Chapter 06
The doctor before me looked a little younger than when I had seen him at the Duke’s household. His blond hair was streaked with white, and gentle wrinkles were etched at the corners of his kind-looking eyes. Slowly, I stepped toward him and closed the door I had entered through.
“Hmm… You don’t seem to be an acquaintance of mine, nor someone introduced to me…”
“…Indeed. This is our first meeting. My name is Natalie Pettigrew.”
“Oh my, Pettigrew… a noble family then.”
In this era, meeting a physician was something that could only ever be a “first time.” That simple fact left me with a faint loneliness. Yet, the aura he carried—unchanged from the future I remembered—gave me a sense of nostalgia.
Though he served as the Duke family’s private physician, he lived out on the borderlands between the enemy nation, the allied nation, and the Pettigrew domain—a remote land where neutrality was preserved by the balance of power. There, he devoted himself to treating people who lived in hardship. He himself had once been a noble.
But he had renounced that status—and chosen instead to become a physician. I remembered how he had told me that story during one of my check-ups back when I lived with the Duke’s family.
“…Please, you needn’t worry about titles or rank. Just call me Natalie, freely.”
“Ho ho ho… to think you’d be so considerate to me… as if you’re about to bind me to some secret. Just a jest, of course. Ho ho.”
“Hehe… I assure you, I had no such intention.”
“I see… Then, if I may take you at your word… For what purpose has Lady Natalie come here?”
Though his tone was gentle, his gaze was sharp. Within it lingered doubt and scrutiny. Natalie clenched her fist lightly and, gathering her resolve, opened her mouth.
“…I have heard you are seeking the tears-of-dew grass.”
“Oh…?”
“I would like to supply that herb to you. In return, might I receive the medicine you prepare from it?”
The doctor’s eyes grew sharper still. It was only natural—my words were based on knowledge I had carried back from the future.
Several years after Natalie married into the Duke’s household, he would succeed in making a medicine from tears-of-dew grass that cured black-spot disease. But because the herb was rare, hardly traded, and difficult to obtain, the cure came too late. I still remembered the frustration I felt when he told me so.
If only it had been sooner, perhaps Mother could have been saved—
What’s more, that very herb grew in abundance in the mountains owned by the Pettigrew family. I remembered clearly: as a child, I had once visited the mountain’s foothills with my parents, and there I had seen those small, white blossoms.
(Something so close by… could have saved Mother? No. What’s done in the future can no longer be changed…)
The physician remained silent at my proposal, and my stomach twisted with anxiety. If he were to reject me… Knowing the kind man he was, Natalie had spoken honestly, without lies or excuses.
But perhaps it was too sudden.
(…What should I do?)
Just as Natalie’s gaze was about to fall in gloom—
“Ho ho… No need to make such a tearful face. Forgive me—I must have looked frightening.”
“…No, it is I who should apologize… for startling you.”
“Well now… indeed, I did wonder how you could possibly know that I sought that herb…”
When Natalie raised her face to look at him again, the doctor’s usual gentle expression had returned.
“But, I cannot imagine you would ever wish to entrap me. Call it nothing more than my intuition.”
“……”
“…And, if I pressed you to reveal how you knew, I would only cause you distress. Support such as yours is a blessing I could not hope for. I gladly accept.”
“…Doctor, I truly thank you.”
“Ho ho, to make a fair lady cry would be a stain upon my honor.”
(…Thank goodness.)
For a moment the air had seemed so heavy, but with his smile and acceptance, Natalie finally let out a breath of relief.
“Ah, come to think of it—I never gave you my name. My apologies. I am Franz. Simply Franz.”
“…Franz, I will never forget this kindness.”
“Oh my, being called ‘sir’ feels ticklish… I’ve yet to even repay you. I must first craft the medicine for you, Lady Natalie…”
The words of the physician—Franz—lit Natalie’s heart with hope. With his consent, she could now move forward with arranging the herb’s supply.
“Though I hardly need to ask… Lady Natalie, the medicine you seek is for treating black-spot disease, yes?”
“Yes. That’s right… for my mother’s treatment.”
“I see… So it is for your family, and not yourself.”
In truth, black-spot disease could only be cured by medicine. It wasn’t that the Pettigrew family’s healing magic failed to work on kin—it was simply that the disease’s cause lay in a clogging of magical energy, something only the body’s immune system—fortified with medicine—could fight off.
“Franz… It seems rather noisy, does it not…?”
While discussing future arrangements with him, the curtain behind Franz was suddenly drawn open with a sharp swish. An unfamiliar voice followed.
“Ho ho ho, so you’ve awoken at last, Lord Edward.”
“…Yes, I did sleep well, though some old man’s laughter kept ringing in my ears—ah, I see we have a guest. My apologies, my lady.”
“N-no, not at all…”
The moment Natalie properly looked at the man, her eyes widened in shock. Because—
(Why is the Second Prince here!?)
His fiery red hair fell in fluffy, cat-like waves to his shoulders. His tall frame and striking good looks were set off by vivid green eyes like fresh spring leaves.
This man was none other than the second in line to the throne of Natalie’s kingdom—Prince Edward Flickenstein.
