Surviving as a Terminally Ill Heiress - Chapter 85

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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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Chapter 85

My eyes had gone cold.
Yes, now I understood where Scott’s ugly, clinging inferiority came from.
In any case, I’d never laid eyes on anyone from the Eastern Continent.
‘Even without seeing her, I can tell she’s remarkable.’
Even I, a mixed-blood from an adjacent nation, had lived my whole life under hostile stares.
But decades ago, a woman with blood from that distant Eastern land became a nobleman’s personal physician.
‘That’s what people mean when they call someone a prodigy capable of overcoming prejudice.’
Just as expected, the moment Morgan heard her name, he carried on as if he’d encountered a legendary figure.
This made for a truly coveted task.
‘If it’s someone like her, maybe she can solve the Beeswax Plague.’
The carriage sped westward.

* * *

The plains stretched endlessly.
‘It’s certainly rather desolate.’
That was my first impression of Western Atera.
Atera’s epithet was the land blessed by the gods.
At its center stood the Grand Cathedral, the north held a sorcerer’s manor, the east was an inexhaustible granary, and the south held Ambrose.
‘But the west? There’s nothing in particular.’
It was almost defined by the absence of any great advantage.
There were some mines, but nothing worth noting.
Gems, iron ore—domestic output was so meager that most was imported.
So in such an environment, as Matilda’s late father had done before, most of the territory’s lords threw themselves into commerce…….
Their efforts only recently began to bear fruit.
‘In my previous life too, I heard the railways were laid fastest and most densely in the west.’
Soon there would even be a trial run.
Just then, watching the railway appear outside the carriage window, I frowned.
What was it again? I felt like something was supposed to happen around this time…….
I stopped pondering and suddenly glanced across.
Tru seemed unusually quiet. Ever since hearing this was plague territory, he’d been like this.
“Tru, are you that worried?”
“Yes! What if you or Miss get sick! You’re both my precious meal tickets…….”
Honest fellow.
I gestured toward Morgan to reassure him.
“We have a physician here, remember?”
Tru turned his head sharply toward Morgan and asked.
“You’re really, really sure it’s fine……?”
“Yes, the disease mostly affects children under five. As long as you cover your mouth and nose carefully, there shouldn’t be any problem. Even if you do contract it, adults experience only mild symptoms.”
At Morgan’s reassuring answer, Tru reluctantly nodded.
Still, he made sure to bring plenty of handkerchiefs.
I tactfully ignored his thorough survival instinct.
And so, not long after, Eton Territory.
The moment I stepped out of the carriage, humid air enveloped us.
Tru immediately pulled out a handkerchief.
My mouth and nose were firmly secured by his efficient hands, and I looked around.
There were few people, and most shops were closed.
Quiet. Probably the lingering disease, even if mild.
Orka approached a merchant he managed to spot nearby and struck up a conversation.
After a brief exchange, he returned with a rueful smile.
“She’s not here, apparently.”
Well, I’d expected as much.
Still, the woman was distinctive enough that tracking her should be easy.
I struggled to loosen the handkerchief tied too tightly and asked.
“When did she leave, and where?”
“Yesterday, to Shears, they say.”
Shears was about half a day’s journey from Eton. That distance, no problem.
I spoke casually.
“Then we go to Shears.”

* * *

Inside the carriage, Tru finally burst out with what he’d been holding back.
“Argh, how frustrating!”
Indeed.
The entire party wordlessly agreed.
I closed my weary eyes.
We were back in Eton again, having gone in circles.
Shears, which we visited first, was considerably larger than Eton.
Its streets too were quite empty.
While the knights asked around, I’d thought we’d find her quickly.
Following the trail, asking here and there to track her down to each location.
“Oh, the physician? She went that way.”
“No, wait. She went that way a moment ago.”
“From what I saw, she went that way.”
All we heard were answers like these.
Chasing after all those “that ways” through Shears, finally we heard this.
“A few hours ago, she went to Kalin.”
I clenched my eyes shut.
Now I understood why even Philip himself found her difficult to locate. She truly was elusive.
Realizing this wouldn’t do, I split the party.
We couldn’t very well pin her down, but through our Communication Devices, we all shared her location and rapidly coordinated that information.
Over several days, closing the distance bit by bit, until now—back in Eton.
Finally, Alec’s voice crackled through my Communication Device.
-Found her!
“Where!”
Alec gave me the address.
-She’s set up a temporary clinic in a warehouse building in that area.”
“Let’s go.”
I spoke with grim determination.
The warehouse door that served as the temporary clinic stood slightly ajar when we arrived.
Wrapped head-to-toe by Tru’s fussiness in handkerchief again, I had the rest wait outside.
“Just Morgan and I will go in for now.”
It wouldn’t look good to walk a crowd of people into a medical clinic.
With Morgan, who nodded in agreement, I slowly stepped through the gap in the door.
“Excuse us.”
There was no response.
Venturing further in, I saw patients sleeping soundly on clean mats.
Just as Morgan said, most were children.
Was the physician not here?
Just then, I sensed movement beyond a separated inner door in the distance.
Morgan and I exchanged glances and crept forward.
The sound of something boiling, a thick herbal scent.
And someone grinding herbs slowly.
She had her back turned, so her face wasn’t visible.
All I could see was the back of a woman with somewhat swarthy skin and long black hair more than half turned white, tied up roughly with what looked like a long stick.
I opened my mouth very carefully.
“Excuse me…….”
“If you’re a patient, lie down. Otherwise, leave.”
She answered without turning around.
I hesitated for a moment, then tried again.
“We’ve come from Ambrose.”
“Leave faster.”
“……What if we came to meet your grandmother’s friend?”
The hand grinding herbs stopped.
After a moment of silence, she finally turned around.
Sharp, piercing eyes and delicate, fine features.
Her face was exotic and ageless.
I was reminded of an Eastern painting I’d once seen at Kirke Academy of Arts.
Eyes drawn as if with ink swept over me from head to toe.
Then she let out a sharp, scoffing laugh.
“You look more like that old codger Gustav than Mary.”
Such harsh words on first meeting.
Even as I kept smiling, I gritted my teeth.
Rising from her crouch, she wiped her hands on her apron while muttering.
“So Mary’s granddaughter, then? That means Ansley got up to his usual tricks before heading off to war?”
“Well, something like that happened.”
She chuckled while checking the boiling water.
“Mary must be delighted in the afterlife. She was always fretting that she’d never see grandchildren because of her stubborn son.”
But I was born, and thanks to that, I inherited my grandmother’s estate as well.
I wondered if, as she said, my grandmother was indeed pleased now.
Then it happened.
“C-Cho Ok!”
Morgan stepped forward with a flushed face.
His expression was even more animated than when looking at the patients lying there.
Like a fan who’d encountered a beloved opera singer, he poured out his words of admiration in a rush.
Among his torrent of praise, one phrase caught my attention.
“I dreamed of becoming a physician after reading your work…… Ah, your research on the Beeswax Plague especially was unparalleled!”
What?
That foreign medical text Morgan had seen as a child.
Cho Ok wrote that?
The Beeswax Plague. I’d thought the name was unusual, but fascinating.
Still, Cho Ok merely found him troublesome.
“What do you want.”
“The director of Ambrose Medical Institute…….”
“I’m not doing it.”
He hadn’t even finished his sentence.
But Cho Ok, with a look that said “we’re done here,” pointed toward the door.
“Now get out. You’re in the way.”

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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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