One Day My Sister Died - chapter 36

Chapter 36. If You Don’t Like It

“Ah, that dog.”

“Do you know that dog, my lady?”

“I heard it’s a dog that Master was raising, is that right?”

Yuan slowly approached the dog, waving the jerky that Ralph had given him to eat when he was bored. Ralph had said that as soon as it was made, he intentionally lowered the salt content to feed it to Yuan.

The dog curled its tail and tucked it between its legs, hesitating.

Thinking the dog must be more fearful than its handsome appearance, Yuan carefully placed the jerky in front and took a few steps back, crouching down.

“Henna. Do you know this dog’s name?”

When Henna didn’t answer, Yuan turned her head briefly to look up at Henna who had come near. Henna looked at the dog hesitantly and whispered in response.

“It’s Oliver, my lady.”

“Oliver.”

As soon as the dog heard his name, he perked up his pointed ears once, then slowly unfurled his curled tail and wagged it gently. Yuan sighed in relief and spoke softly.

“Oliver, I’m going to clean up your house now. To get your permission.”

Oliver sniffed the scent with his head lowered, ears folded, and lowered his body.

“If you eat this, I’ll know you’ve given permission.”

Finally, Oliver gently touched his tongue to the jerky placed in front of her and began to chew it noisily.

At that moment, Yuan carefully reached out her hand. Oliver immediately lowered his posture and resisted the touch but did not completely avoid it.

Yuan respected Oliver and chose not to pat his head, simply watching silently. The dog hesitated as if about to run away with the jerky but ultimately placed it near Yuan and ate it deliciously.

“……It seems Oliver doesn’t dislike you, my lady.”

“Henna?”

Startled by the choking voice, Yuan immediately stood up.

Henna, hugging the cleaning potion, was bowing her head deeply. Thick tears were dripping down from under her bowed head.

“It seems Oliver likes you, my lady. Huuuuuh-!!”

—

**At the Same Time**

Vile, pretending not to notice Claude’s cold aura throughout the morning consultation, finished the appointment.

“I will bring the newly made painkillers before dinner. Maybe because you’ve been sleeping well, your complexion is bright, and there’s nothing particularly lacking.”

“You’re saying the same thing every day.”

“……Yes?”

“Sit in that corner and record whether anything has changed much from usual.”

“……Yes?”

“Don’t talk. Shut up and close your ears. Don’t wander around unnecessarily.”

At the time when Vile was bewildered by the absurd command, the housemaid came in with lunch.

Normally, when lunch arrives, one would greet it, but as soon as the door opened, Claude looked towards it quickly, glanced at the housemaid holding the tray, and made an unpleasant face.

Then, before the housemaid could be flustered by Claude’s unfavorable gaze, he rested his chin on his hand and threw his gaze towards the window.

“Should I decorate the garden?”

Claude, who was scanning the garden with dry eyes, suddenly muttered to himself like a sigh.

When Gustav spread out the plates with a puzzled expression, Claude answered himself.

“It’s almost spring.”

“Since when have you been interested in the garden?” The housemaid, noticing Claude’s lack of interest in food, looked at his face for a long time before, perhaps out of curiosity, she asked.

“……Shall I show you the related budget proposal?”

“Please do.”

The housemaid hastily took out a thick file that was tucked under her armpit.

It was hard to lower the corners of her mouth, which tried to creep up even if she tried to hide it.

Claude had fallen apart, and after 10 years, he was asked to bring his own work for the first time.

It had been a task shared by the Reve brothers and the housemaid for the entire 10 years.

In hindsight, after the new lady entered the mansion, Claude’s once sharp demeanor gradually weakened, and the time he stayed awake during the day increased. The amount of painkillers that Vile kept filling in between was also slightly reduced.

“In the second marked place, there are budget proposals and execution details regarding the garden or the exterior of the mansion.”

“Ah, don’t hang the curtains.”

Gustav, who was about to hang the curtains to block the pouring sunlight and to prevent Claude’s furrowed brows, stopped his steps.

“If you do hang them, just hang half so that only the light coming towards my face is blocked.”

“?”

“……I need to read.”

An unsolicited excuse.

Claude, trying to avoid the housemaid’s strange gaze, unjustifiably threatened Vile, who had been crouched in the corner.

“Doctor An Gyeongjong. If I get even a little sick, you will run to the console and get the painkillers.”

After the meal was over, Claude hesitated for a moment towards the housemaid who was diligently clearing the table, then slowly furrowed his eyebrows.

“What is she doing?”

“Who are you talking about?”

“……The deposed prince.”

—
As the butler’s smile grew even wider, Claude hastily lowered his gaze to the budget proposal.

“No, forget it. Don’t say anything. She’s probably off wandering around again, meddling in things and trying to help.”

Claude answered his own question and twirled the quill pen between his long fingers before aggressively scribbling a number in the maximum column for the staff hiring budget. His movements were tense and irritable.

The butler, whose smile threatened to stretch from ear to ear, gathered the budget file and empty dishes that Claude handed back and left the room.

Left alone with Claude, Vile nervously watched as Claude stomped over to the rocking chair and collapsed into it, then hesitantly started a conversation.

“The weather is quite nice today, Master. It seems like winter is ending, and the days are getting longer.”

“Damn it. The days are unbearably long.”

His irritated response was immediate, cutting through the light topic of the weather.

Vile blinked his drooping eyes sympathetically and stammered on.

“Uh, is there something bothering you this evening…?”

“I told you not to talk, didn’t I, you four-eyed doctor?”

Claude’s sharp gaze pierced Vile just as fiercely as his words.

“Don’t leave the room and just sit there, watching for my slightest signal. If you want to leave, then pray for the sun to set quickly.”

Vile was on the verge of tears.

—

Oliver circled around Henna, who was still sobbing uncontrollably. The way they interacted suggested that Henna had been the one caring for Oliver all this time.

After consoling the crying Henna for a while, Yuan pretended not to notice as the girl, now embarrassed, tried to compose herself.

Yuan had been stacking bricks one by one, only to give up and crouch down in exhaustion. Henna, embarrassed by her sudden outburst, hurriedly wiped her face and tried to act as if nothing had happened.

“Sniff. My lady, if you crouch like that, they say your knees won’t hold up when you’re old.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“My grandmother told me.”

“Oh, you have a grandmother too?”

Henna fell silent again.

The young maid certainly had a lot of secrets.

Yuan recalled Henna’s tearful reaction when she saw Oliver today, as well as the flustered expression she’d had when they first brought her to the west annex. Yuan decided that she would ask Henna properly about all of it one day.

Yuan dipped a brush into a small bucket of water mixed with a cleaning solution. Despite Henna’s protests, Yuan began scrubbing the walls herself.

“Wow!”

As she scrubbed away the thick layer of soot, the original red brick started to show. After a few more scrubs, the surface became shiny and clean.

Yuan kept wiping, making sure no speck of ash remained, and soon, the red brick looked as if it had been freshly laid.

“Wow, my lady!”

If she continued restoring the walls bit by bit, Claude wouldn’t be able to resist coming out to see the transformation himself.

“My lady! It’s amazing!”

“Isn’t it? I plan to gradually clean it all.”

“I’ll help you!”

“No, I’ll do it alone.”

“What? Why?”

“You and the other staff are always busy with work in the main building. How could I ask you to do even more?”

Henna, reminded of her tightly packed daily schedule, quickly nodded in agreement.

Yet, it seemed she was still uneasy about leaving such a task to someone as important as Yuan. She fidgeted with her fingers, searching for the right words to dissuade her lady.

“I’m doing this as exercise. And—”

Yuan hesitated, then carefully spoke the words she had kept buried deep inside.

Words she hoped would break Henna’s stubbornness, shared by the butler, about not letting Yuan do any menial tasks.

“I want to make everything clean and beautiful with my own hands and show it to the Master. As a gift.”

“Gasp!”

“Do you understand what I mean?”

Henna, who had been about to cheer in excitement, quickly clamped her hands over her mouth and nodded vigorously. Behind her covered hands, her large, sparkling eyes shone at Yuan.

Yuan continued scrubbing energetically, sending Henna back to the main building.

It was partly because she didn’t want to take up Henna’s time, but also to hide her own unexpectedly flushed face.

“This is tougher than I thought.”

Yuan let out a soft sigh as she looked at the twenty or so bricks that had regained their original color.

Stretching her stiff back, she stood up and glanced at the sky, noticing that the sun still showed no sign of setting.

**”Beep. Beep.”**

Suddenly, a sound caught her attention, and she turned toward it, only to see Oliver sitting at a distance, watching her.

“Oliver?”

Oliver twitched his ears once before turning his head as if he no longer had any business with her.

Of course.

There’s no way he would have warmed up to her that quickly.

Even his demeanor and personality reminded her of his master.

Yuan made a mental note to ask Claude about Oliver one day, then followed Oliver’s gaze to the spot where he lay staring intently.

It was the direction of Claude’s bedroom.

A sharp pang tugged at her heart.

Could this dog be waiting every day for his master, who never came to see him?

“Oliver, your master might have a bad temper, but he does like you.”

Oliver’s ears twitched a few times.

His gaze remained fixed on Claude’s bedroom.

“…He wouldn’t keep you around if he didn’t care.”

Yuan whispered the last part.

Feeling her face flush again, she covered her ears with both hands, as if trying to shake off the odd feelings that were creeping up, and noisily crouched back down to continue scrubbing.

With each stroke, the layers of black grime peeled away, revealing the clean surface beneath.

“I wish the sun would set quickly,” she muttered to herself.

She wasn’t sure why she felt that way.

Maybe because when the sun set, Claude would need her again, and for once, she would have a reason to cross the threshold of his room without the excuse of bringing him a meal.