Chapter 06
—
“Then, I will help you get ready.”
With those words, Ludia sat Idith down in front of the vanity. Faced with that resolute attitude, Idith couldn’t resist and was half-pushed into the seat before the mirror.
“Now, let’s begin.”
Ludia smiled at Idith’s reflection in the mirror. What followed was a grooming session that lasted nearly a full thirty minutes.
Ludia immediately began applying makeup, dressed Idith in the robes of an imperial healer, and neatly braided her hair.
“……Ah.”
Idith looked at the mirror with a surprised expression. The person reflected back at her was much more polished than before. As she stared intently at her own reflection, Ludia gave a gentle smile.
“You look much more striking this way, Healer-nim.”
Idith nodded awkwardly.
The white garments were far softer and of higher quality than anything she had worn before. So much so that she wondered if she was worthy of wearing such clothes.
Embroidered in gold thread on her chest was the crest of the Kesmel Imperial Family. Idith touched the emblem briefly before speaking.
“Still, you don’t need to go this far for me in the future.”
Once she started treating patients at the military encampment, she would inevitably become a mess, so there seemed little point in dressing up so elaborately.
“Understood.”
Fortunately, Ludia obediently bowed her head without a word of objection.
“More importantly, shouldn’t you hurry and go pay your respects to His Highness the Crown Prince?”
Go pay respects to the Crown Prince, not go to the military encampment?
Idith rolled her eyes in bewilderment, and Ludia opened the door and spoke.
“Now, let’s go.”
To have to see the Crown Prince’s face first thing in the morning.
But she couldn’t refuse, so Idith, with a look of resignation, followed Ludia toward the Crown Prince’s office.
—
***
—
As she followed Ludia to the office, Idith could not hide her fear. The conversations she overheard along the way were unsettling.
“Did you hear? They say His Highness the Crown Prince is going to execute another healer.”
“Again? What for this time…….”
The maids were gathered in small groups in the hallway, whispering among themselves. Idith stiffened and could barely move her feet. Ludia whispered softly.
“Healer-nim.”
Wondering what it was, Idith quickly turned her head, only to find that they had already arrived in front of the Crown Prince’s office.
Ludia glanced at Idith and knocked on the door. A familiar voice responded.
“Enter.”
Idith reflexively held her breath.
Because the moment the door opened, Aidric’s fierce, violet eyes were the first thing that came into view.
“What is it?”
Aidric demanded harshly. His demeanor was so savage that Idith dared not even speak.
As Idith stood pale and frozen, merely bowing her head, Aidric glared at her.
“I didn’t cut your tongue out, after all.”
Aidric shot back coldly.
“Judging by your behavior, it seems it won’t be long before your head is on the line.”
“……”
“You won’t be able to say a single word at the military encampment, just trembling in fear. How do you expect to treat anyone?”
The words of the maids she had heard on the way here came to mind. That someone else was to be executed.
Truly, she could be next.
Idith managed to open her mouth and spoke in a trembling voice.
“I will…… be careful.”
Idith bowed her head and tried to leave quickly. But then, Aidric’s voice stopped her in her tracks.
“Pretentious, for a mere healer.”
Aidric rose abruptly from his seat and approached Idith. He roughly grabbed her chin and forced her to meet his eyes.
Idith flinched at his fierce violet irises. Aidric whispered lowly.
“I despise healers. Especially the ones who don’t know their place.”
“……”
“Do not tarnish the imperial honor any further.”
With those words, Aidric shoved her away. As if he didn’t care whether Idith staggered or not.
“Get out.”
“……Yes.”
That was all Idith could say.
She barely managed to move her trembling body outside, and the door slammed shut behind her. Dewis, who had been waiting outside, approached her.
“Are you alright, Healer-nim?”
Idith forced herself to nod. But it was clear to Dewis that she was far from alright. He looked at her with a worried expression and sighed.
“If it’s too much, you can rest for about an hour before heading over.”
Judging by Dewis’s words, her condition must have been truly poor. She wanted nothing more than to rest, but she couldn’t postpone what had already been agreed upon.
“No, I’ll go right now.”
Dewis was silent for a moment before nodding reluctantly. He then led Idith toward the military encampment. The maids, including Ludia, followed behind Idith.
—
***
—
The military encampment was quite a distance away. Regret about not having rested flickered through her mind, but it didn’t last long. The chaotic and tumultuous atmosphere within the encampment disrupted her thoughts.
Dewis asked Idith again if she was sure she didn’t need to rest, but given the situation, it seemed she would have to roll up her sleeves immediately. When Idith refused, Dewis let out a worried sigh.
A short while later, Idith understood why Dewis had reacted that way.
“I can’t trust your treatments! You have no skill, yet you go around opening people’s heads like that—they’ll die!”
“Then just leave! I’m telling you how to treat the headache, but……!”
The maids who had been working in the infirmary were performing horrifying medical procedures based on hearsay and half-baked knowledge, and……
“Listen, more people have died from having their heads opened here than from the actual war!”
……indiscriminate trepanation and amputations were rampant.
“Ah.”
Idith pressed her hand to her forehead.
At this moment, the Crown Prince who had threatened her was far less frightening than the appalling state of medical knowledge in this world.
—
***
—
Before she knew it, two weeks had passed. Idith, exhausted, sprawled half across her desk, which had been set up in a corner of the infirmary.
“Ugh…… I’m going to die.”
It was no joke. For two full weeks, she had lived through days that felt like a war. The state of the military encampment had been truly dire.
Idith gritted her teeth, thinking of the Crown Prince and Dewis who had sent her here.
She had anticipated that there would be many injured, as the war with Kallad in the north had only recently ended. And that the condition of the severely wounded would be critical.
But beyond the number and condition of the patients, the military encampment was plagued with numerous other problems.
First of all, the support staff here had almost no knowledge of medicinal herbs, and the bits of information they had picked up were also atrocious.
—
*’For headaches, isn’t it standard to split the skull with an axe?’*
*’Shouldn’t all wounds be treated by amputation?’*
*’Hemostasis? Doesn’t that just stop on its own?’*
*’If there’s a problem with the internal organs, we should leave it to the will of the Goddess of Life and use anesthetics to ease their pain, right?’*
—
Every single word was a gem of absurdity. She lost count of how many times she felt dizzy enough to faint from sheer exasperation.
Second, nothing in the supplies was organized. She had no idea where anything was. Even the few herbs that remained were of poor quality.
—
*’Oh, I don’t really know much about herbs… I mean, they all look the same to me, can’t we just pile them up and use whatever?’*
—
What on earth had the previous healers been doing? She was intensely curious.
Third, not only the knights but also the soldiers did not trust Idith. The knight who had first called her a ‘fraud’ had actually been on the milder side.
—
*’A healer? Spare me the nonsense. How can we trust you people, who only spout weird treatments?’*
*’You call yourselves imperial healers and then pull off bizarre treatments that kill people—how can we trust you lunatics?!’*
—
If Idith hadn’t been wearing the imperial healer’s robes, she wouldn’t have been surprised if she had been drenched with water. The hostility was that intense.
She wondered what kind of bizarre treatments the previous healers had been doling out to provoke such sky-high animosity from the knights.
Still, as time passed, the situation had changed significantly. The storage rooms, including the one for herbs, had all been organized, and the patients whose conditions weren’t severe had all been discharged.
Now, only about twenty critically ill patients remained.
“I can see the end……”
Idith let out a deep sigh.
—
***
—
“No deaths?”
Aidric asked Dewis with an incredulous look at his report.
“Yes, they say it’s already been two weeks.”
It was impossible. Aidric frowned and examined the report Dewis had handed him once more.
At the imperial palace, nearly fifty deaths occur per week. The place with the highest mortality rate is the military encampment.
Especially at a time like this, shortly after the war had ended, it would be normal for over ten bodies to be produced daily. Yet, no deaths for two weeks.
As Aidric furrowed his brow, Dewis quickly added.
“This healer seems to be performing proper treatments.”
“Nonsense.”
Aidric said firmly. The so-called healers he knew were all incapable of providing proper treatment.
Instead of answering, Dewis submitted another report. With a suspicious look, Aidric received it and scanned its contents.
Amazingly, that ‘nonsense’ was written in the actual report.
It claimed she had saved people on the brink of death, and that she had enabled a person who couldn’t walk due to a festering wound near his thigh to walk again without amputation.
“Are you bringing this to me expecting me to believe it?”
“I find it hard to believe myself.”
As Aidric growled, Dewis calmly replied.
“However, judging by the color of that healer’s eyes, her divine power appears to be pure. Perhaps that is why she was able to treat so many people.”
“……”
“Your Highness, you saw it yourself, didn’t you? Those vivid golden eyes.”
Aidric recalled Idith’s eyes and gave a slight nod.
Those with divine power typically have silver, or silver-like, hair and golden eyes.
The stronger the divine power, the more the hair turns silver; the purer the power, the more the eyes shine gold.
Aidric was well aware of this. He had personally severed the heads of those with silver hair and golden eyes many times before.
“Still, I can’t blindly trust someone just because of their eye color. We need to find out if they are playing some other trick.”
Aidric gritted his teeth once more.
“We need to verify it one more time. Find someone reliable.”
With that, Aidric threw the report he was holding into the fireplace. Dewis watched the crackling flames for a moment before asking quietly.
“Are you…… not going to report this above?”
“Do you think Her Majesty the Empress would believe it? These utterly absurd claims written here.”
Even if by some miracle the Empress did believe it, that would truly be a disaster.
“Keep this to yourself for now. I’ll speak to Her Majesty myself.”
“Yes, then I’ll take my leave.”
Dewis bowed and withdrew. Aidric nodded absently, his gaze fixed on the burning report.
Only after he heard the sound of the door closing did Aidric close his eyes and sink back into his chair.
Then, someone knocked on the door.
