One Day My Sister Died - chapter 28

Chapter 28. The Count with a Horse Head

Yuan, dazed, hesitantly followed them only after their long shadows had drifted away, almost touching her feet.

She saw the Emperor ascending to the second floor, following Claude. And suddenly, Bolonico, the first prince, appeared out of nowhere, passing by Yuan and tailing them like a shadow.

Bolonico’s parrot and dozens of foreign servants followed him like ducklings, trailing into the exclusive space of Claude Yufrees.

The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement, and murmuring voices filled the air, as if they were heading to see a circus show.

Yuan stood alone on the landing, covering her face with both hands.

Tears she didn’t know she still had poured through her spread fingers.

Yuan wept without realizing she was crying.

Soon, a man’s voice crying out in anguish echoed in her mind, or perhaps it was far away, yet it gripped and shook her.

She pressed both hands over her ears, unable to stop the sobs spilling out, silently crying there as well.

Just as she had for the past ten years in the Felice mansion, locking herself in her room and weeping.

No matter how painful or difficult it was, she had desperately hidden her agony from others.

Perhaps that’s why Claude had shut himself in that bedroom all this time, refusing to come out, to preserve the last of his pride.

“Stop, stop… please stop…”

Just imagining becoming a spectacle for others made Yuan feel like dying of shame.

Even Claude, who had refused to leave his room to hide his half-disfigured face from others, was now there.

Before all those people, including the Emperor, turned into a clown.

Whether he intended to or not.

Just because he hadn’t turned away from Yuan.

That night.

Claude Yufrees’ agonized screams, which hadn’t been heard in days, echoed throughout the second floor.

The sounds that accompanied them were strange.

The giggling voices of the onlookers.

And the eerie voice of Bolonico’s parrot, endlessly repeating, “Look at that. Look at that. My goodness. My goodness.”

***

It wasn’t until dawn that the spectators on the second floor finally returned to their rooms.

The bedroom was filled with darkness just before sunrise.

Yuan saw a long figure sprawled on the floor like a discarded rag.

Entering with swollen, teary eyes, Yuan saw Claude flinch at her presence, and she quickly reassured him.

“It’s me, it’s me—.”

Claude, still lying face down, didn’t relax but lifted his head sharply.

The man, with only half of his face returned, staggered to his feet.

Claude strode toward her, grabbing both her shoulders.

He pulled her to him, cornering her against the wall, biting down as if to stifle the aftershocks.

“I told you not to wander around alone.”

“Your treatment… I was—.”

“What are you still doing here? Huh?”

It was the first time Yuan had seen Claude truly angry.

Even when they had an unwanted intruder or an unwelcome wedding night, she hadn’t seen such fierce emotion flicker in his eyes.

Yuan, wiping away tears that streamed uncontrollably, nodded her head.

Tears hanging from the tip of her chin quivered, but it seemed Claude wasn’t satisfied. He continued to berate her.

“I told you not to go wandering around alone. On your own. Stop wandering around without permission. Alone. I said.”

It was clear he was referring to everything, including what happened last night.

Yuan, remembering the painful groans that echoed all night even with her ears covered, nodded to calm him down.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I thought it’d be fine since we were at home.”

“Home?”

Claude let out a breathless laugh, his bloody mouth twitching as his shoulders shook. Yuan held her breath, fearing he might tell her to leave, that this wasn’t her home.

Was it contempt, disgust, or… fear? She couldn’t define the emotions swirling in his eyes, but she could feel his gaze slicing through her.

What could she possibly say to stop him from looking at her like that?

Instead of answering with words that might anger him, Yuan reached out with trembling arms. Her thin hand touched his torn and dirtied uniform, feeling her way along until she finally, carefully, pulled him into an embrace.

His body stood firm, as though he’d never allow himself to be drawn in, but she pressed herself against him, burying her face in his chest.

Her tear-soaked cheek touched the hardened, scarred skin of Claude’s chest, which others had called rotten. Yuan held onto him tightly and whispered, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t careful. I didn’t know the Emperor would… I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Like a child throwing a tantrum, Yuan repeated her apologies over and over, begging for forgiveness while at the same time absorbing his pain. The torment he’d endured, likely writhing before the tyrant all night, flooded into Yuan like a downpour.

This time, she was determined to absorb all his pain, far more than the small amounts she had taken before. She felt she deserved to be punished for her mistake.

“Please don’t abandon me.”

Don’t throw me out of this house. I’ve done wrong, I’ll take the punishment…

As she continued to plead desperately, Yuan couldn’t bear how much she hated herself for saying these words, all just to escape the hell of the Felice mansion.

This was the only way she knew to overcome her guilt, by helping him find peace and letting him finally sleep in comfort.

Gradually, the strength left the beast’s body, his heavy breathing calming down.

Only after Yuan had laid him down did she finally scream and cry out in agony, just as he had done the night before.

***

On the night Yuan wept in despair, Regina was secretly in the rear garden of the black mansion, carefully opening a letter that had arrived that evening.

*[The Trelawney family will arrive late to the party and join from the second day. The thought of you worrying and searching for me breaks my heart. If you also find it hard to sleep, would you wait for me in the mansion’s garden?]*

Regina smoothed her elegant dress and smirked at the mansion, which didn’t even have a servant to patrol the grounds properly.

*”Yuan Felice, while you’re spending hellish hours in that monster prince’s bedroom, I’m sorry to say, but I’m about to embark on my own love affair.”*

Rustle.

She heard footsteps clumsily pushing through the snow-covered garden trees.

Regina, heart pounding, controlled her excitement and fixed the most enchanting smile on her face, one that would shine under the moonlight.

“…Lady Felice?”

The man’s voice was filled with surprise. His tone was the kind she expected—awed not by undying devotion to Yuan Felice, but like any other man who lost his breath upon seeing a beautiful woman.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Lord Drakecup Trelawney…?”

Regina’s seductive smile froze when the man finally stepped into full view.

“The proposal letter… Well, I… I mean… not you, I didn’t mean—”

The man, clearly flustered and dazzled by her beauty, struggled to speak, his previous thoughts of another woman seemingly erased from his mind.

But the problem was…

“If this is fate, I’ll accept it. I’ve fallen in love.”

Drakecup Trelawney, with a flushed face, stepped closer to Regina. He was far more unattractive than she had ever imagined.

***

The next morning, Regina gritted her teeth as she watched Yuan sit at the breakfast table, looking pale.

*”This is not what I imagined!”*

As she greeted the Emperor and saw the Trelawney family line up to pay their respects, she noticed how similar all the men from the family looked, as if they had been stamped from the same mold.

“They’re from the ‘Horse Head Trelawney’ family.”

Sophia, who had silently slipped into the seat next to Regina, whispered.

Sophia’s soft voice was as gentle as a butterfly’s wings, but it was enough to grate on Regina’s nerves.

“Horse Head?”

“I overheard Princess Celetina and her group giggling and calling the men from the Trelawney family that.”

The “Horse Head” family?

The thought that the man who falsely claimed Regina had set her heart on him belonged to a family infamous for being ugly sent a shock through her. Her mouth hung open in disbelief.

Completely oblivious to Regina’s inner turmoil, Sophia whispered again, this time with a hint of amusement in her voice.

“But why does that man keep looking at you, Regina? Do you think he’s fallen for you?”

“How would I know?!”

Regina spat her words sharply, feeling an intense surge of anger rising from within. The urge to unleash every curse she knew was overwhelming.

“Sophia, the Trelawney family governs vast lands and is a well-respected house. Should you really be gossiping about them so carelessly?”

“W-what? I just thought… since you were staring at them, that maybe you didn’t know much about their family—” Sophia stammered, confused and caught off guard.

“And why wouldn’t I know? Because I wasn’t raised as a count’s daughter from birth?”

Sophia, suddenly attacked, looked on the verge of tears, unsure of what she had done wrong. She lowered her head, trembling.

“N-no! I would never think that!”

“Watch your words, Sophia.”

Grinding her teeth, Regina glared at Sophia before whipping her head away in frustration.

Her irritation hit its peak when she spotted the dethroned prince sitting near the Emperor. The brooding man she had seen from a distance the day before seemed even more decadent up close.

His amethyst-like eyes, catching the light, shimmered with a brilliance that could ensnare anyone’s heart. His straight posture and calm, arrogant gaze exuded an aura of untouchable royalty. Claude Yufrees was the kind of man no one could dare to underestimate.

Under the pristine white tablecloth, Regina’s legs trembled slightly.

Feeling a gaze on her, she turned her head only to see Drakecup smiling at her like a fool, giving her a friendly nod.

Her appetite vanished immediately.