Chapter 08
Are you out of your mind?
Just to get into the infirmary, you cut your own hand?
“……Let me take a look at the wound.”
Crazy bastard.
Edith cursed inwardly as she examined Aidric’s hand. Then Aidric spoke coldly.
“Move. I’m going in.”
“No, you can’t.”
Edith said firmly and grasped his hand. Aidric’s face instantly hardened coldly, but Edith refused to let go.
In the end, he reluctantly yielded his hand with an annoyed expression.
Edith carefully examined Aidric’s hand. Fortunately, the wound wasn’t deep—it seemed like it could be treated quickly.
“At this rate, there’s no need for you to go in. Just a moment, I’ll treat it.”
There was no need to use healing power. She simply wiped away the blood, disinfected the wound, applied herbs that acted as a hemostatic agent, and it would heal well enough within a week.
Edith hesitated for a moment.
Should she use divine power?
If the Crown Prince knew what she was thinking, he would have been furious.
But divine power isn’t an infinite resource, nor is it a miraculous force that heals everything. There were still critical patients remaining, so she couldn’t waste power on such a trivial wound.
After a brief deliberation, Edith took his hand.
“Please wait a moment.”
Aidric raised an eyebrow at her subsequent actions.
Unlike other healers, Edith didn’t treat the wound with divine power. She wiped away the blood from Aidric’s wound, disinfected it, and applied a hemostatic agent.
Watching this, Aidric narrowed his eyes and asked.
“Other healers would have made the wound disappear in one go.”
“Folk remedies are sufficient for healing.”
“Folk remedies, you say. Since when has the treatment of the Crown Prince become so shabby?”
“It’s not a matter of treatment.”
“It seems I’m at fault for not realizing you’re so eager to have your head hanging from the city gate.”
Aidric glared at her and said.
“Perhaps I only saw your head and didn’t realize you were a healer? Next time, I’ll make sure to hang your clothes up so they’re visible too.”
Crazy bastard.
Edith’s hands trembled slightly as she wrapped the bandages, and Aidric let out a chuckle.
Just moments ago, she had been glaring at him as if she could devour a person, but now that he mentioned death, she was trembling with fear as usual—it was amusing.
“If this treatment doesn’t work, should I cut off my wrist later?”
“……”
“If I end up cutting off my wrist, aren’t you curious about what gets cut off next?”
At his mocking question, Edith bit her lip tightly.
‘As if I’d be curious. The answer is obvious.’
It would be her own head, just like the other healers before her.
But if she answered wrongly, her head could be severed right here. Edith struggled to suppress her fear and spoke calmly.
“The wound isn’t deep. If you leave it as is, it should heal within a week. And there will be no need to cut off Your Highness’s wrist.”
“Confident, aren’t you.”
“Instead, until the wound heals, you must not strain your hand. You must not let it touch water, nor should you handle unclean objects.”
“So many things to follow.”
Aidric’s violet eyes glared at Edith once more. But when Edith held her ground with determination, he sneered.
“Fine. Let’s see. Whether it heals or not.”
Leaving only those words behind, Aidric left the infirmary without hesitation.
The moment the Crown Prince disappeared, the tension released, and Edith let out the breath she had been holding.
“What on earth… why did he come?”
He had even cut his hand to enter the infirmary, so she thought there must be someone he urgently needed to meet, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
‘Hah, and how am I supposed to change the dressing now?’
She would have to go at least every two days. After a moment of deliberation, Edith turned to the maid standing beside her.
“Would you like to go check on the Crown Prince’s wound the day after tomorrow?”
At that question, the maid moved three steps away from Edith.
She wanted to cry.
—
***
After that day, rumors about Edith began to spread quietly throughout the entire imperial palace.
“Have you heard that rumor? About the new imperial healer.”
“Of course. Rumor has it that even the Crown Prince showed his body to that healer. You know how he always insists that wounds heal on their own without treatment and has never shown himself to anyone.”
“What kind of ill will is that?”
“The Crown Prince has disliked healers for ages. Anyway, I heard she’s a commoner… her name is… Ireus?”
“No, it’s Edith.”
The nobles gathered in the conference room whispered among themselves.
Akanthus, who had been letting the conversations flow in one ear and out the other, lifted his head at the familiar name.
“……Edith?”
The name of the woman who had treated him was definitely Edith. But why was that name being mentioned here?
When he showed interest, one of the nobles who had been talking about her quickly responded.
“Oh, we were actually just discussing the healer who recently entered the imperial palace.”
“And?”
“I heard she’s a commoner healer but remarkably skilled. Her name is Edith, I believe.”
“Come to think of it, I also heard rumors that she treated His Grace the Duke. Is that true?”
Akanthus frowned at those words.
Come to think of it, he had heard that a commoner healer had entered the palace on the evening of his return. And that healer was Edith?
“Where did you hear that story?”
“Ah, well…”
At Akanthus’s interrogation, the man quickly opened his mouth.
Not long ago, a commoner healer had entered the palace, and rumored to be the same healer who had performed miracles in the slums, including treating Duke Felix.
Because of that, the Crown Prince had sent her to the military garrison to lift Kalad’s curse.
Akanthus’s brow furrowed even deeper.
“So, she’s currently at the military garrison?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. Since I haven’t heard of her going anywhere else, she’s probably there.”
“Thank you for the information. I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”
With those words, Akanthus rose from his seat. He stood up so urgently that his usually neatly groomed black hair became thoroughly disheveled, but he paid it no mind.
‘She was dragged here. Could it be… because she treated me?’
At that thought, guilt quickly wreaked havoc in Akanthus’s mind.
No matter that she was a commoner, he couldn’t leave the one who saved his life to die.
“Duke Felix! Where are you going! The meeting is about to start…!”
Someone called out from behind, but Akanthus ignored it and hurried his steps toward the military garrison.
—
***
The moment he arrived at the military garrison’s infirmary and flung the door open, a loud voice came from inside.
“How dare a commoner woman!”
Then he saw a rough, large hand and Edith, her eyes wide open as if frightened before that hand.
“What are you doing!”
There was no time to assess the situation and react. At Akanthus’s shout, the knight turned his head with an annoyed expression, then gasped in surprise.
“Du, Duke…!”
Duke Felix wasn’t just any noble—he was royalty. Moreover, the emperor’s nephew.
The knight, forgetting his intention to strike Edith, hastily bowed.
“What brings Your Grace here…”
But Akanthus ignored him entirely and walked toward Edith.
“What is the meaning of this? Are you alright?”
At Akanthus’s questioning that was almost an interrogation, Edith nodded in a daze.
“Ah, yes…”
Only after thoroughly examining Edith did Akanthus show a relieved expression.
“That’s a relief. I was worried something might have happened to you.”
With those words, he turned to the knight.
“What was your reason for raising your hand?”
“Your Grace, it’s just that…”
The knight, flustered and at a loss, bowed his head and mumbled.
“I was ordered to heal quickly with divine power, but…”
“But?”
“She said she couldn’t waste power unnecessarily. So I…”
The knight said this and then quickly added as if making an excuse.
“Though the war just ended, you never know when something might happen. So I was just asking for prompt healing.”
“Is striking a woman something a knight should do?”
Akanthus said coldly. Edith’s eyes widened at his demeanor.
She had thought he was a gentle-natured person because he treated even commoners like herself with kindness, but the killing intent emanating from him now seemed no less than the Crown Prince’s.
The knight, too, was unable to open his mouth rashly, and Akanthus spoke in an angry voice.
“No matter how young a woman, she is an imperial healer. Moreover, Lady Edith saved my life. She is not someone you can treat carelessly.”
The knight’s face turned pale. Akanthus glared at him and said.
“Does a healer who saved a member of the imperial family seem beneath you? As a knight, you violated the knight’s code by raising your hand against a woman, and you look down on a healer who saved royalty—have you lost your mind!”
“I—I’m sorry!”
“Apologize to Lady Edith and withdraw immediately to reflect for a month. If such a thing happens again, you will be expelled from the knight order.”
To be expelled from the knight order—that meant he could forget about any future advancement.
The knight hastily bowed his head to Edith.
“I apologize, Healer! I was disrespectful!”
His voice carried unmistakable resentment, but Edith chose to pretend not to notice.
She didn’t want to accept such an apology, but if she didn’t, who knew what might happen.
“It’s fine. You were momentarily impatient.”
“Thank you! Then, I’ll take my leave!”
After glancing at Akanthus, the knight hurried out of the infirmary as if escaping.
“I apologize. I’ll make sure to tighten discipline soon.”
Akanthus said with a sigh. Edith shook her head and quickly bowed.
“Thank you, Your Grace. Thanks to you, I was able to get through without a major commotion.”
Edith said this while cautiously observing Akanthus.
She had just heard that he was the emperor’s nephew. Biting her lip gently, Edith suddenly remembered something and quickly asked.
“Come to think of it, is your wound alright? Any pain?”
Akanthus’s eyes widened at that.
He had expected her to question him about his identity, but instead she asked about his wound first. Or perhaps he had expected her to resent him for being dragged here because she treated him.
He blinked, then let out a small laugh.
“Of course. Thanks to Lady Edith, I’m completely healed.”
At the sudden formal speech, Edith quickly waved her hands.
“Wh-why are you suddenly speaking so formally?”
“Well, you’ve become an imperial healer.”
Akanthus smiled gently, then suddenly stiffened his face and spoke carefully.
“I wanted… to see you again.”
