket, which had been his only solace for a quick nap, was yanked away instantly.

Claude, who had been frowning with his eyes closed, snapped them open.

“…Lancelot Reve.”

“Why, Claude Yufrees. What kind of behavior is this after inviting someone?”

Lancelot, the second son of Marquis Reve and Claude’s maternal cousin, gave a sly smile with his characteristic smirk.

Claude shot Lancelot an irritated glare.

Even on a normal day, he often thought about punching that slick face, but seeing it after a sleepless night filled with nightmares made him want to punch it at least twice as hard.

“I didn’t invite you. Stop coming in without permission.”

“You should have known Eddie would send me if you brought in a new wife. I always clean up after you, don’t I?”

Lancelot, having taken the blanket from Claude, rolled it up and tossed it onto a couch, half-reclining on it.

Propping his long arms behind his head, Lancelot began to explain, recalling the details.

“Father’s reaction was poor. He thinks she looks weaker than your eighth wife. Not to mention Eddie.”

“What are you going to do if the reaction is poor?”

As always, an indifferent response.

Lancelot shrugged as if accustomed to Claude’s sensitive attitude.

“There’s been talk about finding your tenth consort from our maternal family, the House of Reve, instead of the royal family. So I came to ask for your opinion, but what do you know, your ninth wife is still here?”

“Wife, my ass.”

Claude muttered coldly as he got up and sat in the rocking chair.

Lancelot, watching his cousin’s lifeless movements, sparkled with interest.

“And besides, I took a peek through the door and she’s a knockout. How should I interpret that?”

“I just didn’t want to see someone die in my house. I saved her when she was on the brink of death and stashed her away in a corner. She’ll be out soon.”

“What? That’s a shame. I should’ve tried to win her over before you did.”

Lancelot, with a deep dimpled smile, smiled as if watching his reaction, but Claude, with his eyes closed, let out a dry laugh.

“A shame indeed. You can have her. She’s like a sick crow.”

“Really?”

Lancelot raised his eyebrows and smiled slyly.

“Then maybe I will.”

“Not before she dies first.”

“……”

“She’ll die. Again. In my house.”

“She’s still alive, though. And she hasn’t run away. The servants seem quite thrilled to finally have some real work to do after a long time. Eddie is worried sick, though.”

Lancelot shivered as he recalled how his brother became anxious upon hearing that Claude had brought a woman into the house himself.

Claude sneered.

“Who is he to worry about anyone?”

“The woman currently here is her sister, isn’t she? The sister of your eighth wife. The living sacrifice given to you after her deceased sister. Do you think she’s here with a good heart? Unlike her sister, it seems Felice didn’t want to send her. While they sent her sister off eagerly, this time they made a big fuss and even lied to avoid sending her. No wonder Eddie is worried.”

“Tell them to take her back, then.”

“There are rumors that her family is itching to take her back at the first opportunity. They’re just not coordinated well. The royal family is desperate to attach a woman to you, while their puppet, Garrette Felice, is doing everything to prevent it. Honestly, the Count of Felice’s family could have aligned with a respectable family in the capital. Imagine how much your wife must hate being married to you. What could she possibly expect from someone who treats his wives like you do?”

Without opening his eyes, Claude continued to rock in his chair as Lancelot criticized him unabashedly.

“If I were a woman, I’d run away too.”

Though everything Lancelot said was true, Claude’s lips twisted bitterly. He frowned, recalling the day he brought the woman into his home.

“Does she hate marrying me? She’s the one who begged not to be sent back to her family. Don’t speak without knowing.”

“What? So the rumor that she didn’t run away at the sight of you is true? And it’s also true that you personally went out and brought her back?”

“If you’re going to entertain weird ideas, get lost. And while you’re at it, take her with you. Since she’s so determined not to go back to her family, she’d be perfect for you.”

“So cold-hearted!”

Lancelot rebuked Claude but conceded with a faint smile. Despite his harsh words, Claude didn’t even open his eyes to glance at him, making Lancelot’s words more out of spite.

“Well, anyway. On the bright side, isn’t it better to have her as a caretaker than your current feeble doctor? I think it’s a good thing. At least it means you went outside for once. Eddie’s worried that the royal family brought someone from Felice as an excuse to have someone look after you.”

Claude had replaced his attending physicians almost every few months for the past ten years.

Since they were sent by the royal family, Claude naturally couldn’t trust them, nor did he want to. They would report every detail of his nightly torments and how miserably he suffered.

And in the process, all the decent doctors in the area had disappeared.

“How is that woman any different from the physicians sent by the royal family?”

“Anyway, she’s someone selected and sent by the royal family.”

Someone who will report every bit of his wretched and disgusting state to the royal family.

“I don’t see the difference.”

“Still, it’s different this time. All the others sent by the royal family either ran away or died. This woman, she faced you on the first day and stayed. She’s still alive, isn’t she?”

Lancelot’s cheerful voice attempted to lighten the heavy atmosphere.

“Eddie tends to worry too much. Let me show you what he did this morning.”

Lancelot’s half-joking tone finally made Claude open his eyes. Lancelot looked into his irritated eyes and smiled brightly.

“He thinks she might be here to avenge her sister’s death, like some secret agent. What kind of fate is that? Don’t treat her too well! She’ll run away at the first sign of fear anyway!”

Lancelot mimicked his elder brother Eddie, who was destined to be the future Marquis Reve.

Claude remained silent. Lancelot’s words weren’t wrong.

Whether by suicide or assassination, his former wives had died because they were, on paper, his wives.

“Revenge?”

Revenge? It felt like he was already experiencing it.

Claude’s lips curled into a bitter smile.

That crow-like woman had caused him to have the same nightmare for days.

Because of the words she uttered, clinging to his coat as if it were her lifeline with a face as pale as death.

“Please don’t abandon me.”

A splitting headache tore through his head at that moment.

Seeing Claude’s suddenly crumpled brow, Lancelot, accustomed to this, quickly ran to the console and handed him some medicine.

Claude took a handful of pills, meant for several days, all at once and chewed them dry, ignoring the glass of water hastily offered.

That one insignificant plea had stirred up terrible memories, causing him to be tormented by pain and nightmares every night.

So if that crow’s revenge was meant to make him suffer, it was more than enough.

Damn nightmares.

Claude pressed his throbbing head and forcibly closed his eyes.

Beyond Lancelot’s chattering, he could hear the servants talking with an unusual tone, one quite different from before.

A slightly excited tone.

Voices expecting a new breeze to blow through the mansion.

‘How ridiculous.’

It was all useless.

Eddie Reve’s excessive worries.

Lancelot Reve’s idle chatter.

The servants’ hopeful expectations.

Claude covered his eyes with his arm and laughed bitterly.

What he needed was only peace.

A night of rest without pain or expectations.

A peaceful night that others took for granted.

A night that was denied to him.

***

The mansion’s physician, Vile, was quite skilled.

After just one day of rest in the mansion, Yuan could move without assistance, and after the second night, the only treatment she needed was for the superficial wounds scattered across her body.

Although it would take some time for her strength to fully return, a few nights without severe pain allowed Yuan to savor a sense of peace.

Compared to the winters where she barely had enough firewood to keep warm and had to prepare her meals with her exhausted body, this was heaven.

The butler, Gustav, had temporarily placed Louise’s coffin in a small chapel beyond the white forest.

Louise would be properly buried in a sunny spot, not at the Felice estate.

Yuan hoped to continue living in the mansion’s secluded room with kind people and a sense of tranquility.

Claude rarely left his bedroom or sought anyone out, so it seemed they could live as if the other didn’t exist.

On her third day in the mansion, Claude had not shown himself at all, as if he were a phantom.

‘I hope I can keep living like this.’

Yuan inhaled the scent of the ointment Vile had meticulously prepared, her eyes wandering around.

Apart from Henna, there were only a few maids who came and went.

Looking outside, there were only a couple of servants besides the butler.

In short, the mansion was severely understaffed compared to its enormous size.

‘I should do something.’

A memory flashed in her mind from her childhood, when her uncle’s family’s outrageous behavior had left her in shock, and her sister Louise had whispered resolutely to her.