Chapter 19
The Intense, Passionate Night Everyone Knows
It wasn't the time for such thoughts, but Claude Euphris was a beautiful man.
The most beautiful Yuan had ever seen.
An beauty that etched itself into her mind more intensely than when she first saw Louise.
The half of his face that was visible shone thousands of times brighter than those of ordinary people.
'If such a beautiful man were to learn of my ability, he would turn into a demon like my uncle in an instant.'
But if what he wanted wasn't a physical relationship, but a bit of respite for comfortable sleep, she could refrain from using her ability for the time being.
At least it would be a pain she chose herself, and one she could control.
'I don't have to do it every day. If you tormented my sister, you should be punished too.'
Yuan watched her fingers drumming nervously on the table.
They were hands submerged in dark pain, but the joints were thick and long, a pleasing shape.
'It's not for that man. It's for me to live in this house, at least.'
Yuan bit her lip hard, then released it.
She went to the large console and picked up the cleanly wiped teapot.
A faint warmth remained in the teapot.
She took out the herbs she had gathered from the garden earlier and steeped them.
Since they weren't dried or processed, they were unlikely to taste good, but it was all she had for now.
The man, who had been hanging his head, was now staring at her, propped up on his elbows, in a hunched posture.
Yuan deliberately brewed the tea and placed the teacup on the table where he had been drumming his fingers.
The man looked at her instead of the teacup.
"Drink."
"Right, you fed me something yesterday too. I remember that clearly."
The man's voice became a little clearer, as if that memory alone was certain.
Yuan gave a faint, polite smile at the accusatory question.
Of course, she had given him alcohol.
Not to get him drunk, but as a trick to prevent him from noticing her ability.
Just like her uncle, who would drop a few drops of ordinary painkiller into a teacup and call it a Pellieresse elixir.
Yuan, too, wanted to give him the illusion that something that had passed through her hands would bring him rest, so as not to reveal her ability.
"Yes, I am a Pellieresse. I prescribed something appropriate for your symptoms."
"How do I know what this is? You said you'd help me remember what happened yesterday? Does drinking this automatically bring back memories?"
Yuan sat opposite him and looked at him silently.
Two eyes full of distrust alternated between the warm, steaming tea and her.
It was only natural that Klaud would doubt the Consummation Proof to the end.
In reality, nothing had happened that night, and she had gotten up before Klaud, who had slept soundly after catching up on sleep he had missed due to long-term insomnia.
And the dagger lying on the floor and the blood that seemed to be Klaud's. Seeing the desperate traces of his struggle against the pain, Yuan silently soaked a thin blanket with the blood and carefully handed it to the butler, Gustav, who was knocking.
It was a very old-fashioned method, not often used even in ordinary noble families, but the imperial family demanded such Consummation Proof.
Usually, the husband would cut his own thigh to draw blood and prove it.
But there was no need for the butler to know in detail whether their situation that day was old-fashioned or new-fashioned.
Gustav, who had been watching Yuan's disheveled appearance as she prepared for the consummation and Klaud, who was asleep as if dead, from afar, was speechless, perhaps not expecting the consummation to be carried out in this way, and immediately lowered his head as he accepted it.
"I heard that you are always tormented by pain at night."
Yuan said, pushing the teacup closer to Klaud.
"But even though it's getting dark, Your Highness seems quite alright today."
There was no way to make him remember a consummation that hadn't happened.
However, Yuan knew what a person who had passed the limit of pain and forgotten what comfortable sleep was like desired.
She knew it so well that she had recklessly committed this act, showing her true self to this man, with whom she had never had any contact in her life.
The man couldn't hide his wavering eyes.
That was to be expected.
A person wandering in terrible pain would readily stab a knife into the back of their hand if it meant they could be free from pain even for a moment, if they could sleep a little more comfortably...
Klaud's eyebrows began to furrow slightly.
Yuan noticed that it wasn't because she was unpleasant, but a sign that the pain that started at night, the terrible pain she had tasted last night, was about to begin.
"Now that the pain has subsided, your hidden desires are revealed, and you release all that pent-up energy on me, so you sleep well, don't you?"
Yuan ignored her wildly beating heart and chose words that would elicit a reaction from him.
A person who has been in extreme pain wants rest, peace, and deep sleep in that gap, even if it's just a little less painful.
Yuan had dreamed of such nights for the past 10 years, and she had tasted such peaceful nights in this mansion for only a few days.
Once she had tasted it, it was hard to give up.
She was doing this to stay in this mansion and have that little bit of peace.
"It's not poison or a strange medicine. It's a Pellieresse prescription. That's the usefulness I have."
Cleaning. Preparing meals. Other chores. Even the work of the mistress of the house. If he didn't need them, only one thing remained for Yuan.
Klaud Euphris, the fierce and pitiful Deposed Emperor, couldn't hide his agitation in the end.
The sharply raised eyebrows and the distrust in his eyes were inevitable, but his occasionally wavering eyes clearly showed that he was fluctuating between wanting to believe her words and not being able to believe them.
"Try it."
The man's shaking gaze turned to the teacup.
Just watching that slow, persistent gaze made Yuan feel like she was tasting his accumulated pain.
An ordinary person would have scoffed at such a swindler-like quack. But...
"It's not because I trust you, it's to confirm."
If he was someone who wanted to confirm even by doing that, then the story was different.
The man emptied the teacup in one gulp, his face suppressing an unknown emotion.
"Okay, I drank it. What's going to..."
And Yuan wiped the man's moist lips with her fingertips, just like she had done last night.
Not only that, but she got up and went very close to him, cupping his cheek with her hand.
She fearlessly kissed not his clean cheek, but the cheek that had been blackened by pain.
The man's face was frozen, as if he had been slapped on the cheek rather than kissed.
His dazed face was clean and perfect, the opposite of what it had been before she kissed him.
It was because she had absorbed the pain again in a short moment.
At first, he would have been surprised by the absurdity and anger, and then by the unbelievably clear mind.
Yuan suppressed the pain that was about to burst out in her heart and tried to smile.
"Do you remember? My prescription."
"What is this..."
"This medicine and the intimate warmth of a person. That was my prescription, and you've felt the effect now, haven't you?"
So please remember this time.
My prescription, your clear mind now, and the pain that has disappeared.
Yuan whispered quietly.
Now, the man slumped down as if he had been hit hard on the back of the head rather than on the cheek.
Yuan groaned as soon as she took him to the bed and laid him down, just like last night.
She bit her lower lip as if to chew it, putting the blanket in her mouth and pouring out the pain she had absorbed more than last night onto the bed, looking at the face of the man who was sleeping like an angel.
The atmosphere of the mansion was completely different from just a few days ago.
In particular, the maids who had worked in this Black Manor for a long time all glanced at the second floor, where the master's bedroom was, and whispered among themselves.
When the gaunt and frail ninth mistress appeared, they were eager to talk to her more than usual.
"Well, they said they heard a sound yesterday too."
"Our room is near the stairs, so the sound echoed when we went out for a while. A sound like someone pressing down and holding back..."
"Shh-! Pretend you didn't hear things like that!"
"But the fact that such sounds came from the second floor in succession..."
"Shh! Don't make a fuss! Isn't it natural that His Highness has finally met his true partner? What are you going to do in the future if you giggle about things like this every day?"
The young maids stared at Yuan, who was walking around after recovering, with flushed faces, and the older maids couldn't take their friendly eyes off her.
"Madam. Is there anything that makes you uncomfortable?"
"No."
"I was so surprised. Yesterday and today..."
Henna also couldn't hide her flushed face and revealed a face that showed she had a lot of questions to ask her. Yuan only gave a faint smile each time.
Her heart was pounding so hard that she almost died when she lied to Klaud without a care, but she didn't feel comfortable continuing to make secrets from Henna, who was almost exclusively in charge of her in this mansion.
"Today, the master hasn't even looked for the butler and is quietly staying put. I was really surprised just by this. Originally, he would have made a fuss about not letting strangers walk around outside the window..."
Henna was about to continue excitedly, but she stopped herself, realizing what she had said.
Yuan guessed that the strangers Klaud hated were his previous wives.
"He has accepted Madam. Unlike before, there is a mistress in this mansion."
Henna chattered excitedly again.
'Has he really accepted me?'
Yuan stared for a long time at Klaud's sculpted face, which was sleeping peacefully, when the pain stopped and she was pouring it out last night.
And she returned to her room at dawn, when his face began to crumble again.
Even if her side of the bed was empty, Klaud would have noticed that Yuan had stayed by his side.
The teacup he had drunk from was left on the table, and traces of Yuan's black hair, which she had torn out while enduring the pain, and the cold sweat she had shed, would have remained by his side.
Yuan picked a few of the herbs she had gathered yesterday, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and pushed them into her arms. She suddenly looked up at the second floor, where Klaud's bedroom was.
The dark curtains were drawn shut in the window, where there had been no sign of anyone!
Yuan's listless eyes widened slightly.
