I Opened an Illegal Animal Hospital in Another World - Chapter 61

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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61

 

Medical Chart 4. People Who Come After Hearing Rumors (6)

 

After finishing dinner, Shana hurriedly ran to her bedroom.

 

Along the way, she was caught by Bailey for a bath and caught by Ella to change into pajamas, but she was still 30 minutes earlier than usual.

 

She had already grown accustomed to going to bed before 8 o’clock.

 

After being reborn, Shana tried to wake up early and sleep early whenever possible. Sometimes she had the desire to sleep in, but having experienced her health deteriorating from an unavoidably irregular lifestyle in her previous life, it remained just a wish.

 

Moreover, she was still young and particularly weak in stamina, so she needed sufficient sleep to live without problems the next day.

 

Her young body was very honest – she would become drowsy at the slightest fatigue, and Shana tried not to go against her body’s signals when it was overexerting itself.

 

It was very difficult to break the habit of always enduring, but having died once, she couldn’t help but know how harmful it was.

 

She no longer believed that anything could be accomplished by gritting her teeth and enduring.

 

That was forcing something by scraping away at herself, and the price would have to be paid all at once someday, and more expensively.

 

Of course, that was easier said than done – breaking habits wasn’t easy. Even now, she would sometimes come to her senses and realize she was trying too hard and enduring, startling herself and remembering her original intention.

 

Like that book title – she almost lived too earnestly.

 

‘No, that won’t do…’

 

It was literally a matter of life and death.

 

Shana lay face down on the bed and tapped the ring five times.

 

“Just this little thing, geez.”

 

The value of things in this world was impossible to gauge. Especially when magical elements were added, the value inflated astronomically.

 

Her soul and common sense from a previous life in a world without magic thought magic was amazing, but found it difficult to accept that just this thread-like gold ring could hold such value.

 

A few castles? At most it would be worth about 20 gold bars.

 

“Isn’t it strange to say ‘just’ about 20 gold bars?”

 

It wasn’t even a smartphone – it was literally just something that could make ‘contact.’ It couldn’t even do video calls, and could only contact one person. Wasn’t that too wasteful?

 

For Shana, who had experienced advanced scientific civilization in her previous life, it was an excessively inefficient object.

 

“Science is needed…”

 

How many castles would a smartphone from her previous life be worth? Of course, even if that device existed, it would need internet infrastructure and various supporting facilities to function properly.

 

‘Without all that, if it could contact people regardless of distance, maybe it’s worth the price…?’

 

No. No way. It’s still wasteful.

 

Actually, she was thinking more along the lines of ‘is there really a need to contact someone that badly?’ Just as she was pondering what would be worth spending this money to contact someone about, the gold ring sparkled.

 

-Shana.

 

“Oh, Raven.”

 

-…

 

“Why? You’re the one who gave it to me to contact you.”

 

-It seems strangely familiar.

 

“…”

 

-I thought you’d be surprised.

 

Well, if she had never used a smartphone, the voice flowing from the ring would have been surprising. Shana fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to make excuses.

 

Even though it had been 7 years, she unconsciously answered as if taking a phone call from her previous life.

 

Habits were this frightening.

 

“No, you just don’t know – I’m extremely surprised.”

 

-You lie well too.

 

“…It’s not like you’re looking at my face right now.”

 

-Don’t I know you?

 

“…You might not know…”

 

Even as she said it, she thought it lacked conviction.

 

While she had parts she didn’t want her parents to discover and acted somewhat coy because she wanted to be loved, Shana didn’t pretend anything in front of Raven.

 

‘It’s Raven, after all.’

 

She had never wanted to make a good impression from the start, and since Raven had been watching her since she was a newborn, she felt comfortable doing anything.

 

Even with somewhat strange words and actions, Raven had never once looked at Shana as if she were weird.

 

Even her parents, nannies, caregivers, and even Evelyn sometimes couldn’t hide their looks as if seeing something alien.

 

Those looks didn’t hurt, but they did make her think she should be careful about words and actions that might seem strange to others.

 

“Mother explained it to me. She said it was a means of contact.”

 

-…I’ll let it slide.

 

“Oh my, thank youuu.”

 

-Don’t drag out your words.

 

“Did you give me this just to nag?”

 

How much did he want to nag? Shana looked at the ring with slightly fed-up eyes, as if the ring were Raven himself.

 

“I’m tired, Raven. I was busy today.”

 

-Really? What happened?

 

“Two patients! Two new ones came!”

 

-Ah, two….

 

“You’re laughing at me. Even two are so precious.”

 

-The beginning is important. You’ll be busy soon enough. Maria’s salary will finally be worth it.

 

“Don’t talk about my nanny like she’s stealing wages….”

 

-You’re the one who asked the Academy to find out how much an A-rank mercenary gets paid.

 

“That’s because I might have to pay that salary myself.”

 

-What a waste.

 

“Says the kid with lots of money…. You just gave away a ring like this without a second thought.”

 

-You shouldn’t skimp on money for worthwhile things.

 

“It’s just for communication? Even if it’s convenient, we can still keep in touch.”

 

-How?

 

“…Letters?”

 

-You?

 

“….”

 

-We’d be lucky if you wrote one letter a year.

 

“…I like handwritten letters….”

 

-Fine. I’ll write to you, but reply within three months.

 

“…You know me too well….”

 

She didn’t say he should just die. He was the Prince, after all.

 

“What did you do today?”

 

-Trying to change the subject?

 

“…You were busy, weren’t you? You said you cleared your schedule but you’re still busy.”

 

-There are some appointments I can’t refuse at will.

 

“You pretend to live however you want, but you’re actually really diligent.”

 

-…Why doesn’t it sound like a compliment when you say it?

 

“That’s rude. It is a compliment.”

 

-….

 

“So what did you do….”

 

-I had dinner with my brother.

 

“…Ah, the one who might have been engaged to me.”

 

-That would never happen. Absolutely never. No matter what.

 

“Why, you never know. Why do you hate it so much?”

 

-There’s no way I’d let that happen, right?

 

“…Why are you like that with your brother…. Do you hate him?”

 

-I don’t hate him.

 

“For you to say you don’t hate someone is quite generous….”

 

-There are various circumstances. You know that.

 

“I know, but….”

 

To Shana, who had particularly close memories with her younger sister, it sounded quite sad.

 

-Why are you getting depressed?

 

“…Aren’t you?”

 

-Is it something to be depressed about? Your family is the unusual one.

 

“Could you say ‘special’ instead?”

 

-This side is probably more normal. And my brother must find me troublesome too. I don’t particularly plan to kill him, but he’d be more comfortable if I disappeared.

 

“….”

 

-That’s the role I’ve been given.

 

Shana paused for a moment.

 

‘At times like this, I especially realize how different this world’s structure is.’

 

A world where one could casually speak of death while discussing siblings.

 

A world where value and roles were divided according to birth.

 

Perhaps such things happened often in her previous world too, things Shana simply didn’t know about, but at least she had grown up knowing a world where such things weren’t taken for granted.

 

There had been many hardships and difficult moments, but at least it was a world where love and trust between parents and children, between siblings, was natural. That was ‘Han Yeon-ah’s’ world.

 

But this world had not only wealth gaps but roles determined by social status.

 

However, Shana’s memories from her previous life were too vivid for her to understand the class system. How could she accept that value was divided by birth alone?

 

Not everyone might be equal, but she believed opportunities should be given fairly.

 

Even if circumstances couldn’t be helped, there shouldn’t be restrictions based on social status.

 

‘If I carelessly voice such opinions in this world, I might be branded a subversive and killed….’

 

Shana resolved once again to be careful.

 

“Hey, Raven. Aren’t you excited about going to the Academy?”

 

-It’s just annoying.

 

“What a boy without dreams or hopes…. It’s a new environment, new friends, new life.”

 

-But you won’t be there.

 

“…Wow, that line just now was pretty intense.”

 

-What was?

 

“…You didn’t even say it consciously? You’re really a guilty human being.”

 

He was already so handsome that there would be a truckload of girls who’d flutter just looking at him…. Shana was already worried about the female students who would fall for Raven.

 

-No one entertains me as much as you do.

 

“Am I that funny to you?”

 

-And there’s no one else who can understand me.

 

“At least try to make an effort to look….”

 

Shana sighed, hoping her tone sounded cold. She thought that if it weren’t for her, she would have already misunderstood and gone through marriage and childbirth in her head.

 

Entertaining and understanding.

 

Such people could be found as many as one wanted if one just made the effort to look. There were countless extraordinary people in the world.

 

‘He just has no intention of looking….’

 

Because he has no interest in other people.

 

-Shana.

 

“What?”

 

-You’re my fiancée. Don’t forget that fact.

 

“I know, do you think I’m a goldfish? How could I forget that? It was shocking enough to make me spit out orange juice. The fact that I got engaged at just 7 years old… The fact that even a fetus was a candidate for my fiancé.”

 

-….

 

“Anyway, in less than 2 years you’ll be asking me to forget about the engagement and going around dating. I’m generous, so I won’t mock you even if you change your mind.”

 

Shana smiled brightly. That would be nice… At 12, wouldn’t it be time to experience innocent first love? Of course, when Shana was Han Yeon-ah in her past life, her reality was too harsh to even dream of romance.

 

That’s why she had fantasies about innocent love where just brushing hands would make her heart flutter and lose sleep, where just making eye contact would make her nervous.

 

‘…It doesn’t suit him…’

 

The problem was she couldn’t picture Raven in that scenario. Even picturing herself didn’t quite fit.

 

-Shana.

 

“What? But Raven, I’m getting sleepy now…”

 

-It’s not even 8 o’clock yet.

 

“I go to bed before 8…”

 

-….

 

“Because I’m 7 years old…”

 

Shana didn’t even finish her sentence before closing her suddenly heavy eyes. Come to think of it, how do I hang up this call, she thought.

 

***

 

“She fell asleep.”

 

Raven looked at the ring that gave no response and shook his head. It was earlier than expected, but he knew this would happen.

 

Shana had a tendency to brush off his words lightly. Especially when it came to his obsession, she seemed unwilling to think about it seriously.

 

She would say things like, “You’re not interested in other people so you don’t know how outstanding they are and act arrogantly, but the world is wide and there are many more talented people…”

 

How could he not know? Being similar was just a trigger for his interest. There were several other people he found interesting enough to observe besides Shana.

 

‘The very idea that she thinks she’s the same as other people to me is ridiculous…’

 

When she had already taken away all the specialness of his life.

 

With all her guilty statements about trusting her, about saving him, making him unable to think of anything but her.

 

If he had to pinpoint it, he fell in love at that moment.

 

He was too young then to understand. He thought it was just possessiveness. The way he spent all day thinking only of her, wondering how he could have her, was undeniably the behavior of unrequited love.

 

Actually, Raven himself had only realized this clearly not too long ago.

 

‘When she talks about innocent love and dating, she’s not just unconscious of it, she’s completely ignoring it. Treating me like a child.’

 

Right now he might be experiencing unrequited love, but he absolutely couldn’t let her go, and he was confident he wouldn’t make mistakes.

 

‘Life is a long-term battle.’

 

Just wait and see.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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