I hurriedly sat Julion down and positioned myself in front of him. A long, deep wound crossed his forearm.
“I need to stitch this up.”
I immediately retrieved the suturing tools I always carried with me. We couldn’t see what he was attacked with, nor could we discern it, but one thing was certain: If it weren’t for Julion, the wound would have been on my neck, not his arm.
‘I would have been dead.’
What kind of father could aim such an attack at his daughter’s life? I hadn’t initially thought of him as a father, but now, in the face of this, I feel conflicted.
So, I ended up scolding Julion more vehemently, looking him straight in the eyes.
“Seriously, why do you keep getting hurt?”
“Does it bother you?”
“Well, of course. It’s because of me that this happened.”
“Then I’d appreciate it if you took responsibility.”
“What are you talking about…….”
As I applied anesthesia and glanced at Julion, he grinned mischievously.
Here I was, burning inside, yet the one injured was smiling.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“I like it when you tend to my wounds. I don’t feel the pain as much then.”
“…Well, with anesthesia applied, of course it won’t hurt.”
Feeling irritated, I inserted the needle without mercy. At that moment, Julion flinched slightly, furrowing his brow.
“I felt a bit… something just now.”
“You said it didn’t hurt, so I did it comfortably.”
“It doesn’t hurt, but I felt something.”
“That means it hurts, doesn’t it?”
As I stitched up each wound meticulously, I smiled warmly.
When our eyes met, Julion seemed about to say something else but just smiled along with me.
“It’s probably fine. If you say so, then it must be.”
Seeing Julion grin like a fool, agreeing with everything I said, made everything seem futile. He continued to chuckle while gazing at me intently.
“Stop laughing; it’s distracting.”
“Oh, sorry. Seeing you stitch me up reminded me of the past, so I couldn’t help but laugh.”
“The past?”
Was he referring to when I stitched him up because of Roxis?
That hardly qualifies as the past.
I shook my head, but there was no further response from Julion. Taking advantage of the quiet moment, I quickly finished the stitches.
“Alright, all done. Just make sure you stay out of the water for a while, and… now that we’ve taken care of the duke, go back to the palace, please.”
“Are we going to repeat the same conversation again?”
“It’s not that… Think about it. Who would welcome me as a crown princess after Duke Cassian escaped from prison and hurt you?”
Julion didn’t immediately respond. He seemed to ponder my words carefully.
But soon, an unexpected proposal came out of his mouth.
“If that’s the case, shall we make a bet?”
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
After finishing Julion’s treatment and roughly determining the direction for making the medicine by investigating the lake water, I returned to the village, intending to mass-produce the remedy.
However, I immediately halted all plans upon hearing Zenid’s trembling report.
“Miss, Lady Shahadna is not waking up……!”
Zenid’s eyes were already red, as if she had already shed tears once.
Anticipating to some extent what had happened, I rushed straight to where Mother was.
“Any other symptoms?”
Mother was lying peacefully on the bed.
Zenid hesitated, not answering, then opened her mouth as I took my mother’s hand and began to check her condition.
“It’s… the same as back then.”
When my mother passed away. Or rather, when I thought she had passed away.
Zenid was referring to that day. The day after, she was pronounced dead, with no breathing and no pulse.
‘She couldn’t really be dead.’
Haven’t I experienced this before? The symptoms were exactly the same as with the Emperor.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady my trembling hands.
‘It seems like Mordheim’s poison has regained control over Mother. Since she wasn’t fully cured and awakened in Cassian…’
Because Mother was forced to awaken through unconventional means, the Mordheim poison continued to linger in her body.
Its effects caused Mother to fall back asleep.
Considering that another incident like this might occur as her sleep prolonged, I wasted no time in unpacking my medical bag.
“The treatment I administered to His Majesty… I have no choice but to try it.”
Strictly speaking, Mother’s condition was slightly different from the Emperor’s. However, if I missed this opportunity, I didn’t know how the poison would affect her again. It was possible that she would die like this forever.
Rather than sitting idly by, it was better to do the best I could.
“Zenid, please assist.”
“Yes, Miss!”
And so I began my mother’s treatment.
It was a treatment I couldn’t perform ten years ago, when I was too young.
‘Mother, please…….’
I pleaded as I looked at her sleeping face.
I wished that her eyelids would open so I could see her beautiful eyes again.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
“Doctor, eat this!”
I looked at the bread that Meiran had offered me. It was freshly baked, and it looked warm and appetizing.
There was no trace of the darkness that had clouded Meiran’s face before. Seeing Meiran’s vastly different appearance from before, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Thank you. Shall we share?”
I accepted the bread and instinctively tried to split it in half. But Meiran intervened, shaking her head.
“No! I already ate with Mom, so I’m full.”
She chuckled, patting her slightly bulging belly. It was a truly satisfied smile.
“It’s all thanks to you, Doctor. Thank you!”
Seeing Meiran bow deeply and express her gratitude with enthusiasm, I couldn’t help but smile as well.
It always feels good to be thanked like this. It makes me feel like all my hard work is worth it, and my worries seem to melt away.
I gently ruffled Meiran’s hair and said,
“Okay, since I’ll be going elsewhere soon, you need to take good care of Mom, alright?”
“Yes, of course, and I’ll make sure she takes all the medicine you gave her.”
With both hands clenched into fists, Meiran nodded vigorously.
‘I’m glad I was able to make the medicine successful.’
After finishing my mother’s treatment, I proceeded to make medicine for the infectious disease while waiting for her to wake up.
I had already planned out the mixture to a certain extent with Mother, and based on the results of my investigation at Rambletrow’s lake, I made some adjustments and quickly completed the solution.
The result was successful.
Over the next few days, I distributed the medicine throughout Mormic.
Even the palace officials who were dispatched from other villages were affected by the disease, indicating they had also consumed the contaminated water.
Fortunately, we were able to administer the medicine in time, preventing a catastrophe where palace officials would have died in droves.
“Rohiriel.”
While I was talking with Meiran, Julion knocked on the open door as he entered.
With bandages wrapped around his arms, he leaned against the wall and looked at me.
“How did it go?”
“He said he’d send word to the palace. I also sent ten boxes of medicine to the palace.”
Since Julion arrived in Mormic, the area was under lockdown, so we couldn’t deliver medicine to other regions.
Now that most patients in Mormic were recovering, Julion went to meet the guards at the entrance.
Fortunately, the guards recognized him.
We sent out as much medicine as possible, intending to supply the territories on the way to the palace.
“You also instructed them to leave some bottles for the palace officials, right?”
“Of course. I also made sure to emphasize that they should deliver the instructions on the mixture you created.”
“Very well, then, while we wait for the lockdown to be lifted, I’ll make another trip to Rambletrow lake.”
“You mean the lake?”
“Yes. Can you come with me?”
The Duke of Cassian took his last breath by that lake. True to his tenacious nature, he kept gasping for breath even while I was stitching Julion’s wounds, but after a little while, his vital signs disappeared.
Concerned about possible contamination, we cremated the duke’s body on the spot.
Unfortunately, due to the contaminated lake water, we had no choice but to seal off the area and leave it untouched. However, the medicine we had just completed could purify the water.
“It shouldn’t be difficult. Shall we go now?”
Julion nodded and held out his hand to me.
As I placed my hand on top of his, he smiled softly.
His warm and sincere gaze made me awkwardly cough and look into the distance.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
The lifting of the Mormic lockdown occurred precisely one week after the purification of the Rambletrow’s lake.
I had intended to leave Mormic as quietly as possible, but as we reached the entrance to the territory, somehow, the residents had gathered in large numbers.
They all bowed repeatedly as they looked at me.
Words of gratitude poured in from all directions, and I was kept busy responding.
“Doctor, thank you so much.”
“Thanks to you, our Sophie survived. How can we ever repay this favor?”
“Our father has woken up too. Now he’s back to work in the fields. Thank you so much, Doctor.”
“Doctor, whenever you come to Mormic, your stay at the inn is on us! Please come back again!”
“Doctor, please visit our restaurant!”
“Beautiful doctor, please come back!”
Have I ever received so many expressions of gratitude in my life?
As I looked at the familiar faces of the villagers, my heart swelled with emotion.
At that moment, I remembered Julion’s proposal back in Rambletrow.
