35. It’s Better to Sleep with Your Highness

2023.11.04.

The sound of something colliding was clearly Clade Euphris knocking hard on the window.

A faint smile spread across Yuan Pelliese’s lips.

“I’m here—!”

Yuan softly bounced and raised her voice slightly.

“I’ll come up when the sun sets!”

The curtain didn’t even tremble.

***

While diligently trimming the cleaning brush, time had quietly slipped by.

Yuan washed her entire sweat-drenched body clean, put on a loose dress as her nightwear, and draped a nightgown over it before heading to Clade Euphris’s bedroom.

Fortunately, even after sunset, he remained in nearly the same state as during the day.

Seated on the creaking rocking chair, head tilted back, eyes closed.

This was the image that always came to mind when she thought of Clade Euphris in his bedroom, and for some reason, it made her smile.

“They said you walked a lot in the bedroom today.”

Yuan approached the silent Clade Euphris.

Having just finished her bath, the soft fragrance seeping through her nightgown gently tickled Clade Euphris’s nose.

“You must’ve been very bored without me, right?”

“…Why would I be bored?”

“You’re always watching me. Standing right here like this.”

Yuan leaned against the window frame and gave him a bright smile.

Only then did Clade Euphris slowly open his eyes and look at her.

His gaze, which had lingered at the edge of her gentle smile, immediately shifted away.

“I’m watching you. To make sure you don’t do anything foolish and cause another accident.”

Yuan remained silent, instead staring at his exposed nape.

A dark, writhing pain, like a snake swimming through mud, was preparing to surge toward his clean skin.

“What did you talk about with your physician?”

“Huh?”

“…What did you talk about with that glasses-wearing man?”

Clade Euphris’s sudden question shattered the strange silence, catching her off guard.

Yuan blinked, dazed, her eyes still fixed on the pain about to pounce.

Another brief silence fell, and Clade Euphris abruptly turned his head to look at her.

His eyes, demanding an answer, stared straight at her.

“It’s a secret.”

“What?”

His previously stiff face dramatically crumpled.

Yuan fidgeted with her hands but stood her ground firmly.

“It’s a secret. I haven’t told Hena or the butler either.”

“The maid and the butler?”

Clade Euphris’s face darkened, and he suddenly stood up from the creaking rocking chair.

His face briefly twisted in pain, likely from the still-tender arrow wounds.

Yuan gasped and instinctively rushed to support him.

Instantly, Clade Euphris’s body stiffened.

Hardly had she placed her hands on his back when she was abruptly pushed away.

It wasn’t a rough movement, but clearly a gesture of rejection.

Yuan blinked in surprise.

Clade Euphris himself seemed flustered, hesitating for a moment before crossing his arms.

“You’re making secrets with your physician? Who do you think you are?”

“It’s nothing serious.”

“Nothing serious? Then why didn’t you tell the maid, the butler, or even your… master?”

It was obvious Clade Euphris was deeply unsettled.

Especially by the implication that if she kept secrets from the maid and butler, she might also keep them from him.

Yuan wanted to retort that she was doing all this to clean the west wing and show it to him! But if he said “Don’t do pointless things,” she felt she might burst into tears, so she pressed her lips tightly shut.

She wanted to show him the already spotless wing—something he couldn’t possibly refuse.

“It really is nothing serious.”

“Then tell me. Tell your master. I’ll decide for myself whether it’s trivial or not.”

Yuan momentarily lost her words, mouth slightly agape at Clade Euphris’s stubbornness.

But Clade Euphris remained unyielding, his expression completely unchanged.

He was being unreasonably serious.

“Are you… jealous?”

“Jealous?”

Clade Euphris let out a short laugh, and Yuan Pelliese’s face flushed red.

Even she thought it was a ridiculous question.

“Jeal. ou. sy?”

“Then… then why—”

“You keep boasting about how I’m your family, so let me give you one piece of advice.”

Clade Euphris stepped closer, each word carefully enunciated.

Though slightly limping, the distance between them closed in an instant.

“Never trust anyone sent from the Imperial Palace.”

Yuan’s body was swallowed by his massive shadow.

Even beneath the nightgown he wore, she could smell his scent.

The odor of painkillers he chewed every day. The faint trace of cigar he occasionally smoked. And the clean, soapy fragrance unique to someone who had just bathed.

Yuan lifted trembling eyes to look up at him, now standing so close.

“There’s no one trustworthy—doctor, servant, or anyone—within this estate.”

But the staff here, though clumsy and blunt, are all kind.

They worry whether I might leave one day, yet rush to give me more whenever I show even a little sign of adapting.

They fear you, yet at the same time, they pity you.

Yuan kept countless words swirling inside her mouth, continuing to look up at the slightly angered Clade Euphris.

The writhing pain creeping upward was growing ominous. Within minutes, he would be swallowed by agony.

“Understand? Don’t let your heart get involved.”

“…Are you doing this because you’re worried about me?”

Yuan asked in a slightly choked voice.

Clade Euphris said nothing, only looking down at her standing so close.

Neither confirming nor denying.

“Or… don’t you trust me either?”

Yuan stared intently at Clade Euphris’s silent lips, then gave a bitter smile and stepped out of his shadow to hurriedly prepare the medicinal tea.

Turning to Clade Euphris, who still stood frozen in the same posture that had held her captive, Yuan called weakly.

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

Slowly turning around, he looked at both the steaming medicinal tea and her.

As the pain gradually crept across his clean skin and his eyes began to redden, Clade Euphris clenched his teeth and endured, a low voice finally escaping his lips.

“Take the medicine.”

Yuan nodded.

“Yes. You’re in pain, aren’t you?”

Clade Euphris stared at her face for a long moment, then let out a brief, hollow laugh. He stepped forward, picked up the teacup, and downed the contents in one gulp.

The loud clatter of the cup being set down sharply split the silence.

Clade Euphris looked down at her expressionlessly.

“In this situation, you still want to sleep with me? With someone who claims not to worry about you or trust you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Why?

After so many peaceful nights, why suddenly insist on sleeping together?

Yuan fell silent for a moment before answering.

“I hate seeing Your Highness in pain.”

“Why?”

Why did he want to know the reason? When he showed no interest in her?

Now, even turning away from him was impossible—Yuan Pelliese herself couldn’t understand her own heart.

Was it guilt for having once suspected he might have made her sister unhappy?

Was it regret toward the man who wouldn’t have had to endure such a pitiful state before the Emperor if she hadn’t failed the virginity test?

Was it gratitude for giving her a place to stay, sparing her from being dragged to the Pelliese estate? Or perhaps because they might continue living together?

How could she possibly explain these complicated feelings?

Yuan suddenly grew anxious, seeing the pain surging up to Clade Euphris’s jawline.

“I just hate it. What wife enjoys seeing her husband suffer?”

Clade Euphris’s expression subtly twisted.

There was nothing more she could say. Let him misunderstand all he wanted—anything was better than watching him wander in terrible agony.

Yuan, heart unknowingly fluttering, abruptly stood up and stepped in front of him.

Then she firmly cupped both his cheeks as he looked down at her with bloodshot eyes.

His hot breath, scattered across her knuckles, abruptly stopped.

“I like sleeping with Your Highness. So please, don’t ask for reasons anymore.”

On tiptoe, Yuan Pelliese’s lips gently brushed against his jawline.

Over her lowered lashes, his trembling gaze settled softly.

***

A long glass bottle was filled with a transparent green liquid.

It was a cleaning solution Yuan Pelliese had made following Hire Hatarun’s advice. Hire Hatarun was eager to try it and kept urging Yuan.

“If this really cleans everything perfectly, then my lady will truly become wealthy.”

“That’s an exaggeration…”

“This kind of practical household solution is rare. If you put it on the market, it’ll sell like wildfire! People would only need to scrub five times instead of twenty—how could anyone dislike that? Nobles might not care whether they scrub twenty times or five, but commoners—”

Hire Hatarun, caught up in his passionate speech, suddenly stopped and cautiously checked Yuan’s expression.

Yuan was still the noble lady of a count’s family, and currently the wife of a fallen imperial, wasn’t she? He had grown too familiar and made a grave mistake.

“I’m sorry, my lady.”

“It’s fine. Indeed… you’re right. Nobles would rather spend money on elixirs for immortality than on household aids like this.”

Hire Hatarun nodded fervently, his deep respect for the Pelliese family renewed in his heart.

After that, everything moved swiftly.

Yuan took the brush handmade by stableman Mazaring and headed to the problematic west wing.

Since Hire Hatarun had gone up to Clade Euphris’s bedroom for his morning examination, this time she was accompanied by Hena.

Hena, holding the glass bottle of cleaning solution, looked dazed and seemed greatly startled upon arriving at the entrance of the west wing.

“My lady? Why the west wing…?”

“I thought I’d test the solution here. And as a pastime, it’d be nice to clean this place up a bit.”

“H-Here?”

“Yes. I heard this is where Your Highness spent his childhood. Since he never goes outside, maybe cleaning this place up would encourage him to come out.”

Hena flinched at Yuan’s words, slowly looking up at the small cottage-sized wing.

Yuan noticed Hena’s expression and soon followed the faint whimpering sounds with her eyes.

A dog with patchy fur was wagging its tail from a distance. It looked like a wolf separated from its pack.