One Day My Sister Died - chapter 40

**Chapter 40. The Hotter the Night, the Sweeter the Lips**

How long has it been since we exchanged such trivial jokes?

Lancelot, excited by the flowing conversation, sat in Claude’s rocking chair.

The now smooth rocking chair gently cradled Lancelot without the previous creaks.

“Gustav! You finally succeeded in the operation! That damn creaking noise has made me more sensitive.”

“It wasn’t me.”

Butler Gustav, carefully cradling the folder Claude handed him while poking his stomach, left with a lingering response.

Lancelot looked at Claude with an expression of surprise.

“You didn’t personally lubricate it by bending over, did you?”

“Why are you so curious about my household matters?”

“Did you forget what I said earlier? If you think about it, it’s Eddie’s house in the future, isn’t it?”

“Not now, though. You don’t have the right to speak.”

Claude rested his chin on the table and let his face bask in the sunlight.

“Uh-oh?”

Lancelot, watching him with a playful face, widened his eyes.

“What did you do?”

“Instead of picking a fight, you should go help with the gardening.”

“Your face!”

“I already know I look disgusting without you saying it.”

“Your face!!”

Lancelot frantically rummaged through his belongings and pulled out a small mirror to show him.

“Your forehead is so clean!”

Though it seemed like the color was fading, seeing his forehead looking like it had been heavily sunburned for the first time made Lancelot shout in excitement.

Claude stared into the mirror for quite a while, as if it didn’t belong to him.

“Is Felice really amazing? I just met the physician, and he said your wife is very attentive to the medicine you take. He mentioned the pain relief effect has improved a lot, right? I heard your physician graduated at the top of his class from the academy. If your wife were to go to the academy, she’d be really successful, wouldn’t she?”

Lancelot excitedly rambled on.

Since childhood, he had teased Claude, believing that although his inner self was garbage, his exterior was a treasure.

After Claude obtained traces that were almost cursed, he tried to play it off as nothing, but the weight on his heart always felt like carrying a lump of lead, so he got more excited.

However, unlike the exhilarated Lancelot, Claude’s expression darkened the more he examined his now quite normal forehead.

“Why? Do you have some kind of worry? You’re always holed up in your room?”

Claude bit his lower lip as if his pride was hurt and turned his gaze toward the window with a deep sigh.

The sun was just about to set.

Lanclot tilted his head, suspicious of Claude suddenly getting anxious alone in the corner.

And then, at that moment:

“How can a woman not feel pain when sharing a bed?”

A combination of words that seemed utterly unlikely to come from Claude’s mouth slipped out.

Sharing a bed. Woman. Pain.

Lancelot closed his mouth and narrowed his soft-looking eyebrows.

“It’s been over a month now, and she’s still in pain? According to the butler, your marital relations were said to be incredibly good?”

“I never said it was about me.”

Claude’s weak rebellion was useless.

Without any hesitation, Lancelot criticized him.

“You have no consideration.”

Crossing his arms and standing with his legs crossed, Lancelot clicked his tongue as if witnessing a bucket leaking from inside out.

“It’s obvious. Even if you didn’t treat your wife poorly, the cold gaze that prevents her from climbing up is not necessarily violent. The damn tongue that acts like it’s never heard or learned a kind word is the problem.”

“Having a mouth that doesn’t help at all.”

“None of it matters.”

With his spirit rising, Lancelot pointed firmly at Claude.

“Consideration is the priority! You have to keep asking if she’s okay. When that perfectly fine body is in motion, you should only move when she says it’s alright, even in the smallest moment. In that moment, think of yourself not as a person of the royal family but as your wife’s servant! Got it?!”

“……”

“Cleanliness is essential. I don’t even have to mention eating, sleeping, and washing, so let’s skip that. Uh-oh? Uh-oh-oh? Yeah, that cold gaze that says not to climb up? Just kill it!”

Lancelot glared with burning eyes, pretending to poke out Claude’s eyes with his index and middle fingers.

“Lastly, the hotter the night, the kinder and sweeter the lips should be.”

Aside from washing, he was capable of nothing else.

He spoke as if unaware that the moment someone touches his body after taking the medicine, it feels like someone has painted over his memories completely.

Claude’s expression grew darker.

“Not going to answer, huh? I suppose your wife wouldn’t expect anything from you.”

“……”

“**If you can’t do well at night, at least try to do well during the day. Isn’t it commendable to make that effort?**”

Lancelot suddenly recalled the tearful Yuan, who had asked if her husband had killed her sister, but for now, she tried to erase that memory.

Eddie still couldn’t shake off his wariness towards Yuan Felice, but Lancelot, who saw the couple more often than Eddie did, had different thoughts.

Claude’s recent positive changes were miraculous.

Looking at Claude’s condition, it was hard to dare to question what intentions Yuan might have had.

Or whether she was still thinking along those lines. There seemed to be no need to ask if Claude had been hurt.

“**I’ve heard the west wing has changed a lot lately.**”

“**?**”

“**Ah, should I not have said that?**”

Lancelot cleverly smiled and slipped out of the room, acting as if she were leaving Claude curious.

—

“**This fellow doesn’t have long to live now.**”

As Yuan erased the black traces from the west wing, Vile, who had been hovering around, said.

Yuan paused her brushing for a moment and looked at Vile, who was making a fuss.

“**Did you study veterinary medicine?**”

“**Not much, just briefly as a minor. Haha, just a little on the side. Veterinary medicine was dozens of times more difficult for me than my major, so I never finished it.**”

Vile was closely observing Oliver, who kept his distance from Yuan.

Yuan also felt her expression harden slightly as she watched Oliver.

Lately, Oliver’s health had been concerning.

The food bowl that Henna had been taking care of in the morning and evening showed only signs of nibbling.

Though he showed quite an interest in the roe deer jerky that Yuan had made at the request of Chef Ralph, he just chewed it a few times before spitting it out repeatedly.

“**I haven’t been watching that dog for long, but usually dogs don’t relieve themselves near the places they stay. This fellow has been having accidents lately, and just lying there lethargically staring towards the main building is really…**”

Yuan thought it was just a temporary phenomenon.

In life, there could be mistakes with bowel movements, and a lack of appetite could happen, and she assumed that Oliver lying there, staring at the main building, was simply because he missed his owner.

Since she had never raised a dog, she couldn’t think otherwise.

Yuan took a moment to glance at the clean bricks before organizing the medicated brushes.

“**I should look for some veterinary books. Maybe I can make some medicine or nourishing food for him.**”

Wiping her hands on the apron she had received from the stable master, Mr. Majareng, Yuan closed the lid on the cleaning potion bottle.

While she was finishing up her work, Vile watched her with a complicated expression.

“**Lady?**”

“**My lady. I’m sorry to say this, but… that dog is already old, and treating him wouldn’t be meaningful.**”

Yuan stood frozen, holding a large glass jar tightly.

“**But isn’t there any way? Just a little bit. Any medicine at all—.**”

“**Here, medicine or medicinal herbs are rare for people, and for an old dog to maintain its life like that would only cause it pain. I learned that it’s wiser to minimize suffering and watch over it.**”

“**That can’t be.**”

Yuan sighed briefly. Vile looked at the old dog with sympathetic eyes, seemingly regretful that she could only say such things.

“**I’ve heard the dosage of the painkiller for the Master has been significantly reduced.**”

“**Yes?**”

The **shimmering black eyes** suddenly hardened.

Vile looked at Yuan, who quickly regained her usual composure, with a startled expression.

“**That’s right. The painkiller we changed the recipe for has a stronger effect—.**”

“**I want to make a painkiller using the remaining ingredients but removing the herbs that dogs shouldn’t eat.**”

“**!**”

“**Can you help me?**”

The **determined black eyes** stared straight at Vile.

—

Yuan began to make a painkiller suitable for dogs in a flurry.

She removed the herbs that dogs shouldn’t eat from the existing recipe and added herbs that had similar effects but were safe for dogs.

While it was necessary to experiment to see if the combination would be poisonous or medicinal, Yuan quickly mixed the medicine into Oliver’s water, focusing only on determining if it was poisonous.

She hadn’t noticed it before, but Oliver was no longer properly drinking water, not just food.

The amount of water she changed every morning was the same even when she checked before sunset.

In the end, Yuan used her abilities to absorb enough pain so that Oliver could eat the medicine, food, and water.

Before long, she gently stroked Oliver’s head, who no longer flinched even when she approached him.

Even though she was there to alleviate his pain, it couldn’t stop Oliver’s body from dying.

She had informed both Henna and the butler about it, but they both expressed their sorrow while instructing her to keep it from Claude.

“**Why?**”

“**The master has a pathological aversion to any life dying in this mansion.**”

“**But Oliver is…**”

“**There are no exceptions. The butler might take Oliver out of the mansion the moment he dies or may take him to the hunting lodge outside before he passes.**”

Henna whispered sadly.

Having already cried a lot, her eyes were swollen.