One Day My Sister Died - chapter 35

**Chapter 35: I Like Sleeping with You Master**

The sound of something bumping against the window was clearly Claude knocking loudly.

A faint smile spread across Yuan’s lips.

“I’m here—!”

Yuan jumped slightly and raised her voice a little.

“I’ll come up when the sun sets!”

The curtains didn’t move at all.

***

As Yuan diligently finished tidying up, time had surprisingly flown by.

Yuan washed herself clean of sweat, changed into a loose nightgown over her pajamas, and put on a nightgown before heading to Claude’s bedroom.

Fortunately, even though the sun had set, he was in a state similar to that of the day.

He sat in the creaking rocking chair, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.

Imagining Claude in the bedroom always brought a smile to Yuan’s face.

“I heard you walked a lot in the bedroom today?”

Yuan approached Claude, who was silent.

Having just finished her bath, the faint scent emanating from his nightgown lightly brushed against Claude’s nose.

“You must have been really bored without me, right?”

“…Why would I be bored?”

“You’re always looking at me. Just standing here like this.”

Yuan leaned against the window, flashing him a bright smile.

Only then did Claude open his eyes wide and look at Yuan.

The gaze that had lingered on his clear smile quickly shifted in the opposite direction.

“I’m watching you. I’m worried you might do something foolish again.”

Yuan looked down at his exposed nape without responding.

The creeping black pain was preparing to rush toward his clean skin like a snake swimming through mud.

“What did you talk about with the doctor?”

“Pardon?”

“…What did you say to that bespectacled guy?”

Claude’s sudden question broke the strange silence and felt a bit out of the blue.

Yuan blinked in confusion, gazing at the movement of pain that was about to overtake her.

As another brief silence returned, Claude abruptly turned his head to look at her.

His eyes urged for an answer, staring straight at her.

“It’s a secret.”

“What?”

The tension in his face dramatically crumpled.

Yuan wiggled her fingers but stubbornly held her ground.

“It’s a secret. I haven’t told Henna or the butler yet.”

“The maid and the butler?”

Claude’s face took on a mottled hue before he abruptly stood up from the creaking rocking chair.

His eyes twisted for a brief moment, perhaps in pain from the places still pierced by arrows.

Yuan gasped and rushed into his arms to support him.

In an instant, Claude’s body stiffened.

As soon as Yuan’s hand supported his back, he shoved her away.

It wasn’t a rough movement, but it was clearly a sign of rejection.

Yuan blinked in surprise.

Claude seemed equally flustered, pulling back his hand awkwardly and crossing his arms.

“Are you making secrets with the doctor? What do you trust?”

“It’s nothing special.”

“It’s nothing special, but you didn’t tell the maid and butler, and you don’t even tell your master?”

Claude’s mood was clearly twisted.

Especially when he heard the words that there were secrets with the maid and butler, meaning there was a secret for him too.

Yuan wanted to argue that all this was to clean the western annex beautifully and show it to him! But somehow, if Claude said something like “don’t do unnecessary things,” she felt she wouldn’t be able to hold back her tears, so she tightly sealed her lips.

She wanted to show him the already cleaned annex in a way that he couldn’t refuse.

“It’s really nothing special.”

“Then tell me. To your master. I’ll listen and judge for myself whether it’s something serious or not.”

Yuan was momentarily at a loss for words due to Claude’s insistence, her mouth moving silently.

However, Claude was more resolute than she expected, his expression not wavering at all.

He couldn’t possibly be that serious.

“Are you jealous or something?”

“Jealous?”

Claude let out a short laugh, and Yuan’s face turned bright red.

It was an absurd question, even to her.

“Jeal.ous?”

“Then, then why…”

“Since you keep boasting that you’re my family, let me give you a piece of advice.”

Claude approached her, each word pronounced with a deliberate emphasis.

Although he was limping slightly, the distance between them closed in an instant.

“Don’t believe anything that comes from the imperial palace.”

Yuan’s body was enveloped in a massive shadow.

Even in the nightgown he wore like hers, his scent was present.

The smell of the painkillers he chewed daily, the occasional whiff of cigars, and the clean scent of soap typical of someone who had just bathed.

Yuan raised her trembling gaze to meet him as he drew near.

“There’s not a single person you can trust in this mansion.”

But the servants here may be clumsy and brusque, yet they’re all kind.

Even while feeling anxious that she might leave one day, they seem eager to give her more whenever she adapts even a little.

They’re scared of you, yet they also pity you.

Yuan continued to look up at Claude, who seemed a little angry, suppressing countless words swirling in her mouth.

The creeping movement of pain was alarming. In just a few minutes, he would be submerged in the swamp of suffering.

“Do you understand? Don’t give your heart away.”

“…You’re doing this because you’re worried about me, right?”

Yuan asked him with a slightly husky voice.

Claude remained silent, looking down at her, without affirming or denying anything.

“Or do you not trust me either?”

Yuan, who was quietly gazing at Claude’s lips that remained unresponsive, eventually smiled bitterly, stepping out from his shadow and busily preparing herbal tea.

Facing Claude, who remained standing as if he were trapped, she called out to him weakly.

“It’s getting late, Master. Please take your medicine.”

He slowly turned around, looking at her and the steaming herbal tea at the same time.

As the pain steadily advanced toward his clean skin, Claude’s eyes began to redden. Just as he was gritting his teeth and enduring the agony, a low voice escaped his lips.

“Take the medicine.”

Yuan nodded.

“Yes. You’re in pain, aren’t you?”

After staring at her face for a while, Claude let out a short, dry laugh. He then gradually approached, picked up the teacup, and swallowed its contents in one gulp.

The loud clatter of the teacup being placed down broke the silence.

Claude looked down at her without expression.

“In this situation, you say you want to sleep with me. You say you don’t care about me or trust me.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Why, indeed.

After spending many peaceful nights together, why was she suddenly asking to sleep with him?

Yuan paused for a moment before answering.

“I don’t like it when you’re in pain.”

“Why?”

Why would he want to know the reason? When he doesn’t even care about her.

Yuan’s heart was filled with feelings that even she couldn’t understand, making it impossible to turn away from him now.

Was she feeling sorry because she had misunderstood that he might have made her sister unhappy?

Was she apologetic because, had she not proven her innocence, she wouldn’t have shown such a miserable sight to the emperor?

Was it because she was grateful for providing a place to stay where she wouldn’t be dragged to Felice? Perhaps because he might be someone she would continue to live with?

How could she explain this complicated heart?

Yuan felt her heart race as she witnessed Claude’s pain, which was rising to his chin.

“I just don’t like it. What wife would enjoy her husband being in pain?”

Claude’s expression slightly crumpled.

There was nothing she could say to him. It was a hundred times better than seeing him wander in terrible pain, no matter what misunderstandings he had.

Unconsciously, Yuan grasped her swirling emotions, standing up abruptly to face him.

Then she cupped his cheeks, which were looking down at her with bloodshot eyes.

His warm breath scattered across her palm, coming to an abrupt halt.

“I like sleeping with you, Master. So please don’t ask for a reason anymore.”

Yuan’s lips, on tiptoes, cautiously brushed against his chin.

His gaze, swaying above her lowered lashes, descended.

***

A tall glass vial was filled with a transparent green potion.

It was the cleaning potion Yuan had made, taking Vile’s advice. Vile had urged her to try it quickly with excitement.

“If this can really clean anything, then you, my lady, will become incredibly wealthy!”

“Not to that extent…”

“This kind of convenient potion for everyday life is rare; if you just put it on the market, it will sell like hotcakes! Instead of rubbing twenty times, you’ll only need to rub it five times—who wouldn’t want that? Nobles won’t care whether they rub twenty times or five, but the common folk—”

Vile’s passionate speech halted as she quickly glanced at Yuan.

Yuan, being a countess and now a deposed royal, was, after all, a royal wife. They had become so familiar that she had made a big mistake.

“I’m sorry, my lady.”

“It’s fine. It’s true… Nobles would rather spend money on elixirs for immortality than on potions that help with household chores.”

Vile fervently nodded, deeply reflecting on his respect for Felice.

After that, everything went smoothly.

Yuan headed towards the problematic western annex with a broom specially made by the stableman, Mr. Mazarin.

Since Vile had gone up to Claude’s bedroom for the morning consultation, this time he was with Henna.

Henna arrived at the entrance of the western annex, holding the glass vial with the cleaning potion, her face looking bewildered.

“My lady? Why are we at the western annex…?”

“Just to test that potion. I thought it would be nice to clean this place up a bit as a diversion.”

“This place?”

“Yes. I heard it’s filled with memories from the Master’s childhood. Since he hardly gets any fresh air outside, I thought if we tidied it up a bit, he might come out.”

Henna flinched at Yuan’s words and slowly gazed up at the small cabin-sized annex.

Yuan noticed Henna’s expression and then shifted her gaze to follow a whimpering sound.

A scraggly dog with patchy fur was wagging its tail in the distance. It looked like a wolf that had strayed from the pack.