One Day My Sister Died - Chapter 30

“…..”

“Answer me. Answer! Do these people know about your ability?”

Uncle’s eyes were wild as he caused a commotion.

Yuan glared at him silently before finally pushing him away roughly.

“Am I crazy? Why would I reveal that and bring suffering upon myself? After how I lived in Peliesse.”

Uncle, who had been about to raise his hand, froze like someone about to fall off a cliff, then let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh God…” he suddenly prayed, then quickly surveyed the chaotic surroundings due to the injured Clard and lowered his voice further.

“Don’t reveal your ability and get taken advantage of, you fool! Fulfill your duty for your family!”

Uncle’s mood changed instantly as he spoke as if giving a kind elder’s admonishment.

“Don’t concern yourself. Don’t contact me or come see me again.”

Uncle acted as if he couldn’t hear Yuan’s words and flicked her white cheek with his finger.

“I’ll take my leave for today. When you return home, I’ll listen to whatever you have to say this time.”

As Yuan wiped her cheek with a horrified expression, Uncle smiled good-naturedly, just like he did 10 years ago when he first came to the Peliesse mansion. His thick chin jiggled as it folded into three layers.

“Your aunt and cousins treated you coldly, didn’t they?”

Uncle bid farewell to her as he headed to his carriage after most of the unwelcome group from the imperial palace had left through the iron gates.

“When you return this time, I’ll make sure it never happens again.”

[This is the timeline separator]

“It seems Gerret Peliesse has given his niece some stern words. We should find out what he’s plotting this time.”

Marquis Kompani closed the carriage window with a clatter and frowned in displeasure.

“I’m not sure if we should believe what that cunning merchant says, though.”

“No need to believe him, right?”

Boloniko sprinkled feed for his beloved parrot, Lorenzo, in a palm-sized golden bowl as he spoke.

As Lorenzo opened his beak to say something, Boloniko stroked his colorful feathers reassuringly.

“No need to try and throw it away. Sometimes you have to embrace trash too.”

“Pardon?”

“Boloniko, you’re strange.”

First Prince Boloniko crossed his arms and continued speaking while looking out the window.

“This party was fruitful, Marquis Kompani.”

“Didn’t His Majesty want to see how the Peliesse people would act? We’re returning to the palace earlier than planned without even observing that.”

“It’s not the only day. But I saw something interesting instead.”

Boloniko chuckled as he recalled how his cousin, once called the treasure of Yufris, had transformed into a crow in an instant and writhed in agony.

It was a rare and precious spectacle.

Meanwhile, Marquis Kompani looked at Boloniko’s doll-like face and immediately recalled the horrific accident at the hunting grounds this morning.

It was devastating.

Three arrows meant for hunting magical beasts.

It was devastating enough that even a trained man who exercised daily could die from the shock.

Because the arrows were deliberately shot to avoid vital points, the former prince would be wailing in agony without being able to die.

It was too cruel for someone already living in pain every day.

Marquis Kompani pushed down his uneasy feelings and listened attentively to Boloniko with an impassive face.

“And for some reason I don’t know, His Majesty the Emperor has taken an interest in that Peliesse woman. Right?”

“Well… That’s not really unusual, to be honest.”

It was well known that Emperor Igor didn’t discriminate between the wives of his subjects or common women as long as they wore skirts.

That’s why the Empress’s insides must have turned over a million times.

Even his inability to hide his lust for his nephew’s wife would have made others say “What a scoundrel!” if someone else had done it, but since it was the Emperor, it was merely “disappointing, but not surprising.”

If one had to argue, in the end there was nothing but unpleasant contact, and the sparks only flew to her husband, the former prince.

But Boloniko seems to have seen something different.

“Boloniko’s eyes can’t be deceived.”

“I’m trying to keep digging into Count Peliesse’s side as you ordered. But that man flaps his lips as if he’s about to say anything, then clams up tight when it comes to talking about his family.”

“Hmm?”

Boloniko’s well-groomed eyebrows gently rippled.

“What should we do? If we tortured him-”

“Boloniko. Such inelegant things are dis-gus-ting.”

“Then-”

“There was another daughter in that house.”

Boloniko hummed as he nuzzled cheeks with his parrot Lorenzo.

Marquis Kompani jumped up, shaking his withered fist.

“What? Did that shameless Gerret Peliesse deceive Your Highness again?”

“Not the previous Count and Countess Peliesse, but that fat count’s daughter.”

“Ah.”

“I quite like her eyes.”

First Prince Boloniko, having sufficiently doted on Lorenzo, tucked his hair behind his ear and his eyes sparkled.

His smooth lips, without a hint of paleness, twisted.

“Presumptuous eyes.”

“E-eyes, you say?”

“I like people with such eyes.”

Marquis Kompani wanted to ask if this unlucky prince actually liked anything, but he held his tongue and waited for the next order.

Boloniko responded to that wait with a bright smile.

“She seems more useful than the fat count.”

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Clard’s bedroom was crowded with people at an unusual time.

The spacious room was in chaos, filled with servants lined up holding dry cloths, ropes, warm water, and other items.

Most of the servants were fidgeting nervously at Clard’s screams, while also quietly peeking around as it was their first time entering Clard’s bedroom.

In a corner of the bed, Hille was dealing with Clard, who looked like he was on the verge of death, with a face as if he himself had been shot by an arrow.

“Everyone get out!”

“Your Highness, Your Highness! Let me see! Don’t move! It will get worse!”

“I said get out, all of you!”

At the fierce aura, the servants left after putting down their items, with only Hille remaining.

Yuan, standing at the doorway watching this scene, tightly gripped the hem of her skirt with trembling hands.

Clard’s condition was devastating.

The vicious arrows meant for hunting magical beasts were demons that dug deeper into flesh and bone the more one struggled.

Yuan took a deep breath, recalling a patient who eventually had to have his shoulder amputated after being hit by such an arrow, and her younger self screaming as she took on that patient’s pain.

“What on earth happened?”

A man’s voice, breathing more heavily than Yuan, was heard from behind. Turning around, she saw Lancelot, who seemed to have heard the news and come, his face pale blue.

He was supposed to attend the party from the second day, so he seemed shocked by the sudden commotion.

“What happened? Huh?”

Lancelot urgently asked, apparently unable to enter the room first while the lady was standing at the doorway.

Yuan’s throat seemed to close up as she opened her mouth once without sound, then closed the bedroom door after seeing Hille start to pull out the arrows.

The groans coming from beyond the door were ominous.

“…It’s because of me.”

Yuan explained to the perplexed Lancelot everything that had happened from last night until now.

As the pale man’s face grew even whiter, Yuan asked a question that had been floating in her mind all along.

“Have you ever met Louise Peliesse?”

The reason for Clard’s injury seemed clear.

Both the shame of showing his transformed appearance to others last night and this current accident were pains he wouldn’t have suffered if he had ignored Yuan in the corridor last night.

“Did His Highness kill my elder sister, Louise Peliesse?”

“Why, in this situation, are you saying such things…!”

The only person she could ask now was this man before her.

Someone who couldn’t drive Yuan away, from a family known for their integrity, and with nothing to gain from deceiving her. One of the most trustworthy people in this mansion.

Yuan poured out her voice, boiling with emotion that had reached its limit.

“Please tell me!”

Large eyes filled with tears.

The tip of her slender chin trembled uncontrollably with anxiety.

Surprised by the usually quiet woman’s forceful manner, Lancelot stamped his feet, wanting to look inside the bedroom, but couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Where did you hear such strange rumors? Don’t you know the answer?”

Lancelot slowly looked over Yuan, disheveled with cold sweat and tears, then gritted his teeth and answered.

“Was Clard Yufris that kind of person?”

The tears that had welled up in her round black eyes finally fell onto her white cheeks.

Yuan shook her head, unaware of her own action.

She still doesn’t know much about her husband.

But she knew how much he lived in pain. And how much he didn’t want to share that pain with others.

“Did he seem like such a villain who would cruelly drive out and kill an innocent person, as people say? And his own wife at that?”

Lancelot looked as if someone was choking him.

“If you’ve had even a little such suspicion until now, please let it end with telling me.”

Caramel-colored eyes gazed directly at her.

“If Clard heard such words, he would be hurt more deeply than his physical pain.”

[This is the timeline separator]

“M-my lady?”

“I’ll help a bit.”

Ignoring Hille’s brightening face at the offer of help, Yuan looked down at Clard. His glare was quite fierce as he wheezed, struggling to breathe.

They had managed to remove one arrow somehow, but two more remained.

He had clenched his teeth so hard that veins bulged from his jaw to his collarbone, and his whole body was flushed red.

“You, get out.”

The order to leave was ruthlessly issued to Yuan.

The court physician Hille, desperate enough to welcome even a cat’s paw, gave her a plaintive look.

But Clard’s eyes clearly expressed his refusal without a shred of mercy.

“I said get out. You. If you don’t want to see an ugly sight.”

Hille stiffened at the warning that leaked through gritted teeth along with pain-filled groans.

But Yuan defiantly went around to the other side of the bed and grabbed his hand, which was coated in dried blood.

Clard growled, unable to shake off her touch as it was on the side with the arrow in his shoulder.

“Can’t you hear me telling you to leave?”

“Sir Lancelot.”

Ignoring the refusal, Yuan called out to Lancelot, who was standing at the doorway.

Lancelot immediately understood Yuan’s words and sat down next to Hille, who was trying to remove the arrow from the shoulder, to hold down Clard’s writhing body.

Clard twisted his body.

“What are you doing? I said get out!”

“Your Highness, when it really hurts, if someone holds your hand by your side, the pain is halved.”

“Don’t say such nonsense. Ugh!”

Encouraged, Hille carefully began to pull out the arrow.

As he started to carefully twist and pull out the arrowhead with its strange protrusions, digging into the flesh with a small medical knife, Clard gritted his teeth.

Yuan held his calloused hand tightly, absorbing his pain.

‘A year ago, Clard once took an overdose of sleeping pills, exhausted from the pain. During that period when he was hovering between life and death, your elder sister, Lady Louise Peliesse, came to stay in this house.’

‘Of course, Clard wasn’t even aware of her presence, and she stayed in this house like a dead person for several months before suddenly running away one day. Then we heard news that she had passed away, and when I checked, she was indeed dead. According to the attending physician at the time, there were no signs of homicide.’

‘Did she perhaps have a chronic illness?’