“That can’t be. She’s my only beloved younger sister. I just wanted to pat her head because she’s cute.”

At those words, Ian lifted the corners of his mouth as if sneering and let go of his hand.

“I apologize for the misunderstanding. But it doesn’t seem right to pat the head of a proper young lady, even if she’s your sister.”

“…… I’ll be careful in front of others in the future. I’m late with my greeting, but… It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Oh my, how intense. The temperature seemed to drop amidst the psychological warfare between these grown men. I unconsciously rubbed my arms.

“Are you cold?”

“Are you cold?”

The two of them asked me simultaneously. How burdensome.

“I’m not cold. Please, continue your conversation.”

At my words, both of them made embarrassed expressions.

“There’s nothing more to discuss. It’s too late, let’s hurry back. Ileana must be very worried.”

At the mention of Ileana, I immediately agreed. Although I had sent word that I’d be late, if she had been waiting until this hour, her worry must have been immense.

Ian’s face showed great dissatisfaction and regret, but it really was late and I was sleepy, so I followed Shuri out.

As we got into the carriage, Shuri asked.

“Why on earth was His Highness the Crown Prince there?”

“I… I mean, he’s been helping me a lot with my work as a doctor.”

“I really don’t understand. I heard from Ileana that you suddenly took the healer’s exam and became a doctor at the imperial palace due to opposition from other healers…”

He looked at me with a complicated expression.

Claire naturally wouldn’t have been interested in pharmacy work before, and wouldn’t have had knowledge about medicinal herbs.

For his sister to suddenly become a palace doctor. As someone who knew his sister well, he couldn’t help but be bewildered. No matter what I said, I wouldn’t be able to make him understand.

“So were you surprised?”

“A little… But I thought it could happen. You’ve always surprised me in unexpected ways.”

He looked at me with an affectionate face. The feeling of being a sister loved by her brother isn’t bad, but it’s very awkward and unfamiliar.

“But why were you so hostile towards His Highness the Crown Prince earlier? Are you not close?”

“There’s no need to be close or not.”

“Then why earlier…”

“What brother wouldn’t be wary of a man next to his little sister at this late hour?”

“Not just any man, but His Highness the Crown Prince…”

“It’s all the same to me as a brother. Even if he is the Crown Prince…”

“It’s good to be cautious, but you went too far earlier.”

“You’re the one who went too far. No matter how important the work is, does it make sense not to come home until this hour?”

“I’m sorry. But it really was important work. A person’s life was at stake.”

“Then next time something like this happens, just let me know early. I’ll come pick you up.”

“I’m not a child… I can find my way home just fine.”

“In my eyes, you’ll always be a child. I really worry, it’s like leaving you by the riverside.”

I grumbled to Ian about treating me like a child, but I couldn’t say anything to Shuri. As the person who became Claire’s guardian in place of her parents, his sister would always look small and young in his eyes.

I thought I’d be scolded more for coming home late, but Shuri didn’t scold me much. It seemed he couldn’t get too angry for fear that I, still feeling awkward, might come to dislike him.

I felt sorry, but it was a good thing for me. Not because I disliked being scolded, but because even if I was scolded, I would likely repeat the same action if there was a patient to see.

The next day, Ian still came to pick me up in a carriage. Shuri offered to take me when he went to work, asking me to go together, but I declined. It was hard to see his disappointed face, but it couldn’t be helped.

I didn’t want to disappoint Ian by going to work with Shuri either. I just hoped that Shuri would naturally accept that I was going to work with Ian, as if it were no big deal.

“Did you sleep?”

“Maybe 2 hours… You didn’t sleep much either, right? You were with me until late last night.”

“I’m used to lack of sleep, but Jane is someone who needs a full 8 hours.”

As Ian said, I had a habit of getting 8 hours of sleep every day. Otherwise, I’d be in a daze all day and couldn’t function.

Being in a profession related to life, I needed to be careful, and to avoid mistakes due to a foggy mind, I made sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep no matter what.

Of course, since using Claire’s body, I felt more tired and my sleep time increased. Whether it was because the body hadn’t fully recovered yet, or if Claire had an inherently weak constitution, it seemed she needed not 8 but 10 hours of sleep.

But now, meeting the average sleep time wasn’t the issue. If I had slept a few more hours, the gravedigger’s daughter might never have woken up.

“Now that my body has changed, wouldn’t it be different?”

“Maybe.”

“More importantly, I’ll apologize on behalf of Shuri for yesterday. I think his concern for Claire as a brother got the better of him.”

“You’re calling him Shuri now instead of Count McCain?”

Ileana seemed more uncomfortable with me calling him by his familiar name than with Shuri’s rudeness towards her yesterday.

“I should get used to calling him by name now. We’re family, so I can’t keep drawing lines forever. Anyway, I’ll apologize on Shuri’s behalf, so please accept it.”

Ileana, with a face still not appeased, or rather even more upset, said:

“I’m more upset and hurt by the fact that Jane is apologizing on behalf of Count McCain than by his actions.”

I didn’t mind his sulking much and said:

“Then let’s consider the apology not made.”

“That’s really hurtful…”

“Don’t be like that. He’s Claire’s brother after all. Whether I like it or not, I’ve become part of the McCain family now. Are you going to give this body back to me now?”

At my words, Ian sighed deeply and said:

“I know. That’s why I didn’t say much despite his disrespectful attitude yesterday.”

I swallowed the words ‘While cursing with your eyes…’ and praised him for handling it well.

“And I thought about it yesterday, we need to check those records again, focusing on the flowers.”

“Flowers?”

“When I looked up the data on the nobles who died at that time, there was really all sorts of information. What kind of coffin was used, who attended the funeral, even what flowers decorated the inside of the coffin. I didn’t even know they put flowers in coffins…”

“That’s right. Nobles decorate coffins with flowers. They believe that for the deceased to go to a good place, even the last place where their body rests should be beautiful. So they fill the coffin containing the body with fresh flowers as part of noble funeral culture. Even now, wealthy nobles often hold funerals in this way.”

“So I thought, depending on what components are in the flowers inside the coffin, the properties of the gravedigger’s flower might have changed, so shouldn’t we check those flowers?”

“That’s quite a plausible theory.”

“…”

It was just a hypothesis, not finding the cause of why the gravedigger’s daughter couldn’t wake up. Among the flowers in the coffins buried near where she had brewed and drunk the gravedigger’s flower, there were no poisonous plants. It was frustratingly futile.

Of course, there were flowers that included components that could cause indigestion or skin rashes if eaten, but no flowers that would prevent one from waking up and turn the inside of the mouth black.

“What a shame. It seemed like a pretty good idea.”

“Indeed.”

“The gravedigger’s flower is definitely bothering me… The gravedigger’s flower…”

I recited the characteristics of the gravedigger’s flower once more.

“Luminescence and characteristic absorption…”

My mind felt ticklish. Something seemed about to surface, but not quite. It really felt like I had left a part of my memory somewhere.

“I think I need to look into the gravedigger’s flower more. I feel like I’m missing something about its characteristics.”

Of course, the cause of her condition might not be the gravedigger’s flower but some other factor.

If grandfather’s herb notebook had survived, we could have easily found it. But it was okay even without it. A library of this size would surely have many books related to herbology.

“Let’s go to the section with plant-related books.”

“Finding the information we want among all those books will be a task in itself.”

“Can’t be helped. We’ll just have to search as hard as we can.”

Worrying whether she could hold on until we found that information, we went to the botany section, but contrary to our concerns, the bookshelves were completely empty.

“Has there been a thief here?”

The large bookshelf had books placed sparsely. In contrast to other sections where bookshelves were packed tightly with books, the botany section was so empty that books couldn’t be stood upright and were laid down intermittently.

“Indeed. Is someone stealing them? Since there aren’t many people visiting the library, it seems they’ve been taking items away while avoiding attention…”