I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 53

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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After Regression, I Proposed to My Childhood Friend
Chapter 53
Beatrice blinked slowly upon hearing Astrice’s words, momentarily uncertain whether what she’d just heard was real.
“Follow-up research? You mean… the thing where you told Clyde to consume the Lumen Root? What Cassian said he’d do while trailing after me?”
“Yes! That’s exactly it.”
Having never expected anyone to volunteer, her mind tangled for a moment.
‘Why would Sharon’s daughter participate in the experiment? Wait, no—is that even possible? To participate in the experiment, she’d need to consume Lumen Root grown with Holy Magic? But she’s already consumed it, so how could she consume it again…?’
It was truly a foolish line of thinking.
At the sight of Beatrice’s wide eyes and moving lips, Astrice covered her mouth and laughed.
It was a laugh that suggested she understood exactly what Beatrice was thinking.
“Clara told me that no matter what treatment she received or whom she met, her condition only worsened. By the time she was seeing hallucinations in the dead of night, she’d made her peace. Peace with death itself.”
“…….”
“I should mention upfront that this time, too, she said she wouldn’t have high expectations. However, when I brought up the points you mentioned and said that those particular aspects might not heal completely, she said that if that were the case, she wanted to be the first to find out.”
As Beatrice listened to the detailed explanation, she asked carefully.
“Is it really… truly a fair bargain? She’s suffered so much just to finally recover, and now she might fall ill again. The disease could relapse, and because it’s a second occurrence, treatments that worked before might fail this time. Even if healed, recovery might be slower.”
“Yes. I was so worried about that too that I tried to talk my sister out of it for quite a while. But then she said this to me.”
Astrice smiled helplessly, her eyes crinkling as she recalled her sister’s words.
“Sister, if that’s the case, then I’d have to spend my whole life carrying the anxiety of the unknown—the ‘what if.’ I’d be afraid even to meet people from the Church, and I wouldn’t be able to attend my friends’ weddings at the cathedral. On top of that, I could never even dream of receiving treatment through Holy Power.”
“But Clara…….”
“If I’d never caught the disease in the first place, that would be one thing. But I’ve already got it. Rather than spend my life trembling like this, it’s far better to verify my condition while experts are available to help.”
Despite her wasted, skeletal frame, her eyes burned with a certainty unlike any Beatrice had seen before.
As Astrice relayed her sister’s words to Beatrice, she added more.
“And she also asked whether it might be good to ask the other patients currently receiving treatment in the Separate Quarters about this. She said there were probably quite a few people who thought the same way she did.”
“Ah…….”
“The decision will be yours, but I think it couldn’t hurt to ask. You’ve had far greater influence on people than you realize, and you’ve earned their trust as well.”
“Yes, I was saying the very same thing.”
Under the praise of both father and daughter, Beatrice’s face flushed crimson.
Having one’s efforts recognized by another was a strangely profound feeling.
Beatrice gripped the hem of her dress tightly, blinking rapidly.
‘Before regression… this never happened.’
Of course, there was a vast difference between before the regression and now.
Before the regression, the death of the Sharon Earl had deepened the distrust of magic and alchemy so thoroughly that she’d never had the chance to test her research, and besides…….
‘I also never took initiative like this to accomplish something.’
Beatrice had lived in a world where she needed neither to prove herself to others nor to achieve results for anyone.
The wealthiest family in the empire was its own proof.
So she had been able to learn alchemy in her father’s laboratory without needing to concern herself with others’ eyes or social circles, and unlike noble children of either sex, she wasn’t bound by the constraints of marriage and such matters.
Not until the one form of ‘proof’ she possessed vanished overnight.
‘Perhaps I was sheltered and missed far more than I realized.’
Since every way of life held meaning, she didn’t think living only within a greenhouse was inherently bad. There were certainly things she could receive and accomplish precisely because she was there.
Just handling this Marquis Territory crisis had shown her that her experience before the regression hadn’t been without value.
‘But perhaps…….’
Beatrice’s gaze fell upon the Sharon Earl and Astrice, conversing with bright smiles.
‘I prefer this.’
Being here now—directly connecting with others, solving problems, and discovering new things—felt far more alive.
“Excuse me, Earl! Advisor!”
“Oh, yes?”
“Please tell Clara that I’ve accepted her proposal, and thank her most sincerely. And as for the treatment… while we’re at it, why don’t we start right now!”
“Yes? Already? I mean, can we do that?”
“We don’t need particularly important equipment or surgery for this! If there’s a physician currently attending to your family, please introduce me!”
Beatrice clenched her fist lightly as she explained the necessary details to both of them.
It was time to save Clara Sharon, who in the past had faded from this world so emptily.
* * *
Clara’s treatment was progressing successfully.
Though Beatrice and the Sharon family’s physician had been meticulous in their care, the patient’s own fierce will to recover played no small part.
“Hello, Beatrice!”
“Clara! You’re looking well today, I see. How fortunate. Did you sleep soundly last night?”
“Yes, absolutely. Now I sleep straight through till morning without pain waking me.”
Beatrice replied that it was wonderful news indeed, recording Clara’s status on the chart.
‘It’s nice these days—I’m writing down only positive things.’
Not only Clara, but the patients in the Separate Quarters had improved dramatically, nearing complete recovery.
What was even better was that clear commonalities were emerging in the recovery patterns of the improving patients.
So Beatrice had compiled all her records, experimental results, and observations of the patients’ changes into a single comprehensive report.
‘That report, along with treatment guidelines, was distributed to every Treatment Center and Church facility within the Marquis Territory.’
Beatrice’s published report naturally caused great waves of reaction.
There was shock and horror that the relief supplies of Lumen Root had been the cause of the crisis, relief that treating the disease required no great expense—varied responses across the board.
Among all those reacting diversely, it was the monks at the Treatment Center who suffered the greatest anguish.
“How can this be……. When touched by Holy Power, the nature of Lumen Root changes…….”
“Does that mean we were essentially killing them by drawing on Holy Power to treat them as best we could?”
It was a cruel truth, but one that needed to be revealed. However, Beatrice had excluded from her report any assertion that the Church had acted with malice.
The evidence was still insufficient, and Clyde had asked that he be entrusted with that matter.
Even amid confusion and shock, the monks and physicians began reading the report repeatedly, then immediately focused on treating the patients according to Beatrice’s compiled guidelines.
There were too many patients whose lives hung in the balance to remain paralyzed by shock.
Thus, one of the causes that had haunted the Marquis Territory—the “mysterious illness”—finally departed from being an object of dread and came to be known by a new name.
‘Lumen Root Erosion Syndrome’
And around the time this new wind was beginning to blow through the Marquis Territory, volunteers began appearing among the patients, just as Clara had predicted.
“Um… hello, lady! I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard that follow-up research requires test subjects. If it’s all right, I’d like to volunteer.”
“Oh, I feel the same way! We’d be so pleased if we could be of even a little help…….”

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