Chapter 40
The Hotter the Night, the Sweeter the Lips
How long had it been since they'd exchanged such lighthearted jokes?
Lancelot, delighted by the flowing conversation, settled into Klaud's rocking chair.
The rocking chair, no longer creaking, gently accommodated Lancelot.
"Gustav! You've finally succeeded in your mission! That damned creaking was making me even more irritable."
"It wasn't me."
The butler, Gustav, carefully tucked the file Klaud had poked him with into his arms as he left, leaving a lingering reply.
Lancelot glanced at Klaud with a surprised expression.
"There's no way you'd stoop to oiling it yourself."
"Why are you so curious about my household affairs?"
"Did you already forget what I said earlier? Technically, this is going to be Yuan's house someday, right?"
"Not yet. You have no right to say that either."
Klaud rested his chin on the table, basking his face in the sunlight.
"Uh-oh?"
Lancelot, who had been watching him with an amused expression, widened his eyes.
"What did you do?"
"Instead of picking a fight, why don't you go outside and help with the gardening?"
"Your face!"
"I know it's hideous without you having to say it."
"No, your face!"
Lancelot frantically rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a hand mirror, holding it up for him.
"Your forehead is so clear!"
He had noticed the color fading, but seeing his forehead looking like it had been strongly tanned by the sun was a first, and Lancelot exclaimed in excitement.
Klaud stared into the mirror for a long time, as if it wasn't his own face.
"Pellieresse is amazing, isn't she? I just came from seeing the doctor, and he said your wife is very attentive to the medicine you're taking. The Painkiller is much more effective, he said! I heard the doctor graduated at the top of his class at the academy, and if she's researching alongside someone like that, your wife would really cause a stir if she went to the academy properly, huh?"
Lancelot chattered excitedly.
Since childhood, he had joked that Klaud's inner self was trash, but his outward appearance was a treasure.
After Klaud acquired the curse-like mark, he tried to joke about it as if it were nothing, but his heart always felt heavy, as if weighed down by a lead weight, which made him even more excited now.
But unlike the excited Lancelot, Klaud's expression darkened as he examined his forehead, which had become quite normal.
"What's wrong? Is something bothering you? Considering you're always cooped up in your room?"
Klaud bit his lower lip as if his pride had been hurt, then turned his gaze to the window with a deep sigh.
The sun was about to set.
Lancelot tilted his head, suspicious of Klaud's sudden, unnecessary anxiety while alone in his room.
And then.
"What should I do to keep a woman from hurting during intimacy?"
Words that seemed impossible to come from Klaud's mouth flowed out.
Intimacy. Woman. Pain.
Regaining his composure, Lancelot narrowed his smooth eyebrows.
"Now? It's been over a month, and she's still in pain? The butler said your marital relations are unbelievably good?"
"I never said it was about me."
Klaud's weak resistance was useless.
Lancelot rebuked him without a moment's hesitation.
"You have no consideration."
With his arms crossed tightly and standing with one leg propped, Lancelot clicked his tongue like someone who had witnessed a leak that had started inside the house now spreading outside.
"It's obvious without even looking. You wouldn't openly mistreat your wife, but coercion isn't just about violence. It's that cold gaze that prevents her from rising up. That damned tongue that acts like it's never heard or learned a kind word is the problem."
"You're not helping, just running your mouth."
"None of that matters."
Lancelot, gaining momentum, pointed directly at Klaud.
"Consideration is the top priority! You have to keep asking if she's in pain. And when you move that perfectly healthy body, you have to move only when she says it's okay, even in the smallest moments. For that moment, think of yourself not as a member of the imperial family, but as your wife's servant in everything! Huh?!"
"……."
"A clean body is essential. I don't even need to mention that since all you do is eat, sleep, and wash. Uh-oh? Uh-oh? Yes, kill that merciless look that prevents her from rising up!"
Lancelot's eyes blazed as he pretended to pluck out Klaud's eyes with his index and middle fingers.
"Lastly, the hotter the night, the lips must be tender and sweet."
Other than washing, there was nothing he could do.
He was saying that because he didn't know that the moment his body touched her, it was as if someone had painted over his memories in black.
Klaud's face darkened further.
"Aren't you going to answer, huh? Well, I don't know if your wife even expects that from you."
"……."
"If you're not confident in being good to her at night, then be good to her during the day. Don't you feel grateful for her efforts?"
Lancelot suddenly remembered Yuan, who had asked if her husband had killed her sister while shedding tears, but he tried to erase it from his memory for now.
Eddie still hadn't let go of his wariness of Yuan Pellieresse, but Lancelot, who saw the couple more often than Eddie, had a different opinion.
Klaud's recent positive changes were a miracle.
Looking at Klaud's condition, there was no need to ask Yuan if she had any ulterior motives, or if she still had such thoughts, or if she had hurt Klaud.
"The West Annex has been quite different lately."
"?"
"Ah, should I not say that?"
Lancelot smiled cleverly and slipped out of the room like smoke, leaving Klaud curious.
"This dog doesn't have much time left either."
Hille, who had been circling around while Yuan erased the black marks in the West Annex, said.
Yuan stopped brushing for a moment and stared at Hille, who was making "Ojjojjo-" sounds to attract Oliver's attention.
"Did you study veterinary medicine too?"
"Not much. Just a minor. Haha, well, it's all secondhand knowledge. Veterinary medicine was dozens of times harder for me than other majors, so I didn't finish it."
Hille watched Oliver quite closely, as he didn't come near Yuan when she was around.
Yuan also frowned slightly as she looked at Oliver.
Oliver's health had been concerning lately.
The food bowl that Henna prepared every morning and evening was barely touched.
He had shown some interest in the venison jerky that Yuan had asked Chef Ralph to make, but even then, he would chew it a few times and then spit it out.
"I haven't seen this dog for long, but usually dogs don't defecate near the spaces they stay in, but this one has been having accidents lately. And the way he's lying there listlessly, just looking towards the Mansion..."
Yuan had thought it was just a temporary phenomenon.
She thought that accidents could happen, that he might not have an appetite, and that Oliver was looking towards the Mansion and lying down listlessly because he missed his owner.
She had never raised a dog before, so she couldn't help but think that way.
Yuan briefly examined the cleaned bricks and then organized the brushes with the medicine on them.
"I should look up some veterinary medicine books. I should make him some medicine or tonic."
Yuan roughly wiped her hands on the apron she had gotten from stableman Mazarin and closed the lid of the Cleaning Potion bottle.
While she finished her work, Hille watched her with a complicated expression.
"Hille?"
"Madam. I'm sorry to say this, but... that dog is already old, so there's no point in trying to fix him."
Yuan froze, clutching the large glass bottle tightly.
"Is there no way? Even a little? Any medicine-"
"Medicines and herbs are precious even for people here, and keeping an old dog alive like that would be painful for him. I've learned that it's wise to minimize his pain as much as possible and watch over him."
"I can't do that."
Yuan sighed briefly. Hille also looked at the old dog with a sympathetic gaze, saddened that she could only say such things.
"I heard that His Highness's Painkiller dosage has been reduced a lot."
"Yes?"
The wavering black eyes suddenly hardened.
Hille looked at Yuan, who quickly regained her composure, with a flustered expression.
"Yes. The Painkiller we made together is more effective-"
"I want to take the remaining Painkiller ingredients and make a Painkiller for the dog, excluding only the herbs that dogs shouldn't eat."
"!"
"Can you help me?"
Black eyes that seemed to have made a decision stared straight at Hille.
Yuan frantically started making a Painkiller that the dog could eat.
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.
A process of experimenting to see if they would become poisonous or medicinal when combined was necessary, but Yuan only judged whether they were poisonous and quickly mixed the medicine into Oliver's water.
She hadn't noticed because she hadn't looked closely, but Oliver was now not only not eating, but also not drinking water properly.
The amount of water she changed every morning remained the same even when she checked before sunset.
In the end, Yuan used her ability to absorb enough of Oliver's pain so that he could eat medicine, food, and water.
Yuan gently stroked Oliver's head, who no longer avoided her when she approached.
Even if she relieved his pain while being by his side like this, she couldn't stop Oliver's body from dying.
She informed Henna and the butler, but they were saddened and told her not to let Klaud know.
"Why?"
"His Lordship hates any living thing dying in this Mansion."
"But Oliver is..."
"There were no exceptions. Perhaps the butler will take Oliver out of the Mansion as soon as he dies, or take him to the hunting lodge outside the Mansion before he dies."
Henna whispered sadly.
Henna's eyes, which had already been swollen from crying, were puffy.
