I’m the Dying Emperor’s Doctor

Episode 83

After parting ways with Lucy, Serena quietly gathered her thoughts. Somehow, they had ended up exchanging letters and promising to meet and spend time together.

‘She’s more sociable than I thought.’

Still dazed by Lucy’s lively energy, Serena trudged back to her laboratory.

The laboratory was located right next to her room. Serena carefully examined the Observational Record of a Troublesome Patient that she had been keeping.

The early records were filled with countless curses about Azaid, but things had changed recently.

If Azaid continued behaving as he had been lately, Serena felt she could sleep soundly with both legs stretched out.

As she meticulously reviewed his health chart, Serena muttered in a voice filled with doubt.

“It’s definitely different from before.”

Compared to the severe seizures she remembered from her previous life, the intervals between episodes had grown significantly longer.

While this was a positive change, she felt slightly hollow, wondering if it could really be this simple.

‘Could it be because I started using my internal mana for treatment?’

Serena had compared Azaid’s internal mana with her own by extracting samples from both.

The results showed that their mana had incredibly similar properties—to the point where one could almost believe they were identical. It was a bit puzzling.

Regardless, thanks to this unusual constitution, Serena’s internal mana seemed to have a beneficial effect on Azaid.

It wasn’t exactly a standard treatment method, so Serena and Azaid were proceeding cautiously together.

If the other members of the imperial palace found out, it could cause a major scandal, so they were conducting everything in strict secrecy.

At that moment, a telegram arrived from the institution tasked with analyzing the ingredients of Yungsa’s mana supplement. It had taken this long because Serena had requested an expert institution for accuracy.

At the sound of the notification, Serena approached the telegraph receiver. She picked up the printed paper and examined its contents.

[…Excerpt…

Result: No toxic substances detected. Harmless to humans.]

“Huh? That doesn’t make sense.”

Serena frowned at the results. In her previous life, Yungsa’s mana supplement had been identified as the cause of Azaid’s mana core overload and rampage.

She had assumed that the supplement must have contained a large amount of ingredients unsuitable for an Awakened in an attempt to enhance its effects. But the results said otherwise.

The ingredients were genuinely consistent with a proper mana supplement.

“This puts me back to square one.”

Serena tapped the document against her hand and slowly revisited past events. It had all passed by like a raging storm, making it hard to remember clearly.

Who had stepped forward as a witness back then?

She vaguely recalled someone submitting decisive documents that left Yungsa with no way out, but she couldn’t remember the details due to the chaos of the situation.

It was only natural since she hadn’t attended the trial herself and had relied on newspaper reports.

‘Could it… have been fabricated?’

As her thoughts reached that point, an uneasy feeling crept over her, suggesting that things might not have been so simple after all.

But it was difficult to guess who could have orchestrated the incident or why.

Moreover, since the accident hadn’t happened in this life yet, she couldn’t recklessly bring it up to Azaid.

She was deep in thought when—

Knock knock.

A cheerful knock was followed by Marie entering the room, holding a coat Serina had previously entrusted to her.

“Lady Serena, I’ve brought back the coat you gave me. It’s been cleaned thoroughly.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“By the way, whose coat is this? Judging by the size, it doesn’t seem to be yours.”

“Someone lent it to me.”

Serena carefully placed the coat into a box, tying a string around it to make it easier to carry.

“At first, I thought it belonged to His Majesty. The measurements are almost identical.”

“No, it’s someone else’s.”

“They must be a noble. The fabric is exquisite.”

“Hmm, probably. He seems wealthy.”

Serena chuckled as she recalled Zed proudly showing off his tie. Though he was someone she had just met, she felt oddly comfortable around him, as if they were already familiar.

‘While I’m thinking about it, I should contact Daniel’s laboratory.’

She had to return the coat anyway. While wealthy Zed might not care about a single coat, it still felt wrong to let such fine clothing go to waste.

Serena wrote a letter using the contact information on the business card she had received earlier, still completely unaware that Zed was Azaid.

After that day, Lucy would often visit Serena or invite her directly to the palace.

At first, Serena found it awkward and suspected Lucy might have ulterior motives, but it genuinely seemed like pure goodwill.

Of course, there were occasional moments that gave her chills.

For example—

“When did you become so beautiful, Lady Serena? Were you born this way?”

Moments like these, when Lucy would suddenly shower her with compliments with sparkling eyes.

Serena avoided her intense gaze and replied, “You’re not doing this on purpose to torment me, are you?”

‘If you’re trying to get back at me for staying by His Majesty’s side like this, please stop!’

Serena swallowed the words she wanted to say. She wondered if Lucy was using her as an excuse to see Ajade, but Lucy truly only met Serina and then left cleanly.

On the contrary, Azaid would often become restless whenever Lucy came, repeatedly asking if everything was alright.

“Huh? torment you? Not at all. I’m actually enjoying this quite a bit.”

Lucy responded as if she’d heard something absurd and smiled brightly.

Again. That chilling sensation crept over Serina’s shoulders.

“So why do you keep staring at my face? Sir Leonard is right here beside us, tall and gallant, and His Majes—”

“Huh? Wait, you’re not seriously calling the orangutan from my family gallant, are you?”

“What?”

An orangutan? Sir Leonard?

Serena’s lips flapped silently at the sharp insult to her brother’s appearance. Well, as family, Lucy must have seen sides of him others hadn’t. Appearances could be deceiving, after all.

‘But still, Sir Leonard and an orangutan…’

It was fortunate that Sir Leonard wasn’t here to hear this. Perhaps this was just the usual dynamic between siblings.

“Anyway, please don’t stare at me like that. My face feels prickly…”

“Since we’re on the topic, Serena, what’s your ideal type?”

“Huh? Out of nowhere?”

Serena widened her eyes at the sudden change in conversation.

“Judging by how you called my family’s orangutan gallant, it seems like you don’t care much about appearances…”

“What are you talking about? I care about faces too.”

Serena replied firmly, disagreeing with Lucy’s statement. Of course, a good-looking lunatic wasn’t ideal, but a pretty apple was still more appealing to eat.

At that, Lucy clapped her hands like she’d heard something delightful.

“Oh my, really? Then why are you just standing still?”

“Huh? Am I supposed to move or something?”

“There’s a stunning statue right beside you, and you’ve never felt nervous?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

When Serena blinked in confusion, Lucy subtly asked her question.

“His Majesty, the single and incredibly handsome one, is right next to you.”

“Oh.”

Only then did Serena realize Lucy was referring to Azaid as the statue and quickly started analyzing.

‘Is she trying to ask indirectly? Is she wondering if I have ulterior motives?’

Serena liked Lucy quite a bit. Unlike other nobles, Lucy approached her without prejudice, leaving a good impression.

“If that’s what you’re worried about, you don’t have to, Miss Lucy.”

“Worried? About what?”

“I mean, I don’t have any other feelings for His Majesty.”

Lucy’s eyes widened at Serena’s quick response. After a moment, Lucy stammered out a question.

“W-Wait, Serena. Why would I be worried about that?”

“You’ve been subtly asking about His Majesty since before.”

“No, that was just…”

Lucy had only been trying to gauge Serena’s feelings, but now she was starting to panic, realizing Serina had misunderstood.

“Don’t worry. I’m not such a terrible person that I’d steal my friend’s man—”

“Wait! Hold on! What on earth are you talking about?!”

Lucy jumped up from her seat in shock, cutting off Serena’s words. Serena looked at the suddenly agitated Lucy with wide eyes.

“Miss Lucy?”

“No, no.”

While Lucy hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain herself, Serena spoke again with a bewildered expression.

“I mean, you two are dating, aren’t you?”

“No, we’re not!”

“You’re not? But you’ve been exchanging letters for a long time.”

“The letters were purely for business reasons.”

“Business? What kind?”

“Th-That’s… I can’t say!”

Lucy slapped her hand over her mouth, nearly blurting out something about masks. As Serena looked on, confused, Lucy repeatedly shook her head.

“It’s really not like that. Since when have you been misunderstanding this?!”

“Really not?”

“Yes! Absolutely not!”

Something felt off. In her past life, the two had even been engaged.

The more Lucy flailed, the more confused Serena became. For now, she felt she needed to calm Lucy down.

“Okay, I understand. I’m sorry for misunderstanding. Please, calm down…”

But then Lucy, her face bright red, suddenly shouted as if she couldn’t hold back anymore.

“I just like good-looking and pretty faces, okay?! How can someone only look at one face forever? Do you know how many beautiful faces there are in the world?!”

Lucy completely forgot she was supposed to act normal and blurted it all out. Serena’s face showed a mixture of surprise and confusion.

“Oh. I see.”

Lucy belatedly covered her mouth with both hands. But it was too late to take back her words.